Hyperion Planning and Financial Management Review

OLAP REPORT REVIEW: Hyperion Planning and Financial Management 4.0

Authors: Oliver Dahnken, Jörg Narr, and Dr. Carsten Bange Released: 2005 Pages: 50 Single User Price: $895 USD An in-depth product evaluation and rating This review combines the evaluations of two related products: Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning. Hyperion Financial Management Despite the launch of a number of competitive products, Hyperion remains the market leader in the financial consolidation market with a large installed base, thanks in large part to the entrenched user base for its older Enterprise software.     This is now being superseded by a web-based successor, Hyperion Financial Management, launched in 2000.   The review assesses the development and enhancements to HFM launch in 2000 to the point where it is now a far more complex and capable product. This has brought both advantages and drawbacks.   Missing is some built-in accounting functionality that comes as part of the package with some other products. As a result, HFM can be more time-consuming and costly to deploy depending on corporate requirements - use the review to assess the implications of using HFM for your applications in your organization. It also looks at tactics that could help existing Hyperion Enterprise customers to upgrade more cost-effectively to HFM. Discover HFM's variable ratings in areas including : Currency conversions and related features Consolidation Reconciliation Validation Reporting As well as its web support and data management capabilities. Hyperion Planning In common with HFM, Hyperion Planning is based on Essbase, Hyperion's flagship OLAP server.   While this means that the product has all the advantages that Essbase brings (See the Hyperion Essbase review), it lacks many of the built-in planning features found in a number of competitor products. As well as discovering its comparative strengths and weaknesses, you will find out where the product falls short in areas such as the limited options for locking and spreading when doing top-down plans and the limited scope for offline data entry. The review explains: Functionality and features of Hyperion's front end tools, including Hyperion Reports and Analyzer   The product is evaluated against 21 criteria across five main categories: General features - including platform support and scalability Data - including entry and export Planning model Planning support Presentation - including end-user factors and graphics Use this review to find out how well HP stacks up against Cognos Planning and other leading products in the market,   and the extent to which it is integrated with other Hyperion products. A sample of the numerous specially generated screenshots from this review. Click to enlarge.

Contents: Vendor overview Product commercial issues Pricing Database structure and capacity Architecture and platforms Data entry functionality Calculation and consolidation functionality Reporting flexibility Automatic detection of exceptions Time series intelligence Currency support Security and DBMS issues End-user human factors Application building features Performance Conclusions and scores Ask a question about this product? Other customers also purchased: Applix TM1 Review Outlooksoft Everest Review Cognos Planning Review Email a colleague about this product

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