User Reviews
Alight Planning Enterprise by Alight
USER REVIEWS - All reviews
Purchased Date: July 01, 2011
CFO/Controller, Magnet Systems, Inc.
September 15, 2011
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Pros
As a former Pillar user, I was immediately drawn to the units*rates=amounts foundation for building line items. This methodology enables line items to automatically flux with headcount (for example).
It also facilitates headcount planning reviews in meetings. With a click, you can go from reviewing salaries to reviewing headcount.
As a Pillar user - I was able to build my initial plan file by watching the Alight video library, plus a few hours of consulting (mainly to ask questions).
My initial take is that the "brains" built into the b/s and c/f make them work pretty well in auto-generating - based on the starting point of your balance sheet, and the activity that flows to both from the p&l.
I also wanted a desktop resident program. I have used SaaS planning programs - and dislike them for a few reasons:
1) latency
2) they can be "squirrely" - in terms of saving/not losing entered data (notably copied and pasted)
3) File access without having to be connected
Cons
The Ad Hoc reporting functions are not entirely intuitive. It takes awhile to play around with the various options in order to get the report you want. Also, the number of Ad Hoc reports that can be stored is currently very limited.
Direct import capability from Quickbooks would be very helpful. I suspect Alight will add at some point.
Report formatting is limited. That's not too big of a issuel, as it's very easy to export to Excel and format reports there. But it does add an extra step vs. having a robust report writer built in. But, I suspect having such a report writer within Alight would add considerably to the cost.
Overall
For a small, private company - it's a bit to bite off in terms of the purchase price of the software. But the ease of implementation made the total cost to get up and running MUCH lower than the alternative budgeting/forecasting/reporting products that I have worked with.
Compared to Excel - there is no comparison. The ability to quickly roll forecasts, make real-time changes to revenue and expense plans, and have them automatically roll through the financial statements; to be able to rapidly change plan to actual periods for rolling forecasts - without worrying about calculation errors; - I'd say Alight paid for itself within the first two months of ownership.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2011
CFO, YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka
May 06, 2011
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Pros
- Had used Aight as one of the early adopters and moved to a new company where the need for this type of program is even greater.
-Continuous improvement of the features
-Outstanding support
- Had a basic model up and running completely on my own while planning for a full multi-user budgeting and analysis tool to be implemented across all divisions. Company is currently using more than 300 linked spreadsheets. Must escape excel hell.
-Very confident that the full scale model will work well.
Cons
- Still struggle with the timeline, scenario functions
Overall
Any moderately competent spreadsheet user can pick up the basics quickly.
Alight's support team has excellent knowledge on how to create the more complicated models but still allow users to do most of the work. You can take control and make your changes without being reliant on the experts. Very cost effective.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2007
Managing Partner, Sentinel Peru SA
May 01, 2011
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Pros
1.- Can build robust and stable models.
2.- Powerful URA feature since provides flexibility and good visibility in the finantial logic used.
3.- Useful to have a difference between logic cells and data cells. It forces the user to have clear formulation.
4.- Very strong facility of scenario formulation
5.- Key Measures very easy to use with easy graphic presentations.
6.- Finantial models always have Assets = Liabilities. I have formulate financial models with Excel and other tools and this feature simplifies formulatrion greatly.
7.- Very practical division of data between the different sheets: Revenues, Expenses, Headcount, Assets, Liabilities and working sheets, generating awell organized model.
8.- Strong filters and dimensions facility for large and complicated models.
9.- You can formulate large and reliable models.
10.- The Totals and Total Totals facility is very powerful.
11.- Very friendly presentation of reports with or without totals or only Totals or Operators.
Cons
1.- Support is not as fast as I expected.
2.- I do not know how to compare results between different scenarios. There should be a simple Special Formula to "bring" a data fron another Scenario.
3.- It is not clear how to use Stages.
4.- Operators do not work well for Markets & Products and connections: Some time ago I suggested to implement different totals types: Total, Average, Last, First, None (quite simple!).
4.- Graphs do not operate well with exception of in Key Measures.
5.- I would like tio have a Spead Facility nwith more traceability. When we use the Spread facility there is no record of what we have done.
5.- The copy facility from Excel should be simpler. It should be possible to copy data from Excel to Data Lines in a Straightforward way.
Overall
I am very satisfied with Alight.
I always proudly show my Alight Models.
However Alight is not sufficiently known ans that makes a limitation and fear for its use and adoption.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2009
Chief Financial Officer, Valley of the Sun YMCA
April 29, 2011
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Pros
Great tool for developing Proformas, Long Range Planning along with the associated detail backup.( Being able to present and view these plans through filters is a great feature)
Can also be used at the Branch Level for scenerio planning and what if analysis (Integration of the KPI drivers within the Financial Summary page is a great feature and allows them to make changes to drivers and see the immediate results)
The what if analysis is a great feature. A key feature in scenerio planning
This is a fantastic Planning Tool, not necessarily a budgeting tool in the traditional sense. This is a great tool for developing guidelines for budgeting purposes.
Cons
A lot of set up required for importing line items.
Reporting is somewhat limited by not being able to move demensions into column headings. (Not a major issue)
Although there is no limit as to what you can do, you may want to develop Wizards for creating certain types of line item ie Loans, Amortization, Depreciation, Accounts Payable.
In the advanced section it would be great for spreads if you added some statistical features Regression, Exponential smoothing etc.
Overall
Best planning tool I have worked with to date. Other planning tools can not provide the level of detail as Alight.
Once you fully understand the layout of the software, creating models is extremely quick and easy.
Purchased Date: January 01, 2009
System Development Manager, Iroquois Gas Transmission
November 12, 2010
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Pros
I have been very happy with the vendor support for this product. Although the product itself is very stable with little malfunction, the support for upgrades from Chris Vacano and the support team has been unsurpassed. Debbie Mullens has also offered wonderful license support. The team collaboration makes any issue quickly resolved.
Cons
None at this time.
Overall
We needed a vehicle to support our long range forecasting for new projects. We needed it quickly. Alight offered quick implementation and reasonable pricing. We met our deadlines and got the resources we needed to complete our construction. The business and technical support we needed was fast and thorough.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2007
COO and CFO, Serious USA
November 08, 2010
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Pros
Alight Planning when put up against other solutions in it class wins on the following fronts:
Functional performance
Radid turn around "what if" modeling
Allows tthe managers to focus on the impact of changes in the variables instead of the logic of the model
Produces fully integrated financials
Avoids modeling errors that XL can permit and yet can feed from and feed to XL formats
Flexibility -agnostic to end users offer but able to accomodate, product, service or process solutions
Price for user groups
Multi currency and multi user location flexibilty
Ability to drive the input side of the model down to the user group.. eg sales inputs forecasts..allows the model to not be the "finance folks" model.
Drives onwership of the assumptions back to the user
Makes the company look bigger than it is (scale, efficient modeling can do this to you!)
Cons
In our implementation the extreme flexibilty encouraged us to go a bit to far in implementing what turned out to be excessive coomplexity but we were able to simplify and brng the model back on track
Probably over engineered our first model
Would like to see the solution in a Saas model and eventually the cloud.
Not easy to win over the XL fanatics
Overall
3 years after first selecting Alight, which I then implemented in another venture, my teams abilty to implement swiftly an enterprise planning model that integratess to the financials is jaw dropping. Rarely do you find management groups who will focus more on the assumptions than the mechanics, this is because they don't need to worry about the integrity of the model. It seems to me that whether you are a start up, mid stage or fully blown business unit of a large company, Alight should have a place in the CEO and CFO's armory.
Purchased Date: April 01, 2008
Partner, B2B CFO
November 05, 2010
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Pros
Very feature rich. The ability to model multiple scenerios is amazing. Much better than other programs I have used. If you are an excel user, you will not believe how easy it is to update or create new scenerios, business units, product lines etc. The units rates amount feature combined with built in tools for linking, headcount,creating formulas, accumulating periods, debt amortization,etc., means that Alight can create models that range from simple to very complex.
The support is fantastic. No matter who you are dealing with at Alight, from Rand throughout the company, they are helpful and accessible.
Cons
Downloading from Qucikbooks or other accounting software is clunky. Learning curve is steep since the software is very feature rich.
Overall
I highly recommend Alight Planning. I am a consultant and have implemented Alight for clients in many different industries from start ups to mature companies and found it to be very very good.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2010
Controller, RedBrick Health Corporation
September 27, 2010
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Pros
This is a very robust software capable of producing analyses with great breadth and depth can provide extreme levels of detail or not, depending on how the model is built / what the need and purpose is. Fantastic training, customer service and support.
Cons
Processing time gets slow on our (admittedly very large) model file. I hope the new Alight Report Writer addresses the current limitation with exporting and formatting reports to Excel/PDF.
Overall
In a short order after learning the basics, I was able to begin development on a complex and detailed model with multiple dependencies. I appreciated the level support I received at that time and the continued attention to my needs and feedback as a customer. The thing I most appreciate about Alight is that I dont have to stay up nights searching for or worrying about breaks in an Excel model: actual or potential. There is a logical flow to the process and Im able to generate prospective balance sheets and cash flow statements, which in Excel, always seemed to fall by the wayside.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2009
Corporate Controller, Estes, Inc.
August 19, 2010
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Pros
It is driver based. Easy to manage rolling 12 budgets. Provides a structured, well organized place for not only forcasting & budgets but can be a great reporting tool. Very flexible, easy to export and import. A very powerful tool.
Cons
Balance sheet for cash flow forcasting is not tied to a trial balance. Each month you have import ending balance for balance sheet while importing transactions for expenses. A little pricey. Poor documentation tends to create a steep learning curve.
Overall
Buy it! It is a great product. Helps to get you out of the spreadsheet tangle that often come with budget and forecasting in Excel. A great team at Alight to support you.
Purchased Date: July 01, 2009
IT Operations Director, FBL
May 18, 2010
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Pros
Easy Data Entry, both upload or manaual
Easy reporting
Adaptable to your way of working
Great value for the $
Cons
Has a few bugs at times
Overall
Good Product with good people supporting it.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2008
CONTROLLER, GAINSPAN CORPORATION
April 14, 2010
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Pros
EASE OF INTEGRATION
SLICING AND DICING DATA
Cons
NEEDS TO BE MORE USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE
Overall
GREAT IMPROVEMENT OVER MS EXCEL
Purchased Date: January 01, 2008
CEO, Lab Escape, Inc.
April 02, 2010
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Pros
- Uses spreadsheet metaphor
- Easy to use interface
- Support for multiple users, including restricting access to parts of the model
- Enough structure to get you started quickly, but with enough flexibility to build custom solutions
- Easy import from QuickBooks
- Multidimensional analysis of financials
- Models off-balance-sheet and non-financial performance metrics too
Cons
Requires a spreadsheet approach to modeling, which may not be relevant for all businesses.
Overall
Alight Planning is an excellent product. We had compared Alight with several of the financial budgeting, forecasting and modeling tools out there such as White Birch and found Alight to be the easiest to use. The spreadsheet metaphor made converting the models we were using in Excel easy, while giving us the power of the analytics like goal seek and sensitivity analysis, and being able to quickly import actuals for comparisons.
Purchased Date: May 01, 2008
Controller, Tufts Shared Services, Inc.
April 02, 2010
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Pros
Alight Planning has helped the organization a great deal with the budget process. We are able to project and forecast budgets on a more timely basis. Our contact Lisa Tobin Shaw is amazing at what she does. One two three and she is able to help us produce the desired results.
Cons
From an internal perspective, we need more time to learn the entire capability of the software.
Overall
I would highly reccommend this product to other organizations.
Purchased Date: November 01, 2007
CFO, Schoolwires
March 31, 2010
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Pros
Alight was easy and quick to implement and create a model for budgeting and long-range forecasting. We were able to avoid many of the problems associated with Excel models, yet it has most of the flexibility we need. It has served us well.
Cons
No real cons; the only thing is, we are not using all of its capabilitys, features, functions. As we become more sophisticated, we need to do more with scenarios, stages, and key measures; but so far, we've got a lot of benefit without really using those features.
Overall
We are about to upgrade to version 6 and add users. I highly recommend Alight; it is quite intuitive to use, gives good flexibility in building a model, and yet protects to some extent against the errors that tend to plague Excel models. Built right, the integrated P&L, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow statements are taken for granted - but much appreciated!
Purchased Date: January 01, 2007
Financial Analyst, Airlift Northwest
March 30, 2010
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Pros
It is great to know that when you change a factor such as a percentage or a rate that everything will roll up. There are never broken links. When I make changes to the model I do a calculation test to make sure I didnt miss something. Once I know that I have set it up correctly I dont have to worry or think about it. I can make changes to rates and percentages and trust that it is correct.
I really like the new direct entry feature for the areas of our model where I dont have a calculation set up. It saves quite a bit of time and was a sensable change.
In general, it is simple to learn the software. I replaced the person who implemented the software, so I have not had to start from scratch. However with watching the training video's and a little playing around in the model I was able to get up to speed pretty quickly. I am now on my second budget with Alight and had no hesitation in making changes to the model to accomadate the changes of our organization.
Cons
Not all of the training video's are complete (at least they werent the last time I checked). I look forward to veiwing the further training. The video's are great but they dont address the oddities. Such as, why cant I get some total columns to total rather than showing as "n/a"? There are a few small things like that which dont effect the accuracy of the model but just cause minor annoyance.
While it is like a spreadsheet, there are spacing columns. It makes for a nice visual however when doing direct entry it means you have to hit the tab key an extra time between months. It would be great if those could be locked so that they just get bypassed.
The cons are pretty insignificant.
Overall
Working for Airlift has been my first exposure to budgeting so I am pretty green as far as that goes. I really think that if you can use Excel you can adapt pretty easily to using Alight. From there it is a matter of conceptualizing what you need it to do. Because it is not just a basic canned software program the versatility allows you to customize very well. It all comes down to matching the model to how you think.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2006
Partner, B2B CFO
March 25, 2010
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Pros
Ive been using Alight since early 2008, and I use it on many of my clients ranging from startups to businesses exceeding $100 million in revenue. Ive always appreciated the driver-based modeling focus which is really the heart of this powerful tool. As a user of other tools, Alight is the only modeling system with built-in causal analysis reporting allowing me to quickly understand the why of material variances.
The Alight learning curve is far from steep, and the support team is Class-A (Ben, Don, Chris, Randthese guys care and they truly know their game). Alight continues to be a product that evolves. Since my purchase there are have been more than two significant upgrades and numerous smaller enhancements and more are on the waythis means the Alight team listens to their user base.
As you conduct your due diligence when looking for a financial modeling tool, definitely check out the Alight whitepapersgreat content.
Cons
Not a con, but would like to see Alight eventually create a report writing tool--this is really a weakness in many mid-market modeling tools. The timing is right now that FRx is no longer being supported by Microsoft.
Overall
Awesome tool for strategic-based financial forecasting.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2007
Chief Financial Officer, Employee Benefit Mgmt Services, Inc
February 16, 2010
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Pros
Very easy to implement and use. Flexible reporting. Easy to modify for forecasting.
Cons
Cannot do a filter on a combination of second and third level dimentions
Overall
Excellent customer service and very flexible system. Meets our business needs.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2009
Senior Financial Analyst, St. Mary's Health System
February 12, 2010
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Pros
The software is easy to move around in and great to build with detail requiring analysts to develop pro forma financial statements from the ground up. I also very much like the dimensions and the filter components so I can build each department separately, yet can see a total for the entire project by taking off the filters. It takes time to build the pro forma financial statements, but at least I know it is being built accurately. I also very much like the fact that I can change components and it flows nicely through the pro forma financial statements.
Cons
I tend to have trouble downloading scenario comparison reports for all the different departments classified under dimensions. Either this is a limitation to the system or this is something I need to become more educated on. In the interim, I have to download 5 year projections for all dimensions for all scenarios and then cut and paste in Excel adding time.
In one model I also had to create a circular reference just to create a rolling equity section since there were earnings and distributions that weren't mirrored of each other.
Overall
Overall, this program is a fantastic program and I use it for larger projects as they arise. Spending the quality time building the pro forma financial statements on the front end help tremendously in the back end as changes arise. My only issue is the reporting mechanism that tends to add more time. Also, it would be nice to be able to combine models if that's possible. These things may be possible, though, and I'm just unaware as I haven't had much time to spend playing more with the system beyond what I currently know.
Purchased Date: April 01, 2009
VP of Accounting and Finance, SoftLayer Technologies, Inc.
February 02, 2010
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Pros
I really like that the product can be totally customized for your business. There are no canned payroll or asset modules, for example, that you are forced to use even though they may not fit your needs. The ability to set up the model so that the entire thing can be manipulated with a few key drivers is great, and being able to do this without worry of inconsistent or incorrect formulas or broken links is also great. I also like the ability to quickly craft multiple scenarios without changing the base case and then make changes across multiple scenarios at the same time is wonderful. The ability to set up multidimensional models is another key feature that I use. The ability to model in different stages (startup, prerevenue, growth, etc) is also handy.
Cons
I wish for 3 things: more time value of money functions, integration with my GL, and more robust reporting capability. Importing data from my GL is very simple but I would like the convenience of full integration.
Overall
I highly recommend the product. It takes a little longer to set up than other products with a series of canned modules. I found this to be a huge benefit in that you must clearly document your business model before jumping in. This is an extremely healthy exercise.
Bottom line, I can now perform analyses in a couple of hours that would literally take several days with my former budget/forecasting software or Excel.
Purchased Date: November 01, 2009
Analyst, United Seating and Mobility
January 28, 2010
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Pros
Aligned with Lean Financial Management techniques, breaking everything down into Units and Rates.
Ability to build KPI metrics into models.
Love the building up costs by rates, tying them to the units and then rolling them forwards for forecasting.
Imported into MAS90 in under 3 minutes!
Chris Vacano, the Support Manager, is the BEST!
Cons
You gotta whiteboard it out first, hard to start a model and then change directions mid-stream.
Can only export CSV from Ad Hoc report tab!
Almost needed to go into seclusion to build $75 million plus model.
Overall
After initial hesitation, I can really see how Alight will give us an opportunity to break the company down into its units and rates and then build it back up again. It will have a huge impact on cost control and our ability to move forward into a more Lean Culture financially.
Purchased Date: September 01, 2008
Partner, B2BCFO
January 26, 2010
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Pros
This is a driver based system which is how forecasts should be developed. It allows a layered approach to get revenue information developed prior to Cost of Sales etc. It allows for Key Operating Statistics to be developed along with the assumptions. Stress testing of the forecasts and pointing to goals is available to show companies which areas to improve to get performance.
Cons
None found yet in a year and a half.
Overall
I have used this on every client that I am engaged with including start ups and is flexible and shows deliverables well.
