# Retain Resource Planning Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Is Retain Resource Planning the right Resource Management solution for you? Explore 20 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/132356/Retain-Resource-Planning/reviews

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Retain Resource Planning

4.4 (20)

[View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/132356/Retain-Resource-Planning/alternatives/)

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Last updated March 13th, 2026

# Reviews of Retain Resource Planning

Ease of use

4.3

Customer Service

4.2

## Pros and Cons in Reviews

DH

Dan H

Vice PresidentInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months.

“The focus and attention from the customer service team has been almost immediate throughout and all issues have been professionally and succesfully dealt with.“

April 25, 2024

ts

tapani s

GMMechanical or Industrial Engineering, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“a bit vulnerable for inexperienced users, still very failsafe and insensitive to incomplete data fed in to system“

November 9, 2021

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 1-20 of 20 Reviews

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Most Helpful

Rating

Company Size

Reviewer's Role

Length of Use

Frequency of Use

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Electrical Engineer  
Telecommunications  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "Retain - Trusted and user friendly resource planner"

August 4, 2019

5.0

Retain Resource Planning application helps me utilize resources at the organization I work and lets me manage resources for the future. I was never disappointed with Retain.

Pros

Retain is an amazing resource planning software I found recently. And I loved it from the first use. It helps me plan future work at our organization very easily like no other planner has done. I like the user friendly interface very much and how it is available as a desktop application, web application and a mobile app. I love how customizable it is and it also support multiple currencies.

Cons

I have not experienced any cons so far. It's a highly reliable product.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Thank you for your feedback, it is great to hear that you love our product. We are always looking to make improvements, so if you do have any suggestions please contact us at info@retaininternational.com

TR

Tanya R.  
Workflow & Resource Manager  
Accounting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Can't imagine not using Retain "

May 6, 2021

5.0

Before Retain, we used an excel tracker for staffing. Everyone entered this information differently, which posed issues for accurate reporting. Retain has allowed me not only to compile and display this data in multiple views and functions. It has allowed accurate and timely reporting to upper management and is now serving as the main tool in our workflow planning meetings, enabling myself and management to make staffing decisions based on live and accurate data.

Pros

Retain is the resource management tool I needed to be proactive in planning and forecasting staffing solutions. Plans view is the selling point for me. Being able to see all the staff jobs planned on a calendar is what led me to decide to implement Retain at my firm rather than other resource management software. The Skills feature is allowing a small firm like FK to hone in on Staff's skills and thus finding the perfect "fit" when staffing a job using this feature.

Cons

I dislike when I am in the middle of reviewing someones plans and I get timed out. Or when there are additional upgrades to the software, and all my settings and features have been restored to factory. Another thing that could be improved on is bringing additional editing shortcuts from Retain Wallchart to Retain Cloud. The ability to crop and resize bookings is something that I am missing in my day to day handling of staff's plans.

Alternatives considered

[Kantata](https://www.capterra.com/p/110832/kantata/)[Float](https://www.capterra.com/p/136078/Float/)

Reason for choosing Retain Resource Planning

It came down to ease of use, reliability and customer care. Retain was leaps and bounds ahead with all of the above, while still providing superior software.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Thanks for your feedback, Tanya. Sorry to hear that you are having a problem with timeouts. We are aware that this is an issue and unfortunately a number of external factors unrelated to Retain can cause issues with timeouts. We are investigating root causes on this issue. Please contact us on info@retaininternational.com so that we can discuss your specific issue further. As part of our Roadmap for cloud we are adding additional functionality to Retain Cloud planner. This includes improved planner functionality to support better selection, block copy, cut/split bookings & view rotations between jobs and resources.

EM

Eric M.  
Technology and Business Intelligence Lead  
Accounting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Retain should look to transform from resource management to experience management"

August 30, 2022

3.0

Using Retain is like going to the dentist. You know you have to go, but are not excited about it.

Pros

The Search feature is most impactful and the Table View is easier to use.

Cons

The reporting feature is nothing more than a means to dump raw data in MS Excel. The reporting comes after our experience managers manipulate the data into actionable information.

Review Source

IT

Isaac T.  
Finance Manager  
Utilities  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Resourceful Platform for Project and Tasks Planning "

April 22, 2024

5.0

Retain Resource is integral in brings suitable mechanisms of managing all the resources in a business

Pros

The program brings organization to all the business resources that companies have, and accurate allocation is done.

Cons

The software has made consistent assistance in managing resources.

Review Source

DH

Dan H.  
Vice President  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Hits the mark!"

April 25, 2024

5.0

Overall, Retain has driven greater and more immidiate visibility of engagements and utilisation right across the workforce. The focus and attention from the customer service team has been almost immediate throughout and all issues have been professionally and succesfully dealt with.

Pros

The ability to have a real time view of the workforce provides critical actionable insight at a management level, whilst also assisting our team leaders in accurately managing existing deployments and planning for upcoming epeak and troughs.

Cons

The scrolling function takes some time to get used to.

Review Source

TD

Tram D.  
Resource Planning Assistant Manager  
Financial Services  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Retain's Review"

August 31, 2022

4.0

Overall, our experience with product Retain Cloud (Web version) is fine. I used to use Retain Wallchart (App version) previously in PwC Vietnam then I could recognized the enhancement as well as disadvantages of Retain Cloud. The good points of this product are some reports can perform like Power BI, users (at manager level) can customized their view and all users can access the system from any devices. As for the drawbacks, we noticed that your technical teams have done all their best to enhance the functionalities gradually. BDO Singapore separately sent them some requests and got their feedbacks very fast (except for some still in consideration to develop in future :), and we still keep following up on that )

Pros

The color pallets - It's really helpful for us to definite the booking's types, engagements manager and bookings purposes. Secondly, granting user access to the Retain Cloud is easily and conveniently.

Cons

The reporting functions does not work well per our expectation. We appreciated the efforts of supporting team for their fast actions on our requests. However, currently we often use only 3-4 in total 20 types of designed templated. Our resource team will work more with Retain Supporting team on this matters on a later date.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

October 5, 2022

Thank you Tram for your review. The colour themes are designed to provide some meaning to your resource planning data and so it is good that you have discovered this very important feature. Resource management is very visual and the planner views can get very busy and so this was one of the reasons we included colour themes in the early releases. Please feel free to leave your ideas on our Ideas portal: https://retain.ideas.aha.io/

ET

Eugene T.  
Senior Manager  
Automotive  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Easy to Use"

November 8, 2021

4.0

Our organization uses only the basic functions of Retain Planner. This is partly because the users aren't interested in the additional features. However, it could also be argued that if the intermediate/advanced features were more intuitive and easier to use, the users may be more inclined to try them out.

Pros

Our organization uses only the basic functions of Retain Planner. For that purpose, we find Retain Planner to be very easy to pick up and use.

Cons

For the intermediate features (e.g. Reports), usage is somewhat less intuitive and workarounds are often needed. For this, we need support from more experienced internal users or Retain technical support.

Review Source

RL

Rahim L.  
Director, IT  
Financial Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "CPAB Review"

August 29, 2022

4.0

We have used the on prem version for many years and have migrated to the could platform. Generally the product does we we need it to do.

Pros

The new version is on the cloud. THe GUI is easy to use. Very little training required for staff.

Cons

We wish the product has more out of the box reporting. Visual reports that look just like the dashboard.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

October 5, 2022

Many thanks for your feedback about your experiences using the Retain Cloud platform. One of our initial goals with the newer cloud platform was around low-touch and self-sufficiency and so it is good to hear that post-implementation that you have got up and running. Our reporting capability is being enhanced in each quarterly release where we enable more data to be reported on. Please look out for our release notes that will summarise the key changes and speak to us if you require any help. Please feel free to leave your ideas on our Ideas portal: https://retain.ideas.aha.io/

CB

Ciaran B.  
Audit Application Support  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Easy to use, logical software"

November 2, 2021

4.0

Pros

I have Taken over the the Retain admin for my company about a year and a half ago and have found it a very easy software to pick up. It is easy to use and very logical. There are so many customizable fields that we can use for anything and the support have been great at helping me get used to the tool. We have it tailor made for our business now and I think it does a great job at helping us manage our resources and bookings

Cons

There's some annoying bugs that happen in our retain that are very hard to get to the bottom of, for some example every now and again we will get triplicate bookings during our SAP import and the next day (import) it will correct itself. It's hard to identify and the root cause for little things sometimes

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Thank you for your feedback, it is great to hear that you have found the software very intuitive and customisable, that is the experience we wanted to provide. Regarding the triplicated booking issues, I suspect this is an issue with your SAP integration. Please contact us at info@retaininternational.com so we can help you further.

BS

Bas S.  
Assistent Accountant and Retain contact person  
Accounting  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Revieuw By Bas"

August 21, 2022

4.0

Pros

The constant updates and once the configurability.

Cons

The lagg/slow scrolling. It is rather slow to use I have to admit. It also logs me out often during a day and it gives a lot of errors nowadays when planning with Roles(requests).

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Thanks for your feedback, Bas. Sorry to hear that you are having a problem with timeouts. We are aware that this is an issue; unfortunately, many external factors unrelated to Retain can cause issues with timeouts. We are investigating the root causes of this issue. Please contact us at info@retaininternational.com so that we can discuss your specific issue further.

JR

Jason R.  
Engineering Solutions Manager  
Public Safety  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Retain resourcing"

August 24, 2022

4.0

Overall I use it every day and am happy that it helps me plan my team resources effectively and provides me with the capacity planning required to make recruitment and priority decisions.

Pros

I simply like the resource wallchart views

Cons

The resource booking feature - a very poor experience.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

October 5, 2022

Many thanks for your feedback about your experiences using the Retain Cloud platform. One of the primary goals of the planner views – Resources or Projects/Jobs, is to help you visualise what is happening in resource planning. We take note however of the comment about the resource booking feature and so please feel free to speak to us about how we can help improve the use of this capability using our Ideas portal: https://retain.ideas.aha.io/

tS

tapani S.  
GM  
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "retain planner use"

November 9, 2021

5.0

very good experience, this software has served us since 2006 for 2500 resources and for 1500 projects so far

Pros

easy and fast to use, configuration quite easy

Cons

a bit vulnerable for inexperienced users, still very failsafe and insensitive to incomplete data fed in to system

Reason for choosing Retain Resource Planning

needed a standard application with professional support. system architecture for SQL database were a must for the decision

Review Source

TS

Trideep S.  
Portfolio lead  
Accounting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Retain Review"

August 24, 2022

4.0

Resource time bookings are being managed for engagements

Pros

Easy to use and install. Gets detailed time booked , generates reports.

Cons

Not very robust when it comes to changes.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

October 5, 2022

Many thanks for your feedback about your experiences using the Retain Cloud platform. The Retain platform has been designed with data granularity as one of the key requirements for resource planners. It is therefore possible to create a booking anything from an hour to weeks or months. The date range selector will define how much data you can see on a single screen. These are planner-view fundamentals. Regarding your comment about making changes, please speak to our support team if this becomes a major concern.

MF

Matt F.  
Finance Director  
Printing  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Easy to use and helpful Resource Management tool"

July 29, 2022

5.0

Pros

Planning and calendar functionality helps us to predict potential bottlenecks and squeezes further into the future, and allows us to flex resourcing from other available resource pools with the appropriate notice - or set customer expectations accurately and appropriately.

Cons

Integration into timesheets would be a helpful addition in the future.

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Hi Matt, thank you for your feedback and we are pleased that your business is gaining value from implementing Retain Cloud. Just to let you know that we are now able to support this requirement plus the ability to report on bookings vs. actuals. Please contact us directly for further information.

CG

Catriona G.  
Internal Audit Finance Manager  
Pharmaceuticals  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Retain Resource Planning Review"

November 4, 2021

3.0

Pros

Retain is a useful tool for resource planning

Cons

The reporting and analytical functions of Retain require improvement

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Hi Catriona, thank you for your feedback and we are pleased that your business is gaining value from implementing Retain Cloud. Our reporting capability has significantly improved over the past few months and will continue to do so with our quarterly releases. If there is anything in particular that your business wishes to see, then please contact us info@retaininternational.com as we are always looking for new ideas to improve our product many of which are coming from existing users.

JB

James B.  
Senior Manager  
Accounting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Cloud product still maturing"

May 31, 2023

4.0

Pros

For our teams Retain is synonymous with resource planning so moving to the cloud product was an easy sell and required very little training.

Cons

The cloud product is still fairly new and we have come up against a range of bugs affecting user experience. They have not been mission critical but it undermines the potential of the new platform.

Review Source

ZA

Zehra A.  
Resourcing  
Management Consulting  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great tool for forecasting and report running"

October 7, 2022

5.0

Pros

It is very easy to use and has many functions.

Cons

It's not something that effects the product but the aesthetic of the Wallchart seems very outdated and could do with a new look.

Review Source

CB

Carien B.  
COO  
Law Practice  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Why you should use Retain for Lawyers"

November 3, 2021

5.0

Pros

It makes it possible to with a birds eye view see who is utilised and who isnt. Equal distribution of work is made easier and associates take ownership of their skill set and exposure they want to receive.

Cons

No report on skills, this would make it a lot easier to review by HR and Management.

Reason for choosing Retain Resource Planning

n/a

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 5, 2022

Hi Carien, thank you for your feedback. I am pleased to inform you that we now have the capability to report on skills. We are happy to give you and your team a demo on how to use this feature, please contact us at info@retaininternational.com. Thank you.

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Managing Director  
Financial Services  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great resource management "

October 5, 2022

5.0

Pros

Simple clear management of resources and skills across the team giving an accurate overview of the future resource planning and capacity

Cons

Time sheet functionality would be beneficial

Review Source

ND

Nick D.  
Finance Director  
Accounting  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "Retain review "

July 29, 2022

5.0

Great - good product and very good customer support

Pros

Simple to use planner grid - easy to find and select correct resources

Cons

I would like to see Timesheets with an approval workflow

Reason for choosing Retain Resource Planning

Roadmap and intuitive / ease of use

Review Source

Response from Capita Retain

September 7, 2022

Thanks for your feedback Nick. Timesheet approvals is something we are investigating for our Cloud and On-premise solutions at the moment. Have you looked at our ideas portal? https://retain.ideas.aha.io/

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