“sharing data is easy”

Pros

Across the organization, this software makes sharing data between different teams much simpler and gives us one reliable source of truth instead of juggling multiple spreadsheets and data sources. The interface being in Excel for most business users especially with cubes, is a big advantage because anyone already comfortable with Excel pivot tables can start using it with almost no learning curve. Permission management is easy and the ability to impersonate different users is something I really appreciate. It's also very convenient that the system can be accessed directly through the browser.

Cons

I'd really like to see email alerts whenever a job failure occurs. Updates to hierarchies can also take longer than expected at times. That said, EBM has been making plenty of improvements lately, including UI updates that should give users more visibility and control, along with SQL Enterprise which is expected to cut cube processing time by more than 3x.

“excel integration feels accessible”

Pros

The Excel integration makes the software feel very accessible to use.

Cons

It relies heavily on pivot tables for most tasks although there are workarounds available.

“powerful reporting and adoption”

Pros

The simplicity, overall user experience and flexibility on the admin side are excellent. Strong user adoption along with self service reporting has helped our organization improve its financial understanding of the business, while giving us real-time reporting and data sharing capabilities.

Cons

The automatic connection to the cube could use some improvement.

“dashboard visuals are helpful”

Pros

Data is presented through dashboard-style visualizations which makes it easier to review and understand at a glance.

Cons

Some of the data points in the EBM export are not very accessible so they can be a bit confusing to interpret.

“versatile tool”

Pros

Has been very user friendly while still offering a lot of versatility and the integration with other applications has been a real plus for our workflow.

Cons

An issue we've run into is the one day lag between our ERP and Catalyst and setting up multiple uploads during the middle of the day has caused several problems when updating cubes and related data.

“user friendly reporting depth”

Pros

Navigation feels very accessible and it's simple to drill all the way down to the lowest level of data whenever there's a discrepancy to investigate.

Cons

One limitation is that I can't fully delete users who are no longer part of the organization.

“powerful multi-system reporting”

Pros

Something I really appreciate is being able to pull data from multiple systems in one place.

Cons

A lot of people seem intimidated by it since building useful reports in this software takes quite a bit of time and know-how.

“useful for forecasting”

Pros

It works well as both a forecasting tool and a POS reporting solution which makes it useful in more than one area.

Cons

Creating sales reports and getting them to refresh isn't very user friendly which makes that part frustrating to deal with.

“custom insights at every level”

Pros

Getting it up and running was easy and the information is always right at my fingertips in whatever view my colleagues and I need. It's highly customizable and has put an end to the old debates between finance and other departments about which version of the truth is correct.

Cons

There's really nothing we dislike about the software, it does exactly what we need it to do.

“accurate reports and quick access”

Pros

Navigation feels very easy, the reporting is accurate and all the information is kept in one place so it's simple to pull up whenever needed.

Cons

Has been a really solid tool overall and I'm very happy with the program so there are no downsides to report.