Vena for Excel lovers
Updated November 26, 2020
Vena for Excel lovers
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Vena
- Primarily use was planning with input from all departments, reviews and approvals by heads of departments, and consolidation and analyses by finance.
- Now used for monthly reporting with monthly distribution of financial reports to users, analysis of results by finance, preparation of presentations for internal and external purposes.
- Currently implementing a rolling forecast.
- Now used for monthly reporting with monthly distribution of financial reports to users, analysis of results by finance, preparation of presentations for internal and external purposes.
- Currently implementing a rolling forecast.
Pros
- Flexibility and easy to use, mostly thanks to Excel.
- Easy access for users to high level financial information and detailed transactions.
- Planning functionalities (full budget and rolling forecast).
- Workflows.
Cons
- Integration with other software.
- Technical glitches.
Do you think Vena delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Vena's feature set?
Yes
Did Vena live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Vena go as expected?
No
Would you buy Vena again?
Yes
- Monthly reporting became less time consuming.
- Better forecasting accuracy (WiP).
- Cost of licenses.
I was not directly involved in the sales process but it seems to have gone very smoothly.
The implementation was a bit more complicated as it seems Vena did not have enough resources to support their sales ramp-up at the time.
After that, I have had only great support experience, both with their help desk and with our account manager.
The implementation was a bit more complicated as it seems Vena did not have enough resources to support their sales ramp-up at the time.
After that, I have had only great support experience, both with their help desk and with our account manager.
2 examples come to mind to illustrate the agility we gained with Vena:
- Thanks to the integration of Vena with our accounting software, users can now directly and independently access the accounting information on a daily basis, at the finest level of information (transactional), which both empowers them to pilot their areas of responsibility and free up some time for the financial team for value-added activities instead of extracting data.
- We also have implemented a rolling forecast process that we (Finance team or end users) can constantly update to provide the best estimate of our financials at any moment
- Thanks to the integration of Vena with our accounting software, users can now directly and independently access the accounting information on a daily basis, at the finest level of information (transactional), which both empowers them to pilot their areas of responsibility and free up some time for the financial team for value-added activities instead of extracting data.
- We also have implemented a rolling forecast process that we (Finance team or end users) can constantly update to provide the best estimate of our financials at any moment
Vena Feature Ratings
Vena Solutions Attributes
Using Vena
40 - Finance team
Program & department coordinators
Senior management
Program & department coordinators
Senior management
1 - 1 Senior financial analyst with advanced Excel expertise
- Yearly budgets
- Monthly reporting
- Rolling Forecast
- Rolling Forecast
- Quarterly financial reviews
- Staff cost allocations
Evaluating Vena and Competitors
Yes - It replaced old versions of:
Prophix (planning)
Management Reporter (reporting)
Prophix (planning)
Management Reporter (reporting)
- Advisor recommendation
- Implementation support
The single most important factor was how user-friendly the software was, both for the finance team, and for the end users across the organization. Having an Excel-based solution was definitely a great selling point because I know (and the Vena team knows) that most financial analysts always revert to Excel to create and distribute complex reports.
No change
Vena Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
The training part of the implementation was outstanding. The consultant gave us a full tour of the Vena basic functionalities, helped us set up our universe, and showed us how to upload data into the Vena database. Right after this 2 day training, I was able to create all the templates i needed for my planning process, and get started with our reporting and budgeting processes.
Using Vena
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Familiar | None |
- Monthly reporting
- Rolling Forecast
- Integration with accounting system
- Narrative input
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