Executive Scenario Planning with Anaplan Training Course

Course overview

Executive teams need to make capital, workforce, pricing and market-entry decisions before all facts are known. Static annual budgets and disconnected spreadsheets cannot show the financial, operational and strategic consequences of competing choices quickly enough. This course equips leaders and planning professionals to use Anaplan as a controlled environment for testing scenarios, comparing assumptions and presenting decision-ready recommendations. Participants learn how to turn uncertain business conditions into structured executive choices with clear trade-offs, triggers and accountability.

The course covers the scenario-planning process from decision framing through model design, driver selection, assumptions governance and executive reporting. Participants work with Anaplan models, lists, modules, versions, line items, dashboards and management reporting views to build base, upside and downside scenarios. They practise linking strategic objectives to measurable drivers, modelling sensitivities, applying what-if analysis, defining approval routes and interpreting scenario outputs. Particular attention is given to designing models and executive views that expose the assumptions behind a recommendation rather than merely producing more numbers.

Delivery combines instructor-led explanation with guided Anaplan build sessions, executive case discussions and group decision workshops. Using a realistic enterprise planning case, participants configure a scenario model, create input and reporting pages, test changing assumptions and prepare an executive scenario pack. Each participant leaves with a reusable scenario-planning blueprint, including decision questions, driver definitions, scenario logic, reporting requirements and an implementation plan for applying Anaplan in their own planning cycle.

The course is suited to executives, finance and strategy leaders, planning managers and Anaplan users who need to move from routine forecasting toward disciplined, cross-functional decision support.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Frame executive decisions as scenario questions with defined choices, constraints and decision owners
• Configure Anaplan lists, modules, line items and versions for a multi-scenario planning model
• Define strategic and operational value drivers using a documented driver tree
• Build base, upside and downside scenarios using controlled assumptions and what-if inputs
• Create sensitivity analyses that quantify the impact of changes in volume, price, cost and timing
• Design Anaplan management-reporting pages that compare scenarios against executive decision criteria
• Establish scenario governance through assumption ownership, workflow stages and approval controls
• Produce an executive scenario pack containing recommendations, trade-offs, triggers and next actions

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Chief Strategy Officers and Strategy Directors — who need a repeatable way to evaluate strategic choices under uncertainty
• Finance Directors and FP&A Leaders — who must connect financial forecasts to operational and strategic scenarios
• Business Unit Leaders — who need to test growth, investment and resource-allocation choices before committing funds
• Enterprise Planning Managers — who design cross-functional planning cycles and scenario governance
• Anaplan Model Builders and Solution Architects — who need to translate executive questions into usable planning models
• Transformation and PMO Leaders — who require decision models to assess programme benefits, risks and delivery options

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable reading management accounts, budgets, forecasts and basic business cases, including revenue, cost, margin and cash-flow concepts. Experience contributing to an annual planning, forecasting or performance-management process is useful. Learners should also be able to work confidently in spreadsheet-style tables and understand simple formulas, filters and charts. Prior Anaplan experience is helpful but not mandatory; the course introduces the required model-navigation and build concepts. Advanced financial modelling, coding, data science and prior certification as an Anaplan model builder are not required. Complete beginners should expect structured guidance during the hands-on model exercises.

Training methodology

The instructor demonstrates each scenario-planning technique in Anaplan before participants apply it to a connected enterprise case. Short teaching sessions establish the decision and governance concepts; guided labs then cover model structures, calculations, versions, UX pages and reporting views. Teams debate a changing market scenario, agree assumptions and defend their recommended response using model outputs. Daily reviews connect technical configuration to executive use. On the final day, each participant completes an application plan and presents the structure of an executive scenario pack for their own organisation.

Course outline

Day 1: Framing executive scenarios and navigating Anaplan

• Executive decision framing using choices, uncertainties and constraints
• Scenario-planning lifecycle from trigger identification to decision review
• Anaplan workspace, model and module navigation
• Lists, hierarchies and dimensionality for executive planning models
• Line items, formats and summary methods
• Versions and version comparison for alternative futures
• Driver trees linking strategic objectives to planning measures

Workshop: Participants map a live-style executive decision into a scenario charter with decision criteria, owners, uncertainties and measurable drivers.

Day 2: Building driver-based scenario models

• Model architecture for strategic, financial and operational planning
• Anaplan modules for assumptions, calculations and outputs
• Formula design for revenue, cost, margin and cash-flow drivers
• Time settings and planning horizons for rolling scenarios
• Base, upside and downside version structures
• Selective access and role-based scenario input controls
• Model-map review for dependency and calculation traceability

Workshop: Participants build a driver-based Anaplan model that calculates revenue, margin and cash flow across three scenario versions.

Day 3: Testing uncertainty and managing assumptions

• Assumption registers with source, owner, confidence and review date
• What-if analysis using editable driver inputs
• Sensitivity tables for price, volume, cost and timing changes
• Break-even and threshold analysis within scenario outputs
• Constraint modelling for capacity, headcount and capital limits
• Scenario triggers and early-warning indicator design
• Data import considerations and controlled integration inputs

Workshop: Participants run a sensitivity workshop, identify decision thresholds and produce an assumptions register for a market disruption case.

Day 4: Executive reporting, workflow and governance

• Anaplan UX pages for executive input and scenario review
• Management-reporting page design for decision-focused comparison
• Charts, grids and KPI cards for scenario storytelling
• Variance analysis between plan, forecast and scenario versions
• Anaplan Workflow stages, tasks and approval routes
• Governance rules for assumptions, model changes and auditability
• Executive narrative structure for recommendations and trade-offs

Workshop: Participants configure an executive scenario-review page and workflow, then prepare a recommendation narrative supported by model evidence.

Day 5: Applying scenario planning to enterprise decisions

• Cross-functional scenario alignment across finance, sales, operations and HR
• Capital allocation and portfolio prioritisation scenarios
• Workforce and capacity planning scenario applications
• Strategic risk response and contingency planning
• Scenario review cadence and reforecast decision rules
• Implementation roadmap for an Anaplan scenario-planning capability
• Executive scenario pack structure and presentation standards

Workshop: Participants complete and present an executive scenario pack and 90-day implementation plan for embedding the approach in their planning process.

Tools & standards covered

Anaplan, Anaplan UX, Anaplan Workflow, Anaplan CloudWorks

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions