Vena

Vena has delivered huge value for us in a flexible package that can grow with our business effectively and efficiently. Vena let us keep our existing financial system and our customer Excel quoting apps. And built a reporting system on the back of Excel which everyone already knows. The road to value was fairly straightforward for us.

Vena is a toolbox of powerful opportunities. It is not an out-of-the-box accounting system. So you have to know exactly what you want out of Vena before deploying it. But this is true of any data warehouse. Knowing how data is to be extracted and presented requires upfront commitment and execution. Time spent in the planning phase will pay off 10X in the execution phase.

Honestly, if you have used other planning software, I can not really say there is much.

• No web interface that shows your financials. All financials must be displayed through reports that you build through Excel. Yes, you can pull intersection data and get a dump, but that is cumbersome.
• Loading headcount takes up to an hour to load since it needs to be customized.
• Mapping a report takes too long. You must map not just columns and rows, but the “page”, or global like dimensions. Vena should be smart enough to know this without the user, it is not.
• Mapping a report takes way too much space. You can not nest a query within a cell.
• Hard running a report with two global assumptions. You have to create another intersection mapping.
• Hard to audit a complicated report, hence you are incentivized not to, therefore what is the point?
• Reports and input sheets can exist on the same report sheet. Though useful at times, it is easy to override data and can get confusing. Though you sometimes have to do it for modeling purposes.
• The software learning curve peaks too early. I understand having a simple software, but not at the expense of functionality.
• Writing intricate code to help automate financial planning is not practical. There is only a primitive editor, and no result box that guides you. Our consultants told us do not even try because they seldom touch it. Specifically, it is extremely hard to validate what is occurring.
• Building a three-statement model is a disaster. Imagine building a balance sheet, but not being able to pull a number from the

Vana is a software that allows to carry out tasks either financial or accounting in a customized way by means of calculation sheets and templates very similar to the established Excel tool, except that in this opportunity offers a greater number of options that conform to the specific requirements required by the current administrative systems of the enterprises. With this program, automated reports can be made enabling the preparation of managerial plans, with a high level of protection that will enable you to function without fear of filtering such data. It adapts very well to different industries and enables archives to be imported and exported quickly

The monthly cost of the tool is very high relative to other similar ones, but of course, it should be remembered that it is a tool targeted at medium and large businesses, so that the price for large organizations can be manageable.