This blog tells the story of how Edwards Lifesciences transformed a struggling Anaplan implementation into a thriving Anaplan Center of Excellence (CoE) with help from consulting partner B EYE. You will learn how the team proved value quickly, established governance and design standards, and built scalable planning models. The piece shares lessons learned from the journey, as well as best practices for creating a sustainable Anaplan CoE.
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Anaplan Center of Excellence Case Study: Edwards’ Urgent Need to Prove Value
When Jiří Palásek‘s team inherited Edwards Lifesciences’ Anaplan environment, the picture was bleak. Ownership of models and budgets was distributed, governance was fragmented, user experiences were inconsistent and costs were rising. Only a few active users remained, and some stakeholders were even considering switching the platform off entirely. According to Jiří, the mission was clear and urgent: “Prove the value of Anaplan fast, while establishing governance, standards and capabilities for a scalable, sustainable future.” In the first weeks the team delivered a high‑impact planning system for a major EU market and introduced company‑wide standards:
- Consistent naming conventions across all models – eliminating confusion and improving maintainability.
- Unified design and visualization guidelines – creating a common look and feel that users could understand easily.
- Formal architecture reviews – every project was subjected to a technical review to ensure scalability and performance.
- Shift from ‘black‑box’ waterfall delivery to an agile model – focusing on iterative releases and early feedback.
- Centralized license ownership and budget under the CoE – removing administrative hurdles and enabling better cost control.
These quick wins secured executive sponsorship, built credibility and provided a strong pipeline of projects from financial planning and analysis (FP&A) processes to bonus calculations.
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Anaplan CoE: Tackling Low Adoption, Fragmented Ownership and Technical Debt
Edwards’ CoE faced three major challenges: low user adoption, fragmented ownership and technical debt. To address low adoption, the team partnered closely with business users to show them what was possible and to emphasize how Anaplan could make their lives easier. They centralized governance and license budgets to avoid duplication, partnered with vendors while developing internal capabilities, built a network of super users in each business unit, and automated wherever possible to improve speed and accuracy. These actions align with recommendations from B EYE’s Anaplan experts: a CoE should enable innovation and continuous improvement, establish a clear vision and governance model, build stronger partnerships with business units and elevate end‑user engagement and trust. CoEs cannot operate in a vacuum. They must engage with functional teams to surface new use‑case opportunities and align planning solutions to real business needs. Edwards’ approach ensured that the platform evolved in step with the business. A successful CoE elevates end‑user engagement by empowering users through training, transparency and responsiveness.
Anaplan CoE Scaling: From Dozens to Thousands of Users
Over time the CoE evolved from a small local team into a global community. Anaplan became the foundation for dozens of business processes, and the results were remarkable: the number of users expanded from dozens to thousands, applications grew from about five to more than forty, and adoption shifted from skepticism to trust. Scaling this quickly required both technology and a deliberate focus on people, process and culture. Edwards’ team distilled their experience into five lessons for anyone starting or scaling an Anaplan CoE:
- Show the art of the possible – inspire the business with what’s achievable.
- Start small, think global – quick wins fuel sustainable scale.
- Automate relentlessly – free up time for value‑added work.
- Build strong partnerships – across business, IT and vendors.
- Invest in team culture – passion and collaboration are non‑negotiable.
When combined with a culture that empowers experimentation and feedback, these principles help a CoE stay aligned with changing business needs and unlock ongoing value.
Jiří Palásek summarizes the journey well:
B EYE’s Contribution to the Anaplan CoE: Co‑Creating Success
Throughout Edwards’ journey, B EYE served as an external Anaplan development partner. Although not officially part of the CoE team, B EYE worked side by side with Edwards’ CoE – sharing ideas, exchanging best practices and aligning on design principles. This collaboration produced a mutual exchange of value: B EYE delivered impactful models while the CoE structure provided direction, structure and visibility. The partnership illustrates how a broader ecosystem can strengthen a CoE; a CoE is not built solely by those at its core but also by the contributors around it.
B EYE’s main contributions included:
- Delivering high‑quality models – B EYE built scalable sales‑incentive, sales‑quota and forecast/AOP models, providing tangible success stories that proved the value of Anaplan across functions. Clear and transparent logic reduced manual calculations and boosted confidence and motivation among sales teams, thereby supporting revenue growth.
- Sharing best practices – through regular touchpoints, B EYE aligned with the CoE on modeling standards, governance and performance optimization. This helped mature the CoE’s framework and ensured that new models were consistent and future‑proof.
- Extending capacity – as external developers, B EYE provided additional bandwidth to deliver critical projects faster, supporting the CoE’s credibility inside Edwards.
- Enabling adoption – by designing user‑friendly models, B EYE made it easier for business users to engage, strengthening the CoE’s mission of driving adoption.
The CoE also enriched B EYE’s work by guiding priorities, providing governance and standards, and creating learning opportunities. Exposure to the CoE’s approach to adoption, stakeholder engagement and best practices helped B EYE’s developers understand the broader Anaplan ecosystem and grow beyond “just development.”
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High-Quality Anaplan Models for Edwards Delivered by B EYE
In partnership with Edwards, B EYE focused on three main planning areas:
- Sales Incentives models – ensuring transparency and motivation. B EYE developed logic to streamline complex incentive structures across different business units and regions. The models provided clear, transparent visibility into sales performance and payouts, reducing time spent on manual calculations and boosting confidence across the salesforce. Transparent compensation is a key driver of motivation and revenue growth.
- Forecast & AOP (Annual Operating Plan) models – enabling accurate planning cycles. Working closely with finance teams, B EYE built models that integrated key drivers and offered scenario flexibility. These models allowed teams to run more accurate forecasts, align assumptions across functions and shorten planning cycles. The result was stronger financial insights and greater confidence during critical budgeting periods.
- Sales Quota models – enabling fair quota distribution and improved capacity planning. B EYE supported quota‑setting processes by balancing top‑down targets with bottom‑up account potential. This approach ensured fairer quota distribution, improved sales capacity planning and provided leadership with better visibility into how targets aligned with growth objectives.
These projects gave B EYE the chance to contribute technical expertise while learning from the CoE’s broader vision. Seeing how development work strengthened adoption and governance was a rewarding reminder that a successful Anaplan Center of Excellence is built not only by those at its core but also by the ecosystem of contributors around it.
Keep Reading: Anaplan Model Quality Assessment: Enhancing Performance and Sustainability
Final thoughts: Why Every Organization Should Invest in an Anaplan Center of Excellence
Integrated business planning platforms like Anaplan promise agility, collaboration and data‑driven decision‑making. However, without a structured approach they can become fragmented, underutilized and costly. A Center of Excellence provides the governance, expertise and cultural foundation needed to realize the platform’s potential.
For organizations starting their own journey, remember that a CoE is about people and process, and that you can partner with consultants like B EYE when you need bandwidth or specialized skills. Our experts can help you build an Anaplan Center of Excellence that delivers sustainable value and drives lasting transformation.
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