Vena Reviews & Product Details

The well designed data cube allows administrators and power users great flexibility in data structure and template creation. At the same time, casual users can easily enter data, run reports, create ad hoc queries, and drill to details. Vena has replaced all of the high maintenance Excel workbooks used to create budgets and generate financial statements in the past. It allows us to quickly consolidate a complex organization with more than 100 entities and easily report on any level, from a full division to a single location. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The user security features do their job but are probably the least intuitive part of the system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's based in Excel so Excel knowledge does carry over into a starting point for understanding and learning Vena. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The initial setup is very important, it's harder to make larger changes to how your data model works once you've done your initial setup. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena is Excel-based, which is helpful for just about anyone in FP&A. The level of complexity in the instance really depends on the goals & skill set of the FP&A team in question, and the investment in time a group is willing to train on the software. The complexity can come from writing calc scripts in Vena, creating links to external data sources, or just utilizing Excel formulas.

It's also very flexible; one can write static reports that can be manually changed as needed if standard formats are required, or more dynamic reports that can automatically detect changes in account mapping, which is a big time saver for a businesses that needs to add revenue or expense accounts.

Vena has obviously been working on automating connections with external data sources like Salesforce, which expands its usefulness. After the initial setup, this can be a big time saver, but the setup can take considerable time.

The sense of community has been good for us, as we joined a local area meetup to get ideas on what other FP&A teams were using the software for and found we could be using it better on our own team. We also attended the annual user conference which was fun and very educational.

The support staff is always helpful & responsive, and the account manager & coach we've worked with have been helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are few downsides, but here are a couple:

- for me, the "year: attribute" function can be tricky - when straddling fiscal years in terms of loading data (say you're closing FY20 but have FY21 open at the same time), I've been burned loading data to the incorrect fiscal year, and have had to go back and zero out an entire period's worth of data, re-load, change the year attribute to be correct, and then load the data correctly. This is user error, of course, but I wish Vena had a way to grab the date of transaction and automatically flag the load or provide some type of warning, or at least provide an "undo" feature to go back to the prior dataset.

- there are several different ways to do things, which is actually a huge positive, but it also can cause some issues when researching in the knowledge base. Some of the solutions seem like they could be handled in a simpler fashion but require the use of calc scripts, etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Overall, this is an analyst's dream. Ease of use hands down. The learning curve because it is excel based is minimal. The task binding to control privacy, choose function to quickly go between members, and the most important tool - the audit function for obvious reasons. I wish I would have had this available earlier in my career. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Dashboarding feature within Vena is still a work in progress, but because this is excel based, you can create your own or use power bi's free version. Report books emailing to other people needs work. Cannot email PDF or multiple sheets within one email. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ability to be able to use Excel to save information into a central repository. It's a god-send for us to be able to do this. We manage 63 + properties and trying to centralize their budge information for use in AM reporting has been a challenge. We have also been able to use this to do our weekly lease reporting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The workflows are very frustrating to create and cannot be easily updated. The member updates are very tedious. You have to use an import or spend a lot of time working through assignments and shares. We need more options to create connections with external data. Some of the knowledge base articles need updating and should be more expansive. The examples are so simplified, that anything with a complicated setup can never be covered. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ease of use is Vena's best feature. Reports are details enough and movement between report is fairly easy. Updating report and upload feature, drilling between report are some of the best features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only thing I don't like is time different between report. There is a time lag of 12 hours between 2 version history which some times irritate me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena is a powerful tool for developing and sharing forecasts and budgets. This application has allowed me to create powerful agile input templates for the end users to enter their forecast or budget projections. Vena makes the consolidation of this data easy: the consolidated data is displayed in reports and is easily refreshed with the push of a button.

The fact that Vena relies on Excel makes the learning curve less steep for some users. The entire setup process can be done internally as opposed to relying on second party consultants. Reports and input forms are built in Excel and while there is some learning required to master the mapping and data querying processes, it is fairly easy to comprehend.

Setting up and maintaining data cubes is intuitive and quick. Data hierarchies and dimensions can be either set up through the web interface (drag and drop type), mass upload via CSV file, or a combination of both techniques. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena relies heavily on Excel and therefore a robust knowledge of this tool is required to fully leverage the application's capabilities. Mistakes can easily be made if some users are unclear as to how the mapping process works. I wish there would be more control features in place to limit the type of input that some group of users can make.

The permissions setup process is a little too complex, with different overlapping layers of permissions. Setting up users can be challenging at first.

The mapping process in Excel can be time consuming for large report files. Each intersection cell needs to be mapped and although several cells can be mapped simultaneously, the process is still slower than querying data via Excel formula (as some applications allow). Mapping cells is done solely through a pop-up window in Excel and mapping cannot be copied through the standard Excel copy-paste feature. Also, mapping can become extremely slow on larger files (40+ sheets), with the Vena pop-up window taking as long as one minute to appear in these cases. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

-Integration with Excel

-Robust CPM and reporting solution

-Great training program

-Excellent Professional Services

-Affordable Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

-Loading data from Vena to Excel sheets could take time

-Some Excel templates and reports could get complicated very quickly

-Reliance on Vena consultants until you master Vena Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena is super user friendly - I can rely on my data being correct and consistent! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Having to save and refresh can become tedious at times, but I've gotten used to it! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love how easy it is to use and it is basically just using Excel. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish there was a way to have multiple users be able to checkout a hybrid file so they can all update their own individual data and not have to wait for the other user to check it back in. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena is user friendly and easy to use for the non technical person. Vena allows my imagination to run wild and then delivers, not only account reconciliations, budgets, fp&a! Vena has become a point of sale translator. If you can imagine it, you can use Vena to deliver it. The team at Vena is engaging. They check up on how things are going.

Vena takes a very different approach with customers. Their team is engaging with customers and truly care about your success not just as a customer but as a person. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would love to have Vena directly connected to our ERP (GP on Prem) for realtime access. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena has been such a positive in our world! After an exhaustive search, we decided that Vena was the system for ACME for financial reporting needs.

Within the first week of using the system we had 3 years of information loaded, consolidations performed and financial statements written.

The initial training was fantastic (we were lucky enough to get a good partner who gave me one-on-one training) so I was in control of the education. I realize that not everyone can get this kind of customized training, but it was worth it. I "drove" the process and the consultant corrected and helped me along during the process.

After we were on our own, we extended the processes to include budgeting and forecasting which has made analysis so quick and useful during changing times.

We are working with our ERP to get auto-transmission of data into the system but until we are able to get that working, we can mimic this process by manually loading the transactions from our system(s) so month end analysis on the detailed transactions are available on a consolidated basis. This has proved beneficial to parce out actual detail and give the responsible parties for analysis. Once we finally have an auto feed it will be a seamless process to any end user (only quicker).

Because Vena is more than a financial reporting software we are currently starting to use it for other database information. Tracking our PPE inventory, looking at metrics and historical information. Currently, we're running this information in excel and it's so much that it's bogging down our spreadsheets. Having refresh-able information at our fingertips is easing the stress. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Very little to dislike! I would like to see expanded training on the training website for more than the basics. (Calc's, setting up process flows, etc.) Since they've been adding new things quite often, i'm sure it's in the queue to be done. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love how easy it is to take any of my spreadsheets and integrate them into Vena. Was able to simplify a lot of spreadsheets but bringing the data in via the cloud rather than dropping it from our accounting system. We have also used it for employee reviews bringing in significant amounts of data and making life easier for our operations team. We have our financial reporting moved to vena and can update it on demand to have instant access to our statments and any reports we have built. Cut down month end close time significantly. We have so many other uses that we can think of and just need the time to implement. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

No major downsides. The user interface could be a little better. We primarily use it for budget and rollling it over from year to year could be better but the key is setting up everything right at the beginning. We have been a user from the early stages of the product and it has evolved significantly and we are catching up with all the changes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love how easy it is to create customized data pulls for specific, unique requests. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There needs to be a drag and drop feature for selecting multiple items implemented within Vena online. The online modeler function is too limited. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The most helpful thing about vena is data integrity and ability use existing data for array of various requirements such as budgeting, forecasting and other ad-hoc analysis in a relatively shorter time frame. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The downside is that it would take time to learn the program and how to use it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Integration with Excel and flexibility of system. Control of data and ease of use of admin features. I like the interface and easy mapping.Also, i like that Vena keeps evolving and adding new features and new tools over time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Users can't write their own queries/reports. Had difficulties with data integration but the new integration tools make that easier. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how Vena integrates into excel so there is a very little learning curve. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have had issues with saving the data/template which meant I lost a lot of work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena does a great job at organizing your data into a simple database format. Your data can be complex, but with Vena, it's easy to draw it down and organize it into ways that make sense. FP&A is now easier and our processes sped up. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The learning curve and more advanced building processes can be tough to wrap your head around at first. Setting up your own template and making mistakes will help you learn sooner as you work with your Implementation manager. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena is an excellent product for a more sophisticated management of Excel workbooks and financial data Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The user speed of normal Microsoft products and other software is the norm, and Vena's technology is not quite at the same speed that efficient Excel superusers are used to. Vena could also improved in the documentation of its product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena solutions is a platform that allows you to connect people, systems and data to enhance business planning, it has a fast learning Excel interface and it perfectly integrates all the tools in addition to having an unparalleled spreadsheet platform that integrates external data sources in real time, it is also shown as a program that actively seeks to improve your project management skills, business performance management and financial reporting. Vena integrates very innovative budget management tools such as "what if" scenarios, Balance Sheet, Asset Planning and Profit from Loss just to mention a few. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

With Vena solutions it can take time to make templates that have a certain degree of difficulty, the automation of the generation of reports could need an update that enhances its operation, to go a little deeper into the different options of customization of the platform can be complicated and support is needed at a given time with this program users will need to make certain tests within the platform so that then the work runs more smoothly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that it is an Excel plug-in so it is easy for end users to pick up. You have the ability to develop reports pulling information through Vena and then add Excel functions and design features to make your reports look exactly how you want them. In our industry, we were able to not only use financial information but also demographic, consumer product choices among others. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The development of the templates requires that you are very familiar with Excel functions if you want to take advantage of all features offered. It may require some help from your IT department to fully set up templates. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

That it is built directly in excel. Can quickly create reports and use formulas in excel that we all already know how to use. Vena has improved out budgeting process and enhanced all aspects of FP&A. We currently have a small finance team and did not want to make more people investments at this time. Vena tools has eliminated the need for more people.

The adhoc feature was a great addition as it sped up the process of creating one off reports. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The current mapping process can be a drag at times. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ability to provide timely FP&A information as well as build complex budget with an automated process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Lack of direct integration with other ERP solutions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Vena's ability to spin different reports depending on our needs. One format of report can be used to view stat accounts by department or region, GL account by department or region as well as comparative data among different processes. I love. being able to create a new report on the fly which allows me to analyze and scrutinize the data in ways I never would have been able to do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The load time of some bigger templates. I know it is because of the amount of data and how many intersections need to be pulled up or saved but it would be so much easier if the load times were even half as long. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.