Customer Satisfaction
7.7/10
7.7
User Experience
7.4/10
7.4
Functionality
7.3/10
7.3
Business Value
8.7/10
8.7

Lucanet

What is Lucanet?

Integrated software portfolio for financial performance management with solutions for financial consolidation and close, financial planning and budgeting, financial and legal reporting, ESG, tax and additional financial management topics.

BI, Analytics & CPM
● Reporting / Dashboards
● Analysis
– Advanced Analytics
●● Planning
●● Financial Consolidation

= Function covered, ●● = Functional focus

= Function covered
●●
= Functional focus

ESG
● Reporting / Dashboards
● Analysis
● Disclosure Management
●● ESG & KPI Management

= Function covered, ●● = Functional focus

= Function covered
●●
= Functional focus

About Lucanet

The information in this section has been provided by the vendor of Lucanet.

Self-description of the vendor

At Lucanet, we’re not just building software. We’re building confidence, driving growth, and empowering the office of the CFO to lead with ease.

Lucanet is the CFO Solution Platform built for modern finance leaders to automate financial consolidation and planning, disclosure management including ESG reporting, lease accounting, and tax compliance and reporting.

Lucanet screenshots

Lucanet videos

References
a&o Hotels and Hostels, Condor Flugdienst GmbH, Engel & Völkers AG, Hawesko Holding AG, TOSHIBA GmbH, Urban Sports Club GmbH , VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG, Volkswagen AG
Partners
KPMG, BDO AG, PKF München, RSM Ebner Stolz, PwC, PAS, Rödl & Partner, xax, Datev, Global Climate GmbH …

Lucanet BARC Review & Rating

This section contains our independent analyst views on Lucanet.

Provider and product description

Founded in 1999, LucaNet is a German vendor with a focus on CPM for finance including tax and financial disclosure management solutions. The company is headquartered in Berlin with additional offices in Europe, Asia and the United States. LucaNet has over 5,000 customers in 50 countries worldwide and employs more than 800 people. In 2022, Hg acquired a majority stake in LucaNet to support the company’s growth and ambition to become a global leader. In 2022 and 2023, LucaNet itself acquired its long-term partner Amana (with solutions for taxation, disclosure management, XBRL and leasing) and ementexx (digital banking and cash management software).

LucaNet’s software portfolio comprises end-to-end solutions for the office of the CFO including consolidation, financial planning and budgeting, financial and legal reporting, ESG reporting, tax and additional financial management topics, which can be used in any combination. LucaNet offers an automated financial close solution including financial consolidation, data collection and validation, intercompany reconciliation and disclosure management, supported by workflow management tools. All products are targeted at business users and are based on a proprietary, multidimensional, in-memory database (LucaNet.Financial OLAP Server). The database provides a predefined data model with intertwined business rules for establishing an integrated financial planning model and creating consolidated financial statements. Using the same logic, it is possible to compare planned versus actual data dynamically and at group level. LucaNet.Importer provides a variety of predefined connectors to common ERP and financial accounting systems. It is also possible to collect and validate data via a web interface, including an intercompany reconciliation. In the latest versions of LucaNet, the vendor has functionally enhanced the product’s rich client and web client, modernized the user interface and user experience, and improved the integration of its acquired products.

LucaNet software is based on Java and offers both cloud (leveraging Amazon Web Services) and on-premises options. The cloud services possess all the necessary ISO certifications. Building LucaNet as a real software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform with all the functionality available in the web is a strategic goal for the vendor.

In addition to LucaNet’s core capabilities, an integrated development environment called ‘Script Designer’ offers functionality to design individual forms, calculation rules and applications. Using Script Designer, LucaNet provides standardized apps for financial solutions (e.g., IFRS 16) and operational planning scenarios that can be used to feed the vendor’s inherent financial planning model. However, operational planning is not the focus of the solution. Apps can be adapted to customer-specific needs and requirements.
For reporting and analysis, LucaNet offers an Excel add-in, but third-party offerings such as Microsoft Power BI or others may also be used. The platform’s open architecture allows these front ends to access the LucaNet.Financial OLAP Server and/or LucaNet Financial Warehouse (usually based on Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle) including the hierarchies, structures and values. For disclosure management, ESEF reporting and ESG reporting requirements, LucaNet offers a fully integrated proprietary software solution, acquired with the Amana takeover.

Strengths and challenges of Lucanet

BARC’s viewpoint on the product’s strengths and challenges.

Strengths
  • Business-user-oriented and certified (IDW PS 880) CPM platform for integrated financial management of individual subsidiaries or at group level. LucaNet’s software portfolio comprises solutions for financial consolidation and close, financial planning and budgeting, financial and legal reporting, ESG, tax and additional financial management topics.
  • Integrated financial management capabilities with extensive predefined business rules. The product is essentially a CPM platform (particularly for financial consolidation and close) with complementary and tightly integrated financial planning functionality. Its planning functionality is geared towards LucaNet’s consolidation logic.
  • Supplementary prebuilt but adaptable apps for financial solutions (e.g., IFRS 16) and industry solutions.
  • LucaNet received excellent customer feedback for its business value, customer satisfaction, and the planning content and financial consolidation functionality it provides as well as for its predefined data connectivity and data integration into the product’s proprietary multidimensional database. The vendor offers a strong collection of more than 300 (partially certified) connectors to ERP and financial accounting systems with semantic support including drill-down functionality (e.g., SAP ERP, SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics, DATEV, Sage, etc.).
Challenges
  • Operational planning is not the primary focus of the solution and user feedback shows that some customers would prefer greater flexibility for operational planning. For complex requirements, a tool-linking approach with additional third-party products may be necessary, which LucaNet supports through its open architecture and integration capabilities.
  • Limited functionality for individual reporting and analysis via Excel add-in. However, proprietary LucaNet OLAP cubes can be accessed by third-party analytics front ends using XMLA or can be replicated in a standard database management system.
  • Creation of complex individual apps with LucaNet’s integrated development environment is more technical and script-based so may require consulting support from implementation partners.
  • While LucaNet continues to develop a new web client that will replace the rich client, the functionality of the web client is still limited compared to the rich client (e.g., no administration). The new web client currently focuses on the visualization and analysis of data. Functional enhancements will be published in upcoming releases.
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Lucanet User Reviews & Experiences

The information contained in this section is based on user feedback and actual experience with Lucanet.

The information and figures are largely drawn from BARC’s The BI & Analytics Survey, The Planning Survey, The Financial Consolidation Survey and The Data Management Survey. You can find out more about these surveys by clicking on the relevant links.

Summary of user review highlights from Lucanet

What users like about Lucanet and where the product scores best in a user comparison.

Why users buy Lucanet and what problems they have using it

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Individual user reviews for Lucanet

Role
Line of business employee
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
IT
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Schnelle Einführung. In relativ kurzer Zeit sind erste Ergebnisse zu erzielen.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

App für Handy oder Tablet ist überfällig; Oberfläche wirkt antiquiert; Webversion nur über neues Lizenz Modell nutzbar; ESG-Funktionalität sollte auch ohne Zusatzsoftware möglich sein. Lucanet-Formel müsste auch in MS Word nutzbar sein. Einsatz von KI/AI für Forecast/ Planung.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Hier muss man unterscheiden. ob man mit LucaNet direkt die Einführung machen möchte oder ob man einen Dienstleister dafür nutzt. Wir haben die Einführung direkt über LucaNet gemacht und sind zufrieden damit. Wir hatten ebenfalls Gespräche mit KPMG für die Einführung. Hier hätte man sicherlich etwas mehr fachlichen Background gehabt. Jedoch haben wir uns hier für die deutlich günstigere Variante entschieden und haben es nicht bereut. Der Preisunterschied hätte dies nicht gerechtfertigt. Ich empfehle bei größeren Einführungen Termine vor Ort zu machen.

How would you sum up your experience?

Rundum eine gelungene und zügige Einführung.

Role
Consultant
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Services
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

It is a really financial oriented solution. IT skills are not needed.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Select a partner with real experience not just in LucaNet but also in financial planning process.

How would you sum up your experience?

I think LucaNet is the top FPM solution in the market.

Role
Line of business employee
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Real estate
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Einfache Struktur, einfache Einarbeitung der Mitarbeiter.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Leider ist der Support nicht oder kaum noch telefonisch erreichbar.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Gute Schnittstellen zum ERP-/Vorsystem.

How would you sum up your experience?

Bisher gut, auch vorherige Arbeitgeber hatten das System, daher habe ich dies in jetzigen Unternehmen vorangetrieben. Ich arbeite ausschließlich bei der Planung / dem Forecast mit Excel - die Schnittstelle ist super - da mir Buchungen in LucaNet zu unübersichtlich und für spätere Nachfragen nicht nachvollziehbar sind. Inzwischen habe ich eine Vielzahl von Excelwerkzeugen zum Import und Export geschaffen.

Role
Head of business department
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Textile manufacturer
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Flexibilität. Selbstständige Zusammenstellung von Reporting-Schemen. Schnelle Berechnungsprozesse. Import/Export-Funktionen. Übersichtlichkeit.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Vereinfachung Skripte / Datenimporte.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Planungsprozesse überdenken / optimieren. Datenstrukturen bereinigen. Reportingmappen vorab genau definieren, da diese selbst aufzubauen sind in LucaNet.

How would you sum up your experience?

Viel gelernt über Datenstrukturen und Abhängigkeiten von Daten. Beim Einführen größerer Zeitaufwand aber später im Einsatz viel Effizienz und Schnelligkeit in Prozessen und Analysen gewonnen.

Role
Project manager for planning from business department
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Manufacturing
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Sehr einfach in der Einführung und Pflege. Intuitive Bedienung der Anwendung, kurzer Lernprozess.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Einfach machen.

How would you sum up your experience?

Schnell und einfach das beste Ergebnis.

Role
Project manager for planning from business department
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Trade association
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Flexibilität und Unabhängigkeit des Anwenders. Hervorragender Support. Angemessene Informationen über Neuerungen (keine E-Mail-Flut).

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Häufigerer Kontakt zum Vertrieb bzgl. Neuerungen oder Ermittlung individueller Optimierungsmöglichkeiten.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

How would you sum up your experience?

Die beste Entscheidung um ein Ergänzungstool zum Buchhaltungsprogramm für Planung/Reporting und Konsolidierung zu haben.

Role
Project manager for planning from business department
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
NPO
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Gute Performance. Schnittstellen.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Teilweise umständliche Eingabe. Planungstool könnte mehr Funktionen haben. Group Report zu häufig notwendig.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Übernehmen Sie nicht zu viele alte Daten, insbesondere wenn sich die Konzernstruktur oder die Anzahlen der Sachkonten/Kostenstellen zwischenzeitlich merklich geändert hat.

How would you sum up your experience?

Insgesamt schnelle Implementierung, wenig Fehler aber Schulung notwendig und Self-Service ausbaubar (liegt aber auch an fehlender Kapazität beim Kunden).

Role
CIO
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Transportation and logistics
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Flexibility and speed.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Additional apps / multiple layers looking similar - sometimes not easy to understand the links between the various data layers.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Make a good assessment of the structure and process for data collection.

How would you sum up your experience?

Very good - I've been working with it in previous companies, it is the easiest and fastest software for this purpose.

Role
Consultant
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Consulting
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Sehr intuitive und schnell zu implementierenden Konsolidierungssoftware.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Dimensionenmodell ist noch stark begrenzt.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

How would you sum up your experience?

Wir arbeiten sehr gut und gerne mit LucaNet zusammen.

Role
Head of business department
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Manufacturing
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Flexibel, einfach, transparent, übersichtlich, logisch.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Eigentlich keine weiteren Ansprüche. Geplant ist die BI-Integration für 2024.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Nicht länger zu warten.

How would you sum up your experience?

Unsere Anwender sind sehr zufrieden und die komplexen Planungs- und/oder Konsolidierungsaufgaben können effektiv und effizient erledigt werden.

Role
Consultant
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Consulting
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Intuitiv und flexibel. Sehr guter persönlicher Kontakt

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Technischer Support nicht immer erreichbar. Operative Planungsmöglichkeiten sind deutlich verbesserbar.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Fokus auf Finanzplanung.

How would you sum up your experience?

Alles in allem sehr gut.

Role
CEO
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Manufacturing
Source
Invited by the vendor, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Anwenderfreundlichkeit und Schnittstellen.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Neues Pricing-System.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

„Learning by doing“: Bauen Sie die Strukturen etc. selbst auf und sammeln Sie so wertvolle Erfahrung im Umgang mit LucaNet.

How would you sum up your experience?

Eine der, wenn nicht sogar die beste Software-Entscheidungen im Finanzbereich unseres Unternehmens in den letzten 10 Jahren.

Role
Head of business department
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Services
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Stabilität im Ladeprozess und das standardisierte Reporting.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Flexible Analytik ist kaum möglich. Die Bedienung im Unterbau ist etwas umständlich und starr.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

How would you sum up your experience?

Alles in allem ist es ein gutes Tool zu einem fairen Preis.