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Planview Portfolios vs SAP PowerDesigner comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Planview Portfolios boosts visibility, efficiency, and decision-making, supporting strategic alignment and enhancing collaboration and operational performance.
Sentiment score
3.0
Users find SAP PowerDesigner cost-effective, enhancing efficiency and time savings, with some reporting a 43% return on investment.
It also delivers a set of shared metrics focused on customer value, such as speed and quality, to achieve business results while being able to roll up objectives and key results in the system where work gets done to ensure strategy informs execution and vice versa.
Project Manager at 3M
Reports and real-time analytics enhance real-time data-driven decision making.
Customer Service Representative at Roche
I also love the ability to provide visibility and transparency across an organization; it allows us to create custom reports and dashboards for easy data analysis, hence making data-driven decisions easily.
Project Manager at AT&T
I cannot put a number on it, but if you think about developing software manually or using a tool to generate software and considering the license cost of SAP PowerDesigner, the ROI is pretty positive relatively quick because it's not that expensive.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.3
Planview Portfolios customer service is mixed, with proactive support but occasional slow resolutions and varying assistance quality.
Sentiment score
5.9
SAP PowerDesigner support is valued for expertise but hindered by response delays and regional challenges, affecting overall satisfaction.
The customer support for Planview Portfolios has been quick to respond and very proactive since I have reached out to them several times.
Project Manager at AT&T
The customer support for Planview Portfolios is very proactive and responsive.
System Engineer at BNY
The customer support for Planview Portfolios is very proactive and responsive.
Project Manager at AT&T
I rate SAP's technical support a 9 out of 10 due to their responsiveness and the quality of assistance provided.
Manager at Saama
It relies heavily on VBScript, which is something that will be end of life in a few years in Windows.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
Regarding technical support, after a recent licensing issue caused a temporary halt, we realized the importance of tracking licensing and version updates to avoid future disruptions in service.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Planview Portfolios scales effectively for enterprise use, integrating well with tools, despite performance issues with large data loads.
Sentiment score
7.1
SAP PowerDesigner is scalable, efficiently handling large teams and projects, though some users have licensing concerns.
The scalability of Planview Portfolios is very effective, and it handles all of my organization's projects and tasks.
System Engineer at BNY
Planview Portfolios is very scalable because it grows with the organization.
Customer Service Representative at Roche
Planview Portfolios is very scalable because it handles my organization's growth, allowing us to work with both small projects and big projects at the same time.
Project Manager at AT&T
Currently, there are no scalability limitations in SAP PowerDesigner, allowing us to create numerous data models for various projects.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The scalability of SAP PowerDesigner is very good.
Senior Advisor-Data Modeling at Suncor Energy
Our main objective is to upgrade to the supported version and be able to do whatever we are doing at the moment.
Principal Architect at Sopra Steria
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
9.1
Planview Portfolios is reliable and stable, with minor performance issues often linked to external factors or large configurations.
Sentiment score
7.0
SAP PowerDesigner is stable, rated 7-8/10, but faces challenges with complex, remote, or customized environments affecting performance.
Planview Portfolios is very stable; I have not experienced any downtime.
Project Manager at 3M
Planview Portfolios is very stable.
Project Manager at AT&T
If you use a lot of customizations, especially using VBScript, it becomes less stable.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
This may lead to frequent downtimes requiring server maintenance; thus, it is not suitable for highly complex solutions, but moderate complexities can be handled.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product is reliable.
Principal Architect at Sopra Steria
 

Room For Improvement

Improving Planview Portfolios' integration, customization, automation, documentation, metrics, and UI could enhance user adoption and streamline management.
SAP PowerDesigner needs better database synchronization, UI improvements, enhanced collaboration, and integration with open-source technologies, plus reduced costs.
An important improvement would be to add more automation features and provide more online documentation videos that would make it much easier to use for non-technical users.
Customer Service Representative at Roche
Additionally, there should be plenty of resources online, such as tutorials and videos on how to guide and how to use Planview Portfolios, especially with its robust features, explaining each feature and how it works.
Project Manager at 3M
Reporting flexibility is needed so that end users can create their own quick ad hoc reports for analysis and for better data-driven decisions.
Project Manager at AT&T
SAP PowerDesigner does not have a cloud option. It's only on-premise.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
I would like to see a feature added to SAP PowerDesigner where, upon extracting data from a source, it automatically identifies relationships between tables.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The web portal is unstable and does not work. It freezes up all the time.
Senior Advisor-Data Modeling at Suncor Energy
 

Setup Cost

Planview Portfolios is costly but valued for large enterprises; the FLEX model offers flexibility, benefiting strategic alignment.
SAP PowerDesigner is costly and mainly for large enterprises, with high fees and annual support costs, limiting affordability.
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Planview Portfolios has been cost effective and affordable.
Customer Service Representative at Roche
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Planview Portfolios has been cost-effective and fairly pocket-friendly.
Project Manager at 3M
Planview Portfolios is one of the best and a very cost-effective tool.
Project Manager at AT&T
One issue is the cost, as it is a high-priced tool coming from SAP.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Planview Portfolios enhances productivity and decision-making through flexible reporting, resource management, and integration with Power BI.
SAP PowerDesigner enhances data management with modeling features, collaboration tools, and integration support, streamlining processes and improving consistency.
This enhanced visibility in Planview Portfolios ensures that all users can easily track progress, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions to optimize workflow efficiency.
Project Manager at 3M
End-to-end visibility enables us to analyze performance data across the organization to measure the success of strategic initiatives with key performance indicators and make timely decisions to ensure outcome realization.
Project Manager at AT&T
The comprehensive set of features empowers users to allocate resources strategically, analyze costs accurately, and align project timelines with available resources seamlessly.
Project Lead at Wells Fargo
The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It allows for a single source of truth for data standardization and consistency in data definitions, helping align business requirements with technical solutions.
Manager at Saama
SAP PowerDesigner doesn't only allow you to model the structure of your database, but you can also model data mappings or data flows or lineage.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Planview Portfolios
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (4th)
SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 2.9%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 8.6%, up from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP PowerDesigner8.6%
Planview Portfolios2.9%
Other88.5%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Monabi Kingsley - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at 3M
Centralized planning has improved resource visibility and supports data‑driven financial decisions
The best features Planview Portfolios offers are visibility enhancement, robust system performance, and comprehensive resource management. This enhanced visibility in Planview Portfolios ensures that all users can easily track progress, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions to optimize workflow efficiency. When discussing robust system performance, the system's robust performance in meeting our various work requirements effectively and efficiently stands out. It is very stable and reliable, contributing to a seamless user experience, which enables users to focus on their tasks without disruptions. I also love the financial breakdown, planning and prioritization, and attribute collection on projects in Planview Portfolios. Planview Portfolios has positively impacted my organization since I started using it. It has enabled me to gain insights into the full scope of work consuming resources. I am able to know where the resources are being consumed more, especially which resources are consuming the most. I have been able to leverage resources management and resource time reporting, which enabled the generation of $90 million in annual revenue through labor billing to customers.
HemantKUMAR6 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Architect at Sopra Steria
Customer support has delayed successful upgrade to supported version
It was a long time back when my company purchased it, but I am now participating in upgrading it to the latest version. I found customer support to be tedious during the upgrade process to the latest version. I tried to upgrade to a trial version before purchasing a new license. During that process, I had some technical issues. When trying to go from 12.5 to 16.5, I could migrate but faced technical challenges. When I approached customer support, they informed me that even 16.5 is not supported. They stated I would need to go to 16.7 before they could look at my issue. They didn't spend any time on the issue because according to them, 16.5 is not supported. Until I get 16.7 and complete the migration, I'm not getting any help from them. I was not too happy with the customer support. This was my only interaction with customer support, and I haven't received any resolution to my issue. It can be rated as low as zero because that's the only time I approached them. I cannot even say zero out of ten because I approached only once. Perhaps they are correct that they don't support 16.5, so they don't want to spend any time on that.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Government
6%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise66
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Planview Portfolios?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been that Planview Portfolios is one of the best and a very cost-effective tool.
What needs improvement with Planview Portfolios?
Planview Portfolios can be improved as the user interface defaults to the last opened portfolio, which can waste a lot of time loading a large portfolio if that is not what I need at that moment. J...
What is your primary use case for Planview Portfolios?
My main use case for Planview Portfolios is to ensure governance and decision auditability by incorporating embedded workflows, approval management, and key document retention supporting a single c...
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
Synchronization is vital since I experience multiple problems, such as mismatched models and manual DDL handling. Improving the synchronization between models and databases can enhance integration ...
What is your primary use case for SAP PowerDesigner?
I use SAP PowerDesigner for data modeling, which greatly enhances the clarity of my data management processes. I manage data across multiple databases, including cloud databases, Teradata, and Orac...
 

Also Known As

Planview Enterprise One, Troux
Sybase PowerDesigner
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UPS, NatWest, Ingram Micro, Canadian Tire, Viessmann, Volvo, NASCO, UNESCO
Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Find out what your peers are saying about Planview Portfolios vs. SAP PowerDesigner and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
912,788 professionals have used our research since 2012.