Number of Seats/Users: Open Plan offers discounts based on the number of users or seats. A higher volume typically leads to a better discount structure, especially for enterprise-level usage.

Commitment to a Long-Term Contract: Discounts are often provided to companies that commit to using the service for a longer period (e.g., 1-year or 3-year contracts). A longer commitment shows Open Plan that the company is serious and willing to invest in the platform long-term.

No Active Discounts: Companies that are not already receiving other active discounts may have a better chance of qualifying for additional discounts from Open Plan. Open Plan reserves discounts for new customers or those not currently under promotional pricing.

Volume or Usage Commitment: Open Plan offers discounts if you agree to a minimum amount of usage or transaction volume. This could be based on data storage, transactions, or other metrics tied to how much you will use the platform.

Enterprise-Level Negotiation: Companies that qualify as “enterprise” due to their size or complexity (e.g., having large teams, multiple departments, or geographical presence) may be eligible for additional discounts from Open Plan. Such companies are often in a position to negotiate for better pricing.

Early Renewal or Prepayment: Open Plan often offers discounts if you renew early or prepay for the entire contract period. This is a common approach to securing a lower price.

Here at Spendbase our internal data shows that Open Plan lands very positively with most project-focused teams, especially in complex engineering, aerospace, and government programs.

From what Spendbase clients tell us, the strongest upsides are:

• Serious scheduling power
• Critical path analysis and resource allocation are used heavily.
• Strong support for multi-project and program-level views.

• Built‑in schedule “health checks” are a big win for audit and governance.

• Ease of use for a pro-grade tool

• Described as “user friendly” once set up correctly.
• Lots of standard views and reports that reduce manual Excel work.

• Rapid data entry and flexible filters help planners move quickly.

• Compliance and integration

• Widely trusted for IPMDAR/IPMR and similar reporting.
• Popular integrations: Cobra, PM Compass, Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Jira.

• This reduces duplicate data entry and keeps finance, PMO, and engineering aligned.

• Vendor support

• Our clients frequently highlight Deltek’s support quality as “outstanding” and responsive.

At the same time, our internal data shows repeating pain points:

• Skills and adoption
• Lack of experienced Open Plan talent in the market.

• New users can feel a steep learning curve without proper training.

• Stability and performance

• Reports of occasional crashes or instability, especially on large, complex schedules.

• Total cost of ownership

• Enterprise licensing plus the need for training and possibly consulting can push up the real cost.
• Some teams overbuy licenses they don’t fully use.

As a Spendbase discount specialist, this is how we typically act on these insights for Open Plan:

• Push for tiered pricing that matches actual active schedulers vs. occasional viewers.
• Negotiate bundled discounts when Open Plan is bought with Cobra, PM Compass, or other Deltek tools.
• Secure training and onboarding credits to offset the skills gap and improve adoption.
• Ask for stability-focused roadmaps and sometimes extended support terms where crashes have been an issue.
• Review usage data to cut shelfware licenses and reinvest savings into higher-value modules or support.

Overall, our clients see Open Plan as a high-value, specialist scheduling platform, and the right discount strategy usually focuses on matching license levels and services to the real, day‑to‑day usage.