Introduction

This 30-minute tutorial shows you how to adjust your forecasts in Planning.

Background

As you adjust your forecast, you can apply several techniques to modify data. You can copy data and paste it and then make further changes to that data. You can adjust data by a percentage or amount, and you can use quick commands to make your adjustments.

Data is spread automatically from summary to base time periods. You also can specify an amount or percentage by which values across multiple dimensions on the form are increased or decreased, based on the existing values in the target cells.

Include additional details to justify your forecasts by adding comments, attachments, and supporting details.

As you review and modify your data, you can control which rows or columns are displayed (or hidden). You can also sort the values in a row or column. Emphasize certain data by applying formatting.

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, you must:

  • Have Service Administrator access to a Cloud EPM Enterprise Service instance.
  • Have the Planning sample application (Vision) created in your instance.
  • Set the navigation flow to Financial Flow - Admin.
  • Upload and import this Word document into your Planning instance.

Performing Data Actions in Planning

In this section, you perform data actions including copying and pasting data, adjusting data by a percentage, and adjusting data with quick commands.

Navigating to the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Page

You navigate to an expense form to adjust data.

  1. From the Home page, click Financial Plan and then Expenses.
    2. Home Page with Financial Plan Cluster Open
  2. Select the fourth tab, Other Expenses.
    3. Expense Trend Assumptions Tab with Other Expenses Highlighted
  3. Click Entity.
    4. Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts Form with CEO Office
  4. Select CFO Office and click OK.
    5. Select a Member Dialog with CFO Office Selected
  5. On the POV and Page row, click Go Icon (Go).
    6. Expense Page on POV Before Clicking Go

Copying and Pasting Form Data in Planning

You can copy data within a form, from one form to another, or from another product, such as Microsoft Excel. When you copy within or among forms, Planning copies and pastes the cells' stored values, not the values that display based on the precision setting.

  1. On the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts page, for Public Relations, in YearTotal, enter 150,000.
    2. Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts Page for CFO Office
  2. Place your cursor in the Public Relations Q1 cell.
    3. Expense Form Q1 Highlighted
  3. Right click for the Actions menu, select Edit and then Copy.
    4. Expense Form with Actions Edit Copy Menu
  4. Place your cursor in the Jan cell for Rent Expense, and right click for the Actions menu, select Edit and then Paste.
    5. Form with Edit Menu and Paste Highlighted
  5. Place your cursor in the Feb cell for Rent Expense, and right click for the Actions menu, select Edit and then Paste.
    6. Expense Form with Edit Paste Menu Open
  6. Place your cursor in the Mar cell for Rent Expense, and right click for the Actions menu, select Edit and then Paste.
    7. Expense Form with Edit Paste Menu Open

    The data is copied to Rent Expense. Q1 for Rent Expense is updated and the data is automatically saved indicated by the green cells.

    Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts After Pasting Rent Expense

Adjusting Data by a Percentage in Planning

You can adjust data by a percentage or value. You can enter an Adjust by value and then select to either adjust by amount or percentage. Precede the value by a minus sign to decrease the value.

  • After entering a value in Adjust By, for an amount click Adjust Amount Icon (Value).
  • After entering a value in Adjust By, for a Percent click Adjust by Percent Icon (Percentage).
  1. On the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts page, place your cursor in Q1 for Advertising, and right click for the Actions menu, select Adjust, and then Adjust Data.
    2. Expense Form with Adjust Data Menu Displayed
  2. In Adjust By, enter 25, and click Adjust by Percent Icon Percentage, and click Apply.
    3. Adjust Data Dialog Before Adjust

    The value is adjusted, and the data is automatically saved.

    Expense Form After Adjustment

Adjusting Data with Quick Commands in Planning

You can use these shortcuts in simple forms to enter data.

Key or Symbol Result Example
K Enters a value in thousands. Enter 5K for 5,000.
M Enters the value in millions. Enter 5M for 5,000,000
Add or + Adds a number to the cell value. If the cell value is 100, entering Add10 after 100 results in 110.
Sub or ~ Subtracts a number from the cell value. If the cell value is 100, entering Sub10 after 100 results in 90..
Percent or per Multiplies the cell value by the percentage you enter. If the cell value is 100, entering per10 after 100 results in 10% of the current cell value, or 10..
Increase or inc Increases the cell value by the percentage you enter. If the cell value is 200, entering inc10 after 200 increases the cell value by 10%.
Decrease or dec Decreases the cell value by the percentage you enter. If the cell value is 200, entering dec10 after 200 decreases the cell value by 10% or 200 (20), to 180.
Power or pow Changes the cell value to the number, added as an exponent. If the cell value is 100, entering pow2 after 100 multiplies the cell value by an exponent of 2, to 10,000.
gr Grows a cell by a percentage. If the cell value is 200, entering gr50 after 200 increases the cell value by 100, to 300..
  1. On the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts page, place your cursor in Q1 for Property Tax and Insurance, and enter 48k.
    2. Expense page with Q1 Property Tax and Insurance Highlighted
  2. For Rent, place your cursor in Feb, and type 37500Add500.
    3. Expenses form with Feb Rent Expense Highlighted
  3. After typing the command, enter it.

    4. The value is adjusted. It is increased by five hundred.

    Expenses Form with Quick Command Add
  4. For Utilities place your cursor in Feb, and type 15000Per110.
    5. Expense form before typing quick command Per
  5. After typing the command, enter it.

    6. The value is adjusted. It is increased by ten percent.

    Expenses form after using quick command per

Spreading Data in Planning

In this section, you spread data from summary time periods to base time periods. Planning automatically distributes values from summary periods to base periods. Base periods are the bottom-level members of the Period dimension.

Note:

Date and text values are excluded when spreading data.

Reviewing the Impact of Account Type and Data Type on Spreading Data in Planning

Factors such as account type, the Time Balance property, existing distribution, member hierarchies, and data type affect how values are distributed, assuming that no data cells are locked.

Spreading data is depicted in the following illustration:

Spreading Data Visual Depiction

Spreading Expense Data in Planning

  1. On the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Depts page, ensure the POV is FY23, Plan, CFO Office and Working, and for Telephone Expenses, in YearTotal, enter 18k.
    2. Expense form with Telephone Expenses YearTotal Highlighted

    Because there were no values in Telephone Expenses, the value was spread evenly to all time periods.

    Expense form After Spreading Telephone Expenses
  2. For Advertising, in YearTotal, enter 50k.
    3. Expense form with Advertising YearTotal Highlighted

    Because there were already some values for the first quarter, the values were spread proportionally.

    Expense Form after Spreading YearTotal
  3. For Utilities, right-click in the Mar cell and select Lock/Unlock Cells.
    4. Expense Form with Q1 Utilities Highlighted
  4. For Utilities, in Q1, enter 55k.
    5. Utilities Q1 Highlighted

    Because March was locked, the change in the Q1 value was spread to January and February proportionally.

    Expense Form After Spreading with Locked Cell
  5. Click Home Icon (Home).

Spreading Data with Grid Spread in Planning

If your administrator has enabled Grid Spread as a form property, you can specify an amount or percentage by which values across multiple dimensions on the form are increased or decreased, based on the existing values in the target cells. Precede the value by a minus sign to decrease the value.

You can also, set a new value. When you set a new value, select a spread option:

  • Proportional spread: Spreads the value proportionally, based on the existing values in the target cells (default).
  • Evenly Split: Spreads the value evenly among the target cells.
  • Fill: Replaces the value in all target cells.

You immediately see the result in the form. If the form is not set up to save automatically then you can save the new data or discard it. When calculating the spread data, Planning ignores read-only and locked cells and cells that have Supporting Detail. Data integrity is ensured by spreading values only to cells you have write permission to.

  1. From the Home page, click Financial Plan and then Revenue.
    2. Home page with Revenue Highlighted
  2. Select the second horizontal tab – Accessories Revenue Plan.
    3. Product Revenue Plan page with Accessories Revenue Plan tab Highlighted
  3. In the upper right of the top grid, click Maximize Button (Maximize).
  4. Click Sales Entity.
    5. Revenue Form with Sales Entity Highlighted
  5. Select Sales East and click OK.
    6. Select Member Ok Highlighted
  6. Select the Television row.
    7. Revenue Form with row highlighted
  7. Right-click in the cell for Actions, and select Lock/Unlock cells.
    8. Revenue Assumptions Accessories form with Action menu open and Lock/Unlock highlighted
  8. Right-click YearTotal for Computer Accessories, and select Adjust then Grid Spread.
    9. Revenue Assumptions form with Adjust Grid Spread Menu
  9. In new value, enter 500,000, and click Apply to apply a top-level value to increase all accessories based on current sales trends.
    Grid Spread with New Value

    Values are spread proportionally to all the unlocked cells.

    Revenue Assumptions Accessories after Grid Spread
  10. Click Restore.
    11. Revenue Assumptions Page Restore Highlighted

    Values in cells are restored.

    Revenue Assumptions Page Restored
  11. Click Home Icon (Home).

Adding Details in Planning

In this section, you learn about adding documentation to your plan to provide justification. You can add documentation at different levels, depending on how general or specific the explanation needs to be. For example, enter very specific details at the cell level (called comments and supporting detail) and attach documents, such as reports or spreadsheets, to the cells.

Adding Supporting Details in Planning

You can add supporting detail to data to annotate how data values were derived. You can build logic into how a cell value is calculated, by using the built-in calculator, called Supporting Detail, to develop that value and save your assumptions behind the value.

For example, for an account called Travel Expense, add supporting detail to include detailed data for airfare, hotel, and other expenses.

  1. Start by navigating to the Other Expense tab by following the steps in the section “Navigating to the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Page”, and ensure that the POV includes FY23, Plan, CFO Office, and Working.
  2. For Utilities, right-click Feb, select Supporting Detail.
    3. Supporting Detail Action Menu Selection
  3. Select the Untitled row, and click Actions, and select Add Child.
    4. Supporting Detail Dialog
  4. In the top Untitled row, enter Utility Details.
    5. Supporting Detail Dialog after adding child
  5. For the Untitled row, enter Gas.
    6. Supporting Detail Dialog Enter Child Details
  6. For Gas, click in Feb and enter 6500.
    7. Supporting Detail Dialog Entering Child Details
  7. Select the Gas row, click Actions, and select Add Sibling.
    8. Supporting Detail with Add Sibling Option Displayed
  8. For the Untitled row, enter Electric.
    9. Supporting Detail Dialog After Adding Sibling
  9. For Electric, click in Feb and enter 9000.
    10. Supporting Detail Dialog Before Entering Electric Amount
  10. Select the Gas row, click Actions, and select Add Sibling.
    11. Supporting Detail Actions Add Sibling
  11. For the Untitled row, enter Water.
    12. Supporting Detail Dialog with Untitiled row Highlighted
  12. For Water, click in Feb and enter 5500, and click Save.
    13. Supporting Detail Dialog after all data is entered

    The data is saved. The cell with supporting detail is displayed with a teal color.

    Expense form with Supporting Detail Displayed

Adding Comments in Planning

To explain data or provide background, you can add comments to a cell or to a range of cells across multiple dimensions. After you add comments, a small triangle in the upper right of a cell indicates that it has a comment.

  1. For Advertising, right-click the February cell, and select Comments.
    2. .
    Expense form with Comments option on Menu Highlighted
  2. Enter Superbowl events advertising, and click Post.
    3. Comments Dialog after entering comment
  3. Click Close.
    4. Comments Dialog after post before close

    A small triangle in the upper right of a cell indicates that it has a comment.

    Expense Form after adding comment

Adding Attachments in Planning

You can provide background information on data by attaching a file to a cell or range of cells.

If your administrator selects the Enable Cell-Level Document property for the form, you can add attachments to cells. These attachments can be any file type such as an XLS file. You could attach several documents to a cell, each with updated assumptions behind the cell's sales data. The attachment icon indicates that a cell has an attachment.

  1. For Property Tax and Insurance, right-click Q1, and select Attachments.
    2. Expense Form Property Tax Q1 Highlighted
  2. Click Browse.
    3. Attachments Dialog with Browse Highlighted
  3. Select a file and click Open.
    4. File Upload Dialog
  4. Click Upload.
    5. Attachments Dialog after selecting file
  5. Click Close.
    6. Attachment Dialog with Close Highlighted

    The attachment icon indicates that a cell has an attachment.

    Expense Form with Attachment on Cell Highlighted

Organizing and Formatting Members and Data in Planning

In this section, you learn about simplifying the data presentation by controlling which rows or columns are displayed (or hidden). You can also sort the values in a row or column either in ascending or descending order. You can improve the presentation quality of the data by setting formatting options such as font, font size, and color.

Filtering Data in Planning

You can filter rows and columns to select which rows or columns to display on forms. You can filter data to keep or exclude members by using simple functions that compare against a specified value.

  1. Start by navigating to the Other Expense tab by following the steps in the section “Navigating to the Set Operating Expenses for Overhead Page”, and ensure that the POV includes FY23, Plan, CFO Office, and Working.
  2. Select the Q1 column, and click Property Panel (Property Panel) to view the properties.
    3. Expense form with Q1 Highlighted
  3. Click Data Icon (Data).
    4. Expense form with Q1 Highlighted
  4. In Filter, select > and in value, enter 30000.
    5. Expense form with Data Dialog Open and Filter Highlighted
  5. Click Keep.
    6. Filter Dialog with Keep Highlighted

    Only Q1 data greater than 30000 is displayed.

    Expenses Form
  6. Select the Q1 column, in Filter, click None.
    7. Expense Form Q1 Highlighted

    The form is restored to its original order.

    Expense Form Q1 Highlighted

Sorting Data in Planning

You can sort the values in a row or column either in ascending or descending order.

  1. Select the Q1 column, and under Sort, click (Sort Ascending).
    2. Expense form with Q1 selected and Sort Ascending Highlighted
  2. Select the Q1 column, and in Sort, click Sort Descending Icon (Sort Descending).
    3. Expense form with Sort Descending Highlighted
  3. Remove the sort by selecting the Q1 column, and in Sort, click None.
    4. Expense form with None Highlighted
  4. Click Property Panel (Property Panel) to close the designer Panel.
    5. Expense form with Data button Highlighted