Plan Interface

The Plan tab consists of 3 sections - Action Menu bar at the top, data table grid and the bottom pane.

Allocation features available on the data grid and driver-based planning have been explained in the previous sections. Let's now explore the Action menu bar and the bottom pane which has additional options to fine-tune your plan series.

Action Menu Bar

Action Menu Bar

1. Standard Plan/Driver Based Plan

Switch between standard planning and driver-based planning using this menu option.

Standard Plan/Driver Based Plan

Allocation features used for a standard plan as well as the driver based planning have been explained in the previous sections.

2. Forecast

It is used to perform Time Series Forecasting as explained in the previous sections.

Forecast

3. Copy to Periods

This is explained under Allocation Features.

Copy to Periods

4. Distribute

You can distribute total value to periods and/or dependencies equally/ by weights. Check this section to know more.

Distribute

5. Goal Seek

Goal Seek is already explained in the section: Goal Seek.

Goal Seek

6. Lock/Unlock Cell

Click on any cell, row, or column that you want to lock. Then click the Lock option in the menu bar. Locked cells do not get affected by any of the allocation methods.

Click 'Lock'

In this example, US node is locked which is indicated by its graying out and lock symbol. US node and all its children would be unaffected by any allocations that would be done in the future.

Locked cells are greyed out

To unlock, simply click on the locked cells and select Unlock.

You can also lock or unlock by clicking the lock icon in the action column as highlighted in the below image.

Unlock Cells

7. Number Formatting

It is used for changing the scale and to increase or decrease decimals for nodes whose Scale property is set as User selected.

Number Formatting

8. Reset

Reset is used to undo the last change made. Click Reset and a confirmation to revoke the last made change appears which you can confirm or cancel.

Reset Last Change

Use the drop-down arrow next to it to click Reset All which clears all the performed changes and resets to the initial state of the plan series.

Reset All

9. Logs

It preserves a log of all the changes made to the table along with the date and time of change.

Click Logs to open the logs. You can search, view, select and highlight, or delete the specific changes in the log. Click on Clear Logs to clear all the logs.

Logs window

10. Notes

Select any cell and click Notes to add new notes. After adding a note, click Save to save it.

Add Note

Cells with added notes are distinguished from other cells by a triangular mark at the top right corner as shown below. On hovering your mouse over the cell, you can view, edit or delete the notes.

View, edit or delete notes

To view all the added notes at once, click the Show All Notes option from the Notes menu.

Show All Notes

Here, you can search, edit, or delete the added notes.

All Notes - window

11. Export to Excel

Export the plan series to Excel using this option .

Export

12. Refresh Data

In case of any changes to the input data, Refresh Data can be used to update the plan report as that of the source data. On refresh, the plan gets updated and the allocation performed on the plan gets re-applied to the recent data.

Click 'Refresh Data'

On clicking Refresh Data, a confirmation pop-up appears.

Confirm Refresh Data source

Click Confirm to re-run the calculations on the recent data.

Refresh Data option is available only when the user chooses to keep the source data in the report (Checked 'Keep Source Data in Report' option).

13. Settings

Click on this option to update the closed period. This option lets the user update the actuals, close the current period and update the active/open periods.

Settings

14. Search

Search for any node on the model by clicking the Search bar. After clicking, enter the text using which you want to search the nodes. The search result nodes are highlighted and the results dropdown displays the results which navigates to the highlighted nodes.

Search

15. Filter

The Filter icon can be used to perform a condition-based search on the model. Multiple filter criteria can be provided by the user to perform advanced searches across different node properties. To add multiple criteria, click the Add Filter option and choose between AND or OR conditions.

Disable All can be used to toggle between the states of filter and no filter. Clear All will delete all the applied filters.

Filter

16. Autofit

You can auto-size the tabular columns to fit the visual window size for a better view by clicking on the Auto Fit icon.

Auto-fit

17. Display Settings

It has options to hide/unhide the Actions column as well as hidden nodes.

Display Settings

18. Formula Bar

It shows the formula or the number contained in the selected cell.

Formula Bar

Actions Column

Some of the frequently used actions like viewing node properties, log, node preview, lock/unlock, edit node, add and delete node options are available in this column beside each node that pops up when you hover your mouse over it.

Actions Column

Bottom Pane

It contains the information about the total number of nodes, last applied change, tab container with all the plan series tabs and + (Add New Series) icon to add new plan series.

Bottom Pane