Planning sheets

The Planning sheets component of Plan (preview) enables organizations to implement structured, collaborative, and data-driven planning processes within their enterprise data environment. A Planning sheet is a structured workspace in Plan that allows users to enter, update, and analyze planning data across defined business dimensions such as time, department, account, or product. Planning sheets provide a controlled environment for budgeting, forecasting, and scenario analysis while ensuring that planning data follows organizational rules and governance policies. The platform is designed for business users and features a no-code, self-service architecture.

Why use Planning sheets?

Use Planning sheets to deliver strategic business value by helping your organization do the following:

• Improve forecast accuracy through data-driven planning

• Accelerate planning cycles with streamlined workflows

• Align cross-functional teams on shared plans and targets

• Maintain controlled governance and approval processes

• Reduce risks associated with manual spreadsheets

Planning sheets also provide measurable operational outcomes, including:

• Shortened budget and planning cycles

• Increased reliability of forecasts

• Reduced effort required for data reconciliation

• Improved auditability and compliance of planning processes.

Where to use Planning sheets

Plans are used in several areas of the platform:

• Budgeting: Define annual or quarterly budgets.

• Forecasting: Update projections based on current performance.

• Financial planning: Model revenue, expenses, and profitability.

• Operational planning: Plan metrics such as sales targets or headcount.

• Reporting and analysis: Compare plan data with actual results in dashboards and reports.

Key capabilities

The following table lists the core capabilities of Planning sheets.

Capability	Description	Key features
Data exploration and analysis	Enables users to interactively explore planning data to identify trends, patterns, and anomalies.	- Filtering and sorting data - Top N ranking - Hierarchy navigation - Grouping rows and columns - Adjustable column widths and layouts
Planning and forecasting	Supports enterprise planning workflows including budgeting, forecasting, and scenario analysis.	- Budget creation - Forecast management - Scenario analysis - What-if simulations - Rolling forecasts - Version management and snapshots
Business logic and calculations	Allows users to define formulas, calculations, and custom logic directly in planning sheets.	- Insert data input rows - Add template rows across hierarchy levels - Create formula rows using Excel-style expressions - Insert manual input columns - Create calculated columns and measures - Apply quick formulas for common calculations
Data integration (InfoBridge)	Integrates data from multiple sources to support unified planning and analytics workflows.	- Data consolidation from multiple sources - Data transformations (merge, append, pivot, group) - Real-time data integration - Data mapping between planning sheets
Collaboration and comments	Enables team collaboration and review directly within the planning interface.	- Notes and annotations - Comment threads - @mentions- Email notifications - Comment digests
Write-back and data storage	Allows planning inputs to be written back to external systems for persistence and integration.	- Multiple destination support - Write-back logs and monitoring - Secure data persistence - Integration with enterprise data platforms
Approval workflows	Provides governance for planning cycles through structured approval processes.	- Define approval flows - Assign approvers - Review and approve planning changes - Request adjustments
Model editor	Defines and manages the structure of a planning model by configuring dimensions, measures, hierarchies, and calculations	- Map model components to data sources - Validate model configuration before deployment - Maintain centralized governance of the planning model - Define hierarchies for roll-ups and drill-down analysis
Cube	Organizes and stores planning data in a multidimensional data structure.	- Analyze data across multiple dimensions - Aggregate data across hierarchy levels - Process large volumes of planning data efficiently