SpotlightXL

SpotlightXL is a Microsoft Excel front-end that provides functionality for all Dynamic Planning engine capabilities: Analyze, Report, Excel Report, Model, and Manage.

Accessing SpotlightXL

To log in to SpotlightXL, follow these steps:

1. Open Microsoft Excel.
2. Click the SpotlightXL tab.
   
   
3. Click Login.
4. Enter the URL provided by Planful Support to connect to your tenant.
5. Enter your Username and Password, then click Login. If needed, you can select the Reset Password checkbox to change your password.
6. If prompted, enter a new password in the New Password and Confirm Password fields and click Login.
7. Optionally, check the Remember Me box to save your Username for future logins.
8. Click Login.
9. If asked, select your application from the drop-down menu.
10. Click Select.

Username and Password Security

• Username: Must be in a valid email address format.
• Password Requirements: To ensure security, passwords must meet the following criteria:
• Length: Minimum of 8 characters (10 characters recommended), up to a maximum of 128 characters.
  • Characters: Must include at least: 
    • 1 uppercase letter (A-Z) 
    • 1 lowercase letter (a-z) 
    • 1 digit (e.g., 1, 8, 0) 
    • 1 special character (e.g., *, &, #)

Note:

• Existing passwords will remain unchanged unless you are prompted to update them or choose to do so.
• If a new password does not meet these requirements, an error message will be displayed.

Introduction to SpotlightXL

Upon logging in to SpotlightXL, the ribbon interface provides access to various task, user, role, and application features. To view and access the tasks available, click Select Task. The tasks include:

• Analyze: Conduct analysis tasks such as selecting models and views, refreshing data, zooming in and out of hierarchies, filtering, and pivoting models.
• Report: Create, view, design, and share static or formatted reports for collaboration and review within the organization.
• Excel Report: Run reports with full Excel functionality, incorporate model data links, and publish or download reports to/from the cloud.
• Model: Manage detailed tasks like setting model types, configuring permissions, applying dimension security, adding or changing dimensions, performing calculations, copying models, saving formulas, and loading data.
• Manage: For power users, handle metadata management, data integration, configuration settings, and user administration tasks.

Each task in SpotlightXL has its own tab in the workbook area, including Analyze, Report, Model, and Manage. Only one tab is created for each task, as illustrated in the example.

Variations of Operations Based on User Type

View and Report Permissions are defined in two ways:

• Groups Allowed Access: Permissions are listed on the Properties page of each view or report, specifying which groups can access them.
• Creator: The permissions also depend on who created the view or report.

Here are the details:

• Power Users have access to all views and reports.
• Contributors and Reviewers must have permission to access the model to modify, save, or delete the associated view or report.
• A Contributor or Reviewer who created a view or report can access it as long as they have permission to access the model.

The following table outlines the variations in operations and the changes that can be saved by Contributor and Reviewer users.