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    Using Planning Control Panel
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    Using Planning Control Panel

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    Article summary

    Article Summary

    This article explains how to use the Planning Control Panel for budgeting workflows. It covers navigating the budget hierarchy, selecting and interacting with templates, running reports, managing scenario access, and using features like Snapshot for backup and restore. It also includes details on template workflows, automated tasks, approvers, and restoring data safely.  

    The Planning Control Panel is where users will perform budgeting workflow tasks, it is where budget entities are organized in a hierarchy, where users select templates for input or to view, as well as run reports. Navigate to Structured Planning to open the Planning Control Panel.

    Planning Control Panel

    The Planning Control Panel is organized in 3 panes; Budget Hierarchy (left pane), Template (middle pane), and Actions | Reports | Approvers (right pane).

    Menu

    Note:

    Icons in the menu may or may not be available to users, as it is based on the user's role.

    Scenario list- Scenarios represent a version of a budget or forecast during a fiscal year. Scenarios are set up by Admin users.

    The Scenario drop-down list in the Planning Control Panel (Structured Planning) displays newly created or existing scenarios only when:

    • The scenario has been forwarded

    • The user has access to the scenario

    During a new scenario creation, the Automatically forward scenario option is selected by default. If this option is deselected, the scenario must be manually forwarded for it to appear in the drop-down list.

    Users must also have the appropriate access permissions to view and use the scenario within Structured Planning.

    Scenario Description icon - Click the icon to the immediate right of the Scenario list. Enter a detailed description of the scenario.

    Attach icon - Attach documents to the scenario.

    Edit Scenario icon- Edit the selected scenario and template.

    Status Report icon - Provides a summary status for all budget entities a user has access to. For more information on working with reports, click here.

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    The Admin user will provide users with access to scenarios, budget entities, and templates. The list is populated based on user access.

    Budget Hierarchy

    Once the user selects a scenario, the budget hierarchy associated with the scenario is displayed in the Budget Hierarchy pane. The Budget Hierarchy is set up by your Admin and is comprised of organized budget entities. The budget entities the user has access to within the hierarchy are displayed on the screen.

    Budget Entities

    Budget entities represent business segments. For example, the marketing segment of an organization. In the example below, the budget hierarchy is called Total Company and it has a Sales & Marketing rollup. Under that rollup are leaf level entities. The Sales entity has several associated templates, which are displayed in the middle pane as shown below.

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    Templates

    When selecting the posting (or lowest level) member of a hierarchy, the mapped templates appear in the Template pane.

    Note:

    To view the template name and type, hover your cursor over the template.

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    When selecting a template in the middle pane, specific actions will be available depending on the selected template. The following actions may be accessible based on user permissions:

    • Input - Open budget templates in Input mode, which allows data input. Users access to input data depends on their specific configuration.

    • View - Open budget templates in read-only mode. Users may or may not have access to this action as access is based on user set up. There are two types of View modes (based on the date the application was configured and if opted in to an update in February 2019). Read all about each type of View mode here.

    The following actions will be available based on how the admin user set up the application and approval role assigned:

    • Forward- Forward a template for approval

      Note

      Templates that have been forwarded are locked and cannot be edited. Once all required information has been input, the template can be forwarded.

    • Approve - Approve a template that has been forwarded

    • Send Back- Send back a forwarded template for changes or updates

      Note

      Templates can be sent until they are approved. The Send Back option is available after the template has been forwarded and before it receives an approval.

    • Mark Complete- Flag a template as completed

      Note

      Completed templates cannot be opened in Input mode.

    • Mark Not Complete- Clear the Completed flag against a selected template

      Note

      Once the completed flag is cleared, the template can be opened in Input mode.

    • Initiative Approval - Available for Initiative Budgets only

    Planful offers various template types to budget for Human Resources, Initiatives, Capital Expenditures, Operating Expenses, and more. The template you open in Input or View mode will look different based upon the template type you select in the middle pane.

    Snapshot

    The Snapshot feature allows finance teams to take a backup of GTSC templates for the selected budget entity. Using this feature, finance teams can easily take a backup and restore the version of the template if needed.

    To learn more about how to create, delete, and restore Snapshots, click here.

    Planning Control Panel: Available Reports and Mapped Templates

    Run a report (deployed by the Admin) from the Planning Control Panel by clicking the Reports tab (shown below).

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    Reports may also be mapped to a template when your Admin sets up the template.

    Approvers

    Approvers are set up by an Admin user to approve budgets via the Planning Control Panel workflow. Click the Approvers tab to see a list of users that can approve budgets.

    Enhanced Workflow and Automated Task Creation

    Admin users can configure this feature directly from the Planful application. Please note that once this functionality is enabled within the production environment, it cannot be disabled.

    If the Workflow functionality is not enabled, the Planning Control Panel continues to function as per the existing behavior. However, if the Workflow functionality is enabled, the application behavior is as follows:

    • If Workflow Setup is enabled for a scenario and the process has been started, the automated tasks and multiple authorization functionalities are activated

    • If Workflow Setup is not enabled for a scenario, the Planning Control Panel will work as usual without automated tasks and multiple authorization functionalities

    • Irrespective of whether Workflow Setup is enabled for a scenario or not, Workflow Actions for Templates are activated. This means that the Forward and Approve actions are available for templates

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