Planful AI Analyst - Release Notes

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Article Summary

This article provides a details of all the releases in Planful AI

November 2025: Introduced Aliases in Hierarchy Management for Enhanced Question Interpretation. Enabled seamless Chart Type Switching (Bar, Line, Dual Axis, Pie) for more flexible visual analysis in the Analyze mode. Launched Conversational Forecasting in AI Analyst Mode generate forward-looking insights using natural language queries and view contributing factors.

October 2025: Planful AI Activity Log - Admins can now track how users interact with the AI Assistant through a new exportable activity log useful for monitoring adoption and tailoring training.

September 2025: Threshold-Based Filtering - Users can auto-filter data based on custom thresholds (e.g., >10%), helping focus on key variances and reducing noise in analysis.

August 2025: Breadcrumb Navigation - Track drill-down paths with breadcrumbs in AI tables and charts for easier navigation and context. Email Sharing for AI Outputs: Share AI-generated tables and charts instantly via email—no need to switch contexts. Dual Axis & Pie Chart Support: New chart types for natural language queries make data comparisons and breakdowns more visual. Sum Calculations via Natural Language: Ask AI to calculate totals (e.g., total revenue) using plain English queries. Average Calculations via Natural Language: Use natural language to get quick average metrics like department spend or monthly revenue.

July 2025: Favorite Questions - Users can now mark AI queries as Favorites for quick reuse in both Help and Analyze modes. Dimension Member Selector - Select specific dimension members when clarifying ambiguous natural language questions. Large Data Response Support - AI now supports exporting large datasets as Excel files when results exceed on-screen limits.

June 2025: Planful AI Analyst Launch - Planful introduces AI Analyst a generative AI assistant that delivers instant insights and visualizations from natural language queries.

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November 2025 Release

Planful AI: Introduced Aliases in Hierarchy Management for Enhanced Question Interpretation

Planful now supports Aliases in Hierarchy Management, allowing users to query data using familiar, business-friendly terms for improved AI accuracy.

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With this release, we have introduced a new Aliases field in the Default Properties of Hierarchy Management. This enhancement allows administrators to assign business or organization-friendly names (aliases) to hierarchy members, enabling users to use familiar, non-technical terms when asking data-related questions in Planful AI.

Previously, Planful AI matched user queries only to exact or similar Member Names or Member Codes. When no match was found, users often saw a list of similar names to choose from, which can be confusing for business users if they are not sure of the exact name.

Now, Aliases can be added to dimension members, allowing Planful AI to prioritize the defined names during query interpretation. This helps AI narrow down the specific dimension member (for example, Account) and deliver faster, contextually correct responses without needing further clarification from users.

How It Works

  • Aliases are configured in Hierarchy Management under the Default Properties pane for the desired members.

  • One or more aliases can be added. Multiple Aliases must be comma-separated.

    • Example: For a member named NET_INC_001, aliases can include: Net Income, Net Profit, etc.

  • Alias must be unique within each dimension.

    • For example, in the Account dimension, you can assign the alias Travel Expense to one member. The same alias can also be used for a member in another dimension, such as Company or Department.

  • Supported Hierarchy Type and Dimensions

    • Type: Finance Hierarchies

    • Dimensions: All Dimensions are supported (except system-defined dimensions

    • Supported Hierarchy Types: Main Hierarchy and Alternate Hierarchies

How to Add Aliases to a Hierarchy Member

  1. Navigate to Maintenance > Hierarchy Management.

  2. Under Hierarchy Selection:

    1. Select Type as Finance Hierarchies.

    2. Choose the Dimension.

    3. Select the Main Hierarchy or Alternate Hierarchies.

  3. Click Apply Selection.

  4. In the hierarchy tree, select the desired member.

  5. In the Default Properties pane, enter the Aliases in the aliases field.

  6. Click OK, then Save.

    Once saved, Planful AI will automatically use these aliases when interpreting user queries.

Examples

Use Case 1

  • Member Name: NET_INC_001

  • Aliases: Net Income

  • User Query: Show me Net Income for Q3

  • Result: Planful AI retrieves data for NET_INC_001, even though the member name was not used.

Use Case 2

  • Available Members:

    • Operating Expenses – Total

    • Operating Expenses – Sales

    • Operating Expenses – Marketing

    • Operating Expenses – Corporate

  • User Query: Show me Operating Expenses for Q2

  • Result (Before adding aliases): Planful AI shows all four members and asks the user to pick one.

  • Add Aliases: Add Operating Expenses as an Alias to the member Operating Expenses – Total.

  • Result (After adding Aliases): Planful AI directly returns data for Operating Expenses – Total without showing other options.

Business Value

  • Allows users to use familiar terminology in AI queries.

  • Improves response accuracy without requiring additional clarification from the user.

  • Enhances adoption of Planful AI across finance and non-finance stakeholders.

Planful AI Analyst: Chart Type Switching

With this release, we have improved the charting experience in the Analyze mode by enabling seamless switching between multiple chart types. Users can now choose the most relevant visualization, such as Bar, Column, Line, Dual Axis, or Pie, from a Switch Chart Types dropdown menu, for viewing the data in a format that best supports their analysis, presentation needs, or preference.

This enhancement offers greater flexibility and customization in visualizing results, enhancing the overall financial analysis workflow.

Note:

Dual-axis charting is only available for questions with more than one column of numerical output.

Predict: Introduced Conversational Forecasting to Project Future Trends

Prediction with AI for forward-looking insights, now available in Planful AI Analyst Mode.

Planful's Predict now supports a powerful new natural language-enabled Prediction functionality that allows users to project future values based on historical trends, seasonal patterns, and business behaviour, powered by AI/ML.

To use this feature, you must have Predict enabled in your application. If Predict is not currently enabled, contact your Planful Account Manager to request access.

Key Highlights

  • New conversational forecasting analysis: Forecast

    • In addition to the existing Data Lookup, Scenario Variance, Time Comparison analysis types, users can now leverage the new Forecasting type of analysis to generate forward-looking projections.

    • Accessible through natural language commands such as:

      • “Forecast my sales for the next 6 months”,

      • “Generate projection for payroll in Q1 2026”,

      • “Estimate travel expenses by department for the next 3 months”.

  • Flexible Timeframes

    • Forecasts can be generated for: Month, Quarter, or Year.

  • Interpretability via Contextual Insights: Users can right-click on any forecast within the response table to view a Context panel explaining: why a value was predicted, key contributing factors, and past trend used for the projection

Key Benefits

This new conversational forecasting analysis functionality brings AI-powered prediction directly into Planful AI screen , enabling users to:

  • Rapidly explore “what’s likely to happen next” based on using natural language queries.

  • Support data-driven decision-making in forecasting and planning processes.

October 2025 Release

Planful AI Analyst: Planful AI Activity Log

With this release, we have introduced the Planful AI Activity Log, giving admins visibility into how users are engaging with the AI Assistant.

Note:

Users with navigation access will be able to view the link for Planful AI Activity Log.

Administrators can access a new Planful AI Activity Log option under Maintenance > Application Audit. Export the log as an Excel (.xlsx) file with key details including User, Question, Time, Mode, Feedback Type, Assessment, and Comment.

This enhancement helps finance teams track AI adoption, measure usage patterns, and tailor training to drive higher productivity and ROI from Planful AI.

Planful AI Analyst: Variance Sign Alignment with Account Properties

With this release, Planful AI honors Variance Type settings from Account Properties, ensuring signs (positive/negative) correctly reflect financial context.

Note:

To use this feature, Please contact Planful Support to enable it for you.

How it works:

Variances follow the correct sign conventions for each account type (e.g., Income, Expense, Statistical).

For example:

  • If Expenses exceed budget by $50K, variance would be displayed as –$50K instead of $50K.

  • If under budget by $50K, variance would be displayed as $50K.

Planful AI Analyst: Drill down Support for Leaf or Specific Level

With this release, users can ask natural questions to query and access both leaf-level and specific hierarchy-level financial dimension data using natural language without the need to manually drill down through each level of a hierarchy.

Users can simply type in what level of detail they want to see, and Planful’s natural language engine intelligently interprets the request to retrieve precise data points across hierarchies. This significantly streamlines analysis and reporting.

Here are some example queries that are now supported:

  • Who are the top 3 departments at leaf level with the most expense in Q4 2026?

  • What is the largest expense at leaf level in the 2027 forecast?

  • Compare expense variance to budget, include departments at leaf level

  • List the top 3 second-level companies with highest travel variance to Budget last quarter?

September 2025 Release

Planful AI Analyst: Threshold-Based Filtering

With this release, users can automatically filter data based on user-defined thresholds (for example, variances greater than 10%). This enhancement enables users to focus their analysis on material changes and outliers, while ignoring less significant data points.

By streamline reviews and highlight only what is most impactful, threshold-based filtering streamlines reviews and supports faster, more informed decision-making.

Sample Natural Language Queries:

  • Which expenses are more than 500K?

  • Which departments spent more than 10% above the budget?

  • Which product's revenues increased by more than 15% compared to last quarter?

Supported Query Categories: Get Data, Scenario Variance, and Time Variance.

Planful AI Analyst: Configurable Decimal Display in Responses

With this release, we introduced a Configurable Decimal Display option for AI-generated data tables and charts. You can now tailor the level of numeric precision shown in Planful AI outputs configurable up to 2 decimal places based on your organization’s reporting and analysis preferences.

Examples:

Displays 46,348,121.34 instead of 46,348,121 for T&E expense..

Planful AI Analyst: Dimension Autocomplete Search

With this release, we introduced real-time dimension member suggestions as you type. When you begin entering a member name such as typing @Rev. Planful AI will automatically suggest matching members like “Revenue”, making it easier to select the required member quickly.

This enhancement is designed to improve accuracy, reduce entry errors, and speed up the overall interaction with Planful AI.

Key Benefits:

  • Increased Speed: Reduces typing effort with real-time autocomplete and also need for subsequent clarifications.

  • Improved Accuracy: Minimizes the risk of selecting incorrect or mistyped dimension members.

  • User-Friendly Experience: Makes AI-assisted analysis and reporting more intuitive and efficient.

August 2025 Release

Planful AI Analyst: Breadcrumb Navigation for Drill Down

With this release, we have introduced breadcrumb navigation during drill-down actions on AI-generated tables or charts. As users explore data across multiple levels (e.g., from Operating Expense → Payroll → Recruiting), a dynamic breadcrumb trail shows the full navigation path.

Key Capabilities:

  • Available in both default and full-screen AI drawer views.

  • Breadcrumb expands dynamically with each drill level retaining context and displays dimension values.

  • Clicking a breadcrumb item refreshes the visualization at that specific level.

  • Users can click the folder icon to return to the original top-level view.

Planful AI Analyst: Share AI-Generated Tables and Charts via Email

With this release, we have introduced generate AI-powered tables and charts based on their planning data and share them instantly via email directly from the AI drawer. This enhancement helps users quickly communicate insights and visuals without switching contexts, improving collaboration and decision-making speed.

Capabilities include:

  • Search and select one or more users with whom you want to share the information.

  • Customize the email subject line, with Excel or PNG attachments automatically included based on whether the table or chart view is shared.

This feature facilitates collaboration allowing you to easily share data and insights with relevant stakeholders

How to Share Planful AI-Generated Tables/Charts via Email

  1. Open the Planful AI Drawer.

  2. Click the Export icon in the upper-right corner of the chart or table.

  3. Add email details, in the Share Email dialog:

    1. Recipient(s): Type a user’s name and select from the list.

    2. Subject: Defaults to the chart/table title. You can edit it as needed.

  4. Click Send Email.

Planful AI Analyst: Dual Axis and Pie Chart Support for Natural Language Data Questions

With this release, we have introduced additional visualization types for natural language queries.

New Supported Chart Types:

  • Dual Axis Charts: Ideal for comparing two different types of metrics (e.g., “Payroll Expense” vs. “Variance %”). Displays absolute values on one Y-axis and percentages on the other.

  • Pie Charts: Useful for breakdown or composition-based queries such as “Breakdown expenses by department” or “Percentage contribution by region.”

These visual enhancements provide users with dynamic and flexible representation of data per user preference.

Planful AI Analyst: Natural Language Data Analysis - Sum Calculation

With this release, we have introduced support for natural language (NL) queries that perform simple calculations, beginning with Sum operations on financial cube data. This enhancement allows users to ask intuitive, natural language questions and receive actionable, calculation-based results directly within the Planful AI interface.

Users can now interact with Planful AI using natural language queries that include sum-based calculations such as:

  • What is the total revenue for the top five customers?

  • What are the total benefits and salaries costs for Q2?

Planful AI intelligently interprets the query, identifies relevant dimensions and filters, and returns results with a concise factual summary and chart visualizations. It enables users to ask questions involving summation across financial cube data, eliminating the need for manual configurations or formula definitions in reports.

Planful AI Analyst: Natural Language Data Analysis - Average Calculation

With this release, we have supported average-based natural language queries, enabling users to analyze key financial metrics by asking questions in plain English. This intelligent capability performs instant average calculations such as average departmental expenses directly from the finance cube, saving time and enabling deeper, more intuitive insights.

Users can now interact with Planful AI using natural language queries that include average-based calculations such as:

  • What is the average monthly revenue for the past year?

  • What is the average expense per department for the last quarter?

Planful AI understands the question, identifies the relevant dimensions (e.g., time, department), and returns the calculated average in both tabular and chart formats. It enables users to compute averages across time periods or organizational dimensions without manually defining formulas.

July 2025 Release

Planful AI Help and Analyst: Support for Favorite Questions

With this release, Planful AI now allows users to mark frequently asked questions as Favorites in both Help and Analyze modes. This enhancement improves productivity by providing quicker access to commonly used queries.

Key Benefits:

  • Mark Questions as Favorites: Each user-submitted question displays a Favorite icon (star icon), allowing users to mark or unmark it as a favorite with a single click.

  • Favorite Questions Limit: Users can save up to 20 favorites questions for quick access. To add more as a favorite, remove an existing one.

  • Easy Access & Reusability:

    • A Favorite icon in the top toolbar of the AI drawer shows a sorted list from oldest to newest.

    • Clicking a favorite question automatically populates it into the prompt bar.

    • Users can then edit and submit the question as needed.

  • Smart Suggestions While Typing: When a user types at least three characters, related favorite questions appear in a dynamic list above the prompt bar, offering quick suggestions.

  • Visual Cues & Maintenance:

    • When entering a question that matches a saved favorite, the Favorite icon appears filled, indicating it is already marked.

    • Users can remove favorites by clicking the delete icon in the Favorite menu or clicking the filled Favorite icon to unmark it directly from the conversation.

  • Clarification Mode Support: The Favorite feature is supported only for the initial question. It is not supported for follow-up questions.

Planful AI Analyst: Dimension Members Selector

With this release, Planful AI introduces a powerful enhancement to the clarification experience for natural language questions involving data. Users can now search and select specific dimension members such as departments, accounts, or products using a dedicated Dimension Members Selector, while asking questions related to refining data in case of ambiguous or missing inputs.

Key Benefits:

  • Search and select Dimension Member for data-related questions: Users will now see a Refine your search here link along with similar dimension member names as in the question. Clicking this opens a dialog where you can search and choose the required dimension member.

  • Intuitive Search Dialog:

    • Typeahead search: Suggestions appear after typing three or more characters.

    • Hover Tooltip: Displays the full dimension member name with its hierarchy path.

Planful AI Analyst: Support for Large Data Responses

With this release, Planful AI now supports large data tables generated for data-related questions or analysis actions such as Drill Down and Analyze By. This enhancement ensures users can access the full dataset, even when results exceed the display capacity of the Planful AI drawer.

Key Benefits:

  • Seamless Export of Large Result: When the result data set for a question contains more than 500 cells, the data is automatically exported to an Excel file.

  • Download Includes Full Data and Headers: The exported Excel file contains the complete data set, including headers, formatted for immediate review and analysis.

June 2025 Release

Planful AI: Introduced Planful AI Analyst

With this release, we are excited to introduce Planful AI Analyst—an intelligent, generative AI assistant embedded within the Planful application. It empowers finance and business teams to perform real-time financial analysis using natural language. By eliminating the need for manual report building or complex formulas, Planful AI Analyst provides instant insights, trend analyses, and performance comparisons.

Note:

To enable Planful AI Analyst, please contact your Planful Account Manager.

Key Benefits:

  • Gain Instant Financial Insights: Retrieve real-time data summaries, trends, and comparisons using natural language, no need to build or run reports.

  • Enable Self-Service Analysis: Empower executives and business teams to independently explore financial performance, reducing reliance on financial analysts.

  • Engage in Context-Aware Conversations: Ask follow-up questions and refine results through ongoing dialogue for deeper, conversational analysis.

  • Drill Down with Ease: Break down financial data by dimensions such as region, department, or product with a simple query, without the need to find reports or manually create new ones.

  • Save Time and Boost Efficiency: Eliminate manual steps in reporting and analysis, freeing time for strategic financial planning.

  • Access Visual and Narrative Output: View results as tables, charts, or Planful AI-generated narratives to quickly interpret performance and trends.

  • Export with Flexibility: Download tables and visuals in Excel or PNG format for easy sharing and collaboration.

How to Use Planful AI Analyst

  1. Click the Planful AI icon in the top toolbar.

  2. In the Planful AI dialog box, expand the Help mode menu and select Analyze mode.

  3. Type your financial question and press Enter or click the Arrow icon.

  4. View the returned tabular data, charts, and a Planful AI-generated summary.

  5. Click the Full Screen icon to expand the view or select the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down icon to provide feedback on incorrect or irrelevant responses.