Dynamic Planning Excel Reporting Best Practices
  • 2 Minutes to read
  • Dark
    Light
  • PDF

Dynamic Planning Excel Reporting Best Practices

  • Dark
    Light
  • PDF

Article summary

  • Each workbook can contain up to 30 worksheets and 7000 data cells per worksheet. If you are creating large volumes of cell references per worksheet, then consider using Excel 64-bit.
  • When you click Refresh or Refresh All, avoid doing anything else in the workbook or other workbooks until the Refresh operation is complete. In large workbooks, Refreshing is a lengthy operation, and you can view the status of the operation in the Progress Information box and use the More Detail or Less Detail button. But if you do anything else in Excel or in other applications on your computer before the Refresh is complete, SpotlightXL detects it as an interruption and may display some cells as #REFRESH when done.
    ModelingImagesimage114.png
  • If you click Analyze or Report while in a sheet containing your Excel Report with Spotlight formulas, Dynamic Planning asks if you want to clear the Spotlight formulas. It is best to click the Analyze tab or open a new tab before selecting Analyze from the menu. Similarly, if you want to run a formatted report, click the Report tab or open a new tab before selecting Report from the menu.
  • When working with Published reports, one person in your organization should be made responsible for making changes to the report structure. Other users can then open/download the reports and refresh the data.
  • Publishing reports to the Dynamic Planning cloud is intended to be used for your organization’s standard monthly reports, such as those in a board book. A general guideline is to use it for fewer than 10 standard reports, although SpotlightXL supports up to 50 reports per application, of no more than 16MB each.
  • In EBR reports, it's recommended not to combine EBR formulas with other Excel formulas. This approach worked fine in the past. However, there has been a change in behavior with the latest update of Microsoft Excel's autocomplete feature. Now, when data is entered or calculated, if the result doesn't match an item in the list, it will display the first value from the list, which is typically a GUID. Since our dropdowns typically start with GUIDs, as a result, users may see GUID.
  • Merge cells cautiously, as it can lead to complications in data manipulation and interpretation. Instead, utilize alternative formatting techniques such as text alignment and column width adjustments for improved clarity and flexibility. 
  • Stick to a single formula notation style (A1 or R1C1) across sheets to avoid confusion and errors.
Note:
In addition, it is also recommended that customers install the semi-annual release version of the Office 365 application. The SpotlightXL add-in is certified to work seamlessly with the semi-annual release version.

You can also find installation instructions for the Office 365 application in the following resources:

If you need further assistance, please reach out to your IT team.

In Practice: To Check the Release Version of the Office 365 Application

  1. Open Excel and navigate to the File.
  2. Click Account.
  3. The Product Information, including the release version, will be displayed.

Was this article helpful?