Template Setup

Planning templates act as structures that hold budget data including scenarios, attributes, and entities. You will design templates based on your business needs. Once templates are setup, end-users input data for budgeting and forecasting purposes via the Planning Control Panel.

Most templates resemble an Excel spreadsheet. Design your templates by linking template lines to other accounts to extrapolate data, use calculations and formulas to retrieve data from an intersection in the reporting cube, add notes to prompt end-users, add colors and borders to the template, and much more.

Templates are initially defined at the default scenario level and then mapped to working scenarios. There are a number of template types including Workforce Planning, Block, Capital, and Allocation to name a few. The most common template type is Global Template Single Copy which is what will be covered in this course. For additional detail on other template types, please see Planful Academy.

Choosing the best template design to fit the business needs will provide the best end result for maintenance and ease of use for the template.

A template can incorporate different dimensions and include reports to establish a more centralized plan for users involved in the budgeting process. A variety of functionality and display options are selected when defining a new template, many of which cannot be changed after saving. These options are dependent on template type.

The development of templates involves several steps, progressing through three phases: 

• Configuration: Identify the template type, functionality, and basic architecture. Learn how you can configure a template using the options in Add Template.
• Design: Add template rows, including line mapping to dimensions and formatting. Learn how you can design your template using the options in Template Setup.
• Mapping: The template is mapped to a working scenario, budget entities, and approval roles. Learn more about mapping here.