Configuring Offline Planning

Planful Excel Planning Workbook (also referred to as Excel Client or Offline Planning) for budgeting is a Microsoft Excel Add-In that provides functionality to open templates in Excel for budgeting purposes.
Offline Planning provides functionality so that you can:

• Open and download templates (GTSC) to work with when offline.
• Refresh data from the online application.
• Synchronize changes or save data back to the Planful application.
• Open multiple templates of a selected budget entity and scenario in Excel.

Prerequisites for Offline Planning Workbook

The following Microsoft Office Excel versions are supported for Offline Planning:

• Office 2010 
• Office 2013 
• Office 2016
• Office 2019
• Office 2021

Planful Offline Planning

Users must have access to work with Planful Offline Planning. The access can be provided from the Add-In Security page. To learn more, click here.

After providing access, users can see the Planful Offline Planning Tools and Planful Offline Planning Workbook download options under the Components page (navigating by Maintenance > My Settings > Components).

How to Install the Offline Planning Tools?

To download and install the Planful Offline Planning Tools, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Maintenance > My Settings > Components.
2. Click the Download link for the Planful Offline Planning Tools.
3. Open the downloaded setup file, click Accept, and complete the installation process.

Once the setup is complete, users can proceed to download the Workbook.

How to Download and Install the Offline Planning Workbook?

To download the Planful Offline Planning Tools Workbook, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Maintenance > My Settings > Components.
2. Click the Download link for the Planful Offline Planning Workbook.
3. Open the downloaded Excel file folder, right-click the file, and select Properties. 
4. Click the Unblock security checkbox.
5. Click Apply and then click OK.
6. Open the Excel to proceed with work.
   Notes

   • If the Planful Offline Planning Tools is not installed, the Workbook will prompt users to install them when opened
   • If the Planning Tools and Workbook components are not downloaded successfully, a runtime error will occur when trying to access the Planful Planning Workbook

How to Log In to Offline Planning?

To log in to Offline Planning, follow the steps below: 

1. Open the Planful Offline Planning Workbook file downloaded from the Components page (by navigating to Maintenance > My Settings > Components).
2. Click Planning.
   
3. Click Budget Plans. The Login dialog box appears.
   
4. The User Name and Application URL is pre-populated. Enter your Password.
   
5. The Application drop-down list displays a list of applications that user has access to. Select an application.
6. Click OK to log in.

Templates are available for budget users based on the User Access Role Security Setup performed in the online Planful Budget application by the Application Administrator. Administrators can edit user access to approval roles using the Approval Role page.

How to Download a Template in the Offline Planning Workbook?

After logging in to the Budget Plan page in the Offline Planning Workbook, follow the below steps to download a template:

1. Click Budget Plans in the Offline Planning Workbook.
2. The Application Area default value is Operational Planning.
3. Select a Scenario from the drop-down in which your Admin user has provided you with access.
4. Select the Budget Entity from the drop-down. Users can also click Browse to see the Entity in the hierarchy level. All templates mapped to the entity are displayed. 
5. Select the template(s) checkbox to download.
   Note: 

   Users can open multiple templates at a time in a single session. Templates open in view/read-only mode by default.
6. Click Download to download the template(s).
   Note:

   Users can download different templates (s) from the same budget entity to the same workbook and work on.

Exploring the Offline Planning Interface

The interface along with a downloaded template is displayed below.

Each of the fields and the functionality available in Offline Planning is described below.

Budget Plans - Click to launch a dialog page where you will select the scenario, entity, and template to download. Open multiple templates for a Budget Entity in the same Excel Workbook.

Sync - Saves budget data to the Planful application.

Sync and Read Only - Saves data back to the online application and prevents other users from editing the changes. For example, download content to your template, update the spreadsheet with data, and sync and retain the data so that the entity and page level parameter combination remains locked or in read-only mode for other users.

Refresh - Updates the template with the latest data from the online application.

• Refresh Compare Scenario and History – Updates the template with the latest data from the online application based on historical data and comparative scenarios added to the template.
• Refresh – Updates the template with the latest data from the online application based on reference measure, account, or reference account.

Disable Editing / Enable Editing - When the spreadsheet is in read-only mode, the Enable Editing button is displayed. When the template is in edit mode, the Disable Editing option is displayed.

• Enable Editing – Click to convert the template to edit mode. This action checks whether this combination is locked by any other user. If not locked the system converts the template to edit mode and locks the combination in the online application.
• Disable Editing – If the template is in edit mode, click to convert the template to read-only mode.

Global Field - Available when Global Fields are set up for the selected template. To apply a global field, select one or more cells and click the Global Field option or right-click from a cell and select Global Field.

Forecast Method - Available when Forecast Methods are set up for the selected template. To apply a forecast method, select one or more lines and click on Forecast Method or right-click from a cell and select Forecast.

Grid Lines - Enable or disable gridlines for the active template.

Freeze - Enable or disable freeze panes for the active template.

Save - Saves changes to the working spreadsheet. Changes are saved to the online application ONLY when synced.

Close - Closes the spreadsheet and unlocks the combination in the online server.

• Once closed, the template is no longer available in offline mode.
• Synchronization happens depending on the action you select.

Template Grid Explained Below

Last Checked Out - A timestamp of the date and time the template is downloaded is provided at the top of every template.

Spreads - Displayed in the template when spreads are set up during template configuration.

Compare Scenarios - Displayed in the template when compare scenarios are set up during template configuration.

Sublines - The L line shaded in green indicates there are sublines.

Attributes - Displayed in the template when set up.

Template Columns - Template columns typically include the following information:

• Attributes that allow you to enter drivers for the calculations in the template.
• Spread columns that allow you to enter an annual amount and to display the spread method used to distribute the annual amount to month columns. You can also choose manual spreads to input data by month.
• Compare scenarios that display data from other scenarios such as historical actuals, last forecast, and prior budget.

Input and Summary columns for the budget/forecast that allow you to enter budgets/forecasts.

Budget Input - Budget Input can be made against line type (L) rows. The yellow shaded cells represent data input cells as in the Planful application. You can add notes to template lines from both the online Planful Budget application and the Offline Planning Workbook. To add notes, click N in Column L.

Structuring an Offline Planning Template

The basic structure of the template in the Excel client and its usability is the same as in the online application.
Templates contain the following:

• Template Header, which displays the following information:
  • Scenario name (example: 2011 Budget final)
  • Entity name (example: 1000 - Administration)
  • Template name (example: Operating Expenses)
  • Currency (example: US Dollars)
• Template Lines, which are the line items that are included on the template.
  • Template lines can be optionally locked by the administrative user designing the template so that calculations specified against line items are protected preventing end users from modifying. These lines are called Calculated (C) lines.
  • Template lines can also be mapped to the chart of accounts so that the budget data entered by end users can be saved against the appropriate string that confirms with the organization’s chart of accounts. These account mappings are also used to display historical actuals within the template.
  • Template lines can optionally have the following types of account mappings:
    • Destination Account Mapping - Destination accounts are mapped for each line against which the budget data entered or calculated on the template and needs to be saved to the application against appropriate accounts in the chart of accounts. Full destination account mapping is derived through COA mapping (derived from the workflow) and Destination account mapping against template lines defined during template setup.
    • Reference Account Mapping - Referenced accounts are used for linking the templates and to pull the numbers from other template(s) to display a more complete picture of the budget and/or to drive the calculations based on the budget inputs in another template.
    • Reference Cube Mapping - Referenced cube is a variant of the Reference account functionality that opens complex referencing which requires calculations or aggregations from the OLAP cube.
• Template Columns, which typically include:
  • Attributes that allow users to enter drivers for the calculations in the template.
  • Spread columns allow users to enter an annual amount and to display the spread method used to distribute the annual amount to month columns; users can also choose manual spreads that allow them to input data by month.
  • Compare scenarios that display data from other scenarios such as historical actuals, last forecast, and prior budget pass, etc.
  • Input and Summary columns for budget/forecast that allow end users to enter budgets/forecasts.

Generating Offline Planning Audit Logs

An audit log is automatically created for Offline Template user actions. Access the audit log by navigating to Maintenance > Application Audit > View Audit Log.

Version Control in Offline Planning

Version control is handled in Offline Planning with a check-out time stamp. When you have multiple offline planning workbooks with the template opened in check-out mode, you can identify which template needs to be synchronized to the online application.

Whenever a template is checked out, a server-based time stamp is displayed on the spreadsheet.

If there are two versions of the template opened in check out mode, the system will display a message when a user is trying to synchronize a non-current version of the template.

Control may be lost for template sheets that appear to be in the check out mode in the offline application if a user initiated an Undo Check Out action. In this situation, the offline template may not be synchronized.

Cross Sheet Reference Account Data Update in Offline Planning

Indicate whether or not you want the system to automatically populate the updated reference account line data in dependent templates without connecting to the online template. For example, if you have two templates checked out for offline input with reference mapping (one template referencing data from another), you can automatically populate the reference account line data, or not, based on performance needs.

By default, this option is disabled when the Offline Planning feature is enabled for you. To enable this option, access the Security Administration page by navigating to Maintenance > Administration > Security Administration. When you enable this option, a message is displayed indicating possible performance implications.

When you have multiple templates downloaded to offline Excel for a budget entity with a time set mapping, references to and from the other templates will not honor the cross sheet reference setting. You must sync & refresh the template to update reference data.