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Combined Grids is now live!
Author: Calvin Magondo is the Product Manager, Enterprise Experience at Anaplan.
Combined Grids and multi-module reporting
We are excited to announce the much anticipated enhancement to the Anaplan User Experience (UX): Combined Grids. This powerful new feature and platform capability will address one of the most common challenges for planners and model builders today by allowing you to bring data from multiple modules into a single, unified grid. We’ve already seen customers finding real value in this enhancement from, streamlining UX by reducing unnecessary white space from multiple grids on page, to unlocking more intuitive planning experiences for end users and enabling more efficient model building whilst removing inefficient workarounds.
We developed Combined Grids based on direct feedback from our user community to solve a common challenge: viewing and interacting with related data from different sources in one place. Let's explore what it does and, more importantly, see how early access customers are already using it.
Combined Grids demo
https://play.vidyard.com/jE6fAyopzvibJjUvJ8vyUk
The Challenge: building complex, multi-module views
As Anaplan models grow in sophistication, so do the demands on the UX. Page builders often need to present data from different modules side-by-side. For example, you might want to show product attributes next to monthly sales data, or compare a driver-based forecast with the final plan numbers. While this has always been possible using multiple grid cards, it presented a few common hurdles:
* Synchronizing data: Keeping separate grids aligned when scrolling or filtering required careful setup and could sometimes lead to a disconnected user experience.
* User-driven analysis: Applying a single sort or filter across multiple, separate grids wasn't possible, limiting a user's ability to analyze the data holistically.
* Model building workarounds: To create the ideal view, model builders often had to create "helper" modules or duplicate data, increasing model size and maintenance. This could also mean straying from best-practice modeling principles like DISCO.
* Exporting data: To analyze data from different grids together, users frequently had to export multiple files and combine them manually in an external tool.
Combined Grids was designed to address these challenges directly.
The solution: a single, unified grid with data from multiple modules
At its core, Combined Grids allows a page builder to merge up to five modules into a single grid on a UX page. The key requirement is that the modules share a common row axis. This enhancement unlocks several benefits:
* A unified view of data: All your data is presented in one grid, which saves screen space and provides a more intuitive user experience.
* Powerful end-user interaction: Users can apply a single sort or filter across all the data in the combined grid.
* Simpler model design: It reduces the need for those complex workarounds, allowing for cleaner, more efficient models that adhere more closely to best practices like DISCO. An early access customer said: "Combined grid allows us to avoid creating redundant line items... and more strictly adhere to DISCO and 'create once reference multiple times."
How customers are using Combined Grids
The best way to understand the feature's impact is to see how it's being used in real-world scenarios. Our early access customers have already found creative and powerful ways to put Combined Grids to work.
Streamlining budgeting and reporting at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)
For their marketing budget, JLR needed to plan values across multiple time periods and for lines with many different attributes.
Before: This required two separate modules — one for the attributes and one for the budget values. On the UX page, users had to input data on two separate grids and perform two separate exports to get a complete picture. Filtering was complex and had to be pre-coded by their model builders.
UX page before Combined Grids:
With Combined Grids: JLR now combine the attributes and budget modules into a single view. Users can input data on one grid and run a single export. Most importantly, users can now apply their own filters and sort by value, giving them far more flexibility for analysis with less upfront work for model builders.
UX page now with Combined Grids:
No back-end filters required, JLR now simply make use of Anaplan’s native filtering for end users.
Creating comprehensive forecasting views at Unilever
Unilever has a large-scale forecasting process with over 800 users globally. Their challenge was to display all material attributes (like Group, Subgroup, Classification) and reference numbers alongside the forecast data in a single view.
Before Combined Grids: This information was spread across multiple grids, making it difficult for users to see the full context at once.
With Combined Grids: Unilever now present all attributes and reference data together in a unified grid. This gives their forecasters a complete and contextual view, helping them make more informed decisions quicker.
Getting started with Combined Grids
Creating a combined grid is straightforward:
* Add a Grid to a page: Add or edit a grid card onto your UX page.
* Select primary module: Choose the grid you want to appear first on your combined grid. Note: The order of modules cannot be changed after creation, so plan accordingly.
* Combine Grids: In "View designer" mode, click on the ‘Add Grid Sections’ button located above the main grid. A right-hand panel will appear allowing you to select up to four additional modules to combine to your primary module. Remember, for grids to be combined, they must have a common row axis so, all dimensions in rows must be present in the additional modules you wish to add.
* Apply customizations and publish: Apply any additional customizations, like conditional formatting or any filters, and when ready, click update and publish the page.
Tip: End users can make use of the existing ‘Freeze rows/columns’ functionality and Freeze the columns in the first module (for example attributes) so they are always visible when looking at your combined grid.
Just the beginning…
We are incredibly proud to deliver Combined Grids, an enhancement that we know many of you have been eagerly anticipating. Our team has worked hard to bring this powerful capability to life, and we see it as just the start of the journey. We are already working on what comes next. In upcoming releases, you can look forward to more flexibility, including the ability to reorder the Grid Sections within your combined grid and better, more clear labelling of Grid Sections when making customizations to your view.
Looking further ahead, we will continue to explore ways to provide even more freedom, investigating how we might allow you to combine more modules, even without a perfectly common axis. We cannot wait to see the transformations, efficiency gains, and time savings you will achieve with this new feature. Your feedback is what drives our innovation, and we look forward to hearing about the incredible solutions you build.
Additional resources
* Combined Grids Webinar with testimonials from JLR and Unilever
* Anapedia documentation on Combined Grids
* Anapedia training on Combined Grids
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Chart Axis Data Scale
Hello,
Is there a way to adjust the axis number scale for charts on a board?
I have column/waterfall charts side by side with 3 different scales. Would love to make them all in the million format.
The Axis options seem quite limited:
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Dynamic Display by Language Selection
Problem Statement
Ever wonder how to display your data in a different language format in Anaplan or simply just want to cater to language display options based on user selection?
Step-by-step guide
We need all the lists that require translation to be defined and it is best to have modules with definitions of each language to be published in the UX.
Note: remember to use Numbered list.
To make it driven by the user who consumed the dashboard, create a Parameter module with a List formatted line item for language selection. Then link all the display name properties’ formula of the numbered list to LOOKUP for the selected language. Then use the same lists for the modules needed throughout the model.
For better maintenance of the language definition, publish the modules with list definitions to the UX.
You might have seen various approaches to this problem but I hope this is useful for you. Would love to see how you apply this technique. Please share them in the comments below.
Thanks.
Leo
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Process-Specific '... Model is Busy' Text
In Anaplan's new UX, when running an extended process, any user active may be greeted my a banner informing them that the '… Model is Busy'.
However, this message can be ambiguous, and it may be beneficial for certain processes to more clearly articulate what is happening. My suggestion would be the ability to add a new dimension to Processes and Actions, which allows users to type in text that will override this default message for users in the new UX.
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Ability to input text commentary with text formatting options in Management Reporting - New UX
While working on a project, a useful implementation emerged. Currently in Anaplan, via Management Reporting, it is possible to create documentation that cannot be customised by the user. In fact, the end user using the system can only look at the data and comments previously entered by the Page Builder. We tried creating a dashboard linked to management reporting in which it was possible to enter comments, but Anaplan does not read any formatting. Especially in companies with many subsidiaries, it is useful to give the end user the following possibility:
Formatting and text entry (line break or any text formatting) within the Management Reporting, so that they can comment on the data themselves
The end user must of course not be able to edit the tables present, so that he can ensure a unique file structure but with different comments. Thus, only selected spaces must be able to be edited by the user with text input.
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New UX: Syncronise all cards on a page without having to hit the refresh button!
Hi
I have a Page within the NUX which displays a specific week based selecting a date line item in a time filter module.
When I change the date the correct Week is displayed based on the day selected and the Weekly Variances change to show the variances for that selected week, however the daily view of the selected week remains as previously selected until I refresh the page?
Is there a way to force this to happen automatically without refreshing the page?
Thanks
Paul
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Time Period Formatted line items dependency on Time Range
Currently dropdown for time period formatted line items shows all time periods for Model Calendar. There should be an option to make them dependent on Time range applicable to that particular Module/Line Item. For Example: If Model has 5 years, a Month formatted line item will show all 60 months in dropdown even if that Module has a time range of 1 year. There should be an option to show only 12 months in this case.
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Change Model There Colour
It would be useful to be able to set Production Models header or background colour to something different to Test or other non-production Models. During development activities switching between models in different browser tabs and windows can lead to changing a formula in the wrong model. I've seen in other Finance Systems where you can change the RGB code of the background/page banner in system settings to easily differentiate between Test and Production environments.
I've attached an example of where I changed the banner colour using the A+ extension in Chrome to show the effect that could be used for Test models.
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Line Item Subset Filter not working in New UX?
Hi All:
I am attempting to filter in the NewUX by way of a line item subset. Goal is to hide line items based upon the selection of the user. In the traditional UX I can apply the filter without issue.
When I go to apply the filter to my grid in the worksheet (NewUX), it does not allow me to select the line item I wish to filter on, screen cap attached.
Is this a limitation of the New UX? Has anyone ran into this issue before? Thanks in advance.
Dan
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UX Enhancement: Red Font Toggle for Negative Numbers
In most cases, especially when adhering to accounting principles, it's preferred to display negative numbers in red font, similar to how Excel handles them. Currently, achieving this in Anaplan requires setting up conditional formatting for each line item, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.
To streamline this process, it would be extremely helpful to introduce a toggle in the UX page formatting section that automatically changes the font color to red for negative values. This enhancement would offer two key benefits:
* Free up conditional formatting logic for other use cases (e.g., borders, Morse indicators, background colors), while still ensuring negative numbers are visually distinct.
* Significantly reduce UX design time, making page building faster and more intuitive.
Even better, this toggle could also be available at the card level, similar to how default column widths are set for grid cards with the option to override specific columns. This would make UX design even more seamless and save substantial time for page builders.