Tech talk: UX adoption and experiences

andrew_martin_1
andrew_martin_1
edited January 2023 in Blog

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This spring Anaplan’s Operational Excellence Group (OEG) hosted several listening sessions with top Certified Master Anaplanners to connect and collaborate on a variety of Anaplan hot topics.

The first session covered troubleshooting calculations; check out OEG host Mark Warren’s recap — featuring techniques and best practices for working out calculations. The most recent 'tech talk' was all about UX. From overcoming obstacles to rethinking your approach, there was no shortage of valuable insights coming from this enthusiastic group! OEG's Andy Martin captures key takeaways in today's highlights. 

I had the pleasure of discussing UX adoption and experiences with a select group of Certified Master Anaplanners. There's no better way to learn than from those paving the path toward Connected Planning every day! Here are a few quick tips to support you on your Anaplan UX journey.  

  • Use the insight panel in a worksheet for instructions and filters. It is collapsible, so it can be toggled off to reveal more of the grid.
  • Only use Custom Views, unless there is a specific need to propagate a Module Saved View in multiple places. All the new features in the UX are in Custom Views, such as enhanced conditional formatting.
  • Build up a card template library — saves lots of time, and cards are editable once on a page.
  • Put the source module name in the description of a card for easy identification. An I symbol appears to show extra info is there.
  • Train your users on My Pages, focusing on their ability to save and amend their own versions of pages.
  • Make sure there are no blocking actions running when showing a Management Report in presentation mode.
  • Assign pages to multiple models to see Dev vs Prod.
  • Don’t get wedded to one page type. Think about the best one for each use case in the app.
  • Utilize the improved collaboration tools:
    • Comments can be added to any card on a page, specific to the context being viewed. Individuals can be @mentioned to draw them to an action or observation.
    • Notifications enable users to email collaborators from within an app, for example, to alert them to perform a task.
    • Pages can be shared by email, with context, to easily loop colleagues into the process by taking them to exactly the right place.
    • Integration with Slack to share pages with more colleagues.
  • Don’t lift and shift from classic. Redesign!
    • To make the transition easier, you can leverage views and charts from your existing dashboards. Use the dashboard import tool to speedily convert objects you already have in Classic to UX cards, ready for use in your new apps.
  • Explore some of the little-known features in UX, like filtering a page selector, new styles for conditional formatting, KPI card sparklines, split-screen views in worksheets, and text field validations in forms.
  • Use Community to research, ask questions, and get answers from others in the forums. Crowdsource the solution!

We love a great 'quick tip' to inspire creativity and improve processes. If we've inspired you here, let us know in the comments below. We're working on new ways to deliver bite-sized content that is sure to get you moving in the right direction, full speed ahead. Share your own quick tip in the comments below, and we may feature you next!

Check out these additional UX-related resources:

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