Share your best practices on guiding users through the UX — July 2025 Community Challenge

Our latest Best Practices Community Challenge is here, and we’re diving into guiding your users through the user experience! Each Challenge highlights a specific topic where Community members can share their expertise, exchange ideas, and learn from one another.

Are you an expert in crafting intuitive and impactful user experiences? In May’s Challenge, we talked about best practices for choosing and creating individual pages. This month, we want to hear about how you craft the user journey through the app.

Challenge Prompts

Below are some prompts to spark your creativity as you share your best practices. We want to hear your insights and see your examples! Share your strategies for the following below.

Page and App organization: How do you structure pages and apps for intuitive navigation and information flow?
Color and formatting: What color schemes and formatting options enhance usability, and why? How do your users respond to them?
Progressive disclosure: How do you implement it effectively to prevent overwhelm? Share your best examples!
Driving faster decisions: What techniques do you use to help users quickly grasp insights and act?
Impactful charting: What charts are most effective for different use cases? Any design tips or tricks for maximum impact?

How to participate

The Best Practices Challenge around guiding users through the UX kicks off today, July 14, and concludes on July 31.
Share your best practices related to guiding users through the user experience on this post. Whether it’s a detailed write-up, a short tip, or even a video, we welcome all formats! Be sure to check out some prompts shared in this post to help guide your response.
Check out tips shared by your fellow Community members.

What's in it for you?

Recognition: Showcase your user experience expertise and stand out as a Community thought leader!
Learn: Check out contributions from newer and seasoned professionals in the Anaplan ecosystem.
Earn a badge: As a thank you for your participation, everyone who shares their best practices will receive an exclusive Community Challenge badge. It’s a fun way to show off your contribution!
Earn a shout-out in our upcoming event: on August 27, we’ll be hosting an event discussing guiding users through the UX in our upcoming ACE Spotlight events. Participants' responses will be highlighted at this event.

Participate today

This is a great opportunity to exchange insights, tips, and innovative ideas with fellow Anaplan professionals. Join the July 2025 Best Practices Challenge to contribute your expertise and learn from others in the Community!

Comments

matthewreed

A simple navigation strategy we adopt, particularly for input processes where there are a number of dashboards that users need to work through, is to have navigation buttons with arrow icons that direct users to the previous and next dashboards.

As you can now select which side of the navigation button icons can be placed, it creates a 'flow' for the dashboards, as the arrows create a sense of progression through the UX for users to follow or retrace their steps if needed.

SIVAPRASADPERAM

Below are some prompts:

Page and App organization:

Use clear and consistent naming conventions for pages and modules. This practice helps user understanding of the content and the purpose of each page.
Related pages and modules should be grouped together. For Example, all Cash flow pages can be consolidated in one section.

Color and Formatting:

To maintain a consistent color scheme throughout the application.
To gather feedback from users regarding their color preferences. Based on their responses, the color scheme should be adjusted to ensure it meets their needs and enhances their overall experience.

Progressive Disclosure:

Complex processes should be divided into smaller, manageable steps. Users should be guided through each step with clear instructions.
Provide tooltips and help icons that users can click on for additional information.

Driving Faster Decisions:

Create dashboards that display key metrics and KPIs prominently.
Implement interactive filters that allow users to quickly change the data view based on different criteria. This helps them focus on the most relevant information.

Impactful Charting:

Create the charts for comparing categories.
Use consistent formatting for charts to ensure a professional appearance.

Prajjwal88

Hello Everyone,

Here are a few practices I follow for building intuitive and effective Anaplan UX experiences:

Structure pages based on the type of user/business area—planners benefit from landing directly on input dashboards to get started quickly, while leadership may prefer summary views with KPIs, trends, and visual comparisons; combine this with clear naming & titles, organize pages into logical categories, a central landing page with navigation links and utilize the simple drag-and-drop feature to arrange elements logically.
Maintain a minimal and consistent color scheme across pages; use conditional formatting smartly to highlight key flags and exceptions.
Avoid overwhelming users by revealing information in steps; use collapsible sections, separate tabs, tooltips, and help icons to guide users progressively.
Display key KPIs at the top for quick insights, enable dynamic filtering through quick filters, and use text cards with dynamic messaging (formula-based) for alerts, thresholds, or summaries (For report pages, one can also overlay these text on other cards).
Choose chart types based on the insight; bar for categories, line for trends, pie for proportions; keep formatting consistent and combine chart types to present a cohesive story.

Looking forward to learning from others' experiences and insights!

jjayavalli

To effectively support our user base of over 3,000 individuals, we recognized the challenge of ensuring everyone could easily understand, use, and relate to Anaplan.

To address this, our team took a strategic approach by creating short, targeted video tutorials. These videos are embedded directly within the relevant UX pages, tailored to specific processes such as forecasting, submission workflows, or data input etc.

Each user, based on their role and access permissions, is directed to the appropriate UX page. There, they can simply click on a video link that walks them through the process step-by-step—making it easier to learn, follow, and complete tasks independently.

allison_slaught

I'm liking what I'm seeing in this thread. I've outlined a few thoughts on the use of color with conditional formatting.

I typically define a standard for conditional formatting (CF) colors. Following a standard provides several benefits including:

· Enhanced User Intuition: Users quickly learn what each color signifies across the Anaplan environment, improving overall navigation and understanding.

· Ease of Configuration: Simplifies setting up conditional formatting rules and reduces the likelihood of errors, especially when multiple model builders are involved.

· Improved Troubleshooting: Consistent patterns make it easier for model builders and users to diagnose and resolve issues.

Most recently, in the classic engine, I’ve used:

A few reasons I adopted this specific standard:

Muted Conditional Formatting Color Choices: For conditional formatting, more muted colors are chosen (e.g., light blue, neutral grey, white, orange, light red) to ensure that the cell values remain easily readable. For KPI cards, more vibrant colors are chosen than what is listed above.

Standard Color Palette Selections: Except for Anaplan neutral, colors are from the standard color palette to reduce build effort. Input cells are white to match the default input cell color so it is less likely to lead to a request to add conditional formatting on every input cell.

Strategic Value Choices: By having the warnings and errors be values 2 & 3, I can use a summary method of max to highlight warnings and errors within a hierarchy.

Anaplan Neutral (Value 0): The hex color is the same as the UX’s default color for a non-input cell. When Dynamic Cell Access (DCA) is applied to the input, preventing specific users from seeing or writing to cell contents, the same can be applied to the conditional formatting line item; a non-readable CF cell is interpreted as 0, therefore rendering the cell neutral grey and reinforcing that there is an access restriction.

namdevgurme

Focus on user persona. Identify goals and pain points through a customized experience.
Identify goals.

What do they need to accomplish?
What questions do they need to answer?
What problems do they need to solve?
What data do they need?
Where do they need to focus?
Build for action. Provide clear direction: system status, inputs, levers, outputs, and comments.
Follow the business process.
Group like content together.
Display what users need to do.
Cleary highlight Inputs and relevant impacts.
Provide users ability to provide feedback and insight.
Data optimization. Provide progressive disclosure information.
Distinguish between KPIs (main vs information).
Provide targets and compare against planned KPIs.
Color code data requiring action.
Most important data first.
Simple and decluttered.
Balanced user filters.
Screen optimization. Provide clear direction: Provide clear direction: system status, inputs, levers, outputs, and comments.
Avoid horizontal scrolling.
Minimize vertical scrolling.
Keep data input and feedback within view.
Account for mobile design if needed.

Minimize time-to-decision

Focus on the outcome your users are attempting to arrive at and optimize for it.

Prioritize key KPIs at the top of pages, or on landing pages
Provide easy access to key reports and analysis tools
Don’t overwhelm
What decision are they trying to make?
What will they do with that decision?
How does this inform the pages and features needed?

Progressive disclosure

Presenting data incrementally avoids overwhelming users by keeping it simple upfront.

Present data in simple, digestible chunks
Allow users to drill into more detail by linking summary data in cards to detail data in worksheets
Place useful items in “Additional Insights”
Data-dense and busy pages can overwhelm non-experts; keep it simple by eliminating what’s not needed
This is especially important on mobile as there’s even less real estate

Help and guide

Provide hints to guide users on what to do next.

Use text and instructions where needed
Use text cards for pages intended for less frequent users
Provide custom tooltips to help describe visualizations

KUMARNR

Hi Anaplanners!

Here are the practices I follow for guiding users:

Page and App Organization

Creating separate categories to serve different purposes in the app makes it easy for users. Create pages within these categories using consistent naming that is similar to the purpose you are serving.
Bring all related grids and processes onto the page and place them accordingly in a way that encourages intuitive user flow from the page's start to end.
Create the app with notes, users should be able to access the respective app without hurdles.

Color and Formatting

When creating grids on pages, try to work around the grid rows and columns with the company logo or the company brand color. Provide the suitable formatting and by calculating the impact, make it visible with either a light or dark based on the impact.
Try to establish the formatting standards at the outset so they can be carried out consistently. This improves usability, as users can easily identify actions and the formatting by looking at the color.

Progressive Disclosure

In terms of navigation, we should provide clear steps on how to progress through actions in the instructions card.
To avoid overwhelming users, separate things where required rather than keeping too much information on a single page.
Filter or provide filters on the page to only show specific data related to its purpose. For example, if you have a "Real Plan" and "Placeholder Plan" on a single list, only keep "Placeholder Data" when they are working solely for placeholders.

Driving Faster Decisions

Provide the steps to act with instructions, placing the grids accordingly with a top-down approach, and give the titles on the cards to avoid deviating from the intended action.

Impactful Charting

Showing change over time: Line charts, area charts, and column charts are excellent choices to visualize trends and patterns in data over a period.
Comparing categories: Bar charts and column charts are ideal for comparing different values across distinct categories. Cheers!

Poojalakshmi

Hello Everyone,

Here are few best practices for building intuitive and effective Anaplan UX experiences:

Page and App Organization: Create intuitive, role-based navigation.

Organizing Apps by Business Function (e.g., Sales Planning, Budgeting)
Using clear, action-oriented page names (e.g., "Input Net Sales", "COGS Report")
Adding landing pages or overview pages to introduce the process and guide first-time users

Colour and Formatting: Guide attention and improve readability.

Using light yellow for input fields, gray for read-only cells, and red/green for negative/positive variances.
Applying conditional formatting to flag data anomalies or missing inputs (e.g., red for errors).
Limiting to 3–4 consistent colors to avoid clutter and enhance visual hierarchy.

Progressive Disclosure: Prevent user overwhelm by revealing data gradually.

Hiding irrelevant line items or data using show/hide logic or filters based on user selections.
Starting with high-level summaries, and using linked cards or navigation to drill into detail.
Using toggles or selectors to switch views without overwhelming the page.

Driving Faster Decisions: Help users take action based on insights.

Placing key KPIs and summary numbers at the top for quick scanning.
Using color-coded alerts or icons to highlight risk.
Publishing key process buttons clearly (e.g., "Run Export", "Load to List") so users can act with one click.

Impactful Charting: Visualize data clearly to tell a story.

Using the right chart for the message (e.g., combo charts for actual vs forecast)
Keeping charts simple and clean, avoiding overuse of elements or colors.
Labelling values and axes clearly, and place tooltips or legends where users expect them.

seb_mcmillan

Some great content and ideas here

I'd add use page access controls to only show users to pages relevant to their roles. This makes navigation quicker and make the UX less overwhelming for users that use Anaplan infrequently.

Also think about using workflow to guide users through the process. It's sat nav for the UX

Javvaji45

Hello Everyone

Explore these best practices to build user-friendly and impactful Anaplan UX pages

1. Page and App Organization

· Group-related pages under logical categories (e.g., "Sales Planning," "Finance Summary").

· Follow a top-down layout: start with dashboards/summary, then drill into details.

· Use consistent naming conventions and icons for quick recognition.

· Use landing pages with KPI tiles and navigation links to guide users.

· Avoid overloading users - limit the number of pages shown based on roles.

2. Color and Formatting

· Use green for good, red for issues, yellow for warnings - avoid random coloring.

· Use bold headers, clear section dividers, and spacing to visually separate components.

· Use conditional formatting for KPIs to draw attention only when necessary.

· Ensure high contrast for readability and accessibility.

· Use uniform font sizes for clarity and avoid over-formatting.

3. Progressive Disclosure

· Add "Drill Down" or linked pages for detailed exploration instead of showing all data at once.

· Use card interactivity like "Show History," "Open Related Pages," or "Open Form" buttons.

· Hide technical modules and expose only curated UX pages.

4. Driving Faster Decisions

· Use KPI cards and bar charts to show trends and status at a glance.

· Design pages for one action per page - e.g., "Submit Forecast" or "Adjust Discount."

· Pre-filter views based on user role or region to reduce noise.

· Highlight alerts or outliers using dynamic visuals.

5. Impactful Charting

· Use combo charts (bar + line) for comparing planned vs actual overtime.

· Pie charts for share of categories, waterfalls for variance analysis, and grid charts for detailed input.

· Label key points on charts; remove unnecessary axes or legends.

· Use tooltips to give more context without cluttering the visual.

cherukuri20

Hello Everyone,

Best Practices for Creating User-Friendly Anaplan UX Designs

Page and App organization:

· Use a clear Structure or good format to name the pages [Function or Process]- [Detail or Timeframe] e.g. Sales Forecast – Monthly

· Use the category to group related pages, then name pages to reflect their role within that group

For Example: Sales Planning

Sales Overview

Page Name	What it Reflects
Sales Overview	Gives a Summary of a sales Performance
Sales Forecast Entry	Where users input Forecast

Color and formatting:

· User Colors Purposefully – Avoid using too many colors it can confuse Users

· Use bold and consistent colors across pages (e.g., Green for growth and Red for decline)

Progressive disclosure:

· It means to show only important information first and let users reveal more details when they need them, this keeps pages clean and easy to use

· Start with Summary cards like KPIs or charts and apply filters so users can choose what data to see

Driving faster decisions:

Add interactive filters so users can easily change what data they see based on things like time, region, or product. This helps them quickly focus on the most important information for their needs.

Impactful charting:

Use bar or column charts to compare things, like sales in different regions. Use line charts to show how something changes over time, like monthly revenue. Use pie charts to show parts of a whole, like market share—but keep them simple. Choosing the right chart makes it easier for users to understand the data and make quick decisions.

SunnyNafraz

Page and App Organization

Intuitive navigation and information flow are crucial for user adoption and efficient use of Anaplan.

Logical Grouping: Organize pages and apps based on logical business processes or user roles. For instance, a "Sales Planning" app might contain pages for "Territory Planning," "Quota Setting," and "Performance Tracking."
Hierarchical Structure: Use a clear hierarchy for pages. A main landing page for an app can provide an overview and links to more detailed pages. This helps users drill down into information progressively.
Consistent Naming Conventions: Establish and adhere to consistent naming conventions for pages, modules, and line items. This makes it easier for users to find what they're looking for. For example, "ACT001 Sales Data" is more informative than "Sales."
Dashboard vs. Input Pages: Clearly differentiate between dashboard pages (for viewing and analysis) and input pages (for data entry). This reduces confusion for users.
Navigation Links: Utilize card configurations to embed navigation links directly on pages, guiding users through workflows or to related information. This is particularly useful for building guided processes.
Purpose-Driven Pages: Each page should have a clear purpose. Avoid overcrowding pages with too much information or too many different functionalities.

Color and Formatting

Thoughtful use of color and formatting can significantly enhance usability and user engagement.

Consistent Color Palette: Stick to a limited and consistent color palette across all your Anaplan assets. This creates a professional and cohesive look and feel.
Meaningful Color Use: Assign colors with meaning. For example:
- Green for positive trends or "Go" actions.
- Red for negative trends, alerts, or "Stop" actions.
- Amber for warnings or neutral states.
- Use muted, professional tones for general data display and brighter, contrasting colors for highlights or key metrics.
Highlighting Key Information: Use bolding, larger font sizes, or subtle background shading to draw attention to critical data points, input cells, or actionable insights.
Conditional Formatting: Leverage Anaplan's conditional formatting capabilities extensively. For instance, automatically color-code cells based on performance thresholds (e.g., sales below target in red, on target in green). This provides immediate visual cues.
Whitespace: Don't underestimate the power of whitespace. Adequate spacing between elements prevents visual clutter and makes pages easier to scan and understand.
User Responsiveness: Users generally respond positively to well-formatted, clean interfaces. It reduces cognitive load and makes the application feel more professional and reliable. Conversely, cluttered or inconsistent designs can lead to frustration and distrust in the data.

Progressive Disclosure

Progressive disclosure helps prevent information overload by revealing details only when they are needed.

Summary to Detail: Start with high-level summaries and provide options for users to drill down into more detail.
- Example: A "Sales Overview" dashboard might show total revenue by region. Clicking on a region could open a new page or a pop-up modal displaying sales by product line within that region. Further clicks could reveal individual sales representative performance.
Show/Hide Functionality: Utilize show/hide functionality based on user selections or roles.
- Example: On a planning page, certain input fields or sections might only appear once a user selects a specific scenario (e.g., "Best Case" vs. "Worst Case").
Tabbed Interfaces: For pages with a lot of related information, use tabs to categorize and display content. Users can then navigate to the specific section they need without being overwhelmed by everything at once.
- Example: A "Budgeting" page could have tabs for "Personnel Costs," "Operating Expenses," and "Capital Expenditure."
Action-Oriented Prompts: Only display relevant actions or input fields when the user is ready to perform them. For example, a "Submit" button might only become active once all required fields are filled.

Driving Faster Decisions

Effective Anaplan design empowers users to quickly grasp insights and act on them.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at a Glance: Place critical KPIs prominently on landing pages or dashboards. These should be instantly digestible, often with visual cues (e.g., trend arrows, conditional formatting).
Contextual Information: Provide context alongside data. If showing sales figures, also display the target, variance, and prior period comparisons.
Actionable Insights: Design pages that don't just present data but also highlight what users should do next. This might involve:
- Recommendations: "Based on current performance, consider adjusting marketing spend in Region X."
- Alerts: "Sales for Product A are 15% below forecast."
- Direct Links to Input: Provide direct links or buttons to input pages where users can take corrective action (e.g., "Adjust Sales Forecast").
Scenario Planning Tools: Enable users to quickly model different scenarios and see the immediate impact. This allows for rapid "what-if" analysis and informed decision-making.
Variance Analysis: Clearly display variances against targets, budgets, or prior periods. This helps users quickly identify areas needing attention.

Impactful Charting

Choosing the right chart and designing it effectively can maximize data impact.

Bar Charts: Excellent for comparing discrete categories or showing changes over time for a few categories.
- Design Tip: Sort bars by value (descending or ascending) for easier comparison. Use consistent colors for categories.
Line Charts: Ideal for showing trends over time.
- Design Tip: Use a clear x-axis for time. Limit the number of lines to avoid clutter (typically 3-5 is a good maximum). Use distinct colors for each line.
Pie/Donut Charts: Best for showing proportions of a whole, but use sparingly and for a limited number of categories (max 5-7).
- Design Tip: Always include percentages or actual values. Avoid 3D effects as they distort perception.
Combination Charts (Bar and Line): Useful for showing two different data types on the same chart, such as sales (bars) and profit margin (line) over time.
Scatter Plots: Good for showing the relationship between two numerical variables.
- Design Tip: Use different colors or shapes to distinguish data points from different categories.
Heat Maps (using Anaplan grids with conditional formatting): Powerful for visualizing data density or performance across multiple dimensions.
- Design Tip: Use a clear gradient from one color to another to represent low to high values.
Design Tips for Maximum Impact:
- Clear Titles and Labels: Every chart needs a clear, concise title and properly labeled axes.
- Minimalist Design: Avoid unnecessary gridlines, borders, or elaborate backgrounds. Focus on the data.
- Data Ink Ratio: Maximize the "data ink" (ink used to display data) and minimize "non-data ink" (superfluous elements).
- Interactive Features: Leverage Anaplan's interactive charting capabilities, such as drill-downs or filters, to allow users to explore data dynamically.
- Annotate: Add annotations to highlight specific events, milestones, or important data points directly on the chart.

By implementing these strategies, you can create Anaplan models and user interfaces that are not only powerful but also highly intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable for your users, ultimately driving faster and more informed decisions.

lokesh1156

Hi everyone,

1.Page and App Organization

Goal: To create a logical, intuitive structure that aligns with business processes.

Best Practices:

Group By Role or Function: Organizing apps and pages based on user roles (e.g., Finance, Sales) or business processes (e.g., Forecasting, Budgeting).

Use Landing Pages: Create a dashboard-style landing page with navigation links to key pages.

2.Color and Formatting

Goal: Enhance readability, guide user attention, and maintain consistency.

Best Practices:

Use Color Purposefully: Green for positive values, Red for negative values and Blue for inputs.

Grid Alignment: Align modules and cards neatly to avoid visual clutter.

3. Progressive Disclosure

Goal: Shows only necessary at first and reveal more details as needed.

Best Practices:

Layer Information: Start with summaries or KPI's then allow users to explore deeper data.

Conditional Visibility: Display cards or fields only when relevant (based on user selection).

4. Driving Faster Decisions

Goal: Empower users to act quickly with clear actionable insights.

Best Practices:

Minimize Load Times: Optimize models and pages for performance.

Highlight Exceptions: Use conditional formatting to flag outliers or issues.

5. Impactful Charting

Goal: Tell a story with data and make trends easy to understand.

Best Practices:

Choose right chart type: Line charts for trends, Bar/Column charts for comparison and Pie charts for proportions.

Interactive Filters: Let's users slice data by Time, Region or Product.

An Example:

pyrypeura

Great to see so many thoughtful contributions! Having worked with Anaplan for several years across various planning domains, I’ve found that guiding users through the UX is as much about strategic design as it is about technical execution.

🔹 Page & App Organization
We design apps around end-to-end business processes, not just roles. This means aligning UX flows with actual decision-making paths—e.g., starting with a landing page that outlines the planning cycle, then guiding users through input, review, and approval stages using navigation cards and workflow logic. Role-based access and dynamic visibility ensure users only see what’s relevant to them.

🔹 Color & Formatting
We standardize conditional formatting across models to reduce cognitive load and improve intuitiveness. For example, muted tones for input grids, vibrant alerts for exceptions, and consistent use of brand colors for familiarity. We also leverage DCA to control visibility and reinforce access logic visually.

🔹 Progressive Disclosure
We use layered UX design—summary dashboards with drill-downs, tabs for segmentation, and context-sensitive filters. This helps users focus on what matters without being overwhelmed. Tooltips and embedded help cards are especially useful for infrequent users.

🔹 Driving Faster Decisions
We prioritize KPIs and decision triggers at the top of pages, often using dynamic text cards to surface alerts or recommendations. Scenario planning tools with real-time feedback loops help users model outcomes and act quickly.

🔹 Impactful Charting
Chart selection is driven by the story we want to tell—combo charts for actual vs. forecast, waterfall charts for variance analysis, and heat maps for performance grids. We also annotate key data points and use interactive elements to guide exploration.

Anjaneyulu Putta

The following best practices focus on five key areas: Page and App Organization, Color and Formatting, Progressive Disclosure, Driving Faster Decisions, and Impactful Charting.

Page and App Organization
Organize apps and pages to mirror business processes and user workflows. Group pages under categories like “Planning,” “Review,” and “Approval” for intuitive navigation. Use consistent naming conventions, such as numbering pages (e.g., “1. Forecast Input”), to guide users logically. Create a landing page with KPIs, instructions, and navigation links to orient users. Apply role-based access to ensure users only see relevant content, reducing clutter and confusion. This structure enhances usability, supports process flow, and ensures users can quickly find and interact with the data they need.
Color and Formatting
Consistent visual design improves clarity and user experience. Use a uniform color palette aligned with your brand, applying color purposefully to highlight key metrics, thresholds, or exceptions. Conditional formatting can draw attention to variances or required inputs. Maintain clean layouts with ample whitespace and aligned elements to reduce visual noise. Use font size and weight to establish hierarchy—larger or bold fonts for titles and KPIs, standard fonts for data. Avoid excessive use of color or formatting, which can distract users. A clean, consistent interface helps users focus on insights and actions.
Progressive Disclosure
Progressive disclosure helps manage complexity by revealing information gradually. Start with high-level summaries and allow users to explore details through drill-downs, tabs, or linked pages. Use collapsible cards to hide advanced data until needed, keeping the interface clean and focused. This approach supports both casual users and power users by offering simplicity upfront and depth on demand. Drill-down capabilities in charts and grids enable users to investigate data hierarchically without leaving the page. This method enhances usability, reduces cognitive load, and supports efficient data exploration.
Driving Faster Decisions
Design pages to surface critical insights quickly. Place KPIs, alerts, and summary metrics at the top for immediate visibility. Use visual cues like icons, color indicators, or conditional formatting to highlight issues or required actions. Include scenario selectors, dropdowns, or toggles to enable quick comparisons and what-if analysis. Streamline navigation with page links and buttons that guide users through workflows efficiently. Minimize clicks and distractions to keep users focused on decision-making. A well-structured, insight-driven layout empowers users to act confidently and swiftly based on real-time data.
Impactful Charting
Charts should simplify data interpretation and support decision-making. Choose chart types based on the message: bar/column for comparisons, line for trends, and waterfall for variance analysis. Avoid clutter by limiting data series and labels. Use consistent color coding to reinforce meaning across charts. Add annotations or tooltips to provide context and highlight key takeaways. Keep charts focused and aligned with the page’s purpose. A well-designed chart tells a clear story, enabling users to grasp insights at a glance and take informed action without needing to analyze raw data.

devrathahuja

Hello all,
Here are a few things that we follow to help smoothen the user journey through apps-

Navigation & Organization-
1.Creating a homepage is an absolute must for larger apps so that a user is aware of all the available pages/options to plan. Even better if the homepage can be structured as per the planning flow so they know where to start & where to end.

2. Use of app categories & numbering of pages in the flow of planning

3.Links to previous/next pages or links to other related pages. E.g - If an item can be planned in 3 different ways & is published to separate pages then a link to the other 2 options & a summary page can be of great use to the users to help navigate easily.

Design of the app pages-
1.It is also crucial to design pages considering the end users in mind. Executive dashboards should have all the key KPIs & summary tables at the first look with minimal scroll & more visuals vs planning dashboards might need larger grids with lots of reference data & inputs. In this case, it'd be better to design 2 separate pages & drive the flow for end users accordingly.

2.One of the charts that is often helpful & used in financial planning use cases is the waterfall chart. This can be used to create bridges between different versions, e.g - Budget to Forecast to ActualIt helps easily understand the variances & can be supported with other tables/charts below it with sync functionality to help the users drill down further.

Driving faster decisions-
1.Use of conditional formatting to differentiate input cells from calculated cells/locked cells helps in knowing exactly what is editable in a grid. E.g - Using CF linked to the DCA so the background is colored in yellow for all the open/editable cells.

2.Use of dynamic texts as warning signs also helps in avoiding confusion. Example - If there's no reference data & hence a particular method would not work for a given case, a text can be displayed based on an IF/THEN statement as "No reference data available" & would help user save time instead of doing the work with no output at the end.

3.Use of DCAs on actions when they are conditional. Example - If a user can create a list item but needs certain attributes to be mandatory, you can set up a DCA so the action cannot be run unless those are filled. This is also very useful in trying to avoid model being blocked for all due to addition of a duplicate item & running into an error.

4.Use of role based accesses to declutter the app for users & only show pages relevant to their role

5.Use of infoboxes is also of great help to declutter the page with a lot of text whilst still providing key information to the users-

Hope this helps! :)

SriNitya

Hi All,
I have followed the below points while creating User friendly dashboards.

App Information - Provided high-level overview of what is present and what happens in the App
UX pages Categorization - Based on the Planning Process respective steps involved in the process are created as categories and then page grouping is done. let's say Incentive compensation planning Categories can be Drivers and Assumptions, Data load (Transactions, Target/Quota Setting), Sales Representative Details, Commission Setup, Summary Reports.
Landing dashboards - Created role-based landing dashboards with clear instructions on what actions/work they need to perform in Anaplan. Displaying KPI cards to show critical info, Planning years start and end information with Quick link the other UX screens.
Instructions - Used the text cards to display the purpose of the grids and always used header on the grip to depict its purpose followed the same in case of charts as well provided clear info on what does the visualization show. Provided Links on UX screens to navigate to other pages
Conditional Formatting - Used fixed colors throughout the pages. When numbers are negative used red colour to represent them so that user can make a progressive decision.
Charts - Charts enable you to visually compare multiple sets of data. Charts can help people better understand the information. Many people understand a picture more quickly. In case of Incentive planning, we can use Bar charts to show Actual vs Target for Achievement and Water fall charts to show commission variations for different plans.
Imports & Exports - I have used single color throughout the pages for imports and exports as Blue for export and Green for Import Actions with symbolic representation as in below screenshot

So far for all the clients I have worked we have given a detailed End user UX Documentation both role specific and a document on all UX pages as it can be referenced later on with detailed information on selector- grid - KPI- Charts everything.
Thanks for providing this opportunity to share the best practices on UX pages.

andrewtye

Coming in at the end, where everyone has already done the hard work, some additional thoughts (some of which may already have been mentioned!)

Use of role profiles - not to drive module access but to help with what pages end users can see and where they start their journey in the app using specific landing pages. This just means that an app with say 20 or 30 pages can be cut down to just those particular personas need to see.

Landing pages - be that a top-line summary page or a guided pathway through how to run the activity process just a good place for end users to land at without being faced with a wall of random page names

Use of internal documents - if there's a format style that a team has or particular ways of looking at things leverage that. People have a way of working and whilst we should look to improve that the aim is to support them to do their activity in a better more efficient way. So where possible use those to support the navigation and have them be comfortable with the Anaplan output. If it looks & feels like what they're used to then there will be greater confidence in it. This also means that there doesn't need to be quite as much copying out and re-formatting if it looks like something that's been produced before where that process has already been gone through

Don't overload the pages - summary pages need to be just that. Use of dynamic text for key KPIs, a couple of key outputs and maybe a table or two. I stole the below from a recent connect session and having senior leaders land on a page like this can help to focus conversations

Use of notifications/comments - as activity moves through end users these are incredibly helpful for moving information about and keeping it all tracked within the platform. Clearly Workflow does a great wrapper job of that as well but sometimes you want a check-point that's outside of the process flow.

Review, review, and review some more!! stay engaged with your end users. Just because the flow through the model worked a year ago doesn't mean that it's still aligned. Get that feedback after cycles to ensure pages are relevant, flow is logical, and don't just add to pages but make new ones

kamalakar1144

Hello All,

Best Practices for Creating User-Friendly Anaplan UX Designs.

To create an effective user experience (UX) in Anaplan, it’s important to design pages and apps that are not only functional but also clear, intuitive, and decision focused. Below is an explanation of essential UX principles I follow:

Page and App Organization

Good organization helps users quickly understand where to go and what to do. I group apps based on business processes (e.g., Sales, Finance, HR). Inside each app, pages are organized by user tasks: Input ➝ Review ➝ Approval ➝ Reporting. Each page is named clearly (e.g., “Q1 Sales Entry” or “Headcount Summary”) so users know exactly what the page is for.

This structure reduces confusion and improves navigation speed.

Color and Formatting

Colors and formatting help users focus on what matters most. I use consistent colors to show status (green for good, red for issues, grey for inactive). Conditional formatting is applied to grids to highlight values that need attention. Important KPIs or totals are bolded or shown in KPI cards to stand out.

This visual design guides user attention without needing extra explanation.

Progressive Disclosure

Don’t show everything at once — show only what’s needed. I use collapsible sections or tabs to separate basic inputs from advanced ones. This way, new users see a clean, simple view while experienced users can go deeper. Only the most important inputs and visuals are visible at first glance.

This prevents users from feeling overwhelmed and improves focus.

Driving Faster Decisions

Users come to Anaplan to take action — not just look at data. I design pages to show real-time impact: as soon as a user enters data, KPIs and charts update. I include summary grids showing key metrics like variance, actual vs. target, etc. Clear buttons like “Submit Plan” or “Send for Review” guide users to take the next step quickly.

This makes decision-making fast and intuitive.

Impactful Charting

Charts turn data into insights. I use the right charts for the right message — bar charts for comparisons, line charts for trends, waterfall for breakdowns. Charts are always placed next to inputs or summaries, so users instantly see the effect. I include targets and benchmarks in visuals to give users the full picture.

This helps users understand performance and take action based on visuals

Quick Links

Recent release news

August 2025 platform releases and what’s next
Check out the latest Anaplan feature updates and enhancements in our August 2025 official release notes. The information below offers supplemental information to that post. Planning experience Multi-browser tab syncing When changing context or data on a UX page, you can now view real-time data updates across up to five…
July 2025 platform releases and what’s next
Check out the latest Anaplan feature updates and enhancements in our July 2025 official release notes. The information below offers supplemental information to that post. Planning experience External URL navigation button Page builders can configure navigation action buttons to link to external URLs, including non-Anaplan…