OEG Best Practice: Governance for the Office add-Ins
General information
- We have listed below some of the best practices we recommend for the Anaplan product. These are based on our experience and are subject to change as we deliver new functionalities and learn more about how our customers use the product.
- If you would like to contribute or comment, please contribute to this forum post.
- You do not have to apply these best practices; we will still support you if you don’t follow them. These are recommendations and there are times when it may make sense to do things in a different way.
- We have highlighted in red the very important best practices.
About this article
We focus on how you can better govern the Office add-ins (Excel and PowerPoint) in your company, especially about versions and file management, as well as installation and upgrade.
Best practices
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1 |
Version control |
At the moment, customers do not have access to information about who uses an add-in in their company and which version they are on. We are looking to address this in the future. |
| 2 |
Version coexistence |
You should aim at only having one version of the add-in installed at the same time. This is because most versions cannot coexist. Having 2 versions installed at the same time will result in issues (missing functionalities, impossible to use the add-in…)
The only exceptions are:
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| 3 |
Version compatibility |
Excel Add-in series 3 and PowerPoint Add-in: The Office add-ins do not handle file compatibility. A file created in a version will work in any subsequent version, for instance, a file created in 3.2 will work on 3.3 onwards. The opposite is not true: a file created in 3.3 will not work in 3.2. As a result, when you upgrade to a new version, we recommend you take a copy of the file beforehand and refresh this copy.
Excel Add-in series 4: From Excel Add-in 4.0, we have introduced version compatibility within a major version. This means that files are compatible across al 4.x versions: for example, a file created on 4.1, works on 4.0 but also 4.2. Once you then convert the workbook to a 5.x version, the workbook becomes incompatible with 4.y versions (but we keep a back-up copy before the conversion).
Refer to this micro-lesson for more details about upgrade and conversion and the version information for more details. |
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Should you upgrade? |
Unless you are using a version that is going to be deprecated, you are not forced to upgrade to the new version. Check the version information to make an informed decision about whether your company will benefit from the new features. |
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Upgrade process |
Due to the version incompatibility described above, it is better for every user in the company to upgrade at the same time if you are on Excel Add-in series 3 or on PowerPoint Add-in. If you are on Excel Add-in series 4, this is not important as files are compatible.
If you are a workspace administrator or a Centre of Excellence lead, you can test the version in advance as soon as it gets released. Once you are happy with it, tell your users to upgrade and explain to them how to do this. |
| 6 |
Upgrade notification |
Excel Add-in Series 3 and PowerPoint Add-in: When a new version becomes available, a pop-up notification is triggered automatically to all users of the add-in when they open Excel or PowerPoint (depending on which add-in they are using). We recommend you send a note to your users proactively to tell them to not upgrade if you do not want to.
Excel Add-in series 4: From Excel Add-in 4.0, we have introduced a what's new feature. More details on our version information page. |
| 7 |
What's New? |
This version information page for Excel Add-in and PowerPoint Add-in is always up-to-date.
You may subscribe to the platform release section of the Community for regular notifications about product releases. |
Author Magali Pelissier.
Comments
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I wanted to bring to your attention that the link provided above for Excel, Powerpoint add-in , micro lesson and Version information appears to be non-functional. Could you please verify the link.
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