Datasets Created from Plans

When you send a plan to Analytics, the resulting dataset contains all the dimensions and measures from the plan, as well as several additional dimensions. For more information about the additional fields, see Fields on Datasets Created from Plans.

For example, your plan might look like the Example Plan 1: Basic Financial Budget table.

Example Plan 1: Basic Financial Budget
Year 2025
Period 001 002
GLA Home Dual Home Dual
1100 - Accounts Receivable EUR 5,000 USD 5,355.762 EUR 7,500 USD 8,033.643
2000 - Accounts Payable EUR -1,500 USD -1,606.729   USD 0

In this case, the plan has three dimensions, Year, Period, and GLA, and two measures, Home and Dual. The Dual values are calculated by multiplying the Home values by 1.0711524. The Home value for 2000 - Accounts Payable in period 002 has not yet been entered, which is why the Dual value is set to zero.

If you send the example plan to Analytics, the resulting dataset looks like the Example Dataset 1: Basic Financial Budget table.

Note:

We have omitted several dimensions that are included in every dataset created from a plan to make the table easier to read. For more information about the additional fields, see Fields on Datasets Created from Plans.

Example Dataset 1: Basic Financial Budget
Year Period GLA Home Dual Planning Unit Code Calculated
2025 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 5,000 0 EUR false
2025 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 5,355.76 USD true
2025 001 2000 - Accounts Payable -1,500 0 EUR false
2025 001 2000 - Accounts Payable 0 -1,606.73 USD true
2025 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 7,500 0 EUR false
2025 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 8,033.64 USD true
2025 002 2000 - Accounts Payable 0 0 USD true

Each row of the resulting dataset represents a plan cell that contains a value. In the example plan, the Home value for 2000 - Accounts Payable in period 002 was not entered, which is why there are seven rows instead of eight.

The value of the cell is stored in the relevant measure. All other measures in the dataset row are set to zero. The Calculated dimension indicates whether the value of the cell was calculated in the plan.

Updating the Dataset

As you continue working on your plan, you might want to send the updated plan to Analytics. In this case, you can create a new dataset or update an existing dataset. When you update the dataset, the existing measure values are updated and new rows are added for new plan cells.

Following from the previous example, you might update your plan to look like the Example Plan 2: Updated Basic Financial Budget table.

Example Plan 2: Updated Basic Financial Budget
Year 2025
Period 001 002
GLA Home Dual Home Dual
1100 - Accounts Receivable EUR 5,500 USD 5,891.338 EUR 7,750 USD 8,301.431
2000 - Accounts Payable EUR -1,750 USD -1,874.517 EUR -2,500 USD -2,677.881
4000 - Product Sales     EUR 1,000 USD 1,071.152

In this case, the values have been updated for the existing general ledger accounts and a new GLA has been introduced in period 002.

If you send the updated plan to Analytics, the updated dataset looks like the Example Dataset 2: Updated Basic Financial Budget table.

Example Dataset 2: Updated Basic Financial Budget
Year Period GLA Home Dual Planning Unit Code Calculated
2025 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 5,500 0 EUR false
2025 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 5,891.34 USD true
2025 001 2000 - Accounts Payable -1,750 0 EUR false
2025 001 2000 - Accounts Payable 0 -1,874.52 USD true
2025 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 7,750 0 EUR false
2025 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 8,301.43 USD true
2025 002 2000 - Accounts Payable -2,500 0 EUR false
2025 002 2000 - Accounts Payable 0 -2,677.88 USD true
2025 002 4000 - Product Sales 1,000 0 EUR false
2025 002 4000 - Product Sales 0 1,071.15 USD true

In this case, the existing rows are updated to store the new values and three additional rows are added.

Note:

If you delete a column or a row in the plan, these changes are not reflected in the resulting dataset. For example, if you delete period 001 in Example Plan 2: Updated Basic Financial Budget, the dataset still looks like Example Dataset 2: Updated Basic Financial Budget.

Combining Plans in a Dataset

You can send different plans to the same dataset, if they have the same structure. This means that you can send two plans that have the same dimensions and measures.

You can also send plans that have a comparable structure. For example, you might have two plans similar to the Example Plan 3-A: Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 and Example Table 3-B: HQ Financial Budget 2025 tables.

Example Plan 3-A: Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025
Year 2025
Quarter Q1 Q2
Period 001 002 003 004
GLA Home Dual Home Dual Home Dual Home Dual
1100 - Accounts Receivable EUR 5,500.00 USD 5,891.34 EUR 7,750.00 USD 8,301.43 EUR 13,000.00 USD 13,924.98 EUR 5,000.00 USD 5,355.76
2000 - Accounts Payable EUR -1,500.00 USD -1,606.73 EUR -2,500.00 USD -2,677.88 EUR -5,000.00 USD -5,355.76 EUR -1,250.00 USD -1,338.94
Example Table 3-B: HQ Financial Budget 2025
Year 2025
GLA Measure 001 002 003 004
1100 - Accounts Receivable Dual USD 10,000.00 USD 12,000.00 USD 20,000.00 USD 11,500.00
2000 -Accounts Payable Dual USD -8,000.00 USD -7,500.00 USD -13,000.00 USD 453,315.09

If you send the subsidiary budget to Analytics first, you can then send the HQ budget to the same dataset. This is because the subsidiary budget contains all the dimensions and measures that the HQ budget contains. The resulting dataset would look like the Example Dataset 3: Consolidated Financial Budget table.

However, if you send the HQ budget to Analytics first, you cannot send the subsidiary budget to the same dataset. This is because the subsidiary budget contains an additional measure, Home, and an additional dimension, Quarter.

Example Dataset 3: Consolidated Financial Budget
Plan Name Year Quarter Period GLA Dual Home Planning Unit Code
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 10,000 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 5,891.34 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 001 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 5,500 EUR
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 001 2000 - Accounts Payable -8,000 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 001 2000 - Accounts Payable 0.00 -1,500 EUR
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 001 2000 - Accounts Payable -1,607 0 USD
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 12,000 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 8,301.43 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 002 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 7,750 EUR
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 002 2000 - Accounts Payable -7,500 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 002 2000 - Accounts Payable 0 -2,500 EUR
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 002 2000 - Accounts Payable -2,677.88 0 USD
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 003 1100 - Accounts Receivable 20,000 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 003 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0.00 13,000 EUR
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 003 1100 - Accounts Receivable 13,925 0 USD
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 003 2000 - Accounts Payable -13,000 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 003 2000 - Accounts Payable -5,355.76 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q1 003 2000 - Accounts Payable 0 -5,000 EUR
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 004 1100 - Accounts Receivable 11,500 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q2 004 1100 - Accounts Receivable 5,355.76 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q2 004 1100 - Accounts Receivable 0 5,000 EUR
HQ Financial Budget 2025 2025 Unknown 004 2000 - Accounts Payable -5,000 0 USD
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q2 004 2000 - Accounts Payable 0.00 -1,250 EUR
Subsidiary Financial Budget 2025 2025 Q2 004 2000 - Accounts Payable -1,338.94 0 USD

If a plan sent to Analytics doesn't contain a dimension in the dataset, the value of that dimension is set to Unknown in the dataset. In the previous example, this happens with the Quarter dimension for HQ Financial Budget 2025.

If you use Business Analytics, after combining data from two comparable plans in a single dataset, you can create an Extended Planning and Analysis Analytics app to compare the plans and their scenarios. For more information, see Setting up Extended Planning and Analysis Analytics Apps and Using the Plan Scenario Comparison Dashboard.