A plan is a table that consists of measures and dimensions that stores financial data and enables you to use calculations in order to create budgets.
For example, your plan might look like the following tables.
Example Plan 1
Year
2025
Quarter
Q1
Q2
Period
001
002
003
004
GLA
Home
Dual
Home
Dual
Home
Dual
Home
Dual
1100 - Accounts Receivable
5,500.00
5,891.34
7,750.00
8,301.43
13,000.00
13,924.98
5,000.00
5,355.76
2000 - Accounts Payable
-1,500.00
-1,606.73
-2,500.00
-2,677.88
-5,000.00
-5,355.76
-1,250.00
-1,338.94
Example Plan 2
Year
2025
Quarter
Q1
Q2
Period
001
002
003
004
Project
Role
Billing
Cost
Billing
Cost
Billing
Cost
Billing
Cost
Fortis Technology - Phase 1 Implementation
Project Manager
8,400
7,000
7,200
6,000
6,000
5,000
6,000
5,000
Fortis Technology - Phase 1 Implementation
Business Analyst
4,000
3,800
5,000
4,750
6,000
5,700
7,000
6,650
Plan Table Views
The plan table can be displayed in the following views:
Grid - displays row-level dimensions as a standard table, populating each dimension value in each row. You can reorder rows without restrictions. Grid view is suitable for plans that contain rows without a clear hierarchy and plans where the hierarchy is not important.
Tree - establishes a hierarchy by grouping together rows that contain the same row-level dimension values, starting from the top level. You can only reorder rows within their respective groups. By default, the lowest level rows contain the values and the groups are used to provide subtotals. Tree view is suitable for plans that contain rows with a clear hierarchy.
For example, your plan might look like the following table.
Galaxy Technology Solutions - Managed Services - Net New Project
1,000.00
10,000.00
2,500.00
10,000.00
45,000.00
112,500.00
Europe
5,500.00
40,000.00
8,500.00
40,000.00
114,160.00
285,400.00
High Tech
5,500.00
40,000.00
8,500.00
40,000.00
114,160.00
285,400.00
Quill Informatics
5,500.00
40,000.00
8,500.00
40,000.00
114,160.00
285,400.00
Quill Informatics - Managed Services - Net New Project
2,500.00
15,000.00
4,500.00
15,000.00
36,000.00
90,000.00
Quill Informatics - Managed Services International - Net New Project
3,000.00
25,000.00
4,000.00
25,000.00
78,160.00
195,400.00
Dimensions and Measures
Plans can have up to six measures and up to 12 dimensions. Dimensions contain categorical data, such as company names, years, or quarters, while measures contain quantitative data, such as currency or time. Each cell in the plan table is a unique combination of dimension values and a single measure. The value of the measure is the numeric value displayed in the cell.
Column and Row Dimensions
Dimensions can be displayed as columns and rows.
Column-level dimension values are displayed in the table header, above the measure value cells. If a plan contains multiple column dimensions, the order of the dimensions establishes a hierarchy. The lower-level dimension values are grouped together under a common parent. In Example Plan 1 and Example Plan 2, Year, Quarter, and Period are defined as column-level dimensions. In Example Plan 3A - Grid View and Example Plan 3B - Tree View, Milestone is the only column-level dimension.
In grid view, row-level dimension values are displayed in each table row, to the left of the measure value cells. In Example Plan 1, GLA is the only row-level dimension. In Example Plan 2, Project and Role are defined as row-level dimensions. Example Plan 3A - Grid View contains four row-level dimensions: Region, Practice, Account, and Project.
In tree view, row-level dimensions establish a hierarchy. The lower-level dimension values are grouped together under a common parent. The group rows are also sometimes referred to as subtotal rows. The subtotal rows are automatically generated. By default, the value of the cells is calculated by summing the values that belong to the group. You can replace this formula with another formula or a numeric value. In Example Plan 3B - Tree View, Region, Practice, Account, and Project are defined as row-level dimensions.
Measures Position
In grid view, measures are displayed as either columns or rows. In tree view, measures are always displayed as columns.
When measures are displayed as columns, an additional level is added to the table header, below the column dimension values. This additional level contains the name of the measure. This can be useful when your plan contains multiple measures that you want to compare in each dimension column. Example Plan 1 and Example Plan 2 display measures as columns. In Example Plan 1, the measures are Home and Dual. In Example Plan 2, the measures are Billing and Cost. In Example Plan 3A - Grid View and Example Plan 3B - Tree View, the measures are Cost and Revenue.
When measures are displayed as rows, the name of the measure is displayed in each row to the left of the measure value cells. In this case, each row can only contain a single measure, with the dimension columns providing different values for the measure. This can be useful when your plan contains multiple measures that you want to compare between rows. Example Plan 4 and Example Plan 5 display measures as rows.
Example Plan 4
Year
2025
Quarter
Q1
Q2
GLA
Measure
001
002
003
004
1100 - Accounts Receivable
Home
5,500.00
7,750.00
13,000.00
5,000.00
1100 - Accounts Receivable
Dual
5,891.34
8,301.43
13,924.98
5,355.76
2000 - Accounts Payable
Home
-1,500.00
-2,500.00
-5,000.00
-1,250.00
2000 - Accounts Payable
Dual
-1,606.73
-2,677.88
-5,355.76
-1,338.94
Example Plan 5
Year
2025
Quarter
Q1
Q2
Project
Role
Measure
001
002
003
004
Fortis Technology - Phase 1 Implementation
Project Manager
Billing
8,400
7,200
6,000
6,000
Fortis Technology - Phase 1 Implementation
Project Manager
Cost
7,000
6,000
5,000
5,000
Fortis Technology - Phase 1 Implementation
Business Analyst
Billing
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Fortis Technology - Phase 1 Implementation
Business Analyst
Cost
3,800
4,750
5,700
6,650
You can use all the same features, such as calculations, within the plan table, regardless of the measure position. The choice between the two depends on your business requirements and personal preferences.
Creating Plans
You can create plans in several ways:
Blank plan - Create a plan by manually entering your data
Data source - Create a plan by importing your data from an Analytics dataset
Template - Create a plan using a template to import data from a predefined Analytics dataset