Comments can be made at the cell level

Description

Cell-level comments in planning & close software allow for specific notes, insights, or questions to be added directly to individual data points within a cell. This feature enhances collaboration, enables dialogue around specific data, and helps users clarify, question, or understand the content at a granular level.

Example Use Case

Scenario: An international company uses forecasting software when running their rolling-forecast each month. The CEO notices a worrying spike in expenses that were not forecasted.

Solution: The CEO leaves a cell-level comment on the specific data point asking for clarification. The responsible department sees the comment, investigates the anomaly, and responds within the cell comment, explaining the cause. The comment now follows that data point through budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.

Considerations

If the system allows comments to be left in a cell, make sure there is some mechanism to report on those comments in a report. In other words, the comments need to follow the data through the system. If they are only available at the specific data intersection where the comment was entered and nowhere else, the comments will eventually get lost.

Cell level comments should show an indication to the user that the cell contains comments in it. Most products will have an icon on the cell or on the data point in a report.

Also consider supporting documentation like files that justify the cell value. Can it be uploaded to the cell?

Do the comments run in a thread style format with replies?

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Ease of Implementation: How user-friendly is your cell-level comment feature? Can comments be easily added, viewed, and responded to within the cells?
• Notification Services: Does your system send notifications for newly added cell-level comments and responses?
• File Support: Can we upload files as supporting detail in a cell?