Conditional formatting can be applied at the cell level in sheets to reflect data variances within a tolerance defined by the user

Description

In Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software, cell level conditional formatting is a function that allows users to configure their reports to be formatted based on a pre-defined criteria. This feature can be used in financial and management reporting, making data analysis more intuitive by emphasizing data patterns and variations with visual cues.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A multinational company uses CPM software for performance management. It tracks financial performance with a complex dataset representing different regions, product lines, and cost centers. The manager wants to quickly identify significant deviations or variances in the data. This is made difficult in their current variance reporting, as the manager must comb through thousands of accounts.

Solution: By applying conditional formatting at the cell level, cells that display data variances beyond a defined threshold are highlighted automatically. For instance, if the actual costs exceed budgeted costs by more than 10%, the corresponding cell could be colored red. This way, irregular data that requires attention is instantly visible, allowing managers to make informed decisions quicker.

Considerations

While this might seem like an obvious feature to include in any reporting tool, it is not. And the tools that do have it may make it a major hassle to implement, using convoluted business rule code that nobody can figure out.

Best case, the reporting interface will allow you to apply a rule to an entire row or column, or specific cells. Basic formatting could be green/yellow/red, or bold text, emojis, arrows, and so on. If could even be something as simple as, if these cells show any increase, display an up arrow.

This requirement is specific to reports, not dashboards. If you want your dashboards to include conditional formatting functionality, make sure to ask the vendor.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Applying Conditional Formatting: How flexible is cell level conditional formatting in your system? Can I customize colors, fonts, and thresholds?
• Datasets: Can I apply formatting to a specific column or row in bulk, or just a cell?