Run ad-hoc reporting within an Excel or Google Sheets plugin

Description

This feature enables users to pull data directly from the CPM software into their preferred spreadsheet environment with predefined or customizable templates for a comprehensive and immediate view of business performance data. This includes applying or shifting dimensions, formatting, and refreshing data.

Example Use Case

Scenario: An non-profit uses a Corporate Performance Management software to track its grant and project data. They periodically need to produce reports for specific donors about the status of their grants in a specific format.

Solution: With an ad-hoc reporting feature within an Excel or Google Sheets plugin, the finance team quickly produces a report by dragging in the grant, project, time, and account dimensions. They use native functionality in Excel or Google Sheets to format the report to the specifications mandated by the donor. This saves hours of time aggregating and formatting data, and can be re-used in the future.

Considerations

There are three philosophies in the CPM software category when it comes to using Excel or Google Sheets in the planning process:

• Entire product is based on Excel/Google with a minor portion in a web interface
• Powerful web interface for most functions with an Excel/Google interface that is meant primarily for highly formatted reporting
• Satisfactory web interface with a big focus on the power of the Excel/Google plug-in for reporting, analysis, and planning

As the buyer, it is important to decide early in the sales process which philosophy you and your colleagues align with. That will help you compare solutions that align with that philosophy instead of evaluating products that you'll never buy, no matter how good they are.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Plug-In Functionality: Is the plug-in a two-way connection, or does it only extract?
• Dimensions: What level of detail can we report at in the plug-in? Are all dimensions available?
• Compatibility: Does the plug-in work with my operating system? (this is critical to ask if you are using a Mac)
• Formatting: Can we format the sheets we create? If so, will that formatting be retained if we introduce new dimensions or other data elements?
• Saving Sheets: Are we able to save our sheets to the system, or are the ad-hoc sheets on our desktop?
• Platforms: We use desktop Excel / web Excel / Google Sheets. Does your plug-in work with our productivity platform?
• Internet Connection: If I make edits to my sheets offline, can I sync them later?