Explore Plan Data

Conduct ad hoc analysis in Explore or from the planning grid.

You can explore plan metrics, compare scenarios and snapshots, and see how your plan is tracking against actuals in Explore or from the planning grid. To learn how to create these comparisons in your chart, see Compare Scenarios and Compare Plan Values to Actuals.

Explore plan data from the planning grid

Open a chart from the planning grid by exploring one or more cells. You can explore any cell in the planning grid except for cells in the Baseline column.

To explore a cell, do one of the following:

  • Select a cell and click the Explore button on the toolbar.

  • Right-click a cell and click Explore on the In-context menu.

    Result: Data is shown in a Breakdown visual.

To explore a range of cells:

  • Select a range of cells and click Explore on the In-context menu.

    Result: Data is shown in a Trend visual.

Initial chart context

The initial chart context is determined by the selections made in the planning grid. Use the following tables as guidance when exploring plan data from the planning grid.

Note: If you explore past periods that contain actuals data, the metric will be added as a comparator in the chart.

Exploring plan data in Segments view

In Segments view each row represents a segment and each column represents a time period.

Element Determined by
Metric The selected metric in the Context picker of the planning grid.
Visual type

The number of selected cells in the planning grid.

  • If you select a cell, data is shown in a Breakdown visual.
  • If you select a range of cells, data is shown in a Trend visual.
Group by

The segment that is nested below the selected segment. If there are no segments nested below, data is grouped by the selected segment.

Example:

Your plan is organized in the following structure:

  1. Organization Hierarchy Level 2 (for example, Finance, HR, and IT).
    1. Location Country (Canada, US, and Brazil).
      1. Contract Type (Contingent and Permanent).
  • If you select cells from the Organization Hierarchy Level 2 segment (for example, Finance), the data will be filtered for Finance and grouped by Location, which is the segment that is nested below the selected segment.
  • If the select cells from the Contract Type segment (for example, Permanent), the data will be grouped by Contract Type because there are no segments nested below the selected segment.
Time period The selected columns.
Filters

The selected segment.

Example:

Your plan is organized in the following structure:

  1. Organization Hierarchy Level 2 (for example, Finance, HR, and IT).
    1. Location Country (Canada, US, and Brazil).
      1. Contract Type (Contingent and Permanent).

If you select cells from the Brazil segment that is nested under Finance, the data will be filtered by Organization Hierarchy:Finance and Location:Brazil.

Exploring plan data in Plan Items view

In Plan Items view each row represents a metric and each column represents a time period.

Element Determined by
Metric The selected row.
Visual type

The number of selected cells in the planning grid.

  • If you select a cell, data is shown in a Breakdown visual.
  • If you select a range of cells, data is shown in a Trend visual.
Group by

The segment that is nested below the selected segment in the Context picker of the planning grid. If there are no segments nested below, data is grouped by the selected segment.

Example:

Your plan is organized in the following structure:

  1. Organization Hierarchy Level 2 (for example, Finance, HR, and IT).
    1. Location Country (Canada, US, and Brazil).
      1. Contract Type (Contingent and Permanent).
  • In the Context picker, you have selected an Organization Hierarchy Level 2 segment (for example, Finance) and you select cells to explore, the data will be filtered for Finance and grouped by Location, which is the segment that is nested below the selected segment.
  • In the Context picker, you have selected a Contract Type segment (for example, Permanent) and you select cells to explore, the data will be grouped by Contract Type because there are no segments nested below the selected segment.
Time period The selected columns.
Filters

The selected segment in the Context picker of the planning grid.

Example:

Your plan is organized in the following structure:

  1. Organization Hierarchy Level 2 (for example, Finance, HR, and IT).
    1. Location Country (Canada, US, and Brazil).
      1. Contract Type (Contingent and Permanent).

In the Context picker, you have selected the Brazil segment that is nested under Finance and you select cells to explore, the data will be filtered by Organization Hierarchy:Finance and Location:Brazil.