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Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: The User Access Calculator

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Workday Adaptive Planning’s User Access Calculator is a powerful tool that allows administrators to manage and monitor user access within the platform efficiently. In this post, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of using the User Access Calculator to check someone’s access, ensuring that your organization’s financial planning environment remains secure and tailored to individual roles.

Step 1: Accessing the User Access Calculator

To begin, log in to your Workday Adaptive Planning account with administrator credentials. Once logged in, navigate to the administration in the global navigation menu, where you’ll find the User Access Calculator option. Click on it to open the tool.

Step 2: Selecting the User

Once inside the User Access Calculator, you’ll see a user-friendly interface with options to input user details. Start by selecting the specific user whose access you want to check. You can usually search for users by name or username to locate the individual in question.

Step 3: Reviewing Role-Based Access

Workday Adaptive Planning operates on a role-based access control system. The User Access Calculator provides a summary of the roles assigned to the selected user. Review the roles to understand the level of access the user has within the platform. Ensure that the roles align with the user’s responsibilities and the organization’s security policies.

Step 4: Exploring Module and Sheet Access

Beyond roles, the User Access Calculator allows you to delve deeper into module and sheet access for the selected user. You can select the level, account, version, and dimension values that you wish to check for access. By selecting the single coordinate option, the calculator calculates access across the specific intersections you have selected. 

Alternatively, you can calculate a user’s access across an entire dimension (level, account, version, etc.) by selecting the single dimension option and choosing an option from the dropdown. 

Navigate to the relevant sections to view a detailed breakdown of the modules and sheets accessible to the user. This step is crucial for fine-tuning access permissions based on specific business requirements.

Step 5: Analyzing Permissions

The User Access Calculator provides insights into individual permissions associated with modules and sheets. Analyze these permissions to ensure that the user has the necessary rights to perform their tasks. “Write” access refers to complete edit access while “Read” access refers to limited access. If adjustments are needed, administrators can use this information to modify permissions accordingly.

Effectively using the User Access Calculator in Workday Adaptive Planning involves a systematic approach to review and adjust user access. By following these step-by-step instructions, administrators can ensure that access aligns with organizational needs, roles, and responsibilities, ultimately creating a secure and streamlined financial planning environment for the entire team. Regular reviews and documentation will further enhance the overall management of user access within the platform.

Revelwood is an award-winning, Platinum Solution Provider for Workday Adaptive Planning. We build solutions for the Office of Finance that minimize your risk by seamlessly incorporating business analytics into your everyday thinking. By combining the software with our best practices and out-of-the-box applications, we help businesses achieve their full potential with Workday Adaptive Planning.

Read more Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks:

Workday Adaptive Planning User Interface Changes 2025 R1 

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Write-back for OfficeConnect

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: New Feature – Long-Running Processes in Workday’s 2024R2 Release

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Revelwood Offers Online Open Enrollment Training for Workday Adaptive Planning

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We are offering a newly designed, online open enrollment program for Workday Adaptive Planning customers, Revelwood clients and students. Join Revelwood’s seasoned, certified instructors for a live Introduction to Workday Adaptive Planning. This monthly course has two flavors:

  • An interactive course with hands-on exercises and model build components using Revelwood’s custom-built training instance of Workday Adaptive Planning
  • A view-only course for individuals who want to audit the course.

Participants, both Workday Adaptive Planning Administrators and end-users, will start with the basics:

  • Navigation throughout the application
  • Structure design element basics
  • Budget entry in a student-created Operating Expense (OpEx) sheet
  • Model and Cube sheet demonstration
  • Basic report creation using the Matrix reporting writing tool
  • Review of users and roles
  • Basic formulas and utilization of the formula wizard
  • Introduction of the import functionality

Register now

Revelwood’s Workday Adaptive Planning Open Enrollment program will also offer more advanced courses on a quarterly basis. These courses include:

Workday Adaptive Planning customers can take the Introduction to Workday Adaptive Planning & Reporting for $399 for the interactive version and $249 for the view-only version. 

Learn more about Revelwood’s Open Enrollment Workday Adaptive Planning training. If you have any questions about our training program, please email us at marketing@revelwood.com.

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Revelwood’s Expansion in Europe

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Earlier in the year I met with Ken Wolf and he shared with me the phenomenal success Revelwood has had in the US over the years. We talked through bringing that success to Europe. It really didn’t take long for both Ken and me to get excited about combining my experience with Revelwood’s track record of success in solutions for the Office of Finance.  We spent the next few months diving into the details of how we could make this happen……. Jump forward and I’ve joined Revelwood as Managing Director and we’ve launched the European business. 

You may ask what excited me about this opportunity.

After doing a lot of intel gathering on Revelwood, Workday Adaptive Planning and the market, it was a pretty easy decision to make. The size of the opportunity and the positive impact that Revelwood can have on the European market is significant. I was also impressed with the appetite Workday Adaptive Planning has to grow and invest in Europe. One other key factor…… The product is really good.

You talk about the size of the opportunity; can you give us an indication of what you see this being?

Well, I don’t want to give away our secret sauce today, however, what I can say is the range and number of companies that can benefit from a really good FP&A tool is enormous. It’s the full business spectrum from a fast-growing SME all the way up to top FTSE100 companies. Even a well-funded startup with an aggressive growth trajectory would hugely benefit from Workday Adaptive Planning.

So going back to why Revelwood?

Don’t get me wrong, all of the above is hugely important for any business to survive, grow and expand. However, the other key element is people and culture. It’s so important for successful businesses to have great people, enjoying what they do. I met with the senior management team before I joined and it was very clear that they all had a high level of energy and enthusiasm about Revelwood, the journey they have been on to date, and – importantly – the journey that sits ahead of us in the U.S., Europe & Latin America. Not surprisingly over my first few weeks of being at Revelwood, I saw this was the same energy and enthusiasm from the whole team. It’s quite special. There is a big focus on culture and enjoyment, which not only drives good internal behaviors but also exceptional client engagement. This is so important when we’re helping our clients unlock significant business value. I’m looking forward to building the Revelwood team in Europe and bringing that same special energy and enthusiasm to our European clients.

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Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Data Organization with Microsoft Power Query

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In the world of business, data analysis and interpretation are essential to creating effective, well-informed decisions. However, messy and unorganized data can create serious roadblocks in this process, leading to inefficiencies, and lost opportunities. Fortunately, Microsoft Power Query is a powerful tool designed to eliminate the headaches and tedious tasks related to creating clean and accurate data. The first step is to organize your data.

What is Microsoft Power Query?

Microsoft Power Query is in Excel under the data tab under the “Get and Transform Data” group option. It is designed for data transformation that can also be used for other Microsoft applications such as Power BI and Power Automate. The tool allows users to connect to various data sources, transform data into the desired format, and load it into their preferred destination in ways that native Excel functions such as formulas and pivot tables cannot. 

Benefits of Using Microsoft Power Query

Data from Multiple Sources: Power Query acts as a one-stop shop for you to connect to a wide range of data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, web services, and more. This means you can gather data from multiple sources in one place for analysis.

Data Transformation: With Power Query’s intuitive interface, you can easily clean, reshape, and transform data without writing complex code. It offers a range of functions and transformations to suit your needs.

Automation: Power Query enables automation of data extraction and transformation processes. This reduces manual errors and saves time, especially when working with large datasets.

Reusable Queries and Data Volume: The tool saves a history of previous queries for future use. This allows users to reuse processes for similar datasets, saving time and effort. Additionally, queries can import copious records of data that would not fit into a standard Excel worksheet.  

Data Connection: Updates from the source data are seamlessly integrated into your Power Query process. This ensures that your analysis is always based on the most up-to-date information.

Data Organization with Power Query

1. Data Connection

To start organizing and cleaning data using Power Query, you need to establish a connection to your data source. In this example, the data is in an Excel worksheet as a table. 

Loading the table can be done via the “From Table/Range” option in Excel or the relevant data source connector in other Microsoft applications.

2. Data Import and Preview

Once your data source is connected, Power Query displays a preview of your data. This step allows you to review the data’s structure and make initial decisions about what needs to be cleaned or transformed.

3. Removing Duplicates

Duplicate data can skew your analysis. Power Query provides a simple way to remove duplicate rows, ensuring that your data is clean and accurate. To do this, highlight the desired columns and select “Remove Rows” and the “Remove Duplicates” option.

4. Filtering Data

You can filter data based on specific criteria. This can be helpful when you need to focus on a particular subset of your data. Find the drop-down menu above each column header to easily filter your data.

5. Data Transformation

Power Query provides a wide range of transformation options. You can perform tasks like splitting columns, merging data, renaming columns, and more. These transformations help you reshape the data to fit your analysis needs. To rename, simply double-click the column header and type the desired name.

6. Reporting

After making the desired changes to your data, return the data back to excel by selecting the “Close & Load” option and selecting “Close & Load To.” Then select the desired output in the following window. 

Additionally, Pivot tables can be used to retrieve data directly from Power Query. This can be helpful when the data set does not fit in a native Excel spreadsheet. To do this, select “Close & Load” in Power Query, and select “Close & Load To.” From the following dialogue box, select “Only Create Connection.” Now you can insert a Pivot Table using an external data source and select your query.

Microsoft Power Query is an indispensable tool for professionals working with data. Whether you’re dealing with financial records, customer information, or any other dataset, Power Query simplifies the process of data organization and cleansing, saving you time and ensuring data accuracy. 

Check back soon for our next blog post on Microsoft Power Query. We’ll share tips on using Microsoft Power Query to cleanse your data.

Revelwood is an award-winning, Platinum Workday Adaptive Planning partner. We build solutions for the Office of Finance that minimize your risk by seamlessly incorporating business analytics into your everyday thinking. Combining the software with our best practices and out-of-the-box applications, we help businesses achieve their full potential with Workday Adaptive Planning.

Read more Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks:

Limit the Drill Down List on a Workday Adaptive Planning Report

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Restrictions on Cube Sheets

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Metadata Loaders

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Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Metadata Loaders

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A key component of Workday Adaptive Planning is the ability to pull in actual data through integration. However, there is more you can do with this access to the data source. There is the ability to load in dimensions from the data source and have them automatically added to that specific dimension. This is done through a Metadata Loader. A Metadata Loader can only bring in one dimension at a time, but it will connect to an existing dimension and add any new values that are loaded into the data source. 

In order to create this loader, the correct data table must be brought in the source data, as depicted below.

The next step consists of creating the planning dimension loader and filling out the Data Source Settings for the dimension. You would select the newly added data table as the source table. You then select the planning dimension it correlates with already in the instance. 


Lastly, you map the columns, based on the source table, to ensure the necessary details are pulled in.

In order to ensure the correct names and codes are being pulled in correctly, it is recommended to run a preview of the output. If the loader was done correctly, a file will be produced that displays the desired information. From here, the loader is ready to be added to a task so that it will run as often as desired. 

Revelwood is an award-winning, Platinum Workday Adaptive Planning partner. We build solutions for the Office of Finance that minimize your risk by seamlessly incorporating business analytics into your everyday thinking. Combining the software with our best practices and out-of-the-box applications, we help businesses achieve their full potential with Workday Adaptive Planning.

Read more Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks:

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Reordering Parent and Children Cube Accounts in Cube Sheets

Workday Adaptive Planning Framework: Purchase Order Management for Organization-Wide Planning

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Adaptive Displays – Sheets 

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Apex Entertainment Performs Enterprise Planning with Workday Adaptive Planning

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How do you move away from spreadsheet-based budgeting, forecasting and reporting for more insight into the operations of the business? With Workday Adaptive Planning.  

Apex Entertainment, headquartered in Marlborough, MA, operates four family entertainment centers in the northeast U.S., including Virginia Beach, Syracuse, Albany and Marlborough. Apex offers attractions that are fun for all ages, with activities such as Indoor Go Karts, Bowling, Laser Tag, Escape Rooms, Ropes Courses, Arcade and Redemption, Sports Simulators, Axe Throwing, Mini Gold, Bumper Cars, Virtual Reality and state-of-the-art event meeting space. Each location offers a full-service dining experience in The Pit Stop Tavern, with a menu that includes 80 gluten-free options as well as vegetarian options. 

“Relying on Microsoft Excel to manage our financial processes handicapped us more than helped us,” said Marcus Kemblowski, COO, Apex Entertainment. “We needed a solution that gave us insight into how to fix problems and would enable us to manage our business in real-time.” 

Apex Entertainment selected Workday Adaptive Planning and Revelwood. The goal of the implementation was to easily see how the business is doing, down to the location and the attraction. Now, with Workday Adaptive Planning, Apex Entertainment has the information available to make strategic decisions. The team can analyze and assess potential expenses regarding forecasted revenue by activity. 

“From the get-go, Revelwood clearly understood our business. They immediately knew what we were discussing and hot to get us to where we needed to go,” added Kemblowski.

Apex Entertainment is not done with its plans for Workday Adaptive Planning. “Workday Adaptive Planning can help us to get where we want to go,” commented Kemblowski. “We now can easily perform top-line to bottom-line budgeting and forecasting. The insights generated by the application are invaluable to the company’s growth.  

Interested in learning the full story? Read the success story to learn how Apex Entertainment benefits from Workday Adaptive Planning.

Read more blog posts on Workday Adaptive Planning:

FP&A Done Right: ESG – An Imperative for Growth

FP&A Done Right: Forecasting Revenue for Services-Based Businesses: A Growth Factor

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Invaio Sciences Sows the Seeds of FP&A Transformation with Workday Adaptive Planning

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How do you reduce errors and increase accuracy in financial planning, forecasting and reporting? With Workday Adaptive Planning. 

Invaio Sciences, Inc., a Flagship Pioneering company, is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Invaio is striving to accelerate the leap to a more nature-positive era for agriculture by solving performance and delivery challenges of traditional chemical and biological crop protection.

Until recently, Invaio was using Microsoft Excel for its budgeting, planning, forecasting and reporting needs. The manual nature of Excel – and the human error that comes with it – became too much of a burden for the company. 

Invaio is a privately held company that relies on private investments and debt financing until it becomes cash positive. The finance team needs to provide senior management with updated and accurate numbers to help management determine when the company needs to raise more money. 

Invaio selected Workday Adaptive Planning with Revelwood as its implementation partner. “A personal connection referred Revelwood to us,” said Ryan Garceau, head of operations & finance at Invaio. “As soon as we met the Revelwood team there was an instant rapport. We’ve since developed a great relationship between the Invaio finance team and the Revelwood team members. The Revelwood team was committed to making this project a big success.”

With its new Workday Adaptive Planning solution, Invaio now has a new approach to managing foreign transactions and financial reporting. “The way we do financial planning, forecasting and reporting are like night and day,” added Garceau. “We’ve gained efficiencies across the board, and we’ve changed the finance team’s value proposition. Our activities are no longer about building the reports, they are about analyzing the data.”

Interested in learning the full story? Read the success story to learn how Invaio benefits from Workday Adaptive Planning.

Read more blog posts on Workday Adaptive Planning:

FP&A Done Right: The Changing Role of the CFO

FP&A Done Right: Financial Forecasting Processes that Guide Business Strategy

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Texans Credit Union Adapts to Market Fluctuations with Workday Adaptive Planning

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How do you provide budgeting and forecasting answers on-the-fly in real-time with spreadsheets? You don’t. This is why Texans Credit Union switched from spreadsheets to Workday Adaptive Planning for streamlined and more efficient budgeting, forecasting and reporting.

Texans Credit Union, founded in 1953 by 11 Texas Instruments employees, now serves over 117,000 members. Its mission is to improve the well-being of all Texans. The organization is a full-service, not-for-profit institution with members throughout the Dallas Fort Worth area.

“A budget built on a series of spreadsheets was not appropriate for a business of our size and complexity,” said Ben Hart, CFO, Texans Credit Union. “Our biggest challenge was that we couldn’t easily pivot and change things on-the-fly.”

Texans Credit Union partnered with Revelwood to build a Workday Adaptive Planning-based budgeting and planning model that included personnel, CapEx and revenue. The data flows into a dashboard for easy visualization. 

The budgeting and planning model enables Texans to see actuals at a department level and branch level. “Adaptive is a very intuitive and flexible solution,” stated Hart. “Revelwood was very creative in how they implemented Adaptive for Texans. We had weekly meetings with Revelwood where they would share their knowledge and even go through technical details with us.”

Interested in learning the full story? Read the success story to learn how Texans benefits from Workday Adaptive Planning.

Read more blog posts on Workday Adaptive Planning:

FP&A Done Right: Forecasting Revenue for Services-Based Businesses: A Growth Factor

FP&A Done Right: ESG – An Imperative for Growth

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Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Creating an Excel File Data Source

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Did you know you can create an Excel file spreadsheet data source for Workday Adaptive Planning?

Watch Dave Miersch, Revelwood’s Practice Leader for Workday Adaptive Planning, demonstrate how to create and use an Excel file as a data source for Adaptive Planning. Dave shows you how to:

  • Use any data source, such as from an ERP system or data warehouse
  • Create a new data source
  • Find and select the spreadsheet option
  • Name the data source
  • Import the spreadsheet

Adaptive Planning makes it very easy to import and export an Excel spreadsheet!

Read more Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks:

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Data Integration and the Planning Data Source

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Utilizing Split Rows in Modeled Sheets

Workday Adaptive Planning Tips & Tricks: Data Integration and the Excel Spreadsheet Data Source

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