---
title: "Planning Using Sheets"
description: "Sheets offer a flexible way to perform calculations required in the financial planning process. They can be created for all reporting entities for values of ledgers and schedules in planning data levels."
source_url: https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/consolidation-financial-planning/planning/planning-sheets
language: en
last_updated: 2023-08-16
---
# Creating and Configuring Sheets

## Overview

**Sheets** offer a flexible way to perform calculations required in the financial planning process in Consolidation & Financial Planning. They can be created for all reporting entities for values of ledgers and schedules in planning data levels, either within a **journal** or from a **ledger**.

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**{% u %}Information for customers who used the planning function in Lucanet.Financial Client**

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Sheets are replacing the **forms** used in the **Lucanet Financial Client.** In the CFO Solution Platform, Sheets can be created within the **Import and Journals** workspace.

To ensure transparency and traceability, all the **existing forms** from the Lucanet Financial Client will still be accessible in the Lucanet CFO Solution Platform under **Journals** in **read-only mode**.
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## Creating a Sheet Within a Journal

To create a sheet within a journal:

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Open the **Journals** workspace.
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In the dimension bar, select the combination of a **planning data level** and **reporting entity** for which a sheet should be created.
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Right-click the root folder and choose **Create | Sheet**. The **Create Sheet** dialog is displayed:

Creating a sheet

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Specify the **name** of the element and click **Continue**.

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## Creating a Sheet From a Ledger

To create a sheet from a ledger:

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Open the **Reporting and analyzing** workspace.
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Select the desired **ledger**(general ledger, sub-ledger or statistical ledger).

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In the dimension bar, select the combination of **planning data level** and **reporting entity** for which a sheet should be created.
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Right-click in the row of the ledger hierarchy for which a sheet should be created and choose **Create | Sheet**.

Creating a sheet from a ledger

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The **Create Sheet** dialog is displayed:

'Create sheet' dialog

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Specify the **name** of the element and click **Continue**.

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## Configuring Sheets

To configure a sheet, click the name of the desired sheet in the tree view, and then click **Edit** in the top right.

Configuration of general properties

### General Properties

The following properties can be edited in the header:

#### Element name

Name of the sheet

#### Currency

Currency in which the postings are to be carried out

#### Adjustment level

Adjustment level in which the postings are to be carried out

#### Basis

Adjustment level (group) used as the planning basis

#### 

The following menu is displayed when clicking the icon:

Configuration menu

Choosing one of these options will extend the planning area by the corresponding columns.

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The selected configuration is not stored at a system level nor shared between different sheets.
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#### 

The following menu is displayed when clicking the icon **:**

'Change number format' menu

Choosing one of these options will adapt the number format accordingly in the planning area.

#### Cost center/ Partner/ Transaction type

Clicking the **Cost center**, **Partner**, or **Transaction type** buttons in the toolbar toggles the visibility of the respective columns in the table.

Hiding these columns does not affect the data stored in them — the system retains the information and uses it when generating the posting.

### Values Tab

Configuration of the 'Values' tab in a sheet

The following options are available on the **Values** tab:

### Toolbar

#### Time period

Used for moving, shortening or extending the planning period. It is possible to change the view to:

- **Month, quarter, trimester, semester,** or **year**
- **Calendar** or **fiscal year**
- **Total period view** – when selected, the system automatically adds columns for all previous years with actual data for the respective reporting entity and displays the actual amounts.

#### Default

Used for restoring the default view of the sheet. In the default view, **Year** is used as the period. The last year of the actual data level and all years of the selected planning data level are displayed.

### Planning Area

The following options are available in the planning area:

#### Account or item

An account or an item for which planning should be undertaken. It is also possible to activate the following options:

**Create independent variable**

If this option is activated:

- The **actual period** column linked to the actual data level is cleared (if previously populated) and locked for editing.
- The **planning period** columns linked to the selected planning data level are cleared and the fields can be edited (numbers and basic mathematical operations are allowed). If a formula has been applied that generates results in the planning period column, the corresponding fields are not editable.
- The **Cost center**, **Partner** and **Transaction Type** columns are locked for editing.

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**Aggregation method**

For indpeendent variables, you can configure how values are aggregated: Right-click an independent variable in the **Account or item** column and select **Aggregation | Sum/No aggregation** from the context menu.

- When **Sum** is selected, entering values at the monthly level and changing the view to quarter, trimester, semester, or year will automatically display the sum of the corresponding months in the period columns. If values are entered on a yearly level, the values are split evenly across all months.
- When **No aggregation** is selected, enter values only at the monthly level. If you switch to a higher time period view, the period columns will show '...' and a tooltip indicating that values are displayed only on the monthly level because no aggregation is selected.
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**Query values from selected account/item**

If this option is activated:

- The columns **Cost center/Partner/Transaction Type**, and **Variable** name are enabled and can be edited.
- The **actual** and **planning period** columns are automatically filled with values from the database by the system. Fields are locked for editing.
- The **Formula** field is locked for editing.

#### Cost center/ partner/ transaction type

Allows selection of a cost center/partner/transaction type from the respective drop-down lists

#### Variable name

Auto-filled with the selected item or account name. You can modify this field with text, numbers, or special characters.

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If you add a variable name that already exists within the same sheet, the system will automatically append “(1)” to it. If you add more variables with the same name, the number will increase incrementally.
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#### Formula

Used for entering variables and basic mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and brackets) to perform calculations during the financial planning process.

Key points include:

- It is only possible to enter fixed values with up to two decimals.
- Formulas can be added to planning and independent variable rows, but **not** to querying rows.
- **Time offset:** When a variable is added, a time offset is automatically displayed, with **this month** as the default value. Time offset defines the period from which values are retrieved and used in the calculations of the amount shown in the time period column.\
\
To change it, click the offset value and select one of the available options or click **Custom** to enter a **custom offset**.
Example formula with a variable and time offset

- When using formulas, changes in one calculation can affect other dependent business transactions. The system can recalculate these dependencies automatically or on demand (see [Dependent Business Transactions](https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/consolidation-financial-planning/planning/planning-sheets/dependent-business-transactions.md)).
- Formulas that create dependencies between transactions may lead to circular references. The system detects and manages these cases (see [Dependent Business Transactions](https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/consolidation-financial-planning/planning/planning-sheets/dependent-business-transactions.md)).

#### Period columns

The **actual period** column, linked with the actual data level, is populated with the amounts retrieved from the database for the selected account or item.

The **planning period** columns linked to the selected planning data level are blank and values can be added using numbers with decimals and basic mathematical operations, unless **Query values from selected account/item** is activated or a formula has been applied that generates results in the planning period column.

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To easily distinguish between the different period columns, the **actual period** column is highlighted in gray, whereas the **planning period** columns remain white.
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#### Posting text

Used for entering a user-defined posting text to be added to the Sheet posting.

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To analyze, review, or share posting data, you can generate a report of all postings, including postings created by Sheets. For instructions on how to do this, see [Creating a Posting Report](https://support.lucanet.cloud/en/documentation/consolidation-financial-planning/report-analyze/create-postings-report.md).
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