Cells and Limits | Lucanet Knowledge Base

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Extended Planning & Analysis (xP&A)

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All Steps at a Glance

Basic Concepts and Elements

Creating a Model

Integrating Data

Modeling Your Data

Viewing and Visualizing Data

Working with Models

Editing the Model Settings

Organizing Models

Linking Models

Cloning a Model

Sharing a Model or Folder

Exporting a Model

Versioning a Model

Viewing the Audit Logs of a Model

Troubleshooting for Slow or Large Models

Cells and Limits

Multi-Player Modeling

Proposing Changes to a Model

Handling Errors in a Model Using AI

Using Comments and Descriptions

Comparison: xP&A vs. Excel Performance

Consolidation & Financial Planning

ESG Reporting

Disclosure Management

XBRL Tagger

Lease Accounting

Banking & Cash Management

Data Collection

Tax Compliance & Reporting

Glossary

A cell in Lucanet xP&A (Extended Planning & Analysis) represents a single number in the spreadsheet.

The model cell count is the total number of cells when all variables and dimensions are expanded across all scenarios in a model.

Your organization's cell count is calculated by adding together the cell counts of each of your models.

When using xP&A, there are limits on the number of cells that can be used across your organization.

The default limit is 150 million cells. (If you need more than 150 million cells, then please get in touch with us to increase the limit.)

The more cells you use, the more it affects the performance of your model.

In this article, you can find examples on how your cells are counted and information on how proper dimension linking can influence your cell count.

Suppose that you have a P&L model in xP&A:

Your P&L has 50 line items, represented by

variables.

Your P&L is broken down into

departments, represented by a

Department

dimension.

Your P&L is

monthly

, with 4 years of historical data and 1 year of forecasts (

years total).

The cell count of your P&L would be calculated as follows:

Variables:

Dimension items per variable:

Time steps: 12 x 5 =

Total = 50 x 10 x 60 = 30,000 cells

Suppose that you have a SaaS revenue model with monthly cohorts:

You have

different products, represented by a

Product

dimension.

You have customers in

countries, represented by a

Country

dimension.

You are modelling the customer build (new, churn, expansion, contraction, total) and ARR build, represented by

variables in total.

Your model has 5 years of historicals and 5 years of forecasts (

years total), with

monthly

cohorts.

You have

scenarios with different assumptions: base case, upside, downside.

The cell count of your cohorted revenue model would be calculated as follows:

Variables:

Dimension items per variable: 5 x 3 =

Time steps: 12 x 10 =

120

Cohort items per variable:

120

Scenarios:

Total = 10 x 15 x 120 x 120 x 3 = 6,480,000 cells

When modeling employee data, it's essential to understand that each employee exists within a specific organizational structure. Every employee is assigned to:

One team

One job title

One department

One region

Because of these one-to-one relationships, dimensions must be properly linked to reflect these real-world constraints.

With Proper Dimension Linking

When dimensions are correctly linked, the model efficiently allocates resources based on the actual organizational structure. For our scenario (1 month, 1 scenario, no additional dimensions), this results in:

1,000 cells for 1,000 employees

Without Proper Dimension Linking

When dimensions are not linked, xP&A treats each dimension as independent and calculates all possible combinations, resulting in:

1,000 employees × 150 job titles × 40 departments × 20 regions × 30 teams

= 3,600,000,000 cells

This dramatic difference—from 1,000 cells to 3.6 billion cells—demonstrates why proper dimension linking is not just a best practice, but a critical requirement for model performance and system stability.