Proposing Changes to a Model | Lucanet Knowledge Base

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Using Comments and Descriptions

Comparison: xP&A vs. Excel Performance

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Banking & Cash Management

Data Collection

Glossary

The Propose changes feature in Lucanet xP&A (Extended Planning & Analysis) enables collaborative model updates through a structured review workflow.

Data collectors can suggest changes without directly modifying live data, while Editors maintain control by reviewing, approving, or rejecting proposed updates before they are applied — ensuring control, traceability, and teamwork.

Change proposals can be made in the spreadsheet or the dashboard of a model and can contain one or several proposal items, i.e. individual cell changes.

A proposal can optionally go to one assigned reviewer before it reaches the editors selected in Model editors. The reviewer checks proposed changes and records approvals or rejections. Finishing the review hands the proposal to these editors; it does not apply changes to the live model. Without a reviewer, submission sends the proposal directly to the editors selected in Model editors.

An overview of all proposals relevant for a user (either as a Data collector or Editor) can be accessed in the Proposals workspace.

In order to be able to participate in the change proposal process, a user must have a certain user role and access to the respective model.

An overview of all proposals relevant for a user can be accessed in the Proposals workspace. Here you can see all proposals you created as a Data collector or for which you are an Editor.

In addition, you can:

Open a proposal in the model view

Track the status and progress of a proposal

Filter proposals by

model

creator

, or

status

Approve and apply several submitted proposals at once (see

Approving and Applying Several Proposals at Once in xP&A

)

The workspace is displayed as follows, for example:

Shows the proposals workspace — 'Proposals' workspace

The user roles involved in the process of change proposals are Data collectors and Editors. They have the following permissions:

Data collectors can contribute changes through the proposal workflow. They cannot edit models directly. Instead they:

Can create and submit proposals in which they:

Can propose value changes

Can add, rename, or delete dimension items

Can link dimensions

Cannot add or edit formulas

Cannot add or delete variables

Cannot rename variables

Cannot add data sources

Can add proposal items to their own proposals as long as the status of the proposal is not

Applied

Closed.

Can delete their own proposals in the

Draft

Submitted

, or

Closed

status (but not after they have been

Applied

)

Receive notifications when their proposals have been reviewed.

Can act as the assigned reviewer of another user's proposal, approve or reject proposed changes and finish the review, provided they have the required proposal access. Applying changes remains an editor action.

Editors have full control over models and proposals. They:

Edit models directly

Create proposals for collaborative editing

Review, approve, or reject proposals from any user, provided they are selected in

Model editors

and the proposal is not awaiting review by an assigned reviewer

Apply approved proposals to models, also several proposals at once from the

Proposals

workspace

Delete proposals in

Submitted

Closed

status

In order to be able to participate in the change proposal process, a user must have a certain user role and access to the respective model. The following steps are necessary:

The user role Editor or Data collector must be assigned in the Administration of the Lucanet CFO Solution Platform. For more information, see User Management.

To be able to access a model with certain permissions, the model or a view of the model needs to be shared with a user granting the necessary level of access. For more information, see Sharing a model.

Data collectors

If a user shall be able to propose changes as a

Data collector

, they must be assigned the user role

Data collector

in the

Administration

of the CFO Solution Platform.

In addition, the

model

or a

view

of the model must be shared with them granting the level of access

Can create change proposals

Can create change proposals from the dashboard

Editable tables can allow users with the Can input via dashboard level of access to create, rename, duplicate, and delete dimension items directly on the dashboard. This does not bypass the proposal workflow: users with the user role Data collector continue to suggest these changes through change proposals that an editor approves. For more information, see Letting Users Manage Dimension Items in an Editable Table.

Editors

If a user shall have

Editor

permissions and the permission to

review

and

approve

changes in a model, they must be assigned the user role

Editor

in the

Administration

of the CFO Solution Platform.

In addition, the model or a view of the model must be shared with them granting the level of access

Can edit

Change proposals can consist of one or more proposal items (i.e. individual cell edits) which can have the following statuses during the approval process.

Proposals can have the following status:

Draft

: The proposal is being created before submission. Only visible to the creator. A reviewer can be chosen, changed, or cleared; the reviewer does not receive a review request yet.

Submitted

: The proposal has been submitted without a reviewer. The editors selected in

Model editors

are notified and can begin reviewing the proposal items contained in the proposal.

Awaiting review

: The proposal has been submitted to a reviewer. The reviewer must finish the review before editors can see and apply the changes. Only the creator and the assigned reviewer can see the proposal. Other editors, including the editors selected in

Model editors

, cannot see it or apply it.

Reviewed

: The reviewer has finished the review. The proposal has passed to the editors selected in

Model editors

, who decide on the remaining proposal items and apply the changes. The review decisions are carried forward; nothing has been applied yet.

No review

: The creator removed the reviewer during the review and passed the proposal to the editors selected in

Model editors

without a completed review by the reviewer. Decisions the reviewer has already made are retained.

Applied

: The proposal has been approved and merged. Approved changes now appear in the model.

Closed

: The proposal has been closed without applying any changes.

The statuses Awaiting review, Reviewed, and No review describe the stage of the review workflow. They do not mean that any changes have been made to the live data.

The current status of a proposal is shown next to the proposal in the proposal mode at the right-hand side of the spreadsheet or dashboard view:

Shows the proposal mode on the right-hand side of a spreadsheet or dashboard. Highlighted is the status a proposal — Status of a proposal

Proposal items can have the following status:

Pending (purple color)

: The proposal item is awaiting review by an editor.

Approved (green color)

: The proposal item has been approved by an editor — and will be applied to the model once the editor applies the proposal.

Rejected (red color)

: The proposals item has been rejected by an editor — and will not be applied.

The current status of a proposal item is shown:

At the top right corner of the proposal item

In the respective comment of the proposal item

Shows the details of a proposal item. Highlighted is the status in the top-right corner. — Status of a proposal item

The way you can create a proposal depends on whether you are a Data collector or an Editor.

Data collectors cannot edit models directly, but they can propose changes within a model or a view. To create a proposal as a data collector:

Edit the content of a cell in a model or view.

The following dialog is displayed:

Shows the 'Propose changes' dialog with the 'Proposal name' field, the description field 'Enter a short description', the 'Model editors' field with 'All editors' selected, and the 'Cancel' and 'Create proposal' buttons. Highlighted in red is the 'Add reviewer' button. — Creating a new proposal

Enter a name and, optionally, a short description for the proposal.

In Model editors, keep All editors, or select the editors who should handle the proposal.

If the proposal is to be checked by a reviewer first, click Add reviewer and select one user. For more information, see Selecting a Reviewer and Model Editors.

Click Create proposal.

The proposal mode is opened and you can see the name of the proposal on top of the model and the proposal details on the right-hand side:

Shows the spreadsheet of a model. Highlighted in red are the Name of the proposal on top that can be used to open/close the proposal and the proposal details on the right-hand side. — Proposal mode

Continue making changes.

Each change is automatically tracked as a proposal item under the proposal you just created.

Once all changes are entered, click Submit for review or Submit on the top right.

The proposal is displayed in the Proposals workspace and in the model view. What happens next depends on whether you have added a reviewer:

With a reviewer

: The button is labelled

Submit for review

. Submission sends a review request to the reviewer. The editors selected in

Model editors

are notified only after the review stage ends.

Without a reviewer

: The button is labelled

Submit

. The proposal goes directly to the editors selected in

Model editors

, who are notified of the submitted proposal.

Editors can both edit models directly (without approval by any other users) or use a proposal to have their changes approved by another editor. To create a proposal as an editor:

Go to the model you would like to propose changes for.

Open the three-dot menu on the top right and choose Propose changes.

Shows the three-dot menu of a spreadsheet or dashboard and its options. Highlighted in red is the option 'Propose changes' — 'Propose changes' option

In the Propose changes dialog, enter a name and, optionally, a short description for the proposal.

In Model editors, keep All editors, or select the editors who should handle the proposal.

If the proposal is to be checked by a reviewer first, click Add reviewer and select one user. For more information, see Selecting a Reviewer and Model Editors.

Click Create proposal.

The proposal mode is opened and you can see the name of the proposal on top of the model and the proposal details on the right-hand side:

Continue making changes.

Each change is automatically tracked as a proposal item under the proposal you just created.

Once all changes are entered, click Submit for review or Submit on the top right.

The proposal is displayed in the Proposals workspace and in the model view. What happens next depends on whether you have added a reviewer:

With a reviewer

: The button is labelled

Submit for review

. Submission sends a review request to the reviewer. The editors selected in

Model editors

are notified only after the review stage ends.

Without a reviewer

: The button is labelled

Submit

. The proposal goes directly to the editors selected in

Model editors

, who are notified of the submitted proposal.

You can create multiple proposals for the same model.

Once you have submitted a proposal, you can start a new proposal for additional changes.

As long as in

Draft

and

Submitted

state, a proposal item can be deleted by its creator by hovering over the proposal details and using the

Delete

button (

As an

Editor

, you can technically create and apply your own proposal. In practice, when using the change approval flow, you are likely to have your proposals approved by another editor.

Proposals in

Draft

and

Submitted

status are live when made by an

Editor

. This means that if you make changes as an editor, they are directly applied and can be traced in the change log in the proposal details when hovering over the cell.

Before you submit a proposal, you can select a Reviewer and the Model editors. Both editors and data collectors can use these fields when they create a proposal.

You can set both fields in the Propose changes dialog when you create the proposal. To display the reviewer field, click Add reviewer:

Shows the 'Propose changes' dialog with the 'Proposal name' field, the description field, the 'Model editors' field with 'All editors' selected, and the 'Add a reviewer' field with the placeholder 'Select a reviewer'. — 'Add a reviewer' field in the 'Propose changes' dialog

You can also add, change, or clear the reviewer in the proposal details on the right-hand side while your proposal is a Draft:

Shows the proposal details on the right-hand side of a model with the 'Proposal name' field, the status 'Draft', the 'Created by' entry, the 'Reviewer' field with a selected user, and the 'Model Editors' field with 'All editors' selected. The 'Submit for review' button is displayed on the top. — 'Reviewer' and 'Model Editors' fields in the proposal details

The following list describes the two fields:

Reviewer: A reviewer must finish the review before editors can see and apply the changes. Editors, administrators, and data collectors in the same organization can be selected as reviewers if they have access to every model that is affected by the proposal. The Can edit level of access is not required; access to the proposal through a shared view or dashboard is sufficient. Viewers and users with access via a public link cannot be selected. You cannot select yourself as the reviewer.

Choosing a reviewer does not notify them immediately. They are notified when you submit the proposal. On submission, xP&A checks again whether the reviewer can review the proposal, including access to any additional models affected by your edits.

Model editors: Identifies the editors who may handle and apply the proposal after the reviewer stage, or immediately when no reviewer is assigned. All editors includes all editors with edit access to every affected model; selecting particular editors narrows that group. Their existing permissions still apply, and notification recipients must have edit access to every affected model. The field restricts editor actions as well as notifications.

With a reviewer selected, the button on the top right is labelled Submit for review instead of Submit, and submission sends a review request to that reviewer. The editors selected in Model editors are notified only after the review stage ends. Without a reviewer, the button is labelled Submit and the proposal goes directly to the editors selected in Model editors. In this case, the proposal does not get the Awaiting review status.

You can open a proposal from:

The

Proposals

workspace

The model view, by clicking on the proposals icon

in the top-right.

The notification, in case you are an editor and have been notified of a submitted proposal, or in case you are the assigned reviewer and have received a review request.

The proposal details are displayed in the side bar as follows, for example:

Shows the side bar that is opened when you click on the proposal icon (which is highlighted in red in this screenshot) — Proposal details

You can see the details of the proposal items for each specific variable or dimension by clicking the variable or dimension in the Changes section of the proposal details. The proposal item details are displayed as follows, for example:

Shows the details of the proposal items for a variable. Highlighted is the breadcrumb menu to navigate back — Proposal item details

You can navigate back to the proposal using the breadcrumbs at the top.

To review and apply or reject proposals, editors have the following options:

At Cell Level

Once you opened a proposal, you can see which cells have been edited. Hover over a cell to open the details of the change:

Shows some cells of a model. The mouse is hovering over the arrow in the top right corner of a cell and the change details are displayed. Highlighted are the arrow and x buttons. — Approving or rejecting directly in a cell

You can then choose to approve or reject the proposed change using the arrow or X. If needed, you can enter a reply to the Data collector to explain your decision or ask a question.

At Row Level

You can also approve or reject a proposal on the entire row level by hovering on the row and making the selection on the left hand.

At Model Level

Another option is to approve or reject all changes of the proposal in the model at once. To do so, click the respective buttons in the Pending changes section at the bottom of the model view.

If you want to reset the approvals or rejections you already made, you can use the Reset button () to bring all proposal items back to the Pending state.

Shows a spreadsheet containing change proposals. Highlighted is the section where all proposal items can be reset, approved, or accepted at once. — Approving or rejecting all changes at model level

If a reviewer has been assigned to a proposal in Lucanet xP&A, the reviewer must finish the review before editors can see and apply the changes. To review a proposal as the assigned reviewer:

Open the proposal from the review-request notification or the Proposals workspace.

Inspect the changes in all affected models and approve or reject the individual changes using the options described in Approving or Rejecting a Proposal in xP&A. If you need to reconsider a decision while the review is still open, you can undo it.

Click Finish review on the top right to hand the proposal to the editors selected in Model editors.

If the warning about undecided edits appears, click Keep reviewing to continue, or Finish review to hand the undecided changes to the editors.

Finish review does not apply changes and does not automatically approve undecided edits. Your approvals and rejections carry over to the editor stage, and undecided edits remain pending. The editors can reconsider the decisions before they apply the proposal; rejected edits are left out unless an editor changes the decision.

After you have finished the review, the proposal displays the status Reviewed and the editors selected in Model editors are notified. Your review window as the assigned reviewer is closed: you cannot change your decisions afterwards. You retain read-only access to the proposal as long as you have access to all affected models. Any separate editor actions still depend on your editor permissions.

Reviewing changes across models. A change proposal can contain changes to more than one model. Before you finish reviewing, xP&A checks for changes that still need a decision in the relevant models, not only in the model you currently have open.

Example: A proposal includes changes to the Revenue model and the Headcount model. You approve the Revenue changes but have not yet reviewed the Headcount changes. When you select Finish review, xP&A warns you about the remaining undecided changes so you can return to them before finishing.

The warning lists each model of the proposal that still contains undecided edits, together with the number of undecided edits in that model. The following options are available in the warning:

Click the name of a model to open it in the same tab and decide on the remaining edits there. The proposal stays open.

Click

Keep reviewing

to close the warning without finishing the review.

Click

Finish review

to finish the review anyway. The undecided edits are neither approved nor rejected; they go to the editors as they are, for them to handle.

The Approval section in the proposal details only counts the edits of the model you currently have open. Even if the Approval section displays Pending 0, other models of the proposal can still contain undecided edits. The warning that is displayed when you click Finish review lists these edits.

The warning excludes edits to variables or dimension items that no longer exist in the currently open model.

If the proposal contains edits outside the models or views you have access to as a reviewer, xP&A blocks Finish review. Resolve the missing access, or have the creator remove the reviewer to pass the proposal to the editors. For more information, see Changing or Removing the Reviewer in xP&A.

While the proposal is a Draft, its creator can choose a different reviewer or clear the Reviewer field in the proposal details on the right-hand side. If no reviewer is assigned, the field displays None selected. After submission, you cannot add or swap reviewers.

While the proposal is Awaiting review, the creator can remove the assigned reviewer. To remove the reviewer from a proposal:

Open the proposal as its creator.

In the proposal details, click X next to the name of the reviewer.

Shows the proposal details in xP&A with the 'Proposal name' field, the status 'Awaiting review', the 'Created by' entry, the 'Reviewer' field with the assigned user, and the 'Model Editors' field with 'All editors' selected. Highlighted in red is the X next to the name of the reviewer. — Removing the reviewer in the proposal details

In the Remove reviewer? dialog, confirm with Remove reviewer.

This skips the reviewer stage, passes the proposal to the editors selected in Model editors, and notifies them. The proposal gets the status No review. Reviewer decisions already made are preserved; undecided edits remain pending. Removing the reviewer does not complete a reviewer sign-off or apply the proposal. The assigned reviewer cannot remove themselves.

Once an editor has reviewed all proposal items of a proposal, the approved changes can be applied to a model.

To do so, just click Apply on the top right.

Data collectors will see the updated status and any comments left by editors.

You can approve and apply one or more submitted proposals directly from the Proposals workspace, without opening each affected model. To approve and apply several proposals:

Open the Proposals workspace.

Select the proposals using the check boxes. Use the select-all check box of a section to select all proposals in that section that can be selected.

Shows the 'Ready for you to approve and apply' section of the 'Proposals' workspace with three selected proposals. Highlighted in red are the select-all check box 'Apply selected proposals' and the selection bar with '10 proposals selected' and the 'Clear selection' and 'Approve all and apply' buttons. — Selecting proposals for 'Approve all and apply'

Click Approve all and apply in the selection bar.

Review the confirmation dialog, including the proposals, their application order, affected models, and warnings about edits that will be skipped, and confirm to proceed.

Check the result message for successfully applied proposals and any failures.

This action approves all pending edits across every model affected by each selected proposal and then applies the proposal. Previously approved edits are also applied. Rejected edits remain rejected and are not applied. The confirmation warns about rejected edits and removed items.

xP&A applies the proposals in submission order, oldest first. If successfully applied proposals change the same value, the most recently submitted proposal takes precedence.

You can select only submitted proposals that you have permission to apply and that contain at least one edit that has not been rejected. Drafts, proposals still awaiting a reviewer's handover, proposals you cannot apply, and proposals whose edits are all rejected cannot be selected.

Example: A proposal contains pending changes in the Revenue and Headcount models, plus a rejected Revenue edit. Selecting Approve all and apply approves and applies the pending changes in both models, while leaving the rejected edit out.

Data collectors

can delete their own proposals in

Draft

Submitted

, or

Closed

status (but not after it has been

Applied

Editors

can delete any proposal in

Submitted

Closed

status.

A proposal in

Awaiting review

status can only be deleted by its creator, even if the creator is a data collector. Other editors and the reviewer cannot delete it in this status.

Yes. The creator can continue adding new items or editing existing ones until the proposal is Applied or Closed.

Limitations:

Proposal items that have already been

approved

rejected

cannot be edited.

Editors reviewing a proposal cannot edit it; they can only approve, reject, or comment.

Awaiting review

status, the creator can still add edits and change undecided edits. Once the reviewer has approved or rejected an edit, the creator can no longer change it unless the reviewer undoes the decision.

This depends on the status of the proposal.

Draft

: Proposals are only visible to the creator of the proposal (either an editor or data collector)

Submitted

: Proposals submitted without a reviewer are visible to the editors selected in

Model editors

, subject to their existing model permissions.

Awaiting review

: Proposals are only visible to the creator and the assigned reviewer. The entire proposal is hidden from all other editors, including the editors selected in

Model editors

Reviewed

: The editors selected in

Model editors

take over the proposal.

If the creator removes the reviewer while a proposal is Awaiting review, the reviewer stage is skipped, the proposal gets the status No review, and the editors selected in Model editors take over the proposal.

Editors can see the number of proposals associated with a model in the top-right corner. A proposal in Awaiting review status only counts towards the number of its creator and reviewer.

One assigned reviewer acts during the reviewer stage. After the handover, editors can collaborate on the proposal, subject to the editors selected in Model editors and their existing permissions:

Multiple editors can review and comment on a proposal

Only one editor can apply a proposal to the model

All review activity is tracked in the proposal log

If you do not add a reviewer, Submit sends the proposal directly to the editors selected in Model editors. There is no Awaiting review stage. The Reviewer field displays None selected and cannot be changed after submission.

While the proposal is a Draft, its creator can choose a different reviewer or clear the Reviewer field. After submission, you cannot add or swap reviewers. While the proposal is Awaiting review, the creator can remove the assigned reviewer, which skips the reviewer stage and passes the proposal to the editors selected in Model editors. For more information, see Changing or Removing the Reviewer in xP&A.

When a reviewer clicks Finish review in Lucanet xP&A while edits in the proposal are still undecided, a warning lists the models that contain these edits. If the reviewer finishes the review anyway, the undecided edits are neither approved nor rejected. They go to the editors as they are, for them to handle, and the proposal gets the status Reviewed. For more information, see Finishing the Review of a Proposal in xP&A.