What's New in Lucanet xP&A?

Come and explore the exciting new features of our solution Lucanet xP&A! We update our CFO Solution Platform on a regular basis to offer you the latest features and improvements.

The versions of all solutions that you are currently using and those of the CFO Solution Platform are displayed when you select About Lucanet from the Help section in the CFO Solution Platform.

The new Modeler Agent is now available for Lucanet xP&A. You can use the Modeler Agent to generate a complete planning model from a plain-language description, without manually setting up sections, variable groups, variables, timesteps, aggregations, and formulas. The agent builds the model using the standard xP&A formula language.

You can open the Modeler Agent during the creation of a new model using the option Generate a model or using Lucanet Lume. To start the agent, simply type in your model description or use a pre-defined prompt:

Show the 'Create model' dialog. Highlighted in red is the new option 'Generate a model' on the left and the detail view of the agent on the right. — Generating a new model with the Modeler Agent

The Modeler Agent then comes up with a proposal for building the new model which you can accept or adjust as needed:

Shows an example of an answer proposed by the Modeler Agent. — Example for a proposal of the Modeler Agent

After generation, the model behaves like any standard xP&A model: all cells are editable, all formulas are visible and modifiable, and you can add, rename, or remove sections, variable groups, and variables.

The Modeler Agent is designed for creating a new model. To repair formulas or cells in an existing model, use the function Fix with AI instead.

Connections to reports from Consolidation & Financial Planning and data sources are not yet supported by the Modeler Agent.

We are rolling out a new calculation engine across xP&A over the coming weeks. You don't need to do anything — the switch happens automatically, and your models, formulas, and data stay exactly as they are.

Benefits of the new engine

Faster model load times — even on large, complex models

Snappier value entry — less waiting after each input

Smoother real-time collaboration — fewer delays when multiple people are working in the same model

How will I see that I am on the new engine?

Once you are switched to the new engine, you will see a toggle in your profile settings that lets you confirm which engine you are on.

Need to switch back?

If anything feels off after the upgrade, you can toggle back to the previous engine yourself under Settings | New calculation engine at any time. There is no need to contact support first.

Shows the xP&A settings panel with the 'New calculation engine' toggle enabled at the bottom of the sidebar. — New calculation engine toggle in the settings panel

From now, xP&A users only have access to the CFP data for which they have been granted access in Consolidation & Financial Planning. This is relevant when creating a CFP data source in xP&A, because users can only integrate data from CFP if they also have a license seat for Consolidation & Financial Planning and only for the data they have access to.

Access permissions for Consolidation & Financial Planning are configured at platform level under Administration | User management. To get access to CFP data, an xP&A user must be assigned the data model role Editor or Observer. In addition, at least read permissions need to be granted for the CFP workspaces and data levels they shall have access to. For more information, see Creating and Editing Users for the Lucanet CFO Solution Platform and Defining User Permissions for Data Model Roles.

Existing CFP data sources remain available as configured and can still be refreshed. However, if a user edits an existing data source, editing the data source is restricted to data within that user's current CFP permissions.

If you do not edit these data sources, but only refresh them, your models will not be affected.

If you edit the data source and do not have the necessary level of permission in CFP, your models might be broken.

If you had a dimension, e.g. Organization elements, created with more elements than you have access to, then after you edit the data source, you may need to manually delete all the elements that are no longer linked to the data source because of missing permissions for these items.

Apart from bug fixes and permormance improvements this release contains the following new features:

It is now possible to add a comment to each cell of a table. Simply hover over the cell you want to comment on and click the yellow comment icon that appears. You can then enter your comment in the comment field and save it using Enter the purple arrow icon.

Comments on a cell are highlighted with a yellow triangle at the top left of the cell. Hover over the yellow triangle to show the comment, all the replies and their authors.

Shows some cells of a table. Highlighted in red is the comment field that appears when you click the yellow comment icon. — Comment field

You can now copy entire rows from an Excel sheet and paste them into the Dashboard in xP&A. This saves time when transferring values from MS Excel to xP&A.

When you import a dimension from a spreadsheet (CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets), you can now define the hierarchy directly in the cell values using the > separator. xP&A reads the path, creates each item at the correct level, and links it to its parent automatically - there is no need to rebuild the hierarchy by drag-and-drop after the import.

Shows a dimension hierarchy in a spreadsheet using the > — Dimension hierarchy in the spreadsheet

Shows the Dimension hierarchy from the spreadsheet in xP&A after import — Dimension hierarchy in xP&A after import

If you have an error shown in a model, you can now fix it using our new Fix with AI function with just a click of a button.

Simply hover over the error and you will see a Fix with AI option.

Shows the dialog that appears when oyu hovwer over an error in a model. Highlighted in red is the Option 'Fix with AI' — Fix with AI

Click the option and you will get suggestions for changing the model that you can either accept or reject.

Shows a dialog that appears with the AI's explanation of the error fixing. The section highlighted in purple is the suggested correction in the model itself. — Corrections suggested by AI

Apart from bug fixes and performance improvements this release contains the following new feature:

Dimension items can now have default currencies assigned directly in the dimension settings. By adding the Currency column, you can configure a default currency for each dimension item once, instead of setting currencies individually on each variable.

New currency variables automatically use the default currency set for the dimension item. If you wish to use a different currency for a dimension item in a certain variable, you can adjust the currency explicitly in the model.

A priority-based inheritance system determines the currency used: explicit selections override dimension item defaults, which override parent or variable defaults.