08.06 Testing Your Planning Setup

08.06 Testing Your Planning Setup

Before a planning template is distributed, submission must be verified end-to-end: that figures can be entered, that they reach the database, and that re-running the report shows them correctly. This section covers that verification process and the clean-up that follows.

It is best to test with the BUD scenario or a dedicated test scenario — not with your live planning scenario. A test submission to a live scenario locks its dimensions and may prevent later submissions at a different level of detail.

Testing in Designer

Designer submission is a quick sanity check to confirm that the template is correctly configured before moving to Excel.

  1. Open your saved planning report in Designer if it isn't already open.

  2. Run the report and look for yellow submission cells.

  3. Right-click on a yellow cell and choose Submit Planning Value. Type a test number and click OK.

  4. Re-run the report. Confirm the submitted value now appears in the results.

Testing in Excel — the definitive test

Contributors use the Excel Add-In, not Designer. Testing in Designer confirms the template is configured correctly; testing in Excel confirms the submission flow that contributors will actually use works end-to-end.

  1. Save the planning report in Designer.

  2. Open it using the FastClose Excel Add-In: look for the FastClose tab in the Excel ribbon → Open Report.

  3. Run the report. Planning submission cells will be editable (not locked). Actuals, totals, and labels will be protected.

  4. Type a test value into one or more yellow cells.

  5. Click Submit in the FastClose ribbon. FastClose shows a preview dialog listing every value about to be submitted — you can review the list before confirming.

    image

  6. Click OK. FastClose saves the values and re-runs the report automatically.

  7. Confirm the submitted values appear correctly in the results.

Cleaning up test data

Once submission is confirmed as working, remove the test figures before the template goes live:

  1. In Designer, go to the Layout tab → Scenarios.

  2. Select the scenario and click Edit.

    image

  3. Click Delete All Submissions.

This removes all submitted figures. The scenario itself — its code, caption, period range, and dimension settings — is preserved.

Move on to 0807 - Entering and Submitting Data

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