08.10 Entering and Submitting Data

The submission cycle

Every planning session follows the same rhythm. Contributors should understand all six steps:

Open the planning workbook (FastClose ribbon → Open Report, or via a saved .xlsx file)
Review current figures — actuals, previously submitted plan figures
Edit submission cells — type values or formulas
Submit (FastClose ribbon → Submit) — FastClose shows the preview dialog, click OK to confirm
Re-run — the report refreshes and shows the newly submitted figures in the results

What happens at submission

FastClose writes each submitted value to the planning database, keyed by: Scenario + Dimension combination + Period. If a value already exists for that key, it is overwritten. There is no version history within a scenario.

Editing without submitting

You can save the Excel workbook with edited but unsubmitted values. This is intentional — you might want to work on numbers across multiple sessions before committing. Be aware:

Anyone else opening the same report via the Add-In sees the last submitted values, not your local edits

When you re-run the report with local edits present, FastClose asks: "You have unsaved changes. Do you want to keep your edits or replace them with the last submitted values?"

Choose Keep edits to continue working, Replace to discard

Check the Preview before closing the workbook to confirm your intent

Submitting zero

To clear a previously submitted value, type 0 into the cell and submit. The zero is stored explicitly — it removes the figure but keeps the row present in the results.

What you've learned

You and your contributors understand the full submission cycle and the distinction between locally edited and committed values.