Workday Adaptive Planning

To maintain a well-organized and efficient Adaptive Planning instance, I highly recommended to always use a single, continuously updated plan version, I like to call it “Rolling Forecast” . In Adaptive, this will be set as your default version . And it will show in bold in your version Dropdown. This version will have the greatest and latest forecast inputs (and formulas logic)! This approach of using always the same input version ensures clarity, consistency and ease of deriving locked versions! How to Implement This Best Practice Set Rolling Forecast as the Default Version In Adaptive Planning , mark your Rolling Forecast version as the default one. Menu > Modeling > Model Management > Versions > Select your latest forecast and set it to default on the right Pane. It appears bold in the version dropdown, making it easy for all users to identify it. I also love emojis... so I sometimes like to add a nice little special character in front of it. You can find my list of u...

I was lucky to attend Workday Rising 2025. This year, we had the chance to celebrate Workday's 20th birthday, hear the talented and genuine researcher  Brené Brown , witness a superb drone show at the Giants's stadium, and... I discovered that I actually knew more than 1 song from Duran Duran   •ᴗ• The focus was on Workday Illuminate , Workday's agentic AI platform, which is set to transform how HR, Finance, and Accounting operate. With this platform, you will be able to automate routine tasks, request analyses, explore your data more efficiently, and get assistance with formulas, logic, processes and guidance on training and learning (some of these features to be released later). I was so glad to get a preview of these promises! AI will be so helpful to alleviate annoying tasks. I don't view it as a threat, rather, I see it as a giant boost to my productivity. This aligns perfectly with Workday's motto: "AI Powered, Human Centric." AI functionalities, whe...

Adaptive released a new way to retrieve data from data warehouses, such as Snowflake, Incorta and  Microsoft Fabric (and more to come): it is called Cloud Data Connect . What is Cloud Data Connect? Cloud Data Connect is a tool that helps move data from your company's data warehouses into Workday Adaptive Planning standard or cube sheets (sheets without splits). It’s great pathway for large businesses that already have strict rules for managing data. How does it work? To use Cloud Data Connect, you set up something called a pipeline: Global Navigation Menu (aka the Hamburger menu   ☰ ) > Integration > Setup Pipeline Here’s how the high level process works: 1) Choose where the data will go: it will ask you to give a name to your pipeline (for example: "Snowflake bookings", pick a version and a sheet. 2) Get a template: download a pre-made file (template) that you share with your data storage admin. The template tells them how to organize or display the data so Adaptiv...

This summer 2024, Workday annouced that it will be retiring 3 features within / related to NetSuite.  Workday's article said :  (requires community access account) "Oracle has terminated Workday's participation in the SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) Partner Program, effective August 12, 2024" "3 functionalities enabled by SDN Technology that we (=Workday) won't be able to support: (...)" What does it mean?  Oracle is basically removing Workday from their partner program to implement bundles and features within NetSuite.  Some Adaptive features co-developed in NetSuite will remain but will no longer be supported. But rest assured! The  basic "out of the box" , most commonly used integration of NetSuite in Adaptive  will remain! If you are using this  basic integration , with the  native tables  (transactions, balances, suppliers, assets etc.) or a  custom cloud connection to NetSuite Reports ... The good news is that  this is stay...

How to Make Adaptive REST API Calls for Platform Customers with User Sync Enabled If you’re a platform customer (HCM + FINS + Adaptive) or using Workday HCM or Financials alongside Adaptive and want to create custom scripts leveraging Adaptive’s REST API (XML), you’ve likely encountered a key requirement: providing Adaptive user credentials (username and password). For standalone customers or those not using user sync, this typically involves creating an integration user in Adaptive. Easy peasy.  But what if you’re using user sync? How do you supply credentials for API calls in the XML input? In this article, I’ll guide you through the steps to generate the necessary credentials when user sync is enabled. I’ll also share helpful links to official documentation to ensure a smooth integration process. 1. Overview The process allows Workday-synchronized users to make API calls to Adaptive Planning using Workday credentials . The key steps involve: Generating an OAuth token using Work...

 I am often asked: "What are Metric accounts in Adaptive and what is their use case?" Before we jump into the weeds, you can create "global" metric accounts, called standard metric accounts  and within cube sheets.  To create a standard metric account, go to:  Menu > Modeling > Metric Accounts Adaptive will come with a couple of pre-built Metric accounts, such as Gross Margin % What are Metric Accounts? A metric account in Adaptive is a calculated account , meaning it carries a formula .  It does   not carry any data entry .  It can not be a rollup account,  meaning it can not have any "children accounts" rolling up to a parent. Metric accounts are typically used to calculate ratios , this is why they can only be either a number or a percent ! But... there is more subtility in them! Metric accounts are different from the other calculated accounts (custom, modeled, cube etc.) in the sense that their formula is also computed at the level an...

FP&A: The Perfect Headcount Planning Process in Workday Adaptive for non Platform customers: Streamlining integration, reconciliation and budgeting This article is for companies that are not on the Workday Platform  (HCM, FINS, Adaptive) and are missing out on the integrated cycle of hiring, planning, reconciliation, and system-wide alignment that Workday offers. I sometimes hear complaints (luckily not too much) about Workday HCM, Adaptive or FINS... but the truth is, no other tool on the market currently offers a complete solution that spans the entire hiring process—from budgeting and requesting to hiring, reconciling, and publishing plans across systems. Workday is the only one with this capability right now!  I’m not paid by Workday to write this… But after working with several HRIS, ATS, and ERP systems, I can confidently say that Workday stands out for its customizable workflows, overall ease of use, and seamless communication across all three systems -- assuming yo...

To integrate data in Workday Adaptive Planning, customers typically use the integration module to connect with ERPs, SFTPs, AWS S3, Snowflake, SalesForce, Excel, and Google Sheets, etc.  You can also use third party platforms such as Tray.ai , Boomi , Matilion etc. which leverage Adaptive's APIs in a user friendly setup.  And lastly, you can write your very own scripts (C#, Python, Powershell...) to make these API calls.  Most  common Adaptive's API use cases Import Data from ERPs Actual summaries and transaction details (by supplier, employee...) Assets, amortization, depreciation Payroll details and taxes Import Sales data from CRMs or datalakes Pipeline, churn, opportunities and customers  Billings, bookings, revenue, ARR Import Headcount data from an HRIS Current headcount and terminations Hired, not started Wages and compensation plans Benefits and other demographics Import Other data: Exchange Rates Weather Meta data: currencies, attributes, dimensions suc...