Build an Actuals Trend Report in OfficeConnect (Financials)

Build a 12-month GL actuals trend report in minutes — the same report that takes hours to configure in Workday’s native report writer.
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Trending actuals across 12 months in Workday’s native report writer means configuring a matrix report, setting up time period prompts, managing column layouts, and wrestling with formatting. In OfficeConnect, the same report takes about five minutes.

This tutorial shows you how — and explains why the difference matters for accounting teams who need monthly trend data on demand.

What you’ll build: A 12-month actuals trend report showing GL account balances by period for a selected company, fully refreshable from Workday Financial Management.

What you’ll need:

  • OfficeConnect connected to a Financials data source tenant
  • A company with at least several months of posted actuals in Workday Financial Management

Why OfficeConnect vs. the Workday Report Writer

The Workday report writer is powerful but complex for time-series reporting. To build a 12-month trend report natively, you typically need to:

  1. Create a matrix report with custom column definitions for each period
  2. Configure time period prompts or hard-code the periods
  3. Map the report to the correct financial data source
  4. Run, export, and reformat in Excel

In OfficeConnect, you drag 12 time elements into a row and click Refresh. The data is live, the format is Excel, and there’s no export step.

Step 1 — Set up your context row

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Open Excel and activate OfficeConnect Open Excel and click the OfficeConnect tab. Sign in and confirm you’re on a Financials data source tenant (you’ll see Ledger Accounts and Company in the Reporting pane).
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Add your Company Click B1. In the Reporting pane, expand Company and drag your company into B1.
3
Add your Version Click B2. Drag Actuals from the Reporting pane into B2.

Step 2 — Add 12 monthly time columns

4
Add January Click B3. In the Reporting pane, expand Time → Months and drag the first month of your trend period (e.g., Jan 2025) into B3.
5
Add the remaining 11 months Click C3 through M3 in turn, dragging each successive month (Feb 2025 through Dec 2025) into the cells. You now have a 12-month time header row.

Step 3 — Add ledger account rows

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Add your first account Click A4. In the Reporting pane, expand Ledger Accounts and drag your first account (e.g., Revenue or a specific expense account) into A4.
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Populate the data row Click B4. OfficeConnect formulas reference the company in B1, the version in B2, and the time in B3, so B4 returns the Jan 2025 actuals for your account. Copy B4 across to M4 — each cell picks up its month from row 3 automatically.
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Add remaining account rows Copy row 4 down for each additional ledger account. Add each new account to column A by dragging from the Reporting pane.

Step 4 — Add totals and formatting

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Add a monthly total row Below your last account row, add an Excel SUM row: =SUM(B4:B[last row]) in column B, copied across to column M. Label it Total in column A.
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Format the header row OfficeConnect time labels can be long. Select row 3 and apply a custom number format (mmm-yy) to display months as “Jan-25”, “Feb-25”, etc. — or type short labels in a separate row above row 3.

Step 5 — Refresh and verify

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Click Refresh Click Refresh in the OfficeConnect ribbon. All 12 months populate with posted actuals from Workday Financial Management.
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Spot-check a value Pick one account and one month. Compare the value in your report against the same account/period in a Workday report or the trial balance for that month. They should match exactly — OfficeConnect reads the same posted data.

Next steps