Tutorial on OfficeConnectPro

Build a Trial Balance Report with OfficeConnect (Financials)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A trial balance lists every ledger account with its debit or credit balance for a given period. With OfficeConnect’s Financials data source, you can build one that refreshes directly from Workday Financial Management — no export, no copy-paste.

What you’ll build: A trial balance report showing all ledger accounts grouped by type (Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, Expenses) for a selected company and period.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect installed and connected to a tenant configured for the Financials data source (not Adaptive Planning)
Access to at least one company with posted journal entries in Workday Financial Management
The Financials vs. Adaptive Planning page explains the difference if you’re unsure which data source you have

Step 1 — Confirm your data source

Check your data source Click the OfficeConnect tab in Excel and sign in. In the Reporting pane, look at the top of the element tree. If you see Ledger Accounts and Company, you’re on the Financials data source. If you see Accounts and Levels, you’re on Adaptive Planning. This tutorial requires the Financials data source.

Step 2 — Add Company and Period context

Add your Company element Click B1. In the Reporting pane, expand Company and drag your company (legal entity) into B1. If you have multiple companies, start with one — you can add more later.

Add your Version Click B2. In the Reporting pane, expand Versions and drag Actuals into B2.

Add your Period Click B3. In the Reporting pane, expand Time and drag the period you want (e.g., December 2025) into B3. For a year-end trial balance, use the last period of your fiscal year.

Step 3 — Add ledger account rows

Add an Assets section header Click A5 and type ASSETS. Bold it. This is a plain Excel label — not an OfficeConnect element.

Add asset ledger accounts Click A6. In the Reporting pane, expand Ledger Accounts → Assets (or the equivalent group in your chart of accounts). Drag your first asset account (e.g., Cash) into A6. Continue adding asset accounts in A7, A8, etc.

Add the data formula for assets Click B6. The OfficeConnect formula references the company in B1, the version in B2, and the period in B3. Copy B6 down for all asset account rows.

Repeat for Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, Expenses Add section headers and ledger account rows for each account type. Copy the data formula from column B into each new row — OfficeConnect picks up the ledger account from column A automatically.

Step 4 — Add subtotals

Add SUM rows for each section Below each account group, add an Excel SUM row. For example, if your asset accounts are in B6:B12, add =SUM(B6:B12) in B13 with the label Total Assets in A13. Repeat for each section.

Add a balance check

At the bottom of the report, add a row labeled Out of Balance with the formula:

Drill Through to Workday Journal Lines from OfficeConnect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When a number in your OfficeConnect report doesn’t look right, you don’t need to leave Excel. OfficeConnect’s Show Details feature opens a panel showing every journal line contributing to that cell’s balance. From there, you can drill through directly to the transaction in Workday Financial Management.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect connected to a Financials data source tenant
A report with at least one populated cell (actuals data for a ledger account, company, and period)

Step 1 — Build or open a Financials report

Open a report with Financials data Open any OfficeConnect workbook using the Financials data source and click Refresh to ensure cells are populated. If you need to build one from scratch, follow Build a Trial Balance Report first.

Step 2 — Open Show Details

Right-click a populated cell Right-click any cell containing an OfficeConnect Financials value (a cell with a balance, not a header or label cell).

Select Show Details In the context menu, click Show Details. A detail pane opens below or beside your report (depending on your OfficeConnect layout settings). This pane lists every journal line that contributed to the cell’s balance.

Review the journal lines

The Show Details pane shows each journal line with columns including:

Build an Actuals Trend Report in OfficeConnect (Financials)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Build a Balance Sheet with OfficeConnect (Financials)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A balance sheet in OfficeConnect pulls directly from Workday Financial Management’s general ledger, so your assets, liabilities, and equity balances are always current without manual copy-paste from Workday Report Writer. This tutorial walks through building a structured balance sheet with the three standard sections.

What you’ll build: A balance sheet workbook with Current Assets, Non-Current Assets, Current Liabilities, Non-Current Liabilities, and Equity sections — all refreshable from Workday Financial Management.

Build a Cash Flow Statement with OfficeConnect (Financials)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A cash flow statement built in OfficeConnect pulls balance changes and net income directly from Workday Financial Management, eliminating the manual work of reconciling figures from Workday Report Writer into Excel. This tutorial builds an indirect-method statement — the most common format for external financial reporting.

What you’ll build: A cash flow statement with Operating, Investing, and Financing Activities sections, all refreshable from Workday Financial Management.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect connected to the Financials data source
Workday Financial Management with a current period closed and journal entries posted
A completed balance sheet workbook is helpful for cross-referencing — see Build a Balance Sheet

Step 1 — Set up the version and period

Open Excel and activate OfficeConnect Open Excel, click OfficeConnect, and sign in. The Reporting pane should show the Financials data source.

Add version and time context Click B1 and drag Actuals from the Reporting pane. Click B2 and drag your reporting period (for example, Q2 2026 or the full fiscal year). Cash flow statements cover a period of activity, so use a range period (a full quarter or year) rather than a point-in-time date.

Step 2 — Operating activities (indirect method)

Add the Net Income starting line In A5, type OPERATING ACTIVITIES. Bold and underline. In A6, drag Net Income from the Reporting pane. This is the starting point for the indirect method — all adjustments are added or subtracted from net income.

Add non-cash adjustments In A7, drag Depreciation and Amortization (a non-cash expense — added back to net income). In A8, type Changes in Working Capital and bold it as a sub-section header.

Add working capital changes

In A9–A12, drag accounts that represent working capital changes:

Build Your First OfficeConnect Report

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This tutorial walks through building a basic departmental expense report from an empty workbook to a live, refreshable OfficeConnect report. By the end you will have a working report that pulls real data from Adaptive Planning with one click.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect installed and connected to your Workday tenant (Get Started)
An Adaptive Planning instance with at least one version of data loaded
A blank Excel workbook

Step 1 — Open the Reporting pane

Open Excel and activate OfficeConnect Open Excel. On the OfficeConnect ribbon tab, click Open Pane. The Reporting pane appears on the right side of the screen.

Sign in if prompted If the pane shows a sign-in prompt, click Sign In and complete the Workday authentication flow. See Sign In and Create a Tenant if you need help.

Step 2 — Add your first element

Click a cell in your workbook Click cell B2 — this is where the first data value will land.

Add an Account element In the Reporting pane, expand Accounts and locate the account you want (for example, Total Expenses). Double-click it or drag it to cell B2. OfficeConnect inserts a formula referencing that account.

Add a Time element Click cell B1 (the header row). In the Reporting pane, expand Time and drag the time period you want (for example, Jan 2025) into B1. Repeat for as many months as you need across columns C1, D1, and so on.

Add a Version element Click cell A2. Expand Versions in the pane and drag your target version (for example, Working Forecast) into A2.

For more detail on each element type, see Add Elements to a Report.

Month-End Close Workflow with OfficeConnect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Month-end close in Workday Financial Management involves verifying journal completeness, reconciling account balances, and producing financial statements for management review. OfficeConnect lets your accounting team do all of this in Excel — pulling live data from Workday — without waiting for Report Writer outputs or PDF exports. This tutorial walks through a practical close workflow.

What you’ll build: A close workbook with a trial balance check sheet, a journal completeness check, and a summary P&L — all refreshable as the close progresses.

Create a Rolling 12-Month Report

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A rolling 12-month report always shows the current month plus the 11 preceding months — no matter when you open it. This tutorial shows how to build one using OfficeConnect’s relative time contexts so the columns update automatically on each refresh.

What you’ll need:

An existing OfficeConnect workbook or a blank one (Build Your First Report)
Your Adaptive Planning instance populated with at least 12 months of actuals or forecast data

How rolling time works in OfficeConnect

OfficeConnect supports relative time contexts — time elements that are defined as offsets from the current period rather than as fixed calendar months. When you use Current Month, Current Month -1, Current Month -2, etc., OfficeConnect resolves each offset at refresh time against the current date.

Publish a Report to PowerPoint

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This tutorial covers linking an OfficeConnect Excel report into a PowerPoint presentation. Once linked, refreshing OfficeConnect in Excel automatically updates the numbers in your slides — no copy-pasting needed.

What you’ll need:

A finished OfficeConnect Excel report with data populated (Build Your First Report)
PowerPoint (Microsoft 365 or Office 2019+)
OfficeConnect installed on the same machine

How Excel-to-PowerPoint linking works

OfficeConnect for PowerPoint creates links between named ranges or tables in your Excel workbook and shapes in your PowerPoint slides. When you click Refresh in PowerPoint, OfficeConnect re-reads the current Excel values and updates the slide content — even if you are not looking at the Excel file at the time.

Build a Budget vs. Actuals Variance Report

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A budget vs. actuals variance report puts your plan and your reality in the same view. This tutorial walks through building one in OfficeConnect with a variance column that calculates automatically in Excel.

What you’ll build: A report with monthly actuals and budget columns for each account, plus a variance column showing the difference — all refreshable from Adaptive Planning.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect installed and connected to an Adaptive Planning tenant (Get Started)
An Adaptive Planning model with at least one Budget version and actuals loaded for the same period
Basic familiarity with adding elements (Add Elements)

Step 1 — Set up your account rows

Open a workbook and activate OfficeConnect Open Excel and click the OfficeConnect tab in the ribbon. Sign in if prompted. The Reporting pane opens on the right.

Add your first account Click cell A3 — this will hold your first account label. In the Reporting pane, expand Accounts and drag Revenue (or your top-line account) into A3. OfficeConnect inserts a formula that resolves to the account name.

Add remaining account rows Click A4, A5, A6, and so on. Drag in each account you need: Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Operating Expenses, Net Income. Place each in its own row. For rollup accounts, OfficeConnect automatically aggregates child accounts.

Step 2 — Add Actuals and Budget version columns

Add an Actuals column header Click cell B1. In the Reporting pane, expand Versions and drag your Actuals version into B1. OfficeConnect labels the cell with the version name.

Add a Budget column header Click cell C1. Drag your Budget version into C1.

Add a time context Click cell B2. In the Reporting pane, expand Time and drag the period you want to report on (for example, the current month or a full year) into B2. Copy B2 into C2 — both columns share the same time context.

Step 3 — Build the data cells and variance column

Populate the first data row Click B3. OfficeConnect formulas reference the version in row 1 and the time in row 2, so B3 automatically resolves to Actuals for your chosen period. Copy B3 across to C3 — C3 resolves to Budget for the same period.

Add a variance column header Click D1 and type Variance. Click D2 and type $ (or leave it blank — this cell doesn’t need an OfficeConnect element).

Write the variance formula

Click D3 and enter:

Build a Department P&L Report in OfficeConnect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A department P&L shows revenue, expenses, and net income for each business unit in the same workbook. OfficeConnect’s Level dimension makes this straightforward — one row set per department, all pulling live data from the same Adaptive Planning model.

What you’ll build: A P&L report with accounts as rows and departments as column groups, refreshable from Adaptive Planning.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect connected to an Adaptive Planning tenant with Levels configured for your org structure
An Adaptive Planning model with P&L accounts (Revenue, COGS, OpEx, Net Income)

Step 1 — Set up your P&L account rows

Open Excel and activate OfficeConnect Open Excel, click the OfficeConnect tab, and sign in. The Reporting pane opens on the right.

Add your P&L account hierarchy Click cell A3. In the Reporting pane, expand Accounts and drag Revenue into A3. Continue in rows A4–A7 with: Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Operating Expenses, and Net Income. Gross Profit and Net Income are typically rollup accounts — OfficeConnect aggregates their child accounts automatically.

Step 2 — Add department (Level) columns

Add your version and time context Click B1 and drag your version (e.g., Actuals) from the Reporting pane into it. Click B2 and drag your time period (e.g., full year or current month) into it.

Add the first department Level element Click B3. In the Reporting pane, expand Levels and find your first department (e.g., Sales). Drag it into B3. OfficeConnect creates a formula that pulls data for the Actuals version, the time in B2, and the Sales level.

Copy B3 down for all account rows Copy B3 down to B4:B7. Each row picks up its own account from column A while sharing the Level in B3’s formula structure.

Add remaining departments Repeat Step 4–5 for each department, placing each in its own column (C, D, E, etc.). Add column headers in row 1 with the department name — you can type these as labels or drag the Level element into row 1 and OfficeConnect will label it automatically.

Step 3 — Add a company total column

Add a Total column In the rightmost column header row, drag your top-level Level (the parent of all departments) from the Reporting pane. This gives you a company-wide total column that rolls up all departments. Alternatively, use an Excel SUM formula across the department columns.

Step 4 — Refresh and verify

Refresh the report Click Refresh in the OfficeConnect ribbon. All department columns populate from Adaptive Planning.

Spot-check totals Confirm that each department’s Gross Profit = Revenue − COGS, and that Net Income = Gross Profit − Operating Expenses. If rollup accounts are showing unexpected values, check that the account hierarchy in your Adaptive Planning model is configured correctly.

Next steps

Add a budget or prior-year comparison column — see Budget vs. Actuals Variance
Protect the report for distribution — see Lock and Protect Reports
Publish to PowerPoint — see OfficeConnect for PowerPoint

Build a Year-over-Year Trend Report

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A year-over-year trend report shows how each month compares to the same month last year — useful for spotting seasonal patterns and measuring real growth. OfficeConnect’s time elements let you pin both years in the same report.

What you’ll build: A report with 12 months of current-year actuals alongside 12 months of prior-year actuals, plus a YoY variance row.

What you’ll need:

OfficeConnect connected to an Adaptive Planning tenant with at least two full years of actuals
Familiarity with adding elements (Add Elements) and time contexts (Time and Contexts)

Step 1 — Set up current-year monthly columns

Open Excel and activate OfficeConnect Open Excel and click the OfficeConnect tab. Sign in if prompted.

Add your Actuals version Click B1. In the Reporting pane, expand Versions and drag your Actuals version into B1. This version applies to all columns that share row 1.

Add current-year monthly time elements Click B2. In the Reporting pane, expand Time → Months and find January of the current year (e.g., Jan 2026). Drag it into B2. Continue across row 2 — C2 through M2 — adding Feb 2026 through Dec 2026. You should have 12 monthly time elements across row 2.

Step 2 — Set up prior-year monthly columns

Add prior-year Actuals version Click N1. Drag your Actuals version into N1. (It’s the same version — the time elements in row 2 control which year’s data loads.)

Add prior-year monthly time elements Click N2. Drag Jan 2025 into N2. Continue across — O2 through Y2 — adding Feb 2025 through Dec 2025.

Step 3 — Add account rows

Add your primary account Click A3. In the Reporting pane, expand Accounts and drag your key account (e.g., Revenue) into A3.

Populate the data row Click B3. OfficeConnect formulas reference the version in row 1 and the time in row 2, so B3 returns Jan 2026 Actuals for Revenue. Copy B3 across to Y3 — each cell picks up the correct month and year from its column.

Add remaining account rows Copy row 3 down for each additional account. Add more accounts to column A as needed.

Step 4 — Add YoY variance

Add a variance section header In column Z row 1, type YoY Variance. Leave Z2 empty.

Add monthly variance formulas

In B4 (one row below your last account row, or in a dedicated variance row), enter:

Enter Budget Data in Excel with OfficeConnect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

OfficeConnect isn’t just for reading data from Adaptive Planning — it can write data back. This tutorial walks through setting up a data entry workbook that lets planners enter budget figures in Excel and submit them directly to an Adaptive Planning version.

What you’ll build: A data entry workbook with account rows and period columns where planners type figures and click Submit to push them into a Budget version in Adaptive Planning.

Build a Formatted Executive Report for Distribution

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A raw OfficeConnect report shows the right numbers, but an executive report needs to look the part. This tutorial walks through building a formatted P&L summary with branding, clean layout, and print-ready page setup — the kind of report you can share as a PDF without touching it in PowerPoint first.

What you’ll build: A one-page executive P&L summary with a header, logo, formatted number columns, and page layout configured for PDF export.