The client
The client is a global investment fund running Workday Adaptive Planning. Leadership reviews a set of fund-level reports every quarter, covering fees, income and capital measures by fund. Today those reports arrive as PDFs.
The problem
Finance wants eight of these PDF reports rebuilt as dashboards inside Workday Adaptive Planning, so the numbers come straight from the model.
One requirement matters more than the rest. Senior leaders want the funds sorted from largest to smallest. When they open a report, they need to see the material items first, without scrolling to find them.
That sounds simple. It turns out to be the hardest part of the work.
What we build first
We start with a matrix report, since it gives the closest layout to the PDFs. Funds go in the rows and quarters in the columns. Then we add the calculations finance needs.
For the last twelve months, we use a subtotal over exactly four quarter columns, because there is no ready-made twelve-month time level. For variance in dollars, we use the difference calculation between two columns. For variance in percent, we use the same difference with the display set to percent.
We also try custom formulas in the report. They accept dimension members, but not account references, time shifts or calculations across periods. That rules out a formula-based twelve-month total, so the subtotal approach stays.
Conditional formatting adds a green up arrow for growth and a red down arrow for decline. That part works well.
The sorting question
Then we test sorting. We try the matrix report, the crosstab dashboard component, the scorecard, the report component inside a dashboard, and the other table views. In our testing, none of them sorts rows by value. Rows always follow the model hierarchy.
We confirm it’s not a setup issue. The table components simply don’t offer a sort by value online.
Chart components behave differently. Pyramid, funnel, pie and doughnut charts can sort by a value, in ascending or descending order, and can limit the view to the first N items. That gives us a way in.
What we deliver
We build a dashboard that answers the “biggest first” question visually and keeps the detail next to it.
A pyramid chart sorts funds by value in descending order and shows the top fifteen. It updates on every data refresh, with no manual step. Next to it, a scorecard shows actuals against plan by quarter and year, with variance and small trend charts. A KPI tile shows the headline total. A crosstab shows the funds by quarter with green and red formatting. A trend chart and a bar chart show the movement over time, and the model sheet itself is embedded for anyone who wants to check the source.
We build all eight dashboards on the same pattern. For each one, only the account, the version and the time range change.
Options for the sorted table
Some leaders still want a sorted table, not a chart. So we lay out the honest options.
The first option is OfficeConnect, with two tabs. One tab pulls the data from Workday Adaptive Planning. The other ranks the funds with standard Excel ranking formulas, so the sort never breaks on refresh.
The second option is a matrix report embedded in a dashboard. It handles the column layout for actuals, forecast and variance, while the dashboard adds filters and charts.
The third option is a scorecard for mixed actuals and forecast. Scorecards show several versions side by side, which is the closest match to the PDF layout.
We put the choice to finance with these trade-offs written down, instead of forcing a fragile workaround.
The result
All eight dashboards are built in Workday Adaptive Planning on one consistent design. The ranked view works without manual steps. Finance has a clear, written choice for the sorted table, along with a short list of account and version names to confirm before the dashboards move to shared folders for senior users.
What we learn
Test the product before you promise the layout. One small requirement can decide the whole design.
Use each component for what it does well. Charts rank, scorecards compare versions, and OfficeConnect handles Excel-style ranking.
Write down what the product can’t do, and why. It saves the next team the same week of testing.