When organizations start using Adaptive Planning, the model is the first thing we help them build. The model is the backbone of everything you do in planning — the structure, the logic, the dimensions, and the way data flows from finance to sales to workforce. If the model is clean and well-designed, every planning cycle feels predictable. If the foundation is weak, the system becomes harder to maintain over time.

Setting up Adaptive is not just a technical exercise. It is the process of translating how your business actually works into a reliable, scalable planning structure.

Start With Your Instance and Sign-In Access

You begin with your Adaptive Planning instance and the credentials your administrator provides. Once you sign in, you land in an empty but functional planning environment. Adaptive already includes the core dimensions you need to model financials, sales, and workforce. The rest depends on how deeply you want to capture your business model.

This is where the real design work starts.

Understanding the Four Core Dimensions

Adaptive Planning treats every number as a point in a grid. That grid is built on dimensions. All instances include four key dimensions that define how your data behaves.

Time

Adaptive uses a standard January–December calendar. You work with months, quarters, and years. You can extend the calendar, add alternate time structures, or build custom rollups if your business uses different reporting cycles.

Versions

Every instance starts with one actuals version and one plan version.

Actuals versions store historical data. Plan versions store budgets, forecasts, and what-ifs.

You can:

• Add sub-versions for journal entries or adjustments
• Create unlimited plan versions for different scenarios

This is where your planning cycles stay organized.

Accounts

You get a predefined set of general ledger accounts. You can expand the chart, add metrics, create custom accounts, and build assumptions the model will use in calculations. Accounts become the foundation of your P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and operational KPIs.

Levels

Levels represent your organization. They mimic how you view the business — entities, regions, departments, cost centers, or subsidiaries.

You start with a single top-level structure. You build the rest based on how you manage responsibility and ownership.

These four dimensions define where data sits and how it rolls up. Once they are in place, you can extend the model with custom dimensions and attributes.

Adding Custom Dimensions and Attributes

Most companies need more than the standard dimensions. You might plan by product, customer, channel, region, contract type, or project. Custom dimensions let you add these extra coordinates.

Attributes help group values across dimensions without changing hierarchies. You can tag accounts, levels, or dimension values and use those tags in formulas or reports.

This flexibility is what makes Adaptive adaptable to any planning process.

Building the Model: Where the Real Work Begins

You manage the modeling work from the Modeling area in Adaptive. Finance teams go through the setup in a structured sequence.

1. Review and Extend the Time Structure

You update calendars, add new years, or create alternate rollups based on your reporting needs.

2. Create and Configure Plan Versions

Budgets, forecasts, and scenarios all run off separate versions. Each version follows your model but keeps its own set of numbers.

3. Build the Level Hierarchy

You design a clean organizational structure. This drives access, workflow, and the way your P&L rolls up.

4. Add Custom Dimensions

You define additional planning dimensions and their values.

5. Add Attributes

You tag levels, accounts, or dimensions with attribute values for better grouping and reporting.

6. Build Accounts and Formulas

Accounts hold your data. Formulas drive the logic.

Adaptive supports:

• Calculated accounts
• Shared formulas
• Modeled accounts
• Metric accounts
• Assumption accounts

These calculations run centrally, so your sheets stay clean and consistent.

7. Build Sheets

Sheets are where users enter data. You build three types:

• Standard sheets: GL-driven planning
• Modeled sheets: Record-based planning for workforce, sales, or operational drivers
• Cube sheets: Multi-dimensional planning with pivot capability

You choose the right sheet type based on how each planning area works.

8. Link Modeled and Cube Data Back to the GL

You map detailed data from modeled and cube sheets into standard accounts. This keeps the P&L aligned with operational drivers.

9. Load or Enter Data

You bring data into the model using:

• Direct entry in sheets
• Integration loaders
• APIs
• Automated data agents

Actuals flow from ERP systems. Drivers and assumptions come from teams. The model pulls everything together.

Why the Model Setup Matters

When the model is well-built, planning becomes faster and smoother.

Approvals move quickly. Forecasts update without manual work. Scenarios take minutes instead of hours. Teams spend less time reconciling and more time analyzing.

A strong Adaptive model is not just a technical exercise — it is a finance architecture decision. It shapes how your teams collaborate and how your performance story is told.

How We Support Model Design at EPMLogic

We design Adaptive models that reflect how your business operates. We structure your dimensions, build the right accounts, define the formulas, create the sheets, and connect your data sources. Our goal is simple: a clean, scalable model that your teams trust every planning cycle.