Overview
This guide explains how to connect financial targets from Workday Adaptive Planning to WorkBoard using OfficeConnect and Excel. This approach allows teams to surface financial data maintained in Adaptive Planning directly in WorkBoard OKRs.
The workflow consists of three steps:
Connect Adaptive Planning to Excel using OfficeConnect
Create a live financial spreadsheet
Connect the Excel values to WorkBoard financial targets
1. Connect Adaptive Planning to Excel with OfficeConnect
OfficeConnect is an add-in for Microsoft Excel that allows users to pull live data from Adaptive Planning into spreadsheets.
Workday articles on connecting Adaptive Planning with OfficeConnect: https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/adaptive-planning/officeconnect.html
Install OfficeConnect*
Install the Workday Adaptive Planning OfficeConnect add-in for Excel
Open Excel
3. Sign in using your Adaptive Planning credentials or add the requested details
After authentication, Excel becomes connected to your Adaptive Planning instance.
Excel Online + OfficeConnect Cross Platform are used in this demo to ensure it runs on macOS. For the correct setup instructions for your operating system, please refer to the guidelines:
https://www.workday.com/en-us/products/adaptive-planning/officeconnect.html
2. Create a Financial Report in Excel
OfficeConnect allows you to build financial reports directly in Excel that pull live data from Adaptive.
Option 1: Create a Quick Report
Quick Reports automatically generate structured financial tables.
In Excel, open the OfficeConnect ribbon.
Click Quick Report.
Select one or more of the following dimensions:
Version (Actuals, Budget, Forecast)
Accounts
Levels (Departments or Business Units)
Time
Dimensions (Project, Product, etc.)
OfficeConnect generates a report with financial values from Adaptive Planning.
Option 2: Create a Formatted Report
Formatted reports allow you to fully control the layout in Excel.
Design the spreadsheet layout.
Insert Adaptive data formulas using OfficeConnect.
Map cells to specific financial values.
3. Connect Excel Data to WorkBoard Financial Targets
Once the report is created, it can be connected to WorkBoard to power financial targets for OKRs.
Configure WorkBoard Integration
In WorkBoard, open the Objective or Key Result you want to add Financial Targets to
Click Edit
Click Add financial Targets
4. Click on Automate values from external sources to select Excel as a data source
5. Connect the spreadsheet containing the Adaptive planning data
6. Map the matching Excel cells to the WorkBoard financial targets
7. Click Save
Using OfficeConnect and Excel provides a practical way to connect Adaptive Planning financial data with WorkBoard.
This approach allows organizations to:
Align strategic OKRs with financial planning
Surface financial targets directly in WorkBoard
Maintain a single source of truth in Adaptive Planning