Persist data with Writeback

Writeback saves data from a Planning sheet to external data destinations such as databases, cloud data warehouses, and data lake storage.

We can write back data such as budgets, forecasts, adjustments, and scenario inputs from the Planning sheet and load it to the writeback table in your data platform. This ensures that planning data remains synchronized with your enterprise systems.

Writeback supports multiple destination types and enables you to save data without requiring predefined database schemas or complex setup.

Writeback use cases#

Writeback enables you to keep planning and analytics data in a single governed environment instead of exporting data manually.

Common scenarios include:

• Save budget and forecast inputs directly to your data platform.
• Store scenario planning results for further analysis.
• Capture manual adjustments made in Planning sheets.
• Synchronize planning data with enterprise data warehouses.

Prerequisites#

Before you begin, make sure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

• The Planning sheet contains at least one row or column dimension.
• A valid writeback destination is configured.
• Required permissions are assigned to users who perform writeback.

Create a writeback destination#

To save data using writeback, you must first configure a destination.

1. Go to Writeback > Add Destination.
2. Select a Database connection.
3. Enter a Database Name.
4. Enter a Table Name.
5. Select the Decimal Precision.
6. Select Add to create the writeback destination.

Manage destinations#

Go to Writeback > Manage

You can view, update, or reuse configured destinations.

Set the writeback type#

You can control how data is structured in the writeback table.

Go to Writeback > Settings > Writeback Type, and select one of the following:

• Select Long to store measures as key-value pairs a row-based format.
• Select Wide to store measures in a column-based format.
• Select Long with Changes. This is the same as long format, but it tracks only the changed values written back from the Planning sheet.
• Select Wide with Changes. This is the same as wide format, but it tracks only the changed values written back from the Planning sheet.

Configure writeback settings#

Manage other writeback settings from Writeback > Settings.

The writeback settings are used to configure how data entered in a Planning sheet is saved back to the underlying data source. It ensures that planning data entered by users is stored correctly, consistently, and in a format that aligns with the organization’s data model. It defines the structure, filtering behavior, and data format used when writing planning values to the destination.

• General: Defines the core settings for the writeback operation.
• Data: Used to select and configure the measures and dimensions that participate in the writeback process.
• Destinations: Defines where the planning data is written back, such as a database table or storage location.
• Advanced: Provides more configuration options for controlling writeback behavior and system-level settings.

Perform writeback#

You can write back scenarios, forecasts, data inputs, and comments to the designated data platform.

Select Writeback > Writeback to trigger a writeback. After the operation completes, a notification confirms the status.

Select Writeback > Logs to view the writeback logs.