When Planning Starts Slowing Down, Finance Feels It First
Planning rarely collapses in a heap. It slows down first.
Quietly at the beginning. Then steadily. One day people realise the planning capability that once supported fast, confident decisions now takes more effort to maintain, adapt, and trust.
On paper, everything may still appear intact. Budgets are submitted. Forecasts are circulated. Reports go out.
But anyone close to the process knows the machine is labouring.
Finance usually sees it first.
And by the time it becomes obvious to everyone else, the cost has often been building for some time.
What Finance Teams Notice Early
The first warning signs are rarely dramatic. They arrive as friction.
Forecast cycles begin to stretch. Adjustments that should be straightforward require meetings, workarounds, and multiple versions of the truth. Tasks once handled inside the planning process are pushed back into spreadsheets just to keep things moving.
Ownership can narrow as well. What was once shared across the business slowly becomes concentrated in a handful of people who know how everything fits together.
That may keep the wheels turning for a while. But it is not a position of strength.
Confidence can also start to slip. Numbers are still produced, but with less certainty around assumptions, timing, and how quickly the business can respond when conditions change.
Nothing appears broken.
That is often the problem.
How Good Planning Loses Momentum
It’s easy to assume the issue sits with the system. In most cases, it doesn’t.
Businesses do not stand still.
They grow, restructure, add products, face margin pressure, and need faster decisions.
Yet many planning processes remain built for the organisation that existed three or five years ago.
What once suited the business well can become awkward, slow, and increasingly dependent on manual effort.
So compromises are made.
A spreadsheet is added. A workaround is tolerated. One more manual step is accepted because everyone is busy.
Then another.
Planning rarely fails because of one major decision.
It gets buried under years of reasonable short-term fixes.
We see it in spreadsheet-led processes. We see it in legacy systems. We see it in modern planning platforms that have not kept pace with the business around them.
Why Adoption Begins to Fade
When Adoption Begins to Fade
Even strong planning tools lose value when the surrounding process becomes harder to use.
At first, participation is broad. Teams engage. Managers contribute. Ownership is shared.
Over time, involvement often narrows.
People step back because it feels too slow, too complex, or too dependent on specialist knowledge. Finance becomes the department expected to carry the process while others wait for outputs.
That creates a familiar cycle:
- more requests landing with fewer people
- slower turnaround on changes
- weaker ownership across the business
- growing scepticism about timing or outputs
- planning treated as a compliance task rather than a management tool
At that point, planning is no longer helping run the business.
It is simply being administered.
Why It Matters
Planning is not just a finance timetable.
It shapes how organisations allocate resources, test decisions, respond to change, and move with confidence when conditions shift.
When planning slows down, decision-making often slows with it.
Leaders wait longer for answers. Opportunities pass. Energy is spent reconciling numbers rather than deciding what to do next.
Good finance people end up pushing numbers around when they should be shaping decisions.
That is an expensive misuse of capability.
What Strong Finance Leaders Usually Do Next
Once the issue is recognised, there are usually three paths.
- Sometimes the structure is sound but cluttered and needs simplification. It needs discipline, cleaner ownership, and removal of unnecessary complexity.
- Sometimes the process needs redesign. The business has changed, but planning has not kept up, and
- Sometimes the organisation has simply outgrown the current approach. What got the business here will not take it where it wants to go next.
There is no universal answer.
But there is real value in understanding which problem you actually have.
A Better Place to Start
If planning feels slower than it should, harder than it needs to be, or too dependent on a small number of people, it may be time for a practical review.
- Not every issue requires new software.
- Not every model needs rebuilding.
- But very few problems improve by being ignored.
A structured Planning Capability Health Check can identify where effort is being lost, where confidence is slipping, and what practical steps will restore momentum.
Because better planning is not about producing more reports.
It is about helping leaders make better decisions, with greater confidence.
What Changes When Catholic Diocese Reporting Becomes Easier to Trust, Update, and Explain
For many diocesan education environments, reporting has gradually become more complex over time. Not necessarily because the systems are wrong, but because the demands placed on finance teams, principals, and leadership continue to evolve across increasingly connected schools and operational responsibilities.
As organisations grow, reporting processes often become harder to maintain, harder to standardise, and more difficult for busy leaders to engage with consistently.
That matters because finance teams, principals, and diocesan leadership are often balancing competing priorities across geographically dispersed schools, each with different operational pressures, staffing requirements, and community expectations. When reporting becomes too technical, too manual, or too difficult to trust quickly, decision-making can slow down with it.
The issue is rarely the absence of information. Most dioceses already have reports.
The real question is whether those reports are helping people understand their position clearly enough to act with confidence.
When Reporting Starts Creating Friction Across Schools
Many Catholic dioceses gradually inherit reporting complexity rather than intentionally designing it.
A process that once felt manageable slowly accumulates spreadsheet dependencies, duplicated effort, manual workarounds, and reporting outputs that make sense to finance teams but far less sense to the people leading schools.
At first, those issues appear manageable. Over time, however, the friction builds.
Reports take longer to prepare. Variances become harder to investigate. Different schools begin interpreting information differently. Finance teams spend more time explaining reports than supporting decisions.
Over time, leadership conversations also begin to change. Questions around trust, consistency, staffing projections, enrolment trends, and long-term planning become harder to separate from the reporting process itself. Finance teams start spending more time explaining information, while leadership teams spend more time trying to determine whether the organisation is seeing the full picture clearly enough to act with confidence.
Why Simplicity Matters More Than Many Organisations Expect
One of the more common misconceptions in reporting is the belief that more detail automatically creates better visibility.
In practice, the opposite is often true.
Leadership teams are rarely asking for more complexity. They are asking for clarity. They want reporting that is consistent, understandable, and trusted enough to support conversations, accountability, and decision-making across the organisation.
That becomes particularly important in Catholic diocesan environments, where operational leaders are balancing educational outcomes, staffing pressures, budgets, governance obligations, and community expectations all at the same time.
A principal should not need to decode a five-page financial statement simply to understand whether their school is tracking well.
The organisations that improve planning capability successfully are often the ones that simplify reporting without oversimplifying the organisation itself.
The Shift From Reporting Outputs to Planning Capability
This is where planning platforms like Workday Adaptive Planning begin changing the conversation.
Not because they magically solve every reporting challenge overnight, but because they create a more structured and consistent way for dioceses to manage financial visibility, forecasting, and planning over time.
Instead of reporting existing as a disconnected finance exercise, organisations can begin building a planning capability that supports broader leadership decision-making across schools.
Finance teams spend less time preparing static outputs. Principals gain clearer visibility into their position. Variances become easier to understand. Forecasting becomes more practical. Multi-year planning becomes more achievable.
More importantly, confidence in the information begins to improve.
And once confidence improves, organisations tend to make decisions differently.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Armidale Catholic Schools recently undertook this exact shift as part of its move toward clearer and more consistent reporting using Workday Adaptive Planning.
The focus was not on adding more complexity. It was on improving clarity, consistency, and trust across a geographically dispersed diocesan environment where reporting needed to be practical for both finance teams and school leaders.
The result was stronger visibility across schools, more accessible reporting, and a more consistent foundation for planning and strategic decision-making.
The broader lesson is an important one.
Planning capability is not built by producing more reports. It is built by creating reporting environments people can actually understand, trust, and use.
Read the full Armidale Catholic Schools Case Study
Planning Capability Is Becoming a Leadership Conversation
As Catholic dioceses grow and evolve, reporting complexity rarely stays still.
New schools, staffing pressures, governance expectations, changing enrolment patterns, and operational change all place greater pressure on planning and reporting processes over time.
That is why more leadership teams are beginning to look beyond reporting outputs alone and ask whether their planning capability is genuinely supporting the organisation operationally, financially, and strategically as it evolves.
For many dioceses, the next stage is not replacing everything overnight. It is understanding where friction currently exists, where confidence is weakening, and where planning processes are becoming harder to maintain than they should be.
That is often where meaningful improvement begins.
If your organisation is working to improve reporting clarity, consistency, or trust across schools, the next step is understanding where your planning capability stands.
What Better Planning Looks Like in Practice (And Why It’s Changing)
Planning doesn’t usually fail all at once. It becomes harder to trust, harder to update, and easier to work around.
Over time, decisions start happening outside it.
The real shift isn’t whether organisations plan. It’s whether planning is actually helping them decide.
The Gap Between Planning and Decisions
Most organisations already have budgets, forecasts, and reporting cycles. What’s missing is something harder to define.
Confidence.
Confidence that the numbers reflect reality.
Confidence that the model can adapt when things change.
Confidence that outputs can support decisions, not just explain them afterwards.
When that confidence drops, behaviour changes.
People build siloed models in spreadsheets. Teams run their own numbers. Decisions get made outside the planning process.
That’s not a system failure. It’s a trust problem.
What Starts to Change
When planning begins to support decisions properly, a few things shift. Not dramatically. But noticeably.
Planning becomes something people return to, not work around. Updates happen more frequently, because they’re easier to make.
Finance spends less time defending numbers, and more time helping the business understand them.
And most importantly, decisions start happening closer to the plan itself. Not after the fact.
What This Looks Like in Practice
We see this most clearly in organisations that have moved beyond static planning.
Take organisations like Mission Australia.
Planning is no longer confined to a cycle. It becomes part of how the organisation operates day to day.
Forecasts are updated regularly, not because they have to be, but because they’re useful.
Different parts of the organisation are working from the same view, instead of reconciling competing versions of the truth.
And when something changes, the question isn’t “what happened?”
It’s “what do we do next?”
The Role of Platforms Like Workday Adaptive Planning
Technology doesn’t change planning on its own. But the right platform changes what’s possible.
With platforms like Workday Adaptive Planning, organisations move from maintaining spreadsheets to maintaining a structured model that evolves with the business.
Financial and operational drivers stay connected. Scenarios can be tested quickly. Decisions can be explored before they’re made.
That’s where planning starts to shift. From producing outputs to supporting action.
A Closer Look:
Mission Australia
We’ve worked closely with Mission Australia to support this shift. The full case study outlines how planning is used across the organisation to improve visibility, alignment, and decision-making. Read the Mission Australia case study
Why This Matters Now
This is why conversations at events like Workday Elevate Sydney 2026 are starting to look different.
Less focus on reporting improvements. More focus on how planning actually supports decisions.
The introduction of a dedicated Adaptive Planning stream reflects a broader shift.
Planning is no longer sitting behind the business. It’s starting to sit inside how it operates.
Why This Shift Is Accelerating
Three pressures are pushing planning in this direction. Volatility means plans don’t last as long.
Complexity means more inputs, dependencies, and stakeholders. And expectations have changed.
Leadership wants to understand what’s happening now, and what it means next.
Planning has to meet that.
Where This Leaves Most Organisations
Most organisations are somewhere in the middle.
Planning works. But it’s harder than it should be.
It produces outputs. But not always decisions.
Where GK Horizons Fits
At GK Horizons, we focus on how planning actually works in practice.
Not just implementing platforms.
Designing planning capability that remains trusted, adaptable, and decision-ready.
What This Means for You
If planning is becoming harder to trust, harder to update, or harder to explain, it’s usually not a people problem.
It’s how planning is set up.
Organisations that are getting ahead, are not just improving reporting, they’re improving how planning supports decisions.
When Planning Starts Supporting Better Decisions
Catholic Diocese Planning is Constantly Under Pressure
Catholic Education Offices in Australia manage budgeting, forecasting, reporting and long-term planning across multiple schools. Catholic school systems operate in one of the most accountable funding environments in Australia. Financial data, student census submissions, attendance reporting, and annual disclosures all feed into how funding is allocated, how performance is assessed, and how schools are represented publicly.
On paper, these are reporting requirements. In practice, they place a different kind of pressure on planning.
Reporting is not a once-a-year exercise
Across a Diocese Education Office, reporting takes many forms. There is the annual Financial Questionnaire, submitted via SchoolsHUB. The Non-Government Schools Census each August. Student background data, attendance submissions, annual school reports, and ACNC obligations. Each has its own format, timing, and level of scrutiny. But they all draw from the same place:
- The same financial structures.
- The same enrolment assumptions.
- The same workforce and operational drivers.
What often looks like separate reporting activities is, in reality, a continuous cycle of validation.
Planning feeds reporting. Reporting reinforces planning. And over time, the expectation becomes clear. The numbers need to hold together, no matter how they are viewed.
Where planning starts to feel the pressure
Most Diocese Education finance teams are not starting from scratch. Planning exists. Budgets are built. Forecasts are updated. Schools contribute. Consolidation happens.
But as the number of schools grows, and as reporting requirements increase, the pressure shifts. Not in the effort required, but in what the planning process needs to support:
- Multiple schools contributing in different ways
- Central teams consolidating and reviewing
- Tight timelines around submissions
- Audit expectations on financial outputs
- Leadership questions that require clear answers
The challenge is not producing numbers. It is producing numbers that can be relied on, updated quickly, and explained consistently across the system.
Planning also needs to support growth and competitiveness
Alongside reporting requirements, Diocese teams are managing a different kind of pressure. Schools are not operating in isolation.
They are competing for enrolments, investing in facilities, expanding programs, and responding to shifting expectations from families. This brings a new layer into planning:
- Capital investment decisions across schools
- Timing of new buildings and upgrades
- Balancing funding, fees, and affordability
- Prioritising programs that support enrolment growth
These are not reporting exercises. They are forward-looking decisions that shape the future of each school and the Diocese as a whole. And they rely on the same planning foundations. Planning needs to do more than support reporting. It needs to support decisions about where to invest, where to grow, and how to remain competitive.
When planning is difficult to update or explain, these decisions become harder to test, compare, and stand behind. When planning becomes easier to trust, update, and explain, those same decisions become clearer, more structured, and easier to communicate.
Why spreadsheets begin to strain at Diocese scale
Spreadsheets have long been part of how Diocese planning is done. For many teams, they still play an important role. At a smaller scale, they work well.
But at Diocese level, the complexity changes:
- Versions multiply across schools
- Assumptions are embedded in different places
- Consolidation becomes a process in itself
- Traceability depends on individuals
- Scenario changes require manual rework
None of these are new issues. They are simply the result of planning operating across a broader system, with more contributors, more scrutiny, and more frequent updates. Over time, the effort required to maintain alignment starts to outweigh the flexibility spreadsheets provide.
What Actually
Changes
When planning becomes easier to trust, update, and explain, the shift is noticeable. Not just in the system being used, but in how planning operates day to day.
Easier to Trust
Easier to Update
- A consistent structure across schools
- Clear drivers behind income and expenditure
- A single view of the numbers, rather than multiple versions
The focus moves from checking formulas to understanding outcomes.
- Changes to enrolments, funding, or staffing flow through the model
- Schools can update inputs without breaking the overall structure
- Forecasts become something that can be adjusted, not rebuilt
Planning becomes more responsive, rather than something revisited only at set points in time.
Easier to Explain
Clearer Investment Decisions across Schools
- Financial outputs align with reporting requirements
- Assumptions can be traced and understood
- Variances can be explored without reworking the model
Finance teams spend less time preparing explanations, and more time contributing to decisions.
- Compare capital investment options across multiple schools
- Model the impact of enrolment growth or decline
- Align financial planning with long-term Diocese priorities
Planning becomes a tool for evaluating trade-offs, not just reporting outcomes.
Why this Matters for Diocese Education Leadership
At Diocese level, planning is not just an internal process. It underpins:
- Funding submissions and accountability
- Consistency across schools
- Confidence in financial reporting
- Investment decisions across the system
- The ability to respond to changing enrolments and funding models
When planning holds together under these conditions, it becomes more than a finance activity. It becomes a foundation for decision-making across the system.
Where Reporting and Planning Intersect
| Reporting Requirement | What It Relies On in Planning |
| Financial Questionnaire (FQ) | Accurate Income and Expenditure Modelling |
| Non-Government Schools Census | Enrolment Assumptions and Projections |
| Student Background Data | Consistent Student Data Structures |
| Attendance Reporting | Operational and Staffing Drivers |
| ACNC Reporting | Auditable Financial Structures |
These are not separate processes.
They are different expressions of the same underlying planning capability.
A More Practical Way Forward
For many Diocese teams, the question is not whether planning is happening. It is whether planning is keeping up with what is being asked of it. That is where the conversation usually shifts.
Not to replacing everything that exists today. But to understanding what needs to change so that planning becomes easier to rely on, easier to maintain, and easier to stand behind.
If you are reviewing how planning supports reporting and decision-making across your Diocese, we are happy to walk through what this looks like in practice.
Where to from here?
Workday Adaptive Planning Tips: Using Hubs for Planning Workflows
GK Horizons Implementation Insights
In this article, we explain what Workday Adaptive Planning Hubs are, when to use them, and how to configure them. Workday Adaptive Planning includes many features that help finance teams structure budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes. One common challenge organisations face, however, is guiding business users through planning workflows in a clear and structured way.
Finance teams often rely on email instructions, external documents, or training materials to explain how planners should complete budgeting or forecasting activities.
Workday’s new Adaptive Planning Hubs feature helps address this by allowing finance teams to organise planning sheets, reports, dashboards, and instructions into a single workspace inside the platform.
This makes it easier for users to understand where to start, what tasks to complete, and how their inputs affect the overall plan.
Key Takeaways
Workday Adaptive Planning Hubs provide a central workspace that brings together planning sheets, reports, dashboards, and instructions.
- They help finance teams guide planners through structured workflows such as budgeting and forecasting cycles.
- Hubs reduce reliance on external documentation by keeping planning guidance within the platform.
- By organising planning activities in a clear structure, Hubs can improve usability and adoption across the organisation.
What Are Workday Adaptive Planning Hubs?
A Hub acts as a central entry point into a planning workflow. Instead of directing users to multiple areas of the system, finance teams can organise planning activities in one place, including:
- planning sheets
- reports
- dashboards
- explanatory text or instructions
This helps planners understand what they need to complete and where to start without needing to search across the system.
When Should You Use Hubs?
Hubs are particularly useful when planning processes involve multiple steps or contributors. Common examples include:
- annual budget preparation
- monthly or quarterly forecast updates
- departmental planning processes
- finance-led planning cycles
Rather than relying on external instructions or email guidance, finance teams can organise the entire workflow within the planning environment.
Example Hub Structure for Budgeting
Overview
Planning instructions
Budget assumptions
Planning timeline
Revenue Planning
Revenue input sheets
Sales planning reports
Workforce Planning
Headcount planning sheets
Salary modelling sheets
Summary and Review
Budget dashboards
Variance reports
This structure allows planners to move through the process in a logical sequence while keeping results visible throughout the planning cycle.
How to Create a Hub in
Workday Adaptive Planning
Below is a simple walkthrough showing how to create and configure a Hub.
Step 1:
Enable Hub Permissions
Step 2:
Open Hubs from the Navigation Menu
Step 3:
Create a New Hub
Users must have Access/Edit Hubs enabled within their permission sets. They will also need permission to access dashboards.
Once permissions are enabled, Hubs will appear in the main navigation menu within Workday Adaptive Planning.
Select Create Hub to begin building your Hub structure. The experience is similar to creating a dashboard.
Step 4:
Add Instructions or Context
Step 5:
Add Sheets, Reports & Dashboards
Step 6:
Organise Content into Groups
You can add text sections to explain the purpose of the Hub or guide users through the planning process. This can include planning instructions, assumptions, or context for the planning cycle.
Using the “+” icon next to the Hub name, you can add:
- planning sheets
- reports
- dashboards
This allows you to bring all relevant planning components into a single workspace.
Sheets, reports, and dashboards can be organised into logical groups. For example:
- Assumptions
- Revenue Planning
- Workforce Planning
- Summary Reports
The same sheet can appear in multiple groups if required.
Step 7:
Work with Reports
Step 8:
Add Dashboard Pages
Reports added to a Hub allow users to:
- filter results
- download data
- review report details
Users can also navigate to the underlying report for editing if required.
Individual dashboard pages can also be embedded within the Hub. This allows planners to immediately review results after entering data.
GK Horizons Implementation Insight
Many organisations already use dashboards to guide planning workflows by combining sheets, reports, and summary dashboards.
Workday Adaptive Planning Hubs simplify this approach by allowing finance teams to centralise instructions, planning inputs, and results within a single workspace.
In practice, this can make planning processes easier for business users to follow while reducing reliance on external documentation or training guides. It also helps finance teams maintain clearer control over planning workflows.
Join the Finance Planning Community
If you’re working with Workday Adaptive Planning and want to see how other organisations structure their planning processes, join the GK Horizons Workday Adaptive Planning User Group.
It’s where finance teams and Adaptive Planning users share practical approaches, ideas, and questions from real planning environments.
How CFOs and FP&A Leaders Keep Decisions Aligned as Business Conditions Change
How rolling forecasts and intelligent planning platforms support decision alignment for CFOs and FP&A leaders
This article explores how CFOs and FP&A leaders use rolling forecasts and intelligent planning to maintain decision alignment, risk visibility, and executive confidence as business conditions change.
Forecasts don’t fail because finance teams get them wrong, they become outdated as reality changes. As assumptions shift and new information emerges, even well-built planning models can lose alignment with what’s happening across the business. This article explores how CFOs and FP&A leaders are using rolling forecasts and intelligent planning to keep leadership decisions grounded in current conditions, not last quarter’s assumptions, and why this shift is becoming a defining capability for modern finance teams.
The Problem Isn’t Just Accuracy – It’s Alignment Over Time
Most senior finance leaders know this experience well. A forecast is built with care. The assumptions make sense. The drivers reflect the business at that moment in time. But weeks or months later, conditions change:
- Sales mix shifts
- Input costs move
- Staffing levels adjust
- Supply constraints appear or disappear
- Strategic priorities evolve
None of this means the original forecast was “wrong.” It means reality changes with time.
Over time, forecasts naturally drift away from the operating environment they were built to reflect. And when that happens, strategic leadership conversations start to fragment across instinct, spreadsheets, and offline scenarios than on a shared, trusted view of performance.
This is the moment where planning stops being strategic and just becomes a stagnant reporting exercise.
Why Rolling Forecasts Are Becoming a Leadership Tool, Not Just a Planning Technique
Rolling forecasts are often described as a more current view over an annual budget created at a single point in time. In practice, their real value is strategic, not mechanical.
For CFOs and Heads of FP&A, rolling forecasts create a way to:
- Continuously refresh assumptions as new information emerges
- Keep financial and operational leaders aligned around the same drivers
- Test executive decisions against current conditions, not historical snapshots
- Surface emerging risks before they show up in month-end results
Instead of asking, “How close were we to the plan?” Leadership teams start to ask, “What decisions are now at risk – and where should we intervene first?”
That shift is what turns planning into a decision platform, rather than a budgeting cycle.
See this approach in practice
Workday and BaptistCare conducted a live session on how finance leaders are using rolling forecasts and intelligent planning to keep executive decisions aligned as conditions change.
Where Intelligent Planning Changes the Game
The next evolution goes beyond simply updating forecasts more often.
Modern planning environments are introducing AI-powered planning agents that monitor key drivers, patterns, and variances across the model, helping finance teams see signals that might otherwise stay buried in reports and spreadsheets.
This doesn’t replace FP&A judgment. It amplifies it. Used well, intelligent planning helps senior finance leaders:
- Identify emerging risks earlier in the cycle
- Focus executive attention on the drivers that actually matter
- Run scenarios faster without rebuilding models or breaking governance
- Maintain a leadership-ready view of performance as conditions evolve
The result isn’t just speed. It’s confidence at the executive table. This creates not just faster insight, but a stronger governance layer for executive and board-level decisions.
From Reporting Performance to Leading Outcomes
In many organisations, FP&A is still measured by how well it explains what already happened.
But the role is shifting. Leading finance teams are increasingly being asked to:
- Shape strategic conversations, not just support them
- Connect financial and operational realities into a single narrative
- Help executives see the trade-offs behind growth, cost, risk, and capacity decisions
That’s where rolling forecasts and intelligent planning become powerful, not as tools, but as leadership infrastructure.
They create a shared, evolving view of the business that finance, operations, and commercial teams can use to move in the same direction, at the same time.
Live Session: See How Leading Teams Are Putting This Into Practice
To explore how this looks in the real world, Workday and GK Horizons are hosting a live session with BaptistCare that goes beyond theory and into practical application.
Next Gen FP&A: Eliminating Risk and Accelerating Insight with Intelligent Rolling Forecasts
Date: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Time: 12:30pm – 1:15pm AEDT / 2:30pm – 3:15pm NZDT
Format: Virtual
What the session will cover:
- How rolling forecasts help leadership teams stay aligned as conditions change
- Where intelligent planning agents add value in real FP&A workflows
- How to connect finance, sales, and operations around shared assumptions
- What “decision-ready” planning looks like at the executive level
Speakers:
Perry Han – Planning Specialist, Workday
Kelvin Yap – Solutions Consultant, Workday
Paul Baker – FP&A Manager, BaptistCare
Registrations for this event are now closed. Please contact GKH for the Recording.
GK Horizons Perspective:
See how this leadership approach is being applied in real FP&A environments through a live session with Workday and BaptistCare.
A Final Thought for Senior Finance Leaders
Strong finance teams don’t just produce forecasts, they help the business stay aligned to reality as it changes.
At GK Horizons, we see planning as a strategic leadership capability, not just a system or a reporting cycle. The real opportunity isn’t automation or AI for its own sake, it’s creating an environment where finance, operations, and executives can make decisions with clarity, context, and confidence as conditions change.
That’s the lens we bring to every planning environment we design and every conversation we have with senior finance leaders. Whether it starts with a live session, a planning health check, or a longer-term transformation journey.
Not ready for a live session? Explore how aligned your current planning environment is with the decisions your leadership team needs to make or start with a Planning Health Check.
OfficeConnect Update: What’s Changed, What to Expect, and How to Avoid Disruption
This OfficeConnect update affects organisations using Workday Adaptive Planning with OfficeConnect as their primary Excel reporting tool.
Over the past few weeks, some teams have encountered update prompts or error messages when opening OfficeConnect in Excel. If you’ve seen this, you’re not alone, and the good news is that the fix is straightforward once you know what’s happening. This article explains what’s changed, why you may be seeing issues now, and the recommended way to get back up and running with minimal disruption.
What’s Changed?
As part of the 2025R2 release, a new version of OfficeConnect was made available for Workday Adaptive Planning users in September 2025.
At the time, a 90-day grace period was provided, allowing teams to continue using the previous version while planning the update. That grace period ended in December 2025, and access is now restricted unless the latest version is installed
In practical terms, this means:
- OfficeConnect must now be updated to continue working
- Older versions are no longer supported
- Some update attempts may fail if legacy files are still present
Common Issues Teams Are Experiencing
We’re seeing a consistent pattern across organisations, including:
- Update prompts that loop or fail
- Error messages during login
- OfficeConnect no longer launching correctly in Excel
These issues are not related to your planning model or data, they’re almost always caused by remnants of the older OfficeConnect version.
The Recommended Fix (Clean Reinstall)
The most reliable way to resolve these issues is a clean uninstall and reinstall. This ensures you’re running the correct, supported version without conflicts.
Recommended steps:
- Uninstall OfficeConnect from your machine
- Download the latest Excel Interface for Planning installer
- Reinstall using the appropriate option for your environment
- Reopen Excel and log in as normal
Depending on your setup, you may use:
- WorkdayAdaptivePlanningExcelSetup.exe (per-user install)
- WorkdayAdaptivePlanningExcelMachineSetup.exe (per-machine install)
If you’re unsure which option is right for you, your IT team or implementation partner can advise.
A Broader Observation Worth Sharing
Updates like this are a useful reminder that even well-implemented planning environments benefit from occasional check-ins.
Over time:
- Vendors release new versions
- Teams change
- Usage patterns evolve
- Workarounds quietly appear
None of this means your solution isn’t working, it simply means it may be due for a light review to ensure it still reflects how your organisation operates today.
If you need help resolving the OfficeConnect update or would like to talk through your current setup, feel free to get in touch.
Want to view the Workday Adaptive Planning NR2 2025 Webinar Recording?
Join our Workday Adaptive Planning Linkedin User Group. You’ll access the recording, be able to network with the group members, and be in the know for the latest information.
Want to know more?
Explore how these features, and more, can improve your planning process; visit our Workday Adaptive Planning page or contact us for a tailored demo.
2025R2 Workday Adaptive Planning Release - Five Biggest Updates
GK Horizons has delivered over 150 Workday Adaptive Planning implementations across ANZ. Here’s our take on what matters most in this release.
Workday Adaptive Planning typically releases two major updates each year, one in March and one in September. These releases aim to keep Workday Adaptive Planning up-to-date with the latest technology, features and innovation. The latest Workday Adaptive Planning 2025R2 September release delivered a range of new features aimed at making your Workday Adaptive Planning experience more intuitive. In this article, we cover what we feel are the Five Biggest Updates from this release.
ONE – Ask Workday
One of the standout features that has been rolled-out as part of the 2025 R2 Workday Adaptive Planning release is the new ‘Ask Workday’ assistant. This is an AI-powered chat bot that’s embedded within Workday Adaptive Planning that allows you to ask it questions about Workday Adaptive Planning and your data.
Similar to Co-Pilot or Chat-GPT, you can ask it questions in natural language, and it provides answers based on the context of where you are in the system, such as on reports, or dashboards or sheets.
Unlike Chat-GPT or other AI-assistance, the Ask Workday bot is trained specifically on documentation from Workday Adaptive Planning and the Workday Adaptive Planning community, so you can ask it specific questions about Workday Adaptive Planning features that other AI tools might not be aware of.
How to Enable the Ask Workday Assistant:
- Navigate to Administration -> Permission Sets.
- Select permission set you want to enable it for.
- Tick ‘Access Ask Workday for Workday Adaptive Planning.
- Save permission set.
- Refresh Workday Adaptive Planning instance.
How to Use Ask Workday:
Ask Workday can be toggled anywhere in Workday Adaptive Planning by clicking on the ‘Ask Workday’ button at the top right hand side of the page. In its current rolled-out form, the primary use case of the assistant is asking questions about Workday Adaptive Planning and retrieving information from Workday Community. For example:
- How can I add a note to a report?
- How can I update a permission set?
- Where do I go to create a new plan version?
While the current version focuses on answering product and help-related queries, early adopters have previewed enhanced functionality where Ask Workday can analyse and interact with your organisation’s own Workday Adaptive Planning data. While this doesn’t appear to be widely available in most tenants yet, we hope this more powerful version of Ask Workday will be rolled-out soon.
TWO – Translated Currency for Actuals Load
Previously, all data in Workday Adaptive Planning had to be loaded in the base-level local currency, with system-maintained exchange rates translating values up the level hierarchy.
With the new Translated Currency for Actuals Load feature, users can now import translated currency values directly at the base level, bypassing the Workday Adaptive Planning native translation during reporting.
This is particularly useful for organisations consolidating financials across regions, as it allows greater alignment between Workday Adaptive Planning and external systems such as ERP or data warehouses.
How to Enable Translated Currencies:
- Navigate to Modelling -> Versions.
- Select the relevant base actuals version.
- Select ‘Enable Translated Currencies’.
- Select one currency to load actual translated values into.
- Save version.
How to Load Translated Currencies:
When you enable translated currencies, a new ‘Translated Currency’ sub-actuals version will be available to import into. Translated currencies can be loaded into this version via either Import or Data Integration to be referenced on the reporting layer. You can follow the normal import or integration process for this.
Important:
- Translated currency for actuals load is used purely for reporting purposes, which applies to Dashboards, Web Reports and OfficeConnect Reports. Base local currency will still need to be loaded from a modelling and plan perspective.
- You can only select one currency to load translated currencies into per actuals version. This would normally be the Top Corporate Currency.
- To enable translated currencies, all references to actuals versions need to be removed from allocation and elimination rules.
THREE – Predictive Forecaster Updates
The predictive forecaster is a relatively new feature that was introduced in a release last year. Since its launch, Workday Adaptive Planning has been working to make improvements to it and introduce new features. With the 2025 R2 release, Workday’s introduced three key improvements to the Predictive forecaster.
1. ARIMA Algorithm:
The predictive forecaster now introduces a new machine learning algorithm called ARIMA. This is an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average time series algorithm best suited for stationary data with little seasonality. The algorithm consists of three core components.
- Autoregression: looks at the relationship between the current value and its past values. For example, if you’re trying to predict sales for next month, it will check how sales in the previous months affect the next month’s sales. It uses a number of past time points to make this prediction.
- Integration: helps remove trends by differencing data. For example, if sales are steadily increasing, differencing removes the growth trend to just leave fluctuations. This makes the data more stationary which makes it easier to predict.
- Moving Average: focuses on the relationship between the current value and past forecast errors (difference between actuals and predicted values). It tries to correct any mistakes made in earlier predictions by smoothing out noise in the data.
The ARIMA algorithm can be selected in the Algorithm section under ‘Advanced Settings’ when creating a new predictive forecast.
2. Feature Impact Chart:
When you create a predictive forecast, if you tick the ‘Forecast Explanation’ option you receive further explanations of how the predictive values were derived. A new chart that is created as part of this forecast explanation is the ‘Feature Impact’ chart. For forecasts using the ARIMA algorithm, this feature impact chart will show how each of the autoregressive, integrated and moving average components of the algorithm are influencing the output.
To access this chart:
- Generate a new predictive forecast, ensuring ‘forecast explanation’ is ticked.
- Once the new forecast is run, click ‘View History’.
- Select ‘Confidence metrics’.
- Select a base intersection of data.
- View the feature impact chart (if the algorithm used is applicable to that intersection).
3. Auto-Fill Forecasts:
When you previously created a predictive forecast, all forecast fields would need to be manually populated. Now Adaptive will automatically populate some fields with default selections, such as:
- Forecast Version, Actuals Version, Plan Version, Accuracy Metric, and Seasonality Detection.
- Once you select a Sheet, fields like Periods, Levels, and Dimensions are also auto-filled.
This enhancement can help planners build predictive forecasts faster with fewer manual inputs.
FOUR – Collaboration Enhancements
With the 2025 R2 release, Workday Adaptive Planning has introduced new ways to collaborate with users. The two major collaboration features are a new integration with external communication app Slack, as well as the ability to tag users in comments on dashboard widgets.
Slack Integration:
Workday Adaptive Planning now supports native integration with Slack to enable users to access their Workday Adaptive Planning notifications directly in the Slack application. To enable this integration:
- Navigate to Administration -> Notification Preferences.
- Select ‘Notification Preferences’ -> Connect Slack.
- Follow the prompts to log-in to your organisation’s slack domain and allow permissions on the Slack application.
- Once integrated, user’s can manage their own Slack notifications by navigating to ‘Notifications’ -> ‘Manage Notifications’ and connecting their Slack to their Workday Adaptive Planning instance.
Workday Adaptive Planning notifications will now appear in a dedicated ‘Workday Adaptive Planning’ application within Slack. Any tagged Workday Adaptive Planning comments will include a link that will take you directly to the comment within Workday Adaptive Planning.
It’s important to note that Slack integration only supports:
- Workday Adaptive Planning standalone instances not connected to Workday tenants.
- Workday Adaptive Planning Multi-Instances. You must configure each instance individually for notifications.
Tag Users in Workday Adaptive Planning Dashboards:
Users can now tag Workday Adaptive Planning users directly on widgets within a dashboard. This enables real-time, in-context collaboration without switching between tools.
A new ‘Create Thread’ option appears on dashboard widgets, where you can @tag Workday Adaptive Planning users and create a thread of comments. When a user is tagged in a comment, a notification is sent to that user (via email or Slack if enabled) with a direct link to navigate directly from the notification to the relevant comment in Workday Adaptive Planning.
FIVE – Linked Account Overrides
Feature Release Date Update (AEDT):
- Version specific (through your named support contact) available from 28th October 2025
- Default for All instances targeting re-enablement by the End of December 2025.
Linked accounts for overrides is a much-anticipated feature which was announced back in 2023 and was initially released to all tenants in this 2025 R2 update.
Currently linked accounts can be used to link data from underlying planning models into your P&L or Balance Sheet. However, a key drawback of linked accounts is that it locks the data and does not allow users to manually override the data on the P&L or Balance Sheet. With this Link Overrides feature, you will have the ability to override the links for specific versions, allowing you to manually input or import data against these accounts.
Unfortunately, Workday Adaptive Planning has since rolled-back this feature with intention to re-release it at a future service update. Additional information about this feature will be made available once the feature is re-released.
Conclusion
The 2025R2 release is another strong step forward from Workday Adaptive Planning. Features like Ask Workday and Collaboration enhancements make Workday Adaptive Planning feel more modern and connected, while improvements to Predictive Forecasting and currency flexibility shows how Workday Adaptive Planning continues to focus on usability and intelligence.
While we’ll unfortunately have to wait a little longer for Linked Account Overrides, this release gives us plenty to be excited about – especially the growing role of AI and machine learning in planning.
Want to view the Workday Adaptive Planning NR2 2025 Webinar Recording?
Scan the QR code to join our Workday Adaptive Planning Linkedin User Group. You’ll access the recording, be able to network with the group members, and be in the know for the latest information. Alternatively please use this link.
Want to know more?
Explore how these features, and more, can improve your planning process; visit our Workday Adaptive Planning page or contact us for a tailored demo.
Workday Adaptive Planning FP&A Leaders Breakfast - Sydney & Melbourne: AI-Driven Planning for Finance Leaders
In today’s unpredictable markets, finance leaders need more than spreadsheets to stay ahead. GK Horizons helps organisations make Planning-Led Decisions by combining proven planning technology with hands-on expertise. This August, Workday Adaptive Planning is hosting two exclusive FP&A Leaders Breakfasts in Sydney and Melbourne, bringing together finance leaders to explore the transformative impact of AI in FP&A. Don’t miss the opportunity to attend the Workday Adaptive Planning FP&A Leaders Breakfast.
As a trusted Workday Adaptive Planning partner, since 2012, GK Horizons will be attending and engaging with FP&A leaders at both events. We highly recommend these sessions for anyone looking to see what’s possible with AI-powered financial planning and analysis.
Why These FP&A Leaders Breakfasts Matter for Finance Leaders
The demand for faster analysis, more accurate forecasts, and greater agility has never been higher. AI in financial planning and analysis is no longer optional, it’s becoming essential. AI is automating repetitive processes, improving forecasting precision, and empowering finance teams to focus on strategic decision-making.
Join us for the Workday Adaptive Planning FP&A Leaders Breakfast to gain insights from industry experts. At these breakfasts, you’ll see how organisations are integrating AI into planning, and how modern financial planning tools like Workday Adaptive Planning can help you adapt to change with confidence.
At a Glance
| City | Date | Time | Venue | Key Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney - FP&A Leaders Breakfast | Tue 26 Aug 2025 | 8:45am – 10:30am AEST | Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, Hyde Park Room, Level 2 | AI Integration Playbook, Workday Adaptive Planning Demo, Customer Fireside Chat |
| Melbourne - FP&A Leaders Breakfast | Thu 28 Aug 2025 | 8:45am – 10:30am AEST | W Melbourne, 408 Flinders Lane | AI Integration Playbook, Workday Adaptive Planning Demo, Customer Fireside Chat |
What You’ll Learn at the FP&A Leaders Breakfasts
Over coffee and a lively breakfast, you’ll:
- AI Integration Playbook – Practical steps for embedding AI into your planning processes.
- Live Workday Adaptive Planning Demo – See how AI-powered FP&A transforms forecasting, reporting, and agility.
- Customer Fireside Chat – Real-world experiences from finance leaders already leveraging AI.
- AI Forecasting for Finance Teams – Explore how predictive insights can help you plan with greater accuracy.
- Networking with FP&A Peers – Exchange ideas with leaders facing similar challenges.
GK Horizons: Your Partner for AI-Ready Planning
As one of Australia’s most experienced multi-vendor EPM consulting firms and a trusted Workday Adaptive Planning partner (since 2012), we help finance teams implement scalable, AI-powered FP&A solutions that deliver faster time to value, higher adoption rates, and the flexibility to grow with your organisation.
Whether you join us in Sydney or Melbourne, these events are your opportunity to see what’s possible with Workday Adaptive Planning, and to connect with experts who can help you make it a reality.
Event Registration
- Sydney Workday Adaptive Planning Sydney event – 26 August 2025 – Registration is now closed
- Melbourne Workday Adaptive Planning Melbourne event – 28 August 2025 – Registration is now closed
Seats are limited, so secure your place today and take the next step toward AI-powered financial planning and analysis.
Jedox Roadshow 2025: Powering Planning-Led Decisions Across Australia
Elevate your Planning with the Jedox Roadshow Events
Jedox is hitting the road across Australia this August, and GK Horizons is proud to be your local promotion partner for this exciting series of in-person events designed for finance and planning professionals. If you’re in FP&A, operations, or IT and looking to elevate your planning, forecasting, and reporting capabilities, this is your chance to see what’s next in Integrated Business Planning and Autonomous Finance.
Join us for the Jedox Roadshow 2025: Powering Planning-Led Decisions Across Australia and discover how to enhance your planning strategies.
Event Schedule
| City | Date | Time | Location | Key Speakers | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | 19 August 2025 | 1.30 pm - 4.35 pm AEST Then Drinks & Canapes | W Hotel Melbourne, 408 Flinders Ln, Melbourne Victoria 3000 | Tim Bensley, Group Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary, Carpet Call Dr. Christoph Streng, CCO Jedox Roderick Ongpaov, Regional Director A/NZ Jedox Adam Elvin, Senior Consultant, Solution Advisory Jedox | Attend Elevate Melbourne |
| Sydney | 21 August 2025 | 1.30 pm - 4.35 pm AEST Then Drinks & Canapes | The Hilton Hotel, 488 George Street, Sydney New South Wales 2000 | James Mackay, Finance Business Partner from City of Sydney Dr. Christoph Streng, CCO Jedox Roderick Ongpaov, Regional Director A/NZ Jedox Adam Elvin, Senior Consultant, Solution Advisory Jedox | Attend Elevate Sydney |
| Brisbane | 28 August 2025 | 8.30 am - 11.30 am AEST Then Morning Tea | W Hotel Brisbane, 81 North Quay, Brisbane Queensland 4000 | Client Speaker TBA Roderick Ongpaov, Regional Director A/NZ Jedox Adam Elvin, Senior Consultant, Solution Advisory Jedox | Attend Elevate Brisbane |
What to Expect
- Jedox’s product roadmap and the future of Integrated Planning
- Real-world use cases from leading organisations
- Demos of Hyperautomation and AI in action
- Q&A with experts and networking with peers
Who Should Attend
- CFOs, COOs, Heads of FP&A
- Finance Business Partners and BI Managers
- Operations and Planning professionals
- Anyone evaluating planning and reporting technology
Why GK Horizons?
We’re Australia’s multivendor EPM experts and we’re here to help you navigate your planning journey with solutions like Jedox.
Contact GK Horizons to learn more.
