Populating Worksheets with Data

Every model needs to be kept up to date with Actuals, and every Budget or Forecast is only as useful as the data it's built on. In Excel, keeping that data current is a manual job. In MODLR, it's a scheduled Process.

Populating data in Excel

To bring Actuals into an Excel model, someone typically has to export the relevant journal or summary data from the ERP or other source system, transform it into the layout the workbook expects (remapping accounts, pivoting, reformatting dates, etc.), and then paste or import it into the worksheet. This has to be repeated at every Month End for Actuals, and again whenever a Budget or Forecast that references that data needs refreshing.

Populating data in MODLR

MODLR integrates directly with source systems such as ERPs, Xero and SalesForce, using a Process to pull the data in through the platform's Datasource layer.

That Process can then be set up on a Schedule to run automatically, at whatever interval suits the business - every minute or hour, every 12 hours, nightly, weekly or monthly. Once it's scheduled, Actuals continue to flow into the model on their own, with no one needing to touch an export, a transformation step, or Excel at all.

Illustrating the improvement

Because the integration and Schedule sit behind the model rather than behind a spreadsheet, populating a model in MODLR removes:

• Manually exporting data from the ERP or other source systems.
• Transforming or reshaping that data to fit a worksheet's layout.
• Repeating the export/transform cycle every Month End for Actuals, or every time a Budget or Forecast needs refreshing.

As covered in Aggregation / SUM, MODLR's Excel Add-in reads live from the model. So the moment a scheduled Process brings new data in, it's already reflected in every Quarter, Half and Full Year total - in the MODLR web interface and in Excel - without anyone needing to re-export or re-import anything.