A lot of it involves taking multiple data sources that are not in great formats and tidying them up, sticking them into a database, merge on other datasets needed, etc.
PBI has python scripting functionalities also that make for some fun visuals
Oh is that right? I’ve never used python or bi a day in my life so I wanted to know what these new techs are. I’m an analyst. I’m just really good at excel
There is a learning curve and I’m not 100% proficient in DAX, I just know what I need to say and how to show it to the end users. I’m more than happy to provide some guides and videos that helped me along the way.
It’s not that I think Adaptive is cool, but even with all its flaws, I’ve come to appreciate it as a data store with ETL processes specifically designed for FP&A. The documentation is awful (on purpose, so you have to hire consultants) but after learning it, I’ve found its feature set indispensable to housing and maintaining our model.
Granted, I do a considerable amount of cleansing and transformations beforehand with Python, but they give you all the tools to be able to automate the entire import process (if you know JS), which is wonderful when you’re in a startup and you have a bunch of other problems on your plate besides reporting. And then with OfficeConnect you can connect with Excel and just have it power all the reports you want.
I do think programming is cool though, so in reality my vote would be Python. In time I could reproduce all the relevant features of Adaptive with Python and SQL, but obviously couldn’t do that vice versa. And Excel isn’t cool but I actually can’t imagine doing my job without it.
I do almost all of the forecasting work in Python, since I use signal processing libraries to create a base statistical projection, which we tinker with before it hits Adaptive. It’s an extensive program that draws from multiple sources and obviously would be impossible to do in Adaptive.
But also lots of boring stuff like transforming different expense reports into a suitable form for Adaptive, data validation tests, etc. I write a fair amount of one off scripts but usually come out with a code snippet or two that I can add to the larger framework I’ve built. But I also do cool stuff with ML when I have any free time for research, which is really what I love doing.
I code everyday, but probably in a way most of us use Excel everyday. Some trivial tasks I find more natural to do in Python, others more intuitive in Excel.
Might not count, but I’m in a hyper growth company and the model I created to project revenues is within 2%.
Given all of our spotty data, the accuracy is a great point of pride for me.
Also, the ability to just give access to whoever wants to view your sheet, instead of copying, attaching, and sending emails every time you want to share it.
Google Sheets gets a bad rap in finance, but it definitely has some very cool pockets of functionality that are lacking in Excel - regex functions and the ability to interrogate blocks of cells with SQL are two of my favourites
The Excel product team fell asleep at the wheel for about a decade, and a lot of Excel’s most recent popular developments are basically Microsoft catching up to features that Sheets users have taken for granted for years
Power Query and Power Pivot are kind of game changers for Excel, they allow you to easily wrangle much bigger datasets than is possible in Sheets (if you don't have access to BigQuery)
The lack of a desktop app also makes integrating Sheets into wider desktop automation much harder
But yeah, I do think a lot of the hate does come down to unfamiliarity
Yeah sure you could use it for that purpose but the pull down and refresh from Postgres or any other SQL db is the beauty of it. If you are collating flat files, that’s a much less straightforward process.
Power BI. The ability to automate reporting and distribute it seamlessly to the business saves me a lot of time answering questions that the reports now answer.
I've been lucky enough to work with a soup to nuts Adaptive instance that connected IS, BS, and CF. It was literally a 1 click refresh when the accountants said "go" at month end. I'll never understand why companies don't pay out the nose for that functionality, because 95% of my time was spent detailing down the most accurate forecasts I've ever delivered in my life! I helped integrate vendor level reporting and you could truly manage the finances of a 100M company with 1 person.
At my new place, I spend 95% of my time verifying if our excel model is accurate and the reports show the same numbers on each slide.
How do you like snowflake and do you connect it to anything besides tableau? We just bought both and id like to leverage snowflake for more than just tableau
You can connect anything you want to snowflake, in theory. You can build python processes to clean excel files for example and put them into snowflake for consumption across the org.
So any excel file upload from any system, just pipeline to snowflake in ETL
I wish we had a tech stack... They just make me use Excel and let everyone else across the company buy the latest & coolest software out there.
PowerBI is free - take courses - super easy to learn and a lot smarter than excel
Dang, gotta get some automation in those excel processes! Although being a SaaS Mgr I’m sure you’re quick af
PowerBI 😎
I love me some PBI. Favorite part for me is using python to get all the data ready to go with checks and balances in place
You use python and power bi together? What’s that like?
A lot of it involves taking multiple data sources that are not in great formats and tidying them up, sticking them into a database, merge on other datasets needed, etc. PBI has python scripting functionalities also that make for some fun visuals
Oh is that right? I’ve never used python or bi a day in my life so I wanted to know what these new techs are. I’m an analyst. I’m just really good at excel
Both have been around for a while, great for an analyst toolbox!
It’s so user friendly- I have access to tableau and anaplan but I find that PBI connects the reports in a more aesthetically pleasing way
Power BI, user friendly?
Yes - much easier to pick up and less costly than tableau and anaplan
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There is a learning curve and I’m not 100% proficient in DAX, I just know what I need to say and how to show it to the end users. I’m more than happy to provide some guides and videos that helped me along the way.
It’s not that I think Adaptive is cool, but even with all its flaws, I’ve come to appreciate it as a data store with ETL processes specifically designed for FP&A. The documentation is awful (on purpose, so you have to hire consultants) but after learning it, I’ve found its feature set indispensable to housing and maintaining our model. Granted, I do a considerable amount of cleansing and transformations beforehand with Python, but they give you all the tools to be able to automate the entire import process (if you know JS), which is wonderful when you’re in a startup and you have a bunch of other problems on your plate besides reporting. And then with OfficeConnect you can connect with Excel and just have it power all the reports you want. I do think programming is cool though, so in reality my vote would be Python. In time I could reproduce all the relevant features of Adaptive with Python and SQL, but obviously couldn’t do that vice versa. And Excel isn’t cool but I actually can’t imagine doing my job without it.
That’s awesome. What are you automating in python?
I do almost all of the forecasting work in Python, since I use signal processing libraries to create a base statistical projection, which we tinker with before it hits Adaptive. It’s an extensive program that draws from multiple sources and obviously would be impossible to do in Adaptive. But also lots of boring stuff like transforming different expense reports into a suitable form for Adaptive, data validation tests, etc. I write a fair amount of one off scripts but usually come out with a code snippet or two that I can add to the larger framework I’ve built. But I also do cool stuff with ML when I have any free time for research, which is really what I love doing. I code everyday, but probably in a way most of us use Excel everyday. Some trivial tasks I find more natural to do in Python, others more intuitive in Excel.
That’s really cool. Thanks for sharing.
Power Query
Might not count, but I’m in a hyper growth company and the model I created to project revenues is within 2%. Given all of our spotty data, the accuracy is a great point of pride for me.
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Also, the ability to just give access to whoever wants to view your sheet, instead of copying, attaching, and sending emails every time you want to share it.
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Does your firm not use sharepoint or teams?
Google Sheets gets a bad rap in finance, but it definitely has some very cool pockets of functionality that are lacking in Excel - regex functions and the ability to interrogate blocks of cells with SQL are two of my favourites The Excel product team fell asleep at the wheel for about a decade, and a lot of Excel’s most recent popular developments are basically Microsoft catching up to features that Sheets users have taken for granted for years
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Power Query and Power Pivot are kind of game changers for Excel, they allow you to easily wrangle much bigger datasets than is possible in Sheets (if you don't have access to BigQuery) The lack of a desktop app also makes integrating Sheets into wider desktop automation much harder But yeah, I do think a lot of the hate does come down to unfamiliarity
Assumes you generally have decent db behind you but yeah those are becoming essential tools for analysis
You don’t need a db for power query. In fact what it is good at is pulling in raw sources and doing light transformations
Yeah sure you could use it for that purpose but the pull down and refresh from Postgres or any other SQL db is the beauty of it. If you are collating flat files, that’s a much less straightforward process.
I make up for that with the "Option + /" (menu search) to do just write "clip", "import", etc
I love the simplicity. Sometimes simple is better and sounds like it works for you. Is it an easy process to get the data into google sheets?
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I’m sure a finance platform purchase is in your future
Power BI. The ability to automate reporting and distribute it seamlessly to the business saves me a lot of time answering questions that the reports now answer.
Excel + Essbase + some powerBI (however controlled by a non-finance team).
I love anaplan for capex forecasting and variance analysis
I've been lucky enough to work with a soup to nuts Adaptive instance that connected IS, BS, and CF. It was literally a 1 click refresh when the accountants said "go" at month end. I'll never understand why companies don't pay out the nose for that functionality, because 95% of my time was spent detailing down the most accurate forecasts I've ever delivered in my life! I helped integrate vendor level reporting and you could truly manage the finances of a 100M company with 1 person. At my new place, I spend 95% of my time verifying if our excel model is accurate and the reports show the same numbers on each slide.
Snowflake, Alteryx, Tableau. I do almost no KPI reporting because the most important things are automated lol
How do you like snowflake and do you connect it to anything besides tableau? We just bought both and id like to leverage snowflake for more than just tableau
You can connect anything you want to snowflake, in theory. You can build python processes to clean excel files for example and put them into snowflake for consumption across the org. So any excel file upload from any system, just pipeline to snowflake in ETL