Top-Down Planning

Setting executive targets and reconciling against bottom-up plans

Module 3Module Walkthrough15 min
📖 Tell How Top-Down Planning Works Set executive-level targets at L2 of each dimension hierarchy, then compare against bottom-up plans on the TD Summary page.
👁 Show Instructor Demo Facilitator opens TD Planning, enters a revenue target, then navigates to TD Summary to show the target vs. bottom-up comparison.
✅ Do Enter a Target Navigate to TD – Planning. Enter a revenue target for one product family at the Sales & Marketing department level. Then view the result on TD – Summary.
🚨 ⚠ V2.0 Limitation: No Dynamic Disaggregation

Dynamic top-down disaggregation (automatic cascade of high-level targets to lower levels) is NOT available in IFP v2.0. All targets must be entered manually at each level of detail. Anaplan plans to reintroduce this in a future release.

What You Can Set Targets For

CategoryTarget Types
RevenueRevenue Target + Gross Profit Target by product family and customer
MarginGross Profit % target for COGS accounts
Operating ExpensesGeneral OpEx (excl. labor), Labor Cost, Total OpEx
HeadcountFTE and Headcount targets (new in v2.0)

Planning Level

All targets are entered at Level 2 of each dimension hierarchy. In USD — can be reported in local currency.

Process Pages

PagePurpose
TD – PlanningManual input of all targets by dimension at L2
TD – SummaryTargets vs. bottom-up plans side-by-side; variance calculations at L2
Top-Down Planning — target entry screen showing dimension selector at entity/L2 level
Top-Down target entry — targets entered at L2 entity level for each metric; system does NOT auto-disaggregate to lower levels (manual distribution required)
Top-Down Planning page — showing revenue and gross profit target inputs
TD Planning page — enter revenue, gross profit, OpEx, and FTE targets; each metric has its own row with monthly columns
Top-Down Summary — targets vs. bottom-up side-by-side with variance row at entity level
TD Summary — executive view comparing submitted targets against bottom-up plan; red variance rows highlight gaps that require discussion

Why Targets Don't Show on Module Summary Pages

By design — the OpEx Summary, Revenue Summary, etc. don't show TD targets. Reason: users viewing those pages may be at a more granular level (L3 entity, cost center) than the L2 targets, creating confusion. All target vs. actual comparison is consolidated on the TD pages at consistent L2.

Talk Track

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