Inforiver Writeback Matrix May 2025 - v4.5 - Audit redesign, Writeback optimizations, and more
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Reporting & Writeback Matrix Docs
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Capturing business insights in Power BI is easier than ever with our lineup of Data Input features, like the data import utility, conditional template rows, and enhancements to data input rules. We've also released a number of optimizations under the hood to make sure you have the most efficient reporting experience with Inforiver Matrix. In a highly collaborative environment like Inforiver Matrix, a robust audit trail is vital - we've re-designed the Audit log to a full-page, spreadsheet-style view.
Explore our new range of features that make Inforiver Writeback Matrix the most powerful platform for planning, collaboration, and writeback in Power BI.
Inforiver Matrix offers a no-code, intuitive interface that enables users to insert aggregated rows, custom row hierarchies, calculated rows, and even forecast rows directly in the visual. The robust row-management feature now comes packaged with a filter that allows users to quickly locate different types of rows.
In list or tree view, simply hover over a row to view the timestamp when it was inserted.
Inforiver Matrix provides the flexibility to input values in Excel and seamlessly import them into the visual. This option, which was previously supported only for data input number fields, has now been extended to all data input types.
Using the import utility is as simple as selecting the measure to input values for > downloading the Excel template > entering values directly in Excel, and import the template back into the Inforiver Matrix visual.
Inforiver Matrix delivers efficient hierarchy handling with the template rows option - insert custom rows automatically at each level of the hierarchy at one shot, without having to insert them individually. You now have additional control over which levels to create template rows in. Click the configure link in the Template conditions section. You can directly select the row categories by selecting the Simple radio button or specify filter conditions by selecting the Advanced option.
Track the earliest or latest date under a parent category by setting the subtotal aggregation to minimum or maximum for date data input fields - for instance, the earliest or latest delivery date for a product range.
Use the new duplicate icon to quickly replicate formulas that need to be reused in similar calculations.
Data input measures with no assigned values offer no meaningful contribution to reports. You can opt to suppress them by enabling the Suppress Null DI (Number) Measures option in Display Settings.
In this sample report, a budget has not been allocated to the Mineral Water category. We can hide this column by enabling the suppress null option for data input measures.
Pop-out window for easy dimension selection
When you apply rules to data input fields, you can also select the row and column dimensions to which the rules apply. The new pop-out window makes it convenient to scroll and select dimensions, especially when complex hierarchies are involved or the report has a large number of row/column dimension categories.
Specify custom filter conditions to apply rules with the new filter tab.
Measure values for min/max rules
In addition to setting a static value, you can now define minimum and maximum ranges using the new 'Measure' option. Simply select a measure to dynamically control the range limits.
Inforiver's writeback now delivers faster writebacks and handles more data volumes - writeback up to 1 million cells with a 75% reduction in processing time.
To trigger faster writebacks, enable the Execute Writeback using optimized approach toggle from the Admin console > Writeback Settings.
Strengthen your “what-if” analysis with Goal Seek for calculated rows. If you have a calculated row that refers to a data input or forecast row, you can now use Goal Seek to automatically adjust the input row to achieve the desired result based on the row-level formula.
In this report, we have a Total formula row based on a native row and a forecast row. We can change values in the formula row with Goal Seek and let Inforiver do the heavy lifting to calculate and apply the required modification to the forecast row.
Inforiver Writeback Matrix provides a platform for multiple teams or departments to collaborate on reports, e.g., to update budgets and forecasts or update project/approval status. A comprehensive audit log is essential to ensure accountability, data integrity, and regulatory compliance. In this release, we've completely re-hauled the audit log to make it more streamlined and easier to use.
The audit log has been redesigned from a side pane to a full-page, spreadsheet-style view—complete with filters and dropdowns—making it easier to track and manage audits. The Data Input tab, as the name implies, captures all the changes made to data input fields.
View the report-level changes in the Reports tab.
Managing multiple report subscriptions just got easier—with the new Priority option, you can now control which subscription takes precedence. If you have bookmarks and filters in your reports, you can set individual priorities for each. The priorities set for bookmarks/filters will automatically be cascaded across all destinations.
For dynamic subscriptions, you can source the priority from semantic models or CSV files.
Easily delete multiple users in one action by selecting them and clicking the Bulk Delete button.
Exporting user details from the admin console may be required for operational, compliance, or business continuity reasons. Inforiver's admin console now supports exporting all the metadata associated with registered users.
When you add context to a report with a comment, you can tag a user with the @ symbol and assign the comment to a different user. In earlier versions, the comment would get re-assigned to the tagged user. In the latest version, the assignee will not change irrespective of @ mentions in the comment.
All the tagged users will also receive notification emails that they have been mentioned in a comment.
In Excel exports of Writeback Matrix reports, manually changing positive numbers to negative numbers would not be reflected in the cells. The negative sign would be displayed only in the toolbar when the cell was clicked. This issue has been rectified in the latest version.
Have you ever needed to understand how a specific field was derived in an Excel export? The new Add appendix at last sheet option includes a formula index tab in the Excel export, enabling users to easily refer to the underlying formulas used.
Navigating large reports with numerous rows and columns can make data comparison cumbersome with a significant amount of scrolling. With Inforiver Matrix, you can freeze selected rows and columns to keep key metrics in view—making analysis faster and more efficient.
For example, to use the key metrics for 2024-Q1 as a benchmark, you can freeze those specific columns as shown in Fig 1. To analyze the Gross Profit and Net Revenue based on US Central metrics, you can freeze the selected rows and columns from the row/column grippers.
Frozen rows and columns will be retained in Excel and PDF exports:
Excel export
Checkboxes are widely used in reports for data selection, like shortlisting specific transactions or marking approval/review status. You can now filter data based on checkbox values using the new 'Checked' and 'Unchecked' options. An application within Inforiver Matrix would be to use the checkbox filter to writeback only the selected records.
In the table layout, the aggregated row subtotals for each parent dimension category are suppressed by default; however, these rows were being considered while calculating the overall number of rows. In the latest version, the subtotal rows that are not displayed will not be counted when calculating the total number of rows.
Notice how the total number of rows is different in the Hierarchy layout where subtotals are enabled.
The formula bar has been optimized for better usability. In earlier versions, unintentionally clicking a cell would automatically create a cell reference. Cell references will now be created only if it is the first item in a formula or preceded by an arithmetic operator. Users need to explicitly click inside the formula bar to create cell references. The erase button can be used to reset the cell to its original value.
The latest version of Inforiver Writeback Matrix supports configuring approval workflows for reports that do not have column dimensions.
You can now use Inforiver's built-in date and time intelligence functions to display measures over a specific range of time. Select the Date Functions options in the Show/Hide measures interface.
The My Tasks pane will now display tasks assigned to users that are not resolved. Users can view other tasks with the filter button, but unresolved tasks will be displayed by default, helping users easily identify and address them on priority.
In Inforiver Matrix, you can enable checkboxes to select multiple rows. Multi-row selection can now filter the records in another Inforiver Matrix visual. You'll see that the product names in the first visual are automatically filtered when we make category selections in the second visual.
