As part of our continuous efforts to extend the functions library in Francis, we've now added support for medians. Similar to the existing sum and average functions, the median functions are released with three additional variants:

• median_last_year()

• median_ytd()

• median_last()

To learn more about the newly released median functions, visit our documentation.

We're excited to announce that Francis now integrates with Google Sheets, making it much easier to import data from sources like CRMs, HRIS, and unsupported ERPs. This integration is our first step toward enabling any business data to flow into Francis, improving financial planning accuracy and driving accountability across teams.

The Google Sheets integration supports two formats:

• Transactions-based template: Ideal for CSV exports from unsupported systems. This template organizes data as individual transactions, offering a granular view and enabling transaction-level drill-downs for deeper transparency in Francis.

• Timeseries-based template: Designed for data where individual points are less critical, but their total or sum matters more for financial planning. This format is ideal for analyzing trends and overall performance.

The formula editor in Francis is now fully resizable, making it easier to build and review complex, multi-line formulas. Drag the bottom border to adjust the height, or double-click to expand it fully.

Today, we're excited to launch one of our most requested features—download as Excel. Now, you can export all financial models in Francis directly to a .xlsx file, complete with all groups, formulas, and cell references. This feature allows users to share financial models with banks, investors, or similar stakeholders who usually request data in Excel.

We've added a weighted average (W. AVG) aggregation option to calculations, particularly useful when aggregating averages in the total column that involve different weights. Example use cases include gross margin and profit margin calculations.

During testing with our design partners following the introduction of our updated platform UI earlier this month, we discovered that some users were experiencing difficulties navigating between sheets due to their sheet names exceeding the default sidebar length. To address this issue, we've now implemented a solution that allows users to resize the sidebar to accommodate varying sheet name lengths.

Today, we're excited to share the results of many weeks of work redesigning Francis' interface. We've redefined the foundational layers of Francis' design to improve navigation, hierarchy, and density across a wide range of UI elements.

Most noticeably, we've introduced a sidebar across all screens to aid navigation throughout our platform. We've also taken the opportunity to revamp both our Home and Settings pages, streamlining our design language across the application. Below we've highlighted the most important changes, that existing users should be aware of.

Syncing data sources

We’ve relocated the data source sync function from the top-right corner to the bottom-left, coinciding with the introduction of our new sidebar. This also allows us to provide a continuous sync status for your connected systems.

Switching organizations

For fractional CFOs and implementation partners who manage multiple organizations, we’ve moved the organization-switching option from the avatar icon in the top-right corner to the workspace drop-down in the top-left.

Tab interactions

In line with our new sidebar design, we’ve replaced the traditional tab bar with a more integrated model overview. Now, you can create, rename, rearrange, and delete tabs directly through the sidebar, offering a more seamless experience.

In recent weeks, we’ve been working to improve the efficiency of data source syncs. Previously, data source syncs were executed sequentially, meaning that if multiple users were syncing large datasets simultaneously, some users could experience delays due to queueing.

Today, we've upgraded our sync engine to support parallel syncs, allowing multiple data sources to sync simultaneously. While this doesn’t necessarily speed up individual syncs, it does reduce the likelihood of delays caused by queueing.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be implementing further improvements to permanently increase sync speeds, particularly for customers exceeding 1M journal entries.

At Francis, our commitment is to make financial modeling easier and more accessible than traditional spreadsheets. Our formula syntax is specifically designed to be more human-readable compared to the classic A1 notation used in Excel and Sheets.

To further enhance this experience, we are excited to announce the release of formula comments. This allows teams and individuals to add contextual notes to advanced formulas. We believe this will significantly improve collaboration and make it easier to understand complex logic.

Updated chart settings now include a fiscal year aggregation option, improving support for customers with offset fiscal years. E.g., if your fiscal year starts in July, selecting this option will aggregate values from July through June the following calendar year.

When mapping general ledger accounts, you can now multi-select accounts and map them to your model simultaneously. Simply hold Shift to select a range of accounts, then drag them to the appropriate row in your model.

To improve the modeling experience, we've introduced support for arrow keys when referencing cells in edit mode. In other words, you can now create formulas and make cell references just as you’re used to in Excel and Sheets.

To improve the modeling experience in Francis, we've introduced a range of new AVG and SUM functions. Each function comes in three variants: YTD, LY, and LAST, making modeling faster and more flexible than ever. The complete list of added functions is:

• avg()

• avg_ytd()

• avg_last_year()

• avg_last()

• sum()

• sum_ytd()

• sum_last_year()

• sum_last()

To learn more about each function and its intended use cases, visit our documentation.

Francis now supports limited access sharing, enhancing collaboration within your organization. Available as an add-on for our Enterprise users, this feature allows Admins and Editors to share individual sheets in their financial models, providing internal stakeholders with restricted access to specific parts of the model. This ensures that sensitive information, such as salaries and new hires, remains confidential and accessible only to authorized users.

We've launched an entirely new learning center, complete with updated documentation and numerous guides and tutorials on both basic and advanced modeling concepts in Francis. The aim is to provide both new and experienced users with a single hub for learning more about our feature set.

Read more in our documentation.

The variance report now features a highly requested update: the addition of an Actuals Last Year column. Building on this update, we have also refined the comparison options between actuals and budget. Users can now choose to compare versions using absolute values, indices, or percentages.

We've redesigned the action menu to enhance scan-ability by adding icons next to each item and regrouping certain elements. Additionally, we have refined the interactions for a significantly improved user experience.

Breakdowns offer a powerful new way to implement dimensional planning in your FP&A. This feature allows you to break down line items in your model, making it significantly easier to work with dimensions on individual line items. To enable breakdowns, navigate to the action menu on a row and select Breakdown.

To enhance support for multi-entity and dimensional planning, we have identified a critical need for a control mechanism to prevent undercounting of actuals from connected accounting systems.

We are pleased to announce the launch of an initial warning system. This system alerts users to potential exclusions of actuals due to entity or dimensional splits. Future enhancements will expand the rule set, further supporting our users by ensuring complete data inclusion in their models.

Our promise with Francis is that users will enjoy the same flexibility as they do with traditional spreadsheets. Part of this promise includes providing a fast and seamless modeling experience. For this reason, we have focused on improving the performance of our platform throughout March.

These changes will be particularly noticeable for users working with larger and more complex models. In short, we have made performance improvements in the following areas:

• Refactored the platform to ensure models do not become slower over time.

• Made model performance independent of the number of accumulated edits.

• Improved load times for switching between different budget versions.

As we continue to introduce more advanced modeling capabilities, the scale and complexity of models built on our platform will increase. Our recent performance improvements are part of a continuous effort to provide a seamless modeling experience for our users and to enable the launch of more advanced features without compromising the usability of our platform.

In addition to featuring a global notification count for all connected data sources, we have now added notification counters to each individual data source in the Mappings view. This will improve the process for users with two or more connected sources to identify which source accounts need to be mapped.

In an effort to enhance the navigation experience in Francis, we have removed our previous toggle buttons in favor of a segmented control switch. The old Data Sources button has been replaced by the Mappings mode and the Model view now directly takes you to the month-by-month view of your financial model.

Managing multiple legal entities often means grappling with currency conversions and associated risks of mistakes. Our latest currency conversion feature eliminates these challenges. Accounting entires can now instantly be converted to a unified currency upon import.

Centrally define your desired currency cross in Data Sources to unify transaction. This enables easy consolidation, budgeting, forecasting and reporting across all connected entities without the need to maintain conversion formulas.

Read more about currency conversion in our documentation.

Following the launch of our consolidation templates (used for dimensional planning), we recognized their potential benefit for users with multi-entity models. Conssequently, we've extended consolidation templates and instances to support entity splits. This enables users to build more robust models, reducing maintenance needs and the risk of errors associated with manual consolidation.

We've added our largest feature to date: dimensional planning. Our dimensions feature combines templates and automatic consolidation, enabling our users to develop multi-dimensional models without compromising flexibility, while also minimizing complexity and maintenance.

To better support the management of increasingly larger models in Francis, we've added a model overview to enhance tab navigation. We'll to continue refining this overview in the near future, enabling users to access an expanded range of functionalities.

We've introduced a green connection indicator on regular rows, enabling quick identification of rows linked to accounts from connected data sources. Rows with this indicator automatically import actuals from your connected ERP system. Hovering over the indicator reveals the count of accounts mapped to each row.

To improve navigation, we've updated the formula editor to now clearly display cross-tab references. Quickly navigate and link your data with our intuitive path indication: [Tab] → [Section] → [Group] → [Row], making cell references more transparent.

Based on feedback from users, we have added the option to set a row-level status. We've implemented row status to give users a better overview when developing their model. Row status will automatically propagate to groups once a group has been collapsed.

You can now change the row name width by dragging the timeline, just like you're used to from your favorite spreadsheet applications. This is great for users with more complex models, that include multiple nested groups and should provide a better overview for advanced users.

You can now choose your desired color theme in the Export charts and forecasts as PDF modal when downloading your reports. Pick from the pre-defined color palette or choose your own brand color by inputting the hex code for your company color.