Planning & Writeback - frequently asked questions

AccoTool can replace Excel for budgeting and forecasting by moving planning out of spreadsheets and into Power BI, on the same governed data as your reporting. The problem with Excel is that every spreadsheet becomes its own version of the truth, so the plan drifts away from the numbers leadership sees. AccoTool keeps planning on one governed source with a complete audit trail, which removes the shadow spreadsheets without the cost of a heavyweight enterprise planning platform. Teams get the familiarity of a grid with the governance of a proper data estate.

Yes, you can do budgeting and forecasting inside Power BI using AccoTool, without exporting to a separate application. Budgets, rolling forecasts, headcount planning and CapEx or OpEx planning all run inside the report, with top-down targets and bottom-up input in the same model. Every figure is logged with who entered it and when, so there is a full audit trail. Hopton builds these planning models on the Fabric and Azure foundation you already run, so the numbers stay governed.

No, you do not need to replace Power BI or Fabric to use AccoTool, because it sits on top of the estate you already have and extends it with a planning and writeback layer. Nothing about your existing reporting or data platform is torn out. Planning simply inherits the same governance, security and single source as your reporting, which makes the Fabric and Power BI investment you have already made more valuable. Hopton connects AccoTool to that foundation as part of implementation.

AccoTool licences are bought through Microsoft AppSource on a per-user basis, so there is no lock-in through Hopton on the software itself. What Hopton provides is the implementation, the tailoring to how your business actually plans, and the connection to the Fabric and Azure foundation underneath, plus the ongoing data function that keeps it trustworthy. As AccoTool's Strategic Go-to-Market Partner for the UK and Ireland, Hopton is the team that delivers and supports it across both markets. That means one partner accountable for the whole chain, from raw data to the budget your board signs off.

AccoTool uses AI to build planning solutions by letting you describe the plan you need in plain language, then guiding Claude or Microsoft Copilot through the whole build. Its Skills draft the writeback tables, the semantic model, the DAX measures, the report layout and the writeback configuration, so a controller reviews and refines rather than waiting weeks for a first budget line. This is no-code budgeting in Power BI, drafted by prompt. Because AccoTool also captures the commentary behind each figure, it feeds AI the reasoning behind the numbers, not just the numbers.

AccoTool works with Microsoft Fabric and Azure by writing the plan back to the same governed foundation those platforms provide, so planning inherits the same single source of truth as your reporting. The foundation sits on Azure and Fabric, the reporting sits on Power BI, and AccoTool adds the writeback layer that loops the plan back down to that foundation. This means Power BI write-back on Microsoft Fabric done as one governed estate, rather than a separate budgeting system bolted on the side. If you have already invested in Fabric and Power BI, this extends that investment instead of duplicating it.

AccoTool differs from dedicated FP&A or EPM software because it runs planning inside the Power BI and Fabric estate you already own, rather than as a separate system with its own copy of your data and enterprise pricing. Traditional FP&A and EPM platforms add another silo to govern and another place the truth can diverge. AccoTool gives you enterprise-grade planning and writeback in Power BI at a fraction of that cost, so you do not trade governance for capability. Hopton positions it as the planning layer of your Microsoft estate, not a competitor to it.

accoPLANNING, accoMASTERDATA and accoCOMMENT are the three products that make up AccoTool. accoPLANNING builds budgeting and rolling-forecast writeback with driver-based measures and input grids. accoMASTERDATA maintains dimensions, hierarchies and lists directly in the report with validation, so the same structure governs every plan. accoCOMMENT captures threaded comments and approvals attached to the exact figure, so the reasoning behind a number sits next to it rather than in an email. Together they turn Power BI from something people look at into something people work in.

AccoTool is a Microsoft AppSource product that adds writeback to Power BI, so teams can plan, budget, forecast and comment without leaving the report. Instead of Power BI being read-only, AccoTool lets people enter and change data inside the report and save it straight back to a governed database. It is made up of three products: accoPLANNING for budgeting and forecasting, accoMASTERDATA for maintaining dimensions and hierarchies, and accoCOMMENT for capturing the reasoning behind the numbers. Hopton is AccoTool's Strategic Go-to-Market Partner for the UK and Ireland, and the team that implements it.

Power BI writeback, also written write-back, is the ability to enter or change data inside a Power BI report and save it back to the underlying database, instead of Power BI only displaying read-only data. It is what makes budgeting, forecasting and planning possible inside the report rather than in a separate tool. AccoTool adds writeback to Power BI and writes every entry back to one governed source, so the plan and the reporting stay on the same data. This closes the gap that normally sends planning back into spreadsheets.

Master data management in Power BI means maintaining the dimensions, hierarchies and reference lists that plans and reports depend on, directly inside the report rather than in a separate system. AccoTool's accoMASTERDATA does this with validation and cascading rules, so cost centres, accounts and categories stay consistent across every plan and dashboard. Keeping master data governed is what stops two reports quietly disagreeing because they used different versions of the same list. Hopton treats this as part of the wider data governance that makes writeback trustworthy.

Hopton implements AccoTool in the UK and Ireland as its Strategic Go-to-Market Partner, and is the partner of choice across both markets. Hopton is a Microsoft data and analytics specialist that builds the whole estate: strategy and governance, the Azure and Fabric platform, the Power BI reporting, and now the planning and writeback layer AccoTool provides. That end-to-end coverage is what lets one team connect AccoTool cleanly to the data foundation underneath. You can start with a free audit to see where planning is leaking out of your estate.