The quick answer
In Excel's Smart View panel, open the NSPB form from your application's library and click Analyze on the Planning ribbon to work with its data as an ad hoc grid. Keep only the account you care about with Keep Only. In the POV, use Member Selection to pick Actual, Budget and a variance member, then drag the Scenario dimension onto the column headings. Select the month and choose Pivot > Pivot to POV so it becomes a filter. Finally, drag the Department dimension into the rows, zoom out to the top department and double-click it to list every department. Rearranging the grid this way doesn't change the NSPB form or its data.
The screenshots show sample data. The person, company and server names are fictional.
Before you start
Oracle Smart View for Office is an Excel add-in for EPM applications, including NetSuite Planning and Budgeting (NSPB). You need it installed, a connection to your NSPB application, and access to the application, the form and the members you want to see. Member security also filters what you get, so a department you can't access won't appear and totals can differ by role. The Excel ribbon, panel, dimensions and member names in your application may look different from the screenshots, which show one configured application.
The question in this example is which departments overspent G&A in May. The Summary Income Statement form shows accounts by month for one scenario (Forecast) and one department (Sales), so it can't answer that as it stands. Ad hoc analysis rearranges the same data without building a report.
01. Open the NSPB form in Excel
In the Smart View panel, pick your NSPB connection, sign in if prompted, and expand it down to the application's Library. Select Summary Income Statement and click Open form at the bottom of the panel.
The form opens in the sheet with the Planning ribbon. Rows are Total Sales, Total Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Total Selling Expenses, Total G&A Expenses, Total Expense and Net Income, and columns are Jan to Dec plus Total. In this application #Missing marks an intersection with no data, as on Total Cost of Goods Sold here. That's not the same as zero, and your display options may show blanks instead.
The POV toolbar above the grid holds the dimensions that aren't on the rows or columns, one member each. Here that's FY26, Forecast, Base, USD, US East, Total Relationship, Total Item, Total Class, Sales (the department) and Total Location.
02. Switch to ad hoc and keep one account
Click Analyze on the Planning ribbon. The form's data becomes an ad hoc grid, and the ribbon changes to Planning Ad Hoc, with Zoom In, Zoom Out, Pivot, Keep Only, Remove Only and Member Selection in its Analysis group.
Double-click Total Sales. That zooms in and lists its accounts under it. You don't need this for the G&A question, but it's how you drill into any parent: 4010 - Product Sales, 4210 - Revenue - Services, 4320 - Sales Returns and Allowances and 4520 - Sales Discounts. Double-click follows your Smart View ad hoc options, so in some setups it does something other than zoom in. The Zoom In button works either way.
Now select Total G&A Expenses and click Keep Only. Every other account leaves the grid, and Total G&A Expenses is the only row left. It stays a single parent row until you zoom into it. Remove Only does the opposite, dropping the selected member and keeping the rest.
03. Compare scenarios instead of the forecast
In the POV, click the arrow on Forecast and choose ... to open Member Selection. Check Actual, Budget and Act vs Budget (under Variance Scenarios), click the right arrow to move them into the selection on the right, and click OK. Act vs Budget is this application's variance member. Use whichever variance member yours defines, and check its formula. Then click Refresh on the POV toolbar.
Drag the Scenario dimension from the POV onto the month headings. Each scenario now gets its own run of months: Actual Jan to Dec and Total first, then Budget's months to the right. Actual has values through July, 29650 in its Total column, and #Missing from August on. Where you drop the dimension decides whether Scenario sits above or below the months.
04. Filter to one month
Select a May month heading, not a data cell. Open Pivot on the ribbon and choose Pivot to POV.
May moves into the POV as a filter, second after FY26, and the months leave the grid. You're left with one column per scenario: Actual 4200, Budget 3800 and Act vs Budget -400, still for the Sales department.
05. Break G&A out by department
Drag the Department dimension (its member reads Sales) from the POV onto Total G&A Expenses. Sales becomes a row label next to the account. Select Sales and click Zoom Out, which changes it to its parent, Total Department. Double-click Total Department to list its departments. Here the six departments sit one level below Total Department. In a deeper hierarchy, zoom in again or set Smart View's zoom option to all levels.
Check the result
- The POV reads FY26 and May, and the columns are Actual, Budget and Act vs Budget.
- Total Department is 31700 actual against 32100 budget, and the six departments add up to both.
- Sales spent 4200 against 3800 and shows -400. Marketing spent 3400 against 4000 and shows 600.
- Sales, Administration and Support show negative Act vs Budget, the departments over budget in May.
In this application, Act vs Budget for these expense accounts works out as Budget minus Actual: 3800 − 4200 = −400 for Sales. So a negative number means the department spent more than planned. The variance member's formula decides the sign, and it differs between applications, so check yours before reading the signs.
The layout changes here don't touch the NSPB form or its data. Save Ad Hoc Grid keeps this layout, and Save As Smart Form creates a separate form that other users can open if their access allows it. Submit Data writes edited cell values back to NSPB. Refresh pulls the latest saved data into the grid and replaces any edits you haven't submitted.
Common questions
How do I open an NSPB form in Excel with Smart View?
Open the Smart View panel in Excel, pick your NSPB connection and sign in. Expand the application to its Library, select the form and click Open form. The form loads with its Point of View above the grid and the Planning ribbon active.
What's the difference between Open form and Analyze in Smart View?
Open form shows the NSPB form in its fixed layout, the same rows and columns you'd see in the browser. Analyze gives you the form's data as an ad hoc grid, where you can zoom, pivot, keep or remove members and move dimensions around. Neither one copies the data out of NSPB.
How do I move a dimension from the POV to rows or columns?
Drag the dimension from the POV toolbar onto the row or column area of the ad hoc grid. In this example Scenario went onto the month headings and Department went into the rows. Where you drop it decides the nesting order.
What does Keep Only do in Smart View?
Keep Only keeps the member you selected and drops the other members of that dimension from the grid. Remove Only does the opposite. Here, Keep Only on Total G&A Expenses cleared every other account.
How do I use Pivot to POV in Smart View?
Select a member heading of the dimension you want out of the grid, then choose Pivot > Pivot to POV. The dimension moves to the POV with the selected member as its filter. Selecting May and pivoting left one column per scenario for May.
Does changing a Smart View ad hoc grid change my NSPB form or data?
No. Zooming, pivoting, keeping members and moving dimensions only change the Excel layout. Data changes only when you edit cells and click Submit Data.
How do I save the analysis?
Save Ad Hoc Grid keeps the layout so you can come back to it. Save As Smart Form creates a separate form, which other users can open if their access allows it. Neither one submits data.
Why does the Act vs Budget sign look reversed?
The variance member's formula decides the sign. In this application it's Budget minus Actual for these expense accounts, so Sales at 4200 against 3800 shows -400, and Total Department at 31700 against 32100 shows 400. Check your application's variance formula before calling a number good or bad.
What does #Missing mean in a Smart View grid?
In this application it means there's no data at that intersection of members, like Actual for August to December in this example. It isn't zero. If you expected a number, check the POV members and your access, then Refresh.