AI & Agents
Cube AI makes financial data decision-ready across every FP&A tool and workflow.
Learn more about AI at Cube →Meet the Agents
The Agentic Layer
The governed foundation — platform capabilities.
Consolidation & Close
The entire financial close and data management cycle, at a high level.
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For buyers in-cycle.
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Guides, resources, and help.
Company
About Cube, careers, and news.
Ad hoc reporting from one trusted layer.
Any question, any dimension, answered in the tool the asker already uses. Cube turns ad hoc reporting into a fetch from one clean, governed layer, so the ask that took a week takes minutes and every figure traces to the transaction.
EMEA spend · by monthEvery new question starts a new spreadsheet.
Leadership asks a question the standard pack doesn’t answer. Finance exports from three systems, rebuilds the view, and sends it back days later, by which point there is a follow-up.
The data is in three places
The GL, CRM, and HRIS each hold part of the answer, so every ask starts with exports.
Every answer is a one-off
Reports get rebuilt from scratch, so two answers to the same question rarely match.
Askers wait on finance
Department heads can’t self-serve, so every question joins a queue.
Ask a question. Get a report you can trust.
Cube puts every source in one governed model, so any question becomes a shareable report in minutes, in Excel, Sheets, or Cube Web.
One model for every source
GL, CRM, and HRIS land in one place, already mapped and reconciled.
Answers you can reuse
Save the view once and it refreshes with live actuals next time.
Self-serve, with guardrails
Business leaders explore their own numbers within the permissions finance sets.
Answers people can get themselves, and trust.
Any dimension
Slice by entity, region, department, vendor, or any custom dimension without a new export.
Self-serve, inside limits
Stakeholders answer their own questions, inside the access rights finance sets.
Saved and reused
Save a report once and anyone with access opens it in the sheet or in Cube Web.
Every answer opens.
EMEA’s March spend is one click from the invoices behind it, so the follow-up question already has an answer.
Where teams put ad hoc reporting to work.
Leadership asks
The question the standard pack doesn’t answer, answered same day.
Saved reports
Reports anyone with access can reopen and refresh.
Board follow-ups
Answers to the board’s follow-ups from the same governed numbers as the deck.
Lender and partner reports
Custom reports for lenders and partners, built from the governed model.
Department self-serve
Owners pull their own numbers in a sheet or in Slack.
Any slice
Region, department, vendor, or a custom dimension, each one fetch away.
Every answer from one clean layer.
Cube unifies the GL, CRM, HRIS, and the rest of your stack in one governed layer, so any slice of the business is one fetch away and every answer uses the same mapping.
One governed model that turns questions into operating intelligence. Data is mapped once, every slice uses the same logic, and every figure traces to the transaction.
Build the report in the sheet you have open.
Drag dimensions into rows, columns, and filters, fetch, and the report fills with governed numbers. Change a filter and fetch again. Save it so anyone with access can open it next time.
Cube WebAI · governedEMEA came in $120K under plan in Q3. Most of it is G&A, where two open roles in Dublin were not filled, and DACH marketing, where a September event moved to Q4. UK sales ran $45K over on commissions from a strong quarter.
One answer, on every surface.
Cube connects the systems where your data lives to the tools where decisions happen. When a number changes in Cube, it updates in the spreadsheet, the board deck, the dashboard, and the answer in Slack or Claude. Everyone keeps their own view and permissions, and every figure traces back to the transaction.
Cube Web
Full planning, reporting, Boards, workflows, and the AI Analyst in the browser, with drilldown on every number.
Explore
Excel & Google Sheets
Fetch live actuals into your own templates and publish plans back in one click, permissions intact.
Explore
AI assistants
+Any MCP-compatible assistant queries governed data, with answers traced to the source.
Explore
Slack & Teams
Ask the AI Analyst plain-English questions in chat and get answers from the same governed source, in a thread.
Explore
PowerPoint & Google Slides
Cube Decks puts live visuals in PowerPoint that refresh in place.
Explore
BI tools
+Governed exports and Cube’s APIs sync Tableau, Looker, and Power BI.
ExploreYour digital finance team works while you sleep.
Four FP&Agents handle the always-on work across your data, reports, plans and business partners. Agents scale finance's capacity, while the people remain in control.
Collects, maps and reconciles data from every source so every figure is right before anyone opens a file.
Meet The Data Managers →Explains variances to the transaction, flags anomalies and answers ad hoc questions in plain language.
Meet The Analysts →Reruns forecasts as new actuals land, builds scenarios and keeps budgets current between cycles.
Meet The Planners →Brings answers to department heads in Slack, Teams and email, so finance is in every decision.
Meet The Business Partners →Board-ready means audit-ready.
Delivering numbers everywhere only works if access travels with them. In Cube it does, enforced in the layer rather than in each tool.
Every AI feature respects your permissions, and every edit, sync, and publish lands in one audit trail.
See your toughest ask answered on your own numbers.
Bring the ask that took a week last quarter. We answer it live, in the sheet, in chat, and in the deck, and trace the figure to the transactions.
Ad hoc reporting questions, answered.
What is ad hoc reporting?
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Ad hoc reporting builds a report on demand to answer a specific question that standard reports don’t cover. In Cube, it is a fetch from one governed layer, in the spreadsheet, Cube Web, or chat.
What is the difference between ad hoc and standard reporting?
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Standard reports run on a schedule with a fixed layout, like the monthly P&L. Ad hoc reports answer a one-time question. In Cube, both use the same governed numbers, and an ad hoc report can be saved and reused.
How do you speed up ad hoc reporting?
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Keep source data connected and mapped in one place, so a new question needs a filter change instead of a new export. In Cube, you drag dimensions into a range, fetch, and the report fills with governed numbers.
What is the best ad hoc reporting software?
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The best ad hoc reporting software answers any question by any dimension from one governed layer, works in the tools people already use, enforces access by role, and traces every figure to the transaction. Cube does this as the Agentic FP&A Platform, in the spreadsheets, decks, and chat tools your team already uses.
What should you look for in ad hoc reporting software?
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Look for live connections to your ERP and other sources; any-dimension slicing without exports; saved, reusable reports; plain-language questions; drilldown to transactions; cell-level access control; and audited security such as SOC 1 and SOC 2. Also check whether people can work in Excel, Google Sheets, or Slack, since that decides adoption.
Can non-finance users run their own reports?
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Yes. Department heads can fetch their own numbers in a spreadsheet, open saved reports in Cube Web, or ask in Slack or Teams, inside the limits finance sets.
Can I ask questions in plain language?
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Yes. Ask Cube’s AI Analyst in Cube Web, Slack, Teams, or an AI assistant connected through Cube MCP. Answers come from the same governed layer and trace to the source.
What data can ad hoc reports use?
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Anything connected to Cube: GL actuals, plans and forecasts, CRM pipeline, HRIS headcount, and custom dimensions. Cube connects to hundreds of source systems across ERP, CRM, HRIS, billing, and data warehouses.
Can I save an ad hoc report?
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Yes. Save it and you or your stakeholders can open it from the spreadsheet or Cube Web and refresh it with current numbers.
Will two ad hoc reports on the same question match?
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Yes, when they run on the same governed layer. In Cube, every report uses one mapping and one set of business logic, so the same question gets the same answer.
Do I need a separate BI tool?
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Not for finance questions. Cube answers them in the spreadsheet, Cube Web, or chat. If your company uses Tableau, Looker, or Power BI, Cube syncs governed data into them too.
Does ad hoc reporting software replace Excel?
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No. Any slice of the model is a formula away in the sheet you already have open. Cube replaces the exports and stitching, not the spreadsheet.
Is ad hoc reporting secure?
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It should be audited and access-controlled. Cube is SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 audited, with SSO and SAML support, role-based permissions, encryption in transit and at rest, and a full audit trail on every driver, mapping, and plan change.
What is ad hoc reporting?
Ad hoc reporting answers a specific, often one-time business question with a report built on demand, outside the standard reporting calendar.
The answers span many systems, so speed depends on having them connected. Cube brings them into one governed model.
Slice and filter
Any dimension, any period, one fetch.
Drill to source
From the total to the transactions behind it.
Saved reports
Reopen and refresh with current numbers.
Plain-language questions
Ask in chat; get a traced answer.
Why ad hoc reporting matters
The questions that matter most rarely fit the standard pack. When answers take a week, decisions get made without them. When they take minutes, finance becomes the team leaders ask first.
How to build an ad hoc report
The same five steps apply whether the forecast lives in a spreadsheet or in Cube.
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1.
Start from the question. Decide the measure, dimensions, and period you need.
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2.
Pick the dimensions. Drag them into rows, columns, and filters.
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3.
Fetch the data. Pull governed numbers into the range.
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4.
Check and drill. Drill any figure to the transactions behind it.
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5.
Save and share. Save it so others can reopen it with current numbers.
Key ad hoc reporting metrics
- Time to answer
- How long from question to traced report.
- Reuse rate
- Share of asks answered by a saved report.
- Self-serve share
- Questions owners answer without finance.
- Report consistency
- Whether two answers to one question match.
- Request backlog
- Open asks waiting on finance.
- Data freshness
- How current the numbers are when fetched.
Ad hoc reporting in a spreadsheet vs. Cube
| Spreadsheet | Cube | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | Any new question | Answered live, traced to the transaction. |
| Built from | Exports stitched by hand. | Live connections to every source. |
| Cadence | Monthly, after close. | On the schedule you set. |
| Accuracy depends on | Whoever built the last version. | One governed mapping. |
| In Cube | An email attachment. | Saved, permissioned reports. |