Workday is rolling out a new AI feature within Adaptive Planning aimed at cutting the version-control and audit problems that arise when finance teams rely on Excel spreadsheets. Workday’s Ben Pierce said the tool, Adaptive Decision Intelligence, pulls data from Workday systems and external sources such as Salesforce, Snowflake, and cloud file storage to create a governed, auditable planning environment. The feature is designed for common FP&A tasks like identifying mismatches between actuals and plan and investigating why results deviate. Workday’s approach emphasizes collaborative modeling and traceability—addressing a recurring enterprise finance pain point as organizations pursue real-time scenario planning. The update matters for higher education finance leaders too, where budgeting, grants management, and resource planning increasingly need auditable workflows rather than uncontrolled spreadsheet processes.