You can now extract underlying data from the change impact heatmap
Your XLS download options
1. The heatmap values
The table downloaded shows the impact scoring in values:
The values in each cell are either a weighted impact score, or the count of changes using the ‘dominance rule’, depending on your organization’s ChangePlan setup. Speak to your company ChangePlan admin for more information.
2. The full underlying data
This download features one row per audience per impact per time interval (ideal for analysis, pivots, and sharing):
Each impacted audience appears on its own row (no comma‑separated groups).
Multiple rows for impacts that span time intervals
NB: Additional rows are created for each impacted audience if a date range has been specified that crosses multiple time periods.
The date range selected above of 20 August 2025 to 4 September 2025 spans three time intervals (columns) in the weekly time scale view:
If the export is done for the weekly time scale view, the impact will be presented as three separate duplicated rows:
Exported columns
- Audience (org chart groups show full path concatenated and separated by a space, forward arrow and another space, e.g.,
Corporate Finance > Audit > Compliance)
- Impact level (low, medium or high)
- Weighting (organizations using the weighted impact logic only)
- Start date (default is initiative estimated go-live, however user can set a different date, Dates use YYYY‑MM‑DD for compatibility with reporting tools.)
- End date (default is initiative estimated go-live, however user can set a different date, Dates use YYYY‑MM‑DD for compatibility with reporting tools.)
- Type (change type, selected from dropdown)
- Change (what is changing, text description)
- Impact (describe how the change will impact on this audience, text description)
- As‑is state (current state, text description)
- To‑be state (future state, text description)
- Initiative (name)
- Portfolio (name, if present)
- Hashtags (separated by commas)
- Initiative type (if present)
If an impact’s start and end date columns are empty, the export fills them with the initiative’s dates. The export includes data from the current year and will reflect the time scale visible in the current heatmap view. Filters affect what appears in the exported file.
Why export impact heatmap data to XLS?
- Executive Reporting: Provide data-backed change impact summaries to leadership teams
- Impact Audits: Review which groups are affected during specific time periods
- Cross-Tool Analysis: Merge export with data from other systems for deeper insights
- Data Archiving: Store snapshots of organizational impact views at specific moments
- Custom Dashboards: Import into BI tools for team-specific visualizations or extended filtering
⚠️Do not compare differing time scales
Choose the time scale with caution & consistency
When you generate the impact heatmap report, you have an option to choose a weekly, monthly or quarterly time scale setting:
Weekly, monthly, and quarterly views are not intended to be directly compared.
Total impact scores are not identical across time scales views, as row duplication rules create different totals. Each timescale defines different intervals:
- Weekly: Fine-grained; most likelihood of impact scores being inflated due to impact date ranges crossing weeks being duplicated across multiple rows
- Monthly: Recommended; broader time buckets
- Quarterly: Longest interval; least likelihood of inflated impact scores
How the timescale you choose affects the export XLS row count & impact scores
Impact values are not the same across timescale views. Here’s why:
ChangePlan’s impact feature allows you to specify when an impact will affect an audience.
When users create an impact in the Initiative impacts screen (shown above), they have the option to choose when the impact will affect this audience:
This determines when the impact on the audience will be shown on the Impact heatmap timeline.
The default setting when creating an impact is AT GO-LIVE; the estimated go-live date for the initiative.
The user can opt to toggle to ‘CHOOSE DATES’, and define a start and end date for when the change will affect each group:
In the example above, the impact is affecting the audience starting 20th August 2025, finishing 4th September 2025, a period of 15 days.
How this is reflected in the heatmap
- Weekly timescale: Each column represents a 7-day block:
- Monthly timescale: Each column represents a calendar month:
- Quarterly timescale: Each column represents a 3-month block
If an impact has been assigned a date range that spans across multiple time intervals (columns), its weighted score is applied to each time interval separately.
Using the example above
Monthly time scale: 2 columns
The date range 20 August 2025 to 4 September 2025 spans two columns in the monthly view:
Total weighted impacts: 16+16+30+30 = 92
Weekly time scale: 3 columns
- The date range 20 August 2025 to 4 September 2025 spans three columns in the weekly view:
Total weighted impacts: 16+16+16+30+30+30 = 138
Logic
- ChangePlan assigns an impact score for each interval.
- If an impact spans multiple intervals (e.g., starts in one week and ends in another), it will be duplicated across each relevant interval
- This behavior ensures impacts are visible in all applicable time buckets, but it also means one impact may result in multiple rows in the export
- Longer date ranges will appear in more columns and cause higher total impact scores when data is rolled up
This has flow on effects for the exported XLS.
When users assign a start and end date to a single impact, the system slices that impact across all intervals it spans. This means:
- The same impact may appear multiple times (once per interval)
- Total impact scores are higher for coarser timescales (e.g., quarterly), because the duplicated impact rows inflate totals
- The same data, exported across different timescales, will result in different row counts and different total scores, even if filters are identical
Final reminder: Do Not Compare Across Timescales
Impact scores are not cumulative across timescales. Due to row duplication rules, weekly, monthly, and quarterly views are not intended to be directly compared.
Instructions
Before you start
- XLS exports are available for the Latest View only (check the top right corner). The ‘Legacy View’ supports image export only.
- From the All Initiatives View, navigate to the Change impacts report:
- Select your desired:
- Timescale (weekly, monthly or quarterly) → use caution here
- Year (you can toggle forward or backward)
- Filters (Portfolio, Hashtags, Project type, Initiative status) ← these may be labelled differently in your instance
- IMPORTANT: In the Options dropdown menu, choose ‘Show number values’ if it is not already selected. The XLS export for the impact heatmap cannot export the activity burden hours currently. Aggregate impacts must be on for number values; it will be auto‑enabled when required.
- Click on the "GENERATE REPORT >" button
- Ensure number values are visible within the cells in the heatmap.
- Click on the Export button on the top right corner
- Open the Export modal.
- Choose either "XLS Heatmap with values” or “XLS - Full underlying data”
- Click Download. The file may take up to a few minutes to arrive.
Known issue & precautions
- Exporting "Heatmap with values" without first generating the report with number values produces an empty XLS file.
- This bug affects usability and leads to confusion.
Until Fixed, Always Do the Following:
- Generate the report with number values shown before exporting
- If the modal still allows export without values generated, be aware the result will be empty
Suggested Fix Underway:
- Export option will be disabled or warn users if report is not ready
Troubleshooting
I don’t see XLS options.
- Switch to Latest View (top‑right). If you try from Legacy View, only image export is available.
I don’t see numbers in cells.
- Turn Show number values on, and make sure Show activity burden hours is off.
Numbers look like text in Excel.
- That’s okay—the values are correct. You can format cells as Number in Excel if needed.
FAQs
Do numbers reflect counts or weighted scores?
- It depends on your site’s setting: Dominance Rule → count of changes, Weighted Impact Logic → weighted score.
Will “Show activity burden hours” appear together with cell values?
- No—these options are mutually exclusive.
Which time scales are supported?
- Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly.