Product updates

Database granularity is now controlled by the “Segment by” menu

Segmenting your drivers by the right dimensions in Runway is critical to unlocking the power and flexibility of dimensional modeling in Runway. We’ve improved the UI for how this association is defined — you’ll now see a “Segment by” menu in databases. These previously were referred to as “database keys”, and our hope is that this change makes it even clearer how databases work. Shinjini and Lars really worked some magic here!

• You’ll now also see some helpful tooltips when using drivers without segment-by set, or when multiple database rows are linked to the same segment of data.
• Let us know if this helps you use dimensional modeling capabilities more confidently — we’d love to hear your feedback!

• Derrick and Nichole rebuilt the “database timeseries” view. It’s now much faster, and adds support for database drivers. Check it out to see a fully expanded view of every property for every database item.

Assorted performance improvements

Making Runway faster and and more performant continues to be our top priority. This week, we shipped even more improvements to make the app snappy:

• Selasi made an optimization that makes the creation of a draft scenario faster, as well as improved performance on the “Review and Merge” screen.
• Andrew made creating snapshots much faster, and reduced the impact of product deploys on the user experience, so we can continue to ship fast without disrupting the user experience.
• Xav found a fix that should improve load times when navigating to large databases.

Cleaning up your unused drivers is now simpler than ever!

To ensure your data remains organized and to prevent the use of deprecated drivers, we've added a new "Unused Drivers" page in the left side menu. This page automatically displays any drivers that aren't referenced in any model, database, or page. Simply select the ones you wish to permanently delete, right-click, and choose Delete.

Don't lose your hardcoded Plans when you move Last Close

To enhance the experience of hardcoding assumptions in Runway, we've adjusted how the Runway computes values for months before Last Close. Here is the new order of precedence:

• If there are hardcoded values that you've manually added for months before Last Close, we display those numbers. If not present;
• We rely on the Actuals Formula for drivers or the integration data for databases connected to an integration. If not present;
• We use any hardcoded Plans that you've set for those months before moving the Last Close month forward. If not present;
• We depend on the Forecast Formula.

Performance boost for multiplayer

Have you ever experienced Runway flashing or hanging when another user is making changes in your organization at the same time? This happens because Runway automatically reloads in your browser when changes are made by others, ensuring you always have access to the most up-to-date data. While this is useful, it can also disrupt your workflow. We've made some improvements to ensure that reloading only occurs when necessary, reducing its frequency. This should result in a smoother multiplayer experience in Runway.

Last, but not least, Elysa shipped several Plans bug fixes and UX improvements🐛

This was the second week of our KTLO efforts — we upgraded dependencies, increased test coverage and improved alerting to continue raising the bar on how we continue iterating on Runway while being responsive to all of your feedback.

In conjunction with a litany of behind-the-scenes improvements that are making Runway more reliable, secure, and performant, here are some fixes you'll see in the app:

• Adam added a new keyboard shortcut ⌘ or ctrl + / for toggling the state of the navigation sidebar!
• Jonathan made an improvement to our page routing system that should make navigating to a Runway page via a link snappier.

We are shifting back into our regularly scheduled product work next week. We're excited for our investments in Keeping The Lights On to help our team continue moving quickly to keep improving Runway for you.

This week, the primary focus across the Engineering team is "Keep the Lights On" (KTLO) 💡

Although this work might not result in immediate visible product changes, it is crucial for maintaining top-notch customer service and product quality. The team is exploring various aspects, including upgrading the libraries we use, enhancing our system alerting and monitoring to detect emerging issues promptly, and improving our testing suite to reduce and prevent regressions, among others.

Simultaneously, Jonathan and Selasi have made enhancements to the performance of drivers' tables. These improvements are most noticeable when:

• Scrolling through a lengthy drivers table on the same model or page.
• Navigating between models or pages that contain drivers tables you've previously loaded.

That is for this week! Thanks for your continuous feedback 🙌

Hello! This week at Runway, we've been cooking up some exciting new updates. From streamlining Plans to boosting system performance, here’s what’s new and improved! 🤌

Default plans

We've simplified the Plans feature to make it more intuitive and user-friendly. Now, all edits will initially appear under a "Default Plans" group until you intentionally reassign them. This puts you in full control of organizing and naming your Plans, and makes it even easier to auto-group with AI!

Filter plans by name

You can now easily filter Plans by name on your pages. This allows you to showcase only the Plans you want to share, without including irrelevant ones that happen to impact the same model or database.

Merge screen enhancements

We've made the merge screen clearer and more comprehensive:

• Database column changes are now consolidated into one section per database, making it easier to review all changes at once.
• More changes to drivers (e.g., colors, references, names, precision) are now surfaced, providing a complete picture of what's been modified.

Database improvements

We've made numerous enhancements to databases to improve your workflow and experience. Expect a smoother ride while working with your data, especially with copy paste.

Performance boosts

Behind the scenes, we've deployed a number of optimizations and fixes to make Runway snappier and we're cooking up even more. Enjoy a more seamless planning experience.

Keyboard navigation in filters

Zip through formula filter menus using your keyboard's left and right arrow keys, even when the menu is open. It's like flipping through the 3 Body Problem!

And more!

• Squashed pesky bugs to keep things running smoothly
• Fine-tuned integrations for faster data syncing
• Polished up parts of the app for even better contrast

Another week in the books, and the engineering team continues to keep digging into every nook and cranny of the product to ensure that working in Runway feels intuitive, with several quality of life fixes coming in hot this week.

Huge shoutout to Xavier and Shinjini for leading the charge on the following improvements!

Formula editing is safer

• When you have focus on a formula pill in the editor, typing will not overwrite your formula value so you don't lose your work.
• Better handling of trailing whitespace when writing formulas with numbers in them to not inadvertantly create drivers.
• Made database columns easier to find in the formula search menu
• Fixed a bug where users could enter a jumpy hover menu state when selecting drivers to add to a block near the bottom of a page.

Filtering is more usable

• There's now auto-focus on the search input when opening a filter dropdown list: This lets you get right to searching for the values you want when filtering down your data.
• More natural upranking of selected items in filter dropdowns: This lets you quickly keep an eye on what's currently selected in a filter, so nothing falls through the cracks.

Copy-paste works more reliably

• Handle pasting in accounting-formatted values for "0" from Excel and other spreadsheet tools. Previously, these would mistakenly cause a type mismatch.
• More reliable driver initialization in databases on copy-paste, as well as when opening the detail pane. This ensures that as soon as you want to interact with a driver, it's there for you.
• Fixed a bug where copy-paste was not working when databases were "viewed as" a driver grid.
• Fixed a bug where copy-paste in databases used to not paste values on both sides of "Last Close".

Nichole from the Engineering team started this week with the mindset of "a little goes a long way," and she's been busy making some quality of life improvements.

Firstly, you can now display a legend in line charts that compare multiple scenarios or snapshots. To do this, simply click on "Show legend" at the top of the chart. It’s been long overdue but we’re thrilled to say it’s here 🚀

Next, when you're examining a driver's detailed view, the horizontal scroll of the driver and its dependencies (inputs, used by, plans) are synchronized. This makes it much easier to tie data from the same time frame.

Lastly, similar to the previous point, when inspecting a plan, the horizontal scroll is now synchronized between the plan's block and the inspector.

We're back from a team offsite in Nashville and have some new updates coming your way!

Driver changes are now fully scoped to scenarios

We've made significant updates to how driver changes are handled within scenarios to boost your confidence and clarity in modeling. Experiment freely with driver updates scoped to scenarios and understand your updates with a clarified "Review and Merge" screen.

You can see a detailed list of actions now scoped to scenarios, and a full overview of the changes, in a fresh Help Center article here.

Improved comparison view

You can now configure how snapshots or scenario data is shown (as rows, or as columns) when conducting forecast comparisons or BvA!

Bug fixes and small improvements

• There was an issue where integration syncs could leave extraneous drivers in your workspace, resulting in duplicated data. This has now now corrected.
• The formula filter selection menu is now sorted alphabetically, and selected items are pulled to the top of the list for scannability.
• We’ve shipped an improved view for raw integration output so you can see your query results in raw form - it’s much faster for viewing large data and confirming it’s as you expect.
• We’ve reduced visual clutter in comparison views and BvAs by representing zero variance as a - .

Reference drivers anywhere

This week, we've introduced the long-awaited ability to use the same driver across all your submodels and pages with ease! Say goodbye to creating separate drivers for P&L Revenue, Balance Sheet Revenue, and Sales Revenue just to reference the same variable.

Format drivers in databases

The same format menu you know and love, now available in your dimensional databases!

Monopoly man retires

It's with a mix of emotions we bid farewell to our beloved Monopoly Man, marking the end of an era. As he retires, we honor his invaluable contributions and welcome a new era of more understandable and less intrusive error messages

Bug squash & quality of life updates

• Navigate directly to the dimension management menu from a database column's property menu - quite handy for those with several similar dimensions.
• Actuals formula columns now stay empty until explicitly defined, preventing confusion with forecast formulas.
• Formulas can now reliably be set when creating a new dimensional driver in a database.
• Dimensional drivers can now be used as a time offset when building formulas. Previously, using dimensional values as a time reference returned a null value.
• Dimensional drivers in databases can now be renamed.

Workspaces & nested navigation

Create Workspaces in Runway to group assets together: model, database, or page. This is great for collaboration and organization, allowing your teammates to find what they need quickly. Additionally, you can nest and collapse resources to slim down your navigation panel.

Permissions for Workspaces coming this summer!

Database lookup columns

Think v-lookups, but for 2024. Use plain English to link multiple databases together, and clearly specify the column you'd like to fill in values by. This functionality is currently available on dimensional databases - if you have questions or would like to enable them for your organization, please let your CX rep know.

Scenario emojis and descriptions

From the world of fan-favorite requests, you can now add descriptions and emojis to your scenarios - happy planning!

Bulk provisioning

Inviting the whole team just got faster! You can enter comma-separated lists to Share sheets, allowing you to share that investor report with your board in seconds.

Create drivers from Pages

No need to navigate back to the source model - build out new drivers right as you plan in Pages.

User presence in Pages

See your teammates in Runway pages! This feature unlocks new levels of collaboration, ensuring stakeholders are following along with live presentations and understanding when your team might be making updates async.

Scenarios navigation

We've moved scenario navigation and other settings to the top navigation bar to make it more clear when you're in a draft state. It's also now much faster for admins to review and merge work back to Main using the ⌘/ctrl + shift + M shortcut. If the shortcut is used when the merge comparison window is open (or if you use the shortcut twice in succession), the layer will be committed to its parent. Lots more changes are coming soon in the world of scenarios - stay tuned!

Sharing resources with invited users

In our last release note, we shared that you can now invite users from the Settings menu. We've expanded work here to include provisioning resources to invited users. Now, you can invite users via email and then set up access rights for Members and Managers so the workspace is fully provisioned when they land in Runway for the first time. More details on Roles & Permissions in Runway here!

Different drivers, same name

Drivers can be created with the same name in multiple places! This was a perennial thorn in the side of...well, everyone. Now, you can create things like Income for your P&L, Balance Sheet, and growth model without naming conflicts.

Formula editor

Our formula editor got a lot of love this week! Enjoy lots of quality-of-life updates in one of the most heavily trafficked features of Runway including:

• Auto-save formulas in databases - no more lost WIPs!
• All formula filters now use the same filter menu
• Better navigate the formula editor via keyboard with smoother arrow handling
• Dimensional attribute colors are now present in the formula editor
• Selected attributes in dimensional driver menus stay at the top of the list