Sharing a Model

Last updated on 2025-03-03

Overview

Once you have built a model, you will probably want to share it with others. By default, only you have access to your model, so you'll need to specify how you want to share it with others. 

Inviting Other Users to View or Edit

To invite others to view or edit a model, click the Share button in the toolbar.

If you only want certain people to be able to access your model, enter their e-mail address in the Invite new users dialog, and select the level of access you want to grant them. This option requires the other people to have their own xP&A account.

The dialog 'Invite new users' is displayed. Dialog to share a model

The following options are available: 

  • Full access: share and edit spreadsheet and dashboard
  • Can edit: edit spreadsheet and dashboard
  • Can view: see the model dashboard only
     

If your model is linked to other models, you will be prompted if you would like to:

  • Apply the sharing settings for all connected models at once
  • Only apply the sharing settings to the current model. For example, you might want to only share a summary P&L, but keep sensitive data within the headcount model private (i.e. salaries).
     

If you regularly share your model/s with the same group of people, you can share directly with your team (e.g. Finance Team), or organization (e.g. Company X).

Notes:

Publishing via Public or Private Link

You can also share models via a URL, which is useful if you do not want someone to have to create an account to view your model/dashboard.

Navigate to the Publish section in the Share dialog and publish your model. Once published, copy the model's link, and send it to people.

People with this link can view the model dashboard only.

Notes: 

  • Public links are easy to guess, so unintended viewers may come across your model.
  • Private links require a unique token in the URL for added security, so you can be sure that only people you send it to will be able to view the model (unless they decide to send it to other people).
  • Privately published linked models are not accessible via the same link, unless they share the same token. If you would like all linked models to be accessed from the same private link, simply enter the same token when publishing each linked model. You can use the xP&A-generated token, or enter your own one.
  • When sharing via public or private link, you can give viewers the ability to clone your model to use themselves. This is useful for things like templates.
Sharing Views of a Model

If you only want to share part of your model, you can create a view and share just that view.

Note: You need Full/Admin access to the model in order to share views.

To share a view:

  1. Navigate to the desired view and click Share.

    Option to share a view
  2. On the Share tab, start adding the desired users. Choose if the users can view or edit (see following table).

Option

Description

Can edit

  • User can make live edits to anything visible to them in the view.
  • When you share a view with someone else with edit access, they are only allowed to make certain edits to the model. In general, they can only update the variables and dimensions that are visible, and they cannot make any structural changes to the model. Here are the changes that are allowed:

If you have a view that filters a certain dimension to only include some items, users you share that view with can only update those items. They can:

  • Rename the items (e.g. rename “Engineering” to “AI”)
  • Update the formulas for those items (e.g. change Projected Equipment Costs from $100,000 to $200,000 for the Sales department)
     

These permissions also account for mappings. For example, if you have a dimension called Employees, where each employee is mapped to a Department, and you share a view including the Engineering department, then the person you share with can:

  • Add Engineering employees
  • Remove Engineering employees currently mapped to the Engineering department
  • Rename Engineering employees
  • Update formulas for Engineering employees (e.g. change Base Salary from $100,000 to $120,000 for a certain employee)
     

If the person you share with tries to make a change they’re not allowed to make, xP&A will block the change and notify them.

If the view you share filters out certain variables, then users will neither be able to see nor update those hidden variables.

If the view you share filters out certain scenarios, then users will neither be able to see nor update those hidden scenarios.

If a variable does not have any special formula in a scenario, its value will fall back to the default scenario. Make sure you filter out any variables you don't want a user to see, if they are unchanged from the default scenario.

Can view

  • User can view model dashboard only, edits are not permitted.
  • If someone has access to a model and to a view within that model, they will be able to see both.
  • See Filter types for the best way of setting up your view to ensure what is visible is exactly as intended. We suggest previewing your view before you share it, if there is sensitive info.
Embedding Your Model

You can embed your model on your own website, blog, or 3rd party tools like Notion and Medium. To get the embed code of a model: 

  1. Open the model.
  2. Click Share at the top right.
  3. Share your model via Public or Private Link.
  4. Click Copy code.
Additional Settings

On the Settings tab, you have the following options:

  • Allow cloning as a template: When sharing the model with other users, the users can duplicate this model to use it as a template. For more infromation, see Clonig a model.
  • Allow access to spreadsheet (read-only): Activate this option if you want to allow other users to view your underlying model spreadsheet, without letting them edit it.
The 'Settings' tab of the sharing dialog is displayed. Additional settings when sharing a model

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