When Dropbox FP&A teams need to share links to sensitive information, they set password protection and expiration dates, and disable downloads. “We restrict who has access to certain spreadsheets by protecting sheets or Paper documents by limiting access to only those who are invited to the document to prevent sensitive information from being accessed,” says Lindsay.
5. Keeping reporting packages organized
Lindsay says each financial analyst supports a line of business in the company and works with their business partners to gather information. “We all have our own different ways of how we gather information when we meet with our business partners,” she explains. “Personally, I work in Excel, then I create a Dropbox Paper doc summary of the financial highlights and key insights for the month.”
Because all of the business partners need to present their information together, they keep things organized in a single Dropbox Paper doc.
“Every month, we roll up a financial package that includes each line of business,” Lindsay explains. “This includes input from various analysts providing significant fluctuations or changes in the financial outlook and any risks or opportunities we see as a company,” Lindsay says.
Putting together the monthly reporting packages in a summary Dropbox Paper doc allows everyone to add context around the numbers.
A smart workspace for finance teams
Dropbox recently introduced Dropbox Spaces as the first step in building the smart workspace of the future. So we asked Lindsay how she’d envision a smart workspace for finance teams.
“I have to request input from business partners at various times throughout the month, and I like to do it in the least intrusive way,” she says. “I try to limit the number of reminder emails or follow-ups. If there was a place where we can go for submitted requests or to-do items, that would be helpful—we would have one place to go and also easily track the status of each request. It is easy to lose track of the status if all of them are in your emails.”
Lindsay says her team is often linking to reference documents when they’re requesting input from business partners. But when everything is in the same platform, it saves time. And that’s exactly what the smart workspace does. With Dropbox Spaces, all kinds of files appear in the same place—Excel spreadsheets live alongside cloud docs like Google Sheets.
“I send links to specific Paper docs or specific spreadsheets, but if it's on the same platform, it makes it easier to search for content and keep files organized. When it’s all in one place, it makes it smoother and easier.”