Creating, Editing, and Filtering External Source Model Fields

This option is available for Power and Contributor users. Reviewer users cannot view fields.

In Practice: Filter or Search for a Field

1. In Spotlight Web, navigate to Dynamic Planning > Model.
2. From a Model Box or Model List layout, select the More menu, then select Model Artifacts.
3. Click Fields.
4. Click the Filter icon.
5. Type a few characters in the field name. The Model Artifacts Browser dynamically refreshes to show you which fields have those characters in their name.

Viewing Existing ESM Fields

In Practice

1. Login to Spotlight.

2. Select the Model task.

3. Scroll to find the External Source Model you want to view.

4. Click the gray text that says External Source Model.

   
   
   

   The list of existing fields appears.

5. Click a field to view its definition.

   
   
   

6. Click Cancel when done.

Editing Existing ESM Fields

Before you can edit existing Source Model Fields:

• You cannot modify existing fields if a Source Model Map exists because an existing Source Model Map contains mappings from the current list of fields.
• You cannot modify existing fields if the Source Model contains data. You must clear the model first.

In Practice

1. Login to Spotlight.

2. Select the Model task.

3. Scroll to find the External Source Model you want to view.

4. Click the gray text that says External Source Model.

   
   
   

   The list of existing fields appears.

5. Click a field to view its definition.

   
   
   

6. You can change the field name, its data type, its format (for dates), add an expression, and specify whether or not the field is coming from the data load file.

   
   
   

7. When done, click Done. The changes are not saved yet, but you can make changes to other fields before doing a final save on the list of fields.

8. When done making all changes to fields, click the Save button.

   For more details on expressions and formulas, see Creating New ESM Formulas Using Model Manager.

Creating New ESM Fields Using Model Manager

Define a Source Model with fields and types reflecting the structure of the external data source you are copying data from.

• Your external data source is assumed to be a two-dimensional list of transaction-style records where each row provides a piece of data along with fields that describe that data.
• Your external data source may contain a lot of fields that you do not need and you can indicate that they be ignored.
• Your external data source may contain information that is in a different format than you want, so you can transform that data using formulas and expressions.

Before creating new Source Model Fields:

• You cannot create new fields if a Source Model Map exists because an existing Source Model Map contains mappings from the existing list of fields.
• You cannot create new fields if the Source Model contains data. You must clear the model first.

In Practice

1. Login to Spotlight Web.

2. Select the Model task.

3. Scroll to find the External Source Model you want to view.

4. Click the gray text that says External Source Model.

   
   
   

   The list of existing fields, if any, appears.

   
   
   

5. Click ADD. The Create Fields box appears.

6. Click Add Fields. A new field is added with a default type Text. Under Label, enter a name for the field. Continue by adding additional fields.

   
   
   

   The table below provides information on the options available in the Create Field box.

   Type	Select Text, Numeric, Date, Formula, Constant Text, Constant Numeric, or Constant Date, based on the content and purpose of the column in your external data source.
   Label	Enter a name of the field. Fields will be used in the Source Map to identify data from the external data source (CSV, TXT, or other file) that will become dimensions and dimension members, or data. Best Practice: List the fields in the order that they appear in your external data source to make it easier to load the data.
   Format	For Date and ConstantDate types, select the layout that the date or Expression is formatted in.
   Expression For more details on Data Types, Expressions, and Formulas, see External Source Model Field Types, Expressions, and Formulas.	For ConstantText types, enter the text to place into this field. For ConstantDate types, enter the date to place into this field. For ConstantNumeric types, enter the value to place into this field.
   Data Load	Yes indicates that this field is coming directly from the data source, and No indicates that this field is derived from a formula or constant.

   If you make a mistake you can click the trashcan icon to delete a field.

   
   
   

   Note:

   When you add a Formula field, you are adding a placeholder. You will fill in the formula separately.

7. When you are finished, click Done.

   Now you see the fields you added in the list of fields. You can click each item to make changes to the fields.

   
   
   

   If you have added any fields of type Formula, you must fill in the formula before you can save all the fields. See Creating New ESM Formulas below.

8. When done making all changes to fields, click the Save button.