Dynamic Planning - Troubleshooting

This message indicates that you are attempting to update a model’s dimension (e.g., appending or modifying members) while the model is in a Generated state. Updates to dimensions are only allowed when the model is in either a Not Generated or Locked state.

How to Resolve

You have two options depending on the type of changes you are making:

Lock the Model

Use this option if you are adding or modifying dimension members without clearing model data.

1. Navigate to Model > Setup.

2. Select the relevant model.

3. From the Actions toolbar, choose Lock Model.

4. Go to Model > Dimension and make your updates.

5. When finished, Unlock the model and re-run any required aggregation calculations.

Clear the Model

Use this option for structural changes, such as:

• Adding or removing dimensions

• Changing dimension types (Key vs. Value)

• Modifying parent or root-level structure

1. Navigate to Model > Setup.

2. Select the model.

3. From the Actions toolbar, choose Clear Model.

4. This action removes all data, but retains dimensions and structure.
   Note: Make your dimension updates as needed.

5. Regenerate and aggregate the model when complete.

Best Practice

Always back up your model before performing a Clear Model action.

1. Go to Manage > Application Administration > Model Backup/Restore.

This message appears in Spotlight Web or SpotlightXL when an action such as opening a view, creating a report, or running a calculation is attempted without a model selected.

What It Means

The system is expecting a valid model but none is provided either because:

• A model has not been selected.

• The selected model is no longer available (renamed, deleted, or not visible due to permission restrictions).

How To Resolve

1. Check Model Selection

• Ensure a model is explicitly selected before running an action.

• In Spotlight Web or SpotlightXL, go to the relevant task (e.g., Analyze, Report, or Model).

• Use the dropdown to choose a valid model from the list.

2. Verify Saved Views or Reports

• The saved item may reference a model that was renamed or deleted.

• Try recreating the view or report and manually select the model.

3. Confirm Model Permissions

• You may not have access to the model.

• If the model does not appear in the dropdown, contact your Planful Admin to confirm your access rights.

4. Clear Corrupt or Cached Configuration

• Clear your browser cache (for Spotlight Web).

• Restart the SpotlightXL add-in.

A #NAME? error in Excel means Excel does not recognize the Spotlight functions.

This happens when:

• The Spotlight add-in is not installed or enabled in Excel.

• The user is not logged in to SpotlightXL (the Excel add-in).

How to Resolve:

• Ensure SpotlightXL add-in is installed and enabled in Excel.

• Log into SpotlightXL using your Planful credentials.

• Refresh the workbook to reconnect the formulas.

1. Verify User Role & Security Access

User Role: Make sure your account is set up as a Power User or Contributor. Reviewer users may only see limited/default views and often cannot access full report data.

Group Access: Confirm you have been added to the right user group(s) in Manage > Group Management. Group security controls access to models, views, and reports.

Model Permissions / Dimension Security: Even if you can open the report, you may be restricted from seeing certain dimension members (e.g., only your department). Check with your admin whether dimension-level security has been applied to your user or group.

2. Check Model Access

Confirm you have access to the underlying model(s) powering the report.

Spotlight reports are tied to models. If you don’t have access to the model or its specific dimensions, the report will appear blank.

3. Confirm POV (Point of View) Selections

Some reports open with a default POV (e.g., Company, Scenario, or Time). If your default does not match data intersections you’re allowed to see, you’ll see blanks.

Try changing the POV filters (e.g., switch Scenario from “Plan” to “Actual”) to test if data appears.

4. Validate Report Design vs. Your Permissions

If the report uses substitution variables (like @CurYr@ or @CurMth@), check if those values exist in your accessible data. If your security limits you, you may be pointing to a period/scenario you can’t access.

Check whether the report is built on a Direct Access model. Direct Access respects Platform dimension security, meaning you’ll only see data for members you have access to.

Best Next Steps:

• Ask your Planful admin to confirm your user role, group membership, and model permissions.

• Adjust the POV filters in the report to see if data appears.

• If security is confirmed and the report still does not show data, test by opening the same model in Analyze > Data to confirm whether you can see raw data.

You are cascading a report across multiple leaf-level members whose intersection has no data (e.g., cascading by individual Department and individual Product creates combinations that don’t exist in the model).

How to Resolve

• Cascade at a higher level for at least one dimension (e.g., Department = All Departments or a parent node) so each cascade tab has valid intersections.

• Test the intersection: pick one of the failing combinations in the same view (Version/Time/Entity/etc.) and try a simple retrieval if it is empty, the cascade will fail.

• Adjust filters to include only members that actually intersect (remove deprecated or out-of-scope leaf members).

• If appropriate, enable “skip empty/no-data” behavior in your cascade/run options so nonexistent combos are automatically skipped.

A saved Segment (your member selection set) includes a member that no longer exists, was renamed/moved in the hierarchy, or you no longer have security access to it.

How to Resolve

• Open Segment Manager (or the segment picker), edit the segment, and re-select valid members; save the segment.

• Refresh metadata in Spotlight, then reopen the workbook to ensure the latest hierarchies and member names are loaded.

• Check security/role access to confirm you are allowed to see the member(s).

• Verify the correct hierarchy is selected if the dimension has multiple hierarchies.