January 2019 Release Notes

Platform/Common: Default Behavior for Alphanumerically Sorted Data Load Rules

We changed the default behavior on the Data Load Rule List page and Data Load Log report so that all Data Load Rules (DLRs) are automatically sorted alphanumerically. Sorting alphanumerically allows you to more quickly identify a Data Load Rule without scrolling through the lists.

If you sort on any column on the Data Load Rule List page, navigate away and then return to the same page, the sorting is retained. For example in Screenshot B (below), the Created By column is selected and the DLRs are sorted on that basis and will continue to display in this sort order unless sorted another column is sorted.

Screenshot A

Screenshot B

In Practice: Sorting Data Load Rules on the Data Load Rule List Page

1. Navigate to Maintenance > DLR > Data Load Rules.

2. When a user navigates to this screen, they would see the Data Load Rules (DLRs) displayed in the alphanumeric sort order by default as shown in Screenshot A.

In Practice: Sorting Data Load Rules on the Data Load Log Report Page

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Audit > Data Load Audit Log.

2. Click the Select Criteria tab.

3. Click the Data Load Rule field to display Data Load Rules for selection. Notice the DLRs are sorted alphanumerically.

   

Platform/Common: NetSuite Connect Update

We’ve simplified and streamlined the steps to load your data through NetSuite Connect.

Configuring NetSuite

Before you can configure NetSuite Connect in Host, you must perform some setup within NetSuite by following the steps below.

1. Enable Token Based Authentication (a one-time activity):

Perform these steps when the feature is not enabled. If the feature is already enabled, proceed to the next steps.

1. Navigate to Setup > Company > Enable Features.

2. Click Enable Features.

3. The last tab is SuiteCloud. Click it.

4. Scroll down to the SuiteScript section.

5. Select the SERVER SUITESCRIPT checkbox.

   

6. Scroll to SuiteTalk (Web Services) and select the WEB SERVICES checkbox.

   

7. Scroll to Manage Authentication and select the TOKEN-BASED AUTHENTICATION checkbox and save.

   

2. Create an Integration Application (a one-time activity).

This step will result in generation of a Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. This screen will be displayed only once. Make note of the content displayed as it is to be used while setting up a Saved Search in Host.

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration > Manage Integrations.

2. Click Manage Integrations or click New.

3. Fill in the name and select Enabled for State and Token-Based Authentication.

4. Click Save.

   

   

3. Generate an Access Token (a one-time activity).

Step 3a and 3b will result in the generation of a Token ID and Token Secret. Please choose between step a) or b) depending on user type.

1. If the token is generated for a user with an Administrator role, that Administrator must create the token. This step cannot be performed by any other user or Administrator.

   1. Navigate to Home > Settings > Manage Access Tokens.

   2. Click New > My Access Token.

   3. Select the Application Name and click Save.

      

2. If the token is generated for a user with a role other than Administrator, this step can be performed by any user or Administrator.

   Enabling the User Access Token at Role level:

   1. Navigate to Setup > User/Roles > Manage Roles.

   2. Edit the Role mapped to the user.

   3. For Permissions > Setup, add the Permission User Access Tokens with a Full Level and click Save.

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   Generating the Access Tokens:

   1. Navigate to Setup > User/Roles > Access Tokens.

   2. Click Access Tokens or click New.

   3. Select the Application Name, User and Role. Click Save.

      

The screen below will be displayed only once. Make note of the information on this screen as it will be used while setting up a Saved Search in Host.

4. Install the bundle for SuiteScript in NetSuite (a one-time activity)

1. Navigate to Customization > SuiteBundler > Search & Install Bundles.

2. Find NetSuite Connect and select it.

3. Click Install as shown on the screen below.

   

4. Once you click Install, the page below is displayed, click Install Bundle.

   

5. Find Host_NetSuiteConnect within the NetSuite browser and click Page:Host_NetSuiteConnect.

   

6. Click View.

   

Make note of the External URL as this information is used while setting up NetSuite Connect in Host.

5. Create a Saved Search in NetSuite (a one-time activity)

1. Navigate to Reports > Saved Searches > All Saved Searches.

2. Click All Saved Searches or New.

3. Select PUBLIC and save to make the Saved Search available for use and consumption in Host.

   

4. Create the Saved Search with the required columns that can be used to map to the columns in Host while loading data. For example, in the screenshot below, the Fiscal Year and Fiscal Month columns have been created as custom fields and are used in the Saved Search to display as separate columns so that they can be mapped to separate columns as required in Host.

   

   Here is an example of an existing Subsidiary Public Saved Search.

   

Configuring NetSuite Connect in Host and Loading Data via Data Load Rules

Use NetSuite Connect for seamless native integration between Planful and NetSuite. Perfect for those customers with source data and metadata in NetSuite. You will use Data Load Rules (example provided below) or Web Services to extract the data and metadata (Data and Segment Hierarchies) from NetSuite Saved Searches, which you will create. Once created, no technical expertise is needed to modify the saved searches.

Token-based authentication between Host and NetSuite is used to secure your connection between the two applications. Steps to complete the Planful configuration (NetSuite Profile) are provided below.

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks > Cloud Services.

2. Click the NetSuite Connect tab as shown below.

   

3. Click Add to create a NetSuite Profile. You need to create a profile to establish the connection between Host and NetSuite. Data can be pulled from multiple NetSuite databases. You can create multiple profiles corresponding to each database. The Configure Profile screen appears.

   

4. Enter a name for the profile.

5. Enter the Token ID and the Token Secret generated and provided by NetSuite (result of step 3). Tokens are used to authenticate and authorize data to transfer over the internet.

6. For Consumer Key and Consumer Secret, NetSuite will provide this information once a new integration record is created (result of step 2). Consumer Key is the API key associated with NetSuite. It identifies the client.

7. The RESTlet url is the External URL. A Router is a RESTlet that helps to associate a URI to the RESTlet or the Resource that will handle all requests made to this URI. In plain terms this means that the url provides a route from Host to NetSuite.

8. Enter your NetSuite Account ID in the Account ID field.

9. Click Save. Your configuration will look something like the image below.

   

Once the Profile is saved successfully, the NetSuite user will receive an email from NetSuite. The subject of the email will say, “A User Error Has Occurred”. Please ignore this email. This email will be sent using the user’s email and it will show up in the Sent folder. When you configure the NetSuite Profile in Host, Host sends the user credentials along with the Saved Search ID as a ‘0’. Upon receipt of the response that there exists no Saved Search with the ID ‘0’, the user's credentials are validated. If the user's credentials are invalid, then Host does not receive the response and it will not allow the user's credentials to be saved to create a Profile. The email is sent every time a Profile is created, or an existing Profile is re-saved. An example email is shown below.

6. Now that configuration is complete, create a Data Load Rule (DLR) to load NetSuite Data via the Saved Search. Follow the steps below.

1. Navigate to Maintenance > DLR > Data Load Rules.

2. Click the New Data Load Rule tab.

3. Enter a name for the DLR.

4. For Load Type, select NetSuite Connect as shown below.

   

5. Select to load Segment Hierarchies, GL Data or Transaction Data. These are the only supported load type items at this time.

6. For Connection Profile, select the name of the profile configured above. In this case it was called NS User.

7. Select a Load Sub Item and click Next.

8. Select the NetSuite Saved Search in the Select Sample Input File and then complete all remaining tabs as you would when creating a DLR.

   

9. For the Define Data Mappings step, map the Saved Search Source Column to the column in Host using the Maps To column. The screenshot below shows how you filter the data to be loaded at the segment level using the Filter Condition (Include/Exclude) and segment codes as Filter Values (use commas to separate).

   

It is recommended that you create a Cloud Scheduler Process in Host to run the DLR. To do so, follow the steps below.

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Admin > Cloud Scheduler > Process Flow.

2. Create a Process Flow and add tasks with the Data Load Rule task type.

3. Select the DLR just created and schedule it to run. Below is a screenshot of a Scheduled Process for GL Data where the Period selected is Current Financial Year.

   

For detailed information on how to set up processes in Cloud Scheduler, see the Cloud Scheduler guide.

NetSuite Connect Limitations

1. If a Saved Search contains any summary fields (such as Sum, Max, Min, etc.) in the results, then it cannot be loaded to Host.

2. If the Saved Search contains any multi select fields in the results, then those fields cannot be loaded to Host.

3. The Web Services API will not fetch / retrieve "CreditCard" and "Transfer" type records.

NetSuite Saved Search Best Practices

1. Have separate columns in the Saved Search for a one-to-one mapping in the Host Data Load Rule. For example, if you have Period in a NetSuite Saved Search, the month and year are combined, which cannot be loaded to Host. You will want to map Fiscal Year and Fiscal Month as separate columns and load to Host.

2. For Fiscal Month, use the formula below for the custom field in the Transaction body field

   TO_CHAR(to_date(ConCat('01 ', {postingperiod}), 'dd.mm.yyyy'), 'MM')

3. For Fiscal Year, use the formula below for the custom field in the Transaction body field

   SUBSTR({postingperiod},4,6)

4. If any of the segment members are blank in NetSuite transactions, for example, Location, then the formula below for the custom field in the Transaction body field can be used to populate Null with default value. The below formula uses DEFAULT as a placeholder for the default value.

   NVL({location}, 'DEFAULT')

Planning: Offline Planning Prerequisite Update

If you are using the Offline Planning Add-In, please ensure you’ve completed one of the prerequisites below. Prerequisites are required due to the nature of Excel, which enforces security to ensure unknown Add-Ins are executed only with explicit approval from the user.

1. Enable Planful URL in Trusted Sites

2. Unblock in Excel Properties

In Practice: Enable Planful URL in Trusted Sites

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click the gear icon and select Internet Options.

3. Click the Security tab.

4. Click Trusted sites.

5. Click Sites.

   

6. Add the following website https://*.hostanalytics.com as shown below.

In Practice: Unblock in Excel Properties

1. Select the Excel file and right-click.

2. Select Properties. The Properties dialog page appears with the General tab selected by default.

3. Click Unblock and then click Apply.

   

Modeling 2.7.2: SpotlightXL and Spotlight for Office Client Requirements

As of February 1, 2019, Planful will support only TLS 1.2. We require all customers who are using either Spotlight or Modeling to do two steps:

• Upgrade to Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2

• Upgrade to the latest Spotlight Add-in which will be released on January 18, 2019

By upgrading to Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2, you will also get TLS 1.2. Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is an industry standard designed to protect the privacy of information communicated over the Internet.

Users with ClickOnce, which provides automatic installation of the latest client software, will need to have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 previously installed as of January 18, 2019.

Users who manually install the January 2019 client software will need to have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 also.

More specifically, on February 1, the Planful production servers will be upgraded to support TLS 1.2. At that time, any users who have not already upgraded to the January 2019 Add-In must do so at that time. Modeling will not be backward compatible with the December and November Add-Ins after Feb 1, 2019.

We provided earlier notification of this change in releases from September through December 2018.

MS Office Users

If you are using Spotlight for Office (SpotlightXL, PPT, Word) or just SpotlightXL and you do not have .NET Framework 4.7.2 installed, then you will be affected by this change. You must update the .NET Framework to 4.7.2 as early as possible. With the January 2019 release, all users who do not have .NET Framework 4.7.2 installed will not be able to access the Spotlight Add-Ins.

If you do not have .NET Framework 4.7.2, then you will see a message on the menu ribbon:

.NET Framework needs to be upgraded. We recommend to do it at the earliest.

Browser Users

If you use any of the modern browsers to log in to Planful (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE 10 and above), you will NOT be affected by this change. All the modern browsers already support TLS 1.2. If you are using lower versions of IE and use TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1, please upgrade to TLS 1.2 by upgrading your .NET Framework.

Upgrading to .NET Framework 4.7.2

1. When the January 2019 release (2.7.2) is available, please download the latest Add-In and navigate to the SpotlightXL tab. Or if you used ClickOnce for automatic upgrades, you can just navigate to the SpotlightXL tab.

2. If you do not have .NET Framework 4.7.2, then you will see a message at the top ribbon.

   

3. If you see the message that .NET Framework needs to upgraded, then you need to upgrade the .NET Framework to 4.7.2. To upgrade the .NET Framework to 4.7.2, you need to have Admin rights on your PC, otherwise you can reach out to your IT team to upgrade it.

4. If .NET Framework 4.7.2 is already installed, then you do not need to do anything and there will not be any impact for you to access the application.

Where to Download .NET Framework 4.7.2

https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/dotnet-framework-runtime

How to Determine Which .NET Framework is Installed

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/migration-guide/how-to-determine-which-versions-are-installed

For Additional Information, Refer to the Links Below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/secauthn/transport-layer-security-protocol

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3140245/update-to-enable-tls-1.1-and-tls-1.2-as-a-default-secure-protocols-in-winhttp-in-windows

Modeling 2.7.2: Support for _Attribute_Default in Direct Access to PCR Models

In this release, we have added support for views and reports that include the _Attribute_Default member of an Attribute dimension in a Direct Access to PCR model. This special member is used to denote members of the base dimension that have not been mapped to an attribute in an Attribute dimension.

Modeling 2.7.2: Minor Enhancement to Web Reporting in Spotlight (Web)

In November 2018, we introduced an opt-in replacement for Reporting on the Web. The Web Reporting feature offers support for Excel formulas and a Formula bar, and Suppress Rows and Columns.

In this release, we are making the formula bar expanding and collapsing so users can see all the details on long formulas. Simply click the arrow to expand or collapse the formula bar.

Modeling 2.7.2: API Enhancements for External Source Models 

In November 2018, we released methods for working with External Source Models. In this release, we have updated the existing Clear Data API to support the ESM and added an API, Export Leaf-Level Data for ESM.

 API added:

• Export Leaf-Level Data (Scoped) (External Source Models)

Existing API updated:

• Clear Data (External Source Models)

External Source Models APIs that support the new implementation of ESM are marked with the icon .

Modeling 2.7.2: Improved Error Messaging when Copying Data from an External Source Model to a Master Model

When using a calculation to execute an ExternalSourceMap, records from an external source model are copied to a Master Model.  While the map is running, if the copy operation fails due to invalid dimension members, a listing of up to 100 invalid members will be added to the calculation notification, emailed to the user running the calculation, and the map execution will stop. After reviewing the email, the user has the opportunity to review the map, data, and master model and take necessary actions to correct the errors. The calculation can then be run again until no invalid members are found.

As part of this improvement, mismatched upper and lower case characters will be ignored when mapping fields in an external source model to dimension members in the master model.

Heads Up! The following Planning/Common functionality will be delivered with the Winter19 release

Platform/Common: Additional Flexibility for GL Data - Data Load Rule using NetSuite Connect

Once the Winter19 release (available in February) is applied to your application, when creating a Data Load Rule to load GL Data, you will no longer be able to map Fiscal Year and Fiscal Month columns in the Define Data Mapping step as shown in the image below.

Once Winter19 is delivered, these columns will no longer be available. Instead, were adding flexibility so that you can map ANY type of date to the Date column and load data based on that mapping.

You will need to complete the following steps for GL Data - NetSuite Connect Data Load Rules once the Winter19 release is applied to your application:

1. Access the Data Load Rule.

2. Open it and navigate to the Define Data Mappings page.

3. Map the source Date column to the target Date type column.

4. Run the Data Load Rule.