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    Signals Overview in File Cabinet
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    Contents

    Signals Overview in File Cabinet

    • 6 Minutes to read
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    Article summary

    All users that already have access to Reports will by default have access to Signals Overview.
    Signals Overview_ Option

    The Signals Overview page has a comprehensive look and feel.

    Signals Overview

    The following is a list of the features on the Signals Overview page:


    Donut Charts

    You can see donut charts of the Total number of GL Combinations processed and the number of GL combinations having High-Risk signals, Medium-Risk signals, and Low-Risk signals, displaying the severity of each GL combination.
    Signals Overview_Donut Chart

    The percentage inside the chart corresponds to the signals' proportion to the total number of signals. While the number beside the donut chart displays the count of the signals.
    Note:
    A user input value is identified as a signal only when it does not lie between the upper and lower ranges generated by the Signals AI engine.


    Total Impact and Peak Impact

    The Total Impact represents the total dollar impact for all the signals of a specific GL combination for the selected fiscal year. For a single GL combination, there could be different Signals with different risk categories. The variances of all those Signals based on the upper range and the lower range (for Signals below the lower range) added together give the Total Impact. Total Impact essentially is the total variance of Signals for a fiscal year.

    The Peak Impact represents the dollar impact for the highest signal available (the one with the highest variance) for a given GL combination for the selected fiscal year. The Peak Impact helps you identify those anomalies that could be a result of typos or fat-finger errors.

    Signals Overview_Total_Peak Impact


    The Total Impact and the Peak Impact are not associated with the Risk Levels. For specific selection criteria, you must sort both the Peak Impact and the Total Impact to get the topmost relevant signals.

    For example, for a given GL combination and fiscal year, there could be a medium-risk signal in June having a higher dollar impact than a high-risk signal in December with a lower dollar impact. In this case, the actuals for all the Decembers across the previous years are within the $1000 to $3000 range. In this case, even $5000 could also be a high-risk signal. Whereas, for June, the actuals are usually very high and range from $500,000 to $1,000,000. Then, even a medium or low-risk signal that is slightly off the normal range could have a much larger dollar impact than the high risk in December.


    Comparing Total Impact and Peak Impact:

    When we consider the Total Impact, the presence of multiple low-dollar impacts averages out the one or two high-dollar impacts. While Peak Impact captures the fat-finger error cases, the Total Impact captures cases that are not planned well or are planned with conscious changes in planning assumptions, etc.

    For example, in situations where the business has taken a conscious planning change and allocated a higher budget for a GL combination for the selected fiscal year, there is a possibility that all 12 months have low-risk signals, and the total dollar impact is also a decent number, say $80,000. This number could deprioritize a fat-finger error case for a different GL combination in March. The month of March has just one Signal where the numbers range from $6,000 to $10,000 and there is a signal because $60,000 was input instead of $6,000. This will be captured by the Peak Impact and help you analyze these issues.


    Signal Context

    When you are on the Signal details grid, you can click any row in the grid to view the corresponding signal's context.
    Signals Overview_ Grid

    The Signal Context pop-up is displayed containing the signal's GL combination, a data table, and a graph that showcases all the required information on the signals.
    Signals Overview_Signal ContextThe data table contains:


    • The scenario for the entire fiscal year of the selected row.

    • The upper and lower ranges are generated by the AI engine.

    • The historical actuals used for Model Training.

    Note:
    The historical actuals are displayed only up to the past six years.

    The graph displays the same information visually, explaining why it was marked as a signal. By default, the graph has the upper and lower ranges and the scenario, but it also lets you see the historical actuals by clicking on the actual data label displayed below the graph.

    Note:
    By enabling the Chart Only toggle, you can view the entire graph.
    Signal Context_Chart Only
    The pop-up displays data for all the months in the entire fiscal year to demonstrate the trend and seasonality present in the data; this helps users better understand the signal.

    Signal Context_Pop up

    This functionality provides you the ease of viewing the data trend of a selected dimension for the entire fiscal year and comparing it with the historical actuals. You can view actual data for multiple years and view their trend along with the selected scenario, upper range, and lower range. It gives you a better understanding of every signal.

    Signal Context_Trend Data

    You can click on the PDF icon available on the top right side of the Signal Context screen to download a snapshot of the signal context. This provides you with the flexibility to view and analyze the signal context offline.


    Comment

    The Comment functionality helps you collaborate with colleagues or peers to collectively address potential anomalies.

    How to use Dynamic Commentary in Signals Overview?

    1. Navigate to Reports > Signals Overview.
    2. Click on any signal cell to open Signal Context.
    3. Right-click on any cell where you want to add a comment.
    4. Select Comment from the options.
      Signal Context_Comment
      The Leave a comment pop-up appears.
      Leave a comment
    5. If you choose to leave a comment without assigning any task, click Comment.
    6. If you choose to assign a task to a collaborator, leave a comment by using + or @to mention a collaborator on a comment or assign a comment as a task to the collaborator.
      Comment_ Assign

      Note:
      The collaborator should be an active Planful user.
    7. Enable the Assign to <username>checkbox and fill in the following details:
      • Title of the task
      • Due date of the task
      • Priority level of the task
        Comment_Create Task

    8. Once you have filled in these details, you can click Create Task.
      Note:
      You can view the created tasks in the Task Manager.
    9. Once you have commented on a cell, a blue comment icon will appear on the top right corner of that cell.
      Comment_Blue icon
      You can click the Blue icon to view the comment trail on that cell.
      Comment Trail

      Note:
      Once a comment has been resolved, the blue comment icon will automatically disappear from the cell.
    10. Once a comment has been posted, you can do the following tasks:
      • Resolve
      • Edit
      • Highlight
      • Delete Thread
        Comment_Options

      Notes:
      • Only the assignee of a task can mark a comment as Resolve.
      • Only the creator of the comment can delete the comment.


    Drill Through

    Drill Through allows you to view and analyze all financial, operational, capital, workforce, and transactional data for that Signal from a single place.

    For more information on the drill through functionality, refer to Enhanced Drilling on Dynamic Report Output.

    How to Drill Through the Signals?

    1. Navigate to Reports > Signals Overview.
    2. Click on any signal cell to open Signal Context.
    3. Right-click on the Signal for which you want to view the Drill Through.
    4. Click Drill Through from the options.
      Signal Context_Drill Through
      The Drill Through page is appears with the all data tabs to display the GL combination.
      DrillThrough_2(1)
    5. Scroll the page to the right and click on the reference given under the Doc Ref column.
      DrillThrough_3(1)
      You will be redirected to the input sheet from where the data for the selected GL combination is stored.
      DrillThrough_4(1)


    Resolve Signals

    Resolve signals for single or multiple cells in the Signal Context screen of Signals Overview, Dynamic Reports, and Templates.

    Signal Context_Resolve Signals Pane

    How to Resolve Signals in Signals Overview?

    1. Navigate to Reports > Signals Overview.
    2. Click on any signal cell to open Signal Context.
    3. Right-click on the signal(s) for which you want to resolve.
    4. Click Resolve Signals from the options.
      Signal Context_Resolve Button
      The Resolve Signals pane will appear.
      Resolve Signals_Screen
    5. Select the reason for resolution from a list of pre-existing options.
      Resolve Signals_Select Reason
      Note:
      If you resolve multiple signals simultaneously, the same reason will be applied to all.
    6. You can leave a comment or add other collaborators by using + or @ in the comment field.
    7. Click the Resolve button.
      Resolve Signals_Resolve Button
      The resolved signal will appear as a comment in the report. The comment will display the original cell value, the reason for resolving the signal, and any additional comment provided while resolving the signal.
    Note:
    Resolving signals permanently unflags the cells with the specified GL Combination and value(s), and the signal(s) will be marked as resolved in all other application areas for the same GL Combination.
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