Spring18 Release Notes

MyPlan: Retained In-Memory Actions

A regular day at the office for a Planning user might be to work on their Budget or Forecast and make adjustments for a favorable variance to meet organizational target expectations and goals. In the middle of an adjustment, the user might take a break; needing to save what has been started. Prior to this release, there was no option for a MyPlan user to leave work done for a Budget or Forecast “as is” and resume at a later point in time without having to continuously save all actions.

The Retained In-Memory Actions feature allows MyPlan users to perform actions on their Budget or Forecast, take a break, and return (even a day later) to where they left off without having to continuously save.

Additionally, if a MyPlan user is working on a budget entity, that user can switch to another budget entity without having to submit actions performed on the former budget entity. The same goes for periods. Now, when you change the period in MyPlan, navigate away from MyPlan, or logout, the data is no longer lost. Everything is retained in Activity Manager until you clear it.

For example, change the period from Q1 2018 to Q1 2019. Edit accounts as needed. Now change the period back to Q1 2018. Actions made to accounts for Q1 2019 period will be retained.

MyPlan: Ability to Edit Assets

You now have the ability to edit assets (in addition to adding and deleting assets) from the MyPlan interface. This is beneficial for all MyPlan users as there is no longer a need to access Planning in Contributor Mode to edit assets for a budget or forecast. All edits performed in MyPlan are automatically updated in the Planning application.

In Practice

1. From the MyPlan interface, click the wrench icon as shown below for a Capital account.

2. Select Edit Asset.

3. The Edit Asset pane appears. Select the asset you want to edit by selecting the Source Asset.

4. Adjust the purchase month, depreciation start month, number of units, rate, and asset life as needed. Amount is updated based on unit and rate changes.

5. Click outside of the cell updated. The After Update impact and variance appear as shown below.

6. Click Update. Return to the Forecast/Plan and click Submit for the section in which the Capital account was updated. Once submitted, the update takes place in CAPEX Planning templates.

MyPlan: Ability to Delete Headcount

Delete headcount from the MyPlan interface. This is beneficial for MyPlan users to perform what-if analysis by adding headcount, checking variance, then deleting some of the newly added headcount to eventually reach target values/goals. This feature also allows MyPlan users to delete headcount without a need to access Planning in Contributor mode.

In Practice

1. From the MyPlan interface, click the wrench icon as shown below for a Workforce account.

2. Select Delete Headcount.

3. The Delete Headcount pane appears. Search for an employee by name or number. Type ahead functionality displays a list of available employees as you type.

4. Select the employee you want to delete. The variance and impact to the account from which the employee will be deleted is provided as shown below.

5. Click Delete.

6. On the MyPlan interface, click Submit. Once submitted, the updates take place in Workforce Planning templates.

MyPlan: Ability to Add an Asset Not Yet Budgeted

Prior to this release, the Add Asset option in the MyPlan interface allowed you to add budgeted assets only for a Capital account. So, you could not add assets unless they were based on source assets. However, there are situations where there would be no source assets; for example, when new budget entities are created or assets are not set up .

You now have ability to add assets that are not yet budgeted for from the MyPlan interface.

In Practice

1. From the MyPlan interface, click the wrench icon as shown below for a Capital account.

2. Select Add Asset.

3. The Add Asset pane appears. Search for the asset by name. Type ahead functionality displays a list of available assets as you type. The list is grouped to show budgeted assets and assets not yet budgeted separately.

4. Select the source asset in which you want to base the new asset off.

5. If you select an asset not yet budgeted for, then you need to select the Finance Mode associated with the asset as shown below.

6. Complete remaining fields.

MyPlan: Flexibility in Pane Configuration

Prior to this release, 3 panes were required when configuring MyPlan. Now, you can configure 1, 2, or 3 panes. This flexibility allows Admin users to configure MyPlan to display data as needed.

Best Practices

It is a best practice to have 1 chart pane and 2 data panes. Having too many panes will prevent an optimal display of data. Configuring only 1 pane is a poor use of space as shown below.

MyPlan: Configurations Sort & Copy

Sort and Copy MyPlan configurations. The Sort feature allows you to view configurations in ascending or descending alphanumeric order. The Copy feature saves time when creating new configurations as you can copy an existing configuration and make changes to the copied configuration. We’ve developed these features for ease of use.

In Practice: Sort

1. To sort configurations, access the MyPlan Configurations page by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > MyPlan Configuration.

2. Configurations are displayed in the left pane.

3. Click the up or down arrow (shown in the image below) to sort the list of configurations in ascending or descending alphanumerical order.

In Practice: Copy

1. Select a configuration from the Configurations list by selecting the checkbox.

2. Click the Copy button.

3. A copy of the configuration is made and a message is displayed. Open the copied configuration, and edit as needed.

MyPlan: Account Mapping

The MyPlan Account Mapping screen provides visibility and the ability to control account data displayed in the MyPlan interface for HR and Capital Planning. Once accounts are added to HR and/or Capital Planning modules, they are displayed on the MyPlan Account Mapping screen.

It’s important to note that in general, Admin users will not need to access the Account Mapping screen. This screen is primarily for the following unique cases:

Case 1

Situation: Account mappings of Finance modes (Capital) or Salary Components (HR) are modified subsequent to the posting of data.

Resolution: In this case Admin users need to access the Account Mapping page, click the Refresh button, then Save for each affected area (HR and/or Capital).

Case 2

Situation: An Admin user wants to exclude certain account / segment combinations from MyPlan data and calculations. Or, an Admin wants to include certain accounts in MyPlan data; beyond the accounts that are mapped against the Finance Mode (Capital) or Salary Components (HR).

Resolution: This use case is not yet supported in the current release and will be available in an upcoming release.

In Practice

Under Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks, select MyPlan Account Mapping.

Account Mapping is enabled automatically and the screen below appears with account mapping details for HR and Capital Planning.

On this page, click the HR tab to view HR defined accounts or the Capital tab to view accounts specified during Finance Mode setup. Save the setup to activate these accounts. There are no additional configuration requirements needed. If a new compensation item is added with new accounts, for example, you must open and save this page as mentioned above. It is not updated automatically.

The data in the HR screen is populated from various sources. Using the screen above as an example, the scenarios displayed are mapped from the compensation items / accounts. Only statistical accounts are displayed. Accounts are identified as “statistical” on the Add/Edit Compensation Item page. Access the Compensation Item Add/Edit screen by navigating to Maintenance > HR > Detailed HR and click the Compensation Item tab. Edit or Add a compensation item. Statistical accounts must be selected for the compensation item account in the Settings tab as shown below.

Fund1 and Location1 are populated based on HR Defaults (HR Defaults is accessed by navigating to Maintenance > HR > Detailed HR > click the HR Defaults tab). Future, IC Segment, and Project segments are pulled from the employee allocations section (shown below) available when adding or editing an employee.

As mentioned earlier, the Capital screen is populated in full from defined Finance Modes.

Planning: Template Usability Enhancements

Several Planning template enhancements are available with this release to provide you with additional flexibility and the option to further customize templates.

The following enhancements are now available:

• Formula Bar - Ability to enter and edit formulas from the formula bar

• Freeze Panes - Custom setting based on user

• Template Cell Color - Forecast closed periods will now appear with a white background versus orange by default

Formula Bar

Enter formulas in the formula bar for a template opened from the Planning Control Panel in Input mode. This means that you now have the option to enter the formula in the cell or use the formula bar to create or edit a formula.

In Practice

1. Open a template from the Planning Control Panel in Input mode. To do so, select the scenario, select the entity from the left pane, and select the template from the middle pane.

2. Click Input in the right pane.

3. Select an editable cell (yellow shaded).

4. Click the formula (fx) bar.

5. Enter/edit a formula for the selected cell as needed.

This ability is available for all template types, sublines, and spreads.

User-Specific Freeze Panes

Ability for each user to set their own freeze pane preferences. For example, Jane Doe can set her freeze panes for the BudgetQ12019 template (from the Planning Control Panel - Template Input page) and John Doe can set his freeze panes as desired for the same template. Even if Jane and John have different freeze pane settings, the template will display accordingly based on their selections.

Template Cell Color

The background cell color for closed periods of Forecast Scenarios is now white by default. Previously it was orange by default. However, Admin users can opt to have any background color for closed periods.

Consolidation: Retained Earnings Roll Forward

This feature provides an automated way to roll forward the retained earnings at the end of a financial year to the Cumulative Retained Earnings at the beginning of the next financial year. This is beneficial for all Consolidation users as the Retained Earnings Account in the new financial year starts afresh and the Cumulative Retained Earnings Account is updated with the Retained Earnings of the previous financial year.

Retained Earnings Account totals are carried forward from year to year and posted to a Cumulative Retained Earnings Account. For example, if you have a total retained earning amount of 9000 for 2017, 9000 will appear as the Retained Earnings Roll Forward for 2018. If you have a total retained earning amount of 10,000 for 2018, then an amount of 19,000 ( 2017 + 2018 totals) will appear in the Cumulative Retained Earning Account for 2019.

Using the Dynamic Report below as an example, prior to this release, if you had a retained earnings account for the Oct-17 period, the total for that account would post to the balance.

Now, using the same Dynamic Report, the account named “Cumulative Retained Earning Account” provides that total based on the prior period total (in this case Oct-17).

This functionality is optional. However, if you load month-to-date (MTD) data, this feature will be beneficial.

To enable this feature, complete the following administrative tasks:

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks.

2. Under Consolidation, click Retained Earnings Roll Forward to enable this functionality. Note that Income Statement - Retained Earnings Account is existing functionality, but now it is an “opt-in” feature. Retained Earnings Roll Forward is for this release.

3. Once the Retained Earnings Roll Forward screen appears (shown below), select Yes for Enable. Selecting Yes for Enable displays additional options in the Consolidation Setup screen allowing the admin user to setup the segment combination to which the financial entries will be posted. Selecting No for Enable hides the options in the Consolidation Setup screen.

4. Now that you’ve enabled the settings under Consolidation, access the Consolidation Control Panel and click Consolidation Setup. Notice that Include in the Consolidation Process checkboxes are now displayed on the Consolidation Setup screen for Income Statement - Retained Earnings Account and Cumulative Retained Earnings sections.

5. You must select the checkbox to complete the enablement of this functionality. For Retained Earnings Roll Forward, select the Consolidation Process checkbox so that when you run the Consolidation Process, retained earnings are automatically rolled forward to the next year.

6. To disable the Retained Earnings Roll Forward, remove the check from checkbox (Include in the Consolidation Process), save the Consolidation Setup, and rerun the Consolidation Process.

If you want to hide the Retained Earnings Roll Forward section after disabling it, navigate to Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks > Consolidation and select No under Enable. The segment members selected in the Retained Earnings Roll Forward section can be removed after disabling this feature. If required, the segment members can be deleted as soon as the Consolidation Process is rerun after removal from this section to clear the roll forward posting.

In Practice

1. Navigate to Consolidation.

2. Select Consolidation Setup.

3. On the Consolidation Setup page, under Retained Earnings Roll Forward, select the account where you want cumulative retained earnings automatically posted as shown in the example below.

4. Run the Consolidation Process for the applicable periods.

5. Check the Detail View log (by clicking the link below) to ensure the process completed successfully.

6. Create a Dynamic Report to report on Cumulative Retained Earnings.

Best Practices

Users will see a performance impact when the Consolidation Process is run for a scenario other than the Actual Scenario; the impact will vary based on the number of Interim Currencies and Reporting Currencies defined in the system. It is a best practice to limit the number of Interim and Reporting currencies for optimal performance.

Common: Support for Asian Characters in Transaction Data Loads

Now, you can load Transaction data with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Malay characters using a Translation or GL Data Data Load Rule. Once loaded, you can view the data in the Dynamic Report Transaction Report by drilling through to transactional data.

You must contact Planful Support to enable this feature. Once enabled by Support, complete the steps below.

If you try to run Data Load Rules to load Asian characters prior to carrying out the steps below, the Asian characters will display as question marks.

Complete the following steps:

1. Contact the Planful Support team to enable this feature.

2. Access the Transaction Details Setup page by navigating to Maintenance > DLR > Transaction Details.

3. If the User defined attributes are not present in the existing Transaction Details Setup, you must add them using the ‘+’ icon before saving the Transaction Details Setup. Please note that as per the existing behavior, if any changes are made to the Transaction Details Setup screen before saving, then the earlier Transactions loaded are lost.

4. Asian characters can be loaded to user defined attribute columns only. You cannot load data with Asian characters to segment members. To add a new user defined attribute, click the add ‘+’ icon and select Text for Attribute Data Type. Select URL to enter a web hyperlink.

5. For Attribute Length, enter up to a maximum of 4000 characters.

6. Click Save.

7. Access the Data Load Rule and load Transaction Data for the GL Data/Translations Data that has been loaded. If using the File Load type, ensure that when the Excel load file is saved, the Save As format option is either CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) or Unicode Text (*.txt).

8. Create a Dynamic Report to view the Transaction Report. The image below displays a Dynamic Report (with drill through enabled for Transactions). To view transactional data with Asian characters, double-click and the Transaction Report displays (also show below).

9. If you are an existing customer and require a migration of the existing Transaction data, then the transaction data needs to be reloaded.

In the image (below) you can see how the attribute columns map between the Transaction Data and Transaction Report.

Make sure you enable Drill Through to Transactions for the Dynamic Report. To do so, click Format and select Transactions as shown below.

Translation Data Load

To load transaction data with Asian characters using translations, set up a Translations data load rule. 

Common: Simplified Translations Lines

For translations in data loads, prior to this release, you had to setup translation line mappings for all segments; even those not being translated. The Simplified Translations Lines feature eliminates the need to define, map, and maintain translations for segments not translated.

In Practice

To better explain this feature, two examples are provided below; one shows how the functionality worked prior to this release and the other shows how the Simplified Translations Lines feature works.

Translation Lines Example - Prior to this release

In the translation lines example below, the Account segment is the only segment being translated. Department and Project segments both have a one to one mapping; meaning that no translation is required.

Simplified Translation Lines

Using this feature, translation lines for the Account segment ONLY need to be maintained as shown below:

There is some minor setup required to take advantage of this feature.

1. When creating your Data Load Rule, select the No Translation for Unmapped Target Segments checkbox (shown in the image below) from the Define Overall Rule Settings step in the Data Load Rule.

2. Complete the Define Data Mappings step in the Data Load Rule to map the source columns in the file load to the target segments in Planful as they will no longer be translated. There are no changes required to the load file or the existing loading process to use simplified translation lines.

Common: Ability to Print the Detailed Data Load Log Report

The ability to print the Detailed Data Load Log Report provides the opportunity to review load issues on hard copy. The button to print this report is available from the following application pages:

Data Load Rules - Load Data

Job Manager - Detail View

Data Load Log Report

Data Load Rules - Load Data

Access the Data Load Rules - Load Data page by navigating to Maintenance > DLR > Data Load Rules. Click the Load Data tab to complete the data load. Click the Print button (shown below) to print the report.

Job Manager - Detail View

Access the Job Manager - Detail View page by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > Cloud Scheduler. Locate the Data Load Rule job and click Detail Log to launch the Detail View page. Click the More… link. Click the Print button to print the report.

Data Load Log Report

Access the Data Load Rules - Load Data page by navigating to Maintenance > Audit > Data Load Audit Log. Select the Data Load Rule Data Loads for Type on the Data Load Log Report page. Complete other parameters. Click the Print button (shown below) to print the Exception report.

Dashboards: Support for Custom Members/Formulas

You can now define custom formula members (calculations) for use in Dashboards in one central location. For example, let’s say you define a custom formula for the Account dimension. The formula includes a specific company, department, and account combination. You can access Dashboards and build charts for several Dashboards with the Account dimension for which the formula was built.

The benefit of this feature is that formulas can be reused allowing for rapid chart production. The feature was created for ease of chart building and to allow for more flexible and complex display of data.

Custom Members can be used on the horizontal or vertical axis within the chart. A few examples of the formulas that you can define and use in Dashboards follows.

To sort products in descending order and returns the top 5 products with the highest values:

TopCount({Order({{{Descendants({[Product].&[1]},,LEAVES)}}},([Time].&[5080],[Measures].[MTD]),desc)},5)

To calculate variance between budget and forecast for the given period using substitution variables:

((@CURBDGT@,@CURMTH@)-(@CURFCST@,@CURMTH@))/(@CURFCST@,@CURMTH@)

To get data for a specific combination of dimension members.

([Account].&[174],[Company].&[109],[Department].&[1])

To get the sum of values for accounts.

sum({[Account].&[197] , [Account].&[198] , [Account].&[199] , [Account].&[201] , [Account].&[202] , [Account].&[344] , [Account].&[203] , [Account].&[474] , [Account].&[204] , [Account].&[205] , [Account].&[206] , [Account].&[207] , [Account].&[208]})

For the descendants of a member in the hierarchy and to order them within a hierarchy.

Hierarchize({{Descendants({[Account].&[194]},,LEAVES)}})

To calculate variance between actual and budget using substitution variables.

@ACTUAL@-@CURBDGT@

To calculate variance between the previous month actual and current month budget using substitution variables.

([Scenario].&[1],@CURMTH-1@)-(@CURBDGT@,@CURMTH@)

In Practice: Custom Member Setup

1. Create a formula by navigating to Maintenance > Reports > Cube Settings.

2. Click the Custom Members tab.

3. Click Add. The Add Custom Member page displays as shown below.

4. Enter a code and name.

5. Select the Reporting Area for which you want to build the formula.

6. Select Account for Dimension to build the formula on the Account dimension. Or, select any dimension for which you want to build a formula.

7. Select the Account dimension from the list-box next to the Members / Functions buttons.

8. Drag and drop the account dimension member to the Rule Builder pane. In the example below step 13, Balance Sheet (Account 269) is selected.

9. Select the Company dimension from the list-box next to the Members / Functions buttons.

10. Drag and drop the company dimension member to the Rule Builder pane. Make sure you add a comma after the account dimension.

11. Select the Department dimension from the list-box next to the Members / Functions buttons.

12. Drag and drop the department dimension member to the Rule Builder pane. Make sure you add a comma after the company dimension.

13. Enclose the rule in parenthesis. The rule is shown below.

14. Click Save. You just created a formula on the account dimension that pulls data from a combination of account, company, and department. Now, use the formula in a chart in Dashboards.

In Practice: Using a Custom Member on a Chart in a Dashboard

Now, you can use this custom member when designing a chart. In this example, a custom member named Sum was created on the Account dimension. It totals several accounts shown in the image below. Use the Sum custom member when the Account dimension is selected for a chart(s).

1. Access Dashboards.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the dashboard.

3. For the x or y axis, select Account for dimension.

4. Under Custom Members, select the Sum customer member as shown below. Continue to build the chart by selecting additional dimensions and members.

Dashboards: % Calculation Enabled for Pie, Doughnut, and Stacked Charts

Using the Pie, Doughnut or Stacked type chart, you can apply a percentage calculation for a dimension or dimension combination (custom member). Applying percentage calculation on the fly is yet another valuable performance indicator offered by Dashboards.

Display Value As has been added to the Settings pane (shown below). When enabled, values are calculated as percentage of the sum of all values in the chart.

In Practice

1. Navigate to Dashboards. Create a new dashboard or use an existing one.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the canvas. In this example, a pie type chart is dropped onto the canvas.

3. Select Settings.

4. Enable Data Values. When you slide the indicator to the right it turns blue and the Display Value As field becomes available.

5. Click % for Display Value As.

6. Apply changes to the chart and save the dashboard.

Best Practice Tips

• Display data values and number values in percent or number format, which will change the display of the chart to obtain the view and data you want.

• If you have an Account dimension set up as percentage, it does not mean that it will display as percentage in a chart. The same goes for number format. The formatting is not carried over to Dashboards. You must format as needed within Dashboards.

Dashboards: Ability to Use Modeling Data in Dashboards

This is an opt-in feature that must be enabled by the Planful Support Team. You must have licenses for both Modeling and Dashboards to take advantage of this feature.

Models are now included as a source in Chart Settings and are enabled with drill capabilities. The benefit of this feature is to bring data from Modeling and Planning, Reporting, and Consolidation together in a single dashboard.

User and dimension security is retained for Dashboards as applied in the Modeling application.

In Practice

1. Launch a dashboard.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the canvas.

3. The Settings pane opens. Click Properties.

4. Under Reporting Area, select a model from the Models option.

5. When you select a model, related dimensions are loaded as shown in the image below. Select dimension and members to display.

6. In this case, the Account dimension was selected and all related dimension members are shown. Continue to build the chart as needed.

The image below shows a completed chart built using a model.

Important Notes:

Global filters do not apply to charts designed on models.

Reporting: Report Display Enhancements

Financial Package Reports

The display of headers and footers for Financial Package reports has been enhanced so that the header and/or footer spans the entire report.

The shrink to fit option now displays cleaner Financial Package reports.

The default font in the Financial Package text editor and content loaded from external documents is now set to Times New Roman.

Dynamic Reports

Underline and double underline is now applied on the entire cell when a Dynamic Report is exported to PDF.

Reporting: Ability to Display Notes at Rollup Levels in Dynamic Reports

Template notes can now be displayed at the rollup level in a Dynamic Report. This functionality provides a more comprehensive look at notes for all members in a Dynamic Report.

To view notes for leaf and rollup members, open a Dynamic Report and select More > Show Notes. Notes are displayed at the rollup level. Drill down and the corresponding notes for each leaf member is displayed. Notes displayed in a Dynamic Report are consolidated across all templates (irrespective of the template access) honoring dimension security. Notes are consolidated into Dynamic Reports from all templates of type Global Template Single Copy, Global Template Entity Copy, Allocation, Line Item, Capital, Template based HR and Initiatives. Notes are not supported when Attributes, Attribute Hierarchies, Alternate Hierarchies, or Dynamic Report Sets are used in a Dynamic Report.

Your title goes here

Notes are not displayed in the Dynamic Report for those lines in the template where Mapping is set to History in the Destination Account.

Here is an example where notes for members of the rollup named Direct Sales & COS are displayed at the rollup level.

Here’s an example where Direct Sales & COS is drilled into and notes for the North America and International members are displayed.

All notes for rollup or leaf levels displayed in the report are exported. Notes are also displayed when a Dynamic Report is used in Report Collections and Financial Package Publisher.

Here is an example of how notes display when exported to a PDF.

The image below displays part of a Dynamic Report and related notes for each member as exported in PDF format.

User Experience Enhancements

Cloud Scheduler

For an improved user experience, when you select Cloud Scheduler from the Administration topic (shown below), you will be directed to the Job Manager page versus the Process Flow page ( shown below).

Control Over External Users

Customers now have full control over external user access. You can:

• Change / Edit External User Security

• Delete External Users

Change / Edit External User Security

All security options under the More menu located on the User Management page are now enabled for External Users.

Access the User page by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > User Management. Select a user with a User Type that is External.

You can change the security settings for an External User. For example, if you no longer want an external user to have access to Reports, Dimension Security or Add-In Security.

Delete External Users

A Business User can delete an External User by completing the following steps:

1. Access the User page by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > User Management.

2. Select the External User.

3. Click Delete.

Two Step Verification

Additionally, External users are subject to Two-Step Verification as it is now mandatory for all external users. This additional security measure prevents unauthorized access to your Planful application. For example, if you call Planful Support and allow an agent to access your application, that agent will be required to not only use a password, but must authenticate via a code sent to their email address (see page below) or via text sent to their mobile phone.

Modeling 2.5: Interoperability with Planful Applications

Connecting to the Financial Reporting Area Directly from Modeling

Support for PCR Exchange Rates in Modeling

Support for Modeling within Dashboards

Connecting to the Financial Reporting Area Directly from Modeling

In this release, Spotlight and Modeling users can now access Planful Planning, Consolidation, and Reporting (PCR) applications data from Spotlight or SpotlightXL without any need to download data or build a map. To use this feature, PCR users must have a license for either Spotlight or Modeling. (A Spotlight license provides access for reporting and analysis. A Modeling license provides access to all the features of Modeling.)

This feature is available for select customers in the Spring release, and we are targeting to make this feature available to all customers in the Summer release.

Key Benefits

• One-time setup to connect from Spotlight to PCR; the administrator must do this step.

• Reduced learning curve with just two easy steps to set up the model in Spotlight which provides read-only access to the Financial Reporting Area; users with Designer or Admin privilege can do these steps.

• All dimension security defined in PCR is honored in Spotlight.

• Full access to robust reporting capabilities, slice-and-dice, and analysis in Views, Reports, Excel-based Reports, and Snapshots, from the web or Excel.

• No need to refresh metadata or data since it is a live connection to the original data; this reduces ongoing maintenance.

• Data access from Spotlight is read-only.

For information on using this feature:

First-Time User Setup

Existing User Setup

Connecting to the Financial Reporting Area

First-Time Reporting and Analysis

Maintenance Options

Information for Experienced Admins and Designers

First-Time User Setup

For organizations that are new to Spotlight, your administrator must set up access to PCR from within Modeling, download metadata from PCR, and create users.

The Administrator must do the following steps:

1. Install SpotlightXL.

2. Contact Planful Support for assistance in getting your Horizon and Soap URI and Tenant names set up.

3. Login to SpotlightXL.

4. Select Manage, Application Administration, Application Settings. Notice the Horizon and Soap URI and Tenant names are grayed out.

5. Enter the Horizon and Soap username and password provided to you by Planful Support.

6. Click Save.

7. Logoff then Login again for the settings to take effect.

8. Select Manage, Application Administration, Metadata Download.

9. Click Run. When the cursor stops spinning, the operation is complete. This operation creates the model HACPM_Financial.

10. Select Manage, User Management.

11. Add usernames for the users that will be accessing the PCR data. Designer privilege is required for users who will create the model and design views and reports. Reviewer privilege is required for users who will use the views and reports.

12. Ensure that the Model menu option is available to users in your organization.

Existing User Setup

For organizations that are experienced with Modeling, the administrator should simply ensure that the Application Settings (Tenant, Horizon and Soap URI, username, and password) are up-to-date and working correctly to connect to Planful applications. Run a Metadata Download. And ensure that your users have logins. There is no need to create a map or define calculations in order to use this feature.

Connecting to the Financial Reporting Area

A user with Designer privilege can do the following steps.

1. While logged into Planful applications, select Model from the Modeling icon.

   

2.  Click the + Circle icon to create a new model.

3. Give the model a name.

4. Click the option for Direct Access to Planning.

   

A list of dimensions appears.

5. Scroll down and click Save. 

6. Now you see the model in the Model Manager window.

7. Click the More menu, and select Generate Model, then confirm Yes.

You are done, and now you are ready to begin reviewing the data and building reports.

First-Time Reporting and Analysis

If you have never created views in Spotlight, this section provides a primer.

1. From the Model icon, select Analyze.

2. From the View drop-down, look for the model you just created, click the Default view, and click Select.

3. The default view shows all the dimensions in the model. These dimensions should be familiar to you because they come from the Financial Reporting Area.

You can click Zoom In and Zoom Out on dimensions that appear as headings for the rows and columns.

4. To move a dimension from the upper left into the row and column area, select the dimension, then select Pivot, Pivot to Row or Pivot to Column.

5. Click the drop-down next to a dimension to select a member of that dimension, then click Select.

6. To refresh the data, click Get Data.

7. Continue placing dimensions where you want them on the report and clicking Zoom In or Zoom Out to refine the look of the view.

8. When you are done, click Design View from the Data menu.

9. Click Save and give the view a name.

10. Click Data from the Data menu to exit Design mode.

You can create as many views as you wish and save them as part of the model.

You can also create reports Excel-based reports, and snapshots from SpotlightXL.

Note that there is no option for Save Data, Breakback, Drill-Through, or Calc on Save. However, if you create a report that contains data from multiple models and one of those models is not connected directly to PCR, the data from that model can be saved.

Maintenance Options

Backup and Restore

Admins have the option to use Backup and Restore for the model with direct access to Planning. Although no data is stored in the model, any views or reports that you create are stored with the model and are included with the backup.

Hierarchy Updates

The hierarchy in your Financial Reporting Area likely changes regularly.

• Automatic Updates:

Whenever the hierarchy in PCR changes, the changes are automatically pushed to Modeling. That is, when the admin changes the hierarchy and clicks Save, a refresh calculation is automatically triggered in Modeling. The next time a view or report is run, the user just clicks Refresh or Get Data to see the changes.

• Manual Updates:

Admins and Designers have the option to manually refresh the model with metadata updates from PCR. Normally, this is done automatically. However, if you want to refresh manually, you can run the refresh calculation. (This calculation is created automatically when the model is generated. You can view it if you want to understanding how refresh works, or you can run it.)

1. Login to SpotlightXL.

2. Select Model, Calculation.

3. Select the model name from the Model drop-down.

4. Select the calculation from the Calculation drop-down. There should be only one calculation, named for the model name followed by "Refresh."

The calculation already contains all the commands for refreshing the model.

5. Click Run to run the calculation.

6. Click Refresh a few times until you see the status as "Calculation completed" in the Current Status field.

Information for Experienced Admins and Designers

More details about metadata download:

• Before the model with direct access to Planning can be created, you must perform a Metadata Download. Note: If you have other models that use traditional integration with PCR, you have probably done Metadata Download before. However, you can ensure that HACPM_Financial is up-to-date with recent metadata by running the Metadata Download.

• Metadata Download generates the source model called HACPM_Financial. This is a reserved model that cannot be modified or deleted. You can view its dimensions and members in Spotlight or SpotlightXL.

More details about creating the model:

• When you create the model, as soon as you click the option for Direct Access to Planning, the dimensions are automatically populated. There are no options for Key and Value types because the data is not being stored in Modeling. As a best practice, do not rename any of the dimensions at this time. If you do, the map will not be automatically created for you.

• Attribute, Attribute Hierarchy, Alternative Hierarchy, and Budget Entity dimensions from PCR are not supported at this time but will be supported in a future release.

• Substitution Variables from PCR are not supported at this time but will be supported in a future release.

• When you click Save after creating the model, a Map is automatically created (as long as no dimension names were changed). The Map is defined by default to download All Members for all dimensions. If you want to limit the amount of data available to the user, you can modify the Map before the model is generated. When you modify the map, you can filter certain dimensions to limit the amount of data being retrieved. You cannot limit the amount of data after the model has been generated for the first time.

• You cannot modify the Map Type. The map type is Metadata.

• Dimension security that is defined within PCR is honored by Spotlight. However, all metadata for the Financial cube is visible to the users in Spotlight. For example, if a user has access only to the East region, they will see all the other regions in the Dimension list boxes but will see only data for the East region.

More details about generating the model:

• Before the model is generated, the menu options available for the model are the same as for normal models in Modeling. The available menu options are Generate and Delete Model.

• After the model is generated, the menu options available for the model are different than for normal models in Modeling. The only available menu option is Clear Model. Lock Model is not available because the model is automatically locked after it is generated and cannot be unlocked.

• When the model is generated, it is of type Master.

• When the model is generated, a calculation is automatically created that serves to refresh the model. The calculation contains commands to Download Metadata, Unlock Model, Clear Model, Generate Model, and Lock Model. Normally, you do not need to use this calculation, but it is created as a convenience in case you want the ability to manually refresh the metadata in the model.

• When viewing Application Statistics, the model will have 0 records and 0 bytes of data storage used because the data is not stored within Modeling. Modeling stores only the metadata that you want to use, as defined in the map, and any views or reports that you create.

• After the model is generated, it cannot be converted back to a regular model without direct access to Planning.

More details about modifying models with direct access to Planning:

• You can use the Model menu commands to view Dimensions, Map, Calculation, Model Lookup, and Model Validation.

• You cannot aggregate the model because the model is read-only.

• You cannot save data because the model is read-only.

• You cannot run Breakback because the model is read-only.

• You cannot create or use attributes, formulas, maps, scopes, calculations, import/export, data (load), external data source loads, or substitution variables on the model.

• You cannot modify model permissions.

• You cannot add dimensions to the model.

• You cannot write back data from Modeling to PCR.

More details about data retrieval and performance:

• When Modeling connects to PCR for data retrieval, it retrieves data according to the metadata map that was created when the model was created and generated.

• Data is retrieved at runtime. Metadata is retrieved when the model is generated, when the refresh calculation is run, or when a user clicks Save after changing the hierarchy in PCR.

• The performance of data retrieval will be comparable to the performance when using PCR. No data is copied into Modeling, so there is no performance improvement.

• If you want to move data from PCR into modeling, use the traditional method as described in Modeling: Integration Admin Guide.

• There is no limitation to the size of reports that can be created. (Views are limited by the Excel Analysis Cells count in Application Settings.) If you create a very large report, however, performance will degrade and users may experience a time out.

• Change Data Tracking is not supported.

More details about limiting the size of the model and deleting the model:

• Before deleting a model, consider making a backup, otherwise you will lose any views or reports that you have created. Use Manage, Application Administration, Model Backup/Restore.

• To delete a model with direct access to Planning, go to Model, Setup. First click Clear Model, then Delete. Beware that this operation also deletes all views and reports that the user had created.

• If you find that the data in the model is too cumbersome to wade through, you can limit the amount of data that is retrieved. It is helpful to include only the data needed for your business analytic needs. While there is no way to go back and limit the metadata after the model has been generated, it is simple to create another model, specify Direct Access to Planning, and then modify the map to scope the model down to a smaller size before generating the new model.

• There is no option at this time to convert an existing model into a model with direct access to Planning, however, this is planned for a future release.

Modeling 2.5: Support for PCR Exchange Rates in Modeling

Modeling now supports downloading currency exchange rates from Planful Planning, Consolidation, and Reporting applications. Since currency exchange rates fluctuate over time, it is best to maintain them in only one place. Many companies use the exchange-rate feature in Planful applications and would like to use the same rates in Modeling without re-keying them.

Ensure that you have exchange rates defined in Planning, Consolidation, and Reporting applications. Go to Settings, Currency, Exchange Rates.

Here is the basic process in Modeling to use exchange rates from Planful applications:

• Define a Scope on HACPM_Financial that sets up variables for one Scenario and one Time frame (such as year).

• Define and Run a Calculation on HACPM_Financial that downloads the exchange rates based on the scope. You can download only one scenario and one time frame (such as year) at a time. A system-defined model is created, called HACPM_ExchangeRates.

• Set Up Your Model to Use Exchange Rates. This can be any type of model.

• Define and Run a Map that pulls the exchange rates from HACPM_ExchangeRates and copies them into your model.

• Define a Formula on your model that calculates the common currency as local currency X exchange rate.

• Define and Run a Calculation that runs the map and executes the currency formula.

• Optionally, Add the Calculation to Views and Reports that display the common currency data using the Calculation on Save property.

Define a Scope on HACPM_Financial for Exchange Rate Download

The purpose of this scope is to limit the amount of exchange-rate data to be downloaded from Host Analytic applications to the Modeling HACPM_ExchangeRates model. Only one combination of Scenario and Time is supported per exchange-rate download.

1. Login to SpotlightXL.

2. Select Model, Scope.

3. Select the model HACPM_Financial from the drop-down.

4. Give the scope a name, such as Exchange Rate Selections. Optionally, enter a description.

5. Under Dimension, specify the Scenario dimension. Specify Filter Type as FixedMember. Under Filter Value, either specify the member name or create a variable.

6. Under Dimension, specify the Time dimension. Specify Filter Type as FixedMember or MemberAndBelow. Under Filter Value, either specify the member name or create a variable.

7. Save the scope definition.

Define a Scope on HACPM_Financial for Exchange Rate Download

The purpose of this scope is to limit the amount of exchange-rate data to be downloaded from Host Analytic applications to the Modeling HACPM_ExchangeRates model. Only one combination of Scenario and Time is supported per exchange-rate download.

1. Login to SpotlightXL.

2. Select Model, Scope.

3. Select the model HACPM_Financial from the drop-down.

4. Give the scope a name, such as Exchange Rate Selections. Optionally, enter a description.

5. Under Dimension, specify the Scenario dimension. Specify Filter Type as FixedMember. Under Filter Value, either specify the member name or create a variable.

6. Under Dimension, specify the Time dimension. Specify Filter Type as FixedMember or MemberAndBelow. Under Filter Value, either specify the member name or create a variable.

7. Save the scope definition.

Define and Run a Calculation that Creates HACPM_ExchangeRates

The purpose of this calculation is to download the exchange rate data from Planful applications and create a system-defined model called HACPM_ExchangeRates.

Only one combination of Scenario and Time is supported per download, so you must use a scope to limit the volume of the download.

1. Login to SpotlightXL.

2. Select Model, Calculation.

3. Select the model HACPM_Financial from the drop-down.

4. Give the calculation a name, such as Download Exchange Rates. Optionally, enter a description.

5. Under Type, select the option DownloadExchangeRates.

6. Under Name, enter the name of the Scope that defines the Scenario and Time dimensions you want to download.

7. Save the calculation.

If your Scope contains variables, they appear under the Variables column.

1. Select the Variables cell.

2. Click Variables Manager from the ribbon.

3. Use the member selection icons to select one member from the Scenario dimension and one member from the Time dimension, then click Update.

4. Click Save.

5. Click Run.

If the calculation is successful, you can click the Model drop-down and see that HACPM_ExchangeRates has been created.

Set Up Your Model to Use Exchange Rates

Select the model in your Modeling application that will use the exchange rates. This should be a model that contains currency values. The model should have at least two currency members in order to benefit from using an exchange rate: one member showing values in its native currency, and the other member calculated by multiplying the native currency by the exchange rate to produce a number in a common currency.

HACPM_ExchangeRates uses 4 dimensions:

• CurrencyType: contains the types of currency rates, such as AVG (average monthly), EOM (end of month), or HistAvg (historical average).

• Currency: contains the names of all the currencies, such as USD, CAD, EUR, and AUD.

• Scenario: contains the full list of possible scenarios used in Planful applications.

• Time: contains multiple years, quarters, and months.

You can view these dimensions and their members by selecting Model, Dimension, and selecting HACPM_ExchangeRates from the Model drop-down.

Your model must have equivalent dimensions to Scenario and Time.

Your model is not required to have equivalent dimensions to Currency and Cur Type, however if your model will support data in multiple currencies, then we recommend you create a Currency dimension.

The Maps section below provides several examples of mapping to models with and without Currency and CurType dimensions.

Define and Run a Map that Copies the Exchange Rates from HACPM_ExchangeRates to Your Model

The map defines the rules for connecting your model to the exchange rates model, HACPM_ExchangeRates.

You must include at least one row in the map for each of the dimensions in HACPM_ExchangeRates and rows for any additional dimensions in your model.

HACPM_ExchangeRates uses 4 dimensions:

• CurrencyType: contains the types of currency rates, such as AVG (average monthly), EOM (end of month), or HistAvg (historical average).

• Currency: contains the names of all the currencies, such as USD, CAD, EUR, and AUD.

• Scenario: contains the full list of possible scenarios used in Planful applications.

• Time: contains multiple years, quarters, and months.

The Target Model is your model.

The Type of map must be set to Data.

The Source Model is HACPM_ExchangeRates.

The Transfer option is Leaf.

There is no option to write-back data from your model.

Under Source Dimension, list the four dimensions in HACPM_ExchangeRates and decide where to use them:

• Scenario must map to an equivalent Scenario dimension in your model.

• Time must map to an equivalent Time dimension in your model.

• Currency can be mapped to a dimension (if you plan to use multiple currencies), or to a member (if you plan to take one exchange rate at a time), or can be filtered out (if you want only one currency).

• CurrencyType can be mapped to a dimension (if you plan to use multiple currency types), or to a member (if you plan to take one currency type at a time), or can be filtered out (if you want only one currency type).

The examples below show ways to design the map.

• Example Map with Variables and Currency Dimension

• Example Map for a Model that Uses Multiple Currencies

• Example Map with Currency Mapped to One Member

• Example Map with Currency Filtered Out

You then run the map by creating a calculation that executes the map. See Define and Run a Calculation that Runs the Map and Executes the Currency Formula.

Example Map with Variables and Currency Dimension

This example shows how to use variables for Scenario and Time, plus multiple currencies in your model.

The following map uses a target model with 5 dimensions:

• Scenario: contains Actual and Budget members for 2016.

• Time: includes years, quarters, and months for 2016, 2017, and 2018.

• Account: includes revenue and expense accounts.

• Reporting: includes common currency, local currency, and exchange rate members.

• Currency: includes a list of currencies to be used, copied from HACPM_ExchangeRates.

Scenario and Time are variables that can be set prior to running the calculation.

Currency in HACPM_ExchangeRates is mapped to Currency in the target model, and one currency is mapped. You could add rows for multiple currencies.

CurrencyType in HACPM_ExchangeRates is filtered to not appear in the target model. The AVG member from the source model is the one that will be copied into the intersection of all the other dimensions listed in the map.

With Scenario set to 2016 Budget and Time set to 2016, after loading this data, it appears in the model as follows:

Example Map for a Model that Uses Multiple Currencies

If you plan to use multiple currencies in your model, the best practice is to create a Currency dimension and include all the currencies you plan to use. If you use the same member names as are in HACPM_ExchangeRates, the map is easier to create.

The following map uses a target model with 7 dimensions:

• Scenario: contains Actual, and Budget and Forecast members for 2016 and 2017.

• Time: includes years and quarters only, no months.

• Currencies: includes the same list of currencies as are in HACPM_ExchangeRates.

• Dim1 - Dim4: miscellaneous dimensions for your reporting needs.

Scenario and Time are mapped one-to-one.

Currency in HACPM_ExchangeRates is mapped to Currencies in the target model.

CurrencyType in HACPM_ExchangeRates is filtered to not appear in the target model. The AVG member from the source model is the one that will be copied into the intersection of all the other dimensions listed in the map.

After loading this data, it appears in the model as follows. In this case, you can see that USD is the local currency because it has an exchange rate of 1.

Example Map with Currency Mapped to One Member

If you plan to use a small number of currencies in your model, you do not have to create a Currency dimension in your model. For example, if you are newly expanding to only one international market, you only need to have one member to store the new local currency.

The following map uses a target model with 6 dimensions:

• Scenario: contains Actual, and Budget and Forecast members for 2016 and 2017.

• Time: includes years and quarters only, no months.

• Dim1 - Dim4: miscellaneous dimensions for your reporting needs.

Scenario and Time are mapped one-to-one.

A particular Currency in HACPM_ExchangeRates is mapped to one member in the target model.

CurrencyType in HACPM_ExchangeRates is filtered to not appear in the target model. The AVG member from the source model is the one that will be copied into the intersection of all the other dimensions listed in the map.

After loading this data, it appears in the model as follows:

Example Map with Currency Filtered Out

If you plan to use a only one other currency in your model, you can filter out the Currency dimension entirely.

The following map uses a target model with 6 dimensions:

• Scenario: contains Actual, and Budget and Forecast members for 2016 and 2017.

• Time: includes years and quarters only, no months.

• Dim1 - Dim4: miscellaneous dimensions for your reporting needs.

Scenario and Time are mapped one-to-one.

A particular Currency in HACPM_ExchangeRates is filtered to not appear in the target model. The EUR member from the source model is the one that will be copied into the intersection of all the other dimensions listed in the map.

CurrencyType in HACPM_ExchangeRates is filtered to not appear in the target model. The AVG member from the source model is the one that will be copied into the intersection of all the other dimensions listed in the map.

After loading this data, it appears in the model as follows:

Define a Formula that Calculates the Common Currency

Once you have the exchange rate(s) in your model, you can multiply all foreign values by the exchange rate to arrive at the equivalent in your local or common currency.

1. Go to Model, Formula.

2. Select the model and dimension that contains the values in foreign currency, local currency, and the exchange rate.

3. Give the formula a name.

4. Specify member selections or variables for all the other dimensions in the model under the Dimension column.

5. Specify the members that are to be included in the formula, then enter the formula in column B.

6. CC (common currency) = LC (local currency) * Exg Rates

Define and Run a Calculation that Runs the Map and Executes the Currency Formula

After you have created the data map and created a formula to use the exchange rate, create a calculation that runs the map and formula.

1. Go to Model, Calculation.

2. Select the model to receive the exchange rate.

3. Give the calculation a name.

4. Select Map under Type, and enter the name of the data map.

5. Select Formula under Type, and enter the name of the formula.

6. Select the Variables column and click Variables Manager to specify the Scenario and Time members to receive.

You can also add a row to download the exchange rates. This ensures that your model always has the latest exchange rate data from Planful applications.

After running this calculation, data appears in the model as follows. The raw data was 100 Euro. The Common Currency member is locked since it is a calculated member.

Add the Calculation to the Views and Reports that Display Currency Data (Optional)

You have the option to add the calculation to views and reports so that each time the user clicks Save, the exchange rates are used to recalculate the common currency member(s).

1. Go to Analyze or Report.

2. Select the view or report that contains the data in local currency and common currency.

3. Select Design View or Design Report.

4. Click Properties.

5. Add the calculation to the Calculation on Save property and click Save.

Example View Properties:

Example Report Properties:

Modeling 2.5: Support for Modeling within Dashboards

Models are now included as a source in Dashboards. Set up is in Chart Settings and is enabled with drill capabilities. The benefit of this feature is to bring data from Modeling and Planning, Reporting, and Consolidation together in a single dashboard.

User and dimension security is retained for Dashboards as applied in the Modeling application.

This is an opt-in feature that must be enabled by the Planful Support Team. You must have licenses for both Modeling and Dashboards to take advantage of this feature.

For more information, see Ability to Use Modeling Data in Dashboards.

Modeling 2.5: Breakback Improvements

Breakback has several improvements in this release:

• When run from a calculation, Breakback now honors dimension-level locking. If a member is locked from input, then Breakback will not make changes to that member. Previously, dimension-level locking was supported only from the Breakback operation in Views and Reports.

• Breakback now supports spread amounts of 0 (zero). Previously, Breakback supported only % changes of 0. In cases where Breakback operations are taking user input as the amounts to spread, if a user enters 0, the Breakback will not fail. No data is changed for a 0 amount Breakback operation.

• You can now edit a Breakback from within a calculation in Model Manager.

• You can now use substitution variables in Breakback operations from a calculation

Ability to Edit a Breakback in a Calculation in Model Manager (Web)

In this release, you can now review and update Breakback steps in a calculation using Model Manager in Spotlight. We recommend that you use SpotlightXL to create the Breakback step in the calculation, but after that, you can edit the Breakback on the web.

To view the Breakback steps in a Calculation in Spotlight:

1. Login to Spotlight and select Model from the task menu.

2. Select the model that has the Breakback operation in a calculation, then click on that calculation. If you are not sure which calculations include Breakback, then open the Artifacts Browser.

3. In the Model Artifacts Browser, as you select different calculations in the list, those that include a Breakback operation will show a Breakback icon on the icon bar.

4. Click the Breakback icon. The Model Artifacts Browser expands to display the Breakback steps under "Edit Breakback for Calculation Step."

If the calculation includes more than one Breakback operation, you can toggle between them by selecting the step using the drop-down.

As a reminder, Breakback operations include several pieces of information, all of which you can view or edit in the Breakback pane. The list below shows the different elements of Breakback.

• Model name

• Parent-level data intersection from which to allocate data to children

• Spread method

• One or more parent-level dimension members, if using the Reference Spread method

• Type of change to make: amount or percentage increase/decrease

• Value of the change to make: an inputted value or by looking up a reference to a number in a member intersection

• Hold members (child members that will be skipped in the Breakback)

After you make changes to the Breakback operation:

• Click Save

• Or click Save and Run

Support for Substitution Variables in Breakback Operations from a Calculation

In this release, you can use substitution variables in place of member names in Breakback operations within a calculation.

This feature is supported both in SpotlightXL and Spotlight.

When defining Breakback operations in a calculation, you can use the member select icon to select a Substitution Variable instead of a fixed member name in the Breakback cell.

You can use Substitution Variables in the Reference Spread also:

You can use Substitution Variables in the Hold section also:

Substitution Variables are also available in Breakback in a Calculation in Model Manager on the web.

You can use the member select icon to select a Substitution Variable instead of a fixed member name in the Breakback Cell:

You can use Substitution Variables in the Reference Spread also:

You can use Substitution Variables in the Hold section also:

Modeling 2.5: Performance Improvements

Breakback Scalability and Performance Improvement

In this release, Breakback has been expanded to allow for more than 500,000 leaf combinations per Breakback operation, when run from a calculation. When run from views and reports, the Current and Reference methods are still limited to 500,000 leaf combinations per Breakback operation.

This capability is built into Modeling now, and no configuration is needed.

How Breakback Scalability Works

When Breakback operations are run from a calculation, the limitation is now 50,000,000 leaf combinations, depending on certain conditions:

• When the calculation is executed, Modeling calculates the total number of leaf combinations that are impacted based on the definition of each Breakback operation.

• This expanded limitation applies only to the Current and Reference Spread methods.

• If the total number of leaf combinations is greater than 50 million, the Breakback operation is canceled.

• If the total number of leaf combinations is less than 500,000, the Breakback operation runs as is.

• If the total number of leaf combinations is between 500,000 and 50 million, the Breakback operation internally is broken into multiple operations (chunks) based on the dimension with the least number of leaves, so long as the dimension is not referred to in a Hold or in a Reference Spread. The goal is for the chunks of operations to result in fewer than 500,000 leaf combinations.

  • If the dimension with the least number of leaves is part of a Hold operation or Reference Spread, then the dimension with the next to least number of leaves is evaluated.

  • If the dimension with the next to least number of leaves is part of a Hold operation or Reference Spread, then the next dimension with the least number of leaves is evaluated. And so on until a suitable dimension is found that results in a chunk of fewer than 500,000 leaf combinations.

  • If a dimension cannot be found that is independent of a Hold operation or Reference Spread or that results in fewer than 500,000 leaf combinations, then the Breakback operation is canceled.

• When a dimension is identified that allows the Breakback to be broken into chunks of fewer than 500,000 leaf combinations, then each chunk is processed until the entire Breakback step is completed. If no dimension can be found that allows for a chunk of 500,000 or fewer leaf combinations, then the Breakback operation is canceled.

Breakback Scalability Example

Consider that a user has created a Breakback step in a calculation that begins with the following parent-level member counts from which to allocate data to children.

How this Breakback operation is evaluated and processed:

• The total number of leaf member combinations is between 500,000 and 50 million, so it is not canceled.

• The dimension with the least number of leaf members is Intercompany with 4. Dividing the Breakback operation into 4 chunks results in 12 million leaf member combinations per operation, which is too high because it exceeds the processing limitation of 500,000 per chunk.

• The next dimension is Account with 10. Dividing the Breakback into 10 chunks results in 4.8 million per operation, which is too high.

• The next dimension is Time with 12. The chunks then would be 4 million, which is still too high.

• The next dimension is Location with 100. The chunks would then be 480,000 per operation, which is within the processing limitation of 500,000 per chunk. As long as Location is not being used in a Hold or Reference spread, then this Breakback operation will proceed successfully by processing each of the 100 chunks in succession to complete the Breakback step in the calculation.

Hierarchy Update Performance Improvement

In this release, we have improved the performance of restructuring operations. Whenever you modify a hierarchy, including adding or moving members or sub-hierarchies, Modeling performs a restructure operation. Depending on the model size and configuration, the operation can be a lengthy process (4 or more hours). In this release, restructuring is significantly faster when modifying the hierarchy of large dimensions and models. It is optimized to be completed in less than 4 hours.

There are no changes to how you update the hierarchy. If the model is generated and you want to update the hierarchy, then simply lock the model and update the hierarchy. Performance improvements are applied by default with this release and there is no additional configuration needed.

We have also introduced a data storage partitioning enhancement. It is an opt-in feature and will be enabled only for selective customers based on the use case. This data storage partitioning enhancement splits the internal model storage and stores leaf-level and rollup-level data separately, thus improving the performance of some operations, such as running a hierarchy update or running a map. Contact Planful Support if you want to opt-in to this feature.

Known & Resolved Issues

Known application issues we are working to resolve, as well as any resolved issues for this release, can be found in the Planful Support Portal, located at hostanalyticsinc.zendesk.com/home.

Support Portal Access

User authentication is required to access the Support Portal. To access the Support Portal directly, set a password that will work with the email address you use to access your Planful application as follows: 

1. Navigate to https://hostanalyticsinc.zendesk.com/access/help.

2. Enter the email address you use to sign into your Planful application.

3. Open your email client and locate the email titled, "Planful, Inc. password reset" and follow the instructions in the email.

Feature/Functionality Retirement

Information on features and functionality planned for retirement is provided here: https://hostanalyticsinc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/212952083-Feature-Deprecation-Summary-Timelin