Scenario Setup Overview

This article discusses the Scenario Setup application page as well as supporting functionality.

Create different types of scenarios, which represent versions of a budget, forecast, plan, and preloaded budget scenario for a fiscal year. Create scenarios for current and future trends, test assumptions with changing drivers, and more accurately ensure that revenue is properly estimated. The analysis of scenarios allows users to improve financial performance and analyze company financial trends.

Access the Scenario List page by navigating to Maintenance > Administration > Scenario Setup.

Description of Fields on the Scenario List Page

Scenarios are protected from being updated through Scenario Edit while any user is in Input Mode in a template for that scenario. A lock is put on the scenario until the user saves and exits the template to ensure data integrity. A typical edit might be changing the projection start date in a Forecast Scenario. If there is an open template while this change is being made in the scenario, the template data structure and the scenario data structure may be out of sync; meaning that closed and open periods wouldn't match. Saving the template could cause unknown results in the scenario. If you try to edit a scenario while a template is open in Input Mode, you will get an error message saying "Scenario Setup cannot be updated as the scenario or related artifact is in use. Please try again later". This applies to Offline Planning as well. A lock is placed on a scenario if Offline Planning is used to check out a template. The lock won't unlock until either the user checks the template back in or an admin selects Undo Check Out for the template in the Planning Control Panel. 

A description of the fields available on this page is provided:

Add Scenarios - This option allows you to add a new scenario. Users can create Budget, Forecast, Plan, or Pre-loaded budget scenarios. To learn more about Scenarios and their types, click here.

Edit - This option allows you to edit the scenarios created.

Delete - Delete old and unused scenarios. If the status of a scenario is Failed, it will be automatically deleted by the application. You do not need to delete failed scenarios manually. Failed scenarios are deleted once every week on Sunday at 8 AM UTC.
You can delete reference scenarios in addition to deleting unused or inactive scenarios.

If the deleted scenario is used as a reference in any of the following items, the scenario references will be deleted and replaced with the word “None” on the Edit Scenario page:

• In a Compare Scenario
• In History Scenarios for Cash Flow
• In Data Trends
• In Closed Periods
• In Seeding as a source scenario
• In a History Scenario

For all references except for Data Seeding, a new reference scenario can be selected.

Limitation:

You cannot delete Actual and Default scenarios.

Copy - The copy option allows you to duplicate a scenario, generating a new one that can be customized to meet specific needs. Scenarios are copied in the cloud, so users can continue working while the processing takes place. Once complete, a notification appears in the application and an email is sent.

Process - As we have added auto synchronization of tasks based on foundational adjustments, you do not need to manually synchronize the information for an existing scenario from the Scenario List page. After you click Save, the application automatically synchronizes the scenarios that have been modified. Ensure that you refresh the Task Manager page to view the updated information. As a safety net, the manual synchronization option is still be available.

More

Scenario Actions

• Forward - New scenarios have a status of Scenario being created. These scenarios are not available to end-users via the Planning Control Panel for input until forwarded. Forward scenarios to make them available for template mapping or data loads. Actual and Default scenarios do not need to be forwarded.
• Lock/Unlock - Lock a scenario to prevent data modifications. Administrators typically lock scenarios to prevent users from editing them. When templates are mapped to a locked scenario, they cannot be deleted.
• Global Data Input - Input data for budget entities into the template. Global fields are assumptions used for planning calculations. Global field values are maintained by scenario. The Global Data Input page allows you to input global field values for each budget entity in the yellow shaded cells. The global values will be pulled automatically by system-defined formulas within the templates based on the budget entity and scenarios against which the template is opened. This step is optional and may not be required for all the scenarios. Global Field Data Input can be performed at any stage of the planning process. The list of Global Fields available is populated from the Global Fields page. To learn more about Global Data Input, click here.
• Refresh Closed Period Data - For Forecast scenarios, synchronize Actuals data with closed periods data. Refreshing actuals is an action performed on a Forecast type scenario to populate the scenario with actual data for closed periods or when the Projection Start Date of the scenario changes. Each Forecast scenario has Projection Start Dates, which is the date in which the planning period starts. If the Projection Start Date is mid-year, there will be closed period actual data recorded for the first periods that closed prior to the Projection Start Date. For example, if the Projection Start is the first month of the fiscal year, there will be no closed period(s). If the Projection Start month is Jun-24 for a fiscal year from Jan to Dec, closed periods populate until May-24.
  • When to Refresh Closed Period Data (Refreshing Actuals)?
    Whenever the Projection Start of the current scenario changes, administrators need to perform a refresh of the Actual data to update the closed month(s).
• Refresh Preloaded Data - Synchronize data within a Preloaded Budget scenario. You'll need to refresh preloaded data because external budgets change as time goes by and the latest data needs to be displayed in Planful. Preloaded budgets are used to load historical/external budgets into Planful. For example, if a preloaded budget is created for FY-2024 the budget data for 2024 from the 1st of April 2024 to March 2025 (assuming the fiscal year starts from April) can be loaded to Planful using Data Load Rules.
  • When to Refresh Preloaded Data?
    When external/historical budget data is loaded to the preloaded budget scenario, refresh the preloaded data.
• Unprocess/Process WFP Employees - For processed employees, this action returns all processed employees to a state of "unprocessed" in the Workforce template for the selected scenario.
• Reset All - Move a scenario and all its associated templates and budget entities to an In Progress state.
• Maintenance - Maintenance allows Admin users to control when Maintenance is performed on a Scenario and/or Template. Template and/or Scenario Maintenance includes any type of modification to the setup. For example, an Admin might want to enable compare scenarios, add additional compare scenarios, or change the scenario due date for a scenario. For templates, an Admin user might want to change the look of the template by adding borders or change the number of decimals displayed. For detailed information, see the Performing Scenario/Template Maintenance topic below.

Other Actions

• User Access - Manage user access for each scenario.
• Documents - You can upload documents for the scenario which might include Instructions, assumptions in the planning cycle, and a summary of targets.
• Seeding Exception Report - The application logs the cases when formulas could not be transposed and provides this information in the form of an Exception report. This report contains details such as Scenario, Entity, Template, Initiative Name, Sub Template Name, Main Row, Subline Row, MonthQuarter, Year, Source Formula, Source Value, Target Formula, Target Value, Formula, Error, Sheet Name, and Mode. This report specifies details about the Values in the Source Scenario and the replaced Value and Formula in the Target Scenario.

Output

You can download the list of Scenarios using the Print and Export to Excel option. The exported data will closely resemble the information displayed on the Scenario List page.

• Print - This option allows you to print the scenario list.
• Print Setup - This setting allows users to adjust the page layout, including paper size, orientation (portrait or landscape), page order, scaling (adjusting the size of the content to fit the page), and margins. Users can also choose Show Gridlines, Repeat row header on each page, Include document title, Include page number, Save this setting, Repeat column header on each page, and Include sheet name.
• Export as Excel - This option allows you to export the Scenario data list in Excel format.

Simulation Engine

Use the Simulation process when there is a change in Scenario Seed Changes.

Simulation processing is an automated way of saving templates. This process helps to re-compute and save template data based on changes to the reference data or other global drivers. For example, salary is often referenced from the Workforce template in the department operating expense template. If there are any changes to employee position, the changes in the Workforce template must propagate to its dependent template(s). The Simulation Engine processes templates automatically instead of manually opening and saving the templates in order of dependency.

For additional information, see Simulation Engine