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October 18 Release Notes

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October 18 Release Notes

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Dashboards: Substitution Variables in Dashboard - Modeling Charts

Previously, in the Spring18 release, we released the ability to use Modeling data in Dashboards. Now, with this release, when you use Modeling data in a Dashboard chart, you can include substitution variables in page filters, titles, subtitles, axis names, and 2 value KPI descriptions.

Note:

Modeling dimensions or variables are not supported when filters are applied to a dashboard. Modeling attributes are not supported in Dashboards as well.

Substitution variables are enabled in the member selector interface on the page, row, and column axis when the Reporting Area is selected on the chart, under Models (shown below).

Variables are filtered based on the dimension selected. For example, the Current Month substitution variable might be available for the Time dimension. You can then make substitution variable selections from the member selector using the pick list (example shown below).

When the chart is rendered, substitution variables are updated with the corresponding values as configured in the Modeling application.

In Practice:

Launch a dashboard.
Drag and drop a chart to the canvas.
The Settings pane opens. Click Properties.
Under Reporting Area, select a model from the Models list.
When you select a model, related dimensions are loaded. Select dimensions and members to display.
Use substitution variables in page filters, titles, subtitles, axis names, and 2 value KPI descriptions.
In the example below, the Current Month substitution variable is used in the chart subtitle.
When you save the dashboard, the chart renders the month based on substitution variable setup for Current Month in the Modeling application.

Reporting: Planning Notes in Dynamic Report Update

We have added an informative notification to the Dynamic Report interface. When you have Planning notes enabled in a Dynamic Report and the number of notes exceeds 250, you will get a notification indicating this is the case as shown below.

Note:

The notification above is displayed only when a Dynamic Report is run from the File Cabinet or via mapped reports in Planning templates. The notification is not displayed when the Dynamic Report is run from Report Collections or Financial Package.

To show notes in a Dynamic Report:

From the Dynamic Report interface, click the More menu.

Select Show Notes.

To hide notes in a Dynamic Report:

From the Dynamic Report interface, click the More menu.

Select Hide Notes.

Reporting: Capital Budget Analysis Standard Report Enhancement

We have enhanced the Capital Budget Analysis report, which provides a comprehensive look at your budgeted data for all Capex items in all templates. This enhancement provides you with the ability to refine report output even further. The new Group By field is shown below. Select to filter by Entity or Asset Category. This field is available no matter which View you select (By Month or By Scenario - see second image).

Here is an example of a report output when the By Month view is selected and Entity is selected for Group By.

You must redeploy the Capital Budget Analysis report to the File Cabinet in order for the enhancement to be applied. To redeploy the report:

Navigate to Maintenance > Reports > Standard Reports.

Select the Capital Budget Analysis report.

Click More > Deploy.

Select a folder in the File Cabinet to deploy the report to and click OK.

Reporting: Repeat Labels in Standard Reports

We have added the ability for you to turn repeat labels on and off. Turning repeat labels on removes the subtotals in the report output. This is by design as the intent of having repeat labels enabled is to export the report and perform additional manipulations to the exported data.

What Are Labels

Labels in report output are for informational purposes. For example, the Asset Category label (i.e. Buildings/Leasehold improvements) for an entity (HQEXEC) will look as shown below when the Capital Budget Analysis standard report is executed.

In the example below, Repeat Labels is not enabled.

How Do Repeat Labels Work

Now, we offer another way to view report output for further manipulation, which is with repeating labels. Using the image above, the same report output with repeating labels turned on would look as shown in the table below. Information is shown for every line in the example below whereas, in the image above, the entity, asset category, and asset fields are grouped according to account.

We have enabled the option for you to enable or disable repeating labels in report output for the following Standard Reports:

Subline Data
Budgeted Data
Capital Budget Analysis
Staffing Summary

It is important to note that when repeat labels are ON, there are no totals in the report output. This is by design so that you can export the report and perform further manipulations.

Note:

By default, repeat labels is set to ON in all the above listed reports.

In Practice: Enabling and Disabling Repeat Labels is Standard Reports

To disable (turn off) repeat labels:

Navigate to the standard report in which you want to enable or disable repeat labels (Maintenance > Reports > Standard Reports). In the example below, the Capital Budget Analysis report is shown.
Click Repeat Labels Off (the field toggles to Repeat Labels On).
Run the report.

When repeat labels are Off, there are totals/subtotals in the report as shown above.

To enable (turn on) repeat labels:

Navigate to the standard report in which you want to enable or disable repeat labels (Maintenance > Reports > Standard Reports). In the example below, the Capital Budget Analysis report is shown.
Click Repeat Labels On (the field toggles to Repeat Labels Off).
Run the report.

Reporting: User Experience Enhancements

Improved the user experience for filters in enhanced drill through.
There were a few inconsistencies with the vertical alignment of text in the Header & Footer section of a Dynamic Report. We corrected the inconsistency and they now default to bottom alignment.

Application Functionality Retirement Notice

Business Analytics Dashboards and Reporting Deprecation

All existing Business Analytics Dashboards and Reports across all subject areas are removed from your application and they are no longer accessible. This means that Business Analytics Dashboard and Reports are no longer available in the File Cabinet and will not be returned in a search. Analytics Security is no longer available from the User Management application page, but will be retained in Audit Log application pages.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base Article.

Modeling 2.6.2: Client Upgrade to TLS 1.2 Required Before November 2018

We are providing an early notification of the need to upgrade to .NET Framework 4.7.2. Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is an industry standard designed to protect the privacy of information communicated over the Internet. With the November 2018 release (2.7), Host Analytics will support only TLS 1.2. We ask all customers who are using either Spotlight or Modeling to upgrade to the .NET Framework 4.7.2 as early as possible in order to get TLS 1.2.

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. We recommend to update the .NET Framework to 4.7.2 as early as possible. With the November 2018 release, all users who do not have .NET Framework 4.7.2 installed will not be able to access the Spotlight Add-Ins.

Browser Users

If you use any of the modern browsers to log in to Host Analytics (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE 10 and above), you will NOT be affected by this change. All the modern browsers already support TLS1.2. If you are using lower versions of IE and use TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1, please upgrade to TLS 1.2.

Upgrading to .NET Framework 4.7.2

Once the October 2018 release (2.6.2) 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.
If you do not have .NET Framework 4.7.2, then you will see a message at the top ribbon.
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.
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.

Modeling 2.6.2: Dimension-Based Locking Enhancement

Currently, admins and designers can lock one or more members in a dimension. In Reports and Views, these dimension member locks are enforced with an Application Setting. For Reports, the Application Setting lets you choose from No locking or Application-level locking. For Views, the Application Setting lets you choose from enforcing the locks at the View level or at the Application level. If you choose View level, the designer then needs to specify the dimension in each view's properties.

Beginning with the November 2018 version 2.7 release, the behavior will change so that Views support only No locking or Application-level locking. In preparation for this change, as of the October 2018 release, all tenants' Application Settings will be automatically changed so that Views with Dimension-based Locking will be at the Application level. There will be no change to the Application Setting for Reports Dimension-based Locking.

Beginning in November 2018, we are enhancing dimension-based locking to support locking in Views, Reports, and also in other model areas, like Calculations. If a member is locked, then it will be locked from all areas of the application. As part of this change, View-level locking will no longer be supported.

Modeling 2.6.2: Cascade Support for Leaf Levels with Data Only

In this release, Cascade reporting is enhanced to provide functionality similar to Zoom In to Data Leaf Levels in Views.

When a cascade report is run, you can see only rows that have data at the leaf level. Additionally, rows that do not have data are removed from the report so that they do not consume excess data analysis cells unnecessarily. (The maximum number of Analysis Cells is specified in Application Settings.)

To set up the Cascade report to show data at leaf levels only:

Run the report with cascaded dimensions on the row axis.
Select Report and Design from the menu.
Select all cells in the report, then click Design Manager.
Set the cascaded dimensions to a filter of 'Leaves of' the dimension then click Update.
Click report Properties and set Suppress Rows to Blank, then click Save.
Now you can run the report.
For information on Zoom In to Data Leaf Levels in Views, see Modeling: How to Find Data Cells Quickly.

Modeling 2.6.2: Streamlined Process for Working with Charts in Spotlight for Office

In this release, Spotlight for Office is enhanced to make it easier to specify the data range in charts.

Start in SpotlightXL and run a view or report.
Select the cells to be used in the chart in Word or PowerPoint.
Select Copy Formulas from the More menu.
Start Word or PowerPoint and select Paste Formulas from the SpotlightWord or SpotlightPPT menu.
Click Refresh to see the data.
Insert the chart type of your choice.
The chart is inserted with a set of preliminary data (dummy data), which is displayed in an Excel-style sheet. Click the X to close the Excel sheet.
Select the rows and columns containing the data to be used in the chart. Do not select POV cells.
Click Copy Formulas.
Now simply select the chart and click Paste Formulas.
The chart first appears blank.
Click Refresh to see the data.
The chart is connected to the data source in Modeling and you can click Refresh to update the data regularly.