August21 Release Notes

Enhancements to Application Behavior

Structured Planning: User Interface Enhancements

On the Workforce End-user window, we have improved the look, feel and updated a few existing functionalities. The following is the list of the enhancements made:

• The Select Template option is repositioned below the toolbar menu.

• The Full-screen icon is repositioned to make it uniform across all the windows in the application.

  

• List view and Card view options are placed together in a drop-down option.

  

• Reports are now visible in a separate drop-down icon in the toolbar menu beside the view option.

  

• The Process option is now a button that opens a drop-down menu.

• While editing an employee, you will only see the Save or Cancel action button on the screen.

  

• When you select an employee, you can now view the Employee Report, Copy and Delete options on the toolbar menu.

  

Structured Planning: Introduction of YTD type accounts in Workforce Planning

On the Compensation Items window in the Add compensation item and Edit compensation item screens, a user can now map the YTD type accounts to compensation items and save them. You can process and verify the mapped values in Dynamic reports.

Structured Planning: GetEmployeeCompensationsForPeriods

An API has been introduced for the users to get the calculated compensation items based on the following filter options:

• HomeBudgetEnity (Codes)

• EmployeeNumbers

• Employee number and EmployeePosition

• Compensation Item

• Time (year)

For more information see OLH

Platform: Get Help Menu Enhancements

Now, you can access the Planful Engage Community from the Get Help > Resources section. When you sign up in Planful Engage, you can participate in various advocacy activities, connect with other customers, and earn rewards for your contributions.

The users who have the Support Role as User will have the option to navigate to the Planful’s Knowledge Base documentation directly from Get Help > Support Menu. A Knowledge Base link is added in the Support menu.

Platform: Export Mapped Users option

An Export Mapped Users option is added in the contextual menu in the User groups tab. Additionally, the Export as Excel option that was available in the contextual menu is renamed to Export User Groups. You can use this feature to export the user groups’ information listed in the User Groups tab.

When you export the list of mapped users, the following information is available in the excel sheet related to each user:

• User Group Code

• User Group Name

• User First Name

• User Last Name

• User Email ID.

Business Value

This functionality provides you the capability to export the list of users associated with all the user groups displayed in this tab in an excel sheet. If a user is part of multiple user groups, then you can see that the user’s name would repeat in the respective user groups.

In Practice: Accessing the Export Mapped Users option

1. From the side menu click Maintenance > Overview.

2. Select the User and Role Management option under Administration. The list of users is displayed.

3. Click the User Groups tab.

4. Click on the contextual menu > Export Mapped Users to export the list of users assigned to each group in an excel sheet.

   

Platform: Ability to choose Multiple Entities in Export Data

Now, when you want to export the data from the Export Data screen, you can select multiple members from the Company Hierarchy section. Only the selected data is filtered and exported in an excel sheet.

You can select the members in the hierarchy at any level and only the selected member details are exported. If you select a roll-up member, all the corresponding leaf members' information in the hierarchy under that roll-up member is also exported.

Business Value

This functionality provides you the capability to export the data with multiple Company Hierarchy members for the selected Scenario. Initially, this capability was limited to only one Company Hierarchy member. Selecting multiple hierarchy members reduces the effort of exporting the data for the required scenario.

In Practice: Accessing the Company Hierarchy Enhancement

1. Go to Maintenance > Data Integration > Export Data.

2. Provide the required information on the Export Data Setup page. You can provide the following details in each section:

   - Setup File Format:

   1. File Type - Select the file format for the exported file.

   2. Data Format - Select the order in which the data should appear in the exported file.

   3. - Setup Columns and Order:
   4. 
      
   5. 
      
   6. 
      
   7. 
      

   1. Column

   2. Header Name

   3. Value

3. Click Save and Next. The Export Data page appears. You can view the checkboxes in the Company Hierarchy section using which you can select the required members and export the data related to them.

   

Platform: CreateUser API Update

We have updated the CreateUser API. Now, this API is updated to take the Dynamic Planning User and Role values when an existing user is trying to create a new user profile in the application.

If the value for Dynamic Planning User is Yes, then it is mandatory to have a valid Dynamic Planning Role value.

You must update the resources to get the latest API updates. Once you take an update, the changes apply to the new requests that are created.

Here is the sample request and response code for a successful CreateUser API scenario.

 Request

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns="http://www.HostAnalytics.com/API/SOAP/StateFree/Common/2009/03/19">
  <soapenv:Header/>
  <soapenv:Body>
     <ns:CreateNewUser>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:FirstName>NewUser</ns:FirstName>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:LastName>NewUser</ns:LastName>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:UserLogin>NewUser007@planful.com</ns:UserLogin>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:NavigationRole>Super Admin</ns:NavigationRole>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:ReportingRole>Regular User</ns:ReportingRole>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:SupportRole>User</ns:SupportRole>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:authenticationType>1</ns:authenticationType>
        <ns:status>1</ns:status>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:DynamicPlanningUser>Yes</ns:DynamicPlanningUser>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:DynamicPlanningRole>Power User</ns:DynamicPlanningRole>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:LoginName>qaautomationrun4@hostanalytics.com</ns:LoginName>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:Password>H@20@fAut0m@te</ns:Password>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:TenantCode>BVTFullyUnifiedAPITenant</ns:TenantCode>
     </ns:CreateNewUser>
  </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <soap:Body>
     <CreateNewUserResponse xmlns="http://www.HostAnalytics.com/API/SOAP/StateFree/Common/2009/03/19">
        <CreateNewUserResult>
           <Success>true</Success>
           <message>User created successfully.</message>
        </CreateNewUserResult>
     </CreateNewUserResponse>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Dynamic Planning Users and Roles are supported only in those applications where the Unified User Management is enabled. You can contact Planful Support to enable this feature in your application.

Platform: UpdateUserInformation API Update

We have updated the UpdateUserInformation API. Now, this API is updated to take the Dynamic Planning Role’s value when a user edits the Dynamic Planning Role in the application settings.

Here is the sample request and response code for a successful UpdateUserInformation API scenario.

Request

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns="http://www.HostAnalytics.com/API/SOAP/StateFree/Common/2009/03/19">
  <soapenv:Header/>
  <soapenv:Body>
     <ns:UpdateUserInformation>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:UserLogin>NewUser007@planful.com</ns:UserLogin>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:UserPropertyName>DynamicPlanningRole</ns:UserPropertyName>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:Value>Power User</ns:Value>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:LoginName>qaautomationrun4@hostanalytics.com</ns:LoginName>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:Password>H@20@fAut0m@te</ns:Password>
        <!--Optional:-->
        <ns:TenantCode>BVTFullyUnifiedAPITenant</ns:TenantCode>
     </ns:UpdateUserInformation>
  </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <soap:Body>
     <UpdateUserInformationResponse xmlns="http://www.HostAnalytics.com/API/SOAP/StateFree/Common/2009/03/19">
        <UpdateUserInformationResult>
           <Success>true</Success>
           <message>User Updated Successfully</message>
        </UpdateUserInformationResult>
     </UpdateUserInformationResponse>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Dynamic Planning Roles are supported only in those applications where the Unified User Management is enabled. You can contact Planful Support to enable this feature in your application.

Reports and Dashboards: Added Doc Ref link in Drill Through Report

Now, you can navigate to the source Operational Template/Capital Planning template from the Drill Through report in Dynamic Reports and Dashboards. You can click on the hyperlink available in the Doc Ref column of any record in the Drill Through report to open the corresponding source document template. For now, this capability is available only in the Operational and Capital Planning data tabs in the Drill Through report.

The Source template opens in a new browser window. The user security for the budget entity and the navigation access permissions to the template are honored while opening the template.

Business Value

This functionality provides you the capability to directly navigate to the source template of the record from the Drill Through report. It significantly reduces the effort of navigating to the source template manually from Structured Planning > Operating Budget > Selecting the Scenario > Selecting the Budget > Selecting the template. You can instantly view the source data of the record and compare the values precisely.

In Practice: Accessing Source template from Dynamic Reports

1. From the left menu, click the Dynamic Reports option.

2. From the File Cabinet dropdown menu, select the required folder. The reports related to the selected folder are displayed.

3. Click the required report to view the report details.

4. Double click on the cell for which you want to view the related Drill Through report.

5. If the selected cell’s Drill Through report has Operational Planning and / or Capital Planning tabs, select any one to view the details.

6. Go to the Doc Ref column and click the hyperlink related to any record.

7. The Source template for the record opens in a new window with the same scenario and budget entity combination as available in the Drill Through for that record.

In Practice: Accessing Source template from Dynamic Reports

1. From the left menu, select the Dashboards option.

2. Click on any dashboard to view the related chart details.

3. Right click on any parameter of any chart and click Drill Through to view the related Drill Through report.

4. If the selected cell’s Drill Through report has Operational Planning and / or Capital Planning tabs, select any one to view the details.

5. Go to the Doc Ref column and click the hyperlink related to any record.

6. The Source template for the record opens in a new window with the same scenario and budget entity combination as available in the Drill Through for that record.

   

This feature is not supported when the Drill Through is accessed from Spotlight Direct Connect Models.

Dashboards: Added ability to export a single chart from the Dashboard

Now, when you open any dashboard and hover over the charts, you can view an Export icon on the top right corner of the chart. You can use this option to export the corresponding chart in PDF, PNG, JPEG/JPG formats. The Export option is available in all the Dashboards containing charts. This option is applicable for all the chart types and tables.

When you export a chart, all the Chart filters, titles, subtitles, formatting, labels, and chart settings are preserved in the exported chart, and you can view the chart as it is displayed in the Dashboard. You can also export any chart in a dashboard in drill-down mode.

Business Value

This functionality provides you the capability to export an individual chart from a dashboard. It avoids the need of exporting the entire dashboard as sometimes you may not need the data of all the charts of a dashboard.

In Practice: Accessing the Export Chart option

1. From the left menu, click Dashboards and select any dashboard.

2. Hover on any chart.

3. Click on the Export Chart icon on the top left corner of the chart.

   

Dynamic Planning: Substitution Variables in Member Selector of Scope

Now, while setting up Scope you will have an option to select Substitution Variables defined for any dimension as the Filter Value from the Member Selector drop-down menu.

Previously, the Member Selector drop-down menu only displayed leaf members of the dimensions, and did not show the substitution variable.

Business Value:

As substitution variables can be used to replace dimension member values in a report and can be used anywhere on a report; a cell, a column, or a range of cells. It contains a variable name and a value. For example:

• Substitution Variable Name = AR1

• Substitution Variable Value: Aug-2021

The substitution variable name is replaced by its value when the report is run, thereby making reporting flexible. For example, if you created a report column that uses the AR1 substitution variable when the report is run the name (AR1) is substituted by its value (Aug-2021).

As you can use substitution variable functionality to make mass updates to a report design, this functionality provides you the flexibility to select substitution variables directly from the Scope screen and reduces the effort required previously to make updates manually.

For example, for any model if you have a substitution variable, “first Month”, defined for the Time dimension.

While setting up Scope for this model, the Time dimension will show the substitution variable, “first Month” along with other leaf members in the Member Selector drop-down menu of Filter Value.

Dynamic Planning: Cascade Report Remove Inner Block Rows

Now, when you Suppress Rows in a Cascade report, if one of the data cells contains data, the inner block is not suppressed, and only the rows that do not contain any data are suppressed.

With this functionality, any cells containing formulas but not having any data are not suppressed and are displayed appropriately.

Previously, all rows containing zeros or blank rows were deleted even if any inner cell had data or a formula associated with it.

You can now select or deselect the Remove Inner Block Rows option available in the Selection menu of the Design Manager for a Cascade Report. This option is selected by default. If you deselect this option, the rows are hidden and not deleted.

Report Design - If you deselect the Remove Inner Block Rows option.

Report Output in Run mode: Blank and Zero rows are hidden in the report. They are not deleted. This will ensure that any dependent excel formulas will not impact the overall report.

Report Design:- If you select the Remove Inner Block Rows option.

Report Output in Run mode: Blank and Zero rows are not included in the report. This is applicable when the inner block does not have any dependent excel formulas in the inner block that might be affected. 

Business Value

This functionality provides you the capability to automatically remove the inner block rows that do not have any dependent excel formulas in a cascade report with just one click, thereby significantly reducing the time and effort required previously to delete rows. In addition, this functionality provides enhanced user experience and flexibility to view the necessary data clearly.

In Practice: Selecting the Remove Inner Block Rows Option

1. In SpotlightXL, select the Analyze task and the Data subtask.

2. Select the View.

3. Select Design With > Report

4. Select the entire spreadsheet.

   Note:

   It is important when using Cascade Reports to select the entire spreadsheet before selecting the Design Manager to ensure the dimensions are represented correctly if the cascade option is used.

5. Select all cells in the report.

6. Click Design Manager

7. For the dimension that you want to use Cascade, click the Cascade checkbox.

8. On the Cascaded dimension, click the Selection icon and select or deselect Remove Inner Block Rows

Dynamic Planning: Cascade Report Indent Row Members

Now, you can indent all inner block dimension members in a Cascade report based on the levels defined in the dimension. Previously, you did not have an option to indent. This functionality indents the inner block members based on their levels defined in the hierarchy.

You can now select or deselect the Indent Row Members option available in the Selection menu of the Design Manager for a Cascade Report. This option is selected by default. If you deselect this option, the dimension members are not indented.

Business Value

This functionality provides you the capability to automatically indent inner dimension members in a cascade report with just one click, thereby significantly reducing the time and effort required previously to indent inner dimension members manually. In addition, this functionality provides enhanced user experience and flexibility to view the necessary data precisely.

In Practice: Selecting the Indent Row Members Option

1. In SpotlightXL, select the Analyze task and the Data subtask.

2. Select the View.

3. Select Design With > Report

4. Select the entire spreadsheet.

   Note:

   It is important when using Cascade Reports to select the entire spreadsheet before selecting the Design Manager to ensure the dimensions are represented correctly if the cascade option is used.

5. Select all cells in the report.

6. Click Design Manager

7. For the dimension that you want to use Cascade, click the Cascade checkbox.

8. On the Cascaded dimension, click the Selection icon and select or deselect Indent Row Members

Dynamic Planning: Model Permissions

Now, any user having the User Role set to Power User will have a Model Permissions tab to map User Groups and define security permissions.

Model Permissions functionality is already available in SpotlightXL, and there is no change to that functionality. Power users can continue to use the same for setting up the model permissions.

In addition to what’s already available in SpotlightXL, we are adding this interface from the web. The only prerequisite to access this interface is to have the tenant and user unification enabled on your tenant. The majority of the customers have both tenant and user unification enabled. If you have questions or need additional information on unification, please reach out to the customer support team.

From the Model Permissions tab, you can associate other users or user groups to different models and their related dimensions and members if you are a Power User. The Model Permissions page lists all the Dynamic Planning related models. There are three types of models which are as follows:

• Analytical Models and Direct Access to PCR (DAP) models are indicated with a Cube icon.

• External Source Models (ESM) are indicated with the Rows and Columns icon.

Currently, you can only associate user groups with any models. The user groups that appear on the Model Permissions page are the same as those available in Dynamic Planning.

To define the user permissions related to any model, click the Edit option available on the required model.

The Edit Model Permissions screen appears, and you can do the following from here:

1. In the User Groups section, click Map. The Map User Groups page is displayed.

2. Select the required user groups. If the list is extensive, you can use the search option to find the user group you need. Once the user group is added to the model, all the related users within the user groups are associated with the model.

3. When a user group is mapped with the model, you can do the following from the contextual menu:

   • Copy Permissions: Use this option to copy the permissions set of the respective user group to other user groups. Suppose you copy the permissions to a new user group that is not mapped with the model. In that case, the new user group will be automatically mapped to the model, and the permissions will be applied simultaneously.

   • If you copy the permissions to any group which already has a set of defined permissions, then these copied permissions will override the old permissions.

   • Remove Permissions: Use this option to un-map the related user group.

4. Click Save. At this stage, the selected user groups will have full permissions of all the dimensions related to the model.

5. Once you click Save, the Configure Security section is displayed.

6. If required, you can select the dimension you need from the Secure a Dimension list, and the related members are displayed below the list.

7. If you select any members here, the user groups added to the model will have access to only those members in the dimension.

8. If you have selected any member, you can also view the member selection option available adjacent to the members selected in the Selected Members section

9. Select the required Members Selection option for each member.

10. After you are done adding and configuring groups, click Save on the top right corner. The Model Permissions are updated.

The following image shows the details you see when you try to define model permissions for the ESM model.

The following image shows the details you see when you try to add security for DAP models.

Preview Permissions

You can use this feature to have a quick overview of the model permissions related to the models that you can access. Click Preview Permissions and choose the required model about which you want to view the permission details from the Select Model list.

When you select a model, the associated user groups are displayed in a list. You can select any user group to view the level of permissions the group has to each dimension available in the model.

There are two levels of permissions:

• Full permissions: The user group has access to all the members of the dimension.

• Secure Permissions: The user group has access to limited members of the dimension. When you select such a dimension, you can view the list of members to which the user group has access in the Members section.

Dynamic Planning: Update to the SpotlightXL Add-In

If you have automated installation for SpotlightXL, then there is nothing you need to do as the update will be done automatically.

If you manually install SpotlightXL and related updates, then you must access the Installation Guide and download the latest update.

Platform: Enhanced the User Menu

Now, we have enhanced the look and feel of the user profile menu on the application screen's top-right corner.

The following is a list of the enhancements made to the user profile menu:

• You will now be able to see your Navigation Role above the Application name.

• The Help Resources menu is now expanded and you will be able to see all the resources directly in the user menu.

• The My Settings option has been renamed to Manage your Account.

  

Platform: Enhanced the drag and drop functionality in Hierarchy Management

The drag and drop functionality in Hierarchy Management has been enhanced to indicate the feature clearly. You will now see a drag and drop icon when you hover over the roll-up/leaf-level members in the center pane of the screen. An area in the left pane gets highlighted when you begin dragging a member, you can drop the selected member in the highlighted area.

The following is an illustration of the On Hover functionality.

The following is an illustration of the On Drag functionality.

Platform: Enhancements in Dynamic Commentary

You can now tag a user using @ in a comment.

Platform: Enhanced Data Integration Security Settings

Now, the Data Load Rules Access Settings have been simplified and made more intuitive.

Predict: Signals now in Dimension based Dynamic Reports

Now you can view Predict Signals in Dynamic Reports. This functionality supports Signals for roll-up members, leaf-level members, calculated members, substitution or derived variables, and simple user-defined custom formula members.

Signals are also supported for Dynamic Reports with a Static Report Set that meet the following criteria:

• The reporting area of the report Set must be Financial.

• The Report Set rule type must be Single.

• Only dimension members (non-attribute members) must be selected for the report set.

Now, you will see a Show Signals and a Hide Signals button for every report.

The Show Signals button will automatically be disabled if the system cannot generate Signals for that report. On hovering over the disabled Show Signals button, you will see a tooltip explaining why the Signals cannot be generated.

Following an illustration of the Show Signals button.

Following an illustration of the Hide Signals button.

The general functioning of the Dynamic Reports remains unchanged. When Signals is enabled, you can see Signals for any data anomaly.

Once you enable Show Signals, it will remain enabled for that report until changes to the report do not support the generation of Signals. You must explicitly hide Signals for a report if you do not want to view Signals for that report in the future.

In Dynamic Reports that already have some formatting defined, the Predict Signals severity colors will take precedence over the report formatting used. Hiding Signals will enable you to view the report in its custom formatting.

Predict: How Signal Generation Works

There are certain functionality rules for Signal generation. For example, when the cell count of a report is below six thousand cells, the Signals are generated immediately. But when the cell count of a report is between six thousand and ten thousand cells, the Signal generation will take a long time. For such an instance, a pop-up will be shown to the user asking permission to continue the Signal generation process or cancel it.

Following are the situations when the Signals will not be generated:

• Signals for prior months, quarters, or years (fiscal year) are not generated when they are a part of the Dynamic Report for which Signals are being generated. Signals will only be generated for the data from the current period onwards in the Dynamic Report.

• For all the following situations, the Show Signals button is disabled, and the reason for not generating Signals is shown as an information tooltip upon hovering over the disabled button.

  • When the cell count is greater than ten thousand cells. You can reduce the report size and try to generate the Signals.

    

  • When there are dimension attributes in any axis. Similarly, when a Report Set consists of dimension attributes.

    

  • When the Report Set type is Dynamic. Only Static type report sets are supported.

    

  • When there are multiple scenarios or there is the All scenario on the page axis.

    

  • When there are multiple time members or there is the All Time member on the page axis.

    

  • When the selected scenario on any axis contains only Actuals data.

    

  • When there are custom members in the scenario dimension.

    

  • When the selected scenarios were not a part of the model pre-computation but are a part of the report.

    

Following are the situations when Signals will be generated only for the supported cells:

• When there are row/column headers. The header cells for both row and column headers do not support Signals.

• When there are formulas in rows and columns. Dynamic Reports allow inserting formula cells that can contain comments or formulas; these cells do not support Signals.

• When a cell is a subtotal/grand-total of data in other cells. Dynamic Reports supports total cells that are summations of row or column data; such cells will not support Signals.

• When there are non-set-based complex member formula rules. Advanced custom members that are not set-based will also not support Signals.

• When there is an advanced Report Set configuration. Multiple and advanced custom rules in Report Set will not support Signals.

• When there is actual data on either the row or the column axis. Signals are not supported on actuals data. If a report has a combination of actuals and budget/forecast or other scenario data, Signals will be generated only for the non-actual data.