23.6 Release Notes

With this release, we have added the Consider Absolute Value for Denominator option that allows you to customize the variance percentage calculation in the Dashboard KPI chart.

With the new option, KPIs calculated with negative base values will no longer result in negative output. Instead, turning on the toggle, the denominator value gets converted to absolute value, resulting in a positive variance percentage. You can find this option under the Settings tab in the Properties pane of the KPI chart.

Let's understand this with an example:

Suppose the planned income for a specific period is -1000, and the actual income is 1200. In this case, the variance is 2200 and the variance percentage is - 220%. By turning on the Consider Absolute Value for Denominator option, the calculation considers the denominator as the absolute value, and the variance percentage is 220%, which is positive.

Note:

The Consider Absolute Value for Denominator option applies only when calculating variance percentages in KPI charts and not for numbers.

In Practice: Enabling the Consider Absolute Value for Denominator option:

1. Navigate to Dashboards.
2. Create a new dashboard or edit an existing KPI chart. If creating a new chart, drag and drop a chart to the canvas.
3. Click the Settings tab and then select Properties.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
5. Ensure that the Variance toggle is turned ON by sliding the corresponding toggle buttons to the right.
6. Turn on the Consider Absolute Value for Denominator toggle to calculate the variance percentage.
7. Click Save.

Learn more about the KPI charts here.

With this release, users with full access to the consolidation process can skip the workflow process like Forward and Approve actions and directly lock the period. Prior to this release, users had to perform multiple steps to lock the period, which increased the processing time.

Business Value: Users with full access to the consolidation process can optimize their workflow, avoid multiple clicks and reduce the overall processing time required to complete tasks.

In Practice: How to lock the period

1. Navigate to the Consolidation Control Panel > Consolidation Process.
2. Select the Scenario, Period, and Entity.
   
3. Select the Period you want to lock the entity and click Lock.
   

With this release, we have improved the User Information tab in the Manage your Account settings. The security options like Change Password, Change Secret Question, and Two-Step Verification are now listed as individual rows with an edit option for each row. This new arrangement makes it easier to manage your account information quickly.

The following is an illustration of the updated User Information screen.

Previously, the Change Password, the Change Secret Question, and the Two-Step Verification options were nested within the User Information tab and required multiple clicks to navigate to each tab.

The following is an illustration of the previous User Information screen.

Learn more about managing your account here.

With this release, we have added the SSO login, which allows SSO users to access shared Dynamic Planning Report links seamlessly, regardless of their session status. Previously, users with inactive sessions had difficulty accessing these links. Here are the two scenarios for SSO users with this update:

Inactive Session: SSO users with an inactive session will be redirected to the application login page when accessing a shared Dynamic Planning Report link. Now, they can simply click the SSO login and enter their Okta credentials to access the shared report links.

Active Session: SSO users with an active session can access the shared report links with just one click of the SSO login without needing additional credentials. This update has significantly improved the SSO user experience, making it quick and easy for them to access the required information.

The new Calculation Scheduler option has been added to Spotlight Web, allowing users to manage all their scheduled calculations in one place. Previously, this feature was only available in SpotlightXL. The addition of this feature eliminates the inconvenience of adjusting scheduled calculation settings.

Users can now schedule calculations to run at specific intervals using the Calculation Scheduler and receive notifications upon completion/failure. With the latest update, users have greater flexibility in managing calculation schedules, including the ability to pause and resume individual or bulk scheduled calculations and toggle execution status to optimize calculations with ease.

In Practice: To set a Calculation Scheduler

1. Navigate to Model> Calculation Scheduler.
   
2. Select the required calculation, and click the edit icon.
   
3. In the Update Scheduler window, select the appropriate options for the following:
   • Time frame: At, Begins, Ends
   • Frequency: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly
   • Run on the following days
   • Notification to the user when the process succeeds or fails
4. Click Update.

Learn more about Calculation Scheduler here.

With this release, we have introduced a new color coding for the excluded GL combinations in the Legend panel for Dynamic Reports and Templates. The Exclude GL legend highlights the cells that represent excluded GL combinations in purple color.