Direct Access to PCR Model

Purpose of Direct Access to PCR

Dynamic Planning users can access Planful Structured Planning, Consolidation, and Reporting (PCR) application data from Spotlight or SpotlightXL without any need to download data or build a map, formula, or calculation.

To use this feature, PCR users must have a license for either Spotlight or Dynamic Planning. (A Spotlight license provides access for reporting and analysis. A Dynamic Planning license provides access to all the features of Dynamic Planning.)

Key Benefits of Direct Access Models

• One-time setup to connect from Dynamic Planning to PCR; the Power user must do this step.
• Reduced learning curve with two easy steps to set up a model in Spotlight that provides read-only access to the Financial Reporting Area; users with Contributor or Power privilege can do these steps.
• All data dimension security defined in PCR is honored in Spotlight. However, all metadata for the Financial cube is visible to the users in Spotlight with the exception of the Scenario dimension. 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. For the Scenario dimension, users will only see the metadata for the scenarios they have access to in PCR.
• Full access to Dynamic Planning's robust reporting capabilities, slice-and-dice, and analysis in Views, Reports, Excel 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 Dynamic Planning is read-only and primarily intended for use with analysis and reporting. For writing data changes back to PCR and also for other Dynamic Planning use cases, users can continue to use the option of downloading metadata and data into other models. For details, see Write Back.

Setting Up the Connection to PCR

For organizations that are experienced with Dynamic Planning , the Power user should 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; then run a Metadata Download. There is no need to create a map or define calculations to connect to PCR.

For organizations that are new to Spotlight and Dynamic Planning , your Power user must set up access to PCR from within Dynamic Planning and download metadata from PCR.

How to Set Up the Connection to Structured Planning?

1. Install SpotlightXL. See Download & Installation.
2. Contact Planful Support for assistance in getting your Horizon and Soap URI and Tenant names set up.
3. Login to SpotlightXL. See SpotlightXL.
4. Select Manage > Application Administration > Application Settings. Notice the Horizon and Soap URI and Tenant names are grayed out. These fields are populated by Planful Support.
5. Enter the Horizon and Soap username and password provided to you by Planful Support.
6. Click Save.
7. Log off of SpotlightXL then log in 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.

Creating Users

For organizations that are experienced with Dynamic Planning , the Power user should ensure that your users have logins. Contributor 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.

For organizations that are new to Spotlight and Dynamic Planning , the Power user must create user logins in Dynamic Planning. In a future release, we will eliminate the need for creating user logins in both PCR and Dynamic Planning.

1. Login to SpotlightXL.
2. Select Manage > User Management.
3. Add usernames for the users that will be accessing the PCR data. Contributor 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. See User Types and Security.
4. Ensure that the Model menu option is available to users in your organization. See Spotlight Web.

Reporting Dimension Custom Labels Displayed in Direct Connect Models

Optional functionality that must be enabled by Planful! Custom labels created for Reporting dimension members and rollups can be shown in Dynamic Planning reports for Direct Connect models. This ensures consistency in member labels across modules.

With Custom Label functionality, a value can be set for rollup members on the Reporting dimension, consolidated common currency, and consolidated local currency. Once the value is set, the Reporting dimension must be processed so that the updated values are applied in reports. Additionally, the Direct Connect model must be refreshed so that the updated values are applied.

Maintenance Options

None of the following maintenance options are mandatory. They are provided for your information and convenience.

Backup and Restore

Power users have the option to use Backup and Restore for the model with Direct Access to PCR. 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.

See How to Backup a Model and How to Restore a Model for more information.

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 Dynamic Planning. In PCR, when the Power user changes the hierarchy and clicks Save, a refresh calculation is automatically triggered in Dynamic Planning. The next time a view or report is run, the user just clicks Refresh or Get Data to see the changes.

Manual Updates

Power users and Contributors have the option to manually refresh the model in Dynamic Planning with metadata updates from PCR. This is done automatically in the background. However, if you want to refresh manually, you can run the refresh calculation. (This calculation is created automatically when the model is generated and has the same name as the model. You can view it if you want to understand 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.