5.06 Input Data Using Templates. Business Forms Relating to Purchasing.
Hyperion Planning Input Forms
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Transcript of Hyperion Planning Input Forms
Hyperion Planning Input Forms
You’re Doing it All Wrong
Jake Turrell
16+ Years Hyperion Implementation Experience
Certified in both Planning and Essbase
Prior Practice Lead at Hyperion Partner Firm
Co-Editor of the book “Developing Essbase
Applications: Advanced Techniques for Finance and
IT Professionals”
Background
Developing Essbase Applications
● Over 50 years of expert experience between
the covers.
● Advanced content written so that developers at
all levels will gain assistance and insight.
● Chock full of experience proven best practices.
● Collaboratively written by a team of respected
and sought after Essbase developers.
● Source code at
www.developingessbasebook.com
● Includes all download access to all source
code & scripts.
● Purchase your copy today and energize your
Essbase career!
US-Analytics is an industry leading professional services firm focused
on helping clients successfully establish and maintain long term Business
Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
applications and programs.
• BI and EPM Strategy and Processes
• Custom and packaged BI and EPM Applications
• Oracle Infrastructure
• Managed Services and Hosting
For over a decade, market leading companies have trusted US-Analytics
to solve complex business problems, drive managerial excellence, and
deliver operational agility.
Learn more at Booth #107 or
www.us-analytics.com
Planning 11.1.2.2 (ADF Interface)
Major League Baseball Statistics (Pitching & Hitting)
50+ Stat Accounts
FY10 – FY13
Covers All Teams, Players & Games
Attendees will Receive Exported Demo Application
Data Available from Windows Azure Marketplace
What’s in the Demo?
The Planning and Essbase objects used in this demo
are available for free. They are unsupported.
They are available for learning purposes only and
may include incomplete and/or inaccurate data.
Disclaimer
Difficult to Interpret
Perform Poorly
Allow Bad Data
Lack Interconnectivity
Let the Database Do All the Work
Include Only “Lifeless” Grids
Don’t Predict the Future
Characteristics of “Bad” Input Forms
Organizing Data
Limiting Data
Creating Interconnected Forms
Creating Data Validations
Creating Row & Column Formulas
Creating Embedded Charts
Predictive Planning
Agenda
ORGANIZING DATA
Good Layout = Easy Consumption
Forms vs. Bulk Data Interfaces
White Space
Borders
Composite Forms
Organizing Data
Don’t present users with a massive “wall” of cells.
Hide irrelevant rows and columns.
Use the “Show Separator” feature to give users context
regarding different subject areas.
Use blank rows to introduce spacing into forms.
Use Composite Forms to present different (but related) subject
areas on the same form.
Use Data Validation Rules that always evaluate to “True” for
additional formatting options.
Make Forms Easy to Consume
The “Wall” of Data
Introducing Blank Spaces
To introduce a blank line into a form add a
Formula Row with no formula or label.
Certain older versions of Planning require a
label, otherwise the dimension name will be
displayed. In these instances, use “.” as a
label.
Using Blank Spaces
Good Things
Bad Things
Using Borders
“Show Separator” does not work with
certain unpatched versions of ADF.
Using Composite Forms
Composite Forms
Pro’s
● Under the right circumstances, composite forms bring together
multiple subject areas into a single view.
Con’s
● Formatting and space allocation can be unpredictable, especially
when users have different display resolutions.
● In Smart View, composite forms render on separate Excel tabs.
Forms vs. Bulk Data Interfaces
Typical OTN Planning Forum Thread
Using Validation Rules for Formatting
Data Validations are good for more than just
validating data!
Developers can create validations that ALWAYS
evaluate to True, simply to format cells in a form.
Using Validation Rules for Formatting
LIMITING DATA
Suppress Missing Data (Rows & Columns)
● Set in the Grid Properties, Row Properties or Column Properties.
● Prevents blank rows or columns from being displayed.
Suppress Missing Blocks
● Set in the Grid Properties.
● Does nothing, unless used with “Suppress Missing Data”.
● Typically good for forms where most rows will have no data.
● Typically bad for forms where most rows have data.
● Can cause issues displaying certain dynamic members and attributes.
Suppress Missing Data / Blocks
Demo / Examples
Limiting Data
Pro’s
● Can keep irrelevant data off the form.
● Can make forms faster (when used correctly).
● Can make forms easier to consume.
Con’s
● Planning does not support “Conditional” suppression in forms.
● What happens when users want to plan for a member combination
that currently has no data? (Hint . . . Take the Form Ad-Hoc)
Suppress Missing Data / Blocks
INTERCONNECTING FORMS
One aspect of building a “good” form is providing
multiple navigation routes to and from that form.
Create right-click menus that take users from one
form to another, while passing “context”.
This is especially useful when moving from a
summary form to a detail form.
Creating Interconnected Forms
Menus can be used to do much more than navigate to
another form. They can:
● Take Users to a URL.
● Launch a Business Rule (Now with confirmation messages!)
● Take Users to Manage Approvals
● Take Users to the Previous Form
Creating Interconnected Forms
Create a menu using the menu options
Administration, Manage, Menus.
Add menu items that open forms, launch business
rules, manage approvals, open URL’s, etc.
Assign the menu to a Required Parameter. This
simply tells Planning where the user must right-click
in order to open the menu.
Add the menu to a form in the form’s Other Options.
Creating Menus
Demo / Examples
Menus
Users can set User Variables that limit the data
presented on a form.
Forms must be built to take advantage of variables.
Variables can be placed in the POV, Page, Rows or
Columns.
Variables can be placed within functions.
User Variables
Open the Planning application.
Select the menu options Administration, Manage,
User Variables. Click Add.
Creating User Variables
In the form layout, select the variable from the
Variables tab.
Designing Forms with User Variables
A typical User Variable is set by the end-user in their
Preferences.
Users open the Planning application and select the
menu options File, Preferences. **
Users must select the Planning icon, then the
User Variable Options tab.
Setting Variable Values
Setting Variable Values
The documentation is not clear.
Use Context is a variable setting.
Enable Dynamic Variables is a form setting.
Both options allow users to change variable values on
the fly, but in different ways.
Both options can be used at the same time.
Use Context vs Enable Dynamic Variable
There are two main differences:
● Use Context variables are set when the user right-clicks on
one form to navigate to another form (and passes context).
● Use Context variables can not be set in the user preferences.
● Enable Dynamic variables can be modified directly in a form.
● Enable Dynamic variables can be set in the user preferences.
● A variable can leverage both settings.
Use Context vs Enable Dynamic Variable
Demo / Examples
User Variables
If a user does not have read or write access to a
member, it will be suppressed on the form.
Usefulness of this feature is limited, because users
often have read access to more members than those
to which they can write.
There is no easy way to limit members in a Page list
box, row or column based only on write access. **
Use Security to Limit Data
DATA VALIDATIONS
Data validations allow developers to alert users to
bad data.
Developers can create “soft” validations that do
nothing but present a message.
Developers can create “hard” validations that prevent
users from promoting their data or alter the
promotion path.
Developers can create data validations that ALWAYS
evaluate to “true” simply to introduce some
formatting into their forms.
Creating Data Validations
Evaluate conditions in an individual cell or range of cells.
Evaluate conditions in a “design-time” cell, for example a cell
defined in the form with a function that returns multiple
individual cells.
Evaluate conditions in a column or row.
Evaluate cells specific to a member’s data value.
Evaluate cells specific to a member name itself.
Evaluate the cells of a specific account type.
Data Validations Can . . .
Evaluate cells with a specific version type.
Evaluate cells with a specific variance reporting type.
Evaluate cells that reference members of a dimension with a
specific user defined attribute.
Evaluate cells that reference members with a specific attribute
member association.
. . . . format cells that meet these criteria.
. . . . display a validation message.
. . . . alter or stop the Approvals process.
Data Validations Can . . .
Demo / Examples
Data Validations
Data Validations
Pro’s
● They’re very flexible and support many conditions.
● They integrate with Approvals.
● Unlike custom JavaScript, they work in Smart View.
● Unlike custom JavaScript, they don’t require programming skills.
● Unlike custom JavaScript, they don’t break every time you upgrade.
Data Validations
Con’s
● Watch out for floating point decimal errors. Reference a range of
numbers rather than an explicit number.
● Cannot easily exclude non-editable cells.
● They don’t actually prevent data from being saved (yet).
● A data validation in one form cannot reference another form.
● Be careful using red cells with data validations if your users format
negative values as red in their user preferences.
ROW & COLUMN FORMULAS
In the Form Layout, right-click a row or column and
select Insert Formula Row (or Column).
Give the row or column a name in the Formula Label.
Select the formula row or column heading (not the
cell) to display the formula properties.
Indicate the Formula Data Type for each dimension.
Enter and validate a formula.
Creating Formula Rows & Columns
Abs
Average
AverageA
Count
CountA
Difference
Eval
Creating Formula Rows & Columns
IfThen
Max
Min
Mod
PercentofTotal
Pi
Product
Random
Rank
Round
Sqrt
Sum
Truncate
Variance
VariancePercent
Sum(row[2])
row[2].Sum
Sum(column[A], column[C])
IfThen((IsMissing([A]) AND [B] > 0), 0, Eval([A] / [B]))
IfThen(Not(IsNN([B])), Eval(PercentofTotal([B], [B,3]) / 100),[B])
Example Parameters
Demo / Examples
Formula Rows & Columns
Pro’s
● Can help with database retrieval performance.
● Can help resolve database calculation order issues.
● Can save having to run a business rule with the save of a form.
● Good for one-off calcs that don’t require database development.
● The function “Pi” is available for anyone who wants to forecast the
circumference of a circle or is to lazy to type some numbers into a
formula . . .
Creating Formula Rows & Columns
Con’s
● Does not handle divide-by-zero issues gracefully.
● No explicit function to return #Missing. This is a challenge when
suppressing missing rows and you have a column formula.
● Formula columns are suppressed entirely if a label does not exist in
the first row heading.
● Limited control over in-sheet calc order when mixing Row AND
Column formulas in the same form.
● The “Pi” function is irrational . . . what if I need 16 digits???
Creating Formula Rows & Columns
EMBEDDED CHARTS
Users can add charts in Composite forms.
● Bar
● Horizontal Bar
● Line
● Area
● Pie
● Scatter
Embedding Charts in Forms
Step 1 – Create Composite Form
Step 2 – Edit Form Layout
Step 3 – Right-Click One of the Forms
Step 4 – Select “Display as Chart”
Step 5 – Select “Options” Tab
Step 6 – Select Legend Position
Step 7 – Select Label Position
Embedding Charts in Forms
Demo / Examples
Embedded Charts
Embedding Charts in Forms
Pro’s
● Very quick and easy.
● Charts are attractive out-of-the-box.
Con’s
● Chart options are very limited.
● Cannot place labels on chart axes.
● Not without bugs . . .
OTHER RANDOM TIPS
To monitor the performance of forms, Planning includes
Grid Diagnostics. (as of version 11.1.2.2)
Select the menu options Tools, Diagnostics, Grids.
Select the Run Diagnostics button.
Select the forms to review.
Press the Run Diagnostics button.
Click the chart for individual form stats.
Experiment with different chart options.
Grid Diagnostics
Demo / Examples
Grid Diagnostics
By default, Planning users may open one form at a
time.
To change this behavior, select the menu options
Administration, Application, Properties.
Add the setting DATA_GRID_CACHE_SIZE and give it
a value.
Save changes and restart the Planning server.
Opening Multiple Forms at Once
Place the property in the Application Properties to
only affect a single application.
Place the property in the System Properties to affect
all applications.
WARNING – This will increase memory consumption.
Opening Multiple Forms at Once
When using the ADF interface, Planning will return
the form in “chunks” of 25 rows and 17 columns.
When the user scrolls beyond this initial “chunk” the
application will fetch 25 more rows and 17 more
columns.
Administrators can change this threshold by
adjusting an Application Property called
“GRID_PARTIAL_FETCH_SIZE”.
Grid Fetch Properties
Grid Fetch Properties
Property requires two values (row &
column setting) separated by a comma.
Affects all forms and all users in a given application.
Only available starting with 11.1.2.2 patch 303.
Patch readme file makes no mention of a related
System Property.
Grid Fetch Properties
PREDICTIVE PLANNING
Turbocharge Your Input Forms with Predictive Planning
Wednesday, June 26
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
Grand Ballroom E
Questions?