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PlanIQ – Considerations Before Starting to Forecast
Before starting to forecast with PlanIQ, there are a few topics we recommend considering around the data, properties of the forecast, and forecast evaluation. While it is important to define clear goals for each forecasting scenario, PlanIQ's forecast accuracy will mostly be determined by the quality of the available data.…
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Demystify non-linear optimization: Episode 1
Prologue The Anaplan community has been facing more and more interesting optimization problem statements every day while they solve complex business problems. Business challenges often involve finding optimal assignments such as sales reps to customers, demand to production capacity, or workers to shifts – all while…
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Automatic DocuSign Workflows
The native DocuSign integration with Anaplan makes it simple to share information between Anaplan and Docusign, but the process to issue envelopes or track changes back in Anaplan can sometimes be quite manual and time-consuming as envelope counts begin to increase. This article will walk through a script to automate this…
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Building Anaplan CoE
After spending 6-7 years with Anaplan in different roles I would like to share some of my practical knowledge on setting up a CoE. In a series of videos I will try to help you ask the right questions that hopefully will help you with your CoE. The first one is on Anaplan being Business vs IT Asset. I am planning to talk…
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Production Lists and Ragged Hierarchies Logic
Assume the following Non-Composite list, ragged hierarchy, needs to be set to Production Data. We need to refer to the ultimate parent to define the logic calculation. In the example, we have assumed that children of Parent 1 and Parent 3 need to return the 'logic 1' value from the constants module below, and those under…
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Alternative Uses for the Management Report UX Page
Introduction With the addition of the Report UX page type, it is now possible to create highly formatted, customized slides to deliver key insights and clear reporting to your organization. As with many Anaplan features, our customers always come up with innovative ways to use this feature and this post will look at two of…
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Multi-select filters and their extension
If you are asked to name a few features which you use very often in Anaplan, there is a high chance that FILTERS will find its way to that list. There are so many places where they are used: saved views for imports/exports, report creation, calculations, and the list goes on. They are basically ubiquitous! Premise: Ability…
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When do your integrations require workspace administrator privileges?
Generally, you don’t need to have Workspace Administrator (WSA) privileges to run integrations; however, there are still some specific instances when they are required. This guide will provide an overview of when your integration user requires WSA privileges. Anaplan user types involved in integrations First off, let us…
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How to apply Conditional Formatting on multiple line items using one rule
I found this cool hack to apply similar conditional formatting to multiple line items by using just one rule! Generally, we need to make a line item for each conditional formatting or add one rule each line item which gets very tedious when there are more than 20, 30 of them. Here’s a simple yet effective hack to make this…
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Export Anaplan Data with Non-WSA User
A customer’s Anaplan COE needed to share planning data with an internal department. The solution below leveraged a non-WSA (Workspace Administer) user account with Model specific access and an Anaplan Connect script to deliver the required data. 1. Create a non-WSA user ‘service account’ as an Internal user, although this…
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How to use “LOOKUP” with summary elements
In the following article, I would like to discuss a common case of model building: the LOOKUP function doesn’t work with summary elements of hierarchical lists. Among other things, this forces model builders to use SELECT and not configure Production Data for some lists. I want to present to you an alternative approach.…
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OEG Best Practice: The model design process
The process of designing a model will help you: * Understand the customer’s problem more completely * Bring to light any incorrect assumptions you may have made, allowing for correction before building begins * Provide the big picture view for building This process includes the following steps: * Understand the…
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CloudWorks—This is how we use it, Part 2: setup
In Part 2 of our CloudWorks—This is how we use it series, we're diving into how to set up CloudWorks. Need a refresher on the basics of CloudWorks? See Part 1. Before starting anything, you need to identify and create an Integration Administrator (Learn more here: Access Control).Ready? Let's start Before we dive in, this…
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Use categories to stay organized
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Dynamic chart using line item subset
* Problem statement * Solution approaches * Selection on the chart * Using line item subsets * Step 1: * Step 2 * Step 3 * Step 4 * Conclusion Problem statement A customer from the banking industry recently posed this requirement: "As a reviewer, I want to compare different metrics. Some are absolute, and some are…
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PlanIQ: Using a backtest window to assess performance
In almost all cases, computing forecast accuracy requires a calculation of the difference between forecast versus actuals. One of the best ways to approximate the future accuracy of the forecast is to use a backtest window. With a backtest window, you can simulate “what if” you had run a PlanIQ forecast with the data…
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[First Look] Formula Autocomplete
Feature: Formula Autocomplete Release Date: November 2022 Impact Assessment: Ease of Modeling - Not Optional What is changing? The autocomplete functionality is a new way to build formulas that automatically searches for matching functions, modules, line items, lists, and list properties as you type. What are the…
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Build: Scrolling Sync
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Design: Create consistency throughout your apps
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OEG Best Practice: Inside the Hyperblock
What are blocks? How blocks are calculated – General Lists How blocks are calculated – Native Time/Native Versions Hyperblock performance Summary block counts Should I worry about blocks? A reason why we shouldn’t focus on just the block count Focus Points We recommend this article to Experienced Model Builders and…
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PlanIQ: Introduction to forecast evaluation
Before making business decisions based on PlanIQ forecast results, you should assess the expected performance of the forecast predictions in the real world. It’s important to evaluate forecast performance at the outset of your project as well as on an ongoing basis. Also consider that a range of factors unique to your…
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How to Create Connection Between Anaplan and Power BI with API 2.0
Power BI is a popular reporting tool. One of the reasons is that in Power BI you can get data from different sources, and there is an increased interest of our customers and Anaplan builders to be able to import data from Anaplan. In order to make this connection, we developed a solution to set up the integration. It is…
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Compare TEXT Values in Anaplan
Technical Summary Statement The objective of this article is to compare values in a TEXT formatted line item and identify the values that occur more than once (duplicates). Problem Statement Sneakerz is an up-and-coming shoe company with a variety of shoe brands in its brand portfolio. They are expanding internationally…
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Top Level Item and Parent Hierarchy
Lists in Anaplan have two main settings related to how data is aggregated: * Top Level Item * Parent Hierarchy They may both be set on the “Configure” tab on the List settings screen. Top Level item This list has been set to have a top level item, “All Regions.” When used in a module, the top level item contains the…
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[Part 1] Removing users in bulk: Approaches and challenges
* 1. Which users do you want to remove? * 2. What do these users currently have access to? * 3. What level of removal do you need to perform? * 4. How will you go about removing the users? * Users tab * User administration * SCIM API Script * Conclusion * Additional resources There are several things to consider when…
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Build: Forms
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Workarounds To Sum Data While Using NONE as Summary Method Within Source Module
As the Anaplan model size capacity has recently grown from roughly 18 billion cells to 100 billion cells with the introduction of HyperModel, it is still important to structure models efficiently, while creating as little 'wasted space' as possible. The Planual states that the Summary Method for most line items should be…
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Using Show and Hide on non-nested grids
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End User Features: Auto Refresh vs Manual Refresh
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In-app help for end users
A customer recently asked me, “What ease of use features are available in the Anaplan user experience (UX) to help drive end user adoption and engagement?” The customer was about to roll out Anaplan to a large number of first-time Anaplan stakeholders and wanted to do everything possible to ensure excellent end user…
