Forecasting with my own data. Versions.

Hi @Joanna86,

This is interesting! Glad to see that you are trying this with your data. Best way to learn is by trying things hands on!

I do have a few questions, if you can have help provide some information we could help see what is going on:

1) Can you please provide screenshots of the blueprint view of the module you are trying to do the forecast in?

2) Can you please share screenshots of your Model Time Settings in the "Time" tab?

3) Are you able to provide screenshots of the Versions Tab? And the Versions Details?

This will help us begin to get an idea of how you have setup the modules and data. Look forward to getting this taken care of 🙂

Misbah

@Joanna86

That probably means that you have not used Versions as dimensions in your target module although it may be present in your source module.

But it would be great if you can share screenshot of your source and target modules

Misbah

Hi @DaanishSoomar ,

Thank you for the fast reply.

Sure, I made some screenshots.

Just in case I made few screenshots of Bleuprint of module where I want to have forecast..

And also the rest of Info attached.

I will appreciate any help.

Screenshot_2021-03-17_at_18_101681.png

Thank you for the reply,

I tried to look and see my Model from L1 (And even if I didn't put Version in dimention it still shows the forecast..)

So, I Don't know how it happened that I'm fine with L1 model, and stuck with my own data.

I'm missing something and would like to understand better.

But I started recently.. So, for sure I need more practice and look at more examples.

I just uploaded my screenshots.

Misbah

@Joanna86

The reason that you still see forecast data in target module is because in your versions settings you have marked Forecast as Current which means even if you don't have Versions as dimension in your target module it will pull up your Current Version related data which in your case is Forecast data.

Misbah

Yes to add to @Misbah' s point, by marking "Forecast" as "Current" effectively "Forecast" no longer serves as "Forecast" it serves as "Current" data with that checkbox.

@Joanna86 - To resolve this I would ask:

1) Which version do you want to mark as "Current"?

2) If you want Forecast data to show, perhaps you can try adjusting the Version settings such that Forecast is not the "current version"?

3) Then you can leverage the Version System Modules and Settings to apply logic which shows Forecast separately from Current data.

Misbah- feel free to chime in if I missed any details.

I just tried to change it in my Versions to Actual (Current)...

But it nothing changed..

Is there any additional formula have to be used?

may be I missed it somewhere?

Screenshot_2021-03-17_at_18_101687.png

@Joanna86 -

Yes there are some additional pieces of logic that are needed if you want everything past Jan 18 to be forecast (calculated). You can leverage a Time System Module and Version System Modules that breakdown into booleans which months are "Current" or "Actuals" vs. which months are "Forecast". From there you can say "IF Forecast then do (insert formula/logic here) ELSE 0".

@JaredDolich - do you have a good way of explaining how Versions/Time Settings modules work? I will admit it is a bit of a complex topic to explain over a forum. Any good articles or resources you have come across?

@DaanishSoomar @Joanna86 @Misbah

@DaanishSoomar

I was thinking that I can have forecast period in one row (which continued from my current data) ?

It also should be possible, as long as I understand?

(I would like to have it the same way as in L1 forecasts)

And I also tried to checkmark Actual (current), but it seems like it doesn't work..

I'm still missing something I guess...

JaredDolich

My personal favorite article is this one from @DavidSmith and @MarkWarren - To Version, or not to version. There's a little more here than what @Joanna86 is after and to be honest, @Misbah idea to make use of the current version is probably the easiest. Given this use case though, I'm wondering if native versions are the best long term solution. This article will help you sort that out.

https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Best-Practices/To-Version-or-Not-to-Version/ta-p/51410

Wow, this has a lot of useful information in it regarding versions, I know I will also be saving this one!

Thanks @JaredDolich! Hope this is helpful @Joanna86.

Misbah

@Joanna86

Can you please share a snip of Source Module where you are pulling the data from and a snip of Target Module. What we want to see is the dimensionality of these modules. The version change that you made earlier will pull the values from Current Version but what it will not do is move the values from one year to another. If there was a data in 2018 in your source module it will pull the value & it should pull it into 2018 without making any change in the formula.

I imported data to this module directly from the csv file.

(In particular Total Cost, Total Profit, Units Sold.

And Margin% its a formula of Total Profit/Total Revenue.

Also there are dimentions of products and countries (Those are in General Lists)

I have data till July 2017 I believe..

I'm attaching screenshot from Pivot (is it ok to see dimentions this way?)

And also what I have in list in Blueprint view

Screenshot_2021-03-17_at_20_101707.png

@JaredDolich

Thank you.

It's a lot of information!

I appreciate.