Need a way to identify line Items being used as Filters.

rohan.suratwale

There needs to be a way to identify line items that are being used as Filter in same module or any other module, This would be totally helpful while deleting line items that are no longer required.

M.Kierepka

Hi @rohan.suratwale,

This Idea has been proposed already, and (unfortunately, for all of us developers) it has been rejected: https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Idea-Exchange/In-blueprint-view-show-if-a-line-item-is-used-in-a-filter/idi-p/40133

 

rohan.suratwale

Hi @M.Kierepka ,

Thanks for the heads up.
I am surprised to see that this was rejected in 2019 and yet haven't been in their roadmap of development ever since.

--ROHAN

M.Kierepka

I was surprised (and disappointed) too.

About keeping track of Filters, some time ago, when I was building and maintaining a model alone (which is not a good thing). I tried to keep track of my filters using Data Tags (as they allow for multiple tags for a line item): for every time I was creating a saved view with filters, I created a tag with the same name. And then applied it to the all filter line items that were used in this view. The same with removal of filter from a view or deletion of a saved view. But it's very hard, time-consuming and frustrating to keep track of this (as you basically sync these three parts manually), even alone, not even mentioning a mess that would happen if there would be more people, and some of them would not strictly follow the rules.

CommunityMember131799

Hello,

I would like to request this be added to the Anaplan Roadmap / bug fixing. I have just read the 2019 rejection comments and was surprised by the "[..] it does not provide as much value for how much work it would be to implement as other enhancements. ".

This statement may be true from Anaplan's perspective, but not for existing clients with fully operational models. We work hard to get models in place and keep it running. In my case they are complex and full of company specific functionalities. Housekeeping is a standard activity and the Anaplan built-in safeguarding against accidental deletion of modules, lineitems etc. is a great and necessary help.

Checking for use of lineitems in filters is part of this. It is not a luxury nor a nice-to-have. Recently I accidently removed a module that I thought was not being used (and my notes did not mention its use in any filter), and did not realize until 3 weeks later that key monthly Actuals data was being overwritten (and incorrectly I add). I then had to go to great lengths to correct the data using an old archived copy and tidy up the mess it had left. Naturally this happens when one has lots of work, and never when it's quiet at work 🤨.

So there is much value in adding this to the Anaplan safeguarding checklist before deletion of lineitems.

I hope the Anaplan team will reconsider its position, as this reflects very badly on an otherwise very good Anaplan user experience.

Many thanks in advance!

dsterbakova

Recommend to extend the request to provide overview of not only line items used as filter in a module (saved view) but also in the UX pages so that line items for user filters and custom views are not deleted by mistake.

BenjaminNiel

Hi @rohan.suratwale,

Indeed, it's definitely needed to clean the models efficiently. I would even add some checks to your request like identifying if the line item is used:

• in an active saved view (used in an action or published to a dashboard)
• in a dynamic text in New UX
• as a KPI in a dashboard
• as a Read/Write AD
• in a "Delete from List using Selection" action

Well, basically everywhere a line item can be used on top of formulae.

Thanks in advance to the Anaplan team for reconsidering this request!

Sukh_Sandhu

Good Idea

CommunityMember127794

I agreed wholeheartedly.

Best practice is to put all of your filters into SYS modules based upon the dimensionality of the filter, and to consolidate all of your criteria into a single Boolean for each dimension. A good practice is to then name and/or annotate those line items appropriately so you know where they're used. If you follow this, your filters will be easy to find, easy to apply, and less cumbersome to identify when they are no longer used.

But that only helps prospectively.

Many of us have to support poorly built models created by other people who didn't follow this practice or other best practices, and/or we have our own past work to remediate. Cleaning up inherited garbage is fraught with peril due to lack of visibility into all of the locations a line item can be referenced that @BenjaminNiel enumerated.

The same can be said about other model structures. Is this Saved View embedded in a NUX page or Dashboard, the source for an Import, the template for an Export, or was it just a debugging convenience for past developer? Which Actions, Modules, Lists (add members), Saved Views are embedded on NUX pages?

david.savarin

I indeed concur with the fact that preventing filters deletion used in saved views and actions is a critical need to ensure anaplan position as an enterprise scale solution.

It s all the more required as planuals and best practices for performance along with training advocate the use of saved views combined with filters for importing data.

With tens of saved views sometimes in modules, it s a nightmare of model builder to maintain, evolve and keep clean and lean without therequired safety mechanisms

licx13

Strong support，much needed .