We had a recent challenge with the need to "clean" invoice data descriptions from special characters.
This was done previously in SQL with the a long convoluted formula "REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE('Ana&plan', '&', '') that would have to edited by a developer in case any new special characters came through.
Using the replace formula was an easy decision in Anaplan, the tricky bit was to make this easy to maintain, simple and free from the DEV/UAT/PRD and ALM release cycles.
The best way to achieve that was using the time dimension.
Although not evident, my wish for
"General lists to have some time specific formulas" was already true 😊 .
In reality we can at any point take the logic from one General list to time and back again into the list, all we need is a time dimension with the a sufficient number of items.
Time specific formulas such as PREVIOUS(Expression [, List]) would easily replicate the Replace(Replace(Replace sequence and allow easy maintenance with a Production List.
Here's the basic details of the build:
Production list called L0 Special Characters |
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Special character and replacement module (cumulate allows the link to time dimension) |
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Calculation and "clean up" module |
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Result |
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