one or multiple models

adham1103

Does anyone have any documentation on the trade-offs of having 1 model for all components of planning (service revenue, product revenue, labour planning), vs multiple models 1 for each and a consolidation model to tie it all together?

SanthoshS

@adham1103 ​I don't know if there is one specific document for this, but the decision comes down to three areas I listed below, that I would consider everytime.

1. Maintainability - If you use a single model for everything, master data management is a breeze. Your lists and system modules stay in one place. You don't have to spend half your day updating the same metadata across three or four different models just to keep them in sync.
   But once you go multi-spoke, you’re moving into "Data Hub" territory. It’s a cleaner architecture, but it adds that extra layer of maintenance.
2. Performance Efficiency - This is where the single model usually fails. If you have different teams doing data entry and planning at the same time, you’re going to run into model lock actions. Those "Model Busy" warnings aren't just annoying; they cut-off productivity.
   In a spoke model, each team has their own workspace. This means Anaplan allocates separate calculation blocks to each model, so one team’s heavy logic doesn’t lag everyone else out. It keeps model sizes down and opening times fast.
3. Process Interdependency - The real question is: do these teams actually need each other's data to calculate in real-time?
   If they do: A single model is actually better for the builder because the data is just there.
   If they don't: The multi-model approach is better, even if you have to deal with building those complex model-to-model imports to bridge the gap finally into a consolidation model

Low model size doesn't guarantee high performance. Whether you have one massive model or ten small ones, if you aren't following the Planual and best practices, the system is still going to chug.