Author: Sayontan is a Certified Master Anaplanner and EPM Director responsible for growing US GenXAI. He has been working on the platform since 2013 and has experience across all domains of Anaplan solutions — Finance, Sales Performance & Supply Chain. He is also PMP certified and operates as Supply Chain SME.
In a Production model, enhancements and day-to-day operations usually go hand in hand. Most deployments go smoothly, but every now and then, a change turns out to be more complex than expected, or a test case manages to hide until Production. Because, of course, that is sometimes when it decides to make an appearance.
In situations like this, restoring the model to an earlier History ID can be the quickest way to recover.
There is just one catch.
If an ALM revision tag has already been synced, Anaplan does not normally allow the Production model to be rolled back to a History ID before that revision.
And if you have ever seen that message while trying to recover a Production model, you probably know the feeling:
“Wait… you mean I can’t roll this back?”
For a few seconds, the heart rate goes up, the coffee suddenly feels necessary, and everyone starts looking very carefully at the deployment history.
Fortunately, there is a workaround.
It is not necessarily the most intuitive process, and there are a few important precautions to take, but it is possible to restore the model and continue using ALM afterwards.
How to restore a model to an earlier history ID
1️⃣ Temporarily switch the model to Standard Mode
Go to:
Model Settings → Manage Models
Change the Production model mode from Deployed to Standard.
This temporarily removes the structural protection provided by Deployed Mode, so this step needs to be handled carefully.
2️⃣ Start the restore
Navigate to:
History → Save History / Restore to ID
Enter the History ID representing the point you want to restore the model to.
Double-check the ID before continuing. Production is probably not the best place for a “close enough” moment.
3️⃣ Unlink revisions created after the restore point
Select:
“Unlink revisions created after this restore point.”
Then click Restore.
This allows the model to move back to the selected History ID even though later ALM revision tags had previously been applied.
4️⃣ Put the model back into Deployed Mode
Once the restore is complete, return to:
Model Settings → Manage Models
Change the model mode from Standard back to Deployed.
This is an important step. You do not want the Production model sitting in Standard Mode any longer than necessary.
5️⃣ Resume ALM deployments and test
Once everything has been validated:
- Create a new revision tag in the Development model.
- Sync the revision through your normal ALM path, for example DEV → SBX → PROD.
- Validate the model carefully before normal operations resume.
A CoE best practice reminder
From a Center of Excellence (CoE) perspective, this should be treated as an exception rather than a regular deployment technique.
Ideally, the restore should be performed only when necessary and under the supervision of an experienced Anaplan Architect.
Why?
During the short period when the Production model is in Standard Mode, direct structural changes become possible. An accidental formula, list, module, or other structural modification could create differences between DEV, SBX, and PROD and potentially cause future ALM synchronizations to fail.
A safer approach is to take the model offline while the restore is being performed. This minimizes user activity and reduces the chance of accidental structural changes or ALM misalignment. If someone makes a direct structural change—such as modifying a formula, list, module, or other structural component—the Production model may no longer match the Development model.
And that is how a rollback problem can turn into an ALM problem.
Nobody wants the sequel.
Final thought
Rolling back a Production model after an ALM revision tag has been deployed can initially look like a dead end. Fortunately, it isn’t.
By temporarily switching the model to Standard Mode, restoring the required History ID, unlinking later revisions, and carefully returning the model to Deployed Mode, it is possible to recover while preserving the ALM deployment path.
Just remember: this is less of an everyday Anaplan technique and more of a “break glass in case of deployment emergency” procedure.
Use it carefully, keep the model offline, involve the right people, and hopefully keep those Production-deployment heart attacks to a minimum.
