Changing fiscal year start month without losing data

matthew_antos-l

I've got a model in to which I've input monthly data running from February 2016 to present (January is empty). As February is the first month of our fiscal year, I want to change this from the default January. After doing so, I get the following pop-up: [quote]Changing Time Settings is a potentially destructive action and may lead to data loss.The new range of time periods may not include all the periods that were there before. In this case all data for the periods that are being removed will be deleted from the model. [/quote]If I accept, then all my data disappears. Can someone provide a way to make this change whilst keeping my data? I'm not changing anything other than the fiscal year start date.

peter_mcanena

Hi Matthew,

The best thing would be to create a custom time list (i.e. a normal list that looks like Anaplan's built-in time dimension), then define a temporary module using your custom list to hold the data during the change.

You'll need an action to copy the data into the temporary module, which maps the built-in time periods to your custom list; run this action before you change the time settings. Then you'll need another action to copy the data back into the real module, which maps the custom time list back onto built-in time; run this once you've changed the time settings.

If you have more than one module dimensioned by time, and all these modules contain volatile data (that is, blue data that's not formula-driven) then you'll need a temprary module for each of them.

peter_mcanena

Another possibility: Your data will only be deleted if the time periods are totally incompatible with the new settings. If you update the Current Fiscal Year at the same time as Fiscal Year Start Month, you shouldn't lose any data (and therefore shouldn't need any temporary modules). I suspect that's where you're going wrong.

When you change the Fiscal Year Start Month from January to February, you'll also need to change the Current Fiscal Year from FY16 to FY17 (because we're now in the Year to Feb 2017 instead of the Year to Dec 2016). If you do that, all your data should be preserved...but test it in a copy of your model first!

harish_bk

Hi Peter

For FY16 we have periods Jan-16 till Dec-16, with start period as Jan - 16,

If we change start period to Feb-16 then the periods applicable for FY16 would be Feb -16 to Jan - 17, that would mean Jan-16 is no longer in time scale until you select previous year values too. This would mean that the Jan - 16 data would be deleted if we just change the fiscal start period keeping rest of them intact without changes.

Is my understanding correct.

matthew_antos-l

[quote]Peter McAnenaAnother possibility: Your data will only be deleted if the time periods are totally incompatible with the new settings. If you update the Current Fiscal Year at the same time as Fiscal Year Start Month, you shouldn't lose any data (and therefore shouldn't need any temporary modules). I suspect that's where you're going wrong.

When you change the Fiscal Year Start Month from January to February, you'll also need to change the Current Fiscal Year from FY16 to FY17 (because we're now in the Year to Feb 2017 instead of the Year to Dec 2016). If you do that, all your data should be preserved...but test it in a copy of your model first![/quote]
This was the issue, thanks so much Peter!