Best way to set current period (month/quarter/year)
Hi All,
I've seen my question answered in bits & pieces, but hoping someone can give me a comprehensive walk through...
My team is looking to build modules that will automatically assign current period reporting so that we can leverage the excel add-in with minimal human manipulation - really just looking to hit refresh and know that we're seeing the current QTD, YTD, MTD, and also be able to reference prior periods (which could be prior MTD, prior year MTD, Prior QTD, Prior Year QTD, etc.). For example, if we want to create an income statement for the SEC that's formatted and filtered such that it's static (accounts, geos, formatting, stay the same), we have to:
1. Update Model Calendar for current period - September (no way around this, I suppose)
2. Go into pivots & filters
3. Deselect prior period (Q2), or for some reports, we're adding Q3 to get to YTD
4. Choose current period as Q3, and select prior year Q3, along with YTD selections, or compare against Q2 in current year
5. Refresh add-in to capture new actuals
We're looking for a way to dynamically select current reporting period (current YTD, current QTD, prior YTD, prior year QTD, etc.) based on the model calendar selections.
I believe we have to create a list in which we designate items as current quarter, current month, current year, current year to date, and then build a module that will reference these items when calculating our results. I'm just not sure how to do this.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Answers
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Hi,
You can create a module with no dimensions and a single line item. Format this as date and employ Anaplan Connect to update this everyday. Use this date to extract Current Period.
The next change is to change the formulas in your reporting module to use this Current Date instead of the model calendar current period. This way you will never have to go into Time settings in Anaplan
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Thanks!
However, I'm also looking for a solution without using Connect API...
We are setting up our SEC reporting, and want to automate the reports based on current period, such that we can use excel to easily refresh data and know that the module is already updated for current period. I understand Connect would be a good option, but I don't think my team (to include myself) is there yet with that level of model building. I'm hoping I can find a solution using Model Calendar.
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When you say you go into filters, and deselect certain months, are you doing that in a Time filter (checking/unchecking booleans) or are you doing it via the filter on the view on the module?
If you are doing the latter, I would suggest creating a Time Filter module where the line items are booleans and you can automate, based on the current period of the model, which months, quarters, year to use in the filter of the module.
Then you can use these line times as a filter in your views:
Hope this helps,
Rob
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