Dependent Dropdowns - Many to Many

NicolasCadier
NicolasCadier
in Modeling

Is there a way to enable a many-to-many relationship on dependent dropdowns? If so, how do you do this?

 

To provide some context, I have two lists:

  • Departments
  • Employees

Employees can belong to many departments. (Currently have a module which assigns employees to departments using two dimensions, employees and departments, and a boolean line item.)

 

Departments has selective access enabled.

 

I have a module for labour input. I would like users to be able to enter the module and assign an employee to a department - however I would like to limit that choice to only those employees who belong to the relevant department. The labour input module has a department line item which shows the relevant department - screenshot below.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Labour Input

Employee Cost Input.png

 

Department MatrixEmployee Matrix.png

 

 

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Answers

  • rob_marshall
    rob_marshall

    @NicolasCadier ,

     

    Yes, you can absolutely do that, if I am understanding what you are wanting.  The functionality is called dependent dropdowns and more information can be found here:  https://help.anaplan.com/anapedia/Content/Modeling/Build%20Models/Dropdowns/Many-to-many_Filtered_Picklists.htm?_ga=2.112292676.1177185376.1556539957-1916962816.1554898270

     

    With that said, I have replicated what you have with the employee by department module:

     

    2019-05-03_15-50-52.png

     

    So, I have two lists, Employee Flat and Department Flat which I used to create the above.  Also, there are a couple of different line items:

     

    2019-05-03_15-53-39.png

     

    • Code: IF In Department? THEN SYS Department Flat.Code to Use & SYS Employee.Code ELSE BLANK
    • Employee Flat Code: SYS Employee.Code

    Now, build a composite list with Departments as L1 and Employee as L2, with L2 Employee being a numbered list.

    2019-05-03_15-56-13.png

     

    Based on the module you already have, you can create a view, filtered by Department? to only load the necessary pieces.

     

    2019-05-03_15-58-00.png

     

    Now that you have this, the Department dropdown will now drive the employees who actually roll up to that department using Dependent Dropdowns that is placed on the Employee line item:

    2019-05-03_16-00-03.png

     

    The result is:

    2019-05-03_15-36-09.png

     

    2019-05-03_15-36-21.png

     

    2019-05-03_15-36-33.png

     

    2019-05-03_15-39-16.png

     Hope this helps,

     

    Rob

  • NicolasCadier
    NicolasCadier

    Hi Rob,

     

    Thanks for your reply - I was really hoping that there would be a way to manage this without imports. If there is, or if you have any other suggestions then I am very open to them.

     

    I believe there is a slightly simpler way to process the import side. I created a list with two properties formatted to employee and department. This is my 'filter combinations' list. This can then be imported to straight from the employee matrix module without the need for additional line items. The only exception to this is the anaplan ID of the employee list. As the employee list is numbered, it is not possible to import the display name to the list, instead you have to reference the list item name using NAME(ITEM(Employees)).

     

    Thanks for your help!

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