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OSUBlakester
OSUBlakester
in Modeling

Hi,

Recently started using Anaplan for our annual business plan.  Now we want to start our forecast and have come across an issue related to lists.

 

Example: We have an Cost Center list and an Employee list that rolls up to the Cost Center list.  For the PLAN, we have 2 Cost Centers and 2 Employees

Cost Center 1 is the Parent for John A.

Cost Center 2 is the Parent for John B

 

For the Forecast, we still have 2 Cost Centers, but John B. has moved into Cost Center 1 and a new Employee was added for Cost Center 2

Cost Center 1 is Parent for John A and John B

Cost Center 2 is Parent for John C

 

I need to be able to Forecast with current employee hierarchy, but without changing the Plan hierarchy.  It seems like I would need to create separate lists an Employee Plan and an Employee Forecast list, but that doesn't seem very efficient or sustainable (I'll have to keep adding lists for every forecast and plan down the road).  Is there a better option? 

 

 

 

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Answers

  • JaredDolich
    JaredDolich

    Something you can consider is making a module that has the cost center as an editable line item (list formatted). You can either version them, one for plan the other for forecast, or create two line items one for plan the other for forecast. If you need time dependency, meaning you need to track the changes, say monthly, you can always add the calendar to your module. Add another line item that is a "1" and you can count employees by cost center in any version or between line items.

     

  • nathan_rudman
    nathan_rudman

    Hi,

     

    You could do a new list for forecast but that would mean rebuilding the modules calculating as well, so it is not the solution we go for.

     

    Here's what you can do:

    - multiple instance: you will create a new John B into another cost center, but mark that John B to be valid only for forecast (you'll need to change your formula calculation your plan). You can do that with a boolean, a list formatted version line item, a date of validity etc

    - make a copy of your plan numbers and  your employee list as of now into another list to save them for comparison and simply use the current list for forecast

    - make an archive/copy of the entire model to save the plan and simply use the current model for forecast

    - have a system that does not work with a hierarchy of Cost Center > Employee but a flat employee list with a cost center property over version and time. This is probably to big of a transformation but some model are implemented this way depending on who is using them

     

    That kind of decision on how to handle this is made during the implementation of the model. Having to change it know it still possible but you will have to be careful not to disturb your plan: make an archive, be ready to roll back, have a snapshot module where you copy the values and compare against the live calculation so you can know when you did a mistake that changes the plan.

  • ArunManickam
    ArunManickam

    Hello @OSUBlakester ,

     

    Keep the current parents in the list rollup (Natural rollup) - You can call this as "As Is" rollup.

    If you rollup naturally using the list hierarchy, current parent mapping in the list will be used.

     

    Define a module dimensioned by Employee and Versions, include a line item for Cost Centre. Call this as "As was" roll up. If you rollup using SUM function by version and Cost centre, using the "As was" roll up module, you get the rollup as mapped in each version.

     

    Thanks

    Arun

  • usman.zia
    usman.zia

    Hi @OSUBlakester 

     

    For the issue you have described there are multiple solutions to choose from depending on what you want your main objective to be. 

     

    But first think about what you are trying to achieve and how you will view the outcome. 

     

    Things to consider:

    - Are you going to want to compare the old hierarchy and new hierarchy at any point? If not then you can just update the current hierarchy to the new hierarchy and plan against this. If yes then you need to consider a method for taking a snapshot of the old hierarchy. This could be done by creating a 'Planning Hierarchy List' and a 'Snapshot Hierarchy List' and creating separate modules for each to plan and compare against. 

     

    Also it would be great to understand why you change the hierarchy so often and plan like this? Because it could be a case of re defining the process. 

     

    It would be great to hear from you and I hope that this helps! 

     

    Thanks,

     

    Usman

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