L1MB Time and Versions
Hello community,
Right now I am on part 3 of the L1MB training course and I had a question about switchovers. The directions are as follows.
Configured the Time settings for your model correctly.
- Calendar Type: Calendar Months/Quarters/Years
- Fiscal Year Start Month: Jan
- Current Fiscal Year: FY20: 1 Jan 2020 - 31 Dec 2020
- Number of Past Years: 1
- Number of Future Years: 1
- Current Period: Jan 20
- Do not include any totals or summaries
And configured the Version settings for your model correctly.
- Three versions: Actual, Budget, Forecast
- Current version: Forecast
- Switchover: None
My problem is with my Switchover column. When I follow the instructions to the letter, it leaves me with a Switchover of Dec 19 in my Forecast list. As you can see, it wants my Switchover to be "None" or blank. I went through Anapedia and couldn't find anything to switch it to "none" other than in the Time settings. My guess is that it has a Switchover of Dec 19 because we're including one year into the past. The only way I was personally able to to have my Switchover as blank was when I deleted the Forecast list and remade it. I don't know if this was the correct way or if this could potentially damage data in the future, since there's technically no data on it at the moment, or if there is another to fix my Switchover that I am unaware of. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this topic.
Kind Regards,
Comments
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Hi marino@anavatepartners.com ,
I believe the instructions simply mean to leave the Switchover month blank for all three versions. You can achieve this by deleting/clearing out whichever month is selected in the Switchover column (see screenshots below).
Before
Press "Delete" to set Switchover to "none"
If you are working in a live model, be careful when making changes to the Switchover month, as this can result in unintended data loss. Anaplan will clear out any data prior to the Switchover month for a version and replace with zeroes or a calculated value (if using the ISACTUALVERSION() function). So let's say you don't have a Switchover in your Budget version, and users have input data from Jan 19 - Dec 19. If you were to update the Switchover to Jun 19, all input data prior to Jun 19 would be replaced with zeroes and made Read Only.
You generally don't run as much of a risk when deleting the Switchover selection, as this will only result in cells being opened for user input. However, you can still impact formula calculations (again through the ISACTUALVERSION() function).
This is likely way more information than you were looking for, but just something to be aware of going forward as you start working with more models!
Hopefully that helps!
Best,
Dave
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I believe the tutorial is asking to leave the Switchover blank. If you populate that column with a month, you can clear it out simply by pressing the Delete key after selecting the cell in question.
Select the desired Switchover cell
Press "Delete" key to set to "none"
Essentially, the switchover month controls which months will show actuals and which will show budget/forecast. For example, if you have a switchover month of Jun 19, Jan 19 - May 19 will show actuals (from the Actual version), and Jun 19 onward will show budget/forecast calculations.
The switchover also controls which months are open for user input. Any user input line items prior to the switchover will default to Read Only (and zero value).
In general, be very careful when switching the switchover month in a live model. It can have unintended consequences such as formula calculation changes (with the ISACTUALVERSION() function) and clearing out user entries. A best practice would be to Copy & Archive your model before changing the switchover in case you accidentally change the model's data. You can always restore model history, but having a hard copy in reserve is always a good idea!
So, probably more information than you were looking for, but hopefully this helps answer future questions you may encounter.
Best,
Dave
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