Level 2 - Sprint 3 INV 01 - POST AND OFFSET

1) I am trying to get some sense on POST and OFFSET with the following 2 line items:

a) Confirmed PO Delivery = OFFSET(PO Submitted, Final Shipping Time Weeks, 0)

b) Confirmed PO Delivery Test = POST(PO Submitted, Final Shipping Time Weeks)

and appreciate explanations on it.

2) If testing above, for Confirmed PO Delivery, if I switch to -Final Shipping Time Weeks, it did not push to Week 6 (2nd diagram). Why is that so?

Thanks.

Comments

smithevan18

Hi Star,

Can you please include a screenshot with your "Final Shipping Time Weeks" line item? It looks like you are comparing it to your "Shipping Time Weeks" line item in your screenshots, which has 1 as the value, but your Final line item might have some other value and this is what you are including in your formula.

Star

@smithevan18

Please refer to the details below:

a) Confirmed PO Delivery = OFFSET(PO Submitted, -Final Shipping Time Weeks, 0)

b) Confirmed PO Delivery Test = POST(PO Submitted, Final Shipping Time Weeks)

With the above formulas, the results are as in Diagram 1. Am trying to understand why Confirmed PO Delivery is in Week 6 instead of 7 or is it supposed to be in Week 6. Essentially, am trying to understand the difference between OFFSET and POST.

It will move to Week 7 if the formula is changed to OFFSET(PO Submitted, -Final Shipping Time Weeks - 1, 0) -> Diagram 2

smithevan18

Hi @Star,

Post and Offset are very similar functions, however, they are going to give you very different results. Offset is going to give you the value from your selected line item x number of periods in the future or in the past. For example, in your line item Confirmed PO Delivery, week 6 is looking back 1 period (Final Shipping Time Weeks = -1) and resulting in your value of 1 since there is a 1 value in Confirmed PO Delivery in week 5.

Post, on the other hand, is going to push the value from your selected line item x number of periods in the future or in the past. For example, in your module, the 1 value in week 5 in your Confirmed PO Delivery line is being pushed 2 periods into the future because that is value in your second argument in your function (Final Shipping Time Weeks = 2). This function also allows you to sum values if they point to the same period. For example, if you also had a 1 in the Confirmed PO Delivery line item for week 6 it would be pushed forward 1 week into your week 7 and combine with your 1 value from week 5 to give you a value of 2 in week 7. Offset will not let you combine values in the same way.

Star

@smithevan18

Thank you very much for your detail explanation. I finally got it 😀 and managed to recreate a sample for the benefit of those who need further understanding.

In Anapedia, the diagram showed 2 boxed in orange. I would have thought -1 (Jun) should be boxed instead since the example given is 3,000 but I could be wrong.

Misbah

@Star

Apart from syntax diff that is OFFSET takes 3 parameters wheres POST takes only 2, the main difference is that POST function lets you add numbers in one cell whereas Offset can't do that.

Star

@Misbah

Do you mean this?

Reference - https://help.anaplan.com/anapedia/Content/Calculation_Functions/All/POST.html

Misbah

@Star Exactly. You are bang on target

Rakesh_24_7

Hi,

I am trying the formula "IF PO Submitted > 0 THEN POST(PO Submitted, Shipping Time Weeks) ELSE 0" for the confirmed PO delivery? However, the week3 value for confirmed PO delivery is not getting changed. can you please help me in this ?

Regards

Rakesh_24_7

Hi @smithevan18

I am trying to figure out if there is wrong in the below formula for Confirmed PO delivery. I am facing an issue where after applying the given formula, the desired value is not getting populated in the confirmed PO delivery line item.

"IF PO Submitted = 1 THEN POST(PO Submitted, Shipping Time Weeks) ELSE 0"

smithevan18

Hi @Rakesh_24_7

You shouldn't need the conditional portion of that formula because the PO submitted line item is already taking into account whether or not you've submitted a PO. You are only trying to move the value in PO Submitted by your shipping time in weeks.

Hope that helps!

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