Level 2 Sprint 3 INV01 - Not 1st week of Timescale?

@Younes

Simplest and easiest way to find out the First period of the Timescale is

OFFSET(1,-1,0) = 0

Hope that helps

@Misbah 😠

I was going to help @Younes arrive at that by himself.
Hey @Younes let us know if you have other questions or need more explanation on this formula 😊

@einas.ibrahim

Apologies.

Usually I don't share the formula esp with Level 3 aspirants but for Level 2 & Level 1 I help them in creating SYS Modules only.

Younes

Hello @einas.ibrahim @Misbah
Thank you for your help. I'd like to understand more the formula. How does Anaplan know with this formula that we are talking about the Time scale whe writing OFFSET(1,-1,0) ?

Younes

Sure!!

First let's try to understand what OFFSET does? It basically Pulls or Pushes the numbers across the timescale. There are three parameters that are needed in the Syntax

OFFSET(x,n,z) where x is the source line item to offset

n is the offset value

z is fill value if the result is outside the timescale

Result matches the data format of x - meaning it can be number, boolean or anything else.

FORMULA: OFFSET(1,-1,0) = 0

If you take a look at the left hand side of the formula OFFSET(1,-1,0) it basically throws an output of 1 in all the time periods except the first time period. That is because you are hard coding your first parameter to 1 and then you are asking Anaplan to Push it further by 1 period in the second parameter. Hence the first parameter which is 1 gets pushed to subsequent periods.

If you look at the overall formula now OFFSET(1,-1,0) = 0 it checks the condition and looks for a time period which has 0 in it and matches with that time period.

Now Let's take a look at Second parameter. Here the ask was to find out the first period of the timescale hence second parameter was kept -1. If the ask is to find out first 3 periods of the timescale you can change the second parameter from -1 to -3 ( Its minus because we have to push the values to subsequent periods)

Note: First Parameter doesn't necessarily has to be 1, it can be any number apart from 0

Hope that clarifies it

Younes

Tanks a lot @Misbah , that is extremely helpful !

Hey @Younes

Here is how I translate "my command" OFFSET(1,-1,0)

"Please Mrs. Engine - Yes the Anaplan engine is a she- offset or move the number 1, by 1 prior position (-1) from each period you calculate, and when you can't go back any further let me know by returning a 0"

Since what we need is to determine 1st week (or not), a function like OFFSET is useful because it is bound by the model timescale. It acts in a certain way within the timescale and acts differently otherwise (in this case returns 0). We use this behavior to capture the time period when the formula acts differently - the 1st period.

rachelwatsky

Thank you soooo much @Misbah , I had been stuck on this part forever!

Hi @Misbah @einas.ibrahim ,

Shouldn't we need to avoid hard coding in the formulas? I mean that's what training teaches us.

Is that the only way to find out the first week's condition?

Just trying to understand.

@einas.ibrahim @Misbah

In the training module, we have created NOT 1st week of time scale? line item in SYS01 tym settings by week module. So why we are trying to find out first week of timescale using OFFSET function?

IF NOT 1st week of time scale? PREVIOUS (Ending Inventory of previous week) ELSE DAT01 Beginning Inv Module.Beginning Inventory

Does this formula not serve the purpose?, finding my way for how to get ending inventory line item for the previous week.

Hi @kunal_311,

Let me answer your "hard coding" question first. There is no hardcoding in OFFSET(1,-1,0). Generally speaking, hardcoding is when you write a value that will change over time or product,....etc. For Example FY19 or IF Product.Product item = Apples.

In this OFFSET formula, none of the values will be obsolete or irrelevant regardless or changes in Time. As a matter of fact, this formula will continue to work even when the Time Range changes, For example when we move to the next planning year FY21

Now to your second question, I am not sure what are you asking exactly? The OFFSET formula is the formula we are using in SYS01 to determine the first week (or not the 1st week), We then reference this line item in our Inventory Ending formula in INV01.

Hi @einas.ibrahim

Apprciate your efforts to make newbies like us to understand the concepts:

1) Understood the hardcoding part.

2) I mixed it with the formula to be used in INV01 and that with SYS01. Even I used "NOT Current period?" as my formula which after reading your explanation on why we need to use OFFSET Instead of CURRENTPERIOD, It makes more sense. so changed it now.

Hey @kunal_311

I'm always happy to help.

I hope you realized why CurrentPeriod is not suitable. Current period changes - ideally every period. So while CurrentPeriod may be the same as the first period on the time scale - say on Jan 01, 20XX- once the current period moves to Feb, it is no longer the same as the first period of the time scale.

Keep on Anaplanning

Just one last point i want to understand, when we use offset function & we shift the weeks which are not 1 st week, but after offset why we need to provide =1 ?
OFFSET(x,n,z) = 1

Hey @kunal_311

On the semantics side .....

The Not 1st week? is of data type Boolean, right?

which mean any formula we right in this line item should return a Boolean (True or False)

The OFFSET(x,y,z) function returns the same format of the argument x

In the case of OFFSET(1,-1,0), x = 1 which is a number. so just writing OFFSET(1,-1,0) will return a number not a boolean, and will not be accepted.

On the logic side..

You need to know if the function succeeds in moving the 1 (x), -1 periods (y) and in that case, it returns the value 1, or fails (because it's at the beginning of the time scale and there is no prior period) and in this case, it returns the default value 0(z)

You need an expression that resolves to either TRUE or FALSE.

so you compare the returned value of the OFFSET function with either 1 or 0 it's your choice.

In the case of the first period

Does OFFSET(1,-1,0) = 1 ? No, this is FALSE, because the formula returns 0

xin

Hi @Misbah @einas.ibrahim

Thanks a lot for your explanation. What if I would like to find the first week of each year? As I understand, the OFFSET formula only finds the first week of the time range.

Thanks,

Xin