Flexibility when importing .csv file with Time Dimension

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Hi!

Does Anaplan have an option to have a flexibility to import .csv files with regards to time?
For example, one user exports a .csv file with Y-M time format (23-Jan, etc.) while other user exports with M-Y format (Jan-23). These files exported from Anaplan will eventually be imported back.

I know these differences are due to settings in their respective Region/Language.


What I would like to do is to import these type of files (whether Y-M or M-Y, regardless of region) to the Anaplan module.

Thanks!

Answers

  • Hi @aramaybaral

    If they are loaded in different modules and have different actions have been set up for them, then you can set “M-Y” or “Y-M” logic accordingly for each action.

    In case, the different month format is required for single import action, then I don't believe there is any feature yet available to accomodate that in Anaplan. Anaplan only takes one time format.

    I'd recommend users adjust their settings accordingly in their system so that anaplan export generates only one type of format.

    Cheers!

  • AjayM
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    Hi @aramaybaral ,

    As @Himanshu1998 mentioned, there is no direct way in Anaplan to configure same action to accept two different time formats. However, we can design a workaround to alter the import functionality, IF modifying system settings is difficult.

    In my below approach, instead of directly loading the data into target module, I have a number list dimensioned staging module into which I import time values into a text formatted lineitem (and not directly mapped to model's time dimension). I find actual time using this text lineitem, and then create an import action from this staging module to target module. You should club both the import actions into a process.

    For demoing, I took same file but with different time formats, though we know these come in different files in your case.

    Please note that you would want to flush the previous imported raw records before importing fresh set of data to keep it clean. Hope this helps.

    Cheers!