Make available for a Import Data source these system columns: Current Timestamp, Current User, RowID

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As a Model builder, when I create an import action and I choose an Import Data Source ( File, Saved View, etc…) I would like that the Import Data Source to have available these additional system columns: Current Timestamp, Current User, RowID that can be mapped to target elements.

Current Timestamp: should be populated at run-time when the import action is triggered (it could use the UTC format 2023-03-20 11:27:4)

Current User: it should contain the Current User that launches the import action at run-time.

RowID: it should contain the row number from the import data source when the import action was launched at run-time (1,2,3, etc..).

Why Current Timestamp, Current User:

It is often requested to show in check dashboards/pages when and by who was updated data in a particular module for different combinations (from files in Datahub, from source models to spoke models in a Connected Planning environment, etc.).

Imagine how easy would be to achieve this if the Current Timestamp and Current User would be available as columns when an import action is built. There are out there tools where these options are available. Why Anaplan would not want to deliver this? :)

It would boost to the sky the quality of Anaplan traceability, together with existing features (history log, cell history log, etc).

To have Current Timestamp available as system column it would solve also to have Current Timestamp/Current Date in Anaplan. (easy win for a feature that is waited for a long time).

Currently, it is needed to create complex and not always within Anaplan additional workarounds in order to achieve this.

Why RowID:

It is useful when it is needed to deal with files that contain transactional data without a Unique key. It would a really nice to have this additional system column when import actions are created.

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24 votes

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Comments

  • would indeed be great to have this added!

  • I don't understand why this suggestion hasn't been upvoted by everyone! I upvoted it previously, but just found it again and tried to upvote it again!!! 😂

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