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Convert CUMULATE functions to PREVIOUS | Model Optimization Team series
Hello! Welcome to the Model Optimization team's monthly blog post. This is an eight-part series, following the topics we see occurring most frequently in slow customer models. Our aim is to inform and guide how to build with best practice intentions for these model building topics. Each month, two of our analysts will take…
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OEG Best Practice: Line item subsets demystified
Line item subsets are one of the most powerful and efficient features in Anaplan, yet one of the least understood. The COLLECT() function is probably the only “black box” function within Anaplan as is it not immediately apparent what it is doing or where the source values are coming from. In the following article, I will…
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Calculate with the fewest cell | Model Optimization Team series
Hello! Welcome to the Model Optimization team's monthly blog post. This is an eight-part series, following the topics we see occurring most frequently in slow customer models. Our aim is to inform and guide how to build with best practice intentions for these model building topics. Each month, two of our analysts will take…
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OEG Best Practice: Data Hubs: Purpose and peak performance
You may have heard about a model called a Data Hub, but perhaps you aren’t confident that you understand the fundamentals, primary functions, or considerations when architecting one. There are three main advantages to incorporating a Data Hub: Single source of truth : Stores all transactional data from the source system.…
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SUM and LOOKUP | Model Optimization Team series
Hi! Welcome to the Model Optimization team's monthly blog post. This is an eight-part series, following the topics we see occurring most frequently in slow customer models. Our aim is to inform and guide how to build with best practice intentions for these model building topics. Each month, two of our analysts will take…
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OEG Best Practice: Statistical forecasting
Overview The following is a guide for the Statistical Forecasting Calculation Engine Models (monthly and weekly). It includes enablement videos, practice data import exercise, model documentation, and specific steps when using the model for implementations. 1. Enablement videos and practice exercise…
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Introducing the Anaplan Integration Script Generator: Simplifying Anaplan Connect Scripting
Introduction Anaplan, a leading platform for enterprise planning, has revolutionized the way organizations manage their data and streamline processes. However, leveraging Anaplan's powerful features often requires scripting with Anaplan Connect—a command-line utility for interacting with the platform. To simplify this…
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RANK | Model Optimization Team series
Hello! Welcome to the Model Optimization team's monthly blog post. This is an eight-part series, following the topics we see occurring most frequently in slow customer models. Our aim is to inform and guide how to build with best practice intentions for these model building topics. Each month, two of our analysts will take…
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OEG Best Practice: Filter best practice
Filters can be very useful in model building and are widely used, but they can come at the expense of performance—often very visible to users through their use on dashboards. Performance can also hit imports and exports, which in turn may lead to the blocking of other activity, causing a poor perception of the model. There…
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Nested Ifs | Model Optimization Team series
Hello! Welcome to the Model Optimization team's monthly blog post. This is an eight-part series, following the topics we see occurring most frequently in slow customer models. Our aim is to inform and guide how to build with best practice intentions for these model building topics. Each month, two of our analysts will take…
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OEG Best Practice: Governance for the Office add-Ins
General information * We have listed below some of the best practices we recommend for the Anaplan product. These are based on our experience and are subject to change as we deliver new functionalities and learn more about how our customers use the product. * If you would like to contribute or comment, please contribute to…
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OEG Best Practice: Pre-allocation in lists (and impacts to model performance)
What is pre-allocation in lists? Pre-allocation in lists is a mechanism in Anaplan that adds a buffer to list lengths. It is not added by default for lists; it becomes enabled when a role is set on a list. Please follow 1.03-01 though. Only add roles when needed. When it is enabled, a 2 percent buffer is added to the list,…
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Calculate once and reference | Model Optimization Team series
Hey! Welcome to the Model Optimization team's monthly blog post. This is an eight-part series, following the topics we see occurring most frequently in slow customer models. Our aim is to inform and guide how to build with best practice intentions for these model building topics. Each month, two of our analysts will take…
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Sum on dynamic filter selections
Looking for a way to sum off a data module based on dynamic user selections. My dashboard has a filter(dimensioned by user). Users select any combination of these dimensions(except amount and account). Sometimes fields are blank so a simple SUM wouldn't work. Ultimately the summation would live in a P&L statement so also…
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OEG Best Practice: Performance issues with CUMULATE over lists
Problem statement When using CUMULATE over a list—this is when using the format CUMULATE (x, y, z)—the performance can be poor with anything that exceeds a few million cells. This is because the function is running on a single CPU thread, which differs from nearly all Anaplan functions. Anaplan gets its efficiency from…
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Enhancing Your Anaplan Audit History Reporting with Model History Export
We are excited to announce a significant upgrade to the existing Anaplan Audit History Reporting project written in Python. This project now includes the ability to export Model History. This enhancement provides a more comprehensive view of data changes within your Anaplan models, allowing for deeper analysis and better…
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[Part 1] Enhanced Reporting of the Anaplan Audit Log Summary
As organizations continue to embrace Anaplan's powerful platform for connected planning and decision-making, maintaining robust security and compliance measures has become increasingly essential. The Anaplan Audit Log serves as a critical tool in achieving these objectives, providing granular insights into user activities…
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Unlocking High-Efficiency Data Uploads in Anaplan: A Multithreading Approach
In cloud-based business planning, the ability to swiftly and effectively upload large datasets is an important aspect of maintaining up-to-date planning. This post introduces the concept of multithreading to enhance data upload speeds to Anaplan significantly. This approach, however, is specifically tailored for data…
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[UPDATED] Summary Calculations with the User List
Author: Rob Marshall, Director of Architecture and Performance at Anaplan, Operational Excellence Group (OEG). Prior to the February 2024, users were not allowed to use aggregation functions (SUM, ALL, ANY, AVERAGE, FIRSTNONBLANK, LASTNONBLANK, MAX, MIN, RANK) when having the Users list in a module because the system could…
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OEG Best Practice: Anaplan Python OAuth Example
The Anaplan Python OAuth Example demonstrates using the Anaplan REST API with OAuth with device-based authorization. The code highlights how to generate a device_id, access_token, and refresh_token. Additionally, the code highlights a multi-threaded approach to request a new access_token while performing other,…
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How to review models and applications to drive improvement
Author: Andrew Martin (@andrew_martin_1), Operational Excellence Director at Anaplan. Overview Many stakeholders ask this question for different reasons. Examples include: A CoE leader needing comfort that best practices have been followed in the build A Solution Architect seeking affirmation that the architecture is the…
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OEG Best Practice: Data integration decision app
We built this app to make getting started on your Anaplan data integration journey simple with a quick questionnaire and helpful information and links. A common question that arises during Anaplan implementations (or even after go-live) is "How can I automate data feeds into and out of Anaplan?" While the ultimate decision…
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OEG Best Practice: Formula structure for performance
Thinking through the results of a modeling decision is a key part of ensuring good model performance; in other words, making sure the calculation engine isn’t overtaxed. This article highlights some ideas for how to lessen the load on the calculation engine. Formulas should be simple; a formula that is nested, or uses…
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[Part 2] Enhancing Anaplan Audit Log Data Extraction with a Streamlined Python Solution
The Anaplan Audit History project, consisting of several Python modules and a configuration file, works synergistically to streamline the process of fetching, formatting, and loading Anaplan audit log data into a preconfigured Anaplan Model. The project leverages the Anaplan REST API, the Python Pandas library for…
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[Part 3] Anaplan Audit History Data in an Anaplan Reporting Model
With Anaplan Audit, Enterprise and Professional level Customers can track audit events that occur in their Anaplan tenant. For the Anaplan Audit History project, we created a simple Anaplan reporting model and app to report on Anaplan Audit events in the Anaplan UX. Customers may download and use the Anaplan Audit Model &…
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OEG Best Practice: PLANS: This is how we model
PLANS PLANS is the new standard for Anaplan modeling—“the way we model.” This covers more than just the formulas and includes and evolves existing best practices around user experience and Data Hubs. It is a set of rules on the structure and detailed design of Anaplan models. This set of rules will provide both a clear…
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[Post-Event] Understanding and Identifying Model Optimization Opportunities
As discussed in the OEG workshop, here's the Excel blueprint analysis worksheet. It contains an example sheet with the model shown in the workshop. You will see how the conclusions and optimization opportunities were found using this analysis. Uses of CUMULATE and TIMESUM for example, or the amount of text line items used.…
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OEG Best Practice: Formulas and their effects on model performance
Details of known issues Challenge Recommendations Performance issues with long nested formulas Need to have a long formula on time as a result of nested intermediate calculations. If the model size does not prevent from adding extra line items, it's a better practice to create multiple intermediate line items and reduce…
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Anaplan Connect Quick Start Guide - Windows Installation
This Anaplan Connect Quick Start guide is specifically for the Microsoft Windows platform. Its purpose is to help you swiftly set up and get started with Anaplan Connect. Please follow the steps below to guide you through the installation process. If you are utilizing macOS, kindly refer to the Anaplan Connect Quickstart…
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OEG Best Practice: Anaplan Performance Triangle
Building well performing models is a balance between the complexity and functionality of a model versus the number of concurrent users. If you have seen software development / project management triangles, where scope, time and cost control quality, this will be familiar. It is a good way to show the constraints of any…