Blank Cell with History

Hi Team,

 

I have a situation where some cells have had data entered to them & this is proved by the cell history but the cell is BLANK. I am struggling to understand why the cell history is not reconciling to the data in the cell. Please see the attached screenshots for an example but effectively I was expecting the value to be 'May 21' as this is the last entry in the cell history

 

Has anyone encountered this before & have a solution?

 

Thanks!

 

Mark

Answers

  • Hi @MarkTurkenburg 

     

    Let's try to work this problem out.

     

    From your first screen shot, it seems that the cell is blank. I could think of 3 possibilities:

    1. Your history isn't extensive enough, since it seems to cover till 26May. Can you try to do a 'All' history?

    2. Could it be DCA that's preventing you from seeing the value in the module?

    3. Did you select a parent level member in the page selector which might result in a blank cell in the module?

     

    Thanks,

    LipChean

  • Hi Mark

     

    May I understand from you:

    1.what is used as your dropdown for End Month selection?

    2. the selection is modified by user input or some kind of update action?

     

    From my end, I tried to replicate a 3-dimensional module with end month formatted as Period Month, and the history records reconcile with whatever I have changed.

    Module:

    Screenshot 2021-06-01 at 10.36.01 AM.png

    Cell history:

    Screenshot 2021-06-01 at 10.35.41 AM.png

    End result:

    Screenshot 2021-06-01 at 10.40.02 AM.png

     

    BR,

    Tingting

  • Hi @LipChean_Soh 

     

    Thanks for the quick reply

     

    To answer your questions:

     

    1) I selected ALL History & it returns the same results

    2) There is no DCA on this line item

    3) No this is a list formatted line item & in the view I sent I can adjust the value as the end user could

     

    Our Anaplan consultant partners are going to raise this with Anaplan as a product error but I have been using the software for 4 years & never seen this occur before

     

    It is effectively not accounting for data entered into the system

     

    Mark

     

     

  • Hi @tingtingxia 

     

    Thanks for the quick reply

     

    The line item is a list formatted (Time Period - Month) line item & by all logic the data that is showing in the history should be displaying in the cell

     

    I agree with your logic & that is the way it works 99.9% of the time

     

    Mark

  • Hi @MarkTurkenburg 

     

    Another possibility is due to someone restoring the model to a point where the cell is blank.

    You won't see the <model successfully restored to change abcd> if you perform a history search on a specific module or cell.

    You'll need to go to Admin page to do the full history check.

     

    Thanks,

    LipChean

  • Hi @LipChean_Soh 

     

    Yes that's what I thought but I am the only person to do a restore in the past week & that was purely restoring to undo a previous line item change (see attached history) & therefore it would not of changed any data entered

     

    Thanks

     

    Mark

  • Hi @MarkTurkenburg 

     

    Another possibility is the shifting of Model Calendar.

     

    Thanks,

    LipChean

  • Hi @LipChean_Soh 

     

    No that did not occur, it is a very strange situation

     

    I have a meeting with Anaplan this afternoon to discuss & will post the result here

     

    Thanks for your help

     

    Mark

  • Hi @MarkTurkenburg 

     

    No problem, please keep us updated on this.

    This is a weird and concerning occurrence, since it seems to imply there's a problem with the audit or worse, data can disappear from the database.

     

    Thanks,

    LipChean

  • Hi Mark

     

    Yes, please update the topic here whenever you have some findings.

    @LipChean_Soh it has been very informative reading through your trouble shooting thread on this topic as well. Really appreciate it. 👍

     

    BR,

    Tingting

  • @MarkTurkenburg 

    Try investigating the cell history of the cell rather than the model history.

    This is should reveal exactly what has been going on in that specific cell of the model.

    I dont think this is a platform error but a simple case of the data being deleted from the cell. 

  • Hi @ChrisAHeathcote 

     

    Thanks but that was my 1st point of call (if you review my 1st post). The cell history has no deletion history & but the cell has no value

     

    Anaplan support team are currently unable to solve for this

     

    Thanks

     

    Mark

  • @MarkTurkenburg 

    Of course, I can see that you have already tried this. 

    Have you tried changing the pivot so that you can see all the values across of the dimensions?

     

  • Hi @ChrisAHeathcote 

     

    Yes I have done that but my query was the specific intersection between dimensions where the cell history stated data entry but the cell did not display this

     

    Thanks

     

  • @MarkTurkenburg 

    I think the the module and history data is not comparable.

     

    ChrisHeathcote_0-1622544416554.png

    The grid shows 'Sustainability Coordinator, Communities' and 'Head Office Expenses' in 'Working'  line item.  

     

    ChrisHeathcote_1-1622544523778.png

    The history shows changes against, 'Sustainability Coordinator, Communities' and 'Head Office Expense' in 'End of Month (if applicable)' line item.

     

    The line item is different. 

  • Hi @ChrisAHeathcote 

     

    'Working' is the Version while 'End of Month (if applicable)' is the line item

     

    I have taken another screen shot of the cell history with all the dimensions (see attached)

     

    Thanks

    Screen shot 4.PNG

  • @MarkTurkenburg 

     

    I figured I might as well jump into this party...Let me ask you question, I see you are working with a numbered list, are you sure you are looking at the same intersection of data?  I ask because the "Sustainability Coordinator" might be repeated in the list.

     

    Rob

  • Another ways to "loose" history of a cell:
    - bulk-copy: the operation does not leave any detailed trace
    - Add and remove formula on the line-item.

    Both less probable in your case as I think you focus on a particular cell...and not a dramatic loss of data... :).

    I hope you will figure it out eventually.

    Alex
  • Hi @rob_marshall 

     

    Thanks for the reply

     

    Yes I am working with a numbered list & there are possibly multiple list items with the same 'Display Name' but the data I am referring to above & are in the screen shots are from the same list item

     

    Mark

  • Hi @alexpavel 

     

    Thanks for the reply

     

    Could you explain more what 'Bulk Copy' is? Are you referring to the Version copy functionality?

     

    Thanks

     

     

  • Yes...that Bulk Copy functionality...which can be launched also choosing from any list what is Source and what is Target ..not necessarily Versions...
  • Hi @alexpavel 

     

    I was referring to the Bulk Copy functionality in the Versions section per the attached screenshot

     

    What is the Source/Target Bulk Copy functionality you mention above?

     

    Thanks for your help

     

    Mark

  • Yes.. the Bulk Copy is launched from Versions section...if you push the Bulk Copy button it will open a window where, by default, you can choose Source Version..Target Version...
    But it's also a combo-box where you can change the list, different from Versions...and you can choose Source element and Target element.

  • Understood, thanks @alexpavel