Quick reference guide on check points to be considered before going ahead with Data Hub Setup
Hi Lokesh,
Love the post! One thing I'd add to this conversation though is that on your first point, there may be occasions where it makes sense not to pull the data back into the data hub. Primarily, there's a workspace size hit to duplicating the information, so if you're moving hundreds of millions of cells or more out of Anaplan, it may make sense to pull directly from the source.
Regards,
Alec
Thanks Alec. You got a valid point! We came across multiple use cases where we had to push directly from Anaplan source models to Target applications bypassing Anaplan DataHub. We evaluated pros and cons of such options during data design phase (data interface and data flow design). Thanks for raising this topic.
Great article. I would also add that talking to the business not just about what levels of granularity is needed but also why those levels are needed is an important conversation? Sometimes, the levels of granularity don't provide many benefits and simply could be a matter of not wanting to change old processes. Change management and having these discussions early on helps in the long-run.
Good point Sreekanth. Understanding the business reason for granularity needs will help in designing an optimal data hub. In addition, we also need to 1) List out Drill Down requirements 2) List out Drill Through requirements 3) Prepare data design and data flow for sensitive data.
Hi Lokesh,
Great points here! A few other things we would want to consider:
Thanks Trevor. All the three pointers are very useful and should be scoped into Data Flow design and finalized during the early phase of the project. As always, you are best in giving us the perfect solution 🙂
Lokesh,
I would be very careful in your last point, you do not want to bring in data with a primary key that is tied to either the version or the time period as you are inflating the overall size of the list for no gain. For example, lets say you you are bringing in data for 12 months, if your primary key appends the period to the member, (WAGES_01012018), you would have 12 members with the only thing changing is the date. So, if the data (without appending the period) totals 100 members, by appending, you have now multipled the result set by 12. Additionally, if you had Versions to the member, you would need to multiple the number by the number of versions. Very seldom, if at all, do I see Versions in the Data Hub.
The following should be the process of loading transactional data:
By following the above process, you will accomplish the following:
Hope this helps,
Rob
Thanks Rob for suggestion. The solution you proposed will work perfectly and has many benefits. Infact we have few such modules getting data via import and also used for export out of Anaplan. But i think when we create unique list (Say...Account concatenated with the Department concatenated with the Trading Partner), the number of characters should not exceed 50. This is a limitation where your proposed solution may not work. I am not sure if Anaplan has addressed this limitation in recent releases.
Lokesh,
The limitation is 60 characters and yes, you have the potential to run out of room, so you should use the codes of those properties.
Thanks,
Rob