About DavidSmith

DavidSmith

should be merged with https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Idea-Exchange/Sorting-items-by-code-or-name-in-number-lists/idi-p/34843

DavidSmith

needs to be merged with https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Idea-Exchange/Sorting-items-by-code-or-name-in-number-lists/idi-p/34843

DavidSmith

Really good summary of all of the stuff Duncan and I have been presenting over the last 3 years. Nice to see my "Toll Booth" analogy in there too!! Good stuff

DavidSmith

@ksiemek Yes, limited to numerics only, but have a read here https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Best-Practices/Line-Item-Subsets-Demystified/ta-p/54309 David

DavidSmith

Coming out of retirement for this one since you asked nicely If think in this case where the source and target is a 1:1 match, the IF statement would be quicker. Remember SUM and LOOKUPs need to perform "transformations" and thus more work than just pointing to the source line item. The check for the IF is fairly marginal. As an aside and not quite this use case, but we have found that using SUM from a large source list summing into a timescale can be heavy due to the collation of the source data into time blocks. (e.g. a series of expense line with different start dates and you want to sum them all together). If you are using something like that, with a large timescale, we recommend using a fake timescale for the initial aggregation and then a SUM into the real timescale Back to helping develop the engine! 42 out

DavidSmith

Not so far in testing, we may introduce some limits as a cautionary measure - We are testing out different limits David

DavidSmith

@usman.zia hang tight Coming soon hopefully David

DavidSmith · ‎02-24-2020

@Nicolas Cadier A common occurrence is for the L2 member to have a different currency (often in financial consolidations). How would you expect to Anaplan to handle that situation? David

DavidSmith · ‎02-21-2020

@Nicolas Cadier Just interested to ask, would you envisage the need to inherit that values for grand parents, or great grand parents, for lists with more than 2 levels? If so, how would you want to inform the result which level to use? David

DavidSmith · ‎02-19-2020

@James.sharrett The example I attached was from a model without time or versions in it. The principle still applies, for modules, you need to cell count * line item format There will always be a small correction error, as per my spreadsheet. What I was highlighting is the impact large lists have; one should not forget those in the estimations David

DavidSmith · ‎02-18-2020

Thank you both - Let's hope I can turn my magic to some of the new developments I want to deliver for you all

DavidSmith · ‎02-18-2020

Just adding, if you guys are professors, what does that make me!

DavidSmith · ‎02-12-2020

Thanks for the use case - It's helpful for me as I validate the difference uses and requests This is what I've done in the past, assuming you are not importing users from a central model 1. Create a module dimensioned by Users and use as an import source to i mport to a dummy list of users 2. Have a clean up module dimensioned by the dummy list of users, that flags any dummy users that are not in the main users list 3. Run the delete from list action David

DavidSmith · ‎02-11-2020

@AWhitworth Hi Could you describe the use case? Why do you need the aggregated values from a module by user? Cheers David

DavidSmith · ‎01-30-2020

Let David Smith guide you through the major highlights and key takeaways of the Planual.

DavidSmith · ‎01-10-2020

Agreed - this is time consuming, but in the meantime, this is the process I use, using an old Excel trick in learnt!! Export the line items to Excel It is unlikely that Column J is used so it is a good one to use, otherwise use another appropriate column that follows the same pattern of nothing for header Filter on blanks Click on J2 and enter the formula =a2 and copy this down to the rest of the header lines Remove the filter Now highlight from J2 down to the last row in the blueprint From the “Goto” menu option (usually <F5>), choose Special and then Constants This should select all of the “detail” line items Without clicking anywhere else, type =J2 and then CTRL+Enter, or CMD+Enter This will enter the return the module name against each line item Voila!

DavidSmith · ‎01-06-2020

@david.savarin I have run the analysis using the above model and set formula scope for Current Version only For the Fake versions model I used a single boolean to check and had a formula like this: IF Fake Version Details.'Not Current?' THEN 0 ELSE CUMULATE(Data) The results were almost exactly the same as above The volume of the calculations for Fake Versions were 2x larger, but the duration of the calculations were 6x shorter The checking for the "not current" prevents the calculation going further (a benefit of the early exit condition) I also checked the effect of the early exit (checking for the most common condition of not current vs current) As expected, checking for the IF "Not Current" THEN 0 ELSE ... was 1.5x faster than IF "Current" THEN Cumulate() ELSE 0 One other element to add to the overall discussion is size and switchover. Using Switchover will reduce the model size, as the "actual" periods don't take up space. So if size is a primary consideration, bear that in mind. As ever, if is a balance between performance, size, sustainability, usability etc. I hope that helps David

DavidSmith · ‎12-20-2019

@ArunManickam Thank you

DavidSmith · ‎12-18-2019

Thanks @adam_bimson_5 And yes, Versions as a format is on the list as @stephen.brook said David

DavidSmith · ‎12-17-2019

Calculating the difference between two dates is a common requirement and one that you will likely need to do at some point. Below you will find the best practice for calculating the difference between two days, and the best practice for calculating the difference between two months. While there are multiple ways to get to the answer you're looking for, often the simplest solution is the best. When calculating the difference between two dates (days or months), use this approach first: For date formatted line items, use: line item 1 – line item 2. For time formatted line items, use: START(line item 1) – START(line item 2). Dates 1. Simple dates difference. 2. Dates addition. 3. Dates subtraction. Time Periods 1. Time period difference. 2. Months addition. 3. Months subtraction. 4. Years addition. 5. Years subtraction. Keep 'Superset' in Mind When Selecting Your Time Period If you choose a time period that is outside of the superset, it will display as blank. The superset is the earliest date from the model calendar and any time range through to the later of the last date of the calendar of any time range. Example model: Time: Superset = Jan 17 - Dec 22: If you go outside of that range: You're now ready to calculate date differences in your daily practice! If you have additional questions or feedback, please add them to the comments below.

DavidSmith · ‎12-13-2019

Thank you all for the kind words. It is very humbling I'm really excited about the opportunity to make Anaplan even better and having the support internally and externally makes it an easier transition It is going to be difficult moving away from modelling; something I have been doing for the last 30 years, but my intellectual challenge now moves from creating workarounds, to help to build a product so that you don't need so many workarounds I am going to miss the community spirit, but I am still here (in the background), I will attend CPX, and other events as appropriate and I will also be wanting to engage community members and Master Anaplanners to help with the development of the platform Cheers David

DavidSmith · ‎12-13-2019

All I think this is a bug, because it should work in line with how subsets work I'll raise it and get it on the backlog to be investigated David

DavidSmith · ‎12-12-2019

Unless anything has changed, it's all about the Unicode base plane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_%28Unicode%29 I have no idea what all that means, but when Michael told me not to do it, I listened David

DavidSmith · ‎12-12-2019

One of my initial investigations/priorities is around sorting and the list order. There is obviously a "natural" order embedded in there; that is how CUMULATE on a list works, but I want to explore the implications of resetting that, or using a defined order instead David

DavidSmith · ‎12-12-2019

@dameyer01 The only thing you can try is to check the name of the source file (from the import sources tab). If you can find an existing file that "might" be what was used, load that You may then be able to see some of the mappings I hope that helps David

DavidSmith · ‎12-11-2019

As you may know by now, I have taken on a new role in the Product organisation of Anaplan. I've taken responsibility for the evolution of the Core Platform. This will be quite a departure for me, having worked for 20 years on the "other side of the fence" but I'm looking forward to brining all of my experience to date of what Customers really need to the development of our platform. So that can focus fully on the new task, I am going to have to relinquish my community duties, so from next week, I will be effectively "retiring" from community. I will publish V2 of the Planual next year and I will be reviewing the Idea Exchange and all of the suggestions to prioritise the development path for the next year. I will also be engaging community members to assist in that prioritisation exercise in due course. So I'm not going away entirely!! What I would say though is I'm happy that I'm leaving the community ecosystem in a great place. The progression in the last year has been amazing and I'd like to call out a few individuals who have championed best practices and supported the Anaplan ecosystem. Keep it up! So thank you to: @rob_marshall @nathan_rudman @LipChean_Soh @ArunManickam @usman.zia @Misbah @Jared Dolich @kavinkumar @vignesh Happy modelling my community friends David

DavidSmith · ‎12-11-2019

@Misbah Especially for you!!!

DavidSmith · ‎12-11-2019

@Jared Dolich There is always the "why" question Why do we need to that complexity in the mappings?. when you resolve through the patterns you often can rationalise and simplify David

DavidSmith · ‎12-11-2019

@MaoNinomiya Apologies for the delay, but I think I have a solution. It is complex and a little messy, so I have included it in the attached. It seems to have satisfied your example data, but obviously there are a lot of patterns missing. However, hopefully it shows you some principles of how to break down the mapping formula into manageable and testable pieces!! I hope it helps David

DavidSmith · ‎12-09-2019

@jim_ma exactly. Glad it solves it for you David