Hyperion Planning Input Forms

Hyperion Planning Input Forms You’re Doing it All Wrong

Jake Turrell

Background 

16+ Years Hyperion Implementation Experience

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Certified in both Planning and Essbase

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Prior Practice Lead at Hyperion Partner Firm

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Co-Editor of the book “Developing Essbase Applications: Advanced Techniques for Finance and IT Professionals”

Developing Essbase Applications ●

Over 50 years of expert experience between the covers.

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Advanced content written so that developers at all levels will gain assistance and insight.

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Chock full of experience proven best practices.

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Collaboratively written by a team of respected and sought after Essbase developers.

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Source code at www.developingessbasebook.com

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Includes all download access to all source code & scripts.

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Purchase your copy today and energize your Essbase career!

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What’s in the Demo? 

Planning 11.1.2.2 (ADF Interface)

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Major League Baseball Statistics (Pitching & Hitting)

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50+ Stat Accounts

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FY10 – FY13

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Covers All Teams, Players & Games

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Attendees will Receive Exported Demo Application

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Data Available from Windows Azure Marketplace

Disclaimer 

The Planning and Essbase objects used in this demo are available for free. They are unsupported.

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They are available for learning purposes only and may include incomplete and/or inaccurate data.

Characteristics of “Bad” Input Forms 

Difficult to Interpret

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Perform Poorly

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Allow Bad Data

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Lack Interconnectivity

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Let the Database Do All the Work

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Include Only “Lifeless” Grids

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Don’t Predict the Future

Agenda 

Organizing Data

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Limiting Data

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Creating Interconnected Forms

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Creating Data Validations

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Creating Row & Column Formulas

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Creating Embedded Charts

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Predictive Planning

ORGANIZING DATA

Organizing Data 

Good Layout = Easy Consumption

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Forms vs. Bulk Data Interfaces

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White Space

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Borders

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Composite Forms

Make Forms Easy to Consume 

Don’t present users with a massive “wall” of cells.

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Hide irrelevant rows and columns.

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Use the “Show Separator” feature to give users context regarding different subject areas.

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Use blank rows to introduce spacing into forms.

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Use Composite Forms to present different (but related) subject areas on the same form.

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Use Data Validation Rules that always evaluate to “True” for additional formatting options.

The “Wall” of Data

Introducing Blank Spaces

To introduce a blank line into a form add a Formula Row with no formula or label. Certain older versions of Planning require a label, otherwise the dimension name will be displayed. In these instances, use “.” as a label.

Using Blank Spaces

Good Things Bad Things

Using Borders

“Show Separator” does not work with certain unpatched versions of ADF.

Using Composite Forms

Composite Forms 

Pro’s ●

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Under the right circumstances, composite forms bring together multiple subject areas into a single view.

Con’s ●

Formatting and space allocation can be unpredictable, especially when users have different display resolutions.

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In Smart View, composite forms render on separate Excel tabs.

Forms vs. Bulk Data Interfaces 

Typical OTN Planning Forum Thread

Using Validation Rules for Formatting 

Data Validations are good for more than just validating data!

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Developers can create validations that ALWAYS evaluate to True, simply to format cells in a form.

Using Validation Rules for Formatting

LIMITING DATA

Suppress Missing Data / Blocks 

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Suppress Missing Data (Rows & Columns) ●

Set in the Grid Properties, Row Properties or Column Properties.

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Prevents blank rows or columns from being displayed.

Suppress Missing Blocks ●

Set in the Grid Properties.

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Does nothing, unless used with “Suppress Missing Data”.

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Typically good for forms where most rows will have no data.

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Typically bad for forms where most rows have data.

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Can cause issues displaying certain dynamic members and attributes.

Demo / Examples Limiting Data

Suppress Missing Data / Blocks 

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Pro’s ●

Can keep irrelevant data off the form.

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Can make forms faster (when used correctly).

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Can make forms easier to consume.

Con’s ● ●

Planning does not support “Conditional” suppression in forms. What happens when users want to plan for a member combination that currently has no data? (Hint . . . Take the Form Ad-Hoc)

INTERCONNECTING FORMS

Creating Interconnected Forms 

One aspect of building a “good” form is providing multiple navigation routes to and from that form.

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Create right-click menus that take users from one form to another, while passing “context”.

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This is especially useful when moving from a summary form to a detail form.

Creating Interconnected Forms 

Menus can be used to do much more than navigate to another form. They can: ●

Take Users to a URL.

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Launch a Business Rule (Now with confirmation messages!)

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Take Users to Manage Approvals

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Take Users to the Previous Form

Creating Menus 

Create a menu using the menu options Administration, Manage, Menus.

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Add menu items that open forms, launch business rules, manage approvals, open URL’s, etc.

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Assign the menu to a Required Parameter. This simply tells Planning where the user must right-click in order to open the menu.

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Add the menu to a form in the form’s Other Options.

Demo / Examples Menus

User Variables 

Users can set User Variables that limit the data presented on a form.

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Forms must be built to take advantage of variables.

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Variables can be placed in the POV, Page, Rows or Columns.

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Variables can be placed within functions.

Creating User Variables 

Open the Planning application.

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Select the menu options Administration, Manage, User Variables. Click Add.

Designing Forms with User Variables 

In the form layout, select the variable from the Variables tab.

Setting Variable Values 

A typical User Variable is set by the end-user in their Preferences.

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Users open the Planning application and select the menu options File, Preferences. **

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Users must select the Planning icon, then the User Variable Options tab.

Setting Variable Values

Use Context vs Enable Dynamic Variable 

The documentation is not clear.

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Use Context is a variable setting.

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Enable Dynamic Variables is a form setting.

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Both options allow users to change variable values on the fly, but in different ways.

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Both options can be used at the same time.

Use Context vs Enable Dynamic Variable 

There are two main differences: ●

Use Context variables are set when the user right-clicks on one form to navigate to another form (and passes context).

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Use Context variables can not be set in the user preferences.

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Enable Dynamic variables can be modified directly in a form.

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Enable Dynamic variables can be set in the user preferences.

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A variable can leverage both settings.

Demo / Examples User Variables

Use Security to Limit Data 

If a user does not have read or write access to a member, it will be suppressed on the form.

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Usefulness of this feature is limited, because users often have read access to more members than those to which they can write.

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There is no easy way to limit members in a Page list box, row or column based only on write access. **

DATA VALIDATIONS

Creating Data Validations 

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Data validations allow developers to alert users to bad data.

Developers can create “soft” validations that do nothing but present a message. Developers can create “hard” validations that prevent users from promoting their data or alter the promotion path. Developers can create data validations that ALWAYS evaluate to “true” simply to introduce some formatting into their forms.

Data Validations Can . . . 

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Evaluate conditions in an individual cell or range of cells. Evaluate conditions in a “design-time” cell, for example a cell defined in the form with a function that returns multiple individual cells.

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Evaluate conditions in a column or row.

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Evaluate cells specific to a member’s data value.

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Evaluate cells specific to a member name itself.

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Evaluate the cells of a specific account type.

Data Validations Can . . . 

Evaluate cells with a specific version type.

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Evaluate cells with a specific variance reporting type.

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Evaluate cells that reference members of a dimension with a specific user defined attribute.

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Evaluate cells that reference members with a specific attribute member association.

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. . . . format cells that meet these criteria.

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. . . . display a validation message.

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. . . . alter or stop the Approvals process.

Demo / Examples Data Validations

Data Validations 

Pro’s ●

They’re very flexible and support many conditions.

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They integrate with Approvals.

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Unlike custom JavaScript, they work in Smart View.

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Unlike custom JavaScript, they don’t require programming skills.

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Unlike custom JavaScript, they don’t break every time you upgrade.

Data Validations 

Con’s ●

Watch out for floating point decimal errors. Reference a range of numbers rather than an explicit number.

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Cannot easily exclude non-editable cells.

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They don’t actually prevent data from being saved (yet).

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A data validation in one form cannot reference another form.

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Be careful using red cells with data validations if your users format negative values as red in their user preferences.

ROW & COLUMN FORMULAS

Creating Formula Rows & Columns 

In the Form Layout, right-click a row or column and select Insert Formula Row (or Column).

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Give the row or column a name in the Formula Label.

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Select the formula row or column heading (not the cell) to display the formula properties.

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Indicate the Formula Data Type for each dimension.

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Enter and validate a formula.

Creating Formula Rows & Columns 

Abs

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IfThen

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Random

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Average

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Max

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Rank

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AverageA

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Min

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Round

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Count

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Mod

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Sqrt

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CountA

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PercentofTotal

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Sum

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Difference

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Pi

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Truncate

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Eval

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Product

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Variance

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VariancePercent

Example Parameters 

Sum(row[2])

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row[2].Sum

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Sum(column[A], column[C])

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IfThen((IsMissing([A]) AND [B] > 0), 0, Eval([A] / [B]))

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IfThen(Not(IsNN([B])), Eval(PercentofTotal([B], [B,3]) / 100),[B])

Demo / Examples Formula Rows & Columns

Creating Formula Rows & Columns 

Pro’s ●

Can help with database retrieval performance.

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Can help resolve database calculation order issues.

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Can save having to run a business rule with the save of a form.

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Good for one-off calcs that don’t require database development.

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The function “Pi” is available for anyone who wants to forecast the circumference of a circle or is to lazy to type some numbers into a formula . . .

Creating Formula Rows & Columns 

Con’s ●

Does not handle divide-by-zero issues gracefully.

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No explicit function to return #Missing. This is a challenge when suppressing missing rows and you have a column formula.

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Formula columns are suppressed entirely if a label does not exist in the first row heading.

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Limited control over in-sheet calc order when mixing Row AND Column formulas in the same form.

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The “Pi” function is irrational . . . what if I need 16 digits???

EMBEDDED CHARTS

Embedding Charts in Forms 

Users can add charts in Composite forms. ●

Bar

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Horizontal Bar

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Line

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Area

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Pie

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Scatter

Embedding Charts in Forms 

Step 1 – Create Composite Form

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Step 2 – Edit Form Layout

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Step 3 – Right-Click One of the Forms

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Step 4 – Select “Display as Chart”

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Step 5 – Select “Options” Tab

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Step 6 – Select Legend Position

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Step 7 – Select Label Position

Demo / Examples Embedded Charts

Embedding Charts in Forms 

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Pro’s ●

Very quick and easy.

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Charts are attractive out-of-the-box.

Con’s ●

Chart options are very limited.

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Cannot place labels on chart axes.

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Not without bugs . . .

OTHER RANDOM TIPS

Grid Diagnostics 

To monitor the performance of forms, Planning includes Grid Diagnostics. (as of version 11.1.2.2)

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Select the menu options Tools, Diagnostics, Grids.

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Select the Run Diagnostics button.

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Select the forms to review.

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Press the Run Diagnostics button.

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Click the chart for individual form stats.

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Experiment with different chart options.

Demo / Examples Grid Diagnostics

Opening Multiple Forms at Once 

By default, Planning users may open one form at a time.

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To change this behavior, select the menu options Administration, Application, Properties.

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Add the setting DATA_GRID_CACHE_SIZE and give it a value.

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Save changes and restart the Planning server.

Opening Multiple Forms at Once 

Place the property in the Application Properties to only affect a single application.

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Place the property in the System Properties to affect all applications.

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WARNING – This will increase memory consumption.

Grid Fetch Properties 

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When using the ADF interface, Planning will return the form in “chunks” of 25 rows and 17 columns.

When the user scrolls beyond this initial “chunk” the application will fetch 25 more rows and 17 more columns. Administrators can change this threshold by adjusting an Application Property called “GRID_PARTIAL_FETCH_SIZE”.

Grid Fetch Properties

Property requires two values (row & column setting) separated by a comma.

Grid Fetch Properties 

Affects all forms and all users in a given application.

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Only available starting with 11.1.2.2 patch 303.

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Patch readme file makes no mention of a related System Property.

PREDICTIVE PLANNING

Turbocharge Your Input Forms with Predictive Planning

Wednesday, June 26 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Grand Ballroom E

Questions?