HFM Metadata Diagnostics Eric Erikson PQR Company
About The Presenter !
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Independent consultant supporting both clients and partners in HFM initial implementations, remodels, enhancements, etc. Course writer and instructor for 123OLAP (Hyperion training written and taught by experienced consultants – STOP BY THE BOOTH) Working with HFM since version 0.9 in 2000 and Hyperion Enterprise since version 1.5 in 1993 Worked for Hyperion Solutions for 7 years Multi year speaker at Kscope – thanks KScope! CPA with MS and BSBA degrees in Accounting
Agenda – Metadata Diagnostics ! !
Problem and Consequence Diagnosing Problems on Demand (Batch) !
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Diagnosing Problems in Real Time !
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Setup and Rule Sample Setup and Rule Sample
Questions
Problem and Consequence !
A lot of time HFM and effort goes (accounts, into designing and maintaining metadata entities, customs, etc.) !
Design meetings
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Development
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Review
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Testing
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Ongoing Maintenance Ongoing Review
Problem and Consequence !
Examples of what can go wrong: Wrong account type ! ! !
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Missing or incorrect account Custom top member Wrong IsICP flag for entity (either entity flagged and shouldn’t be or entity not flagged and should be)
There are dozens of attributes that can be out of sync with the application design
Problem and Consequence !
Some of the attributes are not ago bigflag deal entity isn’t flagged for journals, it – if an !
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Some, however, can cause minor to major issues Diagnosing and resolving issues during month end is not a desirable situation Some issues may not be found until numbers have been published, causing bigger issues
Consequence and Problem !
Real life client example: Consequence: Multiple users viewed detail balance !
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sheet data and received different results Some users had the View dimension set YTD and some had Periodic Normally, the View dimension does not affect balance sheet data Problem: An account was flagged as Expense instead of Asset
Solution !
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HFM rules can be used to diagnose metadata attributes to look for variations from the application design Alerting of issues can be done either on demand (batch) or in real time or both –each approach has advantages and disadvantages Helpful for both initial implementation and ongoing maintenance Only takes seconds to run if only checking metadata (calc, process control status a few minutes)
What About DRM? !
DRM has capabilities to mitigate problem (ie, accounts starting with a 1 arethis assets, base level entities are automatically flagged ICP and parent entities cannot be) !
But what happens when (a) DRM isn’t used or (b) DRM is used but the DRM admin doesn’t use or changes the controls without understanding consequences to HFM
What about EPMA and Classic? !
EPMA has an inherit parent but – only applies when thefrom member is feature first created doesn’t prevent subsequent changes !
Classic – has nothing
Batch Rule Setup ! !
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Create an entity called SystemCheck Use a security class to limit access to just the administrator Force calculate the entity to run the process – period/year/scenario do not matter unless checking for something period specific, like process control status Can use a TaskFlow to automate force calculate on a monthly basis
Batch Rule Setup !
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Add a generic/custom WriteToFile process subroutine for a Some people create a unique and separate WTF subroutine for this and some people modify the standard one to have multiple destinations Check the sample applications for WriteToFile code Could also tailor to send as an email instead of plain write to file
Batch Rule Setup !
Within subroutine limit to the the Calculate SystemCheck entity add the rules – !
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As the “report” will be generated through the Write To File process, think of the layout, date/ time, etc. Use loops for each dimension Do not use OpenDataUnit, unless adding a diagnostic that is data driven
Batch Rule – Code
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Could also build within the Calculate subroutine If using Calc Manager recommend using a separate script object
Batch Rule – Code
Batch Rule !
Output found is a text file with the errors that were
Real Time Diagnostic !
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Create an account called SystemCheck – will set this account to an amount representing an error (10 = some error, 11 = some other error, etc.) Tie the edit checks into Process Control validations, meaning if something is wrong then a validation edit fails and the user cannot promote Can also run a report, dashboard, etc. showing validation edits to monitor Can also set up an email process (using WriteToFile again) to notify admin – more complicated as you want a flag to continually not send an email (unless admin deserves the punishment)
Real Time Diagnostic
BIG CONSEQUENCE TO REAL TIME !
Since these rules will be running every time someone calculates, consolidates and translates (including running IC matching), the application performance can be impacted
Real Time Diagnostic !
There can adversely be a middle ground in certain areas that won’t impact performance !
For example, calculating cash flow by calculating the change in a balance sheet account usually looks something like the next slide and can be enhanced to something like the slide after that
Real Time Diagnostic Usual: If HS.Account.AccountType = “Asset” Then Account.P#LAST.Y#PRIOR - Account Else Account - Account.P#LAST.Y#PRIOR End If
Real Time Diagnostic Adding a real time validation edit: If HS.Account.AccountType = “Asset” Then Account.P#LAST.Y#PRIOR - Account ElseIf HS.Account.AccountType = “Liability” Then Account - Account.P#LAST.Y#PRIOR Else HS.Exp “A#SystemCheck = 10” End If
Real Time Diagnostic !
The key is to that writeeverything the rules WITHOUT assumptions is perfect !
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Check for each anticipated condition and then deal with what happens if none of the anticipated conditions are found Use unique error codes (10 = BS account not A or L, 11 = entity missing ICP flag, etc.) This approach will not work for all metadata diagnostics but will work for some
Questions? !
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Feel to contact if you this have any questions, want free guidance on setting up, etc. Check our website for more information on these and other HFM rules www.pqrcompany.com Eric Erikson 828 485 8454
[email protected] @ericerikson www.linkedin.com/in/ericerikson
