Anaplan Use-Cases Series

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Welcome to the Anaplan Use-Cases Series!!!

The series is an endeavor to help Anaplan developers/modelers dive into and solve real-world business planning problems. It is a compilation of some interesting and quirky use-cases that have been enlightening to me in some shape and form.

With substantial experience in Data and Anaplan world, I felt the need to share my learnings with a broader community through this series. Though the series is targeted to beginner practitioners who have completed at least Level 1/2 of Anaplan Model Builder Certifications, more experienced individuals are also welcome to peek in. Feel free to go through the introductory blog Why Anaplan Use-Cases Series? to understand the background behind this endeavor.

Each of the following articles features a real-world business planning use-case, although with hypothetical names and fabricated data. If you like any of the articles, feel free to clap on it to express your appreciation. You can also leave your comment on the blog itself, if the article helped you in any manner.

Index

1. Data Aggregation: A use-case centered on data aggregation. Though the problem cited in the article involves Boolean aggregation, the proposed solutions are applicable to Number formatted line items equally well.
2. Relevant List Items: Often, not all the items of a list/dimension are required in business planning. The use-case discusses about using a limited and relevant set of list items in day-to-day planning.
3. Matrix vs. Vector Style: The use-case is centered around how to move from Matrix-style data grid to Vector-style data grid and vice versa, when the two dimensions involved are components of Time dimension.
4. Linear Interpolation: The use-case deals with Linear Interpolation — a mathematical method used to estimate values between two known numbers.
5. Combination List: When the modeling gets tough while dealing with numerous dimensions, we could be sliding into the realm of data sparsity. The use-case discusses about Combination List — one of the prominent ways to deal with sparsity in an Anaplan model.
6. Override at Higher Level: By allowing aggregated values at higher dimensional levels to be overridden and redistributed down to lower levels, organizations can adjust plans quickly while maintaining data integrity across the system.
7. Dependent Dropdown / Filtered Picklist (1-to-Many): In a data grid, we can show a limited set of selectable values in a list-formatted line-item Y based on another line-item X. The article focuses on the use case in cases where the relationship between X and Y is 1-to-Many.
8. Dependent Dropdown / Filtered Picklist (Many-to-Many): While the above use case deals with 1-to-Many relationship between X and Y, this one focuses on Many-to-Many.
9. Aggregating across Time dimension: The use case focuses on aggregating data across the Time dimension, essentially bypassing the Time dimension altogether. While we’ve previously worked with data aggregation, this scenario demands more than the usual aggregation tools.
10. To Select or Not to Select?: The use case deals with choosing an obvious solution to a problem— Select function. But, is it the right solution? Let’s explore the pros and cons of Select for the given problem and explore alternate solution.