Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Nifty Nifty Forecaster Input Options

This week finds me in Denver for some client trainings and our annual year end event on Friday.

So, just a quick little post on a feature of Forecaster that I think is pretty nifty. It is the ability to input by all segments. Let's say that your Forecaster installation has the following segments: DEPT (3 characters) and MAIN (4 characters). DEPT is the assignable segment and MAIN is the reversable segment.

In a "typical" input, the user would go to Data>>Input, select an Input Set, and be asked to specify a DEPT. Then the multi-row input will appear with the MAIN accounts listed as rows and periods as columns.

However, as an alternative, let's say that you would like to see both DEPT and MAIN as rows to allow you to display multiple DEPT and MAIN accounts on the same multi-row input? The answer is to use the All Segments feature.

A quick cheat sheet to enable and use the functionality...

1. Setup>>Budgets>>Input Set, select Input Set, select Options tab, mark "Allow All Segments in Lines"
2. Data>>Input: Select Input Set, then for "Rows are" select All Segments
3. In the input window, simply select the MAIN and DEPT values you wish to display on each line OR use the open icon to select segments including a rollup (which will then automatically explode to details on the input window with the individual MAIN and DEPT values).

A nice alternative for administrative users, and for troubleshooting or comparisons.

Happy holidays!
Christina

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Christina. I've got a client looking to do exactly what you've written-about here. They will be very pleased to see this.

Mystique said...

Hi, I actually want to get the prompt. I have created my input set but when i go to Data> Input and i select the input set the screen goes straight to the multi row tab, i do not get to select the department although i have it setup as assignable...

Can you assist me?

Christina Phillips said...

Hi Mystique! You just need to click the yellow folder in the toolbar to pick another center/department. Once you enter an input set once, it always remembers the last department and takes you directly in to it rather than giving you the prompt.

Take care,
Christina

Mystique said...

Thanks,

I figured it out last week but forgot where i asked the question to post the answer.

Thanks again. I have a separate Forecaster question on calculations can i ask you here?

Christina Phillips said...

The best place for asking questions is the online Dynamics community, you can find it here http://community.dynamics.com/default.aspx

Take care,
C