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What's coming next in IBM Planning Analytics 2.0.75 SC

News


Abstract

The following updates are available in release 2.0.75 SC of Planning Analytics.

Content

Planning Analytics Workspace
The following feature notices apply to Planning Analytics Workspace.

Display parents, children, or leaves for selected members

The new experience set editor now has three new options in the Show menu to further refine the number of members that you see in a view.

You can now set your view to include only the immediate parents, children, or leaves of selected members.

Select one or more members in the Available members or the Current set panel. Go to the Show menu and choose the related members you want to include in the view. All other members are hidden from the view.

Set editor with new Show options

Update to predictive forecasting service

Predictive forecast capabilities in Planning Analytics Workspace use a common library of capabilities based on IBM Watson.  In this Planning Analytics Workspace release, this library has been updated to support additional capabilities such as outlier detection and correction.  This library update should not significantly affect the accuracy of previous forecast results. However, you may notice changes in the forecasted values themselves.  The new library creates a more rigorous distinction between training and testing in the historical data, so in some cases, your forecast accuracy may benefit from more historical data.

Note:  In extreme cases, a high number of multiple users simultaneously requesting forecast results might result in a small decrease in performance.  This scenario is unlikely, but if performance decreases the ‘spinning waiting’ icon is displayed until the forecast process is complete.

Adjust for outliers in your forecast

If outliers are detected in your forecast, you can now use an option to adjust a forecast preview to compensate for the outliers and improve the accuracy of your forecast. 

Note that you can adjust outliers only after you create a preview.

If outliers are detected in your preview, you receive notification.

Forecast preview with outliers detected

Click Adjust outliers to update the forecast and see the impact of the adjustment.

Outliers adjusted in a forecast preview

An informational message shows the impact of the adjustment. In this example, the adjustment results in a 71% increase in the accuracy of the forecast. You can toggle the Outliers adjusted option Outliers adjusted option to see the forecast with or without the adjustment. If you choose not to accept the adjustment, you can turn off the Outliers adjusted option and your forecast will not include the automatic outlier adjustment.

When multiple outliers are detected, they are adjusted sequentially from the beginning of the data set. This means each adjusted outlier value is applied to the calculation of the adjustment for the subsequent outlier, resulting in a more accurate forecast.

Changes to cube creation

As of Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0.75, you can no longer create a cube from the Data tree in a book. Cubes can be created only in a Modeling workbench. Additionally, the cube creation process has been modified and an option to create a new cube based on the structure of an existing cube is now available.

Create a new cube on the Modeling workbench

To create a cube:

1. Open a Modeling workbench.
2. Expand the Modeling tools menu, then click Create cube.
Create a cube option on Modeling tools menu
3. Select the database on which you want to create the cube.
4. Enter a name for the cube.
Create cube dialog box
5. Click Next.
6. Select the dimensions you want to include in the cube from the Dimensions list. When you select a dimension, it is added to the Selected list.
Dimensions selected for a cube
7. Optionally, you can change the order of dimensions in the cube by clicking a dimension handle and dragging it to a new position or by clicking the Up or Down arrow next to a dimension.
8. Click Create to create the new cube.

Create a new cube based on the structure of an existing cube

If a cube exists with the structure and dimensionality that you want you use in a new cube, the Create from cube option provides a handy shortcut for cube creation.

1. Open a Modeling workbench.
2. In the Databases tree, locate the existing cube that you want to use as the basis for a new cube.
3. Right-click the existing cube, then click Create from cube.
4. Enter a new Cube name, then click Next. The dimensions from the existing cube are preselected and ordered as specified in the existing cube.
5. Optionally, you can select additional dimension to include in the new cube, remove preselected dimension, or change the order of dimensions for the new cube.
6. Click Create.
.

Add variables in the Process editor

Up until now, the number of variables in a Planning Analytics Workspace TurboIntegrator process was limited to the number of columns in the data source. The variable for the process were created automatically, one for each column in the source.

As of Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0.75, you can use the new Add variable option on the Process editor to add variables to a process.

Add variable option on the Process editor

A variable name cannot be empty and must adhere to the Planning Analytics naming conventions

You can also delete any variable in a process. Hover the cursor on any variable name to reveal, and then click, the  Delete icon  icon.

The ability to add variables to a process is useful when you are creating a process, but the data source is not available. It’s also useful when the number of columns in the data source changes, as can occur when the data source of a process is modified at run time. 

If you have more variables in a process than columns in the data source, the process still works. The extra variables will simply be empty.
 

Search and filter on hierarchies

The Data tree for books and the Databases tree for workbenches now displays a search box under a dimension when the dimension contains 11 or more hierarchies.

Search for hierarchies option

Additionally, the database Search on the modeling workbench now encompasses hierarchies, and you can filter search results to include or exclude hierarchies.

Hierarchy search on a modeling workbench

Deprecation notice - process editor to be removed from books, available only on workbenches as of Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0.76

Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0.75 is the last release that lets you create and edit processes in a book. Starting with Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0.76, processes must be created and edited on a modeling workbench.
If you are an administrator or modeler and you attempt to open a process in a book in 2.0.76, you receive a notification that process editing must be performed on a workbench. You can click Open in workbench to immediately open the process on a new workbench.
Process deprecation notice

Deprecation notice for Planning Analytics Workspace Classic

The 'new experience' is a major update to the Planning Analytics Workspace user experience released as part of the 2.0.56 update in October 2020. The Planning Analytics Workspace new experience provides an updated look and feel, improved navigation, and better content management. It also introduces Applications and Plans, a dedicated modeling environment, and predictive forecasting capabilities.

The user experience in 2.0.55 and earlier releases is referred to as Planning Analytics Workspace Classic. Cloud environments provisioned before the 2.0.56 update could remain on Planning Analytics Workspace Classic, preview the new experience, or permanently switch to the new experience.

The IBM Planning Analytics team intends to remove the capability to remain on Planning Analytics Workspace Classic and preview the new experience during the July 2022 update. Planning Analytics Workspace environments that use the Classic experience will automatically be updated to the new experience as part of the July 2022 update. Planning Analytics cloud customers that use the Classic experience are encouraged to preview and switch to the new experience before July 2022.

If you are still using Planning Analytics Workspace Classic before the July 2022 update, administrators will see a deprecation notice banner on the home page when using Planning Analytics Workspace Classic or previewing the new experience. An administrator can click the More information link to view further details on the deprecation of Planning Analytics Workspace Classic.

deprecation notice

The deprecation notice is presented to each administrator upon login. One administrator dismissing the banner dismiss the banner only for that administrator; other administrators can still see the banner.
The banner will reappear with each new Planning Analytics Workspace release until an administrator completes the switch to the new experience.

This announcement does not impact Planning Analytics on-premises deployments.

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Document Information

Modified date:
21 April 2022

UID

ibm16566905