Use
Forecast Data Load to specify the number of past periods from which you want to load future period forecast and budget data for the projects selected in
Projects to Extract.
Purpose
Your entry in
Number of Versions Back under
Forecast Data Load controls the number of historical versions of future period forecast and budget data that are loaded into the analytics data model for the selected projects when you run the data load process. You can compare the different versions of forecasts and future period budgets on the Future Forecasts tab in the wInsight Analytics module. This option only applies to the partial data loads for selected projects, while the
Forecast Data Load option on the wInsight Analytics Configuration tab only applies to full data loads for all projects.
This entry and the entry in
Actuals Up Through under
Current Period control the periods from which future period data are loaded. For example, if you select
11-30-2015 in
Actuals Up Through and select
6 in
Number of Versions Back, the data load process loads future period data for the period ending on 11-30-2015 and for the 5 previous periods.
Preparation
In
Actuals Up Through under
Current Period, select the latest period for which you want to load wInsight Analytics data into the analytics data model. If you normally want to load data through the most recent period in the wInsight database, it is recommended that you select
Latest rather than a specific period end date.
Initial Configuration
During the implementation of wInsight Analytics, as you are trying out configuration settings, you can use the options on the By Project tab to limit the number and size of projects for which you load data. That reduces the time it takes to load data so you can test and revise your configuration more efficiently. When your configuration is fully tested, you can then go to the wInsight Analytics Configuration tab to select the options for a full data load for all projects.
Ongoing Administration
On an ongoing basis, you can use this and the other options on the By Project tab anytime you only want to update data for one or selected projects.
To minimize or eliminate ongoing maintenance of this option and the related
Actuals Up Through option, select
Latest in
Actuals Up Through and set
Number of Versions Back to
1. If you do that, the data load process automatically loads the future period forecasts and budget data for the latest period for which data is available in wInsight, so you do not normally need to change either of these selections from month to month.
Even if you prefer to specify a specific period end date in
Actuals Up Through when you are ready to load future period data for a new period, you should not normally need to change the value in
Number of Versions Back from month to month.
Entering
1 in
Number of Versions Back minimizes the time it takes to load the data because only one period's data is processed. However, in rare cases, you may find it necessary to load more than one period of new future period data (because of corrections made to the data, for example). To do that, select the appropriate number of periods in
Number of Versions Back.