Use
Forecast Data Load to specify the number of past periods from which you want to load future period forecast and budget data.
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 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 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
11-30-2013 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 11-30-2013 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.
Initial Configuration
When you set up wInsight Analytics, you load all of the historical versions of future period forecast and budget data that you want to be available when you begin using the analytics. To do that, use the
Number of Versions Back field under
Forecast Data Load to enter or select the number of periods for which you want to load future period data. The maximum entry is
12.
Ongoing Administration
When data is available for an additional period in wInsight Analytics, do the following to load the future period data for the new period into the analytics data model:
- In
Actuals Up Through, select the period for which you want to load data.
- Make sure that
Number of Versions Back is set to
1.
- Continue with the remainder of the data load process to load the future period forecasts and budget data for the new period into the data model.
Note: 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.
Note: If the wInsight Analytics database is a Microsoft Access® database, this type of incremental data load is not available. Always specify the total number of months in
Number of Versions Back that you want to have available in the analytics data model. If, for example, you previously loaded 6 periods of data and you later run the data load only for 1, the data model will only contain future period data for that single period.