The Planual: 10 Guidelines for Pioneering Model Builders

1. Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

Before building, consider what are trying to achieve and what appropriate structures and formula expressions are need.

2. Calculate Once, Reference Many Times

within models, if there are same calculations to be needed multiple times (e.g. CODE(ITEM(‘P2 Products’)) or START()), calculate it once and refer its result but not expression.

3. Simple is Better Than Complex

• Formula Structure for Performance
  -- simplify Formulas, avoiding nested or multiple combinations
  Break up the most commonly changed formula
  Break up the most complex formula
  Break up any formula you can’t explain the purpose of in one sentence
  -- Formulas with many calculated components: separate the calculated components to single line item, and add a Total line item referencing those lines result.
  -- Plan to provide early exits from formulas: Try to set up the formula to finish the calculations as soon as possible >> (Always put first the condition that is most likely to occur)

4. Only Calculate What You Need To

• use the “appropriate dimensions
  --Check formulas, and if there are extra dimensions, remove and place it in a different module with the appropriate dimensionality
• turn off summary options and only turn them on when actually need
  -- off. if the line item is referenced by another detailed calculation
  -- turn off the summaries when create a line item, particularly it is within a Calculation module
• Avoid Formula Repetition >> design principles (D.I.S.C.O.)

5. Sparsity is Not Your Enemy

• performance is based on the design of the models and the calculation structures, not simply the size
• the bigger the list, the more space used
• Ensuring consistency in the order of dimensions. Order: Page Selector > rows > colume
• Performance: single module with thirty line items = three modules containing ten line items.
  -- what is important is like-for-like structures: combining all of the different types of structure into the same module makes it difficult to understand and can lead to duplication and inefficiencies within the calculations
• wherever possible, is to use modules and line items in preference to List Properties, except when specific functionality dictates.
  --eg: ‘P4 Details’.Region > PARENT(PARENT(PARENT(ITEM(‘P4 Products’)))
• Keep the NAME of module and line items as short as practical

6. Big and Fast is Better Than Small and Slow

7. Booleans are Great, Text is Bad

• Formula Optimization in Anaplan
  -- If any of the lists or dimensions in the line item ‘Applies to’ do not apply an element of a formula, the expression should be in a separate module.

8.Text Joins are Worse

• Limit text joins. If have to join text together, create the joins in the smallest possible lists
• often use LOOKUPs or SUMs not FINDITEM

9.Don’t Let Exceptions Overcomplicate the Model

10.SUMs and LOOKUPs are Great, but Not Together

• split the calculations out, and do the SUM(s) first and then the LOOKUP(s).