Set Up Planning Triggers

After you’ve set up a data action or multi action in SAP Analytics Cloud, add a planning trigger to your stories or analytic applications to let users run it.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, you’ll need the following permissions:
  • Permission to edit the story or analytic application where you want to add the planning action trigger.
  • Permission to view the models.

For more information, refer to Permissions and Prerequisites for Multi Actions

If the target version is a public version, the data action or multi action will only run on data within the planning area (also known as the data in Edit Mode). If the public version was put into edit mode using the recommended planning area, the data action or multi action will only apply to data within the recommended planning area. For more information about editing public versions, see Planning on Public Versions.

Note

You can also run BPC planning sequences with a planning trigger. For details, refer to Run Planning Sequences from BPC.

Context

A planning trigger lets users run a structured operation that can include copying and pasting data, running allocations or scripted calculations, and publishing versions. For complex or repetitive planning tasks, it can speed up the work and help avoid mistakes.

Planning triggers can run a data action, a multi action, or a BPC planning sequence. This page focuses on data actions and multi actions. If you still need to create a data action or multi action, refer to the following pages:

In addition to setting up a planning trigger, there are other options to run data actions and multi actions:

If you are setting up your planning trigger using the optimized story experience in stories, you can make additional formatting choices with the trigger. In the Style panel, you can choose what colors to use for the trigger button and icon, upload your own icon, and choose the font, style, size, and color of your trigger text.

Procedure

  1. Open a story or analytic application and add the trigger.
    Object type Steps
    Story
    1. On a canvas or responsive page, select Start of the navigation path (Add) Next navigation step  Planning TriggerEnd of the navigation path.
    2. Set the type of trigger to determine what type of operation the trigger can run:
    Analytic application

    Data action trigger: Select Start of the navigation path (Add) Next navigation step  More Widgets Next navigation step  Data Action TriggerEnd of the navigation path.

    Multi action trigger: Select Start of the navigation path (Add) Next navigation step  More Widgets Next navigation step  Multi Action TriggerEnd of the navigation path.
  2. To help planners understand what the trigger does, type a label and a description for it.
  3. Choose whether to always run in the background.

    If you leave Always Run in Background deselected, users can choose to run the data action or multi action in the background once it starts, or they can wait for it to finish before returning to the story or analytic application.

  4. Select the data action or multi action to run.

    Note that you will only be able to select a data action or multi action that you have Read permission for.

  5. If you're running a data action or multi action on a classic account model that uses currency conversion , choose an option from the Currency Conversion list. The data action or multi action will be executed on the currency that you choose.

    If the target version is a private version or a public version in edit mode, this setting has no effect. Instead, the data action is applied to the currency that you’re working with in that version. For more information, see Plan with Currency Conversion.

  6. For data actions, if the target version is a public version and you want the data action to run on the recommended planning area (unless otherwise defined in edit mode), select Use recommended planning area if target version isn’t in edit mode.

    If the target version is a public version, the data action will run on the data in edit mode. If edit mode has not been activated already, the data action will use the recommended planning area.

    If you want to run the data action on all the version data, you will need to select Start Edit Mode on the target version in the Version Management panel, and then choose All Version Data.

  7. For a data action trigger, under Publish to Target Version after Execution, choose the desired behavior for publishing your changes:

    • Do not publish: Changes will not be published and the version stays in public edit mode. These changes can be published manually or published as part of another process.

    • Publish and fail if there are warnings: All of your changes will automatically be published. If any restrictions such as data locks apply to the data you’re trying to publish, then the publish will fail.

    • Publish and ignore warnings: All of your changes that are not affected by restrictions will automatically be published. If any restrictions such as data locks apply to some of the data you’re trying to publish, then the affected data will be discarded.

    Note

    • All of your unpublished changes to the target version will be published, even if they weren’t part of the data action.

    • This option only applies to public versions. If the data action runs on a private version or on a BPC write-back model, you’ll need to publish the data manually.

  8. In the Parameter section, specify how to set parameter values. For each parameter, follow these steps:
    Setting Options
    Input

    • Fixed Value: You set values by choosing from a list, using the default parameter values, or linking a filter or input control. Users won’t be prompted to change the values. (For filters and input controls, users may be able to change them by changing the selected values.)

    • Prompt: Users can set their own values when they run the data action or multi action. You can set default values if you want, using the same methods as for fixed values.
    Value

    This step is optional for prompts.

    From the Value list, select how you want to set the value:

    • Member Selection: Choose values from a list.

      Default Value: Use the default values set in the data action or multi action, if any are available.

      Story Filter: Link the values to a compatible story filter.

      Input Control: Link the values to a compatible calculation input control or page filter.

    If you choose Story Filter or Input Control, select the appropriate input control or filter from the list. It needs to have the same type (member or number), model, and dimension as the parameter.

    The parameter will use the values of the filter or input control when the data action or multi action runs. These values need to match the parameter requirements, such as restrictions on the number of values and whether they are leaf members. Additionally, the hierarchy selected in the filter or input control needs to be the same as the hierarchy selected in the parameter definition.

    If there is a problem with the parameter values, a message will let you know how to fix it. You may need to select a different value or filter, or open the data action or multi action to see what's causing the problem. For more information, see Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions.

Results

When viewing or editing a story, or when viewing an analytic application, users can select the trigger icon to run the multi action. For more information, refer to Run Data Actions, Multi Actions, and Allocations.

If you selected Fixed Value as the input type for all prompts, the data action runs immediately. For Prompt selections, the user can select members and choose Run.

If the data action trigger was set to always run in the background, or if you select Run in Background after starting the data action, you'll return to your story or analytic application. The Notifications () list will show the data action's progress, and a message will appear when it's complete. In the meantime, you can keep working with your story or analytic application. You'll have to wait until the data action finishes to make changes to the same version though, and you may need to refresh to see the results.

Unsupported Cases for Linking Parameter Values to Input Controls and Filters

Values from story filters and input controls aren’t supported in the following cases:

  • The data action or multi action trigger is added to an analytic application. (Automatic data action tasks also don't support this feature.)

  • The available members list includes the All Members selection. To avoid this warning, select Edit Filter… or Edit Input Control and deselect All Members, or deselect at least one member. (Deselecting the All checkbox in the list of selected members won’t fix the problem.)

  • Range selections, advanced filters, and filters that exclude members.

  • Calculation input controls and page filters on a different page than the planning trigger.

  • Calculation input controls, page filters, and story filters with more than 100 members.

  • Measure input controls for a model with measures.

Related Information