Setting up Variance Analysis in Anaplan

List

Modules

To set up a Variance Analysis in Anaplan, we will first need to set up a flat list for our versions (no top level needed) – let’s call it ‘Demo Fake Version’ and insert three list items: Version 1, Version 2 and Version 3.

Next, we will need to create a Data Module – let’s call it ‘Demo Data’ which uses the ‘Demo Fake Version’ list as a dimension and one line item to hold our data – called ‘Data’. For demonstration purposes we have included example data as shown in below grid view.

Using the ‘Demo Data’ Module we will need to create a Line Item Subset to work in our Analysis Module to work with the ‘Collect()’ function as per the documentation here. As the ‘Demo Data’ module only holds the line item ‘Data’, we will only need to choose this one whilst setting up the line item subset. The line item subset will be used as a dimension in the analysis module.

Setting up a Lookup Module

This module will help us control the versions we want to compare in the Analysis Module we will set up next. Note, we are using the ‘Demo Fake Version’ list as the line item’s format, leaving the module’s dimensions blank. We have opted for two selectable versions (out of the three we have originally set up in the ‘Demo Fake Version’ list) as we want to compare two versions in our analysis. If we wished to compare more versions to each other, we would need to set up additional line items (e.g., ‘Third Selectable Version’ etc.) and format them in the same way. These would then also need to be added into the analysis module.

Setting up an Analysis Module

To set up a Variance Analysis Module, let’s call it ‘Demo Analysis’, we have decided to compare two versions (as the user has chosen in the ‘Demo Lookup’ Module) and print out the absolute (line item: ‘B/(W)’) as well as the relative (line item: ‘B/(W) %’) variances.

We will need to create the two line items mentioned above as well as one line item for each Versions’ data – let’s call them ‘First Selected Version’ and ‘Second Selected Version’. Also, we will need to have one line item to pull the data into the ‘Demo Analysis’ Module – let’s call it ‘Collect’ because we will need to use the ‘Collect()’ function here.

As previously mentioned, we will use the line item subset of the ‘Demo Data’ module as the ‘Demo Analysis’ module dimension. Also, we will need to dimension the ‘Collect’ line item by the line item subset ‘LISS_Demo Data’ as well as our ‘Demo Fake Version’ list. This will help us pull all data from the ‘Demo Data’ module into the ‘Demo Analysis’ module. The ‘First Selected Version’ and ‘Second Selected Version’ line items will point to the ‘Collect’ line item and pull exactly the ‘First Selectable Version’ and ‘Second Selectable Version’ from the ‘Demo Lookup’ module using a lookup function.

Flow Visualisation

Summary:

• We have entered inputs into ‘Demo Data’
• We will then be able to choose two versions to compare using ‘Demo Lookup’
• ‘Demo Analysis’ will then check for the selected Versions and print out the numbers entered in the ‘Demo Data’ and also calculate the absolute and relative variances

Example 1: Comparison of Version 1 and Version 2

Example 2: Comparison of Version 2 and Version 3