November 2020 Product Adoption Tip: Model Manager vs. Template Formulas

CSP Discussions
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Here’s the Prophix Product Adoption Tip for November of 2020.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

To Model Manager Formula, or Not to Model Manager Formula?

A very common inquiry that pops up is when to leverage a calculated account or version in Model Manager vs. a template calculation.

To help you decide which one may be a better alternative, here is the main question you should ask before adding your next calculated account or version.

  • Is this calculated member going to be used across multiple data views and templates?
  • If yes, then it would make sense to add the member as part of the model manager structure. This will allow you to reference the member across data views and templates.
  • If no, then we would recommend creating the needed calculation logic as a template formula instead.

Why would a template formula be preferable to a calculated account in Model Manager?

  • If a calculated value is only needed in one or few reports (for example Balance Sheet ratios, or account values as percent of revenue) it may be better to leverage template-based calculations so the values are only generated where and when they are needed.
  • Setting up the calculation in the account dimension requires MDX. Increasing use of MDX can make model maintenance difficult and can lead to performance degradation.
  • Specifically, for versions, increasing the number of versions can negatively impact model performance so you want to minimize the number of versions in your model. Leveraging template calculations in place of versions to calculate variances is preferred.

For more tips on optimizing versions, please see the Prophix Model Maintenance Best Practice guide from our August 2020 tip of the month.

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We already classified our model manager formulas based on this logic. For example credit rate is a formula which for us is universal across all templates so we define it as a formula within the model manager.

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I believe the only calculation in our model manager is in our Variance element to reverse the variance based on revenue or expense.

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We use both types but I would say I definitely have more calculations in the templates

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I was using procedural calculations in Model Manager and had to change everything to template calculations because the procedural calculations did not work correctly for my standard users with limited security access. Template calculations are working much better for my end users.

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As our models are very calculation heavy, we have used both types. In addition, we have moved a lot of calculations to the sql side, so the Prophix models can be more efficient.

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I use both types within my reports and templates, I would say that we use an equal amount of both.

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Like the comparison when to use calculated account or version vs. a template calculation. Really lays it out nicely.

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We use both calculations in our reports. We find model manager formula does impact performance negatively specially there is MDX in formula.

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Very interesting topic. We are currently trying to figure out if we need to do a template calculation or an MDX formula.

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That makes sense. We primarily use template cals for this reason.

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We use a mixture of both!

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very useful- we use template calc in our FC workflow

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Very helpful! Really helped me understand when best to use each…

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We use calculations in both scenarios. They were already setup when I came into this position, but looking forward to creating my own in the future.

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I’m glad to get the guidance on which approach works best in which scenarios. Thanks!

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We use a mixture of both for various things

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We use both types but more calculations in the templates.

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Thanks for the information

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We use both, but now I am thinking I should review how some items are set up.