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Variance to last year template

The rule that you can create from the Variance to Last Year Calculation template calculates the difference between the values in the current year and the values from the previous year.

The values that the rule calculates are signed to indicate whether the difference between periods is favorable or unfavorable. If the value that is calculated is considered a favorable indicator, the rule shows the value as a positive amount. If the value is considered an unfavorable indicator, the rule shows the value as a negative amount.

For example, if revenue in January 2007 is larger than revenue in January 2006, the rule criteria determine the variance to be favorable. Therefore, in this case, the rule shows the variance value as a positive amount. In contrast, if revenue in January 2007 is less than revenue in January 2006, the rule shows the variance as a negative amount, because this situation is considered unfavorable.

You can use this rule template for all periods, regardless of level in the Time dimension. That is, if the selected period is a month, the rule compares the account values with the values that were recorded for the same month a year ago. If the selected period is a quarter, the rule compares current values with those in the same quarter in the previous year.

Prerequisites

The following task is a prerequisite for a rule that you create with this template:

Implementation

A rule that is created from this template is a Definition rule with MdxScript implementation. Every time that you query a cell set that falls in the scope defined by the rule or script, Planning Business Modeler runs this rule and caches the script in the cube.

Placeholder substitution requirements

To convert the Variance to Last Year Calculation template into a business rule, you must substitute actual dimension values for the placeholders in the template. For information about how to substitute values, see the topic Filling a placeholder in a rule template.

The following table describes the placeholder substitutions that you must make to create a business rule from this template.

Placeholder Comment

<<[TimeDataView].
[All Members].
[VARIANCELASTYEAR]>>

User-defined member of the TimeDataView dimension that will store the calculated variance

<<[AccountHier]>>

Provide an account hierarchy name for each of the following accounts: Income Statement, Income Statement Debit, Balance Sheet, and Balance Sheet Credit.

<<[TimeHier]>>

The Time hierarchy that is used by the current model

See Also

Reference

ParallelPeriod (PEL)
Iif (PEL)

Concepts

About the TimeDataView dimension
Percent variance to previous year template

Other Resources

Predefined templates for general business rules
About the Account dimension