Using Data Actions to Copy Data Between Models

Data is often needed from several sources to perform the planning process and, depending on the circumstances, the data may need to be physically copied while in other cases, a look-up will suffice.

A data action with a cross-model copy step can be used, for example, to copy actual labor hours from HR as the basis for forecast hours. In another scenario, you may import data and use data transformation to combine transaction data with exchange rates for immediate conversion. Finally, to look up labor rates from HR for the labor calculation, you may use an advanced formula look-up that uses the LINK command.

In this lesson, we will focus on the cross-model copy step in a data action to copy data from an HR model to an Expense model.

With a cross-model copy step in SAP Analytics Cloud, you can copy data from one planning model to another, or from an analytic model in SAP Analytics Cloud to a planning model. You pick the model and version that contains the source data, add filters as necessary, and define how to copy the data to the target model. For example, have detailed workforce data in your HR planning model and you want to add some of the data to a finance model for further analysis, so you use this feature to quickly copy the data.

Select Cross-Model Copy Step from the Add Steps area of the toolbar and select your source and target models. The Version filter is mandatory, however, you can apply additional filters, as required.

In the Mapping area, you set how the data is mapped from the source model to the dimension members of the target model. For each of the target dimensions listed in this area, you need to either map a source dimension or select a default value.

You don't need to map source dimensions that aren't relevant for the target model and the source and target models can have different dimensions. For example, you can see that the HR model has a Personnel Area dimension but the Expense model doesn’t. The Personnel Area source dimension is left in the Source Dimensions in the mapping area of the data action step configuration.

You can configure the mapping by selecting the name of a mapped source dimension. From here, you can configure the Auto Generation Strategy and create your own Copy Rules, if required. In this example, Auto Generation Strategy is set to Identical Names and Compatible Types. This strategy means that source members are automatically mapped to target members if their names are identical and their data types are compatible.

For more information on mapping, go to Adding a Cross-Model Copy Step

If you need to copy data from one model to another, but the models have different time granularity, it's possible to copy the data using a cross-model copy step in a data action with copy rules applied.

When data is copied from a weekly to a monthly model, the data is aggregated from weeks into months. The assignment of a week that begins in one month and ends in another is based on the Auto-Generation Strategy in the data action. In the following example Start of the Time Period was selected. This option uses the first day or the beginning of the time period of the source date member as a reference to map to the target date member. When mapping date dimensions with different time granularity, the first day of the source member or the beginning of a timestamp of the source member will always be used as a point of reference.

In the following example, you can see the Copy Rules from Date to Date from the mapping of a cross-model copy step where the models have different granularity. Notice how the copy rules in the data action are mapped and how that impacts on the monthly totals.

For more information on copying data between models, including the auto-generation strategy options, go to Adding a Cross-Model Copy Step in the SAP Help Portal.