Planning on Multiple Hierarchies and Distributing Data with Planning Panels

In the early phase of a planning process, a lead planner may want to do some high-level planning by store type and then lock down the data. When planning by individual stores occurs, planners won't be able to exceed the lead planner's values.

The process for planning with multiple hierarchies includes the following steps:

1. Create a high-level hierarchy by store type.
2. Create low-level hierarchy that includes stores.
3. The lead planner inputs the forecast amounts by store type.
4. The lead planner locks the cell.
5. The store planners input data by store, in Mass Data Entry Mode.

When you enter planning data for a dimension with multiple hierarchies, you can end up with values booked directly to parent nodes in some of the hierarchies. For example, you can work in one table with a hierarchy with store types as leaf members, and in another table with store types as parent members.

Top down budgeting has to do with setting a limit on what the planners can assign, for example, to their stores.

In the following example, you can see the steps required to prevent the store planners from exceeding the total by store type:

1. The Large Store Consolidated store group is set to $1000 using Mass Data Entry Mode and the cell is locked.
2. The budget is exhausted.
3. The store planner can’t budget any more than $1000. If they add $5 to Store 17, then Stores 12-16 update to $199.

Visit the SAP Help Portal for more detailed information: Entering Values with Multiple Hierarchies

You can use the Planning Panel to move values in a table and perform distributions. The panel can help if you’re working on a task that’s too complex for basic data entry, but doesn’t need a structured data action or allocation process.

For example, you have an unassigned overhead cost that you want to spread to a few different cost centers. Or you need to redistribute sales volumes among different regions without changing the total. These tasks are difficult with basic spreadsheet applications, but you can handle them quickly using the Planning Panel.

The Planning Panel is a built-in story feature that allows you to:

• Use a form-based approach to distribute values between the members.
• Distribute values in the data table using on-the-fly criteria selected.
• Preview the results before submitting.

You can also interact with the table while the Planning Panel is open. You can collapse or expand dimension members, set the drill level of a dimension, show or hide unbooked members, and show or hide rows and columns.

There are two basic operations:

• Distribute a source value to one or more target cells.
• Redistribute the values of a group of cells.

Options, such as custom source values and different driver types, let you carry out more scenarios with the planning panel. You can also allocate multiple dimensions in one step, and pick target cells from different hierarchy levels.

In the following examples, you'll see the four options to distribute from an entity parent node to its members along with a preview.

The number of recommendation options depends on whether the source value is a parent with only children or a parent with siblings.

Use the Driver options to choose how to set the cell values:

• Input Values: Add the exact target values, either in the table or in the panel.
• Equally: Divide the source value equally among the cells.
• Input Weights: Set proportional weights for each cell. For example, if you want to get weights from a different time period, you could copy and paste those values from the table.
• Proportionally: Use the existing proportions between the cells. This option requires existing booked values.

The Planning Panel can be used to adjust your revised annual budget. For example, if your travel expenses are higher than budgeted, you can assign the variance to the upcoming forecast periods. This way, you’ll set new targets that reduce your costs enough to meet the budget for the year.

In the following example, the year-to-date variance is 17,543,670. In the Planning Panel, you enter -17,543,670 and choose Append. The forecast for July to December is reduced. The YTD expense variance is distributed to the remaining months so that no over-runs occur by the end of the year.