Creating and Managing Versions

A Version is a dimension in a planning model.

When planning models are created, the Actual version is provided as a system default. Additional versions are created while planning in stories.

When using planning models in SAP Analytics Cloud, versions are used to organize, compare, and maintain actual, plan, and forecast data.

You only need one version for historical (actual) data. But, when planning for the future, organizations can create plan iterations for a variety of reasons. These plans can each use a different version of the data. When working with versions, you can change data in one version without impacting the data in other versions.

Version Management lets you manage different versions and types of plans. For example, your organization can create a new version for each new forecast period. You can separate your forecasts from other types of plans like budgets and strategic plans.

In SAP Analytics Cloud, there are two types of versions available to planners: private versions and public versions.

Private versions are maintained in a story and are only visible to the creator of the version. You can use private versions to change or simulate plan values without making the changes visible to anyone else.

• You can make a private version a new public version by using the Publish As option.
• When you use the Publish private data option, it writes to the public version where it was copied from initially.
• Private versions can be shared with other users, if needed.
• When you edit private data, the data is automatically saved.

Public versions are also maintained in stories. It’s published so that other planners can see the data.

• There can be only one public Actual version in a planning model.
• Access to public version data is controlled by data privileges.
• If you leave a story without publishing data changes, you’re prompted either to Revert all or Publish all changes. If you leave a story without reverting or publishing, the data will be retained (in edit mode) when you return to the story, but it won't be published.

In this video, we walk you through a real-life scenario where you use private and public versions to help prepare an urgent fully integrated preliminary income statement for the company controller. You have to incorporate potential changes in the new year such as government rebates, corporate strategy, and new products into this forecast.

Versions can be created and maintained from the Version Management option in the story ribbon.

In the Version Management panel below, you can see several display, creation, and publishing options highlighted.

1. The Show versions in use only toggle allows you to show or hide versions that aren’t included in the associated table filter.
2. Add a new public version without any data by selecting the Create Blank Public Version icon.
3. Choose Copy to create a new public version with data.
4. Choose Publish to update the database with unpublished data. Any data in Edit Mode remains unpublished.
5. Add a new private version without any data by selecting the Create Blank Private Version icon.
6. In Private Versions, the Publish button provides two options in a drop-down menu:
   • Choose Publish to record the private data to an existing public version.
   • Choose Publish As to record the private data to a new public version.
7. In Private Versions, the Copy button creates a new private version.

   If comments are enabled in the data table, then all comments are included.

In this video, we return to our business scenario to explore versions in a story where you will use versions to help you prepare the forecast income statement.

We explore the different version options available for a table in an SAP Analytics Cloud story and how you access them. We also look at how you can use the Version History panel to display the data for each change that you have made since the data was copied.

You can conveniently access version options from a data table in a story. Right-click on a data cell, and select from a list of options:

1. Start Edit Mode: Create a temporary private version that only you can see until the changes are published.
2. Undo / Redo Data Change: Undo or redo the last data change.
3. Revert: Go back to the last saved data.
4. History: Access processing steps on unpublished data.
5. Publish: Publish changes to an existing public version.
6. Publish As: Publish private data to a new public version.
7. Copy Version: Copy a private or public version to a new private version.
8. Delete Version: Delete a public or private version.

By clicking any of the processing steps in the Version History panel, you can display the data for each change that you made from the time the data was copied.

The type of planning activity in a version is described by its version category. Meaning, a version related to actual data is assigned to the Actual category and a version related to forecast data is assigned to the Forecast category.

There are five built-in version categories:

1. Actual: Historic data. Values that you’ve achieved.
2. Budget: How much you're allowed to spend.
3. Planning: The goal (financial or non-financial) that you're trying to achieve next year or the next three years.
4. Forecast: Your expectation for a specific timeframe in the future. This typically focuses on major revenue and expense items and is updated every month or quarter.
5. Rolling Forecast: Similar to forecast, except it usually includes a few months of actual data followed by a continuous 12-18 months of forecast data.