Using Calendar Processes

Watch how Jen and her team at ABC Corporation implemented processes with tasks by region and notifications to track the status of their progress.

Planning processes have the following benefits:

• Add transparency to steps in the process.
• Provide ease of access to planning stories from the calendar.
• Provide oversight by named reviewers.
• Collaborate using notifications, discussions, and emails.
• Dynamically generate tasks based on the driving dimension hierarchy.
• Integrate with data locking tasks.
• Use task dependencies.

Some things to keep in mind when creating a planning process:

1. Due dates: When due dates are exceeded, the tasks retain the In Progress status by default. Alternatively, tasks can be set to discontinue when due dates are exceeded.
2. Approval levels: To use multiple approval levels, simply add more reviewer rounds. After the Round 1 reviewer approves a task, then it rolls onto the next reviewer and so on. There's no limit to the number of reviewer rounds.
3. Create tasks to track the process: Use the SAP Analytics Cloud calendar to create review tasks. These tasks let you assign someone who will check the work result of another task, for example, like a general task or a process.
   • You can create a review task to let one or more assignees check the work result of another calendar event.
   • You can assign tasks to colleagues who don't have SAP Analytics Cloud accounts. Simply use their email address and they’ll receive information on how to get an account.
4. Tracking: Processes can be for you to track tasks or you can assign them to other users. You can have assignees, reviewers, and viewers for a task.
   • When you are creating a task, you can add a viewer (Shared with) to all tasks of a Calendar process simultaneously.
   • As a task viewer, you have an overview of all tasks that are shared with you in the Calendar.
   • In tasks with review steps, people who review the work results are called Reviewers. They’re added as Assignees when the task is being created.

After the process is created, you can generate events (also known as tasks) for the process. For example, you can generate a series of events by region with reviewers assigned to each of the tasks created.

The following exercise will guide you through the six steps of the creation process.

In the Event Types step, you can generate general, review, and data locking tasks automatically. This reduces manual setup work.

As you configure the step, the Structure Preview to the right of the dialog will update to reflect the selections.

Generated Event Types for Leaf Members:

• General Task and Review Tasks: Creates a general and review task for each leaf member. For example, you are designing a planning process to submit and review tasks for the Midwest, Northeast, Pacific, and Southeast regions.
  
• Composite Task: Creates a composite task for each leaf member. This option can still require a reviewer to approve or reject the task, but the review task won't be visible in the calendar. You can add a Before Composite Task and After Composite Task locking task if needed.

  For example, you are designing a very simple planning process to coordinate and track the status for the Midwest, Northeast, Pacific, and Southeast regions. The data lock status in the underlying planning model is set to open by the team leader before the process starts. In the calendar, you only want to see a composite task for each region, and when the regions are successfully submitted and approved, the dependent data locking task will lock all four regions automatically.

  

Data Locking:

• Add Data Locking Tasks: Enabling this allows you to create data locking tasks.
• Before General Task: When the parent process starts for an entity, the data lock is open for the same entity.
• After General Task: When the general (dependent) task is submitted for an entity, the data is restricted for the same entity. When the general task is approved, its status is 100% Successful.
• After All Tasks: When the preceding review task is partially successful, or successful, the data lock is triggered.

In the following example, the business requirement is to automate data locks by region and display review tasks in the calendar. The data lock status in the underlying planning model is set to closed by the team leader before the process starts. When each region starts their planning process, the data lock is automatically opened. When the general planning task is submitted, the data lock is automatically set to restricted. When the reviewer approves the results, the data lock is automatically set to locked. In the calendar, the data lock, general, and review tasks are visible for each region.

Create a process for groups of tasks: Create a task group made up of general, review, and data locking tasks.

Data locking tasks help you to track planning processes, and make sure that model data is locked at the right time.

Data locking tasks in the calendar provide structure for your planning process. You'll decide what data is involved, whether to lock or unlock it, when to make the change, and who's responsible for changing the locks. Then, the assignees can quickly apply those changes by submitting the task.

Before you create a data locking task, you become familiar with how data locking is configured for the model, and who owns the locks. The lock owners will be your assignees for the task. Or if you need to, you can set up the task first and then edit the model to match it.

Visit the SAP Help Portal for more information on Scheduling Data Locks in the Calendar.

Notifications are sent to the applicable people and the assignees can submit the task between the start time and the due time.

When a data locking owner submits the task, any data slices that they own within the context of the task are set to the target lock state.

Follow these steps when creating a data locking task:

1. Create the Data Locking Task.
2. Assign the Model and Context (data region).
3. When the task is Submitted, the lock status will be Locked.

Data locking tasks can be used as part of a process and in that way, the process becomes more complete. Data locking tasks can also be used as standalone tasks.

In the following example, you can see the different dependent tasks.

1. Input Data: This is a general task type. The user will submit this task.
2. Run Data Action: Dependent on the Input Data task. This task runs automatically.
3. Review: Dependent on Run Data Action task. The user approves or rejects this task.
4. Locked Data: Dependent on Review task. This task runs automatically.

The following sequence of events is expected:

Dependent Task: Data Entry and Task Submission: You enter the required data into the table, which in this example is Jan (2023).

Once complete, you submit it. The Run Data Action task to copy data from January to February - December is automatically triggered because it's a dependent task. A notification is sent to the reviewer that there's data to review.

Dependent Task: Review Task: The review task opens when the data action task is successful.

• Review tasks don't use the reviewer property but rather, users are assigned to the task.
• The review task must be approved or rejected by an assignee. If rejected, it is sent back to you for update and resubmission.

Dependent Task: Data Lock Task When the review task is approved, the data lock task runs automatically.

You can monitor your planning process in the calendar's List view. The list view is helpful because it can help you track your tasks by allowing you to:

• Drill into the process hierarchy
• Highlight time info
• View indicators for recurrence and automatic tasks
• Show/hide additional columns
• Sorting/reordering of columns

It's possible to view the planning processes and the associated tasks using either the Calendar or List workspaces. In the List workspace, you can view by task only, as follows, or include a Gantt list.

In the following example, a planning process is displayed in the SAP Analytics Cloud Calendar with the Gantt view enabled. It includes the planning process with tasks for four cost centers that require input.

It's possible to change dates for tasks in the process by simply dragging the bars in the Gantt view. When you move the process, the change is automatically applied to the task.

You can discuss the work progress on your process or tasks directly in the calendar. From the panel, choose Open discussion in the heading section, opening the Discussions panel. Here, you'll find everyone assigned to your process listed, and you can start a new discussion.

In this example, you can see that the Discussion icon is highlighted for a data locking task.

You can access the tasks assigned to you from the calendar. You can launch the relevant planning story directly from the calendar, simply by clicking the related work file.

In this example, clicking the Work File will launch the story for the entire process. However, clicking individual tasks, for example Midwest will open a story that is restricted via a story filter for that task.

You'll be notified in SAP Analytics Cloud of any pending tasks, however, you'll also receive an e-mail notification that includes a link to the task.

After a task is submitted, the reviewer is notified. If the reviewer rejects the task, you'll be notified and the status of the task goes back to the In Progress status.

Owners of calendar events can reopen events that have been accomplished, partially accomplished, or canceled. For example, as owner of large planning processes, you can follow-up on issues with finished child processes or tasks and reopen them.