About Solving Data

Definition: Solving data

When changes are made to Financial Analyzer data, the data must be solved to ensure that it is current. Solving data can accomplish the following:

• Calculate new data values for financial data items

• Aggregate values along any hierarchies that have been defined for the dimensions that make up the financial data item

Definition: Solve definition

A solve definition is an information set for calculating new data for a financial data item. The elements that can make up a solve definition are models, hierarchies, and financial data items.

You can use a solve definition to:

• Associate stored financial data items with sets of interrelated equations called models, for the purpose of calculating data

• Associate stored financial data items with dimensional hierarchies for the purpose of aggregating data

• Use both models and hierarchies in combination with the same financial data item so that you can calculate new data for that item and aggregate it along a hierarchy or hierarchies

Definition: Group solve definition

A group solve definition is a mechanism for solving large quantities of data in multiple financial data items by running a single process. A group solve definition can combine solve definitions and copy data profiles, and run them in a specific order to calculate and aggregate data for any number of financial data items.

You can use group solve definitions to perform complex sets of calculations that need to be completed on a periodic basis. For example, you can set up group solve definitions to solve all of the financial data items that are affected by a particular occurrence in your business cycle.

Reasons to solve data

You solve the data in a financial data item after you have performed any of the following actions:

• Changing or adding an equation in a model for a line item associated with the financial data item

• Changing the aggregation type of a line item dimension associated with the financial data item

• Changing or adding a hierarchy for a dimension associated with the financial data item

• Adding new time periods to your database

• Adding new dimensions to your database

• Adding new financial data items to your database

• Changing the current time period for your database

• Refreshing the financial data item after adding new data

• Entering or changing data for the financial data item through a worksheet, a data entry form, or a copy data event

Solve definitions run on stored financial data items

Because solve definitions and group solve definitions perform calculations or aggregations on actual stored data values, you can run them only on stored financial data items. You cannot run solve definitions or group solve definitions on formula financial data items because formula financial data items contain no actual data values.

Solving versus recalculating data

Chapter 15 describes how you can recalculate data in worksheets. Solving data differs from recalculating data in that solves are performed on models, which are defined using specific financial data items. When you run a solve, it is performed for all financial data items in the model.

When you recalculate data, the recalculation is performed only on the dimensions currently in status in the worksheet.

Who can create solve definitions?

Administrators

As an administrator, it is your responsibility to maintain the solve definitions that your users access in the shared database that you administer. When you create or modify a solve definition and want other users to be able to access it, you must distribute the solve definition to the shared database and to other users.

Budget workstation users

As a Budget workstation user, you can create and modify solve definitions and group solve definitions for personal use. You can modify definitions that your administrator has created for you, but you cannot save the modifications unless you assign a new name to the modified solve definition, retaining the original.