Seeding forecast/Copying data to one entity

There are a few ways this could be accomplished, but in simple terms, when processing the destination entity in forecast, you would cycle through each of the source base level entities from Actual, while aggregating the results to output data buffer.  I presume all base level entities share the same currency of the destination entity, else you have a bit more work to do.

Loading via the workflow might be the best option in this case. Here are a couple of options

1. Extract to csv => Change entity as required and load or use a transformation rule for mapping source entities to destination entity
2. Use a DM sequence and transformation rule for mapping source entities to destination entity

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but wouldn't you use the "If (api.Cons.IsLocalCurrencyForEntity() And Not api.Entity.HasChildren()) Then" beginning to narrow down all base entities then have your calculate line as normal? 

Hello,

As others in this thread have mentioned, you could do this in many different ways. Possibly the easiest way would be to design a custom calculate finance rule that is executed by a custom calc DM job that cycles through the base entities to copy, fills a result data buffer with data, and writes the results to a given target entity. Further below is an example script you can study to see one possible approach you could take.

To avoid a rule that loops through an entity member list, you could also consider taking the reverse approach by designing a DM sequence that has two custom calc DM steps. The first custom calc DM step would use an entity filter such as E#TopEntity.base that calls a custom calc business rule for each base entity in the DM step filter. Within the business rule called by the first DM step, you could then simply retrieve the Actuals data for each entity and store it in a global data buffer object that would gradually build up with data after iterating through each base entity. The second DM step would then be designed to run for the target base entity to seed the data to, and in this DM step you would call a business rule that retrieves the global data buffer object from memory (all the previously collected base entity data) and sets the data to the target destination for the forecast. The idea is to leverage and build up a global data buffer object that will persist in memory for the user throughout the completion of the entire DM sequence (both steps). The reason you might explore this approach is it could be potentially faster and help you avoid the need to loop through a member list to retrieve the data to seed.

Select Case api.FunctionType

	Case Is = FinanceFunctionType.CustomCalculate
		If args.CustomCalculateArgs.FunctionName.XFEqualsIgnoreCase("SeedActualsToForecast") Then
			'only run the rule for a specific target entity (which should be defined in the custom calc DM entity filter) and local currency
			If api.Pov.Entity.Name.XFEqualsIgnoreCase("SomeTargetEntity") AndAlso api.Cons.IsLocalCurrencyForEntity() Then
				'declare the result buffer and empty destination
				Dim resultBuffer As New DataBuffer()
				Dim destinationInfo As ExpressionDestinationInfo = api.Data.GetExpressionDestinationInfo("")
				'declare a list of base entities to pull data from
				Dim baseEntityList As List(Of MemberInfo) = api.Members.GetMembersUsingFilter(api.Pov.EntityDim.DimPk, "E#Houston.base", Nothing)
				If (Not baseEntityList Is Nothing) Then
					'loop through the base entities to copy and retrieve the data from the actual scenario
					For Each baseEntity As MemberInfo In baseEntityList
						Dim baseBuffer As DataBuffer = api.Data.GetDataBuffer(DataApiScriptMethodType.Calculate, "S#Actual:E#[" & baseEntity.Member.Name & "]", destinationInfo)
						'fill the result buffer with data
						resultBuffer = resultBuffer + baseBuffer
					Next
					'save the result buffer to the target destination and set IsDurableData to True as this is a custom calc.
					api.Data.SetDataBuffer(resultBuffer, destinationInfo,,,,,,,,,,,,,True)		
				End If
			End If
		End If
						
End Select

Nick Kroppe

OneStream Software

Thank you all, this is very helpful!