Jeremy has already announced the release of PerformancePoint Server SP2 and it's great to see that the PPS dev team hit their target release date ! I've spent a little commute time this morning checking out the documentation, admittedly I've initially focused on the Planning component and there are no great surprises (Tim has already told you about the new bits) but I have spotted what could arguably be described as a mini-feature surrounding form validation that I'm sure that will come in useful.
As you would expect, previously released hot fixes have been packaged up into this service pack:
954710 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: July 1, 2008
955432 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: July 14, 2008
955751 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: July 28, 2008
956553 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: August 21, 2008
Plus fixes to issues not previously addressed:
Excel Add-In Related
- You locally save and close a form in PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel. When you reopen the form, you are prompted to update the form. However, you expect that you are not prompted to update the form because the form is already up to date.
- In PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel, you open an offline form assignment. In the form assignment, you add a link to an external Excel worksheet in a cell. Then, you submit the changes to the PerformancePoint Planning Server database. However, when you reopen the assignment, the link that you added is not retained.
- After you install PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1, you create a page filter in PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel. You have a user in PerformancePoint Server 2007 that does not have permission to the default member of the page filter. However, the user has permission to other leaf members in the page filter. When the user opens a report that uses this page filter, the user receives the following error message:
Cannot render the <MatrixName> matrix. The server returned the following error: The <CubeName> cube either does not exist or has not been processed.
However, in the release version of PerformancePoint Server 2007, the next member that the user has access to will be automatically selected for use in the page filter.
- You define data validation in a worksheet of Excel. However, you can still submit a form in PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel if data in the form is not validated.
- You have a matrix that is based on a large and complex model in PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel. You open the Select Filters dialog box to change a page filter for this matrix. When you click the Value column of the filter, the dialog box that displays the dimension members takes a long time to display.
Business Rules Related
- After you migrate an application in PerformancePoint Server 2007 from one server to another server, the order of user-defined business rules and system business rules in models is not preserved.
- You cannot use the datamember function in the ALLOCATE statement and in the TRANSFER statement.
- Consider the following scenario. You create an automatic rule that uses MdxQuery implementation or Native MdxQuery implementation in Planning Business Modeler. Then you submit changes to the source data that the rule uses from an assignment form. The submission causes the model to be reprocessed. Because model reprocess causes rules in the automatic rule set to be executed, you expect that the target data of the automatic rule will reflect the change by the form submission. However, after the model is reprocessed, the target data of the automatic rule does not reflect the change.
- Rule expression of system business rules uses dimension member names instead of dimension member labels in PerformancePoint Server 2007.
Planning Business Modeler Related
- You have a model that contains many form templates and assignments. When you try to change objects in the model in Planning Business Modeler, Planning Business Modeler crashes.
- You create a member property of the Date data type in a dimension in PerformancePoint Server 2007. Additionally, you specify the Set value to Null option when you create the member property. When you retrieve the value of this member property, you obtain a value of 1899-12-31T00:00:00. However, you expect that you obtain a value of blank.
- You cannot schedule recurring jobs for a frequency that is less than an hour.
- When a user updates a business rule in Planning Business Modeler, the audit log file of PerformancePoint Server 2007 logs the user ID of the user that created the rule. However, you expect that the audit log file logs the user ID of the user that updated the rule.
- Consider the following scenario. You create a dimension that has no hierarchy in a localized version of PerformancePoint Server 2007. Then you perform one of the following operations:
- You run the bsp_DI_CreateHierarchyLabelTableForDimension stored procedure to create label-based hierarchy table for the dimension.
- You perform the Prepare the Staging DB operation in PerformancePoint Planning Data Migration Tool.
In this scenario, you receive the following error message:
A problem was encountered while attempting to connect to, or Execute BSP on, the specified Database
For more information regarding this error please review the Application Event Log on the SQL Server for any "MSSQLSERVER ERRORS"
and\or
Please check that all parameters in the UI are correct and try again
Word on the street is that next Monday, 8th December 2008, the second Service Pack for PerformancePoint Server 2007 will be released. Less than a week !
I had a bit of a rant yesterday about the fact I have had to compromise naming member properties when I've inadvertently created them with the wrong data type. As I mentioned, I found a Dimension attribute collection method in the Planning client assemblies that hinted that it might allow me to delete a member property so I decided to give it a go.
Below is some really rough and ready C# code that actually does delete a dimension member property. I will improve the code and probably add it in to my PPSCMD GUI interface as a 'feature pack' bonus at some stage, however, if you are in desperate need for the code to delete a member property, and you can't wait for PPSCMD GUI v0.2 or PerformancePoint Version 2 (I'm not sure which will come first !) the code is below (Use at your own risk !!)
Note: Replace "MyApp", "MyDimension", "MyAttribute", oh, and the server address, accordingly..
using Microsoft.PerformancePoint.Planning.Client.Common;
using Microsoft.PerformancePoint.Planning.Bmo.Core;
..
// Setup the PPS Application Metadata Manager
ServerHandler serverHandler = new ServerHandler("http://localhost:46787");
MetadataManager manager = new MetadataManager();
manager.ServerHandler = serverHandler;
manager.ServerHandler.Connect();
// Get the system metadata
BizSystem system = manager.GetSystem(true);
// Get hold of the PPS Application
BizApplication ppsApp = system.Applications["MyApp"];
// Obtain the root model site from the application
BizModelSite site = ppsApp.RootModelSite;
// Obtain the dimension that contains the member property
BizDimension dimension = site.Dimensions["MyDimension"];
// Obtain the member property
BizDimensionAttribute attribute = dimension.Attributes["MyAttribute"];
// Check out the dimension
manager.CheckOut(dimension.Id, dimension.ParentModelSite.Id);
// Perform the delete
dimension.DeleteDimensionAttribute(attribute, null);
// Submit the change
manager.SubmitModelSite(ppsApp.Id, dimension.ParentModelSite, Microsoft.PerformancePoint.Planning.Bmo.Interfaces.SubmissionType.Update);
// Check in the dimension
manager.CheckIn(dimension.Id, dimension.ParentModelSite.Id);
Update: I've since discovered that you can obtain an unsupported utility from Microsoft Support that reportedly does the same thing, doh !
Oh well, always nice to have the code ..J
Update: I've posted a solution to Deleting a Custom Member Property here
I've done this countless times; I've created my perfectly named Custom Member Property when it suddenly dawns on me that I've forgotten to give it the right data type. No problem, right? Wrong! From within PBM, can you change the data type? No! Can you delete the member property? No! Can you rename the member property? No!
So, what are the options? Well, you could wait for version 2 (I truly hope you can edit/delete member properties in V2!), you could hack the back end database in the vague hope of removing the member property safely, or, as I have been doing in the past, create a new member property with a less than perfect name and try not to clench teeth and fists every time I glance at the original.
Well, I've had enough, and decided I'm going to take action.
Strangely, the Microsoft.PerformancePoint.Planning.BMO assembly contains a method called DeleteDimensionAttribute on the Dimension attribute collection.
I wonder...
Anyone tried?
Amidst my write up of the first day of the Microsoft BI Conference, I mentioned a new planning demo suite was imminent, and I would post more information about the demos soon. Well, as it has now been officially released (27th October) I can spill the beans...
Taken directly from the PPS Planning Forum announcement, the demo..
.. consists of Planning and Financial Consolidation demo. It shows how the fictitious Contoso Group uses Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server for planning, statutory consolidation and data analysis.
Well, I'm proud to announce that Adatis, in the shape of my colleague Jeremy Kashel, designed and built the PerformancePoint Planning element of the suite. The PerformancePoint Financial Consolidation element was conceived and developed by our friends at Solitwork of Denmark.
The demo can be downloaded from here...
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=00B97AC5-8B69-4F4D-AA0C-ACBFBFB9B48E&displaylang=en
...and is part of the next 'All Up BI VPC' (Version 7).
Great work guys!
The last day of the conference came round quickly and due to my relatively early flight I only attended a couple of sessions and spent most of the day meeting more people in and around the BI community. Shout out to Peter Eberhardy (PeterEb), a real highlight. Barry Tousley, Test Dev on the PPS Server; thanks for listening to my grumbles about the PPS Data Migration Tool and explaining why it does what it does. Norm Warren of NormBI fame. Patrick Husting, who I actually met on Day 2 and Brian Berry of BlumShapiro, who I met on Day 1 and reportedly follows this blog !
I thought the conference was great. The organisation was slick and right on the button, from registration, meals, session offerings right up to the party. I think last year, the main criticism was the sessions were not technical enough, they appear to have raised the technical level of some of the sessions but I still found most of them to be a bit dated and apart from a couple of choice sessions most BI people wouldn't have learnt a great deal - Nothing official at all about PPS v2 :o( Also, a couple of the sessions I wanted to attend clashed so I'll have to find the time to watch them on the reported DVD containing a video of every session. However, I did the feel the standard of presentation was excellent, well practiced, clear, funny and engaging.
I'll definitely be vying for a place at next years, where they really should have lots to show off!
Day 2 kicked off with some good key notes and still full of steak from day 1 I hauled myself to TK Anand and Akshai Mirchandani's session on Optimising Query Performance in AS 2008. For me this was one of the best sessions of the conference as I do spend a fair bit of trying to tune and optimise MDX queries. They gave a really good explanation of the difference between cell-by-cell calculation and the subspace calculation (or block computation) methods - the latter relies on a sparse cube - the most important aspect of speeding up queries using subspace calculations.
Another point they raised, particularly from an AS2008 perspective is that "Non Empty Behaviour is Evil!" - their words!
There was a good set of tips and tricks, some of which can also be applied and adopted to AS2005.
The afternoon started with what I thought would be the busiest session of the conference - New Horizons for BI with Self Service Analysis technologies. Effectively the deep dive presentation on Project 'Gemini'. It really is impressive, not only the tool and the capability of the tool, but the supporting framework. They have implemented an extremely rich administration console that keeps track of user created models on the server and a history of it's usage, query time etc etc. It allows IT to see who is using what, by how much and what impact it is having on servers, other models etc and allows them to take appropriate action by, for example, bringing it in house into IT by upgrading to PerformancePoint. We've got a few clients that would just go nuts for this stuff !
That evening, the Attendee Appreciation Party was held at Qwest Field stadium where I have to say, they put on a great party. I've never been on the field of a huge stadium like that, most impressive, and I've never eaten so many chocolate covered marshmallows, cookies or brownies in my life!
Da Boyz ! Jeremy and Tim
So, although later than the trail blazers, I thought I'd write up a brief note about day one of the Microsoft BI Conference. The 'Kilimanjaro' announcements have been done to death although I've noticed a couple of crossed wires. Kilimanjaro is NOT the next version of SQL Server - it sounds more like an interim release, whether that comes as part of a service pack or a new type of feature pack delivery method I guess we'll have to wait and see. However it arrives, we have to wait until the first half of calendar year 2010.
With regard to 'Gemini' I'm hoping they make the in-memory (column based storage?) engine part of the SQL Server engine proper, as this can then benefit PPS and any SQL Server dependent app, not just the 'Gemini' framework. Imagine PPS-P data entry/reporting running in memory ! It's certainly a game-changer and it will be interesting to see where and how it's positioned. I can't help thinking that it's verging on promoting data silos and 'multiple versions of the truth' and it wouldn't surprise me if it's misused by some customers. "We don't need a data-warehouse, we'll just use Gemini".. Although Tim did quiz the team on this. Having said all that, it's pretty damn exciting and will change the face of BI for both customers and BI implementers.
The first breakout session I attended was a Chalk and Talk by the engaging Peter Bull on moving from the spreadsheet world to PerformancePoint Planning. He outlined a suggested method for converting existing excel based 'business applications' into PerformancePoint models, he was open and honest about some of the shortcomings of the product but also brought our attention to the the built-in features that aid design and productivity.
The following tips were core to the session:
- Don't replicate the current Excel 'models'.
- Use filters to reduce scope and size of input matrices.
- Limit definition rules (Don't build cell by cell calculations)
- Don't use flat hierarchies.
- Don't assume all calculations need to be real time.
- Performance test by cut and pasting MDX.
Another Chalk and Talk followed, held by Michael Bower and Scott Sebelsky on using PPS-P for Financial Consolidation. They discussed the consolidation functionality available in PPS-P and using a two model site application, walked us through the implementation using US GAAP (Corporate Model Site) and IFRS (EMEA Model Site).
The demo, supporting white-paper, and a new planning demo will be available shortly and was shown off in the hands on labs at the conference. I'll shortly be able to post more information on these new demos...
My third session of the day effectively covered some elements, mainly Report Builder 2.0, of the SQL 2008 feature pack that is out later this month. One of the features demonstrated Component Based Report building from a self-service perspective and did look quite slick. The session was presented by the SSRS PM team and they had a clever way of obtaining feedback from the audience on what features they would like to see the most. They handed out a crib sheet of features and asked us to allocate a $100 budget to each feature - they collected in the sheets and will use this as a basis on what features to focus on. In addition to Component based self-service reporting, features such as Office Integration using the acquired Software Artisans technology, Notify Me, Interactive Reports and Rich Presentation were shown off to good effect.
Steve Hoberecht and Srini Nallapareddy were next on my list, taking us through Advanced PPS Planning rules and calculations. There was some good stuff - I always thought the fact the ALLOCATE statement appended data was a bug, but now I know why it does what it does and warrants a separate post. Some other tips, particularly for definition rules, some new some old, were also presented:
- Reduce Scope
- Avoid Hard-coded member labels to avoid security restriction errors
- Consider automatic rules/ scheduled assignments.
- Rule order is important / Avoid infinite loops
- Consider moving calcs to Excel
- Consider input/Reporting models
- Locate bad performing rules by commenting out the rules in BIDS and introducing the rules on by one (from within BIDS) rather than setting the active flag from within PBM as that is more tedious.
The day was rounded off by a great steak, with the other UK BI partners at Ruths and Chris Steakhouse.
I think I've found a bug in the way the Excel Add-In generates MDX under certain 'rolling' conditions. The requirement I have is to be able to forecast at the day level for a rolling 6 months; starting from the current period (which is to be updated each week) running for a period of 180 days (~ 6 months)
To prevent requiring 180 columns, a dimension property based filter must be available to select the month in which to forecast. This will provide a more concise data entry form detailing up to 31 days of the selected month in which to add forecast values.
My form is dimensioned up as follows:
| Dimension | Position |
| Employee | Filter |
| Time(Month) | Filter (Dimension Property) |
| Scenario | Filter |
| Location | Rows |
| Time (Day) | Columns |
I set up the columns as a dynamic range to ensure that the forecast 'rolls' with changes in current period. The range was set from current member id + 0 : current member id + 180. [Current Period is set to 16th September 2008 - today).
The simplified MDX that this produces is below:
select
{
Ancestor([Time].[Base View].[MemberId].&[20080916], [Time].[Base View].[MemberId]).Lag(0)
:
Ancestor([Time].[Base View].[MemberId].&[20080916], [Time].[Base View].[MemberId]).Lag(-180)
}
*
{
[Measures].[Value]
} on columns,
{
descendants([Location].[Standard].[All].[All Locations],,after)
} on rows
from
(
select
{[Time].[Month].[All].[September 2008]} on columns from [LocationPlan])
where
{[Employee].[Employee].[All].[John Doe]}
*
{[Scenario].[All Members].[All].[Forecast]}
The first element to notice is that the columns have been set to a range using ancestor at the member id level and lag to cover the 180 days:
Ancestor([Time].[Base View].[MemberId].&[20080916], [Time].[Base View].[MemberId]).Lag(0)
:
Ancestor([Time].[Base View].[MemberId].&[20080916], [Time].[Base View].[MemberId]).Lag(-180)
The next point to highlight is the sub=query that represents the selected time dimension property value (September 2008):
{[Time].[Month].[All].[September 2008]} on columns from [LocationPlan])
When you run this in SSMS, the following data set is returned:
The Locations appear on the rows, the days appear on the columns - exactly as required.
By changing the sub-query filter to October 2008 - the next month in the range, and definitely covered by the -180 day lag (Not sure why the Lead function isn't used here?) - results in a problem, the results returned now are missing the day level columns:
The root of this problem is the column expression - if you replace the column expression with a direct lag on the current period member the expected results are returned:
select
{
[Time].[Base View].[MemberId].&[20080916].Lag(0)
:
[Time].[Base View].[MemberId].&[20080916].Lag(-180)
}
*
{
[Measures].[Value]
} on columns,
{
descendants([Location].[Standard].[All].[All Locations],,after)
} on rows
from
(
select
{[Time].[Month].[All].[September 2008]} on columns from [LocationPlan])
where
{[Employee].[Employee].[All].[John Doe]}
*
{[Scenario].[All Members].[All].[Forecast]}
Now, the only workaround I can come up with is to build the form using a custom MDX formula so I reckon this warrants raising a bug on connect - which I've logged here:
https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=368206&SiteID=181
Wavesmash has posted a series of tips and tricks shared at a train the trainer event that took place in Denver recently. As suggested, most of the 'nuggets' are from the attendees themselves rather than the course material so, on the plus side there are some real experienced based tips however, I wouldn't treat all as official tips and tricks - I certainly frowned at a couple but that could be due to the explanation rather than the intent.
There's certainly some goodness, and one that made me smile: Regular Refresh of model = happy modeler
http://performancepointing.blogspot.com/2008/08/train-trainer-helpful-tricks.html
http://performancepointing.blogspot.com/2008/08/tips-from-train-trainer-sessions-day-2.html
http://performancepointing.blogspot.com/2008/08/tips-from-train-trainer-sessions-day-3.html
http://performancepointing.blogspot.com/2008/08/tips-from-train-trainer-sessions-day-3_26.html
http://performancepointing.blogspot.com/2008/08/tips-from-train-trainer-sessions-day-4.html
I've built a really simple GUI for a couple of commands of the PPSCMD utility. I always take far too long to work out the syntax and navigate to the appropriate directory (Yes, I ought to update the PATH environment variable) that I felt I could justify building a simple front end to help speed up the usage.
So far I've only implemented the MIGRATE and REPROCESS commands - I use these quite a lot outside of any automated SSIS package so they seemed the most sensible to implement in the GUI first. I do intend on extending it to encompass some of the other commands and I would welcome any feedback towards prioritisation, usage, features and the inevitable bugs. It's currently version 0.1 and more or less ready for 'Community Preview' - there are some omissions such as full error handling and validation that I do intend on implementing over time along with the other commands.
It's a .NET 3.5 application so you will need to deploy it to a client where you are happy to install .NET 3.5 if it's not already present.
You can download version 0.1 from here - (You will need to create a login first)
Below are the screen shots:
Migrate
The migrate command: both import and export variations can be set and executed directly from the GUI. In addition, the command line is generated so you can cut and paste into a command window, batch file or SSIS package.
Reprocess
Need to reprocess a model quickly? Rather than wait for PBM/SSMS to open you can reprocess a model directly from the GUI. Just like Migrate, the command is generated for cut and paste.
Console
Any output you would normally see in the command window is reported in the console as the command is being executed.
Log
You can enable logging to a log file of your choice to record all commands processed through the GUI. Useful for additional auditing and for creating batch files of multiple PPSCMD operations.
Preferences
Preferences and options are set on the preferences dialog.
I've blogged about some of the financial consolidation elements of PerformancePoint planning before. Most of the elements related to financial consolidation e.g. Share calculations, intercompany transactions etc are specific to consolidation and only implemented when performing some form of statutory consolidation. Currency conversion, on the other hand, can be common to any element of PerformancePoint Planning whether it's a budgeting, forecasting, planning or, in fact statutory consolidation solution.
In it's simplest, out of the box, form, currency conversion is pretty straightforward. You need an exchange rate assumption model to hold the exchange rates and you need a financial model without shares that contains a pre-defined currency conversion rule that utilses the exchange rate assumption model. You run the pre-defined rule on a set of financial data and currency conversion is calculated for you. There's little more to it than that.
This post looks a little (and I mean a little) deeper in to currency conversion and demonstrates the triangulation features contained within PPS-P.
Consider this set of exchange rates, taken from www.xe.com today:
On the face of it, we have a few rates that allow us to convert from British Pound to Japanese Yen, US Dollar to both British Pound and Euro, and finally a rate for converting Euro to Japanese Yen.
When the in-built currency conversion rule is run against, for example, a set of US financial data we can determine the British Pound equivalent. The Net Profit/Loss of 110,500 USD, converted to British Pound at a rate of 53.5 British pence per dollar converts to 59,117.50 GBP - As you would expect:
What would happen if we were to run the currency conversion rule again but this time try and convert the US Dollar figures to Japanese Yen?
The astute among you would point out that we don't have an exchange rate for converting US Dollar to Japanese Yen. The more astute among you might say that we could determine the JPY figures by first converting to GBP and then converting the GBP figures to JPY. The even more astute among you might suggest that you could calculate the Japanese Yen two ways, either by first converting to GBP and then to JPY or by first converting to EUR before converting to our desired JPY.
Who's right? Well, all of you, kind of!
If I run the currency conversion job again but instead of selecting GBP as the reporting currency, I select JPY, I get the following result:
No conversion ! Why - well, we don't have an exchange rate set for converting USD to JPY!
This is where triangulation comes in. With our current set of exchange rates there are two methods for converting USD to JPY. Either through GBP or EUR. You set which 'route' the triangulation takes by setting the model property 'Default Currency'. By default this is not set, hence our failed conversion above.
However, if you were to set it to either GBP or EUR you will get some results, but there is a catch - the 'route' you take returns different results. Incidentally, you don't have to redeploy the model when you change the property you just need to save the model.
Triangulate through GBP
110,500 USD at a rate of 0.535 equals 59,117.50 GBP. Convert the GBP to JPY at a rate of 205.524 and that equates to 12,150,065.07 JPY.
Triangulate through EUR
110,500 USD at a rate of 0.535 equals 75,029.50 EUR. Convert the EUR to JPY at a rate of 162.068 and that equates to 12,159,881.006 JPY.
The two 'routes' highlight a variance of 9815.936 JPY (about 90 USD)! A triangular arbitrage !
So, two questions:
1) Which 'route' should you use?
That's a business decision and if it's going to be a common conversion then direct rates ought to be favoured over triangulation.
2) How do you exploit this model to work out guaranteed triangular arbitrage to make millions through currency trading?
I'm working on it !
I was unable to make the first Microsoft BI Conference in Seattle last year but Tim made it, and reported that it was a great excuse for an extended weekend of partying and snowboarding in Whistler way to meet like minded people, learn the latest buzz and feel part of the BI Community.
Well, this year I can make it and I will be joining Tim and Jeremy for the duration. Bad luck for me though, it's too early for snow ! ;o)
I've checked out the Tracks and Sessions and there is quite a few I'm up for. They haven't published the schedules yet so whether I can jump tracks and still fit everything will remain to be seen but here are my picks:
Business Value
- Emerging Trends and Technologies in the Business Intelligence Market
- The Path to Pervasive Performance Management
- The ROI of Performance Management
Clients and Applications Track
- Advanced Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning Business Rules and Calculations
- Integrating Microsoft Dynamics Data for Planning, Analysis and Reporting in Office PerformancePoint Server 2007
- The 4th Annual BI Power Hour
Customer Track
- Master Data Management (MDM) Customer Roundtable
- Successfully Implementing the Complete Microsoft BI Stack
- The Evolution of “Difference Makers” at Energizer Holdings, Inc. Using Microsoft Business Intelligence
Deployment & Best Practices Track
- Designing High Performance Cubes in SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
- Mastering Master Data Management
- Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning - Implementation Tips And Tricks
Partner Track
- BI Unplugged - a Panel Discussion
Platforms and Infrastructure Track
- Optimizing Query Performance in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
- SQL Server 2008 & Beyond
- SQL Server 2008 Integration Services New Features and Enhancements
Phew! Well, after that lot I'm definitely gonna need a drink, so if you fancy a bevvy, hunt me down, be great to hook up !
There's a new workbook property that was introduced in PPS Service Pack 1. The 'Clear Changes After Workflow Action' effectively splats the change list for the workbook once the assignment has been submitted (either draft or final).
The property can only be reached through the Report Properties dialog, and is at the workbook level:
This property defaults to false which, under certain circumstances can hinder performance.
Whenever you change data on a matrix, the slice that you affected is saved to a change list. You can view what's on the change list by choosing 'View -> Show Current Changes' from the PPS Add-In for Excel.
Here's an example change list; two budget accounts for the same time period and department have been updated to the included new values.
The default behaviour (and the behaviour prior to SP1) is that, for the life of the assignment, the change list is maintained for every cell that is updated The change list is simply appended to, so you can imagine, on a large workbook with several matrices spanning several filter slices, the change list can become quite large.
Submitting the assignment effectively submits the change list for processing by the server, first updating/inserting the appropriate records into the fact table and subsequently re-processing the Analysis Services partition. It follows then, that the larger the change list, the slower the submission process.
Before SP1, this forever growing change list issue was resolved with little user training. As part of the submission process you would invite your users to manually clear the change list:
By 'Clearing Current Changes' you throw away the changes to the cells and have to rely on the data being safe and sound on the server. This process helped keep the change list to a more manageable size thus gaining on the submission performance.
The new 'Clear Changes After Workflow Action' property in SP1, if set to true, will perform the 'Clear Current Changes' step for you automatically. This helps keep the change list lightweight (providing of course, the user regularly submits). However, as I have already implied, there is one issue to be wary of; with the property set to clear changes, if your submission fails, the change list is lost and there is a real danger of losing data.
More for my benefit this post; I can never remember the format for the CSV file to load the Account dimension.
Below is an example csv file in it's simplest form that should help get me started faster the next time I need it !
Label,Name,Description,AccountTypeMemberId
1000,Salaries Permanent Staff,,Expense
2000,Temporary Staff Workload,,Expense
4000,National Insurance Costs,,Expense
5000,Pension Costs,,Expense
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