TSV Scrolling or Editing problem on Financial Plans using Calendar Date Options

Products

• Clarity PPM SaaS
• Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

When the Detailed Financial Plan is configured to use 'calendar' date options instead of 'fiscal' date options, the end-user will have an issue with Time Scaled Value (TSV) scrolling or editing.  This occurs when the plans have different types of fiscal periods or different fiscal period date ranges and are accessed in the same user session using the 'calendar' date options configuration.  With this configuration, the application is not able to determine the correct TSV periods because fiscal periods may be defined differently than the ISO calendar periods.

This article describes two use-cases for some issues encountered when the configuration is not set up properly.

1. Scrolling Use Case: navigating and scrolling through a Fiscal calendar TSV using the 'previous period' and 'next period' buttons where the current financial plan has different date properties than the previous plan accessed in the same user session. 
2. Editing Use Case: attempting to edit a TSV cell in the current financial plan for a fiscal time-varying attribute during a fiscal period that falls outside the date range of a previous plan that was accessed in the same user session.

1. SCROLLING Use Case:

Scrolling on the time-varying grid stops before the start of the cost or benefit plan start period if the TSV configuration for start date is set to a non-fiscal, calendar date option such as 'Start of Current Year'.

The steps below describe the issues for scrolling

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Modify the virtual time-varying attribute configuration
   
   Administration, Studio: Objects, Benefit Plan Detail, Views
   Benefit Plan Detail List Column, [Fields], select the virtual time-varying attribute
   Set Start Date = Rolling Date with "Start of Current Year",
   Set Time Scale = Specific Time Scale with "Monthly", click 'Save and Return' button
   
   If necessary, repeat for all partitions, publish to all users
2. Create a new benefit plan starting from August 2014
3. Click on Detail Tab, Start period is January 2014 as expected
4. Click on the right scrolling arrow on the TSV to show periods from January 2015
5. Then click on the left arrow. Once the page refreshes, check to see which period is shown as the first (column) period on the TSV
   Expected Result: Start period is January 2014
   Actual Result: Start period is August 2014
6. Go to the Properties tab > Change start date to July 2014 or any earlier month, Save.
7. Go to Detail tab
   Expected Result: The start date is January 2014, I am able to edit July 2014
   Actual Result: The start date is still August 2014, I am not able to edit July 2014, there is no left scrolling arrow on the TSV to go to July 2014
8. From the Options menu, click Configure, Time Scaled Value, the offset is showing as -5. Change offset from -5 to 0, click 'Save and Return' button
9. Now on the Detail page the TSV start period is January 2014 and I can edit July 2014
10. Repeat from step 6:
    Go to the Properties tab, change the plan start period to an earlier month (say June)
    Then go to the Detail page, click on the right arrow to see 2013, then click on the left arrow to go back to 2014

Expected Result: TSV start period is January 2014
Actual Result: TSV start period is July 2014 and the TSV offset again set to -5, I am not able to edit the prior month where the TSV start period is configured (June 2014)

2. Editing Use Case:

Editing on the time-varying grid is not possible in cells before the start of the cost or benefit plan start period if the TSV configuration for start date is set to a non-fiscal, calendar date option such as 'Start of Current Year'.

This occurs when different plans have different types of fiscal periods or different fiscal period date ranges and are accessed in the same user session using the 'calendar' configuration.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Using the same TSV Dates configuration on the Benefit Plan and/or Cost Plan Detail Object
   Set Start Date = Rolling Date with "Start of Current Year"
   Set Time Scale = Specific Time Scale with "Monthly", click 'Save and Return' button
2. Create a Benefit Plan and/or Cost Plan
3. Set Fiscal Start Date, Finish Date and Period Type
4. Enter some values in TSV cells
5. Go back to the Plan Properties Page, change the Fiscal Finish Date to a later date
6. Try to enter / edit TSV cells in the newly added fiscal periods

Expected Result: TSV cells for the newly added fiscal periods should be open for editing

Actual Result: The new periods are not open for editing. If the user logs out of the session and back in, they are able to edit the cells. If the configuration is changed to use the Fiscal Start Date, as described below, the application works as expected upon changes and does not require the user to log out of the session.

Environment

Release: 451-101-15.3-Clarity-Creator User License
Component:

Resolution

The use cases described above are just two specific examples of how the application misbehaves when using the 'calendar' date values instead of the 'fiscal' date values on a Fiscal Time-Varying attribute configuration. There may be other specific steps to reproduce issues with scrolling or editing when using the 'calendar' date values in the configuration.

When using a 'calendar' Time-varying attribute, the configuration should use 'calendar' date values.

When using a 'fiscal' Time-varying attribute, the configuration should use 'fiscal' date values.

Do not use the Rolling Date (calendar type of dates) with 'Start of Current Year' for the TSV start date, use "other date" with "Benefit Plan's Start Date" or "Cost Plan's Start Date" instead (fiscal type of dates).
With Fiscal TSV configurations, it is important to configure the views to use the dates that correspond to the plan period attributes.

To ensure proper functionality for scrolling across fiscal periods or for editing changed fiscal periods, use the following, recommended configuration, defined on the Benefit Plan Detail object for all users.

Start Date:

• Other Date: Benefit Plan's Start Date

Time Scale:

• Other Time Scale: Period Type

Use the 'fiscal' date options to configure the TSV for the Cost Plan Detail Object as well. This configuration will automatically determine which type of fiscal period to display (monthly, annually, etc) based on the Fiscal Period Type and Fiscal Start Date attribute values selected on the Plan Properties page.

   

<Please see attached file for image>

  

Remember, in any list view, to always use 'Fiscal' date options for Fiscal TSV attributes and use 'Calendar' date options for regular, Calendar TSV attributes.

Additional Information

Reference KB000073130 - Clicking Cost Plan portlet Time-scaled Value Right Scroll arrow does not move to Next Period