October 1st, 2020
Think back to when you were younger playing in a sandbox. Grabbing your plastic shovels and building a castle in one spot and digging a hole in another spot. Now fast forward to today and your TM1 or Planning Analytics system. It would be great to have an area to play in, right? Sandboxes in Planning Analytics allows you to do just this. Create as many what-if versions of the plan you are working on to test an unlimited number of scenarios to see what your plan looks like. Then, once you have the plan figured out, promote that version and you are done!
Steps to Creating Sandboxes in Planning Analytics Workspace
Now that we know what Sandboxes in Planning Analytics Workspace are, how do you create them? This is easy to do in a few simple steps.
- Insert a view as an exploration or create one.
- Click on the blue expand bottom as show above and you will see the bucket and shovel with base in a drop down next to it.
- Click the bucket and shovel icon, which is the sandbox button. Click create sandbox.
- Name your sandbox and choose what you want it to be based from.
6. You will notice in the drop down the name of your created sandbox.
For more information on Sandboxes in Planning Analytics Workspace please click this link from IBM.
Enter and Commit Data in New Sandbox
Entering data in a sandbox is the same as entering data normally. You can change any numbers you want and see what happens to the bottom line or other areas. Here is the video and blog on entering data. You can even turn that data entry into a visualization to gain greater insights.
You will notice in the below screen shot that when you enter data, the changes are in blue.
Now that you have made changes and decided that you now want these changes to be a part of your base version, all you have to do is click the commit button (next to the sandbox drop down) and those changes will be committed to your base version.
Where Can I Use Sandboxes?
You can use sandboxes in Planning Analytics Workspace and in Planning Analytics for Excel (PAx). These are the newest applications in the Planning Analytics suite of products. You can also use sandboxes in TM1 Web, Architect and Perspectives, some of the older TM1 tools still available. The screen shot below is from TM1 Web.
Planning Analytics Video Series
Recently Lodestar created a Planning Analytics video series that goes through Planning Analytics Workspace and Planning Analytics for Excel. It includes overviews, modeling tips, input and spread options, sandboxes, virtual hierarchies, an admin overview and a how to on how to promote from development to production. Stay tuned to our blog for new info and links each week.
Here is the link to the Sandboxes in Planning Analytics Workspace video in this series.
Summary
Creating Sandboxes in Planning Analytics is a great feature to use for what if and scenario modeling. If you need help using sandboxes or have specific questions please reach out to us at services@lodestarsolutions.com and we would be happy to talk with and work with you. Thank you for taking the time to read. Click here to subscribe to our Lodestar Solutions mailing list so you don’t miss the next blog and video in this series.