Automate a Planning and Predictive Workflow Using Multi Actions

Multi actions help you orchestrate a set of planning and predictive operations across multiple planning models and versions in SAP Analytics Cloud. They link together a sequence of steps such as data actions, version management steps, and predictive steps, which all run from a single planning trigger.

Get to Know Multi Actions

Multi actions can help users save time when they need to run multiple data actions in sequence, publish versions, run predictive scenarios, or combine these operations.

Consider using multi actions if your planning process involves running data actions on multiple versions or models, or publishing data between data actions.

Multi Actions

Comparing Data Actions and Multi Actions

Multi actions and data actions are similar in some ways. They both consist of a sequence of steps that you set up in a separate designer. When they’re ready, users can run them in stories or analytic applications using a planning trigger.

The focus is different, however: Data actions let you design a variety of calculations to manipulate planning data; multi actions are all about combining existing operations in a way that simplifies a task for users.

To use multi actions, you also should understand how data actions, parameters, and embedded data action steps work. Refer to Get Started with Data Actions for Planning, Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions, and Adding an Embedded Data Action Step for details.

For example, embedded data actions also let you run multiple data actions with different parameter values. But unlike multi actions, they only work on a single version at a time, and they can only publish that version at the end of the operation.

To determine whether to use a data action or a multi action, check this table:

Use case	Example	Object type
Run a data action multiple times on the same version, and then publish it afterwards	You want to run depreciation calculations on several fixed assets for a single budget version.	Data Actions or Multi Actions
Run data actions on multiple different target versions	You plan on multiple versions simultaneously and you want to populate all of them with initial data.	Multi Actions
Run data actions on multiple different target models	You need to copy data from a strategic planning model to multiple models such as workforce, sales, and finance models.	Multi Actions
Run a data action, publish data, and then run another data action	You want to copy initial data to a version, publish it, and then run an advanced formulas calculation on the version to prepare for planning.	Multi Actions
Run Data actions to prepare data for time series forecasting, refresh the predictive model, and the predicted forecasts in the story version.	You want to refresh the input data for predictive planning and refresh the predicted forecasts.	Multi Actions

Permissions and Prerequisites for Multi Actions

Before creating a multi action, set up the models and data actions involved. For more information, refer to Create a New Model and Get Started with Data Actions for Planning.

To work with multi actions, you’ll need a role with permissions for the Multi Actions object. These permissions can be set in general, and individually for each multi action. For background information, refer to Permissions.

Permission	Description	Standard roles	License requirement
Create	Lets you create multi actions.	Admin, Modeler	SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, professional edition
Read	Lets you open the multi actions start page and open multi actions in the designer. It’s also required to add a multi action to a planning trigger, and to run a multi action.	Admin, Modeler, Planner Reporter, Viewer	SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, professional edition or standard edition
Update	Lets you edit existing multi actions.	Admin, Modeler	SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, professional edition
Delete	Lets you delete multi actions.	Admin, Modeler	SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, professional edition
Execute	Lets you run a multi action.	Admin, Modeler, Planner, Reporter, Viewer	SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, professional edition or standard edition

If you do not have the permissions listed above, you can still add a planning trigger with a multi action to a story, but you will not be able to execute it.

To carry out specific tasks for multi actions, you may also need permissions for the data actions involved, as well as access to the model data that will be changed.

This can include permissions for the model as well as privileges for data access control, model privacy, and data locking, if they are set up. For details, refer to Learn About Data Security in Your Model.

Note

You can read, update, delete and execute a multi action that you’ve created without multi action permissions, but you will need the required permissions to publish your changes.

Permissions required for specific tasks
	Multi action permissions			Data action permissions		Model data access
Task	Read	Update	Execute	Read	Execute	Read	Maintain
Add a data action step to a multi action	X	X		X		X
Add a version management step to a multi action	X	X				X
Add a predictive step to a multi action***	X	X				X
Set up a multi action trigger*	X
Run a multi action with a data action step**	X		X	X	X	X
Run a multi action with a version management step**	X		X			X	X
Run a multi action with predictive step**	X		X	X	X	X	X

*You can add a planning trigger to a story without Read permission for the multi action, but you will need this permission to select the multi action in the multi action designer. Setting up multi action triggers also requires permissions to edit a story or analytic application.

**If Publish target version automatically was selected on the multi action, a role with the Maintain permission for the planning model is required to successfully publish the changes. You can still run the multi action, but the changes will not publish. Refer to Create, Publish, and Manage Versions of Planning Data for details about publishing permissions.

***You will also need predictive scenario permissions to add a predictive step to a multi action. For more information, refer to Roles and Permissions for Predictive Scenarios.

Create a Multi Action

Prerequisites

You’ll need permissions to create and update multi actions, and read access to any data actions you want to include. For details, refer to Permissions and Prerequisites for Multi Actions.

Context

Planning modelers and admins can create multi actions in the multi actions app by adding steps, arranging the sequence of steps, and adding parameters.

Data Action Step: Runs a data action with parameter values that you specify in the step, either by setting fixed values or by applying parameters from the multi action.
Version Management Step: Publishes a version from the model that you specify. You can set the version, or apply a parameter from the multi action.
Predictive Step: Runs a time series forecast predictive scenario to answer business questions using a predictive model. This step retrains a predictive model based on the current state of your data, and then writes a forecast to a public or private planning version.
Data Import Step: Runs using data imported from other sources. You can use data from multiple different sources by adding multiple data import steps to the multi action.
Note

The following import jobs are not supported for multi actions:
- Imported master data
- Job group
- Export job
- Unsupported data source types such as Concur, ERP, Fieldglass, Dataset, and SalesForce
- Imported models from local files

Note

If there’s an error while running a step, the following steps won’t run. The previous steps will still take effect.

Tip

If you will be adding multiple data actions based on the same model and version, it is recommended to embed these data actions into a new data action first. You can then add the new embedded data action to your multi action to improve performance. For more information on embedded data actions, refer to Adding an Embedded Data Action Step.

Procedure

From the side navigation, select (Multi Actions) and choose Multi Action in the Create New section.

If you want to base your multi action on one that already exists, you can select it in the Multi Actions list instead and choose (Copy the selected multi action).
In the Preferences panel, type a name and a description for the multi action.
Set up any parameters that you need to use.

You can apply a parameter from the multi action to each parameter from the data actions that it includes, and to each target version for a version management step. You can also use fixed values or members.

If you’re not ready to set up parameters yet, you can start by adding steps instead.

For details about setting up parameters, refer to Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions.

Start adding your steps to the canvas.

Step Type	Procedure
Data Action Step	Select (Add Data Action Step) from the toolbar. Type a name for the step. From the Data Action list, select the data action that will run during this step. You can use the (Open Data Action) button to open the data action. If you want to publish the target public version after the data action runs, select Publish target version automatically. If the target version is a public version and you want the data action step to run on the recommended planning area (unless otherwise defined in edit mode), select Use recommended planning area if target version isn’t in edit mode. If the target version is a public version, the data action step will run on the data in edit mode. If edit mode has not been activated already, the data action step will use the recommended planning area. For each of the data action’s parameters, specify a parameter from the multi action, or set a fixed value, member, or measure. For more information about parameters, refer to Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions.
Version Management Step	Select (Add Version Management Step) from the toolbar. Type a name for the step. From the Model list, select the model whose version you want to publish. If the model isn’t used in the multi action yet, choose Select other model … Set the version to publish. You can choose a fixed version, or use a parameter. For more information about parameters, refer to Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions. You can select a public version, or create a parameter to select a private version when running the multi action. Note that publishing to a private version will publish to the public version that the private version was copied from.
Predictive Step	Select (Add Predictive Step) from the toolbar. Type a name for the step. From the Predictive Scenario list, select a Time Series Forecast Predictive Scenario to run during this step. To learn how to create a predictive scenario, refer to Creating a Predictive Scenario. Note Only time series forecast predictive scenarios can be used in a predictive step. Select the corresponding Predictive Model from the Predictive Model list. Choose a predictive model based on a planning model. You will create a predictive model when creating the predictive scenario. For more information, refer to Creating a Predictive Model. From the Version to Save Forecast list, select the version to write the forecast to. This can be a fixed public version, or a parameter. If you choose a parameter, you can select a private or public version when running the step. The forecast will write to the selected version, but won't publish the changes automatically. Note If you select a public version, the predictive step will write to the data within the recommended planning area, unless the public version is edit mode for All Version Data. For more information about planning on public versions, refer to Planning on Public Versions.
Data Import Step	Select (Add Data Import Step) from the toolbar. Type a name for the step. From the Model list, select the model whose version you want to publish. If the model isn't used in the multi action yet, choose Select other model... From the Import Job list, select the import job you want to use for this step. If the import job you want to use is not available, refer to Import Data to Your Model. The Related Data Source automatically fills in the data source of the import job.

The steps will run in order. You can also insert a step into the sequence by hovering over the preceding step and selecting the + icon.

To quickly create a step that’s similar to an existing step, hover over the step and select Start of the navigation path Next navigation step Duplicate End of the navigation path .

If necessary, change and reorder your steps.

To change the order, hover over a step and select Move Up or Move Down.

To delete a step, select it and choose (Delete Step) from the toolbar.
Check the multi action for validation messages.

If a step has a warning or error icon, select it to see the problem in the panel.

If the Validation section of the toolbar shows a warning icon , hover over it to see where to fix the problem.
When the multi action is ready, select (Save).

(You can save the multi action while there are errors, but you won’t be able to run it.)

Results

You can now set up a planning trigger in a story or analytic application to run the multi action. For details, refer to Run Data Actions, Multi Actions, and Allocations.

You can also schedule your multi action in the Calendar. For more information, refer to Schedule Multi Actions in the Calendar

Manage Multi Actions

Context

From the multi actions start page, you can open, search, copy, or delete existing multi actions.

Procedure

Select

(Multi Actions) from the side navigation to open the start page. In the Multi Actions list, the following actions are available:

Task	Steps
Find a multi action	In the Search field, enter the name or description of a multi action, or the user who created or last changed it. To sort the list, hover over a column and select or .
Copy a multi action	Select a multi action and choose (Copy the selected multi action).
Delete multi actions	Select one or more multi actions and choose (Delete the selected multi actions).
Refresh the list	Select (Refresh multi action list).