Set Up Starters

After you’ve set up a data action, a multi action, or created a template file to upload data in SAP Analytics Cloud, add a starter to your stories to let users run it.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, you’ll need the following permissions:

  • Permission to edit the story where you want to add the action starter.

  • Permission to view the models.

For more information, see Permissions and Prerequisites for Multi Actions.

If the target version is a public version, the data action, multi action, or data upload action will only run on data within the planning area (also known as the data in Edit Mode). If the public version was put into edit mode using the recommended planning area, the data action, multi action or data upload action will only apply to data within the recommended planning area. For more information about editing public versions, see Planning on Public Versions.

Context

A starter lets users run a structured operation that can include copying, uploading, and pasting data; running allocation steps or scripted calculations; and publishing versions. For complex or repetitive planning tasks, it can speed up the work and help avoid mistakes.

Starters can run a data action, a multi action, a data upload action, or a BPC planning sequence. This page focuses on data actions and multi actions. If you still need to create a data action or multi action, refer to the following pages:

In addition to setting up a starter, there are other options to run data actions and multi actions:

If you are setting up your starter in stories, you can make additional formatting choices with the starter. In the Styling panel, you can choose what colors to use for the starter button and icon, upload your own icon, and choose the font, style, size, and color of your starter text. Additionally, you can set and save your default style preferences for your starter in the Theme Preferences dialog. To access the Theme Preferences dialog, from the toolbar select Start of the navigation pathFormat Next navigation step Theme Next navigation step PreferencesEnd of the navigation path, and then choose (Preferences). After the Theme Preferences dialog opens, select Starter. For more information, see Configure Preferences and Use Themes.

How to Run Data Actions and Multi Actions in Planning Stories

In this video, you will explore options for running data actions and multi actions using starters or script objects in stories, and using events in the calendar.

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Procedure

  1. Open a story and add the starter.
    Object type Steps

    Story

    1. On a canvas or responsive page, select (Add).

    2. If you have a business intelligence license, choose Multi Action Starter.

    3. If you have a planning license, set the type of starter to determine what type of operation the starter can run:
  2. To help planners understand what the starter does, type a label and a description for it.
  3. Choose whether to always run in the background.

    If you leave Always run in background deselected, users can choose to run the data action or multi action in the background after it starts, or they can wait for it to finish before returning to the story.

  4. Choose whether to run in synchronous mode.

    If you select Run in synchronous mode, the data action in synchronous mode runs immediately and bypasses the workload queue. This options lets you start multiple data actions on different versions.

  5. Select the data action, multi action, or upload job to run.
    Note
  6. If you're running a data action or multi action on a n account model that uses currency conversion, choose an option from the Currency Conversion list. The data action or multi action will be executed on the currency that you choose.

    If the target version is a private version or a public version in edit mode, this setting has no effect. Instead, the data action is applied to the currency that you’re working with in that version. For more information, see Plan with Currency and Unit Conversion.

  7. For data actions, if the target version isn't in edit mode, choose how you want to define the planning area:

    • Automatic Planning Area: The application will choose between an empty planning area and the recommended planning area. This option can help improve performance if your data action creates large versions.

    • Empty Planning Area (No Version Data): The planning area will extend automatically as the data action runs.

    • Recommended Planning Area: The planning area is based on data locking, data access control, or both. You can configure the recommended planning area in the Model Settings dialog. If no recommended planning area is configured in model settings, then this option will include all the version data. For more information about the recommended planning area, see Optimize Planning Models Using the Planning Area.

  8. For data upload jobs, if the target version is a public version and you want the data action 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 will run on the data in edit mode. If edit mode has not been activated already, the data action will use the recommended planning area.

    If you want to run the data action on all the version data, select Start Edit Mode on the target version in the Version Management panel, and then choose All Version Data.

  9. For a data action or data upload starter, under Publish to Target Version after Execution, choose the desired behavior for publishing your changes:

    • Do not publish: Changes will not be published and the version stays in public edit mode. These changes can be published manually or published as part of another process.

    • Publish and fail if there are warnings: All of your changes will automatically be published. If any restrictions such as data locks apply to the data you’re trying to publish, then the publish will fail.

    • Publish and ignore warnings: All of your changes that are not affected by restrictions will automatically be published. If any restrictions such as data locks apply to some of the data you’re trying to publish, then the affected data will be discarded.

  10. In the Parameter section, specify how to set parameter values. Set data filters on parameters. For each parameter, follow these steps:
     

    Setting

    Options

    Parameter

    Input

    • Fixed Value: Set values by choosing from a list, using the default parameter values, or linking a filter or input control. Users won’t be prompted to change the values. (For filters and input controls, users may be able to change them by changing the selected values.)

    • Prompt: Set your own values when you run the data action or multi action. You can set default values if you want, using the same methods as for fixed values.

    Value

    This step is optional for prompts.

    Select how you want to set the value:

    • Member Selection: Choose values from a list.

    • Default Value: Use the default values set in the data action or multi action, if any are available.

    • Story Filter: Link the values to a compatible story filter.

    • Input Control: Link the values to a compatible calculation input control or page filter.

    If you choose Story Filter or Input Control, select the appropriate input control or filter from the list. The story filter or input control must have the same type (member or number for story filters; member, number, measure, or account for input controls), model, and dimension as the parameter.

    The parameter will use the values of the filter or input control when the data action or multi action runs. These values need to match the parameter requirements, such as restrictions on the number of values and whether they are leaf members. Additionally, the hierarchy selected in the filter or input control needs to be the same as the hierarchy selected in the parameter definition.

    Parameter Used in Data Action Step

    Value

    Select Add Filter to add filters for parameters used in the data action step. You can set a various filters, for example, input control filters or story filters.

    If there is a problem with the parameter values, a message will let you know how to fix it. You may need to select a different value or filter, or open the data action or multi action to see what's causing the problem. For more information, see Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions.

Results

When viewing or editing a story, users can select the starter icon to run the multi action or upload action. For more information, refer to Run Data Actions, Multi Actions, Data Upload Actions.

If you selected Fixed Value as the input type for all prompts, the data action or upload action runs immediately. For Prompt selections, the user can select members and choose Run.

If the data action or upload action starter was set to always run in the background, or if you select Run in Background after starting the data action or upload action, you'll return to your story. The (Notifications) list will show the progress, and a message will appear when it's complete. In the meantime, you can keep working with your story. However, you'll have to wait until the data action or data upload job finishes to make changes to the same version, and you may need to refresh to see the results.

Unsupported Cases for Linking Parameter Values to Input Controls and Filters

Values from story filters and input controls aren’t supported in the following cases:

  • The available members list includes the All Members selection. To avoid this warning, select Edit Filter… or Edit Input Control and deselect All Members, or deselect at least one member. (Deselecting the All checkbox in the list of selected members won’t fix the problem.) Note that in the data action starter, the All Members selection is allowed if the parameter in question has had the Allow "All Members" checkbox selected in the data action designer.

  • Range selections, advanced filters, and filters that exclude members.

  • Calculation input controls and page filters on a different page than the starter.

  • Calculation input controls, page filters, and story filters with more than 100 members.

Related Information