Feeder with N: not working in feeder

[mbeckw]

I have a feeder that I am trying to create. So far I have the following:

source cube:
['Disp Term':'ASHI Consolidated','Drop Term':'ASHI Consolidated','Job_Code':'Total','Plant Codes':'Total','Hauled','Units'] =>DB('Unit Forecast', !Haul Term, !Customer Accounts, 'Units', 'Haul', 'Base', if(attrs('Month',!Month,'Forecast Base')@='Actual',!Month,ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year')));

target cube:
['Units','Haul','Base'] = N:IF((ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Forecast Base')@='Forecast'),DB('Unit Record', 'ASHI Consolidated', !CoCost, 'ASHI Consolidated', !Customer Accounts, 'Total', 'Total', 'Hauled', ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year'), !Data),DB('Unit Record', 'ASHI Consolidated', !CoCost, 'ASHI Consolidated', !Customer Accounts, 'Total', 'Total', 'Hauled', !Month, !Data));

I want it down at the N level but when I try and put N: in front of DB('Unit Forecast.... and run the Check Syntax it gives me an error message "Syntax on or before: N:DB('Unit.... not on Driver List.

I have attributes set up for some of the elements of Forecast Base and Previous year but not all of them. Do I need to set up attributes for all the n elements? Also I'm wondering if my target formula is incorrect.

Thanks for the help,
Mark

[Martin Ryan]

source cube:
['Disp Term':'ASHI Consolidated','Drop Term':'ASHI Consolidated','Job_Code':'Total','Plant Codes':'Total','Hauled','Units'] =>DB('Unit Forecast', !Haul Term, !Customer Accounts, 'Units', 'Haul', 'Base', if(attrs('Month',!Month,'Forecast Base')@='Actual',!Month,ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year')));

Your first problem is that ['Disp Term:'ASHI Consolidated'...] is wrong, I assume that all your first sections are dimension names? If so it should be
[Disp Term:'ASHI Consolidated'...]

The above is one of the reasons best practice is to try hard to ensure element names are unique and don't exist in more than one dimension. Also, for readability it's a good idea to avoid spaces in dimension names.

I suspect you have other fairly big problems here, can you please post the structure of each cube, i.e. the list of dimensions in each cube.

Cheers,
Martin

[mbeckw]

Martain,

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried to input the dimension name before without the single quotes and it can't find the dimension.This is probably becasue Disp Term, Haul Term, Drop Term and CoCost are all identical. They are the same because of our network structure. Anyway. I actually get a number I want in the Unit Forecast cube but it does not consolidate past the 0 level. That's why I want to put the N: in front of the feeder but I keep getting the syntax error.

Any thoughts?

[Martin Ryan]

There's no need to put N: in front of the feeder. Feeders only operate at the N: level. It would be redundant if were allowed by syntax.

Feeder, broadly, should only ever be

[Dim:'Element', 'Element 2'] => DB('Cube2', !Dim, 'Element3', !Dim2);

or for internal feeders
['Actual'] => ['Budget']

Martin

[Michel Zijlema]

I have a feeder that I am trying to create. So far I have the following:

source cube:
['Disp Term':'ASHI Consolidated','Drop Term':'ASHI Consolidated','Job_Code':'Total','Plant Codes':'Total','Hauled','Units'] =>DB('Unit Forecast', !Haul Term, !Customer Accounts, 'Units', 'Haul', 'Base', if(attrs('Month',!Month,'Forecast Base')@='Actual',!Month,ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year')));

target cube:
['Units','Haul','Base'] = N:IF((ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Forecast Base')@='Forecast'),DB('Unit Record', 'ASHI Consolidated', !CoCost, 'ASHI Consolidated', !Customer Accounts, 'Total', 'Total', 'Hauled', ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year'), !Data),DB('Unit Record', 'ASHI Consolidated', !CoCost, 'ASHI Consolidated', !Customer Accounts, 'Total', 'Total', 'Hauled', !Month, !Data));

I want it down at the N level but when I try and put N: in front of DB('Unit Forecast.... and run the Check Syntax it gives me an error message "Syntax on or before: N:DB('Unit.... not on Driver List.

I have attributes set up for some of the elements of Forecast Base and Previous year but not all of them. Do I need to set up attributes for all the n elements? Also I'm wondering if my target formula is incorrect.

Thanks for the help,
Mark

Hi Mark,

As Martin already mentioned, the feeders will only fire on the N: level, there is no need to set this restriction in the feeder definition.

Looking at your rule and feeder I think I see an error in the feeder: you're pulling data from the previous year, but in your feeder you're also feeding to the previous year - shouldn't this be next year?

Michel

[mbeckw]

Michel,

For the current year if the month has final numbers I want the actuals, if not I want to pull in the previous years numbers. This will be the base of the forecast. I will build on the Actuals+Previous year to make the new forecast numbers. For example, Jan-Jun has the actual units and then I want Jul-Dec to have the 2008 actuals. The target cube has numbers but it is not consolidating. I just can't figure out why.

Thanks

Mark

[Michel Zijlema]

Hi Mark,

The fact that values are calculated at N: level, but not consolidated is ususally due to the fact that the feeding is wrong.
If I'm correct the rule pulls the values from previous year if there are no actuals available. So a value in a year should feed a cell in the next year (previous year feeds current (=next) year as current year pulls from previous year).

Michel

[mbeckw]

Almost. The rule pulls from the previous year if the Forecast Base is "Forecast" and not "Actual". This was put in there so we don't have to use the most current month if know there are going to be adjustments made to the month.

[Michel Zijlema]

OK. But does my remark make sense that when the rule pulls from the previous year the feeder should be the other way around (previous year feeds current year, so in effect next year) - and based on that could it be that this is wrong in your current feeder?

Michel

[mbeckw]

Michel,

I see your point and I have changed the rule and the feeder to the following:
Rule
['Units','Base'] = N:DB('Unit Record', 'ASHI Consolidated', !CoCost, 'ASHI Consolidated', !Customer Accounts, 'Total', 'Total', !Load Type, IF((ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Forecast Base')@='Actual'),!Month,ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year')),'Units');
Feeder
[DispTerm:'ASHI Consolidated',DropTerm:'ASHI Consolidated',Job_Code:'Total',PlantCodes:'Total','Units'] =>DB('Unit Forecast', !Haul Term, !Customer Accounts, 'Units', !Load Type, 'Base', if(attrs('Month',!Month,'Forecast Base')@='Actual',!Month,(ATTRS('Month', !Month, 'Previous Year'))));

If I take ou the N: I get a number in the consolidated element but when I suppress zeros the numbers go away. With the N: in place I get the level 0 number but no consolidation and the suppress zeros make the numbers go away. I must still be missig something in my feeder if the supress zero doesn't work.

Mark

[David Usherwood]

As Michael has pointed out your rule takes from the previous year so your feeder needs to push to the next year.
To diagnose feeder issues create a working view at N level in the source cube Unit Record, select a fed or input value, right click and select 'Trace Feeders'. You can then see if the feeder is hitting the right place in the Unit Forecast cube.

[mbeckw]

Thanks everyone. I am going to try all the suggestions and I'll let you know.

[mbeckw]

Thanks for the help! I finally figured out what you were saying. Here is the final result that worked.

#Feeds historical (Actuals for Forecast Base of Actual and Previous Year from Forecast Base of Forecast) from the Unit Record cube to the Base version#
['Units','Haul','Base'] = N:DB('Unit Record', 'ASHI Consolidated', !CoCost, 'ASHI Consolidated', !Customer Accounts, 'Total', 'Total','Hauled',
if(ATTRS('Month',!Month,'Forecast Base')@='Forecast',ATTRS('Month',!Month,'Previous Year'),!Month), 'Units');

feeders;
#Feeds the Unit Forecast cube with Actuals and Forecast from Previous Year#
[DispTerm:'ASHI Consolidated',DropTerm:'ASHI Consolidated',Job_Code:'Total',PlantCodes:'Total','Hauled','Units'] =>DB('Unit Forecast', !Haul
Term, !Customer Accounts, 'Units', 'Haul', 'Base',if(ATTRS('Month',ATTRS('Month',!Month,'Next Year'),'Forecast
Base')@='Forecast',ATTRS('Month',!Month,'Next Year'),!Month), 'Units');

[Alan Kirk]

I want it down at the N level but when I try and put N: in front of DB('Unit Forecast.... and run the Check Syntax it gives me an error message "Syntax on or before: N:DB('Unit.... not on Driver List.

Nigh on 10 years later, a search for the expression "Not On Driver List" in relation to TM1 Rules yields one, and only one result.

This one.

I thought I would share another instance where this may come up.

I still use .xrus for rules since they allow me to comment the heck out of the rules and because I'm so overwhelmed by the ease and speed of PAW deployment that the very thought of it makes me swoon.

Or something.

And thus when I think of using PAW I remember that I'm still on Win Server 2008 R2 (upgrades have been promised for some time) and I decide to return to xrus, usually muttering "{insert appropriately profane verb here} PAW and Docker and the horses they rode in on".

Anyway, as useful and powerful as the Old Skool xru methodology is, it is subject to the foibles of Excel. Of which there are many, as we well know.

So there I was, happily adding rules including the use of Excel formulas to build the rules up, happily compiling, when all of a sudden:

"Not on driver list".

You what? There's nothing wrong with the thing.

Did you know about the Excel keystroke shortcut Ctrl + ~ (tilde, the symbol up at the top left of the keyboard)? I did. I knew what it does, too. It renders any formulas in a worksheet as formulas rather than formula results. It's useful for identifying which cells in a sheet are calculated.

But since I had no Excel formulas in my visible range at that time, I did not know that I had somehow hit it (I suspect while hitting Ctrl+1 to bring up the format cells dialog) and it was, of course, rendering all of my formula-calculated rules and feeders as formulas rather than formula results.

The consequence? "Not on Driver List".

I just thought I'd mention it for the benefit of anyone who is likewise caught.

I would bestow upon Ctrl + ~ a specific and unflattering title, but I reserve the title of "The Mongrel B*****d Key" for Scroll Lock since, unlike Scroll Lock, Ctrl + ~ does actually still serve a purpose.