AX1634

Updating persistent plan files after creation

If a file group uses persistent plan files (the default behavior), then once plan files are built out, the plan files are separate entities that are not updated for any further changes made to the template or to calc methods. This is one reason why it is very important to perform comprehensive testing of plan files before rolling them out to end users. However, sometimes clients discover a change or correction that needs to be made to the template design or to a calc method after plan files have been built.

If this situation occurs, there are two ways that you can address it:

  • If it is possible to rebuild plan files, then you should make the change to the template and/or calc method, and then rebuild plan files. This is the best and easiest approach if it is feasible.

  • However, in some cases, rebuilding plan files is not a viable option. Your end users may have already started inputting planning data into plan files, which means that rebuilding plan files would lose this data in the files. In that case, you can use the Update Persistent Plan Files option of Process Plan Files to make targeted changes to plan files in batch.

The Update Persistent Plan Files option provides a find-and-replace approach to updating plan files. You can search for certain locations, text, or formulas in the plan files, and then update them with new text, formulas, or formatting.

In order to use Update Persistent Plan Files, you must first create a report file with a special control sheet that configures the update actions. Once you create this file, you can then go to the Process Plan Files utility, select the Update Persistent Plan Files option, and select the report file that you have configured for the update. When plan files are processed, the settings in the report file determine what actions are performed on the plan files.

IMPORTANT: Update Persistent Plan Files is an advanced feature. Please contact Axiom Support if you need assistance in configuring the utility or determining the best approach to addressing the issue you want to fix in your plan files.

NOTES:  

  • If the update that you need to make is in a calc method only, you may be able to use the Apply Calc Method Changes utility instead. Using this utility, you can update all or part of a given calc method in plan files. For more information, see Updating plan files for calc method changes (Apply Calc Method Changes utility).

  • The need to update plan files after creation does not apply if the file group uses virtual plan files. In this case, you can simply update the template and/or calc methods as needed, and the changes will be reflected in the plan files the next time that they are accessed. This is because virtual plan files are re-created from template each time they are accessed. If the change affects the calculation of planning data, then after making changes you may want to run Process Plan Files with normal processing (or with utility processing if appropriate) in order to save updated data to the database.

Creating the report file with the plan file update configuration

In order to use Update Persistent Plan Files, you must create a report file with a PlanFileReconfig_ControlSheet, and then configure the settings in this control sheet.

Currently, the only way to create a report file with this control sheet is to save a copy of the following template file to the Reports Library:

\Axiom\Axiom System\Document Templates\Support Utilities\UpdateExsitingPlanfilesTemplate.xlsx

Only administrators can access files in the Axiom System section of Axiom Explorer, so the first time you need to use Update Persistent Plan Files, an administrator must save a copy of this file. Later, any other user with access to the copied file and the ability to save to a report folder can create a new version of the file for use with the Update Persistent Plan Files Utility.

Once the report file is created, use the PlanFileReconfig_ControlSheet to configure the update operation. There are 5 Axiom Formula Fix sections that you can use to define find-and-replace style operations. To activate a section for processing, set Activate to On, then complete the settings in that section.

For more information on these settings and example configurations, see Configuration settings for Update Persistent Plan Files.

IMPORTANT: The configuration settings in the PlanFileReconfig_ControlSheet should be based on actual changes that you have made to the template and/or calc methods. Even though the existing plan files will not be affected by changes to the template or calc methods, you should go through the process of updating these items to help ensure that the changes are accurate and to ensure that any plan files created in the future have the desired updates.

Executing Process Plan Files using Update Persistent Plan Files

After you have created the configuration file for the update operation (see previous section), you can run Process Plan Files using the Update Persistent Plan Files processing mode.

Before running this utility for all plan files that you need to update, it is recommended to run it on a single test plan file first, to see if plan files are being updated as you expect. Once you have verified the operation on a test file, you can then run the utility on all plan files.

When you run Update Persistent Plan Files, a plan file restore point is automatically created before the update process is executed. If needed, you can use that restore point to restore plan files to the state they were in before running the utility. For more information, see Restoring plan files from restore points. If you want extra backup, you can optionally clone the file group (including plan files) before running the utility.

Process Plan Files is only available to administrators and to users with the Process Plan Files security permission.

NOTE: This topic discusses how to run Process Plan Files interactively, from the file group menu. Alternatively, you can run Process Plan Files using Scheduler, and schedule it for automated execution.

To update persistent plan files using Process Plan Files:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the File Groups group, click the arrow next to the file group name to bring up the file group menu, then click Process Plan Files.

    TIP: You can also access Process Plan Files in the Explorer task pane.

    The Process Plan Files dialog opens.

  2. On the Options tab, for the Processing Mode, select Update Persistent Plan Files.

    The dialog updates to show the relevant options for this processing mode.

  3. On the Options tab, for Report File, specify the file that contains the configuration settings for processing. Click the Browse button to select the report file.

    The file must be saved to the Reports Library and must contain a PlanFileReconfig_ControlSheet. See the previous section for more information on creating the file and completing the configuration settings.

  4. On the Options tab, complete the remaining processing options as needed. For more information on these processing options, see Options tab.

  5. On the Plan Files tab, specify the plan files to process.

    You can process all plan files that you have access to, or process only a subset of plan files. When processing a subset, you can manually select individual files to process, or you can define a filter to process the plan files that meet the filter. For more information on selecting plan files to process, see Plan Files tab.

    IMPORTANT: Be sure to test the update configuration on a single representative plan file before processing all plan files that need to be updated. If the update does not work as expected, you can adjust the configuration settings in the report file, and test again.

  6. Click OK to begin processing.

    A message box displays the number of plan files you are about to process, and asks you to confirm that you want to continue. The message also informs you that a restore point will be created before the process begins, so that if necessary you can restore any plan files to the state they were in before running the utility. Click Yes to continue. If the number of plan files is not as expected, you can click No to cancel the process and return to the Process Plan Files dialog.

If you chose to process plan files on the Axiom server rather than the local client, then a Scheduler job is automatically placed in the queue for processing and you will be notified of the job results when it is complete. You can work on other Axiom Software tasks while the job is processed.

If you chose to process plan files on your local machine, then a status bar displays as files are processed. When the process is complete, a dialog opens to display the results.

After processing

The Update Persistent Plan Files option simply saves the updated plan files; it does not save data to the database. If the changes made to plan files impact the calculation of planning data, then you should run Normal Processing on the updated plan files to save the changed data to the database.