In this post, I will introduce you to one of Oracle’s newest additions to the PBCS family, Predictive Planning Web Form integration. With the Predictive Planning functionality, users can run predictions for future values based on historical data. Users can visualize trends, see best case, worst case, and base predictions, and paste their predictions to the database.
This blog post will run you through how to set up forms for predictions, how to run a prediction, and how to set up forms to paste predicted data.
For starters, let’s set up a form for predictive planning.
In order to run a prediction on a web form the form cannot be set to read-only, and Periods need to run across the columns.
After setting up the form, running a prediction is easy. Simply click the Actions button in the top right corner of a Web Form and select Predictive Planning.
This will generate a line graph that contains actuals, seasonality bands, best case, worst case, and base predictions. The graph also gives users a confidence interval (shaded in red).
It should be noted that simply running the prediction does not publish the data to the cube. This can be done with pasting, which I will explain later.
Seasonality Bands: Seasonality bands are highlighted in blue. These appear when there is a detectable pattern to the data. Please note that at least two cycles of data need to be available to detect cyclical data in the prediction.
Graph Key: the Base prediction is the blue line; the Best Case prediction is the dotted red line above the blue line, while the Worst Case prediction is the dotted red line bellow the blue line; and the predicted Forecast is the solid red line.
Predictions: To the right of the graph is info on each prediction. At a glance you will see the projected growth rate. By clicking on the info button on the top right you will see some of the prediction details. Within Prediction Details you will see the accuracy of the prediction, the prediction method, the root-mean-square error, and the start date and end date of the prediction.
Pasting Data: In addition to interacting with the graph, the predicted data can be pasted to the members on the form. In order to paste this data, the form needs to be set up to contain writeable, base-level cells. To paste, select the clipboard in the top right corner of the graph and select the range in which to paste data.
Users can select from the best case, worst cast, or base prediction; paste to which ever Scenario/Version combinations are on the form; the entire range of writeable cells, or just a selection; all the members on the form, or only the selected member.
Setting up A Form to Paste Predicted Data: The functionality will only write to input cells visible on the form. This means that if, for example, the form included all levels of the Period dimension across the columns, but is not expanded to show all base level periods, the predicated data will not paste.
For example, the cells outlined in the red box cannot be written too, but the cells in the green box are eligible.
After pasting the data, you can manipulate whichever cells you would like to before saving the data. If you are happy with the data, click the save button in the top right corner to publish the predicted data back to the underlying cube.
This blog post has been a high-level introduction to Oracle’s powerful new tool, Predictive Planning.
Questions? Comments? Feel free to reach us at:
Alex Barziza, abarziza@ecapitaladvisors.com
Amy Stine, astine@ecapitaladvisors.com
