Allocation engine uses wrong entries for WHERE area

[Former Member]

Hi there!

I am using the BPC allocation engine in SAP BPC Version 5.0.502 SP 3, Patch 4 (I'm not sure whether the last patch qualifies as a service pack).

I use the following script:

*RUNALLOCATION

FACTOR=(USING/100)(-1)

*NAME=cat_alloc_usm_j59

*APP WHAT=FINANCE; WHERE=FINANCE; USING=ALLOC

*DIM ACCOUNT WHAT=BAS(TotProdSales); WHERE=BAS(TotProdSales);USING=ACCOUNT.INP

*DIM LABEL WHAT=LABEL.INP; WHERE=LABEL.INP; USING=L_01

*DIM CARRIER WHAT=BAS(ALL_CARRIER); WHERE=BAS(ALL_CARRIER); USING=CARRIER.INP

*DIM PRICE_LEVEL WHAT=BAS(ALL_PRICE_LEVEL); WHERE=BAS(ALL_PRICE_LEVEL); USING=PRICE_LEVEL.INP

*DIM ALLOCATION USING=ALLO_CATALOGUE_01

*ENDALLOCATION

The result is okay except for the entry in the dimension PRICE_LEVEL (which I see in the FACTWB table). It says there: LABEL.INP. Such a price level does not exist. The engine just uses the entry for label.

Another script produces a corresponding error:

*RUNALLOCATION

FACTOR=(USING/100)(-1)

*NAME=cat_alloc_usm_j59

*APP WHAT=FINANCE; WHERE=FINANCE; USING=ALLOC

*DIM ENTITY WHAT=J_59.USM.INP; WHERE=J_59.INP; USING=S_FK

*DIM ACCOUNT WHAT=BAS(TotProdSales); WHERE=BAS(TotProdSales);USING=ACCOUNT.INP

*DIM LABEL WHAT=LABEL.INP; WHERE=LABEL.INP; USING=L_01

*DIM CARRIER WHAT=BAS(ALL_CARRIER); WHERE=BAS(ALL_CARRIER); USING=CARRIER.INP

*DIM PRICE_LEVEL WHAT=BAS(ALL_PRICE_LEVEL); WHERE=BAS(ALL_PRICE_LEVEL); USING=PRICE_LEVEL.INP

*DIM ALLOCATION USING=ALLO_CATALOGUE_01

*ENDALLOCATION

In this case, it writes into the dimension LABEL "J_59.INP" which is an entity, not a label. Again, the engine just uses the entry from another dimension.

I appreciate any ideas and hints where I could have gone wrong with my scripts. I would consider using the tables clcAlloc and clcAllocH, but the system will later be maintained by an administrator who has no access to the server but will have to make changes to the allocations. Thus the allocations must run via the written logic.

Thanks a lot,

Hartmut

Edited by: Hartmut Kesper on Sep 11, 2008 10:04 AM

Edited by: Hartmut Kesper on Sep 11, 2008 3:02 PM

Edited by: Hartmut Kesper on Sep 11, 2008 3:03 PM

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Hartmut,

Do you have any idea what exactly causes the bug to occur?

From the examples you give, it is a bit hard to see exactly, but it looks like you may have member ID's with periods in them, while you're also making references to dimension properties as DimName.Property. Is "INP" a property you're using in a few of the dimensions?

Or are you always using the underscore as a separator within your member IDs? I can't quite tell -- for instance: J_59.USM.INP

Maybe the alloc engine is getting confused by some of those separators -- just a guess on my part.

Regards,

Tim

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi, Tim!

J_59.USM.INP is the ID of a member of the entity dimension. I cannot totally exclude that the dots may cause problems. I used a member-DI with an underscore in a different allocation script which did not give any problems (this script was not addressing different applications however).

I guess that the problem occurs, when the data for the USING-area come from a different application than the data in the WHAT and WHERE area.

A member of the Eurpean RIG team looked at my allocation and decided, that there is no reasonable explanation why it should go wrong.

But still, you might be right with the separators. But as far as I know, in the documentations there is no hint, that these may corrupt scripts.

Regards,

Hartmut

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hartmut

I have used allocation logic extensively at several of my clients (so not sure why SAP is saying i is hardly ever used)>

I came across this same "bug" - it was writing members of a completely separate dimension into the WB table.

At the time I thought I was going mad, but I'm glad to see this has been raised as a bug.

Well done for pointing the issue out to SAP support.

A

[Former Member]

It has been recognized by SAP support as a bug in the software and will be solved within SP6 due in December 2008.

[Former Member]

The issue is with SAP support now. They are looking into it. It seems to be a known issue.

It also seems that the allocation engine is hardly really used in any project.