Best practices

  • If you consolidate data and then change the ownership percent for a unit so that its consolidation method also changes (e.g., from Full to Equity), run Erase Data for the unit's hierarchy to erase any obsolete adjustment data (use the Adjusted Data Only option). Then reconsolidate the data.
  • Data generated by the consolidation process such as formula or translation results may not be updated if a change in the input value is insignificant compared to the total database value (in terms of the number of digits). For example, a downfoot will update for a change of .10 but may not update for a change of .01 when the database value is large (such as an 11-digit value like 99,000,000,000.49). This behavior prevents unnecessary writeback to the database that could impact performance.

    To force a downfoot to update for small changes: (1) Use Erase Data to set all affected lines to Null (for both periodic and year-to-date data), (2) load the new data values, and (3) consolidate.

  • To improve speed, run consolidations when the least number of users are on the system. Try to run geographic consolidations (such as for Europe or Asia) at a time when those users are most likely off-line.
  • Avoid running a consolidation when other users may be making changes within the same slice of data. If a user makes changes during consolidation, those changes may not be included in the consolidation.
  • When you are trying out a script for the first time, include the parameter SyntaxCheckOnly (set to 1). This provides you with immediate feedback from a dialog box alerting you of any possible errors in your script, such as misspelled parameters or missing information. Note that this will not actually run the request. It confirms the validity of the request. After you have confirmed the syntax is in order, you should set this parameter value back to 0.
  • Do not release database changes when a consolidation is running.
  • Install CPM Server on the same computer as the database, except when:
    • The database is running on a non-Windows platform.
    • The database computer does not have sufficient resources to support both the database server and CPM Server.