Defining Drivers and Formulas for Standard Profitability Models
While assignments direct the data from a source to a destination, the drivers that are associated with these assignments are used to calculate the value of the allocations.
The drivers provide the formulas for allocating source intersection values to destination intersections. Driver measures and formulas promote model flexibility by enabling you to use variables to represent model elements, and mathematical operands to calculate driver values.
Allocations range from simple calculations between one source and one destination, to complex calculations that are distributed to multiple destinations. When you create a driver, you associate a formula to control how the value is calculated. You can select from predefined formulas, such as an even split or percentage driver, or create custom formulas.
Driver measures, such as Volume and Rate, are used as variables in the construction of the formulas that drive the calculations. Any 0–Level member of the Measures dimension may be selected as a driver measure. Driver measures are created and stored in the Oracle Essbase database, but are not validated until the model is deployed.
Drivers can be applied to both cost and revenue values, and can be reused with many values. The formula associated with the driver is stored, not the data. If the driver is modified, the changes are automatically applied to every allocation using that driver.
Note:
If a driver used in the allocation is modified or deleted, you must regenerate the calculation script, and recalculate the model. The Essbase database structure is not impacted by this type of change, but it will calculate different results.
For each driver required in the model, perform these tasks:
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Define the new driver, including the model layer to which it is attached, and the associated formula. See Defining Drivers.
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Associate the driver with dimension members that use this calculation. See Selecting Standard Profitability Drivers.
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Assign the driver to the selected members of the driver dimension to set the calculation flow. Working with Standard Profitability Assignments.
One dimension must be selected as the driver dimension for each stage. The driver formula is used to obtain the driver Value and then calculate the result.
For example, during the calculation process, the value for the "NetCostForAssignment" measure of the source intersection is multiplied by a factor to determine the amount to allocate to each destination intersection. The calculated amount is placed in the "CostReceivedPriorStage" measure of the destination intersection (or the "CostReceivedIntraStage" measure, if it is an intrastage assignment).
The driver factor is the ratio between the driver value of the destination intersection that is currently being calculated and the total driver value of all destination intersections. The value for the current destination intersection is stored on the assignment in the "CalculatedDriverValue" driver measure. The total for all drivers is stored in the "TotalDriverValue" driver measure. An "OverrideTotalDriverValue" driver measure is entered on the source intersection only if tracking idle costs is enabled. Driver totals are always attached to the source.
For information and instructions about working with formulas and drivers, see these sections: