Learn the best ways to use the Board platform, directly from the internal Center of Excellence. Best Practices have been developed to be applicable in most situations, by general consensus. This section is frequently updated to keep you informed of the latest capabilities and techniques offered in the platform to optimize your planning operations.

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Best Practices

Learn the best ways to use the platform, in most situations.

Table Of Contents: Best Practices
Welcome to Board Best Practices! Here you will find links to a list of published articles that provide technical guidance on the best ways to use the Board platform and a preview of articles that are in progress. The table of contents for How-to Guides that provide step-by-step guidance for specific use cases can be found…
Data Export Functionalities
1. Abstract Describe all the alternatives available when you export a dataset from Board to integrate it with an external third-party environment or another Board data model. What are the pros and cons of the different solutions from file export to APIs? 2. Context Follow these best practices every time you have to…
On-the-fly Calculations: Pros and Cons
1. Abstract The term “on-the-fly calculation” refers to all the calculations executed directly at the layout level, meaning that the result is not physically stored in a Cube. This directly affects drill-down functionality and has advantages in terms of reducing the overall size. 2. Context During the development phase the…
Historicisation of relationships
1. Abstract In Board, hierarchies are without time reference as standard. This simplifies data modeling in many cases. In some cases, however, it is necessary to map relationships between different nodes in a time-dependent manner and thus to historicize the values. There are different methods for this, which are to be…
Capsule Procedure vs Datamodel Procedure
1. Abstract While developers are facing procedure creation, they need to understand when it is appropriate to use data model procedures vs Capsule procedures. 2. Context As developers, it is our responsibility to always keep the long-term maintainability of our solutions in mind. Procedures must be developed in a…
Naming Convention
1. Abstract The following document is intended to suggest and give concrete examples of the nomenclature to be used during the development of the back end and front end of a Board solution. The aim is to have a consistent and organized nomenclature that led to a maintainable solution that can be easily consulted in the…
Comparison between different versions or scenarios in the same report
1. Abstract During the implementation of any application, a typical request is to combine multi-scenario or multi-version information in the same view to promote delta analysis and quick data comparison. Board plays an important role due to its flexibility and allows a solution to be achieved in several ways to provide the…
Data entry input validation rules
1. Abstract Data entry is an essential component of any planning application within Board. With a dependency on end users, applications should aim to minimize human errors. When data entry is enabled in Board, it allows our end users to input information and write it back into the Board Data Model, contributing to…
iXBRL with Seahorse
1. Abstract ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) is the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor. ESMA has developed the regulatory technical standards (RTS) which specify the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) that is the reporting format in which issuers, whose securities are admitted to trading…
Period Types in GCR
1. Abstract Differentiating period types and aligning them with the fiscal calendar, as well as recognizing variations in closing procedures, significantly influence reporting requirements. Familiarity with period types within GCR enhances your ability to optimize its utilization. Grasping its functionalities and…
Equity Method Accounting BFC/GCR
1. Abstract The equity method is a crucial accounting approach used to reflect investments in associated entities accurately. This abstract provides a comprehensive overview of the equity method, elucidating its fundamental principles, application, and implications for financial reporting while focusing on its…
Clear Cube Insight
1. Abstract Clearing data in a Board application that has a large dataset, and high concurrency, needs to be done with care to avoid an unintended consequence. The approach you use to clear data has an impact on data retention and can impact performance. The purpose of this article is to review the options available for…
Dummy entity elements for budgeting purposes
1. Abstract In planning processes, sometimes it is necessary to manage new occurrences that don’t exist in real life yet, which means creating provisional elements in the master data that will serve only for planning purposes. 2. Context Creating provisional elements in master data for planning purposes means creating new…
Dynamically manage calendar settings
1. Abstract In many cases, we will need certain mappings in our Calendar to define specific time frames for reporting and planning purposes. Some of those may be custom time dimensions and others might be created by mapping the standard calendar to specific periods. All those mappings have to be kept up-to-date. That can…
Normalization in High Concurrency
1. Abstract In Board’s multi-dimensional database, relationships are a core component of a data model configuration. Properly designing and maintaining relationships is essential for a well-functioning solution. Missing relationships, both direct or indirect, can lead to inaccurate or incorrect conclusions or behaviors.…
Migrate from BFC to GCR
1. Abstract Migrate from BFC to GCR is an important process that does not consist only in migrate cubes or procedure from one Datamodel to another, but several other activities. The main phases of the migration process are the following: Be Aware of all the main changes in the Data model between BFC and GCR. Identify all…
Triggering procedures with REST API Calls from within Board
1. Abstract This article discusses the possibilities of triggering Board procedures via Rest API Calls from within Board itself and the how’s and why’s of this approach. 2. Context The Board Public APIs empower external systems to seamlessly interact with a Board application. By utilizing REST API calls, you can, for…
Reporting Layer: Optimize a report
1. Abstract Users are more and more demanding and are looking for the right balance between the correctness of the result and the scalability of the solution at the same time. Improving response time has always been a top priority, therefore the purpose of this document would be to explain the main best practices to apply…
Sparsity
1. Abstract During the creation of a new cube, the question is usually about whether dimensions should be dense or sparse. A cube can store a value for any combination of its dimension’s members: for example, a three-dimensional Cube (e.g. month, product and customer), has a cell for any triplet. If every customer…
Drill Anywhere Options: "Drill To" vs "Go To"
1 . Abstract The Drill Functions provide several interactive options, which are: Drill anywhere, Drill-down, Drill-to screen, Drill-procedure. In design mode, interacting with the ‘Drill-to screen’ feature, either in a Data View or in a Chart, there are some notable differences regarding ‘Drill-to screen’ and ‘Go-to…
Allocation with Board
1. Abstract Board is a great platform for building a planning and budgeting model and it accommodates large and complex allocation models. Board can process a lot of data in a short amount of time. The platform is also very flexible and allows the full customization of your allocation model. 2. Context Board is a great…
Data Access Control Architecture
1. Abstract Database and Application security refers in general to the range of tools designed to establish and preserve data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. In Board terms it is the definition of the various access levels so that the users are presented and can modify only data relevant to them and for which…
Drill Actions
1. Abstract Board offers multiple drill options, it’s important to consider the requirements when planning or setting up drill options and to design the solution accordingly. 2. Context Board offers multiple options when drilling into data, which is the right one to use depends on the specific requirements – whether the…
Selection Options in Procedures
1. Abstract Board technology allows different types of select, static, or dynamic queries. In particular, in procedures, it’s possible to choose between three methods that can seem very similar: Selection (fixed) Select Entity based on Cube Dynamic selection (from the “Select” step) Although they can give the same result…
Dataflow common mistakes and best practices
1. Abstract The dataflow is the main action to perform calculations between cubes, it is used in all the processes of the application, therefore it is very important to know how to set up a dataflow in the best possible way, to obtain the correct results with the best performances. 2. Context In this article, we will first…
Best Practices in Writing Procedures
1. Abstract Most probably every Board application will have procedures to cover interactivity by the user (e.g., navigation), perform calculations (e.g., processing plan data) or run other backend processes like creating a backup. To provide the best maintainability, quality, and robustness, some guidelines should be…
Moving Data
1. Abstract Often customers’ requirements are to copy data from one element to another. Typical examples are copy processes from one version to another or to copy data from an existing reference product to a newly created product as an initialization. The calculation logic in those examples is the same and can be applied…
Synchronize multiple data model
1. Abstract In the case of an architecture with several data models, the synchronization process may be required to update metadata and data. Defining which data model should be the master and how to set up synchronization is of primary importance. 2. Context In complex and cross-functional applications, having a single…
Custom Time Entities – Generic Month example
1. Abstract Custom time entities are a subset within the time range section in the BOARD database. They are mainly adopted during the application to intercept those time analyses which cannot be implemented with only the standard time function available by default in the BOARD data model. Since they are limited in BOARD,…
Initialization process, Versioning and Simulation
1. Abstract Initialization process is a common topic on many projects. In its most common definition is the pre-population of a Scenario/Version with reference data so the planning/analysis can be quicker. This process can easily become challenging since it often deviates from a simple copy and includes also recalculations…
Entity Definition - Concatenation or not
1. Abstract In complex applications, we often face a situation where we have too many dimensions structuring the cubes. In such cases, it is necessary to evaluate the impacts on the usability of the application, and to measure the risks on the overall performance. In case of performance issues, one of the possible…

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Data Export Functionalities
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