Module 211 Section 7: L2 Demo Data Model SET - Flag Budget And Actual Years Calculation Domain

Emil Amante · 2025-09-04T20:53:46+00:00

In the data flow steps here, * In the "MAIN" group, create a "Calculation: Data flow" step, select "CONFIGURE LAYOUT" and add the "SET - DE - Future Years" Cube as data block "a" and the "SET - DF - Actual Years" Cube as…

Emil Amante

In the data flow steps here,

In the "MAIN" group, create a "Calculation: Data flow" step, select "CONFIGURE LAYOUT" and add the "SET - DE - Future Years" Cube as data block "a" and the "SET - DF - Actual Years" Cube as data block "b".
Set the "Target" as "b: SET - DF - Actual Years" and set "Expression" to "1-a".

I guess my question is, why is the expression set to "1 - a" where a is future years and we're trying to establish actual years. Why isn't the express "a - 1"? if the planning year is 2023, then say the actual year is 2022, then wouldnt a - 1 make more sense?

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John Williams

@Emil Amante

The expression is set to 1 - a because it's a simple way to create a logical "NOT" or inverse.

In this case, the values 1 and 0 are used as flags, where 1 means "true" and 0 means "false".

If a year is a future year, data block a has a value of 1. The expression 1 - 1 results in 0, correctly flagging it as "not an actual year".
If a year is not a future year, data block a has a value of 0. The expression 1 - 0 results in 1, correctly flagging it as "an actual year".

Your suggestion of a - 1 would not work correctly because it would result in 0 (if a is 1) or -1 (if a is 0), and -1 is not a valid flag for this purpose. The goal is to flip the flag, not to subtract a year.

Emil Amante

@John Williams

Hi John, thank you so much! There's absolutely no way I would've figured that out on my own. This concept of 1 = true and 0 = false is new to me.

Could you expound on the former piece of the data flow in this section, which is,

In the "MAIN" group, create a "Calculation: Data flow" step, select "CONFIGURE LAYOUT", and add the "SET - DE - Planning Year" Cube as data block "a" and the "SET - DF - Future Years" Cube as data block "b".
Set a "TIME FUNCTION" on data block "a" to "Function: Last Value".
Set the "Target" as "b: SET - DF - Future Years" and set "Expression" to "a".
In the "CALCULATION DOMAIN", Extend calculation on new tuples for all members of "Year".

So in this section, it makes sense how 2023 would be flagged as a Future year when I set 2023 as the budget year. But I don't get how it would flag 2024, 2025 and 2026 as Future years as well.

Anthony Miller

Hi@Emil Amante,

Thanks for sharing. It helps a lot.

The reason 2024, 2025, and 2026 are flagged as Future Years is due to the “Extend calculation on new tuples for all members of Year” option. This tells the system: once the Budget Year (2023) is set, automatically flag every following year as a Future Year. That’s why you see 2023 as Budget, and 2024–2026 automatically marked as Future.