Dynamic Planning Template with Slice: A Simple Practical Guide

MDX Forms, available through the Slice add-on in Excel, provide a powerful way to customize and maintain reports efficiently — offering flexibility for on-the-fly dimension changes, dynamic row/column swaps, and calculated members using MDX.

Practical Example

Let's create a dynamic asynchronous view for analyzing sales data across different years and versions.

Step 1: Define Your System Information Cube

Create a cube called "System Information" storing global variables such as Financial Year, Budget Year, etc:

Step 2: Write Your MDX Query

Use the MDX Lab in Arc or Slice. Use StrToMember to dynamically fetch string values from the System Info cube:

Column 1: Actuals for Current Year

Column 2: Budget for Budget Year

Step 3: Implement in Arc Cube Viewer and/or Slice MDX Forms

Insert the MDX query in the Slice Cube Viewer or as an MDX Form:

Step 4: Update and Test

Edit the System Info cube values to dynamically update your report:

Dynamic asynchronous views with MDX, combined with Slice MDX Forms, offer a robust solution for customizing budget templates in IBM Planning Analytics/TM1.