ArticlesBite Size Analytics: What are Some Best Practices for Using Certinia Analytics?

This byte is aimed towards users giving some guidance on what I believe are the best practices when it comes to using the analytics from Certinia. This includes Financial Statements, FM Analytics, and PSA Analytics. There is so much that you can do with the CRM Analytics platform once you start playing, so I'll break this Byte down into the different assets within Analytics to help you get started. I've tried to give reasons for each of the recommendations below.

• App templates
• Upgrading app templates
• Dataflows
• Custom Fields
• Datasets
• Lens
• Dashboards

App Templates

All of the value you get from Certinia Analytics comes from your implementation via app templates. It is recommended that you only generate one app per org. When you generate an app it creates dataflows (below). You can only refresh all dataflows 60 times in 24 hours so the more apps you have, the more dataflows you have, and the less frequently you can refresh data. If you have one dataflow you could potentially schedule it to update hourly and use 24 of your 60 refreshes. If you have the app duplicates you now use 48 of your 60, getting close to your limit. Depending on how many dataflows you may build custom, you could end up with a situation where you are now refreshing data every few hours or even daily. Another reason that best practice is to only generate one app is that duplication of datasets and dashboards can be difficult to maintain when you don't know which dashboard or dataset to people have access to.

Upgrading App Templates

Before you upgrade an App, it can be useful to create an additional template in sandbox to test that everything will look and function the way you expect it to. It is then recommended that the app is upgraded within Sandbox, to ensure again, that everything works as expected. You'll then be able to upgrade in production with confidence. Ensure you read the upgrading byte.

Dataflows

When you create any of our three analytics apps, dataflows are created. These are intelligent dataflows doing many transformations to make reporting as easy as possible. It is recommended that you do not modify these dataflows in any way. The reason being that if you modify, then when you upgrade your changes will be lost and unrecoverable. Modifying or creating these is an advanced function. If you want to extend the existing dataflows that we provide from Certinia then you should look to utilize custom fields (below) or create recipes. Recipes allow you to combine datasets together in a sort of lookup fashion so those familiar with excel. You can also combine CSV files of data with the dataflow for example. You could also create a new dataflow and use 'edgemart' functionality to connect to other datasets. The best practice is to not touch Certinia dataflows but to create recipes or new dataflows. There is some great documentation on which to choose from Salesforce here.

Custom Fields

It is always important to be able to extend the out of the box dashboards and datasets by custom fields. For this, we have included questions within the app templates to allow you to include custom fields. In PSA you can include custom fields from the Project and Contact object. In FM Analytics you can include custom fields from the Transaction and Transaction Line Item objects plus the Contract and Contract Line Item objects if you are using Billing Central. There is a contractual limit of 3 custom fields for the Financial Statements licenses. Although we only have questions in the wizard for these objects, the access to these objects is much greater when you add formula fields. You should use the standard functionality where possible with formula fields instead of creating dataflows or recipes. See this byte on custom fields.

Datasets

Datasets should be used to build both lens and dashboards. By having as few datasets as possible you ensure that reports and dashboards always reconcile. Datasets are also packaged with security, it is recommended that you keep the security predicate on.

Lens

Lens refers to both charts and tables and they are fantastic for ad-hoc reporting and also for use with XL+. When building lens you should always start with a compare table and then switch back to the charting options when you're happy with your compare table data. Compare tables offer you column filtering and the ability to hide columns if they are only used in formula so it will allow you to build more complex charts.

Dashboards

Where possible dashboards should be built with only one dataset. This ensures that everything on the dashboard will interact through faceting. It also ensures that when you add filters they will filter the entire dashboard and not sections of it which relate to that dashboard. Many of the dashboards Certinia provides have a single dataset so that you can extend them by adding filters and charts. See the bytes on filters and charts. If you are going to heavily customize the out of the box dashboards, it is recommended that you clone them so that they are not reverted back during the upgrade. As of Summer 20 there is no recycle bin within CRM Analytics so it is my recommendation that when you build dashboards you build them in your private app and then clone them for saving into shared folders. You do not want to experience another user deleting a dashboard with no way to recover.

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