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Configure for planning

In the Configure for planning section of the Integrations page, you can take the data you imported and then transformed in the Import data and Build and visualize sections and create a configuration so that the data can be used in your planning cycle. Configurations are a combination of your source and export node. When you create a new configuration to import activity data into Varicent Sales Planning, we save your configuration settings so that you can easily run the same configuration again. This way if you change or update your data, you can simply re-run the configuration to get the most up-to-date data in your planning cycle.

The Configure for planning and Manage tables sections are closely related because when you import data using the Integrations tools, your data is stored with all your other activity files (even those uploaded from CSV files) in the Manage tables section, while the configuration settings are stored in the Configurations section. You can run your configurations as many times as needed. This creates new versions of you data, but keeps the same configuration settings.

Creating a new configuration

You can create new configuration from the Configure for planning section of the Integrations page. We do not automatically run the configuration after it's created.

Before you create a configuration, make sure that you've completed the following tasks:

  1. On the Planning cycles home page, click the planning cycle to open.

  2. Click the Command center icon Screen_Shot_2021-10-04_at_5_40_21_PM.png.

  3. Under the Admin section, click Integrations.

  4. Click the Configure for planning tab.

  5. Click add--alt.png Create configuration.

  6. Choose a source and export node to pull your data from.

    Tip

    The source is the name of your pipe and the export node is the name of your Export tool. If you didn't rename it, it will appear as a random string of characters. It's a good idea to rename it if you have more than one export connection set up.

  7. Select the file type from the drop-down list (we currently only support importing activity and hierarchy files).

  8. Click Next.

  9. On the Match fields dialog, click Automatch to match the required column headings to the headings in your file.

  10. Manually select the corresponding column header name for any column that was not automatically matched.

    1. Click the drop-down chevron--down.svg icon next to a column that hasn't been matched.

      A list of required columns displays. Columns names that have already been matched are greyed out.

    2. Select the column name that corresponds with the data column in your file.

      For example, your file may have a column called Customer Account ID, but this data is identified as Customer Accounts in Varicent Sales Planning. In this case, you would match the Customer Accounts required column to the Customer Account ID column in your file.

    3. Repeat steps a and b until all columns are matched.

  11. Click Next.

  12. Review your import settings and enter a name for your destination table.

  13. Click Create configuration.

    Your configuration (source and export node) is saved in the Configure for planning section of the Integrations page. The status is Not started.

Important

Your data is not in Varicent Sales Planning yet. To import your data using your newly created configuration, see Running an existing configuration.

Running an existing configuration

Once you've created a configuration, you can run it as many times as needed to import any new or changed data.

  1. On the Planning cycles home page, click the planning cycle to open.

  2. Click the Command center icon Screen_Shot_2021-10-04_at_5_40_21_PM.png.

  3. Under the Admin section, click Integrations.

  4. Click the Configure for planning tab.

  5. Find the configuration you want to run and click anywhere in the row to open the data preview.

  6. If required, match any required columns to the column headings in your data file.

    1. Click Automatch to automatically match the required column headings to the headings in your file.

    2. To manually match any columns that weren't automatically matched, click the drop-down chevron--down.svg icon next to the column.

      A list of required columns displays. Note that any custom hierarchies or fields you added are available to be selected in the list. If you included data for these custom hierarchies or fields in your file, you must match them to the appropriate column. Columns names that have already been matched are greyed out.

    3. Select the column name that corresponds with the data column in your file.

      For example, your file may have a column called Customer Account ID, but this data is identified as Customer Accounts in Varicent Sales Planning. In this case, you would match the Customer Accounts required column to the Customer Account ID column in your file.

    4. Repeat steps b and c until all columns are matched.

  7. Click Run (your column matching settings are automatically saved).

  8. Review the import settings and then click Run again.

    The status changes to Running. When the import completes, a new version of your data table (or the first version, if you're running this configuration for the first time) is added to the Published table in the Manage tables section of the Integrations page.