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10.6.2 Creating a Business Element File


There are three primary business elements to be used in the
study: invoices, updates, and open items.  Assume that this
data is available from sources within the organization and
has been collected from these sources.  The identification
and collection of this data comprises the first three steps
of the methodology described in Section 10.4.1.

The following table shows the data from the study that we are
using for our example:

                                Open        CPU       EXCPs
Month   Invoices    Updates     Items       Mins      (1000)
=====   ========   ========   ========    ========   ========
  1       24017      3145       49752        273       4205
  2       21570      2960       51552        268       4268
  3       23411      2012       49896        262       3970
  4       21664      2500       45144        280       4384
  5       23476      2709       53156        250       3908
  6       26311      2108       48384        221       3595
  7       24744      2013       55512        230       3651


Following Step 4 in the methodology, you need to create a
business element history file in the capacity planning
database.  You may use one of two methods: a batch update or
an online process using the SAS/FSP product.  In this case,
since the data is already tabulated, the batch update is more
appropriate.  This allows creation of the business element
file containing all the historical data in one process.  If
the forecasting model is successful, you can use the SAS/FSP
update to add new business element data to the file on a
monthly basis to continue the forecast tracking process.

The historical observation for invoices, updates, open items,
CPU minutes, and EXCPs are shown in the following table.
Since dates are required by the software, an arbitrary date
was assigned to each observation.  To illustrate the use of
forecasting, estimates of the business element values for
August through October are also included in the table.

                                Open       CPU      EXCPs
  Date    Invoices   Updates    Items      Mins     (1000)
=======   ========  ========  ========   ========  ========
31JAN98     24017     3145      49752       273      4205
28FEB98     21570     2960      51552       268      4268
31MAR98     23411     2012      49896       262      3970
30APR98     21664     2500      45144       280      4384
31MAY98     23476     2709      53156       250      3908
30JUN98     26311     2108      48384       221      3595
31JUl98     24744     2013      55512       230      3651
31AUG98     25000     2000      49000
30SEP98     27000     2600      54000
31OCT98     23000     3150      60000
The Business Element File definition screen shown in Figure
10-8 is used to define the business element file.

/----------------------  Business Element File Definition  ---------------------\
|Command ===>                                                                   |
|                                                                               |
|Modifying CAP DB File def.:  BEF - Business Element File                       |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|Time-span        ===> MONTHS  (DAYS/WEEKS/MONTHS)                              |
|Starting date    ===> _______ (ddmonyy)                                        |
|Number of months ===> 24      (for pre-formatting records)                     |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|Maximum amount of data available for analysis ===> 60  (1-9999 months)         |
|Age of oldest forecast                        ===> 24  (1-9999 months)         |
|Number of cycles retained:      History file  ===> 3   (1-99 cycles)           |
|                                Forecast file ===> 3   (1-99 cycles)           |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|Specify business element file data elements ===> Y (Y/N)                       |
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

 Figure 10-8.   Business Element File Definition Screen

Using the Business Element File Definition screen shown in
Figure 10-8, indicate that you want the Business Element file
to contain data based on months.   You also specify a variety
of details about the quantity of data to be kept in the file.
use the Specify business element file data elements field to
indicate that data elements are to be specified for this
file.  Specify Y to display the Business Element File Data
Elements screen shown in Figure 10-9.

/------------------  Business Element File Data Elements  ------- ROW 1 OF 4 ---\
| Command ===>                                                Scroll ===> CSR   |
|                                                                               |
| Modifying CAP DB File def.:  BEF - Business Element File                      |
|                                                                               |
| Note:  If file updating is from external card images, data elements will be   |
|        read in ascending order of data element name for each value of DATE.   |
|                                                                               |
|Line Cmds: I Insert  D Delete  R Repeat  M Move  C Copy                        |
|                                                                               |
|Cmd   Name        Data Element Label (long name)      Tp  Len   Output Format  |
| -  -------- ---------------------------------------  --  ---  ----------------|
| _  DATE     Interval End Date                        D   7    DATE7.          |
| _  INVOICES Number of Invoices Processed             N   5    ________________|
| _  OPN_ITEM Number of Inquiries Against Open Items   N   5    ________________|
| _  UPDATES  Number of Credit Updates Logged          N   5    ________________|
|***************************** BOTTOM OF DATA  *********************************|
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

 Figure 10-9.   Business Element File Data Elements

Use the Business Element File Data Elements screen shown in
Figure 10-9 to define the data elements INVOICES, OPN_ITEM,
and UPDATES.  The data element DATE is provided
automatically.

/----------------------  Business Element File Data Entry ----------------------\
| Option ===> 3                                                                 |
|                                                                               |
| Modifying CAP DB File def.:  BEF - Business Element File                      |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|        1 - Initialize Business Element File                                   |
|            Prime business element file with null entries in preparation       |
|            for online data entry.                                             |
|        2 - Online Data Entry                                                  |
|            Update the business element file using SAS/FSP.  The file must     |
|            have been previously initialized.                                  |
|        3 - Batch Data Entry                                                   |
|            Update the business element file using external card images.       |
|            The card image update can be executed in foreground or batch.      |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|    Starting date  ===> _______ (ddmonyy)    Number of months ===> 24 (1-9999) |
|    Card image DSN ===> USER.CNTL(BEFDATA)                                     |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
|                                                                               |
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

 Figure 10-10.   Business Element File Data Entry

Use the Business Element File Data Entry screen shown in
Figure 10-10 to read data into the business element file. You
select batch data entry instead of preparing the file for
online entry or performing the actual online data entry.  We
also specify the name of the data set, USER.CNTL(BEFDATA) and
indicate the name of the file from which the business element
data is to be read.

On the CA MICS database Inquiry Execution screen, specify
that you plan to execute this file update inquiry in
foreground.

A generated file update program reads the business elements
from the specified card image data set.  Each record must
contain a date of the form DDMONYY followed by the business
element values in the order that they are specified as shown
in the Business Element File Data Elements screen (Figure
10-9).  For this example, the following SAS input statement
is generated to read the business element data:

    INPUT DATE DATE7. INVOICES UPDATES OPN_ITEM;
Hence, the following records are supplied in the
USER.CNTL(BEFPARM) file:


               31JAN98  24017  3145  49752
               28FEB98  21570  2960  51552
               31MAR98  23411  2012  49896
               30APR98  21664  2500  45144
               31MAY98  23476  2709  53156
               30JUN98  26311  2108  48384
               31JUl98  24744  2013  55512
               31AUG98  25000  2000  49000
               30SEP98  27000  2600  54000
               31OCT98  23000  3150  60000


 Figure 10-11.   Business Element Data Input File
The business element file update includes a report of the
contents of the business element file so that successful job
completion can be verified.  The Business Element File
Contents Report shown in Figure 10-12 is generated for this
example.

CA MICS Capacity Planner OBS YEAR MONTH DATE INVOICES UPDATES OPN_ITEM 1 98 1 31JAN98 24017.00 3145.00 47752.00 2 98 2 28FEB98 21570.00 2960.00 51552.00 3 98 3 31MAR98 23411.00 2012.00 49896.00 4 98 4 30APR98 21644.00 2500.00 45144.00 5 98 5 31MAY98 23476.00 2709.00 53136.00 6 98 6 30JUN98 26311.00 2108.00 48384.00 7 98 7 31JUL98 24774.00 2103.00 55512.00 8 98 8 31AUG98 25000.00 2000.00 49000.00 9 98 9 30SEP98 27000.00 2600.00 54000.00 10 98 10 31OCT98 23000.00 3150.00 60000.00


 Figure 10-12.   Business Element File Contents Report