A great functionality of Apptio application is that the system reports model errors automatically when something is broken or incorrectly is configured. The errors are displayed with a number (how many) in the Project Explorer pane next to the dataset. When you open the dataset the errors are displays in the Transform Step pane. When you open the particular step (with the error/errors), the line with the error is marked red. If you hover over this red marked line, Apptio shows the issue in a short message so you are able to fix this very simple.

Now we have explained how it works and show you the three pictures below, we see that Apptio is also reporting fake errors once in a while. Does anybody knows why?

• Screenshot 1 - Labor Master Data reports one error (see red arrow) in the Project Explorer pane. We do not see the errors reported in one of the steps (Overview; Append; Formulas or Table) in the Transform Step pane but this could be generated by the one of the appended tables...
• Screenshot 2 - APAC Labor Service Allocation Combined doesn't report an error in the Project Explorer pane. It doesn't report an error in the Transform Step pane as well.
• Screenshot 2 - Labor Service Allocation Combined doesn't report an error in the Project Explorer pane. It doesn't report an error in the Transform Step pane as well.

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Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

Very interesting error! What happens if you change the month you are viewing? Does the error stay as 1? It may be in a different month, but the indicator stays with the data set forever?

Just a thought

To the point. A good learning as always.

Hi @Oliver Smith, you are right. It was a little bit searching but I finally found the error by changing the month. It is so simple when you know the answer   Thanks for helping me out.

@Robert Brilmayer and @Sandor Welfing: FYI

Happy to help! I'm glad it worked

I like the intent of the error flagging, but it doesn't help direct those of us looking at the flags to things "needing" our attention urgently, issues that can be set aside, and something triggering an "FYI".

Personally, I would like a way to filter the flags and counters shown so as to allow us opportunity to zero-in on things we absolutely need to get our eyes and action on.

As is, there's way too much noise for the existing solution to provide what I expect is the intended value.

Thanks @Matt Temple to share your vision and wish. I hear what you are saying but beware that all the errors reported by Apptio could or will have an influence on the outcome on the Apptio project and should be solved to be sure Apptio is processing data well.

I diagree. Some errors are not true errors and have absolutely no adverse impact on the table or any other downstream object/component. Such errors are more considered, in my book, as "warnings" or "informational" that can be easily dismissed/ignored for a later time to revisit and resolve (if time permits and so inclined).

Juan José Jarillo I'm sure you've seen a lot of the error flags yourself and see many can easily and comfortably dismissed, right?

I'm not familiar with this function. We're on V11

Hi @Matt Temple, maybe good idea to reply some examples for the informational and warnings that doesn't have an impact from your opinion. And by the way, you are the master of your own project and you are free to ignore these kind of messages. This is not what I prefer, this is low fruit and a free gift from the Apptio tool for improvements on your project 

In this screenshot taken from our Cost Source Master Data table, you can see four errors are raised in the Counter for the Formulas step with three of those highlighted with a red background within the TBM Studio user interface.

The errors are all related to benchmarking...which makes sense being that we haven't done anything in that area.

None of these alleged errors cause any significant problems and can easily be dismissed/ignored. In other words, I regard them more as warnings or informational alerts...adding to the "noise" of similar error flags that are not truly deserving of my time to resolve any time soon. ;-)

Hi Matt, I hear what you are saying. However, if you are using Benchmarking it is valid information to pickup/fix. Also, when you are starting using Benchmarking in the near future and you do not remember that you ignored these kind of Benchmarking 'Warnings', you will have not the full force of Apptio.

Many of the benchmarking related formulas are present in the out-of-box version of the Cost Source Master Data table...even for those who are not (and may never) use benchmarking. Presently, we are not and do not plan to use benchmarking. If we decide to deploy benchmarking later, it's an easy enough task for us to revisit and address the errors raised as part of that deployment effort. For now...just noise.

If I was striving for perfection (and had the time to do so), I would eliminate all of the "warnings" so I can better focus on the real errors (deserving of my time).

As it is, it comes down to how us as users of TBM Studio wish to tackle the errors. For me, I choose to consciously ignore many of the error counters/flags since they do no harm to my CT projects now or in the foreseeable future.

For me, my time could be solicited better if Apptio qualifies the flags raised in some way as Informational, Warning, Error, or Critical and provides a means for me to filter on/out based on these qualifiers to those I don't need to worry about (eg Informational), ones to worry about later (eg Warning), and those I should look at now (eg Error and Critical).

Here's another example of an error raised, but should qualify more as "Informational" (lowest level of an error flag).

In this case, the Group step was intentionally added as a "spacer" to segregate the first Formulas step from the details contained in the second Formulas step.

Sure, someone could argue it's an error, but it's not one that breaks anything or causes harm to the design of the project to the extent of warranting any correction. It can safely be ignored. :-)

I have seen this behavior myself.  I have also had experiences where errors bubbles show- but no information shows in the full error report regarding the error.  

I also wish there was a way to "accept" an error.  Perhaps have it change color or something.  We have some errors created by the fact that we are formatting a column as a number, but an alphanumeric value (that we are later filtering out) is throwing the error.   Would like a way to accept it once we confirm it's not causing any issues or doing any harm.

I think accepting an error is a great idea. I've definitely spotted a few that don't have any impact at all, so it would be nice to be able to remove the indicator to get an accurate representation of the error we have that DO make an impact, and that do need to be fixed at some point.

I, too, love the concept of an "accept" feature, but wonder if accepting should be relative or provide option to apply it to a single time period, the time period accepted and prior periods, or all time periods.

When previously speaking with Apptio Engineers, I recommended they consider qualifying the errors as similar to how most other programs inform end users of problems as:

1. Informational
   The system is saying, "Heads up! This won't break anything, but it looks odd to me. You can safely ignore this if it looks acceptable to you."
2. Warning
   The system is saying, "You should look at this, but it won't cause any major problems."
3. Error
   The system is saying, "This is a problem! Fix this as soon as possible."
4. Critical
   The system is saying, "This is an absolute show-stopper! Stop what you're doing and fix it now!"

Extending on the above qualifiers, I also recommended they provide us with a way to filter/select one or more flag types permitting us a way to zero-in on the flags/errors that really matter so we can use our time more effectively. :-)

I think those categories would be really useful, and especially the ability to filter on each one so that you could focus on all the 'I need to be fixed' problems. 

Good idea Pam, will definately help in long run.

Have you clicked "Saved" and did that change the error display?

Hi @Bhawna Singh, the right answer is already given above. Thanks for your reply.

Yes please handle with kid gloves when the system is prompting something!

I wish there was a report that lists all the errors or you could filter the tables with errors.  

Found it.  Project Errors.

@Michelle McGuire OOTB or custom report? 

OOO from TBM Studio, select Project tab, then Errors.

Ah, gotcha - was thinking earlier that it was a report in the report area, doh!

That would be nice.  Especially if it had the time period the error started in....  Argh....  Cleaning up errors.  sooooo many...