Did you know that you could control what months should be calculated? Did you also know that this could be done differently between data vs. reports?

To access this functionality, click on the Project tab and select "Calculation Settings" or "Time Settings" Many times these are not set properly which means you are likely calculating more data than you really need. Most TBM use cases can be fulfilled with 2-3 years of data and 2 years of reports accessible and calculated. Note: you must be an Admin user to see this option.

Project Calculations and Time Settings can be controlled by using:

1. First Date for Reports - When this is set it will start calculating All reports as of this date. This typically mimics your open time periods as described in Project Time Settings. In the example below, all reports between Jan FY2016 and Dec FY2016 will be calculated.
2. Last Date for Reports – When this is set it will end calculating All reports as of this date. This typically mimics your open time periods as described in Project Time Settings. In the example below, all reports between Jan FY2016 and Dec FY2016 will be calculated.

Configure this dialog box and select "Save".

4. Select "Time Settings" on the Project tab in the Ribbon. Change the "Start of Project"  two or three years in the past.

"Start of Project" – When this is set it will calculate all data (Raw Data, Transforms, Metrics, Drills) starting with this date. In the example below this means it will only calculate data starting with Jan FY2015.

The net effect of the above is that Apptio will calculate 2 years of data but only 1 year of reports. This will allow any reports to show YoY trends in FY2015 and 2016 but not pay the penalty of calculating all of FY2015 reports.

The key takeaway is for you to calculate only the data and the reports necessary for you to achieve your goals.

Note: You must check-in changes for them to take effect.

Beginning with TBM Studio 12.9, the following functionality is available:

Add individual months to the precalculation 

The "Start/End Date for Reports" feature is usually used to compute periods, but now you to add individual month to the precalucation. This is useful for organizations that must calculate between 2 and 13 months (depending on the current date), even though they only open reports in 2 months, and want to add something like: 

• The last month of the prior fiscal year
• The current month of the current fiscal year

Do the following:

1. In the Studio Projects tab, click Calculation Settings. 
2. In the Project Calculations dialog, click the By Individual Months option. 
3. Click the calendar icon and select the months you want to add to the calculation, then click Save. 
   

If you have any questions on the above, please reach out to Apptio Support or your CS representative