Models (Spend, Budget & Forecast) — FAQs and Troubleshooting

Use this page for questions and troubleshooting related to understanding, creating, managing, comparing, exporting, and importing financial models in Yarken — including the default Spend, Budget, and Forecast models and custom models.

Understanding models

Q: What are models in Yarken?

A: Models are reusable structures that organize financial data across Spend, Budget, and Forecast scenarios. They define how data is grouped, allocated, and analyzed within the platform.

Models allow you to:

• Separate actuals from planning data

• Run multiple planning scenarios in parallel

• Create and manage allocation strategies specific to each model

• Compare financial outcomes across different strategies

Each model maintains its own data, rules, and mappings — ensuring no unintended overlap between scenarios.

Q: What are the default models and can they be modified?

A: Yarken includes three default system models:

Default models:

• Are always available in every environment

• Cannot be edited, renamed, or deleted

• Serve as the fixed foundation for reporting and analysis

You can create additional custom models of the same types for parallel scenarios.

Q: What data areas do models apply to and what remains shared?

A: Models apply to some data areas but not all:

Q: How does publishing work across models?

A: Publishing behavior ensures clean separation between actuals and planning:

When publishing cloud spend, a default Spend model is preselected for faster publishing. You can also unpublish cloud spend data by removing it from a specific model.

When a budget or forecast is pushed as baseline, it replaces the existing baseline for that entity in the respective model.

Managing custom models

Q: Can I edit a custom model after creation?

A: Yes. You can update a custom model's code, name, description, or type.

Q: Can I delete a custom model?

A: Yes.

Rules and mappings across models

Q: Are rules and mappings shared across models?

A: No. Each model maintains its own set of rules and mappings. A Cost Pool rule created in the Spend model does not automatically apply to the Budget or Forecast model. However, you can copy rules and mappings between models to reuse configurations.

Q: What happens when I copy rules within one model — does it affect other models?

A: No. Copying rules within one model does not affect rules in another model.

Copying model data

Q: Can I copy an entire model's data to another model?

A: Yes. You can copy model data directly within Yarken Designer.

Key behaviors:

• Copies data from the source model and year into the currently selected target model

• If the target model already contains data, it is overwritten during the copy process

• Useful for replicating allocation structures across planning cycles

Exporting and importing models

Q: How do I export a model?

A: To export a model:

1. Open Yarken Designer

2. Select the required model and year

3. Click Export Model in the top-right corner

4. A download link is generated — click Download Export

The export creates a ZIP archive containing individual CSV files for:

• Cost Pools

• Towers

• Solutions

• Consumers

• Related rules and mappings

Important limitations:

• Export works for the selected model and year only

• The export does not include Upload Rules for Expenses, Budget, or Forecast

• Upload rules for other source tables (Master Data, Consumption, Assets, Accounts Payable) are also not included

Use exports for backup, restore, replication, or migration between environments.

Q: How do I import a model?

A: To import a previously exported model:

1. Open Yarken Designer

2. Select the required model and year

3. Click Import Model in the top-right corner

4. Select the exported ZIP file

5. Confirm the import

Key behaviors:

• Import applies to the selected model and year

• Overwrites all existing data for that model and year

• Restores model data, rules, and mappings from the ZIP file

Prerequisites:

• A valid exported ZIP file from Yarken Designer

• The ZIP must contain all required CSV files (expenditures, cost pool rules, tower rules, mappings)

• Master data and assets in the target environment must match the source model for successful replication

Q: Does importing a model overwrite existing data?

A: Yes. Importing a model replaces all existing data for the selected model and year. This includes expenses, rules, and mappings.

Models in Analytics and Custom Dashboards

Q: What are dynamic measures and how do they work with custom models?

A: When you create a custom model, Yarken automatically generates dynamic measures in Analytics — no manual setup required.

For example, if you create a custom Spend model named "Custom Model":

These measures appear automatically in the Metrics panel alongside existing metrics. They enable seamless side-by-side analysis without any configuration.

Q: Do Custom Dashboards support model-based analysis?

A: Yes. Custom Dashboards fully support model-based analysis:

• All widgets respect model filters

• Filters are applied consistently across custom reports

• You can build dashboards that compare data across multiple models

• Dynamic measures from custom models are available in widget configuration

Q: Does Cost Explorer support model filtering?

A: Yes. Cost Explorer includes a Model filter that allows you to view the cost flow by selected model. The filter defaults to the Spend model. You can switch to Budget, Forecast, or any custom model to trace allocation through that model's rules and mappings.

Models and expenses

Q: What is the "Expenses" terminology in models?

A: Naming for Spend has been standardized across Designer. "Expenses" is now used as the common term for model elements within Designer, while metrics in Analytics continue to be labeled as Spend, Budget, and Forecast.

This means:

• In Designer, you load "Expenses" into a model (whether it's actual spend, budget, or forecast data)

• In Analytics, the same data appears under the familiar Spend, Budget, and Forecast metric labels

Models and pipelines

Q: How do models interact with pipelines?

A: In Pipelines, data mapping templates are now based on the model linked to the template. This means:

• Each pipeline's data mapping template is associated with a specific model

• When the pipeline runs, data is loaded into the linked model

• You can create separate pipelines for different models (e.g., one pipeline for Spend actuals, another for Budget data)

This ensures automated data ingestion respects the model structure and maintains clean separation between actuals and planning data.

Troubleshooting models

Custom model not appearing in Analytics or Cost Explorer

Cause: The custom model was created but dynamic measures have not been generated, or the browser is serving a cached version.

Resolution:

1. Navigate to Admin → Settings → Models and verify the custom model exists with the correct type

2. Clear browser cache and reload the application

3. Navigate to Analytics → Spend and check the Metrics panel for the custom model's dynamic measures

4. If the model appears in Settings but not in Analytics, wait for the next cube refresh or trigger one manually

5. Verify the model has data loaded — empty models may not generate visible measures

Model import overwrites data unexpectedly

Cause: Model import is designed to replace all existing data for the selected model and year. This is expected behavior, not a bug.

Resolution:

1. Before importing, always export the current model as a backup

2. Verify you have selected the correct target model and year before confirming the import

3. After import, review the model data, rules, and mappings to confirm the expected structure

4. If data was overwritten unintentionally, restore from the backup export

Model export missing upload rules

Cause: Model export does not include Upload Rules for Expenses, Budget, Forecast, or other source tables. This is a known scope limitation.

Resolution:

1. After importing a model into a new environment, manually recreate upload rules for all source tables

2. Document all upload rules separately (screenshots, exports, or a reference spreadsheet) before migrating

3. Lookup Types referenced by upload rules must also be recreated in the target environment

4. Consider maintaining a master reference document for upload rules as part of your operational governance

Custom model measures not appearing in Analytics

Cause: Dynamic measures are generated automatically when a custom model is created, but they may not appear if the model has no data or if a cube refresh is pending.

Resolution:

1. Verify the custom model has data loaded for at least one period

2. Trigger a cube refresh or wait for the next scheduled refresh

3. Clear browser cache and reload Analytics

4. Check the Metrics panel in the Spend cube — dynamic measures appear under the Spend section

5. If measures still do not appear, verify the model type is correct (Spend, Budget, or Forecast)

Model comparison not showing expected data

Cause: The models being compared may have different data coverage (different months loaded, different allocation completeness), or the cube has not refreshed after recent data changes.

Resolution:

1. Verify both models have data loaded for the same periods

2. Check that allocation rules are complete in both models — unallocated spend in one model will create apparent discrepancies

3. Trigger a cube refresh if data was recently loaded or rules were recently changed

4. In Analytics, verify the correct measures are selected (e.g., "Spend vs Custom Model" for variance)

5. Check entity and currency filters — ensure both models are being viewed with the same filter context

Deleting a custom model — data loss warning

Cause: Deleting a custom model permanently removes all associated expenses and rules. This action is irreversible.

Resolution:

1. Before deleting, export the model as a backup using Export Model

2. Verify no active reporting, dashboards, or analytics views depend on the model's dynamic measures

3. Confirm with stakeholders that the model is no longer needed

4. After deletion, dynamic measures associated with the model are removed from Analytics

Related content

• Models Overview

• Create and manage custom models

• Working with models

• Export and import model data