Item Variables allow you to define specific items in Dimension Lists that are particularly relevant for reporting purposes. They can be Static, Dynamic, or even Member-based.

Up until recently, if you wanted to amend a Static Item Variable, you had to navigate to the Item Variables section of the settings. This is something you can only do if you have the Configure Application permission activated for your role, which isn’t something most end-users have. Now, however, it is possible for Members without this permission to change Static Variables on a Board by using an additional Page selector.

Why is this powerful? Let’s look at two examples of how you can leverage this new functionality to do variance analysis.

Rolling Forecast vs Budget or Actual - Example 1

This example shows you how to use one changeable Static Variable to compare different forecast Versions against Actual and Budget.

Imagine a P&L report like the one in the screenshot below. We have an Actual Version and a Budget Version, which we always want to be able to analyze. We also generate a new rolling forecast Version each month.

We want to easily toggle which rolling forecast Version we see, as indicated by the green arrow. When we adjust it, we also want the necessary Calculated Item comparison columns, indicated by the blue and orange arrows, to update accordingly.

How can we do this?

Step 1: 

1. Set up a new Static Variable for Versions in settings or by using the Page selectors on a board. 
2. Set Let Members change the value in their session to Allow changes. 

If there is a more appropriate Version to set as the default, select it in the Variable value field.

Step 2: 

Pivot the P&L report Table so that Versions are in the Columns and the Pages.

Step 3: 

1. Right click on one of the Versions in the grid View and click Add Calculated Item, and then click Custom Calculation. 
2. Set one or multiple of the calculation components to be the new Static Variable you created. 
   
   The screenshot below shows how we set up the RF vs Actual column in the Table in the screenshot above.

3. Create as many Calculated Items as you need, and save the View.

Step 4: 

As the Static Variable is set to Let Members change the value in their session and it’s relevant to the table by being in the Calculated Item, it should now appear in your Page selectors. It will default to the item you set as the Variable value, but you should be able to change it to any Version.

If you like, you can also rename it to something slightly easier to understand using the Selectors Options.
 

Step 5:

1. In the Selectors Options on the Board: 
   a. Ensure that Version is set to Multi selection, and that the Default Items are your Fixed Variable, Actual and Budget.
   b. Hide Versions from the Pages selectors.
   
   This is because the only thing you need to change pertaining to Versions is which Rolling Forecast Version will inhabit your Static Variable. The Actual and Budget Versions will always be relevant to your report.

And voila! You should now have a report that looks like the one below, where you can toggle between different Rolling Forecast Versions and compare them to Actual and Budget.

A few things to note:

• The order of your Version list affects the position of the columns. In the example above, the Actual and Budget Versions are the first two in the list - this ensures that the rolling forecast Versions always appear to the right.
• Similarly, you should ensure that your first Calculated Item is set up so its Position is after your Static Variable or All Items. Ensure that the following Calculated Items are positioned after the first Calculated Item you want to come before them. Read more about how to do this here.
• We are not yet able to dynamically filter the contents of the Variable Page selector. That means that, in the above example, we can do one of the following
  • Hard-code the rolling forecast Versions as Available Items, as you can see in the screenshot below
  • Allow all items to be available, meaning Members can mistakenly select the Actual and Budget Versions from the dropdown.

Rolling Forecast vs Budget or Actual - Example 2

This example shows you how to use two changeable Static Variables to compare any Version to any other Version. Let’s take the same P&L report as before, but let’s assume that we now want the flexibility to compare any two Versions that we like.

How can we do this?

Step 1: 

1. Set up two changeable Static Variables for Versions, similar to the one in the previous example. 
2. Name these Static Variables something straightforward like “Version A” and “Version B”.

Step 2: 

Pivot the P&L report Table so that Versions are in the columns and the pages.

Step 3: 

1. Right click on one of the Versions in the grid View. 
2. Click Add Calculated Item -> Custom Calculation. This time, you should set both of the calculation components to be the new Static Variables you created. 

The screenshot below shows how set up a simple example of this.

Step 4:

The changeable Static Variables should now appear in your Page selectors for the View. You can also rename it to something slightly easier to understand using the Selectors Options.

Step 5:

1. In the Selectors Options on the View or Board, ensure that Version is set to ‘Multi’ selection.
2. Check that two Default Items are selected: your Static Variables. 
3. Next, hide Versions from the Page Selectors.

And there you have it - a report that should look like the one in the screenshot below, where you can compare any Version to any other Version.

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of how to leverage the changeable Static Variables feature to maximize your variance reports. 

Feel free to comment below to explain how you used this feature for your own reporting 🙂