Have you ever been in a situation where you need to add extra characters to a string in IBM Planning Analytics? Maybe you need ten characters, but the data source value only has seven characters. You can resolve this situation via the FILL function.

FILL can be used in both Rules and TurboIntegrator processes.

Syntax:

FILL(string, length)

Example:

FILL( ‘0’ , 3 ) returns ‘000’

You can also merge the fill results with the original value using the pipe symbol, as follows:

          Value = FILL ( ‘0’ , 3 ) | Value ;

But what about a situation where you don’t have a consistent number of characters in your source? You can also use FILL in conjunction with the LONG function, which returns the length of the string.

Example:

LONG ( ‘000’) returns 3.

You might have a three character data source value that has some preceding zeros that are being dropped. You could add the necessary number of preceding zeroes by using the LONG function:

IF (LONG (Value) = 2 );

     Value = FILL ( ‘0’ , 1 ) | Value ;

ELSEIF (LONG (Value) = 1 );

     Value = FILL ( ‘0’ , 2 ) | Value ;

ELSE;

     Value = Value ;

ENDIF;

Now that you better understand the FILL command, the next step is to work with The Foundations to teach everyone that the song is not “FILL me up Buttercup” but is instead “BUILD me up!”

IBM Planning Analytics, which TM1 is the engine for, is full of new features and functionality. Not sure where to start? Our team here at Revelwood can help. Contact us for more information at info@revelwood.com. And stay tuned for more Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks weekly in our Knowledge Center and in upcoming newsletters!

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IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Using IF with a Counter