Understanding Scenario Source Periods

What are scenario source periods?

• In Catalyst, scenarios serve as vital tools for budgeting and forecasting, providing users with the capability to model diverse financial situations and analyze potential outcomes. When creating a new scenario, the concept of source periods is crucial.
• By selecting a source scenario for specific periods, users can initialize the new scenario with data from the chosen source. It's worth noting that choosing source period scenarios isn't required if you intend to populate data for all periods yourself.
• However, it's essential to understand that the connection between scenarios and source periods is a one-time capture. Subsequent changes to the source scenario will not impact the new associated scenario.

Common confusion

After creating a budget or forecast scenario and selecting a source scenario for the new scenario's periods, users may encounter a situation where the initial data is populated from the source scenario. However, when updates are made to the source scenario, the changes are not reflected in the new scenario. This raises the question: Why is this happening?

Explanation

• The issue you're experiencing is related to the way the system handles the connection between the source scenario and the new scenario for designated periods.
• When you select a source scenario for the remaining periods after actuals through, the system performs a ONE-TIME capture of the data present in that source scenario. However, it does not establish an ongoing connection to continuously update the new scenario with changes in the source scenario.
• To ensure that changes made in the source scenario are reflected in the new scenario, it is crucial to make all necessary modifications to the source scenario before creating a new scenario that relies on it.

Workaround resolution

Here are the recommended steps if you've already created a scenario and didn't realize that scenario source periods will not update dynamically:

1. Delete or Archive the Existing Scenario
   • If the new scenario has already been created and is not reflecting the changes from the source scenario, consider deleting the existing new scenario.
2. Make Changes to the Source Scenario
   • Before recreating the new scenario, make all the required changes to the source scenario. This ensures that the data in the source scenario is up-to-date and aligned with your modifications.
3. Recreate the New Scenario
   • Once the source scenario has been updated, recreate the new scenario by selecting the updated source scenario. This ensures that the new scenario captures the latest data from the source scenario.

If you're curious about creating a scenario that continuously syncs to another, check out our article on Dependent Scenario types and the concept of Actuals through, found here: Actuals Thru and Dependent Scenarios