Data Action: Copying user-submitted data to another version and lock only that user's cost center

[#1]

Use case: Multiple users plan on the same input form but have data access restricted to their own cost centers. After planning, each user should trigger a data action that:

1. Copies their entered values to a public version (e.g., version 'K')

2. Locks their specific cost center so that they can no longer modify it

3. Leaves all other users' cost centers unlocked so they can still plan and trigger their own data actions

How can I structure a data action and locking logic in SAC to support this partial locking mechanism by user and cost center?

[William_Yu1]

Restrict data access user's own costcenter can be achieved with data access control on costcenter dimension. 

Lock  cost center after data publish can be achieved via data locking feature. 

[natalijav96]

Hey William, thank you for the timely answer. So much I do know as well. But wouldnt adding the data locking step to the data action then lock all the cost centers, and not only those planned by that one cost center responsible?

[Ivan_Camac]

Not if data locking has been correctly configured in the model with Cost Centre as a driving dimension. With this configuration in place, you are able to lock just a specific cost centre if you want.

The problem I see with data locking however, is that data locks can only be set by a user who is identified as a Data Locking Owner in the model (in the version dimension). If you are a Data Locking Owner, then you can set the locks via script or otherwise, but the locks don't actually apply to you and a Data Locking Owner for a data slice can still make changes to the data while it is in a restricted state.

There is a chance that you could use calendar tasks to set the locks, so that your users are not Data Locking Owners, but this would depend on your business process (it doesn't work for us, as we have tried this). 

If you have Data Access Control enabled for the Cost Centre dimension, is it necesary for the data action to copy data to a different version? This would prevent other users changing data they should not be able to.

Cheers, Ivan. 

[William_Yu1]

Data locking usually is a planning process related task not handled directly with Data action. Currently you have option to automate a data locking task in calendar at a certain point of planning process. And you can data lock by each costcenter if you use costcenter as data locking driving dimension. 

[natalijav96]

@Ivan_Camac But from what I have seen, in a multiaction that can trigger data locking, you can only enable it over the whole dimension. It would literally not change anything. if i use restricted access for the cost center responsibles, then all of them will still be able to edit their cost centers. I think you misunderstood what I intend to do. All planners work in one story and trigger the same data action, they all work at different times. When one planner "submits" his planning, by triggering the data action, data locking should relate only to his cost center. When the next planner submits, then his cost center as well should be added to the lock. I dont want to enable data locking for all cost centers at the same time.

[natalijav96]

@William_Yu1, ok in that case, what I intend to do is simply not available at the moment. I cannot use the calender because it is not a fixed timeline.

[Ivan_Camac]

Once you have configured the driving dimensions for data locking, a Data Locking step in a Multi Action will allow you to specify a scope. For example in the screenshot below, we have a model where we lock specific periods:

You can define parameters for these and then populate the parameter values via script for example if you are calling the multi action from a story or adding to a calendar task.

Cheers, Ivan. 

[natalijav96]

@Ivan_Camac Thanks for the response. It is not an ideal solution since the cost centers (scope as you say) is user specific and if I include parameters, then planners need to manually choose their cost centers, but i think its a good compromise. It also gives them a chnce to think if they want to submit, might reduce impulsiveness. Thanks!

[Ivan_Camac]

If you have a look through the documentation here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_ANALYTICS_CLOUD/00f68c2e08b941f081002fd3691d86a7/e07d46e950794d5a928a9... then perhaps what you are after is 'Delegated Ownership of Data Locks'. According to the documentation, a delegated owner can set data locks to a more restrictive state but not the reverse. So this could cater to your requirement. You could certainly do this on a Cost Centre scope so a User could set the lock on just their own Cost Cenre scope without locking anyone else's. They also then couldn't unlock it again as a delegated owner.

Suggest you check this blog: https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blog-posts-by-members/data-locking-ownership-in-sap-analytic...