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Home > Working with Planning Projects > Designing A Cascade Project

Designing A Cascade Project
Last Updated 8/26/2008 12:42 PM

As with any project, the key to successfully ensuring your project is well structured and is easy to maintain is it's preparation.

Whilst Cascade Planning lends itself to adhoc development because of it's ease of use, it is worth spending a little time in preparation, taking into account the overall design objectives.

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Projects will inevitably differ in their purpose and objective, but the following are some of the items you will need to consider as you prepare to layout a design for your project models.
  • Project objectives.
  • Desired performance objectives.
  • End user requirements and interaction.
  • Logical model design.
  • Model type.
  • Versions.
  • Model Dimensions.
  • Model Flow Relationships.
  • Data sources.
  • Allocation requirements.
  • Currency conversion requirements.
  • Maintenance and manageability.
Project Design Document including a Flow Diagram

Before building any models for the project, it is a good idea to create a Project Design Document which incorporates a flow diagram

This would typically include the following information:
  • Flow diagram showing the relationship between logical components of the project
  • For each model in the project, a brief description, dimensions, measure calculations and any non-hierarchy dimension calculations. You should also identify the primary objectives of the model (e.g. Data Input, Consolidation, Reporting, Allocation Processing etc).
  • Links between each of the models in the project.
  • Allocations affecting each model, and in the case of more complex allocations, an identification of the processing required.
  • External data sources required for each model, format and import process requirements.
  • Details of any reporting requirements.
Although not necessary before commencing development of the project, it is also useful to prepare a list of identified users of the project, their role and function in the project.

See also
Project Management
Building an Application