There is a need, sometimes, to clear data. Whether something got loaded wrong or whatever, there is a need. The clear data screen, below, is almost perfect: enter dimension members and then run the clear. There is one thing lacking. If you look closely at this screenshot, you'll notice the period and year dimensions are trying to use substitution variables. Currently, this does not work. You have to specify the period(s) and year(s) being cleared. This requirement makes clearing data somewhat useless in an automated process.
In case you're wondering, where this ability will be the most helpful with automation is the ability to clear a period before loading new data. Even if the data is loaded in replace mode, if an entity was loaded to the period in the past and is no longer in the data load, then the system does not know to clear the data. By clearing the period first, then this would no longer become an issue.
There is good news. The idea of allowing the use of substitution variables was created on Cloud Customer Connect back in September 2020 and then a duplicate submission was done in March 2022. On April 14, 2022, there was an update to the March idea. "Should be coming in the next few months" was the update. I assume the normal safe harbor statement applies.
This is welcome news and I look forward to using it. And don't think that the substitution variables have to be manually updated. EPM Automate can populate the substitution variables and then run the clear data profile, so this will be a great addition.
