Release History

Our first release of the new year is packed with new features. Product output groupings, asset scaling, model organization, and more!

NEW

• We’ve introduced the concept of Output Groupings for products, which allows users to group aggregated product results by other variables in order to see various model point subsets aggregated. Output Groupings are configured at the product level in model development and then can be selected on templates and projections. These groupings are then available in the reporting module, even if model point output is disabled.

• Assets can now be scaled on a portfolio at the end of the initial time period by specifying a scaling variable that returns a scaling ratio. This selection is available when configuring the portfolio on a template or projection.

• Tags can now be applied to models (on model details) for organizational purposes and the model list can be filtered using these tags.

• Users with a Concurrent User License can now see current active users and select a user to replace when they log in.

• Newly added input tables and portfolios can now be merged between models in the Change Management area.

IMPROVEMENTS

• The model run logs now show which products are being processed dynamically during the beginning of dynamic processing.
• Mortality tables and assumption sets are now sorted alphabetically across the site.

FIXES

• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the variable list to shift when hovering over an aggregate variable.

OPERATIONS

• Several backend architectural changes have been made to improve performance around model point calculation results in the reporting module.
• We’ve upgraded several servers for better security and performance.

This is our last release of the year! It might be the holidays, but we are still rolling out great new features for our customers. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

NEW

• Introducing… Variable Tagging! Variables at all levels can now be tagged with organizational metadata. Later, these tags will be used for organization in the interface as well as filtering on projections to run subsets of calculations.

• Changes between existing product variables can now be merged in the Change Management area between models. This allows for the updating of formulas, documentation, or other fields that have changed on a product variable.
• Mortality tables can now be exported to Excel.
• A new type of system variable, Is Dynamic Processing, is available. This variable returns a boolean value indicating if the product is currently being run dynamically within the calculation engine. If false, this means the product is being run statically instead.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Users can now create reporting dashboards directly into the shared space in addition to their personal space.
• The model validation error count in the header now updates in real time, no longer requiring a page refresh.
• Investment and New Business files are now visible and downloadable in the Inputs Used section of the model results. Excel tab names also show up on files in this view.
• We’ve made several backend architectural changes to help with performance across the site, mostly focused on model validation performance.
• Projection templates are now sorted by name in the list view.

FIXES

• Fixed an issue where deleting an input table index sometimes caused data to get out of sync, causing errors on model compare.

NEW

• Introducing… Merging!  This functionality is available within Change Management and allows users to merge changes between models.  We’ve started by allowing users to merge new products and product variables between models, effectively performing a copy while maintaining dependencies by allowing users to map them.  Mergeable changes will have a new icon (pictured below) next to the change.  More merge functionality will be available soon!

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• Data tables can now be compared within Change Management!  Easily see changes between data tables in a side-by-side comparison view.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Model points with issue dates after the projection start date are now treated like new business or investment model points and start calculating at their issue date.
• When pasting rows in the table editor, new rows are now automatically appended if the paste goes beyond the end of the table.
• “Day Of” is now an option on the Date Part formula.
• “Days” is now an option on the Date Diff formula.
• Projection run settings are now available on templates (ie force recalculation, etc) and we’ve added some fancy new toggle controls to allow users to more easily see settings at a glance.
• There is now a link to directly open tables in a new window when viewing a projection or template.
• Run time now appears in the projection list view in the Execute module.

FIXES

• Investment model point file references are now validated properly before projection execution.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused errors to occur downstream when an unused variable was empty/invalid.

OPERATIONS

• We’ve made several backend updates/upgrades for general security improvement.

NEW

• There is a new “Duplicate & Run” option when duplicating a projection, which will immediately validate and run the newly created projection upon duplication.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Projection periods of zero months are now allowed, for point in time projections when future projections are not necessary.
• We’ve added more error handling in the calculation engine that will allow users to more easily troubleshoot problems, especially around the reporting of any file parsing errors that occur.
• Data table indexes are now validated to be a unique set per row, to prevent errors downstream in the calculation engine.
• When restarting a scenario, a loading overlay now appears over the page to indicate the action is being performed.  This prevents restarting of the scenario multiple times by accident.
• Significant performance improvements have been made around saving and validating larger data tables.
• Performance improvements have been made in the calculation engine around asset investments.
• Projection Templates and Cash Management Strategies must now have unique names on each model, for reporting purposes.

FIXES

• The allocation column for investment and new business is now used for distribution AND also for scaling the model points, to make the intended behavior more intuitive.
• Fixed an issue preventing the creation of snapshots in certain situations.

NEW

• New formulas for Natural Log and Natural Exponent functions are available in the formula builder.  They can be found under a new “Math Functions” icon.  We’ve also moved the aggregate function here.
• Data tables and input tables can now be copied from their details screens.

IMPROVEMENTS

• We’ve added alphabetical sorting to various product, model point field, and file name dropdowns and screens across the site to make it easier to locate them.
• The “Force Static Processing” setting on projections is now viewable on the results page as well.
• Performance of the model point details reports has been improved.
• Assumption sets and scenario tables must now have unique names for reporting purposes.

FIXES

• Fixed an intermittent issue with input table references in the formula builder not properly persisting after clicking outside or saving.
• Fixed an issue causing Mortality Table descriptions to be uneditable on non Select & Ultimate mortality tables .
• Pasting more rows than a table allows no longer causes the table to disappear/close.  Extra rows will be truncated.
• Scenario and projection run times are now reported correctly after restarting a scenario.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused a scenario to need to be restarted when a large amount of scenarios were queued (100+).
• Fixed an issue when restarting multiple scenarios at once, which sometimes caused scenarios to intermittently fail during startup.

OPERATIONS

• We’ve made some low level changes to the reporting database to allow for faster inserts of model point results, particularly when multiple scenarios are being run.

NEW

• Projections can now be compared in the Change Management module!
• Model point fields can now be converted to product variables and vice versa, via a new “convert” icon next to each field and in the variable details: 
  This conversion process maintains all formula references to the field or variable from other variables.
• A new type of system variable, “Projection Period” is now available in all variable editors.  This variable returns the projection period (in months) from the projection.
  

IMPROVEMENTS

• Selecting nodes in the relationship view now loads that node’s formula into the lower pane, so users can more easily peruse the various dependencies and how they interact.
  
• Adjustments have been made to the variable editor to reduce the number of situations in which double scrollbars appear on the variable list.
• Formulas referencing input tables are now validated when making changes to the input table’s columns.
• Improvements have been made around yield curve point validation so users get immediate feedback.
• Yield curve points must now have unique names, for reporting purposes.

FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing the scenario table selection to get cleared out when saving projection period or start date on a projection template.
• Fixed an issue causing certain formulas to be interactive on the relationship view.
• Performing integer arithmetic in the calculation engine that causes an overflow now reports an error appropriately.

NEW

• Each node in the Relationship View can now be expanded further, allowing traversal up and down the entire variable dependency chain.  For example, here is a view showing the dependencies from a model point field all the way up to a company variable.
  

IMPROVEMENTS

• More performance improvements have been made to the calculation engine.  Users should see reduced runtimes on nearly all projections.
• Product Sets and Allocations must now have unique names, for reporting purposes.

FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing projection status to sometimes report as “Completed” instead of “Completed with Errors” when only model point errors occurred.
• Fixed an issue where restarting a failed scenario did not always clear the error message after that scenario was successfully run.
• Fixed a caching issue when running a large number of scenarios at once (100+) that caused some of the scenarios to fail and need to be restarted.

NEW

• A new, “static” processing mode has been added to the calculation engine.  This can greatly improve performance and efficiency for certain types of products.  By default, the calculation engine will automatically detect if a product can be calculated in this way, but there is also an option on projections to override this and force all products to be calculated in this way.  For more details about processing order and options, check out our help site articles!
  
• New icons have been added to the Model Development and Assumption Management headers which allow quick navigation between the two modules within the same model.
  

IMPROVEMENTS

• Significant performance improvements have been made to the calculation engine across all variable types.
• There is now a link available on each node in the relationship view that allows the user to navigate to the entity in a new tab/window.
  
• A read-only version of the formula is now displayed below the relationship view on each variable.  The panel is adjustable to allow for more space for the diagram, if needed.
  
• Projection names can now be updated when duplicating a projection.  By default, a timestamp is appended to the end of the name.
• Currencies and Variable Rates must now have unique names, for reporting purposes.
• Minor improvements have been made to the calculation engine to allow for more retries in case of transient failures.

FIXES

• Fixed an issue that prevented cancelling of a scenario run in certain situations.
• Fixed assumption set table association removals when deleting a data table.

OPERATIONS

• Upgraded several 3rd party libraries/frameworks for performance and security patches.

NEW

• Introducing the Variable Relationship View!  This new view (available at all calculation levels in the variable details) allows users to see variable dependencies and data flow in a user-friendly diagram with full drag & drop and zooming capabilities.
  
• There is now an icon that appears at the top of each model showing the current validation error count if the model contains errors.  This icon can then be clicked to take the user to the model validation summary page.
  
• Users can now replace a data table or mortality table using a file import via a new icon/button on the table details screens.
  
• A model point file template can now be downloaded from the Model Point File Definition screen within each product.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Several improvements have been made to the table editor, including auto scrolling when using keyboard navigation and improvements to single-cell copy/paste functionality, allowing users to copy a cell into multiple selected cells in one action.
• Projections now only require data tables be set for those input tables that are referenced from the projection’s calculations.  This can greatly reduce the number of data tables that need to be set for smaller projections.
• Missing data tables and model point files on projections and templates are now indicated with an icon to allow users to more quickly identify missing tables/files.
• Projection validation now only checks the pieces of the model that it uses, so pointing to an invalid model is OK as long as the invalid pieces are not used in the projection.  This also improves performance of projection validation.
• Innermost error variable is now displayed in the error message on the Error Summary report in the Model Results area of the site.
• When users no longer have an active session, we’ve improved the experience when attempting to perform certain actions on the site, redirecting them to the Login page appropriately.
• Assumption sets are now included on projection templates during model export, import, and copy.
• Input Tables, Data Tables, and Mortality Tables must now have unique names, for reporting purposes.
• Memory efficiency and performance has been improved in the calculation engine.
• Minor validation performance improvements for all concurrent background validation.
• Projection deletion performance has been improved.

FIXES

• Fixed validation of the Data Type field when creating an Input Table column.
• Fixed extra whitespace issue appearing in IE Edge in various dropdowns on the site.
• Fixed a bug causing the start time of a projection to be incorrect when running multiple scenarios in parallel.  This did not affect runtime usage costs, but caused the total run time to be incorrect on the projection.

NEW

• Introducing the Change Management module!  The first feature available in this module is the model comparison feature, which allows users to select two models and see the differences between them.  Look out for more features in this area of the application soon!
  
• A scenario file template can now be downloaded from the Economic Scenarios area of model development, or the Scenario Tables area of assumption management.
  
• A new projection run summary dashboard is available in the Model Results area that gives general information about the run itself.  This is now the default dashboard that appears when viewing projection results.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Significant performance improvements have been made towards the start of each calculation engine run, particularly if multiple scenarios are run at once.
• Calculation engine performance has been improved towards the end of each time index.
• Model point files and scenario files are now downloadable directly from projections and templates.
• The “View Run Logs” button at the top of projection details in the Model Execution area is now always available at the completion of a projection run.
• We’ve made performance improvements around validation of changes to model point file definitions.
• Product, Portfolio, and Company Variables must now have unique names, for reporting purposes.
• Formula builder group interface has been improved for greater readability, particularly around taller formula groups.

FIXES

• Post projection calculations no longer throw off the display of the completion percentage of the projection during execution.
• Fixed an issue where in certain situations, some items on the formula builder operand menu were not clickable due to overlapping elements.
• Legal entities can now be removed even if they are used by a snapshot.  They still cannot be removed if attached to any active models.