Analysers

Introduction

bcompiler is able to conduct basic analysis on spreadsheets. An analyser will usually process some data in a master spreadsheet and produce another spreadsheet (CSV, Excel), an Excel chart, commandline output, or some other data type.

Built-in analysers can be used in two ways:

• from the command line
• importing into your own Python programs

Analysers available from the commandline use mostly default options and are relatively limited. More extensive configuration can be gained by writing your own scripts and importing bcompiler analyser code into your project to help you. See Importing analyser code into your own projects for more details.

Running from the commandline

Basic command

>> bcompiler --analyser ANALYSER OPTIONS

Available options

Available to all analysers

• --master PATH_TO_DIRECTORY_CONTAINING_MASTER

Available to swimlane_milestones analyser

The default is chart milestones within a range of 365 days from today. However, the following options are available to give greater control to this band:

• --output PATH_TO_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
• --start_date DATE (dd/mm/yyyy)
• --end_date DATE (dd/mm/yyyy)

Importing analyser code into your own projects

Warning

This functionality is not yet implemented.

from bcompiler.analysers import Swimlane

s = SwimlaneMilestones()
s.output('/home/user/Desktop/swimlane_milestones.xlsx')
s.add_to_worksheet(worksheet)
workbook.save()

Built-in Analysers

rcf

Perform Reference Class Forecasting on selected master files. Target master files must be named according to this pattern: *_N_YYYY.xlsx where N represents a number between 1 and 4 and YYY represents a year. This file therefore represents the Nth quarter of year Financial Year YYYY.

Default >> bcompiler --analyser rcf

Default options require master files to be referenced in Documents/bcompiler directory A single workbook for each project is output to the Documents/bcompiler directory.

Output files to a different directory >> bcompiler --analyser rcf --output C:\Users\jim\Desktop

This options requires the master files to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory. The data is output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop.

Set target master directory manually

>> bcompiler --analyser rcf --master C:\Users\jim\Downloads

This options requires a master files to be present in the C:\Users\jim\Downloads directory, named q1_master.xlsx. The files are output to Documents/bcompiler/output directory.

financial analysis

Output a workbook containing a single worksheet which includes a graph mapping change in certain financial data from designated quarters. Must include four quarters, named correctly in config.ini file.

Default >> bcompiler --analyser financial

Default options require master files to be referenced in config.ini file and present in Documents/bcompiler directory. A single workbook for each project is output to the Documents/bcompiler directory.

Output files to a different directory >> bcompiler --analyser financial --output C:\Users\jim\Desktop

This options requires the master files to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, and referenced in the config.ini file. The data is output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop.

keyword

Search for a keyword in the master key column (Column A) (e.g. RAG, or SRO). By default, outputs to terminal.

Default

>> bcompiler --analyser keyword "RAG"

Default options require a master file to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, named target_master.xlsx as per the config.ini file.

Output is sent to your terminal.

Warning

Terminal output will exceed 80 characters. If you are using Windows, you should go to Preferences in cmd application and increase the width of the terminal window to something like 150 characters.

Output to xlsx (Excel) file

>> bcompiler --analyser keyword "RAG" --xlsx C:\Users\jim\Desktop\rag.xlsx

This options requires a master file to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, named target_master.xlsx as per the config.ini file. The data is output to the file specified after the --xlsx flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop\rag.xlsx.

Output to xlsx (Excel) and get data from a specific master

>> bcompiler --analyser keyword "RAG" --xlsx C:\Users\jim\Desktop\rag.xlsx --master C:\Users\jim\Downloads\q1_master.xlsx

This options requires a master file to be present in the C:\Users\jim\Downloads directory, named q1_master.xlsx. The data is output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop\rag.xlsx.

annex

Creates individual project spreadsheets pulling out pertinent headline and textual data from a master. Intended to be used a Annex to BICC report. The analyser relies on two master files to be present: a master representing current data and one representing historical data. This is to allow for annex to report a “DCA Last Quarter” value.

Default

>> bcompiler --analyser annex

Default options require a master file to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, named target_master.xlsx as per the config.ini file, and a second master file, perhaps representing the previous quarter, named compare_master.xlsx in the same directory. You can use different filenames but this must be reflected in [MasterForAnalysis] and [AnalyserAnnex] in config.ini.

Set compare master manually (overriding value in config.ini)

>> bcompiler --analyser annex --compare C:\Users\jim\Desktop\q1_master.xlsx

Set output directory manually (overriding default of Documents/bcompiler/output

>> bcompiler --analyser annex --output C:\Users\jim\Desktop

This options requires a master file to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, named target_master.xlsx as per the config.ini file. The files are output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop.

Set output directory manually (overriding default output directory of Documents/bcompiler/output and master set in config.ini

>> bcompiler --analyser annex --output C:\Users\jim\Desktop --master C:\Users\jim\Downloads\q1_master.xlsx

This options requires a master file to be present in the C:\Users\jim\Downloads directory, named q1_master.xlsx. The files are output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop.

Set target master manually (overriding default set in config.ini)

>> bcompiler --analyser annex --master C:\Users\jim\Downloads\q1_master.xlsx

This options requires a master file to be present in the C:\Users\jim\Downloads directory, named q1_master.xlsx. The files are output to Documents/bcompiler/output directory.

swimlane_milestones

Specific analyser uses project data from a master file and creates a new Excel scatter chart, showing a timeline of major approval milestones horizontally in swimlane fashion.

Note

By default, the swimlane chart will be produced with multi-coloured markers. If you wish all markers to be grey, ensure the following setting is present in config.ini:

[AnalyserSwimlane]
grey_markers = true

Note

Basic configuration for milestones analysers is done in config.ini. Documentation for these is contained in comments in the file.

Default options

>> bcompiler --analyser swimlane_milestones

Default options require a master file to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, named target_master.xlsx as per the config.ini file. The chart is output in a file called swimlane_milestones.xlsx in the Documents/bcompiler/output directory.

By default, the analyser will chart only those milestones that fall within 365 days of today. This can be changed in config.ini by changing the range value in the ['AnalyserSwimlane'] section.

Set output directory manually (overriding default of Documents/bcompiler/output

>> bcompiler --analyser swimlane_milestones --output C:\Users\jim\Desktop

This options requires a master file to be present in the Documents/bcompiler directory, named target_master.xlsx as per the config.ini file. The chart is output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop.

Set output directory manually (overriding default output directory of Documents/bcompiler/output and master set in config.ini

>> bcompiler --analyser swimlane_milestones --output C:\Users\jim\Desktop --master C:\Users\jim\Downloads\q1_master.xlsx

This options requires a master file to be present in the C:\Users\jim\Downloads directory, named q1_master.xlsx. The chart is output to the directory specified after the --output flag, in this case C:\Users\jim\Desktop.

Set target master manually (overriding default set in config.ini)

>> bcompiler --analyser swimlane_milestones --master C:\Users\jim\Downloads\q1_master.xlsx

This options requires a master file to be present in the C:\Users\jim\Downloads directory, named q1_master.xlsx. The chart is output to Documents/bcompiler/output directory.

Set start and end date

>> bcompiler --analyser swimlane_milestones --start_date 20/1/2016 --end_date 20/1/2017

swimlane_assurance_milestones

As swimlane_milestones but showing assurance milestones.