# Compare

Build a report that compares space, range and distribution across time periods, subsections and plans, then export it to Excel.

***

Compare can be found in the navigation panel, under Coplan and Reports, where the page is titled Compare Plans. Compare allows you to compare space, range and distribution across different time periods, subsections and plans to identify where space has increased and decreased at total, plan or product level.

## Key questions the report can answer

- Track and compare share of space before and after a range change, at a total level
- Identify new products and delists to the range
- Track distribution
- Track space over a longer period of time, such as year on year
- Track macro space, such as a combination of subsections
- Track individual plan sizes, such as the most common, smallest or largest plan

## Build the groups

A report compares groups of plans. A group is every plan in one or more subsections on one date, or plans you pick one by one, each on the date you choose for it.

**New Group** has two rows, one for each kind of group. Fill in a row from left to right:

1. Under **Add complete product groups**, choose one or more subsections in **Group**. To pick individual plans instead, use **Plan**, under **Or a single plan**. **Plan** lists plans by ID and shows 100 at a time, so type three or more characters of an ID to search them all. You can choose more than one plan.
2. Where your data covers more than one area, choose which in **All Locations**, or leave it to include them all.
3. Choose a week in **Date**. The weeks listed are only those that have what you chose. **Latest**, at the top, is the newest week in your data and is always offered, even when that week has none of what you chose. It keeps the group on the newest week as new data arrives.
4. Select the plus button at the end of the row to create your first group.
5. Select **Add group**, the plus button beside your groups, and repeat for each group you want to compare, for example the same subsection before and after a range change. A report holds up to 10 groups.

Changing **Group** or **Plan** clears the date and locations you chose in that row.

Each group’s card lists its plans, with the date and the number of stores each plan is in. On a card you can:

- add to the group with **Add Group** or **Add Plan**;
- change its locations, where your data covers more than one area;
- remove one plan, though a group keeps at least one;
- copy the group with **Duplicate group**, or delete it with **Remove group**;
- drag the card to change the order of the groups.

A group made with a week keeps that week. A group made with **Latest** moves on with each new week, and its card shows **Latest** with the week in brackets. For another week, add a new group.

The report is held in the page’s address, so you can bookmark it or send the address to a colleague who has the same data.

## Read the measures

Once you’ve selected your groups to compare, key space metrics will load in the table to show what’s changed. The table has one column for each group:

| Row                       | What it counts                                                        |
| ------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Products**              | The different products across the group’s plans                       |
| **Stores**                | The stores that have at least one of the group’s plans                |
| **Total linear space**    | Each plan’s linear space, multiplied by the number of stores it is in |
| **Total quadratic space** | The same, for quadratic space                                         |
| **Total cubic space**     | The same, for cubic space                                             |
| **Total units**           | Each plan’s recommended units, multiplied by the number of stores     |

[Measurements](/glossary/measurements) explains linear, quadratic and cubic space.

- Every group after Group 1 shows its change from Group 1 beside each figure, as a percentage. A rise of more than 1,000% shows as a multiple instead, such as ×12, and a rise from nothing shows as ∞. Hover over a change to see the difference as a figure. Put the group you are comparing against first.
- Hover over a row’s name to see what it counts.
- Where your data includes sales, the table adds **Total sales** and **Total units sold**.
- When a group holds exactly one plan, the table adds **Single plan** rows: the space and units of that plan in one store.

## Tailor the report to some products

Below the table is a dynamic product list, where you’re able to select specific groups of products to tailor the report.

Click on any of the headers to order the list by that column, and again to reverse the order. **Column options**, the **⋯** menu on a header, also has **Filter by this column**.

To select products, click a row, hold Shift and click to select a range, or drag across the rows. The checkbox in the header selects every product the list is showing, so filter the list first to select one brand or subgroup. Select **Clear** to start again.

Scroll up to the table, where a **Selected Only** column now appears beside each group’s **All Products** column, showing the figures for the selected products only.

## Find new products and delists

The **Groups** column shows a numbered marker for each group, coloured where the product is in that group. Click the **Groups** header to bring products with the same markers together.

With the same subsections and locations in both groups, an earlier date as Group 1 and a later date as Group 2:

| Markers coloured | The product is  |
| ---------------- | --------------- |
| 1 and 2          | in both periods |
| 1 only           | delisted        |
| 2 only           | new             |

## Export the report

Select **Export Data** then **Excel Spreadsheet** to download your report into an Excel file. **CSV Files** downloads the same data as one file for each sheet. **Export Data** shows a spinner while it prepares the data, and the two choices are greyed out until it is ready.

| Sheet                    | What it holds                                                               |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Summary`                | The measures table, as Compare shows it                                     |
| `Configuration`          | The report’s address and when you downloaded it                             |
| `Groups`                 | Each group’s plans, with their IDs, names and dates                         |
| `Product_Raw_Data`       | One row for each product in each plan, with brand, subgroup, size and space |
| `Location_Raw_Data`      | One row for each store a plan is in, with its format, address and space     |
| `Product_Store_Raw_Data` | One row for each product in each plan in each store                         |
| `Product_Presence`       | One row for each product, saying which groups it is in                      |

`Product_Raw_Data` suits a pivot table. Add your own columns of attributes to it first. Its `product_selected` column, also in `Product_Store_Raw_Data`, marks the products you selected in the list.