In almost every ProAdmin library, when you have defined 2 or more library entries, you can compare the library entries to discover the differences between (among) the selected library entries. But, when you have 2 or more calculations in a Benefit Calculation Library (Estimates, Finals or Dates/Age/Service), the Compare and Run buttons become split buttons and you have additional options to Run and Compare calculation results.    
The Compare split button  has the following choices:

• Compare library entries compares the selected calculation library entries in the same way that is available within any other ProAdmin library. 
• Compare saved results... allows you to specify the desired details (see below) and then compares the saved results of any two (2) selected calculations.
• Compare to saved results in another Client... allows you to specify the desired details (see below) and then compares the results of one or more calculations on your current Client to the saved calculation results in a different Client, presumably, a prior copy of the current client. 

The Run split button  has the following choices:

• Run...  allows you to specify the desired details (see below) and then run one or more calculations, saving the new calculation results (overwriting any existing results).
• Re-run and compare to saved results... allows you to specify the desired details (see below) and then re-runs one or more calculations and returns a summary of any differences between the new results and the prior results, but does not overwrite the existing results.
• Run and compare to saved results in another client... allows you to specify the desired details (see below) and then runs one or more calculations, saving the new results, and returns a summary of any differences between the new results and the existing results on a different client.

There are two alternative ways to specify the calculations to be run under the Compare to saved results in another client...  command and each of the three (3) Run... split button options.  Highlight the radio button next to the desired approach :

• Selected calculations: displays the calculations that were selected in the current calculation library just prior to clicking on a run or compare option.  Calculations that were selected but do not have saved results are indicated by a prefix of an asterisk (*) if there is no saved data, or D if there is saved data.

• Calculation names in this file: allows you to specify a text file that contains names of the calculations you want to run and/or compare. If no path is provided, the ProAdmin the client directory will be searched. Other than case, a name in this file must exactly match a name in the calculation library or it is ignored. If you are running Estimated Benefit Calculations, then [ESTIMATES] must appear in a line above the Estimated Benefit Calculation names. You can have more than one kind of Benefit Calculation type in the file, but the names must be grouped, and each section must be preceded by a header:  [ESTIMATES], [FINALS], or [DAS] for estimated benefit calculations, final benefit calculations and dates/age/service calculations, respectively. The order of the groups is irrelevant, but the calculations in each group are processed in the order you have established. 

This is an example of a calculation list file that contains the name of Estimated Benefit Calculations and Final Benefit Calculations:

[ESTIMATES]

Frank Capra

Steven Spielberg

Martin Scorsese

Alfred Hitchcock

[FINALS]

Captain Kidd

Henry Morgan

Black Bart

Dread Pirate Roberts

Inigo Montoya

Miracle Max

Domingo Montoya

Even if you only have the names of one type of calculations in the file, for example, Estimates, the [ESTIMATES] section head is still required.

When running calculations using either the Run... or the Run and compare to saved results on another client... split button choices, you may initially choose a broader list of calculations than you really want to process, and then narrow them down through selection of one or more of the following check-boxes on the dialog: 

• Re-run calculations with saved results (replace existing results) allows you include or exclude calculations with saved results.

• Run calculations with saved data (but without saved results) allows you include or exclude calculations with saved data, but with no saved results. Calculations of this type are prefixed with a D in the calculations library.  Note that if you had previously run some calculations and then changed something in the plan, the saved results were deleted but the saved data is not.

• Run calculations without saved data or results allows you include or exclude calculations that have been defined but not run, and do not have saved data  Calculations of this type are prefixed with an asterisk (*) in the calculation library. 

When running calculations using any of the three (3) Run... split button choices, specify the desired Using this data: option:

• Refresh data before re-running the calculation reads in new data from the data source (either a Database Linkage or an XML file) specified in the underlying calculation library entry. 

• Use saved data (refresh data for calculations without saved data) uses the data already saved with each calculation library entry, reading in new data only for those calculation library entries without saved data.

When executing the Compare split button choice to Compare to saved results in another client, or the Run split button choice to Run and compare to saved results in another client, the following dialog box controls help specify the location of the ProAdmin client files that contain the prior calculation results:

• Client directory: indicates the path to the directory containing the ProAdmin client files with the prior calculation results. This file will automatically be populated from the ProAdmin.ini file [RunCompareCalcs] section with the location of the directory most recently used for this purpose. Specify the directory by typing it in, copying and pasting it in, or by using the  button to choose it.  If you have a very long path, use your mouse to hover over the text box containing the client directory, and a tool tip will show you the complete path.


• Previously opened clients allows you to select a client from the list of previously opened clients by clicking on its name. The list can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate column:  Name, Last Opened or Directory.  

When comparing calculation results under the Compare split button choices Compare saved results... or Compare to saved results in another client..., or under the Run split button choices Re-run and compare to saved results... or Run and compare to saved results in another client..., the Show these differences: parameters control the amount of detail to be displayed:

• Summary Results, if checked, displays differences among what ProAdmin considers to be all of the material calculation results. Essentially, the new and old results of the calculation library entry View > Calculation Results: Summary Results table are saved as text files and any differences between them are displayed up to the specified Maximum differences per selection.

• Member Data, if checked, displays any differences between the new and old member data by comparing text file results of the calculation library entry View > Calculation Results: Member Data table.  

• External Table, if checked, compares the file time stamps of all external tables used for the new and old results and lists any differences.

• Detailed Results, if checked, provides summary information about differences between underlying results saved to support the calculations.  Changes in this category will often exist even though the calculated benefits are unchanged.  

• Output Definition, if checked, displays differences among what the user considers to be the material calculation results, as they are the results used for communicating to the member. For this result, the new and old results of the calculation library entry View > Calculation Results: Output Definition table are saved as text files and any differences between them are displayed up to the specified Maximum differences per selection.

• Maximum differences per selection allows you to specify the maximum number of differences you want to see (99 it typically sufficient to indicate "all") in each difference category selected. 

Whenever you run and/or compare calculations, your settings are saved in the ProAdmin.ini file under the [RunCompareCalcs] heading so the next time you try to run and/or compare calculations, your last settings will be used to populate the run/compare dialog boxes.


Run and/or Compare Report
Summary of the calculations processed
When you run and/or compare calculations, ProAdmin keeps track of every calculation processed (including those that are dropped). Below is a list of the statistics that are kept. Note that what actually appears is dependent on what you have chosen to do. For example, if you are using the calculations you selected then you won’t see any of the calculation list file rows. If you’re only comparing results, then you won’t see any rows pertaining to running a calculation (about half the rows would not be shown if only comparing results).

• nn calculations selected
• nn names in calculation list file
• nn unmatched names in calculation list file
• nn calculations dropped because they had saved results
• nn calculations dropped because they had saved data
• nn calculations dropped because they had neither saved data nor saved results
• nn calculations dropped because their names didn't match a name on the other client
• nn calculations aborted and had no saved results
• nn calculations aborted and had saved results
• nn calculations ran but had no saved results
• nn calculations ran (with saved results)
• nn calculations had no saved results on either client
• nn calculations only had saved results on the other client
• nn calculations only had saved results on this client
• nn calculations compared and had no differences
• nn calculations compared and had differences

Details for calculations processed
When you run and/or compare calculations, ProAdmin keeps track of every calculation processed. Not just counts, but the names of each calculation processed, as well as the error message associated with each calculation abort, and if comparing results, the detailed differences between the “new” and “old” results for each calculation. For every row shown in the Summary of the calculations processed (other than calculations selected and names in calculation list file), there will be a similar section here in the Details for calculations processed, where names and, as appropriate, details for aborts and calculation result differences are shown.

After you view the information the Run and/or Compare Report, you have the option of printing or saving all this information to a file,

What happens when a calculation aborts?
When a calculation is being run, it might abort. For example, you may have set a User-Defined Error Message to abort a calculation if you try to run a calculation on someone who is already receiving a benefit or if someone is not eligible for any benefits. However, only at the time a calculation is being run, does ProAdmin know whether it aborted and why it aborted. That’s because ProAdmin doesn't keep track of aborts in the calculation library (it does keep track of saved data and saved results). For any existing calculation (that is not currently being run) all we know is whether it has saved results or not; we don’t know if you tried to run it and it aborted. 

When you are using a run or a run and compare option to process a group of calculations, this is what we know about a calculation being run, the:

• Calculation aborted (and why), and the existing saved calculation does not have saved results (possibly, the saved calculation aborted, or you may have forgotten to run and save it)
• Calculation aborted (and why), and the existing saved calculation has saved results (it did not abort before, but now it does!)
• Calculation ran and the existing saved calculation does not have saved results (possibly it aborted before, but now it runs! Was something fixed?)
• Calculation ran and the existing saved calculation has saved results (this is the expected result).

If you are not running any calculations, but just comparing the saved calculation results on your current client to the saved calculation results in a different client, then this is what we know, the:

• Calculation on the current client does not have saved results and the calculation on the other client does not have saved results (possibly, both aborted, or you just forgot to run one or both of them)
• Calculation on the current client does not have saved results and the calculation ran on the other client (it possibly aborted on the current client, but it ran fine on the other client)
• Calculation ran on the current client and the calculation on the other client does not have saved results (possibly it didn't run before, but now it does. Was something fixed?)
• Calculation ran on both the current and the other client (this is the expected result).

How can the run and/or compare options help you?
Suppose that you have received a new version of ProAdmin and you want to make sure that none of your existing calculation results (run under the old version of ProAdmin) will change if you run them under the new version of ProAdmin.

• Under the old version of ProAdmin, make sure your calculations have been run and saved. If appropriate, run/re-run 1 or more calculations, overwriting any existing results.
• Make a copy of your client.
• Using one of the clients (either the original or the copy you just made), update the client to the new version of ProAdmin, select all of the calculations and execute the Run and compare to saved results on another client... command.

Now you have a report showing you all the calculations that did not change and lots of detail about the calculations, if any, that did change.

Suppose you have to make some plan changes and you need to make sure that some calculation results don’t change and some calculation results do change. (Remember, if you make any change to your plan, all dependent results are be deleted!)

• Before you make any changes (because your results will be deleted), make a copy of the client files.
• Make your changes on the original client or the copy. All dependent results are deleted on the client where you make the changes, but will still exist on other client.
• Select all of the calculations whose results were deleted and execute the Run and compare to saved results on another client... command.

Now you have a report showing you all the calculations that didn't change and lots of detail about the calculations that did change.