Creating and Configuring Sheets

Time period

Used for moving, shortening or extending the planning period. It is possible to change the view to:

• Month, quarter, trimester, semester, or year
• Calendar or fiscal year
• Total period view – when selected, the system automatically adds columns for all previous years with actual data for the respective reporting entity and displays the actual amounts.

Default

Used for restoring the default view of the sheet. In the default view, Year is used as the period. The last year of the actual data level and all years of the selected planning data level are displayed.

The following menu is displayed when clicking the  icon:

_{Configuration menu}

Choosing one of these options will extend the planning area by the corresponding columns.

The following menu is displayed when clicking the   icon:

_{'Change number format' menu}

Choosing one of these options will adapt the number format accordingly in the planning area.

Cost center/ Partner/ Transaction type

Clicking the Cost center, Partner, or Transaction type buttons in the toolbar toggles the visibility of the respective columns in the table.

Hiding these columns does not affect the data stored in them — the system retains the information and uses it when generating the posting. 

Account or item

An account or an item for which planning should be undertaken. It is also possible to activate the following options:

Create independent variable

If this option is activated:

• The actual period column linked to the actual data level is cleared (if previously populated) and locked for editing.
• The planning period columns linked to the selected planning data level are cleared and the fields can be edited (numbers and basic mathematical operations are allowed). If a formula has been applied that generates results in the planning period column, the corresponding fields are not editable.
• The Cost center, Partner and Transaction Type columns are locked for editing.
   

Query values from selected account/item

If this option is activated:

• The columns Cost center/Partner/Transaction Type, and Variable name are enabled and can be edited.
• The actual and planning period columns are automatically filled with values from the database by the system. Fields are locked for editing.
• The Formula field is locked for editing.

Cost center/ partner/ transaction type

Allows selection of a cost center/partner/transaction type from the respective drop-down lists

Variable name

Auto-filled with the selected item or account name. You can modify this field with text, numbers, or special characters.

Formula

Used for entering variables and basic mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and brackets) to perform calculations during the financial planning process. 

Key points include:

• It is only possible to enter fixed values with up to two decimals.
• Formulas can be added to planning and independent variable rows, but not to querying rows. 
• Time offset: When a variable is added, a time offset is automatically displayed, with this month as the default value. Time offset defines the period from which values are retrieved and used in the calculations of the amount shown in the time period column.
  To change it, click the offset value and select one of the available options or click Custom to enter a custom offset.
  
  _{Example formula with a variable and time offset}

• When using formulas, changes in one calculation can affect other dependent business transactions. The system can recalculate these dependencies automatically or on demand (see Dependent Business Transactions).
• Formulas that create dependencies between transactions may lead to circular references. The system detects and manages these cases (see Dependent Business Transactions).

Period columns

The actual period column, linked with the actual data level, is populated with the amounts retrieved from the database for the selected account or item. 

The planning period columns linked to the selected planning data level are blank and values can be added using numbers with decimals and basic mathematical operations, unless Query values from selected account/item is activated or a formula has been applied that generates results in the planning period column.

Aggregation method

Configure how values are aggregated in the period columns by right-clicking an independent variable in the Account or item column and selecting Aggregation | Sum/No aggregation from the context menu. 

• When Sum is selected, entering values at the monthly level and changing the view to quarter, trimester, semester, or year will automatically display the sum of the corresponding months in the period columns. If values are entered on a yearly level, the values are split evenly across all months.
• When No aggregation is selected, enter values only at the monthly level. If you switch to a higher time period view, the period columns will show '...' and a tooltip indicating that values are displayed only on the monthly level because no aggregation is selected.