Configuration Tasks Summary

For Consolidation implementation, complete all tasks under the General Financial Configuration topic. Access the Configuration Tasks page by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks.

• Task - All application configuration tasks are listed. Click on a selected task to navigate to the associated Definition page.

• Status - A red circle indicates that the task is incomplete. A green check mark indicates that the task is complete. For some tasks, once the task status is set to complete, you cannot modify the definition of the task.

• Due Date - Enter a date that the task will be completed.

• Notes - Add notes or comments to a task. For example, if the task due date changes, you can enter a note explaining why.

General Financial Configuration

Define Financial Segments

Define the name and number of business segments for your Planful Consolidation application. Segments are the primary components in the Planful process. Segments defined here make up your Chart of Accounts. You must define at least two segments, but no more than eight apart from the system-defined segments (i.e. Time, Measure, Scenario). Out of the eight user-defined segments, one segment must represent a legal entity and the other segment must represent a natural account.

Define Fiscal Year

Establish the start and end of your organization’s fiscal year, including the number of periods associated with the fiscal year. Define roll-up levels and quarter members. Roll-up levels allow for additional time frequencies in a calendar. The lowest level is month. You will not be able to edit the names of the levels unless the periods per fiscal year is greater than 12. 

Define Currency Parameters

Define common currency, conversion basis, and interim currency parameters. There are 3 currencies associated with a legal entity: Common Currency, Local Currency, and Interim Currency. Common Currency (CC) is your functional currency. The Local Currency (LC) is the currency for each member in the company hierarchy. The Interim Currency may consist of up to 3 currencies. Data (Budget, Actuals) may be loaded in the CC or LC. When you load data in the LC, any exchange rates defined are applied. The data is then stored in tables in the CC and LC. Interim Currencies are typically used in reporting and dashboards as alternative currencies. You can view Report data in the CC, LC, or Interim Currency. For Interim Currency, you can enable one, two, or three. You cannot enable more than three interim currencies. Interim currency converts a legal entity from its local currency to a second reporting currency before converting to the common currency. For example; A UK entity converts from BP sterling to Euro to US dollars.

Data Integration Configuration

Web Service Access

Access the Web Service Access page to define security access for importing data from an external source into the Planful application through Web Services. Additionally use the Web Service Access page to notify users when data is loaded to Planful via Web Services.

Descriptions of fields on this page are provided below.

API - Enable or disable Web Service access.

Web Service URL - Default URLs needed to connect with the Planful application through a session-state or state-free authentication.

Available User(s) - A list of all users created via User Management or loaded via Data Load Rules.

Email User(s) - A list of all users who will receive emails whenever data is loaded into the Planful application through Web Services. Use the arrow buttons to add or remove email users.

More information on Web Services is provided in the Load Your Data to Planful section.

Cloud Services

Access the Cloud Services page to configure Box integration. Planful Cloud Scheduler - Data Load Rule functionality is fully integrated with Box. This means that you can place a file on Box and schedule a data load rule in Planful to load the file (and all contents) to the Planful application.

You can load data to Planful from Google Drive.

Additionally, you can use the NetSuite data connector to integrate Planful with NetSuite.

More information on Cloud Services is provided in the Load Your Data to Planful section.

Define Login Restrictions

Configure IP Restrictions

Access the IP Addresses Restriction page to limit users to a maximum number of parallel sessions per user ID. Exceeding the maximum number will result in a message indicating that the user has exceeded the maximum number of sessions and return the user to the login page.

Collaboration Configuration

With Collaboration, (Socialcast's integration into Planful) you will be able to communicate and collaborate on a particular artifact (Scenarios, Reports). User communications are enabled at a granular level.

See: Collaboration for set up and use information

DLR Data Calculations Configuration

Define exceptions to default calculations when loading data to Planful.

See: Data Calculation Exceptions for information on how this works, set up details, and use information

Define Reporting Area - Financial

Reporting Cubes are configured automatically when you click on each topic as long as the associated configuration tasks are complete.

Financial dimensions may be renamed at any time. If you would like to rename a dimension, please contact Support.

Segments defined here translate to the columns available when adding lines to Consolidation journals as depicted below.

Define Financial Segments

The Segment Name may contain alpha-numeric characters.

The following Types help determine the features and use of the segment:

• Legal Entity– This is usually assigned to a company segment. The legal entity type represents the segment for currency translation consolidations.

• Account – This is usually assigned to a natural or main account segment within the general ledger.

• Additional Segment – This is used to define additional segments as needed.

• Interco (Intercompany Segment) – This is used to define an intercompany segment for entities involved in intercompany transactions.

Follow the steps below to configure a Flow dimension when defining Financial Segments.

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks.

2. Click Define Financial Segments. On the Define Financial Segments page, click Add.

3. Enter a name for the Segment.

4. For Segment Type, select Flow and click Save.

For information on what a Flow dimension is and when and how to use it, see Flow Dimension and Cash Flow Reporting.

Specify fiscal years based on your company's operations. Fiscal years may be associated with calendar years or any other type of year. You can also define quarters, months, and fiscal year start and end dates.

Extend Calendar

Extend your calendar. For example, you may have a 1 year calendar that you want to extend to include an additional year.

Fiscal Year Start Month

Select the month your company starts its fiscal year. Fiscal years may correlate with calendar years or any other type of year defined by your company.

Fiscal Year End Month

The month your company ends its fiscal year. This is automatically selected based on the month selected to start the fiscal year.

Name Fiscal Year by

Allows you to configure a Financial Year and name it according to your organizational needs. For example, if you have a fiscal year that starts in February and ends in January, you can use this functionality to name the fiscal year in accordance with the calendar year of the first month instead the last month. So Fiscal Year 2017 would contain periods February 2017 to January 2018.

Calendar Start Year

The selected start year will be displayed across all the Time dimension fields.

Calendar End Year

This field is the only field that is editable once a calendar is created . Use this field to extend your calendar by selecting a future year.

Periods Per Fiscal Year

Select the number of periods that correlate to your fiscal year. For example, you may select 12 periods, which correlate to 12 months in your fiscal year.

Define Rollup Level

These levels define additional time frequencies within the calendar. The lowest level is Month.

Quarter Members

Associate quarters to your fiscal year. For example, you may choose to have a fiscal year made up of 4 quarters. Each quarter will have 3 months. Or, you may choose to have a fiscal year with 3 quarters. If this is the case each quarter will have 4 months.

Number of Members at Quarter Level

Select the number of quarters that make up your fiscal year. For example, if your fiscal year is made up of 4 quarters, enter 4. Now, each quarter will be made up of 3 months.

Member Name

Provide a name for each quarter. For example, you might want to name the first quarter Q1, the second quarter Q2, and so on.

Month

Enter the number of months associated with each quarter. For example, if you entered 2 in the Number of Members at Quarter Level field, then you will have two quarters consisting of 6 months per quarter.

Common Currency Code - Enter a currency code (i.e. USD for United States Dollars).

Common Currency Name - Enter a currency name (i.e. US Dollars as the currency name for the USD currency code).

Currency Conversion Basis - Select a basis to convert a currency. For example, select Multiply to multiply exchange rates. Select Divide to divide rates during currency conversion.

Enable Interim Currency - This option allows you to enable one, two, or three interim currencies. You can not enable more than three interim currencies. Interim currency converts a legal entity from its local currency to a second reporting currency before converting to the common currency. For example; A UK entity converts from BP sterling to Euro to US dollars.

Planful allows a user ID to be logged in from multiple locations and multiple devices. Administrators have the option to restrict the number of parallel sessions that a user is allowed to be logged into to comply with security policies.

Configure this task to allow users to have a maximum number of parallel sessions per user ID. Exceeding the maximum number will result in a message indicating that the user has exceeded the maximum number of sessions and return the user to the login page.

Retained Earnings Roll Forward

Click Retained Earnings Roll Forward to display the screen. Select Yes for Enable. Selecting Yes for Enable displays additional options in the Consolidation Setup screen allowing the admin user to setup the segment combination to which the financial entries will be posted. Selecting No for Enable hides the options in the Consolidation Setup screen.

If enabled, when you access the Consolidation Control Panel and click Consolidation Setup there will be Include in the Consolidation Process checkboxes displayed for Income Statement - Retained Earnings Account and Cumulative Retained Earnings sections.

Income Statement Retained Earnings Account

Select Yes for Enable to specify accounts on the Consolidation Setup page. This configuration is optional and is designed to ensure an accurate Trial Balance. If you select No, you will not be able to select accounts on the Consolidation Setup page as the entire section named Income Statement - Retained Earnings Account will be hidden from view.

Enable the Consolidation Status feature for your application. Once you enable Consolidation Status each consolidation unit will have an inherent life-cycle associated with it. This life-cycle includes several statuses to indicate where the consolidation unit is within the life-cycle. Consolidation Status offers several benefits, such as; providing the necessary information to complete the close process in a timely manner and allows consolidators to view the status by entity and time period they are responsible for.

Click here for detailed information on everything you need to know before enabling this feature.

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Admin > Configuration Tasks.

2. On the Configuration Tasks page, click the Consolidation Status Setup task shown below to enable this functionality.

   

3. The Consolidation Status Setup page is launched. Select the month and year in which you want to start Consolidation workflow and select the Enable Forward and Approve Status for Consolidation Process checkbox. Then, click Save.

4. Click Save & Complete. The message below displays. Click Continue.