Forum Discussion

dlubertozzi's avatar
dlubertozzi
New Contributor
2 years ago

Periodic Data Entry

This feels like it should be easy, but I'm struggling to get it working correctly... We're trying to build-out a variance scenario where folks can enter data to bridge their forecast to actual. Our set-up is similar to the variance set-up in GolfStream where we've created a variance scenario, a few dedicated variance accounts (Sales, EBITDA, etc.) and then flows to house the different drivers of the variance (e.g., volume, mix, etc.).

Where we're struggling is with the View set-up. We would like to have users enter variances for MTD activity only, but we want the MTD data entered to total up to a YTD number (i.e., enter discrete values for January, February, and March, but then be able to use V#YTD in a report to get the total of the Jan/Feb/Mar variances entered for a given account/flow combination). I've tried setting the scenario up for MTD, and the form works fine for the first month we tested. However, when we open the form that's we've created for a subsequent month we get the values from the prior month showing up as greyed out numbers. I've thought about changing the dedicated variance accounts to be Asset/Liability accounts and then changing the scenario to YTD, but then the MTD values entered in the variance flows won't total up to a YTD number. Any thoughts?

Methodology
  • chul's avatar
    chul
    Contributor III
    2 years ago

    It sounds like you're dealing with both balance and flow type accounts. The view settings on your scenario will dictate what "no data" looks like. Here is an article that clarifies those settings: https://community.onestreamsoftware.com/t5/ONECommunity-Blog/Making-sense-of-the-Scenario-settings/ba-p/14974

    Seems like you're also using the Flow dimension on your balance accounts. The Switch Type on Flow is an additional variable that will affect data. Since you're using Flow on income statement accounts, which are already flow accounts, you'll want to ensure that your Switch Type on those Flow members is FALSE. That means that the data will inherit the account type. The Switch Type on Flow members used to explain monthly detail on balance type accounts is set to TRUE. This allows data to be viewed on them as periodic or YTD.