We are shared service provider where we currently have over 40 different customers in OneStream, with different financial statements. If we were to use a new scenario, would we have to create a new scenario for each customer?
We currently copy our Production Application into a Cold Storage Application to preserve the historical data but have recently discovered that it is not a read only application.
Without knowing the details of how you provide your service, let me say and assume this.
I assume that each of your 40 customers has one or more applications hosted by you. No application is shared between either of your customer. Also, the agencies' applications are not connected to each other and share all or parts of their metadata. Each application is a unique data silo, no data is being transferred between applications.
Your point of view is from a server perspective, i.e. you create "Cold Storage Applications". Nicolas and me took a different angle. We look at it from a single application perspective. All in all, our answer applies to an individual customer who should set up a new scenario in their own OneStream application. They either do it themselves, or their trusted advisors do it for or with them.
You need to ask yourself (or your customer) whether government regulations require their agencies in your country to keep historical data (in the form of a Cold Storage Application in your case) entirely untouched? I am not familiar with those kind of regulations. Maybe one should have a conversation around that with the customer to see what applies to them exactly.
Moving on to the option of adding a scenario: This is a common practice in the overall market and requires only a new scenario in a single application (or more, depends on your customer's testing requirements). Plus of course the copy logic of data and other things that the customer may require in the light of their restatements. This will not affect any of the applications of your other 39 clients, given my initial assumptions. Compare this to setting up a new report in a OneStream application. You set this is in one application only, not all 39, typically. I assume you do offer services within the application to your hosted customers that include metadata maintenance, calculation set up, etc., you may offer helping your client setting up a new scenario.
Having said all of that, maybe there is someone here in the forum who is familiar with regulations with regards to government agencies who can shed more light into this. In particular if any of the above does not apply.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.
Unfortunately, we utilize one shared application for all 40 customers. The majority of them use the same standard reports and financial statements. New customers are currently being added as well and will continue to grow.
We are required to keep four years of historical data that is untouched for auditing purposes. Each year we create a new Cold Storage Application to accommodate that requirement and once we have four years of Cold Storage Applications, we will begin over writing the oldest Cold Storage Application.
We would like to know how other government agencies are handling their prior year financial statements to see if there is a better alternative that using a Cold Storage Application for each year.
