Flexible Upload 

Purpose

You can use this function to upload reported financial data and master data from a file into the consolidation system.

Implementation Considerations

Customizing of the upload does not require a method layout.

Features

In the customizing settings for the flexible upload you specify which upload functions you want to use.

Customizing Settings

Objects that are uploadable

You can use the flexible upload function to upload the following objects from a text file into the consolidation system:

·        Reported financial data

·        Consolidation groups, including consolidation group hierarchies

·        Consolidation units

·        Items, including item hierarchies

·        Breakdown categories

·        Other master data (for example, transaction types or functional areas)

Row types

You can select one of the following types of rows:

·        A header row, followed by data rows

·        Row type indicators

A row type indicator is a characteristic, situated at the beginning of a data row, which determines the type of the row.

The following are valid indicators and supported row types:

¡        Header row

¡        Data row

¡        Row with hierarchy information

When row type indicators are used, every row (except for comment rows) must begin with a valid indicator. If field separators are used, the indicator must be separated with such a characteristic from the first data field.

If no row type indicators are used, the function interprets the first non-comment row as the header row, and all subsequent rows as data rows.

Update mode

The update mode determines how existing data records are treated during an upload.

You can choose one of the following update modes:

·        Delete all existing data

Only the uploaded data (from the last upload) remains in the system.

·        Delete existing uploaded data

The system deletes only the existing data pertaining to the objects (for example, consolidation unit) contained in the uploaded file. The data of these objects are fully replaced by the data that is uploaded.

·        Overwrite existing data

Existing data is overwritten, and new data is added.

·        Do not change existing data

Data that belongs to objects that already exist in the system is not uploaded. Only new data is added.

Field help (F1) for update mode contains detailed documentation (including examples).

Input type

You can determine whether the collection of reported financial data is cumulative or periodic:

·        Periodic values reflect the values of the current accounting period. Thus, they represent the changes since the last collection of reported financial data.

Cumulative values reflect the accumulated values as of the current date. However, the system stores the values as periodic values after automatically calculating the differences to the prior period balance.

Field catalog

You include in the field catalog for the upload all fields you want to use in the upload file.

Color legend for remaining fields

You also have the option of using a free field. You can assign free fields to all field catalogs as often as desired. Columns for free fields in the upload file are not interpreted during the flexible upload. This way, the system can also process files that contain additional information that is not related to consolidation.