Automatic Data Collection 

Purpose

Automatic data collection is an overall term for those methods the consolidation system uses to collect data that is either ready for transfer from other systems or is delivered as data files. In comparison to manual data entry, the methods for automatic data collection are beneficial when dealing with large volumes of data or when you want to efficiently process recurring period tasks for data collection.

Features

The following methods are available for automatic data collection:

·       Flexible upload

·       Load from data stream

·       Copy

The following figure illustrates the general principle behind the methods for automatic data collection:

The system reads the data from either a data file (the flexible upload method) or a data stream. Data streams can be processed as follows:

·       In the load from data stream method, the data comes from a data stream you specify, and is written to the InfoCube of Consolidation.

·       In the copy method, the data also comes from a data stream you specify, but is written to a different selection of characteristics in the same data stream.

After determining the method, you define mapping rules for mapping the source data fields to the fields of the consolidation data basis. The system uses these rules to transform the data into a format required for Consolidation and then writes the data to the data basis. You can specify a target selection, for example, to write data only for certain consolidation units or certain versions.

A common feature shared by all methods for automatic data collection is that the system's behavior is dependent on the method's update mode setting, which is a property all methods have. For more details, see Control of Data Collection Using Update Mode.

You can choose different types of data to be collected. The following table shows which specific objects are collected when a data type is chosen:

Data Types and the Objects Collected

Type of Data	Objects Collected
Master data, customizing settings	The master data and settings specified in the method
Changes in investment	Characteristics with the roles version, group currency, fiscal year, period, and investee unit (each with their independent compound characteristics) and also the characteristics that are fixed in the consolidation area
Changes in investee equity	Characteristics with the roles version, group currency, fiscal year, period, investee unit, and (cost center) activity type (each with their independent compound characteristics) and also the characteristics that are fixed in the consolidation area
Equity holdings adjustments	Characteristics with the roles version, group currency, fiscal year, period, consolidation unit, and (cost center) activity type (each with their independent compound characteristics) and also the characteristic that is compounded with the role item
Goodwill	Characteristics with the roles version, group currency, fiscal year, period, consolidation unit, investee unit, (cost center) activity type, year of addition, and period of addition (each with their independent compound characteristics) and also the characteristics that are fixed in the consolidation area
Inventory data	Characteristics with the roles version, group currency, fiscal year, period, consolidation unit, partner unit, and product group (each with their independent compound characteristics) and also the characteristics that are fixed in the consolidation area
Supplier data	Characteristics with the roles version, group currency, fiscal year, period, consolidation unit, partner unit, and product group (each with their independent compound characteristics)

Example

For detailed examples of data collection, see Data Collection: Examples.