nvision Beyond the Ledger Spear MC SpearMC Whitepaper Series July 2004 management consulting

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1 nvision Beyond the Ledger SpearMC Whitepaper Series July 2004 Spear MC management consulting

2 nvision Beyond the Ledger I admit it I have a bias toward nvision. Blame it on my accounting background or the need to number crunch. In either case, have you ever met an accountant that didn t like a spreadsheet? When faced with creating new reports in PeopleSoft, I almost always turn to nvision. Of course nvision works great with General Ledger, but have you ever imagined using it to report on data from Asset Management, Payables, Receivables or other PeopleSoft modules? What I like best about nvision is the ability to control output and format after reports are generated. For example, a typical SQR report with incorrect column-width formatting will deliver field output as a series of asterisks, forcing the developer to modify the SQR program and re-run the report. With Excelbased nvision, you simply expand the field width to fit your format criteria. If you develop nvision reports, they are likely to be balance sheet, income statement, or expenditure-related report layouts, most commonly based on the matrix type of nvision layout. Through detailed examples of a combination matrix/query-based layout, a layout using pivot tables, and a tabular report, we will dive into some of the advanced capabilities of nvision and expand your knowledge of PeopleSoft s financial reporting tool. Query-Based, Matrix Report The first report we will walk through is a report that on the surface appears to be a matrix report. The report, named Counts/Age, is illustrated in Figure 1. The format of the report appears as a typical nvision matrix report. The columns represent different years and the rows represent company product codes. Surprisingly enough, data populating this report comes from Asset Management. Counts/Age was developed for a client looking for a management report to analyze their asset-based business. For the most part, their management reporting was driven from a combination of financial and statistical data. Over 700 statistical accounts were established in order to capture different aspects of their business. By storing the statistical information in the PS_LEDGER table, SpearMC Whitepaper Series 2 of 11

3 we were able to create all of the management reports through standard matrix nvision reports. However, the Counts/Age report was a bit of a challenge. Figure 1 Of course, there are always several ways to solve a problem or in this case write a report. In this situation, all of this clients management reports were created using nvision and since the user community was familiar with the tool, we wanted to stick with a common reporting tool. The approach was to use a query-based, matrix report that would query Asset Management tables for row counts and age data needed. nvision was also chosen because we could perform some of the calculations within Excel rather than have them calculated beforehand in the query. The first step was to create queries to calculate the counts and an average age by product type. Because of the way nvision creates its SQL and the large volume of data we were working with, performance was not acceptable. Therefore, the counts and age queries were moved to an SQR program. The SQR program was used to create the counts and average age, nvision would then be used for the report output and format. SpearMC Whitepaper Series 3 of 11

4 The SQR contains four SQL statements, two for counts/age at a consolidated level and two for counts/age at a business unit level. The first part of the SQR calculates the average age of the assets. In our situation, we have parent-child assets and we only calculate the age on the parent asset s acquisition date. Begin-SQL ON-ERROR=SQL-Error INSERT INTO PS_SM_COUNTS_AGE ( BUSINESS_UNIT, FISCAL_YEAR, ACCOUNTING_PERIOD, PRODUCT, SM_COUNTS_AVG_AGE, AS_OF_DATE ) SELECT 'CONSL', 1991,!Use 1991 as default 12,!Default Period 12-we don't need by month B.PRODUCT, (avg(to_date($as_of_date) - a.acquisition_dt)/ 365), $As_of_Date FROM PS_ASSET A, PS_COST_BAL_VW B WHERE A.BUSINESS_UNIT = B.BUSINESS_UNIT AND A.ASSET_ID = B.ASSET_ID AND B.BOOK = 'FINANCIAL' AND A.ASSET_STATUS = 'I' AND A.ASSET_ID = A.PARENT_ID GROUP BY 'CONSL', 1991, 12, B.PRODUCT, $As_of_Date End-SQL Second, the SQR counts the unique assets. Here we use a tag_number on all related assets and count the distinct tag_numbers to arrive at the count of our assets. Begin-SQL ON-ERROR=SQL-Error INSERT INTO PS_SM_COUNTS_AGE ( SpearMC Whitepaper Series 4 of 11

5 BUSINESS_UNIT, FISCAL_YEAR, ACCOUNTING_PERIOD, PRODUCT, GW_COUNTS_AVG_AGE, AS_OF_DATE ) SELECT 'CONSL', C.FISCAL_YEAR, 12, B.PRODUCT, count(distinct A.TAG_NUMBER), $As_of_Date FROM PS_ASSET A, PS_COST_BAL_VW B, PS_CAL_DETP_TBL C WHERE A.BUSINESS_UNIT = B.BUSINESS_UNIT AND A.ASSET_ID = B.ASSET_ID AND B.BOOK = 'FINANCIAL' AND A.ASSET_STATUS = 'I' AND A.ASSET_ID = A.PARENT_ID AND A.ACQUISITION_DT BETWEEN C.BEGIN_DT AND C.END_DT AND C.SETID = 'SHARE' AND C.CALENDAR_ID = 'MD' GROUP BY 'GMS', C.FISCAL_YEAR, 12, B.PRODUCT, $As_of_Date End-SQL Figure 2 shows the data in our user-defined table that was populated by the SQR. The first five rows were populated by the first SQL statement and the remaining rows were populated by the second SQL statement. The SQR also contains two similar SQL statements to calculate the age and count of our individual business units. The next step is to create a query using the data generated from the SQR. In order to use a query in a matrix report, the FISCAL_YEAR and ACCOUNTING_PERIOD fields must be present also remember that at least one field must be an aggregate. Figure 3 illustrates the query used in our report. The FISCAL_YEAR and ACCOUNTING_PERIOD requirement can be a problem for non-ledger PeopleSoft tables. However, this requirement can SpearMC Whitepaper Series 5 of 11

6 be fulfilled by joining an accounting date field to the calendar table and/or by creating a table view. In this example, we defined the table to include these required fields. Figure 2 Figure 3 SpearMC Whitepaper Series 6 of 11

7 Figure 4 Figure 4 shows the nvision layout for our report. Cell A9 in the layout represents the formula to retrieve our query data. Naturally, the % indicates that this cell contains an nvision formula. The rest of the formula in Cell A9 is seen in the layout definition screen shot (Figure 5). For each column, a timespan was defined with an absolute year and absolute accounting period of 12 as defaulted by the SQR program. The combination of the query data and the timespans populate the report. Figure 5 The last column of our report is our age data. The SQR report stored our Age data with a fiscal year of Therefore, the timespan for the Age data is defined with an absolute year of Finally, the Twenty Equivalent Units and Total Cost Equivalent Units are calculated using Excel formulas. For example, the Twenty Equivalent Units formula looks at the nploded product codes and sums the counts based on the first character of the product code. So by using the strengths of each program, SQR for data extracts and nvision/excel for reporting, formats and formulas, we are able to create a robust Asset Management report. Pivot Table Report This next example reports on Accounts Receivable DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) data. The report is illustrated in Figure 6. Originally the report was created using this format and manually linking the data in the Excel SpearMC Whitepaper Series 7 of 11

8 spreadsheet. However, through the use of an nvision tabular report and pivot tables, we were able to automate this report without changing the report format. Figure 6 The Accounts Receivable module calculates DSO data by customer and stores this information in the PS_CUST_HISTORY table. A simple tabular report was created querying the PS_CUST_HISTORY table. Next, an Excel pivot table was defined within the nvision layout. The pivot table puts the data in a fixed format (Figure 7). SpearMC Whitepaper Series 8 of 11

9 Figure 7 Once the data is in a fixed format and in a pivot table, the data can be easily incorporated into our report format. The formula to link the pivot table to the report is: =IF(current_month>=11,GETPIVOTDATA("AR Bal",'M:\A_Reports\AR Reports\[DSO Data.xls]Pivot Table'!$A$3,"Customer",LEFT($A$1,3),"Data Type","DSO","Period",11),0) Most of the GETPIVOTDATA portion of the formula was created automatically when the report was linked to the pivot table. The only changes to the formula were the IF and LEFT functions. The IF function was added to eliminate #N/A errors. The LEFT function gets our customer from cell A1. Cell A1 contains the title of our report and our customer name. By incorporating the pivot table in our nvision layout, we can easily update our main DSO report each month. To refresh the report with current month SpearMC Whitepaper Series 9 of 11

10 data, the tabular nvision report is run and the pivot table is refreshed. Then the main report spreadsheet is opened and the link to the report spreadsheet is refreshed. Tabular Report The final report utilizes Accounts Receivable aging data and an nvision tabular report. An example of the report is shown in Figure 8. This report ranks accounts receivable data based on the customer s outstanding balance. Figure 8 The tabular portion of the report is defined starting in column O and is in an area of the spreadsheet that is not printed. The output of the tabular report lists all of the customer balances along with a grand total. The printable portion of the report only shows the top 15 customers aging and a line for Others. The Others amount is defined by using an Excel formula that takes the grand total from the query output less the top 15 customers from the top portion of the report. Finally, because one Excel spreadsheet can hold several tabular reports, each sheet of our spreadsheet includes a tab for our different AR business units. SpearMC Whitepaper Series 10 of 11

11 So we have taken the raw data created by the tabular output and reformatted the data into an executive-level, management report. Getting past the basics While the previous examples were meant to give you a better feel for extending nvision capabilities, I encourage you to move beyond the basics and push the envelope of possibilities. Too many PeopleSoft users and developers are quick to rush to custom report development and unfriendly user interfaces. You ll be surprised at what can be accomplished with nvision, lack of creativity being your most common limiting factor. About the Author Kenneth Creech, CPA (kcreech@spearmc.com) is a Principal Consultant with SpearMC, a management consulting firm specializing in implementing leading best practices with top-tier financial and EPM applications. A Certified Public Accountant, he has held management positions at KPMG and BearingPoint. His most recent project includes leading a global PeopleSoft financials upgrade project at a major consumer products retailer Kenneth Creech, CPA and SpearMC Management Consulting, Inc. SpearMC and its logo are trademarks of SpearMC Management Consulting, Inc. SpearMC Whitepaper Series 11 of 11