Release Notes for the following areas are included in this article:
- Platform
- Consolidation
- Account Reconciliation
- FluenceXL Reporting
- To download the latest FluenceXL Add-in for creating and designing reports, use the following link: FluenceXL Add-in.
For more information about any of these features, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
Platform Enhancements
Journal Entry Enhancements
Journal Entries Role Authorizations
New Journal Entries role authorizations are now available within the Security Module. Administrators can set the following for roles who access the Journal Entry Module:
| Right | Description | Access |
| View | Allow users view only rights | Query and Export Journal Entries. Run Journal Entry reports. |
| Create | Allow users to create, update, and delete only rights | Create, Update, and Delete Journal Entries. Import journal entries. |
| Post/Unpost | Allow users to post and unpost only rights. | Allow users to post and unpost Journal Entries. |
Roles can be assigned one or multiple rights. Multiple rights can be combined if roles, such as administrators, need multiple rights. For example, administrators need View, Create, and Post/Unpost rights. In this scenario, switch the All toggle switch to the on position.
See the Role Authorizations window below:
Journal Entry File Attachments
You can attach a pdf, docx, xlsx, pptx, txt, ods, csv, png, jpeg, and/or jpg file. Users with View rights can view Journal Entry attachments.
Users with View rights can view Journal Entry attachments.
An attachment can be deleted by anyone who has Journal Entry Create rights.
A new column Attachments is now available on the Journal Entry main screen.
To access the Journal Attachments window, users with View or Create rights double-click on the Attachment icon for a specific journal entry.
See the screenshot below:
The Journal Attachments window is shown below:
Saving Journal Entry Report Configuration
After you change the column header order and other Journal Entry Report configuration options, those preferences are cached locally within your browser. You do not need to select them every time they run a JE report. If you switch computers, and browsers, set the incognito option, or switch the browser profile, the settings will not be saved.
After modifying the settings below in the Configuration Report window, the options are cashed to your browser.
Other Journal Entries Enhancements
Addressed issues and made small updates based on customer feedback. Including:
- Tooltips to display member captions on mouseover
- Balance indicator to indicate whether a Journal Entry is in balance or out of balance
Data Imports
Improvements to data imports have been added to improve usability:
- Ability to append to existing mappings
- Improved error handling when importing data that contain mapping errors
Consolidation Enhancements
Allocations
A new Allocation module is now available in Fluence to create and run administrator defined allocations. Allocations can be created for many different purposes including distributing HR expenses based on departmental headcount or Sales and Marketing expenses based on Revenue by product.
- Allocations are comprised of four parts: Source, Driver, Target and Offset.
- Allocations can be done on any dimension within the data model.
- Multiple allocations can be defined where the target of one allocation can be used to drive another allocation.
- Allocations can be processed in a given order which is set when the allocation rules are created.
- Drivers can be an existing Trial Balance accounts such as Revenue or it can be a statistical accounts such as headcount, square footage or percentage. These statistical drivers can be input using an input form or imported directly into Fluence via CSV file or directly using Data Blend or another ETL tool.
Copy/Clear Data
A new Copy Data utility is now available, allowing you to easily copy data from one intersection in your Fluence Database to another. You may also use this utility to clear data for a given intersection. For example, if you want to copy data from the Actual scenario to the Budget Scenario.
The Copy Data utility also has the ability to clear a target area. This will clear out the data defined in your target intersection
Journal Entry Report Drill Through
New Journal Entry Drill through is now available in all Global Fluence reports. This allows users to drill into an intersection within the report and see if there are any Journal Entry details for that data point.
Note: This feature is only available when using the new Web Journal Entry module.
Fluence will retrieve the corresponding JE details for the data point. To view the entire journal entry with all the debit and credit line items the user can access the Journal Entry module.
Balance Sheet Continuity Schedule Updates
The Balance Sheet and Balance Sheet Elimination Continuity Schedules now support contribution input by audit details and suppression of rows where the closing and opening movements are zero.
Contribution by Audit
A new global variable BSContinuity_ByAuditDetails has been added to the Fluence application.
- If this value is set to FALSE, the calculated movements (Opening, Closing, Allocation, Variation etc.) in the continuity schedule will pull data from the Contribution audit member while the movements open for input will pull data from the selected audit member.
- If this value is set to TRUE, both the calculated and input movements will pull data from the selected audit member.
Suppression of rows
A new global variable BSContinuity_SupressEmptyOpenClose has been added to the Fluence application.
- If this value is set to FALSE, the continuity schedules will display all rows even when the Opening and Closing movements are both zero.
- If this value is set to TRUE, the continuity schedules will suppress any row where both the Opening and Closing movements are zero.
Available Periods Administration Form
A new administration form for Available Periods has been added to the Fluence application. Available periods are used within Validation Rules.
Updated Validation Rules
Validation rules have been updated to allow defining an intercompany member within the validation rule. This allows different validation rules to only apply to defined intercompany members.
The Validation Rule report has also been updated to display the defined intercompany members
Run Tasks on Multiple Periods
The Run Tasks form has been updated to allow running calculations on multiple periods. Previously, only a leaf-level period was able to be selected.
Account Reconciliation Enhancements
Bank and Subledger Balance Loads
A new feature to import bank and subledger balance loads has been added. This feature includes two steps: First is to import data from a file (excel or csv) into a staging table; the second step is to create or update items in the Items table based on the data in the staging table. For the first step a staging table definition is needed under Configure/Staging Tables as shown in the screenshot below.
The second step is accomplished by calling an import procedure called [acctrec].[spAppg_ImportItems] from workflow. Here is a screenshot of how you can setup a simple workflow to import data then call the procedure to create items from the imported data.
Once the items have been imported, they can be viewed within Items form. A new column has been added to the Items form to indicate if the item is being imported or not. Any imported items will have the account number, name, Open Date, Start Date, and Amount locked form manual input.
Imported items will be validated before importing into the system. Validation errors will be logged and can be viewed on Import Error Log form.
Import Error Log
A new form has been added to display errors generated during the creatiion/updating of items via import. Errors that are related to non-mandatory fields such as subtype or vendor won’t prevent importing the item but errors related to type, date, entity, and account are critical and will prevent the item from being imported. If any of these errors happen a new error called ‘Item Not Imported’ will be added to that item to specify that that it hasn’t been imported.
To help with validating item fields before importing them a new form with all valid values for different item fields has been added that we explain in next section.
Validation Lists for Importing Items
A new form has been added under Maintenance/Account Reconciliation which contains all valid values for different item properties. The lists can be used in import templates to validate against a fixed list of values for imported items. There is one tab for each property.
Tasks, Additional Delineation by Type and Subtype
Additional categorizations using Type and Subtype properties have been added for task checklists. This enables users to maintain multiple checklists that are easily delineated by type and further by subtype. The list of forms that been updated for this feature are: Static Data, Task Setup, Task Checklist, Task Checklist Details, and Task Completion.
Static Data
Two new tabs have been added, one for Task Types and one for Task Subtypes. Task Types and Task Subtypes can be added/updated in these two tabs respectively.
Task Type
There are two new columns for Type and Subtype. Please note that Type is a mandatory field so if you already have some tasks in the system, you need to select a valid type for them in order to be able to use this form.
Task Checklist
Task Type and Task Subtype have been added to Task Checklist form as parameter and within the table which enables the user to maintain multiple checklists based on their type and subtype.
Task Checklist Details
The Task Checklist Details form has been updated to include task type and subtype in its parameter list and task identification section as well.
Task Completion
Can now filter the Task Completion report based on task type and subtype in addition to other filters that are already there. Type/Subtype delineation has been added to the report itself as well.
Duplicate Match Groups and Match Rules
A feature to duplicate match group or match rule has been added. This feature improves matching maintenance process and helps to reduce the time to create and update matching configurations. For example, if there is a change in matching setup, to keep a record of historical matching groups that already have been used, you can duplicate them, deactivate the old ones and make changes to the new ones. This feature can also be beneficial to create multiple rules that are similar to each other so you can duplicate a rule and make the changes to the new rule instead of creating it from scratch. The changes are in Match Groups and Match Rules forms.
Match Groups
A functional link called Duplicate has been added to all tables in Match Groups form that allow the user to duplicate a match group with all its datasets, filters, and rules. The new match group will have the same name plus _Copy. Group name can be updated afterwards. In order to use the new group in matching process, please make sure to click on Process Matching Rules so the new changes take effect and can be used in future automatic matchings.
Match Rules
Similar to Match Group form, Duplicate link will create a duplicate of the rule with all its details. The new rule will have the same name plus _Copy and it can be renamed later. Again in order for the changes to take effect you need to run Process Matching Rules.
Add Delete Button in Matching UI
In the Matching UI, a new Delete button has been added to the function panel. Delete previously only was availible in the Transactions form. This button is inactive by default. If the user selects one or multiple unmatched transactions then it will be activated. Matched transactions cannot be deleted and selecting any matched transaction will deactivate Delete button. Once the user clicks on Delete button, there will be a confirmation message and selected transactions will be deleted if the user confirms. Deleted transactions will be logged and can be viewed on Transactions Error Log form.
Transactions Delete Log
Deleted transactions can be viewed within Transactions Delete Log form. This form has been updated to log the user that deleted the transactions as well.
FluenceXL Reporting Enhancements
Template Tables
Template tables now work with the Direct API connections, not just published Analysis Services models. Template tables allow you to easily add predefined tables that have useful metrics and formatting built into them. These can be used directly or further customized for your specific needs.
Calculation support
Direct API connections now support basic MDX Calculations. Previously, these were only available for Analysis Services published models. This allows you to specify some simple client-side calculations.
New and Improved User Interface
Several user interfaces have been updated, providing a consistent look and feel across the Fluence product suite, usability improvements, and a modern aesthetic.
Grid Actions
Grid actions are a list of XL3Link formulae that can be tied to the right-click menu.
You can define them via the “Interaction” tab in the grid properties
You can pick a range containing the XL3Links - there are a maximum of 10 actions supported. The Menu item name will be the text of the cell, and the XL3Link will be triggered when the menu is selected
"Active Cell tracking waits for action" will track the active cell in the grid but only output the members when the action is selected.
Note
Active cell tracking outputs to Sheet2, which contains a grid driven from those cells. The action takes the user to sheet2, and the "Wait for action" option triggers the grid refresh
New Formulae
The following formulae are now available
- XL3Translate([ConnectionID],[Dictionary],[Term]) - will look up the “Term” in the given dictionary for the user’s current language
- XL3HierarchyRoleLookup([ConnectionID],[Role]) - will return the name of the hierarchy that is defined for the given Role. For example: XL3HiearchyRoleLookup(1,”Intercompany”) would return the hierarchy set as the “Intercompany” type
- XL3DefaultMember([ConnectionID],[Hierarchy],[Type]) - returns the default member for the given hierarchy. The Type can be blank, “Input” or “Reporting” to pick the default member type to return.
Web-based Model Writeback
Data entry FluenceXL reports can now be published and used directly within the Fluence web portal.
#Tag reporting
When driving a member selection from a range you can use the form: #tagname to return any members with the “tag” defined for them.