2311.9 - Fluence Release Notes - Summary (March 21, 2024)

This Release will contain several new features and bug fixes. Details will be provided in Release Notes following the Release.

None.

Highlights of the 2308.1 Fluence release include:

Platform

• A new Metadata Audit Trail user interface to allow authorized users to view logs that track changes to hierarchies, models and dimensions. This report can be used for troubleshooting or audit purposes.
• Ability to give permissions to select user roles to modify assigned mapping tables and data import definitions. This prevents users from modifying mappings owned by other individuals.
• Ability to retain and view the source records used in a data import. The new Import Logs interface displays a report showing the source and mapped values for any mapping and aggregation between the staging table and the model during import. From this report, a user can deduce which source accounts make up the value of a target account within Fluence.
• Ability to create a bursting workflow - create a workflow process for several business units quickly and easily by defining the workflow once and selecting the business units it needs to be cascaded. Dashboard panels can be configured to show the status of each task by each business unit.
• Select REST APIs are now available to login, populate and retrieve data from a Fluence client staging table. REST APIs also are provided to start and stop a workflows, and interrogate workflow status. This enables data imports to be externally initiated from staged data, or exported and retrieved using a model or model view extract.

Consolidation

• Inclusion of a new Investment Registry that allows you to track information throughout the life of your investments. The Investment registry allows you to record, track and maintain information about your investments. Once data is loaded to the Investment registry, the Direct Ownership percentages are automatically calculated for the specific entity and subsidiary.

• Ability to reclass accounts to asset or liability based on their sign. For example, if Cash is negative it is reclassed to Bank Overdraft. The netting calculation is also able to consider groups of accounts such as Taxes Receivable and Taxes Payable. If the net of the two accounts has a debit balance, the net amount is recorded in the Asset account. If the net of the two accounts has a credit balance, the net amount is recorded in the Credit account.
• Tagging support in Allocations - When a member is tagged within Fluence, that member or parent-child structure can be referred to by its tag in different areas of the application. This allows member names to differ across different tenants and data models, but still allow all productized Fluence rules logic to work across tenants.
• Main Fluence Consolidation Administration forms are now available as web forms within the Fluence portal. This allows for easier Consolidation rule administration with the ability to create, edit, delete and duplicate rules along with their details within the Fluence portal. The following web administration forms are available in 2308.1:
  • Calculation
  • Conversion
  • Consolidation
  • Intercompany Matching
  • Intercompany Booking
  • Rollover
  • Validation

Account Reconciliation

• Users now have the capability within the Matching interface to update End Dates for closed periods, provided the End Date falls within an open period or the last closed period.
• Users can now delete supporting items directly from the Matching interface, streamlining the data management process.
• Prevent users from importing transactions if there are associated supporting items, ensuring accurate and controlled data management.
• The supporting item icon will now be displayed, even if the item was created under a different match group or dataset, with informative messages indicating any Match Group or Dataset mismatches. Supporting item updates will be restricted for such cases, preventing errors during data management.
• Attachment icons have been optimized to hide when not applicable (e.g., 'Delete Attachment' icon when no attachment is added, 'Add Attachment' icon when an attachment is already present). Supporting item changes can now be conveniently undone by clicking on the Cancel button.

Fluence XL Reporting

• Prevent users from uploading data to closed periods in a Fluence model from a FluenceXL report with writeback enabled.
• Ability for users to use @user tags to other in-tenant users in FluenceXL Commentary. This allows a user to send Teams or email notifications with the comment, its data intersection, and a tenant link referenced within the message.

This update includes the following fixes and new functionality

Platform:

• Address issue renaming entity members where intercompany data can become orphaned. 

Consolidation:

• The Conversion process was failing on systems where the Dataview dimension was renamed.
• Calculation Multi has been updated to support dependent calculations when subsequent calculations did not create any data.
• Address issue running allocations with source account parent members.
• The Trial Balance Intercompany Input template now supports manual input to the 'Input' audit member when data is loaded to 'No Intercompany'.
• Address issue with JE Drillback from Fluence reports not working correctly in European Consolidation systems with a Group dimension. 
• Address issue with Calculation First causing duplicate values when no audit member was defined.
• Address issue generating conversion rates when using weekly timeperiods.
• Address issue where the Journal Entry Copy process was not copying all details from P12 to P1 in a system that did not have a Group dimension.

Account Reconciliation:

• Add restriction on transaction import for transactions with Supporting Item association.

This update includes the following fixes and new functionality

Account Reconciliation/Matching:

• Update the Reconciliation Review report for transaction and match supporting items.
• Ability to Open Item Schedule for General account reconciliation group type.
• Update dataset filters in Matching UI to accept a list of comma separated items for =, <>, starts with, ends with, contains, does not contain. Adding a Free Clause filter that accepts SQL server syntax to incorporate custom filters.
• Add filters for transaction and match supporting items.
• Prepopulate Start Date for new supporting items and group, account, and entity when applicable in the Matching UI.
• Update AccountRecCurrentPeriod global variable to use Name instead of Key value.

Platform:

• Added new functionality to design list panel links within Fluence Homepages to open FluenceXL reports in Excel versus the browser.
• Address UI issue in Workflow Contributor List panels on Homepages.
• Address issue when ImportOnlyOnOpenPeriodsConsol feature flag was enabled. Users were still able to import to a closed period for actuals scenario if the same period is an open period for a non-actual scenario.
• Address issue where the Export mapping errors as mappings link was no longer working.
• Removed the ability to update a shared member's properties from the Hierarchy Manager. Also updated the Import Hierarchy behavior to ignore any shared member properties in the import file. A shared member's properties will inherit it's corresponding base member properties when the Process button is clicked in the Models module.
• Increased the timeout when loading data to a staging table.

Consolidation:

• The Copy Journal Entry process has been updated for European Consolidation systems to exclude statistical movements from the current earnings calculation when a Journal is copied from Period 12 to Period 1.
• Address issue with Conversion when data was loaded to an Elimination Entity’s non-local currency.
• Address issue running the Conversion process a second time via Workflow if the Workflow process did not complete successfully on the first run.
• Address issue with the Run Calculations form on a French language system.
• Address issues with the Periodic calculation when calculation from Periodic to YTD after running the Copy Opening.
• Address issues with Manage Ownership form not storing ownership information for shared entities.

A new version of the Fluence Add-In will be deployed as part of this Release. Instructions on how to upgrade the Add-In can be found here Fluence Add-in Installation Guide.

This Patch will address the following:

Consolidation:

• Address issue in Conversion when calculating periodic values for an entity in non-local currency.
• Address issue in the Consolidation/NCI calculation where amounts in periods P2 to P12 were incorrect. 
• Address issue running the Copy Opening process in a system with more than one period having the same year and month property values.
• Address issue with Current Year Net Income process when posting a Journal Entry outside of the default input member in a non-standard consolidation dimension.

None.

This Patch will address the following:

Consolidation:

• Fluence now supports converting amounts in an entity's non-local currency. Data that may have been loaded to an entity's non-local currency will now be converted. 
• Address issue running the current year net income process when posting journal entries 

Review the CopyNetIncome Audit Property

Please make sure to review the CopyNetIncome property on members in the audit dimension. 

When posting journal entries, the system was not honoring the CopyNetIncome property on the audit dimension. This issue has been corrected.

The Current Year Net Income calculation when a JE is posted will now not calculate on any audit members where CopyNetIncome is set to FALSE. 

This Patch will address the following:

Platform:

• Address issue with extraneous Journal Configuration authorization being needed to use Journals module
• Address issue with extraneous Metadata Management and Configuration authorizations being needed to run Data imports
• Address issue with Workflow steps not working as expected when the Advance Rule "All predecessors have completed".
• Address issue when importing hierarchies without keys. 

Account Reconciliation:

• Address issue with activating Support button on Select Matching menu.

This Release will contain several new features and bug fixes. Details will be provided in Release Notes following the Release.

2305.1 Fluence Release Notes - Full (May 21, 2023) 

As of the May 2023 release, we have adopted a new naming convention. The format is YYMM.R where YYMM represents the year and month of the release, and R represents the release number. This change in naming convention has been made across the entire Fluence product suite to provide consistent and aligned versioning.

The Model Views features has been updated in this release. If you were using Model Views in a previous release, please contact Support so that we can update your environment appropriately.

Highlights of the 2305.1 Fluence release include:

Platform:

• Ability to create Model Views to simplify report building in FluenceXL.
• New Model Export workflow task that exports a Model or an existing Model View to a staging table or a file.
• New security reports to view User Information, Role Assignments, and Role Authorizations.
• Added capability to perform bulk import of Journal Entries which allows the loading of several journals via an Excel file.
• The Journal Entry Recurring "From" Date is now editable.
• Improvements to Hierarchy Manager including the ability to update properties via an Excel file, ability to upload partial hierarchies and improved alternate hierarchy maintenance.

Consolidation

• New FluenceXL consolidation financial reports have been added.
• New Compare Hierarchies report has been added to be able to validate members existence in the default vs alternate hierarchy structures.
• The Process Status report has been enhanced to allow viewing a trace log of data changes that occurred during a Fluence calculation.
• Conversion and Consolidation audit reports have been added.
• Intercompany Matching report can now be broken down by dimensions.
• Enhanced Copy Journal Entry process provides additional controls around copying journal entries that have already been copied as well as allowing the selection of a source and target scenario. 
• Enhanced validation rule capabilities including a new Enforce field to specify whether the validations will be hard (enforced) or soft as well as the capability to have a Workflow step that checks if validation rules defined in the system have passed or failed.
• The Allocation module has been enhanced to support alternate hierarchies.
• Export journal entries in bulk that include headers and details for a particular query from your system to a comma-delimited file from the Journal Entry module.  
• Import multiple general ledger journal entries in bulk using a comma-delimited or Excel file into your Fluence system from the Journal Entry module.

Account Reconciliation:

• Added ability to create supporting items from dataset transactions in the matching UI.
• Added ability to create supporting item from a match variance in the matching UI.
• Added a new form, Supporting Item Transaction, to display transactions associated with a supporting item.
• Updated the Reconciliation Details form to indicate supporting items association with dataset transactions and a link to a form to display transaction details.
• Improved error handling: Updated forms to restrict deleting transactions, match groups, and datasets that have item association.

Fluence XL:

• Ability to report against Model Views.

Fluence Disclosure Management:

• Several enhancements based on customer feedback.