Integrity check, rinse, repeat

ryan.alford — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:59:36 +0000

It’s the same scenario every month: Company accountants and finance advisors rush to organize and close their financial statements. What’s even more frustrating – within the mass scramble – is stopping to carefully examine the data after using the financial statement generator (FSG) via Oracle’s E-Business Suite. This scenario invites a myriad of problems; without properly authenticating the statements, it can inevitably introduce GL account balances to errors and inaccuracies. In turn, this wreaks havoc on reporting features and further degrades their credibility.

So, a question to ask: If the validity of the FSG data is questioned, how will this affect the future integrity of the reporting? Like mothers conveniently say, “Always wear clean underwear!”

Oracle’s FSG solution isn’t new and many use it on a daily basis. What many users don’t understand is the likelihood of significant data decay within the statements – specifically with row sets, column sets, content sets, etc. No doubt, this all proves to be an apt time for an FSG integrity check.

A few points to keep in mind when working with unverified financial reports:

There’s the possibility that several rows sets contain errors and are affecting the reports
Checksums for financial reports may go unused
Bad calculations (and a devious FSG editor) can easily ruin the outcome
Data security becomes an afterthought when introducing Excel into the mix. Nobody likes a spreadsheet that’s irrevocably wrong.

All too often, companies invest millions of dollars into a combined ERP and BI system that emits unreliable data. In the end, what becomes the more important segment of ERP is the need for reliable reporting that has the correct functionality – not a solution that causes data integrity, security and compliance issues.

With International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) looming, data quality and security becomes a necessity rather than a luxury. Nowadays, companies trying to resolve auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley issues agree with that statement. It’s losing confidence in a multi-million dollar system that creates a gap between success and the muddy waters of noncompliance.

Again, listen to mother: “Always wear clean underwear!”

To purify that flawed report that will soon bear a signature of approval from a C-level executive, give it a good washing: http://www.insightsoftware.com/fsgchecker. Nobody likes a dirty spreadsheet. Better yet, nobody likes to see money wasted on reporting about…money. Make sense?

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

The Oracle FSG Nightmare

andrew.deeley — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:07:45 +0000

Oracle’s Financial Statement Generator (FSG) is a built-in report writer for EBS, which is used to produce financial statements (or otherwise known as FSGs). It’s often described as cumbersome, clunky and is difficult for end-users to build and edit existing reports. FSGs are comprised of a number of components which are integrated to produce a set of financial reports.

There are a number of steps in defining and building FSGs:

Report Specifications: These are usually prepared by accountants or end-users – mapped-out in Excel or within a Word document and passed to the report developers

Report Development: An IT department (or consultant who has requisite technical skills to understand the report specification) translates it into its FSG components

Report Testing: Accountants or end-users can conduct the testing of reports to check report parameters, runtime, display layout and, most importantly, financial results

Report Re-work: Any changes to the report are specified by the accountants and passed to the IT department for re-working

Report Acceptance: The accounting department “signs-off” on each report to confirm that it’s correct and acceptable. The IT department promotes this report to production status so it can be run against the live financial data.

Report Changes: Due to several changes in business needs and reporting requirements, financial report structures and layouts will often be altered. Of course, it’s a good idea to re-review the points above.

FSG Report Definition Process:

For many EBS customers, the report definition process is a time-consuming and arduous process: Requiring a mix of IT and finance resources. The steps for the process include:

1) Define the Row Set

First, define the basic row parameters and display options such as row set name, the formatting parameters, balance control options, and display and override settings.

Next, define the account assignments for each segment including whether to display totals, expand the selection, or show both totals and expansions. There can be many lines of segment selections, which can be added or subtracted to apply to a total for the row. Alternatively, a row calculation can be defined using multiple sequence definitions that refer to either constants or other rows in its logic.

For each row there are four forms (screens) to review, making the row set definition a long process.

2) Define the Column Set

A set of steps, similar to the process in row set definition, must be passed through to define each column. Display options, balance controls, sequence, spacing and formatting are defined prior to the account assignments. Again, each column includes four forms (screens).

3) Define the Content Set (optional, but used heavily)

Content sets are used to apply additional segment filters to a report and column set. This helps produce separate income statement pages for each department without having to build multiple reports, columns or row sets. Account assignments and their corresponding display options are made to produce a range of valid segment values that drive the resulting report pages.

4) Define the Report

Another set of screens enable you to define a report that uses an existing row and a column and content set combination. There are additional optional components and overrides that can also be set. The report structure is saved and can be run as a single report request or as part of a report set (a grouping of reports to be run sequentially from a single request).

5) Run Report or Report Set

To run a predefined report, a request is submitted for the specified period and the resulting report pages are rendered in text, CSV, XML, or Excel format.

Excel Integration:

Publishing an FSG in Excel format requires an additional setup and uses desktop ADI integration in EBS 11i. In R12 complex, additional infrastructure is required to be put in place. Publishing an FSG to Excel and enabling drill-down uses a combination of Excel templates, BI publisher, Report Manager, and Web ADI.

Insight makes the process of developing and deploying financial reports from EBS substantially easier. Insight can import existing FSG row set structures and easily replicate column and content set structures through the use of user-controlled filters.

Insight enables you to:

Import existing FSG row sets and hierarchies
Edit using drag and drop and mouse clicks
Build new row sets in minutes
View an entire row set definition as a visual tree
Easily define column and content sets using filter selections
Apply high-quality formatting
Inbuilt drill-down to GL and subledgers at any level
One click publishing and Excel export

Insightful » FSG

Integrity check, rinse, repeat

Author: ryan.alford

The Oracle FSG Nightmare

Author: andrew.deeley