P&L variance bridge

The P&L variance bridge calculation provides a method to explain the base variances in the P&L between different timeperiods and scenarios. A link is available within Longview Close to trigger the calculation of the P&L variance bridge.

Longview will calculate the P&L variance bridge based on settings defined in the accounts, dataviews and scenarios dimensions. Foundational symbols for P&L variance bridge calculations are deployed with the Longview Solutions Framework. Customer specific configuration can be incorporated as required.

Standard validation rules are deployed with the Longview Solutions Framework to allow validation that the ending P&L variance matches the P&L bridge.

For more information, see Validation rules.

• P&L variance bridge setup
• P&L variance bridge calculation
• Managing P&L variance bridge accounts
• Managing P&L variance bridge data views
• Managing P&L variance bridge scenarios
• Calculating the P&L variance bridge

P&L variance bridge setup

This section describes the setup of the P&L Variance symbols for the accounts, dataviews and scenarios dimension.

This section provides information on these main topics:

• P&L variance symbols - accounts dimension
• P&L variance symbols - dataviews dimension
• P&L variance symbols - scenarios dimension

P&L variance symbols - accounts dimension

The P&L variance bridge accounts hierarchy is made up of Longview foundational symbols as well as customer specific symbols that are added to incorporate detail as required

Customer specific P&L variance bridge accounts are added under the hierarchy PLVB_EBIT - EBIT - Variance Bridge.

For more information on managing P&L variance bridge accounts, see Managing P&L variance bridge accounts.

P&L variance symbols - dataviews dimension

The P&L Variance Dataviews hierarchy is made up of Longview foundational symbols as well as customer specific symbols that are added to incorporate detail as required.

The following foundational dataviews for the P&L variance bridge are deployed in the dataviews dimension:

Contains the ending value for the P&L variance bridge

Customer specific P&L variance bridge dataviews are added under the PLVB_Chg - Net Change hierarchy.

For more information on managing P&L variance dataviews, see P&L variance bridge, Managing P&L variance bridge dataviews

P&L variance symbols - scenarios dimension

The P&L variance bridge scenarios hierarchy is made up of Longview foundational symbols as well as customer specific symbols that are added to incorporate detail as required.

Variance analysis scenarios exist under the root symbol SCENARIOS_VAR - Variance Analysis.

Standard variance scenarios provided with the Longview Close application include:

Customer specific P&L variance scenarios are added under the SCENARIOS_VAR hierarchy as required.

For more information on managing P&L variance scenarios, see P&L variance bridge, Managing P&L variance bridge scenarios.

P&L variance bridge calculation

The P&L variance bridge calculation will summarize Profit and Loss accounts into the PLVB_EBIT account structure. Values will be summarized to each account based on the mappings defined. Accounts defined as credit will be added and debit accounts will be subtracted. The base variance will be calculated as the comparison period less the base period.

For information on the managing of the P&L variance scenarios, see P&L variance bridge, Managing P&L variance bridge scenarios

The foreign exchange variance is determined as the difference in the effective average exchange rate for each account in the PLVB_EBIT structure multiplied against the base period value for the account.

Acquisition or Disposal variance is calculated if a symbol in a dimension defined for P&L Variance Acquisitions or Disposals contains either an acquisition or disposal date that falls in the range of the scenario and time frame being calculated.

For more information, see Acquisitions and disposals

The internal growth variance is the portion of the variance that cannot be identified as part of an external or calculable change.

Acquisitions and disposals

The calculation of the P&L variance bridge must be adjusted to account for symbols that were recently acquired or disposed.

Dimensions for acquisitions and disposals

The list of dimensions for which P&L variance acquisitions or disposals will be calculated is stored in the system attribute ASPLVBAcqDispDimensions. By default, this system attribute only contains the ENTITIES dimension, but additional dimensions can be added as required (for example, PRODUCTS)

Note: The following dimensions are not valid as dimensions for acquisitions or disposals calculations. If these dimensions are listed in the attribute ASPLVBAcqDispDimensions, they will be ignored during calculation of the P&L variance bridge: ACCOUNTS, TIMEPERIODS, DATAVIEWS, SCENARIOS, CURRENCIES.

Acquired/Disposed of symbol attributes

The following symbol attributes must be defined on the symbol(s) being acquired or disposed of in order for the acquisition or disposal portion of the P&L variance calculation to run.

Note: Dates set in any of the above listed attributes must be in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD.

Scenario attributes

The following symbol attributes must be defined on the variance scenarios underneath the SCENARIOS_VAR hierarchy structure in order for the acquisition or disposal portion of the P&L variance calculation to run.

These attributes define which acquisition or disposal date attribute to use, depending on the scenario base and comparison time frames.

For more information on the disposal date attribute, see Acquired/Disposed of symbol attributes.

For more information on setting up P&L variance scenarios, see P&L variance bridge, Managing P&L variance bridge scenarios.

Calculation

If an acquisition or disposal is detected for the scenario and time frame the P&L variance bridge calculation is running on, the following calculation will be performed:

For Acquisitions

PLVB_Acq = PLVB_VarBase

All other variances (ie: PLVB_FX) will be 0.

For Disposals

PLVB_Disp = PLVB_VarBase

All other variances (ie: PLVB_FX) will be 0.

Calculation conditions

An acquisition or disposal calculation is required under in the following cases:

Actuals vs. Actuals

1. If the acquisition or disposal date falls in between the comparison and base period selected or
2. The disposal date is before the base period selected.

Actuals vs. Budget

1. If the actual acquisition or disposal date is the same as the actual period selected, but the budget acquisition or disposal date is not the same as the budget period selected (or it is not set) or
2. The budget acquisition or disposal date is the same as the budget period selected, but the actual acquisition or disposal date is not the same as the actual period (or it is not set).

Actuals vs. Forecast

1. If the actual acquisition or disposal date is the same as the actual period selected, but the forecast acquisition or disposal date is not the same as the forecast period selected (or it is not set) or
2. The forecast acquisition or disposal date is the same as the forecast period selected, but the actual acquisition or disposal date is not the same as the actual period (or it is not set).

Forecast vs. Budget

1. If the forecast acquisition or disposal date is the same as the forecast period selected, but the budget acquisition or disposal date is not the same as the budget period selected (or it is not set) or
2. The budget acquisition or disposal date is the same as the budget period selected, but the forecast acquisition or disposal date is not the same as the forecast period (or it is not set).

Managing P&L variance bridge accounts

Manage P&L variance bridge accounts allows you to create and delete P&L variance bridge account symbols and edit the properties of existing P&L variance bridge account symbols.

This section provides information on these main topics:

• Accessing manage P&L variance bridge accounts
• Importing P&L variance bridge accounts
• Managing P&L variance bridge accounts
• Exporting P&L variance bridge accounts

Accessing manage P&L variance bridge accounts

1. Select the Consolidate module.
2. Select the Administration category.
3. Expand Accounts.
4. Click Manage PL Variance Bridge Accounts. The Manage P&L Variance Bridge Accounts dialog appears and contains the following options:
   • Import
   • Manage
   • Export

Importing P&L variance bridge accounts

The import option in the Manage P&L variance bridge accounts dialog allows you to create and update P&L variance bridge accounts in the database from a .csv file.

To import accounts:

1. For Option, select Import.
2. Select the .csv file to import from.
3. Click OK. A table will be displayed showing the summary of all actions performed by the import.

.csv file example:

Account,Description,Source Accounts,Parent Account,Sort Order

"PLVB_EBITDA","Earnings before Depreciation, Amortisation, Interest and Taxes - Variance Bridge","NULL","PLVB_EBIT",10.000000000

"PLVB_REV","Revenue”,"REV","PLVB_EBITDA",10.000000000

"PLVB_SGA","Sales, General and Admin Expenses","SGA","PLVB_EBITDA",30.000000000

where:

• Name is the name of the P&L variance bridge account.
• Description is the description of the P&L variance bridge account.
• Source Accounts are the P&L variance bridge source accounts from within the CI - Comprehensive Income hierarchy

  Note: For parent P&L variance bridge accounts, this value can be set to "" or “NULL”.

• Parent is the name of a P&L variance bridge account to assign the account to. The account will become a child of the specified parent, and the values in the parent will be calculated from all its children.
• Sort Order indicates the order of the account under the parent, with lower numbers ordered before higher numbers.

Managing P&L variance bridge accounts

The Manage option in the Manage P&L variance bridge accounts dialog allows you to create, update and delete accounts from within the P&L variance bridge accounts table.

To manage accounts:

1. For Option, select Manage.
2. Select the account to manage.

   Note: You may leave the account selection blank to start with an empty table. This can be used if accounts only need to be added; not deleted or modified.

3. In the Manage P&L variance bridge accounts table the list of accounts selected is displayed.

Adding an account

1. Click Add to add a new account. Accounts are not added to the database until you click Apply.

   Note: You can add a new account that has similar settings by selecting an existing row and clicking duplicate.

2. For each account fill in the following fields:

   Field	Description
   Account	Enter the name of the account. Note: The name of the account is limited to 31 characters.
   Description	Enter a description for the account. Note: The name of the account is limited to 31 characters.
   Parent	This is a read only field to indicate if the account is a parent account.
   Source Accounts	Select the source accounts for any leaf P&L variance bridge account. The source account must be a symbol under the CI hierarchy.
   Parent Account	Select or enter the name of the parent symbol to assign the account to. Note: The list only contains parents that already exist in the database. You can enter the name for the parent to make an account being added into a parent.
   Sort Order	Enter a number to define the order of the account under the parent. Accounts are sorted from low to high.

Deleting an account

Delete an account by selecting the row and clicking delete. The account is not deleted from the database until you click Apply.

Modifying an account

You can change the properties of an existing account:

1. Modify the description by editing the value in the ‘Description’ cell.
2. Change the Source Accounts for calculated accounts by selecting different symbols.
3. Switch the parent of the account by selecting or entering a new parent name.

   Note: The parent specified must either already exist in the database or be a new account that will be added before the account being modified

4. Change the order the account appears under its parent by modifying the sort order value.

No changes are applied until you click Apply.

Applying changes

To apply changes to the P&L variance bridge accounts, click Apply.

For new rows in the table:

1. Each new account will be added under the selected parent symbol.
2. Each new calculated account will update the AZPLVBAccountsSource symbol attribute according to the Source Accounts specified.

For modified accounts:

1. Any description changes will be applied.
2. Any changes to the ‘Source Accounts’ setting will be applied.
3. If the parent account is changed, the account will be reassigned to the new parent with the specified sort order.
4. Any changes to the sort order (same parent account) will be applied.

For deleted accounts:

1. Each deleted account will be confirmed before deleting.
   1. If confirmed, the related symbol is deleted.
   2. Otherwise, the row is restored to the table.

Results:

1. All actions performed are presented at the end of processing with:
   1. Each row identified by its row number.
   2. The action performed or the reason any error occurred.
2. Any valid changes, not cancelled, are applied.

Refreshing the accounts

1. Click Refresh to refresh the list of accounts.
2. Click Selections to change the selected P&L variance bridge account and refresh the list of accounts.

In either case, if there are any unapplied changes, you will be prompted to apply or discard any changes that have not yet been applied.

• Choose Apply Changes to apply any changes made, then refresh the list of accounts. If there are any errors the refresh will not be performed.
• Choose Discard Changes to discard any changes made, then refresh the list of accounts.
• Click Cancel to return to the table without refreshing the list of accounts.
  

Importing into the accounts table

1. Click Import to import from a .csv file into the accounts table.
2. Select the file to import. See .csv file example: for import file format.
3. You may select the option to replace existing rows

   Option	Description
   Replace Existing Rows	If this option is checked, all rows in the table view will be cleared and replaced with the accounts in the import file Note: This will only clear the accounts from the table view. It will NOT delete any accounts in the database
   Do Not Replace Existing Rows	If this option is unchecked, all entries in the import file will be appended to the table view. Note: Any accounts that exist multiple times in the same import file will be initially duplicated in the table view. Any accounts that exist in the import file AND already exist in the table prior to import will be initially duplicated in the table view. Once you click Apply, the settings for the last instance of the duplicate account will be used.

4. Click OK. The file will be imported into the table.
5. Click Apply to save the changes

Exporting from the accounts table

1. Click Export to export from the accounts table to a .csv file.
2. Select the .csv file to export to.

   Note: If the file selected does not currently exist, it will be created during the export process.

3. Click OK. A confirmation dialog will appear.
4. Click View File to view the exported file.

Exporting P&L variance bridge accounts

The Export option in the Manage P&L variance accounts dialog allows you to export P&L variance accounts and their related settings from the database to a .csv file.

To export accounts:

1. For Option, select Export.
2. Select the .csv file to export to.

   Note: If the file selected does not currently exist, it will be created during the export process.

3. Select symbols to export.
4. Click OK. A confirmation dialog will appear.
5. Click View File to view the exported file.

Managing P&L variance bridge data views

P&L variance bridge dataviews can be added under the PLVB_Chg - Net Change hierarchy. P&L variance bridge dataviews can either be:

• System calculated
• Manually Input
• Calculated via a custom calculation

To determine what type the P&L variance bridge dataview will be, the following attribute needs to be set:

This section provides information on these main topics:

• Creating a manual P&L variance bridge dataview
• Creating a custom calculated P&L variance bridge dataview

Creating a manual P&L variance bridge dataview

To create a manual input P&L variance bridge dataview, a new dataview symbol will need to be created under the PLVB_Chg - Net Change hierarchy. The attribute AZPLVBCalcMethod would need to be set to MANUAL for the manual input P&L variance bridge dataview.

Once a manual P&L variance bridge dataview is created, you can use the PL Variance Bridge input app to submit data to the manual P&L variance bridge dataview.

For more information on the PL Variance Bridge input app, see “Inputting P&L Variance Bridge Data” in the Solutions User Guide.

Creating a custom calculated P&L variance bridge dataview

To create a custom calculated P&L variance bridge dataview, a new dataview symbol will need to be created under the PLVB_Chg - Net Change hierarchy. The attribute AZPLVBCalcMethod would need to be set to the name of your custom calculation configuration library that will determine how the dataview is going to be calculated.

A configuration library can be created by doing the following:

1. Select the Design module.
2. Expand Apps.
3. Expand Configuration.
4. Expand Configuration Libraries
5. Click New.

In order for the Configuration Library to work properly for a custom calculated P&L variance bridge dataview, the following two items must be set:

1. In the Properties of your new configuration library, the name of the configuration library must be exactly the same as the value set in AZPLVBCalcMethod.
2. A procedure must be created in the Configuration library with the same name as the Configuration Library. To do so:
   1. In your configuration library, right click on Procedures and select New Document
   2. For the procedure name, enter the same name as you gave the configuration library (the value set in AZPLVBCalcMethod). This will be the controlling procedure for your custom P&L variance bridge calculation.

Note: The custom calculation code library for the P&L variance will need to define all actions regarding the calculation from downloading and locking the data through to uploading the results.

Managing P&L variance bridge scenarios

The P&L variance bridge scenarios hierarchy is made up of Longview foundational symbols as well as customer specific symbols that are added to incorporate detail as required.

Variance analysis scenarios exist under the root symbol SCENARIOS_VAR - Variance Analysis.

Customer specific P&L variance scenarios are added under the SCENARIOS_VAR hierarchy as required. Any customer specific scenario requires the following symbol attributes set:

Base and Comparison Scenarios:

Base and Comparison Time Periods

Base and Comparison Acquisition and Disposal Dates

Calculating the P&L variance bridge

Calculate P&L variance bridge allows you to run scenario variances for selected periods within your system.

For more information on setting up the variance bridges, see the “P&L variance bridge, setup”.

The calculation will occur on the Period Activity time periods.

This section provides information on these main topics:

• Accessing calculate P&L variance bridges
• Calculating P&L variance bridges

Accessing calculate P&L variance bridges

1. Select the Consolidate module.
2. Select the Administration category.
3. Expand Calculations.
4. Click Calculate PL Variance Bridge
5. The calculate P&L variance bridge form appears.

Calculating P&L variance bridges

In the calculate P&L variance bridge form you will have the ability to select the period range to be calculated and the scenarios against which the calculation is to be run.

1. Select the settings of the calculation to be run.

   Calculation settings	Description
   From Period	A numbered list of possible periods to start the calculation range with. The period number selected represents the period number within the year.
   To Period	A numbered list of possible periods to end the calculation range with. The period number selected represents the period number within the year.
   All Scenarios	Click this check box to select or unselect all scenarios in the list.
   Variance Scenario List	Click the check boxes to indicate the individual scenarios to include in the calculation.

2. Click OK to run the calculation.