Cartesis Performance Suite

Business Objects to acquire Cartesis, hot on the heels of Oracle’s acquisition of Hyperion

You can contact Nigel Pendse, the author of this section, by e-mail on NigelP@olapreport.com if you have any comments, observations or user experiences to add. Last updated on April 25, 2007 .

Contents

Calculation functionality

CF has four types of database calculations:

• Pre-consolidation rules are applied within a reporting unit, at data entry time (whether at the time of initialization, file load, schedule entry or journals). These rules are defined in the Category Builder and are similar to the retrieval formulas described below.
• Package rules are used to generate automatic journal entries.
• Consolidation rules include not only the main aggregation functions, but the application of the balance sheet accounting flow logic, currency conversion and consolidation adjustments. It is also possible to include SQL routines for particularly complex transformations.
• Intercompany reconciliation rules are used to eliminate receivables, payables, purchases and sales across a group, which may include partial cross ownerships.

One of CF’s major differentiators is its use of the flow dimension to handle the interaction between balance sheet and period data (P&L, cash flows, etc). The whole opening balance/changes/closing balance algebra is handled automatically this way, which greatly reduces the number of accounts required and also eliminates the need to write the formulas for this processing. Flows are applied to a set of accounts, together with exchange rates, exchange differences processing, handling of journals, etc. From the opening balance and movements, the system automatically generates the closing balance, as well as automatically performing the currency translation, etc. CF, like Carat, handles currency translation adjustments natively so no formulas or programming are needed; one of the flows handles the currency translation adjustment automatically.

Users request consolidations by choosing the ‘scope’ (scopes are pre-defined using Scope View). The consolidation definition refers to the reporting units included (selected by various means), the currency, the exchange rates, the data version, etc. Many such consolidations can be created, stored and subsequently compared if needed. Thus, it is possible to do simulations with different company structures, or to look at actual results at budget rates, or to compare different processing logic, business rules, accounting rules and standards like GAAPs. The process of performing the consolidation is usually performed as a batch job which typically takes a few minutes to run, depending on the server performance and the data volumes included.

In addition, the report designer can include spreadsheet-like formulas to calculate new amounts on-the-fly. There are two types of formula available, spreadsheet and retrieval.

• Spreadsheet formulas are specific to a schedule and normally refer to grid row and column addresses in the schedule (C6, D8, etc), rather than dimension members. However, it is also possible to refer to specific dimension members, using CF’s standard, not-very-readable nomenclature (eg, {A=AB20} means account AB20). Unlike Carat, CF has a wizard to shield the user from the formulas. As with normal spreadsheet formulas, the cell addresses change as rows and columns are added and deleted.
• Retrieval formulas are stored in the database, and can only refer to data in terms of its dimension names, not grid position. These formulas can be shared by multiple schedules.

Calculations can reference any dimension or combination of dimensions, and filters. This means specific calculations can be applied to particular entities, specific accounts, time periods, products, etc.

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