Creating Columns

The column setup is where you will select what part of the General Ledger you would like to see along with the selection of Accounting Periods. Within the General Ledger, the system stores Closing Balances, Budget Data, Units, Period Activity, and more. In addition to the element of data you are looking to display, column configurations may be the current period the same period last year, or a twelve month net change (Income Statement accounts) or twelve month balance (Balance Sheet accounts).

Important Fields

The primary fields of the Column Designer are:

• Column # - This is an optional field, but recommended when wanting to reference the current column on another column within the formula configuration. Column #'s are recommended to start with an alpha-character and then a numeric counter. For example "A1" for the first column and "A2" for the second column. You may even want to number columnssuch as A10 or A20, in order for future handling where you may need to insert A11 as a new column in the middle. 
  
  Note: If column #'s are numeric only, this may cause issue with formula calculations. A value of "10" may be confused if you want to multiple a value by 10 at some point later. The system will be unable to decipher between "Column 10" or "the number 10".
  
  
• Title - This is the text that will appear as the header of the column on the report; describe what the line is for easy understanding by the end user.
  
  
• Type - What type of data will be displaying within the column:
   
  
  • Period Balance Activity - This will get the sum of dollar activity recorded.
      
  • Period Balance Units - This will get the sum of unit activity recorded.
      
  • Budget - This will get the sum of the budget dollar amounts created through the Budget system.
      
  • Close Balance - This will get the ending dollar amount of the account(s). Opening + Activity = Closing.
      
  • Close Units - This will get the ending unit amount of the account(s). Opening + Activity = Closing.
      
  • Formula - Indicates that the Formula column value will be a Mathematical Formula.
      
  • Open Balance - This will get the opening dollar amount of the account(s).
      
  • Open Units - This will get the opening unit amount of the account(s).
      
  • Stats by Segment - Both Units - This will get the Stats by Segment Configuration for the selected Formula and add both Units #1 and Units #2 together.
      
  • Stats by Segment - Units #1 - This will get the Units #1 value from the Stats by Segment setup as selected from the Formula.
      
  • Stats by Segment - Units #2 - This will get the Units #2 value from the Stats by Segment setup as selected from the Formula.
      
  • Stats by Sub Type - Both Units - This will get the Stats by Sub Type Configuration for the selected Formula and add both Units #1 and Units #2 together.
      
  • Stats by Sub Type - Units #1 - This will get the Units #1 value from the Stats by Sub Type setup as selected from the Formula.
      
  • Stats by Sub Type - Units #2 - This will get the Units #2 value from the Stats by Sub Type setup as selected from the Formula.
     
• Formula - Enter in either the equation of columns, or the criteria for G/L accounts you wish to select.
  For more information on Formulas, either read Using GL Account Formulas or Using Mathematical Formulas. 
  
  
• Range Type -  Actual or Period. Refer to the Period Selection section below for additional information.
  
  
  • Actual - Works in conjunction with the Start and End period selection options. For the periods that are selected, use the Actual period specified in the Start and/or End options. 
    
    
  • Period - Works in conjunction with the Start and End period selection options. For the periods that are selected, go back the # of periods specified in the Start and/or End options. 
    
    
• Start & End Periods - These options tell the system what Period #'s to look at. Read the Range Type examples above for more information. Refer to the Period Selection section below for additional information.

Additional Fields

• Format Type - Determines how you would like the numbers/text to appear. Currently will show two decimal places with a $ sign. Numeric(0) to Numeric(4) indicates how many decimal places you'd like to show.
  
  
• Hide - This will hide the column from appearing on the report. This is useful if the information in the column is being used in a formula on another column.
  
  
• Stats Column - If using Stats and you would like to use the stats from another column to appear in this column, specify the Column's Column # here. If the line configuration has the Show Stats value checked and the Column has a Stats Column value set, that stat value will appear on that Line / Column combination cell.

Period Selection

• The option of "0" in either the Start or End options always means the currently selected period. For example, setting a Start = 0, and you run the Report for Period 2016-04, indicates that in this column, the system will display data starting 2016-04. But if you change the run date of the report to 2015-11, it will also change the report period for that column to start at 2015-11. This is the case for both Range Type options of Actual or Period.
    
• When the Range Type Option = Actual: If Start = 1 and End = 3, and you are running the report for 2016-07, this means that it will use 2016-01 to 2016-03 of your accounting period year. 
    
• When the Range Type Option = Period: If Start = 1 and End = 3, and you are running the report for 2016-07, this means that it will use 2016-04 thru 2016-06 of your accounting period year, as you are telling it to go back 1 to 3 periods of your current run period.
    
• Note that the system does not run Accounting Periods by "Calendar" Months. This goes by the Accounting Periods setup within ERP. 2016-03 does not necessarily mean "March 2016" it means "The 3rd Period of 2016" (which may happen to be March depending on your organizations company setup).

Here are some additional examples of how the system uses the Range Type / Start / End Options together:

Samples

Here are some sample screenshot of different column configurations (click image to expand):