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PeopleSoft Combination Edits
4/21/2017 PeopleSoft Combination Edits Miriam Moore Lead Business Systems Analyst Regence PeopleSoft Combination Edits ‘R’ Us Lead Business Systems Analyst 7 years experience Supported most of our modules
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Agenda Regence & PeopleSoft What are Combo Edits?
4/21/2017 Agenda Regence & PeopleSoft What are Combo Edits? Why do we use Combination Edits? Setup Maintenance Questions Reference slides Breadcrumbs Errors Queries Here’s our agenda Time for questions at end Also ask questions as we go – complicated, detailed stuff My will be on last slide so you can contact me End of presentation are reference slides – on conference website or me for slides Full breadcrumbs for all screens Errors and training information several useful queries
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Regence Business in four states 6,000 employees $8 billion in revenue
4/21/2017 Regence Business in four states 6,000 employees $8 billion in revenue Not for profit Includes Medicare and Federal Employee Program business Who we are I highlight Medicare & FEP for a reason – hang on to that for a minute
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Regence & PeopleSoft Financials plus parts of SCM & ESA PeopleSoft 8.8
4/21/2017 Regence & PeopleSoft Financials plus parts of SCM & ESA PeopleSoft 8.8 General Ledger Project Accounting Asset Management eProcurement Purchasing Accounts Payable Travel & Expenses Treasury / Cash Management Own, not implemented: Accounts Receivable Catalog Management PeopleTools 6 BSA FTE to support Some modules you can choose not to enforce combo edits (project costing an example) but we do it system wide – would add extra confusion if rules were different in different modules Finance System Services 8 BSAs support PS – about 6 FTEs Combo Edits enforced in all modules.
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4/21/2017 Combination Edits
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Definitions Combination Edits are . . . Combo Edits define . . .
4/21/2017 Definitions Combination Edits are . . . an integrated tool PeopleSoft provides to ensure ChartField values are used together in accordance with our business rules Combo Edits define . . . valid/invalid groupings of ChartFields Nicknamed Combo Edits or just Edits So what are combination edits Combination = a group of things Edits = to prepare for publication Think of organizing a group of things to publish it. The ultimate goal, of course, is to publish accurate financial statements. Combination Edits = Combo Edits = Edits
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4/21/2017 A little more detail ‘ChartFields’ = FIELDS that are in your CHART of accounts Account Product Project Department Statistics code Operating unit Examples Account X requires product B Account Y does not allow product A Account Z requires product C on Business Unit 123 Account Z requires product D on Business Unit 789 Let’s break that down further As I mentioned – combo edits can only be set up between CHARTFIELDS.
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Why do we use Combo Edits?
4/21/2017 Why do we use Combo Edits? Reimbursement Business Rules Allocate operating expenses at transaction level Medicare FEP Other business Must be coded correctly to allocate correctly Department / Business Unit relationship Control use of accounts between ledgers Two main reasons we use combination editing: To get reimbursed to enforce certain business/accounting rules You may wonder what we are trying to accomplish with many of the edits (for example, operating expense edits). I think we simply are trying to produce coding that makes for the most equitable allocations (or direct cost assignments where applicable). We look at the nature of expenses in each account and then determine the most appropriate coding that applies to that account. [NOTE from CJ: “I don't think that we actually "have to" allocate at a detailed level. My understanding is that other Plans with government contracts pool and allocate at a higher level than we do. We CHOSE to allocate at a transaction level. Transaction level coding for allocation purposes drive much of our combo edits.”]
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Setting up Combo Edits 4/21/2017
Now let’s talk about how to put this in place NOTE: There are a few one-time setups needed before this step – see PeopleBooks for details. You’ll probably do that when you implement or upgrade & is one-time thing so not going over here. DEMO has some examples you can study Setting up Combo Edits
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4/21/2017 Business Unit Ledger Group Rule Definition We’ll start with combination definition and move through these steps to set up our combo edits – watch the layers of the onion as we walk through the next few slides
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Combination Definition
4/21/2017 Combination Definition Which ChartFields are you creating a rule between? Naming Tips - Indicate Anchor & NonAnchor - Name clearly & you’ll never touch again Ours are all Account-driven (Account is the anchor – another definition) but that’s not required Note ACCT_DEPT – we don’t limit departments to certain accounts so what is this? Keep in back of mind for later One final thing to notice here – ours are all 2 chartfields. Consultants we’ve worked with have told us that three-way combo edits can slow down any editing processes considerably so we’ve never even tried. There are a few cases were finance would really like three-way edits. Eternal balance between ‘need’ and ‘performance’. i.e. Account X with Product A requires Project 1 while X with Product B requires Project 2 See on Definition screenshot that you can add as many fields as you want -- theoretically
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- Value Required is powerful
4/21/2017 Combination Rule Note the Effective Date From & To – can use to control when a rule is in effect. We’ll talk more about Value Required on next slide Tips - Make the Long Description detailed and clear so you can use it in queries - Value Required is powerful
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Combination Rule 4/21/2017 Second
Way to read this: Accounts 67540, and require 0X000 OR BLANK in the Product field. Why ‘OR BLANK’? Look at preceeding slide – ‘value is not required’ therefore BLANK is a valid value. If a value IS required than BLANK is not valid. Note that this rule is using Detail Values. We’ll talk more about using trees later but at this point what I want to say is that trees are more powerful and certainly save you from having to type in all the possible detail values BUT they also make it more complicated to research edits because you have to look in multiple places to understand what the rule is doing
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Combination Group Anchor Values Not in Rules
4/21/2017 Combination Group Anchor Values Not in Rules If you have 100 accounts and set up Edits on 99 of them, what do you do with the 100th account? (definitions from PeopleBooks) Anchor Values Not in Rules - Validation is always limited to the specified anchors—this option affects what you do with the other anchor values. So if you have 100 accounts and you set up Combo Edits on 99 of them, what do you do with the 100th account? Mark Valid: Lines containing anchor ChartField values not included in a rule are marked valid by the system. Mark Invalid: Lines containing anchor ChartField values not included in a rule are marked invalid by the system. (We always choose ‘Mark Valid’ and use queries to check that we are not missing values in the edits. But here’s an area where I wish we could change – if we set it to Mark Invalid any anchor ChartField (account in our case) not in a rule would invalid which would lessen the chance of missing setting up a new account in the edits – BUT since we don’t have edits EVERY account this in fact would backfire.)
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Combination Group Valid Combinations 4/21/2017
Combination Group Defines - This option defines whether the combinations defined in the group are valid or invalid combinations. You can set this field to: Valid Combinations: Lines containing any combination in the group are marked valid by the system. Invalid Combinations: Lines containing any combination in the group are marked invalid by the system. Note. You should never set the Anchor Values Not In Rules field to Mark Invalid and the Combination Group Defines field to Invalid Combinations since the system will invalidate all combinations in this case. Valid Combinations
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- Populate the Long Description - One-to-One Rule-to-Group is simpler
4/21/2017 Combination Group Another Long Description – as with the rule, detail and clarity will make your maintenance life easier. Note that you can have as many combination rules in one combination group as you want. Again, PS consultants we’ve worked with recommended a one-to-one relationship (one rule in one group) for ease of maintenance. I agree with this, in general. Easier for us because we have a lot of edits that are tied to different business units so it’s easier to have them in separate groups. Does create more work when we take edits down because you do that one edit group at a time. There’s the Combination Definition Again. User Defined – with combo data table can create own custom table to edit against, if needed. We do not do. (would be customization) Tips - Populate the Long Description - One-to-One Rule-to-Group is simpler
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Assignment to a BU & Ledger
4/21/2017 Assignment to a BU & Ledger Must assign combo groups to each Business Unit and Ledger combination they are for Note that the business unit isn’t actually part of the edit, but that you are determining which edits are valid for that business unit. I’ll talk in a minute about how to make the BU more a part of the edit.
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Putting edits into effect
4/21/2017 Putting edits into effect
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4/21/2017 Build Combo Edits Each BU/Ledger combination must be rebuilt individually Use wildcard in combination – reduces number of rows you create – ex – rule where all values valid PS will put % in field. Improves performance. Use Active values – obvious – reason we don’t use is we’ve had problems with effective dating imagine department closes 1/1 but you’re still doing the Dec close. If checkbox is checked when you rebuild edits in January, will be invalid value even in January Key point: combo edits are built AS OF a date. The combo data table isn’t sophisticated enough to keep track of ‘this value is valid if the entry is 12/31 but invalid if entry is 1/1. Our build process for 2 ledgers and 26 business unit combinations takes about five minutes
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PS_COMBO_DATA_TBL Populated by combo build
4/21/2017 PS_COMBO_DATA_TBL Populated by combo build If already populated (from previous builds) it will create new rows only for new combinations not already in the table. If you create a new combo rule you need to build the edits for only the business units the new rule is on. But if you REMOVE values from a rule you must delete the rule first and then build edits. If you remove a rule you must also delete from combo data table What we are really doing when we ‘build’ the combo edits is populating the combo data table. If there is already data in there (from previous builds) it will only create new rows for new combinations not already in the table. What this means in practice is that if you create a new combo rule you only need to rebuild the business units the new rule is on. But if you REMOVE values from a rule and add others you must delete the rule first and then rebuild as necessary – otherwise the no-longer-valid rule will still in fact be valid. But if you REMOVE values from a rule you must delete the rule first and then rebuild it– otherwise the no-longer-valid rule will still in fact be valid. Same is true if you remove a rule all together
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‘Deleting’ combo edits
4/21/2017 ‘Deleting’ combo edits If you do not check that box you will delete the rule itself! This one page lets you copy, rename or delete combination definitions, rules, and groups. Similar functionality to allocations. And let’s talk about how bad that terminology is. PeopleSoft – are you listening? This is DANGEROUS. But what’s really funky is that it also lets you ‘delete’ or ‘wipe out’ or ‘remove’ your current edits by clearing the combo data table. In other words, take the edits ‘off line’. Why would you do this? In our case it is so our cost accounting group can break the rules – the rules require coding to certain interim values and the allocation goes to the final values, so in essence we’re breaking our own rule. Note that you ‘delete’ or ‘take down’ combo edits one edit at a time – across business units – where you build the edits one business unit at a time. I’m sure PS had good reason for that, but I’m not clear what it is.
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4/21/2017 Or at least semi-advanced Advanced Combo Edits
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‘Business unit isn’t a chartfield!’
4/21/2017 ‘Business unit isn’t a chartfield!’ How we fake it…. Or mis-direction Create a rule that relates account and department
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4/21/2017 Valid Combination It’s a rule that defines a valid combination
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4/21/2017 Ledgers for a Unit Ledgers for a unit! This edit group is on only the one business unit that can use these departments. That’s how we create the relationship without being able to put BU in the edits.
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Using Trees in Combo Edits
4/21/2017 Using Trees in Combo Edits PeopleSoft tree experts say: Don’t cross-pollinate your trees Maintain trees for one use only Easier to performance tune Reduce chance of unintended consequences In our discussions with PS tree experts…. Less chance of messing up ‘A’ when adjusting for ‘B’ Tough to do – means you have to maintain more trees. BUT I would still recommend this because when financial reports need to change but combo edits don’t you will have to do some funky workarounds if you are doing both out of the same trees
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- Use a naming convention - Minimize levels
4/21/2017 Combo Edit Tree Tips - Use a naming convention - Minimize levels - Use Tree Performance Options - Choose ‘All Detail Values’ - Create tree views Says ‘combo edit’ but really these are good tree tips in general What we do is start the tree name with ‘EDIT’ so usage is obvious. You can use whatever convention you want but be consistent and clear. Obviously tree must reflect relationships you are establishing, but less (levels) is more (clear) If your Edit Build process takes a long time experiment with changing the Tree Performance Options Specify ‘All Detail Values’ to minimize maintenance woes – at least you’ll know if you are missing values Lastly, create views of all your key trees to easy querying
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Questions? Miriam Moore, mmoore@regence.com 4/21/2017
Summary: great tool, powerful, relatively easy to use to enforce your business rules
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Reference –Breadcrumbs
4/21/2017 Reference –Breadcrumbs Combination Editing folder Combination Rule Combination Group Combination Definition Review Combination Build Review Combination Data Combo Copy/Rename/Delete Set Up Financials/Supply Chain > Business Unit Related > General Ledger > Ledgers for a Unit [CJ: I remember there being some sort of on-line querying to see which combo edits are in effect. Did you mention that? I don't remember seeing it in the slides.] – maybe highlight Review Combination Data or Build?
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How do employees know the coding?
4/21/2017 Besides guessing Now let’s talk about the biggest support issue with Combo Edits: How do employees know the coding? How do employees know the coding?
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Combo Edit Error Messages
4/21/2017 Combo Edit Error Messages Varying levels of usefulness in the combo edit error messages. Particularly for our self-service customers they are not clear so we have a lot of self-help documentation around how to decode (or avoid) these error messages. Personally I think it would be a worthwhile customization to make the eProcurement & Expense report errors more detailed.
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Training In person or online training
4/21/2017 Training In person or online training Different levels of training for finance and non-finance staff Self-help documentation Happy to share slides if desired – me. at end of presentation.
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Account Coding Guidance
4/21/2017 Account Coding Guidance Maintain manual spreadsheet This is area we need to improve – preferably automate this, though there are some details to the cost accounting requirements that make that tricky. One way to automate this would be with queries, which is one reason I recommend putting useful, detailed descriptions.
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Factoring in Business Unit
4/21/2017 Factoring in Business Unit Add Business Unit to our example: Account X requires product B on business unit 1 and requires products C or D on business unit 2 Account 66040 Here’s an example of the controls you can put in place with combo edits. Here I’ve added business unit to the picture. I’ll show you how this is all set up in the next section, and how business unit becomes part of the rules Explain our rules on slide, briefly [note that I’m not including ledger – mention something about edits on 2 ledgers but not on all. Have Alloc ledger specifically to break all the rules? Too much?]
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Reference - Notes on Configuration
4/21/2017 Reference - Notes on Configuration We do not use Commitment Control Two ways to set up Combination Edits Selector Tables – won’t be discussing Combo Data Table – what we use All configuration through the web interface Maintained by Business Systems Analysts In terms of who would do combo edits – could be bsa or functional person. Must be someone with understanding of financial rules and an eye for detail. Otherwise is up to you. Depending on how much you set up will impact how much time ongoing maintenance will take
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Reference – Regence Edits
4/21/2017 Reference – Regence Edits Most accounts have edits that require blanks Accounts that start with 1-3 require blank product, project, and department 4 and 5 accounts require specific products and blank department Accounts that start with 7 or 8 require blank departments No combo edits on accounts that start with 9 (statistical accounts) Examples of detailed operating expense account edits Account requires a blank product, project, operating unit, and statistics code Account requires product U, projects that start with P, and a blank oper unit & stat code
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Visual of Ledger / BU / Group
4/21/2017 Visual of Ledger / BU / Group Pivot query output for quick visual reference Using output from queries found at back of presentation we create pivot table to give us easy view of what edits are on what ledger & BU
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Reference - Queries Prompt for one account
4/21/2017 Reference - Queries Prompt for one account Return which edits that account is in
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4/21/2017 Reference - Queries Identify which edits are on which business unit and what type of accounts the edit is on
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4/21/2017 Reference - Queries Overview of all edit setups
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Reference - Queries Find accounts that are not in edits
4/21/2017 Reference - Queries Find accounts that are not in edits Note that edits must be built for this query to work because it is pulling from the combo_data_tbl instead of the edit setup tables
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ChartField Numbers 50,826,607,353,811,100 combinations
4/21/2017 ChartField Numbers 64 Business Units, 45 active 2138 Accounts, 1959 active 1490 Products, 1042 active 2404 Departments, 759 active 1177 Projects, 769 active 12 Operating Units (Affiliate), all active 82 Statistics Codes, 79 active 50,826,607,353,811,100 combinations Technically Business Unit is not a chartfield Also technically we have edits on 2 (of 8) ledgers – but slide full enough already Also we have 2 setids but we only have edits on one of them We have combo edits between all of these fields -- 50 quadrillion possible combinations of active values! So you can see how this could become really complicated quickly! [does slide have value?]
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