You usually create a single accounting calendar as part of your implementation. The accounting calendar defines the time periods used in the applications. When you create the calendar, you specify the exact dates for each period.
These defined periods, often called enterprise periods, are used for many purposes in the applications. Examples include:
-
Reports that provide amounts byenterprise period, such as a sales pipeline analysis
-
Metrics calculations by periodfor territory analysis
-
The ability to adjust forecastamounts by time period
-
Distribution of quota amounts bytime period
Note: If you used the Sales Assistant topics in the Implementing Sales guide to create your accounting calendar, then you don't need to do the steps listed here. For more information, see What Setup Assistant Completes for You.
Here are the high-level steps:
-
Plan your calendar periods andstart year. See the Implementation Considerations section in thistopic for more information.
-
Create the first-year calendarperiods and generate the periods for each additional year. See theCreate the Calendar section in this topic for more information.
-
Set the accounting calendar profileoption. See the Set the Calendar Profile Option section in this topicfor more information.
-
Run a scheduled process. See theRun the Time Dimension Process section in this topic for more information.
Caution: After your calendar is being used in transaction,you can't change the calendar options. For example, after you havegenerated forecasts, you can't change the calendar options.
Implementation Considerations
Since you can't change the calendar afterit's in use, ahead of time, you need to:
-
Plan which periods your calendarwill use.
-
Decide which year you want thecalendar to start. consider setting the date to the first date thatyour company was created. Then you can upload historical data later,if necessary.
Period frequency is an important decision for yourcalendar, because the period frequency set in your fiscal calendaris the shortest period you can use. Here are some examples:
-
Let's say you set the period frequencyto yearly. Then, your reports and activities can be for each year,but can't be broken down by month.
-
If you set the period frequencyto monthly, then you can break down activities and reports by monthand summarize by quarter and year.
-
Say you want to set the periodfrequency to weekly. In this case, then you can perform activitiesand reports by week, quarter, and year, but not by month because thenumber of weeks per month varies.
Create the Calendar
When you create the accounting calendar,you're establishing the exact start and end dates for each period,for each year. Here's a procedure that uses the fictitious VisionCorporation to guide you through the steps:
-
In Setup and Maintenance, go tothe following:.
-
Offering: Sales
-
Functional Area: Company Profile
-
Task: Manage Accounting Calendars
-
-
On the Manage Accounting Calendarspage, click Create.
-
In the Create Accounting Calendar:Calendar Options page:
-
Name your calendar, for example,
Sales Calendar. -
Leave the Adjusting Period Frequency set to None.
-
For StartDate, Vision Corporation uses
1/1/10. -
For PeriodFrequency, select the shortest time period you want touse for reports and activities. Vision Corporation is using Monthly. The period starts on the firstof the month and ends on the last day of the month, regardless ofthe number of days or weeks in each month.
-
Vision Corporation selects None for the Separator.
-
Select the Format to use for period names.
-
-
Click Next. The Create Accounting Calendar: Period Detailspage appears, showing the generated periods. The image shows multiplecolumns, including:
-
Period name, which is month name,one for each month of the year
-
Year, which is 2010
-
Period number, one for each month
-
Quarter number for each period,assuming four quarters in the year
-
Start and end dates for the periods
-
A check box used to indicate whethera period is an adjusting period
-
-
If you need to, manually changethe details for each period.
-
Click Save and Close.
-
Now you need to generate the periodsfor each additional year, including the current, or coming year. Openthe calendar.
-
Click Add Year.
-
Click Save and Close.
-
Repeat the last three steps foreach year you want to add.
-
Click Done.
Note: You can't change your calendar options after youstart using the calendar, such as by generating forecasts.
Set the Calendar Profile Option
After you finish creating your calendar, set theaccounting calendar profile option. This profile option setting tellsthe applications which calendar to use. Use these steps:
-
In Setup and Maintenance, go tothe following:.
-
Offering: Sales
-
Functional Area: Company Profile
-
Task: Manage Calendar Profile Option
-
Option: Manage Calendar ProfileOption
-
-
Select the Accounting Calendar Default profile option.
-
In the Profile Values table, click New.
-
For ProfileValue, select Site.
-
Click the Profile Value list, and select the name of the calendaryou created.
-
Click Save and Close.
Run the Time Dimension Process
You need to run the Refresh DenormalizedTime Dimension Table for BI process to make calendar time periodsavailable for analytics and reports. Use these steps:
-
Click Navigator > ScheduledProcesses.
-
In the Scheduled Processes page,click Schedule New Process.
-
In the Schedule New Process dialogbox, click the menu next to the Name field and click Search.
-
In the Search dialog box, enter
%Refresh%, and click Search. -
Select the Refresh Denormalized Time Dimension Table for BI processin the results that are returned and click OK.
-
Click Ok again, if needed.
-
In the Process Details window,click Submit.
