Financial Actual Bulk Edit Functionality
Fluid's Financial Actuals Bulk Edit functionality allows financial administrators to upload project non resource actuals.
This feature is not only a time-saver but also helps ensure that financial planning is both accurate and adaptable to changing project needs.
Efficiency in Financial Planning: Manually entering forecast data for each project is time-consuming and prone to errors. The bulk upload functionality allows for the efficient handling of large volumes of financial data, reducing the risk of manual errors and freeing up time for strategic analysis and decision-making.
Seamless Third-party Integration: Many organisations use separate systems for finance and accounting. The Financial Forecast upload feature allows for the seamless transfer of financial forecast data from third-party systems into the Fluid. This integration ensures consistency across platforms and enhances data integrity.
The upload functionality is available from the Financial Administration page and only users with the Financial Administration role on their account can use the functionality.
Financial Actuals Records
A financial actuals record includes the following information:
Financial Reference: An optional identifier for detailed tracking and reconciliation, such as a PO number, PR number, or budget item code. It enhances the analysis for project costing.
Invoice Number: A unique code for the actual transaction (optional).
Expense Category / Expense Type: These classify the nature of the actual expense.
Currency: The code (e.g., GBP, USD, EUR) representing the currency of the transaction.
Date: The date the actual expense was recorded.
Value: The actual amount of the expense.
Comment: Optional notes or comments regarding the transaction.
Financial Actuals File Format Description
The financial forecast file is composed of the following columns, each containing specific data types and values:
Column Title | Description | Data Type | Notes |
A. Financial Ref | Identifier for the actuals expense. | Text | This field is not mandatory. |
B. Project Ref | The external reference of the project to which the financial actuals applies to. | Text | This field is mandatory and the project must exist for the record to be processed. |
C. ExpenseCategory | The expense category the actuals expense applies to. | Text | This field is mandatory and the value must be a valid expense category. If not, the row will be skipped. |
D. ExpenseType | The expense type the actuals expens applies to. | Text | This field is mandatory and the Expense Category / Expense Type combination must be a valid. If not, the row will be skipped. |
E. Local currency code | The currency code for the actuals expense. | Text | If left blank, the currency will be set to the default currency. If the currency is invalid, the row will be skipped. |
F. Comment | Optional notes or comments regarding the transaction. | Text | If left blank, no comments will be set. |
I. Invoice Number | A unique code for the actual transaction. | Text | If left blank, no comment will be set. |
G. Date | The date the actual expense was recorded. | Date | The date must be greater than the capitalisation lock date. Otherwise, the row will be skipped. |
H. Value | The actual amount of the expense. | Number | This field is mandatory. If left blank or if the value is not a number, the row will be skipped. |
J onwards. | Financial Custom Properties |
Financial Actuals Upload Guidelines
You can use the upload feature to add new or update existing actuals records. The following fields are mandatory to successfully process a financial actuals record:
Project External Reference: Unique identifier for the project the actuals expense applies to.
Expense Category and Type: Specifies the expense classification. As this upload can only be used to update non resource financial actuals, the class of the expense type must be 'Cash' and not 'Resource'.
Date: The date of the expense.
Amount Value: The amount of the expense.
Key points to note:
Record Identification: Actuals are identified and managed using a unique combination of 'financial reference', 'project reference', and 'date'.
Handling Multiple Entries: If multiple entries in the file have the same 'financial reference', 'project reference', and 'date', they are processed as separate individual entries.
Replacing Existing Records: If an actuals record in the system matches the unique identifier combination from the upload file, the system will remove all such matching existing records, regardless of their 'expense category' and 'expense type', and replace them with the new entries from the upload.
Example Scenarios for Actuals Data Management
Creating New Actuals Records
Following the upload of the above file, if there are no pre-existing records that match the unique identifiers, the system will create a new actual record for each line item in the file.
Updating Actuals Record
Now let's upload the below file to update the actuals records.
After processing this file, the project actuals will reflect the following changes:
The values for records associated with invoice numbers INV1001, INV2001, and INV2002 have been updated with the new data provided.
Records corresponding to invoice numbers INV1002 and INV1003 have been removed. Since these records were not included in the new upload and shared the same 'financial reference', 'project reference', and 'date' as the first entry, they have been deleted in line with the 'Replacing Existing Records' rule described above.
Actuals for the Equipments expense category were unchanged as they did not match any records being updated.