financial edge: getting started with f9 · account activity. you can show account end balances and...

TheFinancialEdge™

Getting Started with F9 for Financial Edge

090711

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FEF9Guide‐090711

Contents

GETTING STARTED WITH F9 FOR FINANCIAL EDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Implementation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Help Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3F9 Installation Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3F9 for Financial Edge Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4F9 for Financial Edge Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10F9 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1chapter

Getting Started with F9 for Financial Edge

Implementation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Help Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3F9 Installation Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3F9 for Financial Edge Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4F9 for Financial Edge Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10F9 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10ACCTDATA Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Build Specifier (BSPEC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11CODATA Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12DESC Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13GL/NGL Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14GLTRAN Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15PJ Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16PJTRAN Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17SDESC Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2 CHAPTER

Welcome to the Getting Started with F9 for Financial Edge guide. This guide is your starting point for successfully implementing F9 for Financial Edge.

F9 for Financial Edge is a powerful financial reporting and analysis tool that integrates Microsoft Excel with your General Ledger data. Before you begin creating financial reports, however, you should take the time to read this guide and carefully plan your implementation.

We are committed to the success of your F9 for Financial Edge implementation, and have provided a number of resources to help you through the entire process. Here is what you will find in this guide:

• Implementation Checklist

• Help Resources

• F9 for Financial Edge Features

• F9 for Financial Edge Considerations

• F9 Functions

F9 for Financial Edge is compatible with The Financial Edge 7.78 (or higher).

Implementation ChecklistWe recommend you follow this checklist as you implement F9 for Financial Edge:

Read and review the help resources. We have provided a number of resources to help you with this implementation. Taking the time to learn about all the F9 for Financial Edge features will help tremendously once you begin working with the product.

For a complete list of all the help resources available to you, see “Help Resources” on page 3.

Install F9 for Financial Edge. Complete installation instructions are available in the F9 Readme for FE guide. If you have Excel 2007 installed, you should review the F9 and Excel 2007 guide as well.

Run the F9 Database Configuration utility to add F9 security rights to your Financial Edge databases. For more information, see “F9 Installation Requirements” on page 3.

Take advantage of the 30‐day trial. Upon installation, the F9 program files are installed in a new F9 directory. Before activating the software license, you can run a 30‐day trial version of the program which is located in this directory.

We also recommend you take the time to experiment with the program and create financial reports specific to your office before you activate the software. Included in the installation directory is an F9 Sample Reports for FE spreadsheet, which reports on the Financial Edge sample database.

Activate F9 for Financial Edge. To activate the program, you must contact Blackbaud Sales for the serial number.

Note: Visit our website at www. blackbaud.com for the latest documentation and information about F9 for Financial Edge.

Warning: Once you install F9, you must run the F9 Database Configuration utility. For more information, see “F9 Installation Requirements” on page 3.

GETT ING STARTED WITH F9 FOR F INANC IAL EDGE 3

Help ResourcesThe following table lists the help resources available to you as you install and begin working with F9 for Financial Edge. We recommend you print and review the F9 Readme for FE guide before installing.

F9 Installation RequirementsBefore you install F9 for Financial Edge, we strongly recommend you review the following list, which includes important information about the F9 Database Configuration utility:

• To install F9 on a workstation, run the F9.exe available from Blackbaud’s website (www.blackbaud.com). Be sure to install F9 as “administrator.”

Resource Name Information Location

Getting Started with F9 for The Financial Edge

Implementation checklist; help resources; F9 for Financial Edge features and considerations.

www.blackbaud.com

F9 Readme for FE F9 for Financial Edge installation instructions and information about setting up F9 within Excel and connecting to your accounting data.

Installed in the F9 sub folder \FE

Quick Tour of F9 Short tutorial designed to familiarize you with the basic concepts of creating financial reports with F9 for Financial Edge.


F9 Sample Reports View formulas and sample financial reports created from Financial Edge sample data.


F9 and Excel 2007 Detailed information about F9 and Excel 2007, including auto attaching instructions and how to add F9 as a trusted publisher.


Help File Detailed information and instructions on how to use F9 for Financial Edge.

Accessed from the Help menu within F9 for Financial Edge

F9 User Guide Detailed information and instructions on how to use F9.

Available at www.f9.com

4 CHAPTER

• Run the F9 Database Configuration utility (F9Setup.exe), also available from Blackbaud’s website.

This utility adds F9 security rights to your Financial Edge databases.

You will need to run this as “administrator.”

You can run the utility on the FE database server or a workstation that contains the FE client.

If you use full SQL Server and Windows Authentication, you will also need to give your users access to the FE database in SQL Server.

If you use SQL Server and Mixed Mode, depending upon your settings, you may be prompted to enter the “sa” login credentials.

If you detach and reattach your database or restore to the backup, you may need to run the utility again.

If you are setting up The Financial Edge for the first time, log into FE before running the utility. If you attach a new database later, you will need to run the utility again.

• Follow the instructions in the F9 Readme for FE guide to add the F9 Add‐in to Excel.

F9 for Financial Edge FeaturesAlong with the standard F9 Excel‐based functionality and formula calculations, there are features specific to Financial Edge reporting. Please review this list before you begin creating reports.

F9 Setup. The Company and Server settings tell F9 where to connect to The Financial Edge database. When F9 loads for the first time, it attempts to detect this automatically. By default, F9 uses Windows authentication security but in some cases, you will need to provide your SQL login ID and password.

If you have installed F9 but do not have local access to run The Financial Edge, you may be required to select the actual System and Company database for F9 to connect. F9 will prompt you to select a System (SQL Server instance) where the Financial Edge database resides followed by its default Company (database name).

Once F9 has successfully connected to The Financial Edge, it will save these settings for future use and connect automatically.


You are successfully linked when the Company Profile displays the following basic data about the default company you selected in the Organization drop‐down list.

Fiscal Years. A fiscal year in F9 shows the fiscal year in which the last day falls. For example, if your fiscal year is July 2006 to June 2007, F9 shows 2007 as the current fiscal year.

Account Activity. You can show account end balances and account net change. Your filters include:

Organization Year (account end balance filter only)

Period Account

Type (actual, encumbrance, budget) Fund

Class Account code

Project Account segments

Project type Account attributes

Project attribute Transaction codes 1‐5

Start and End date (account net change filter only)

Not yet posted transactions/Posted transactions/Both

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Sample Account report filtering:

Project Activity. You can show project end balances and project net change. Your filters include:

Organization Year (project end balance filter only)

Period Account

Type (actual, encumbrance, budget) Fund

Class Account code

Project Account segments

Project type Transaction codes 1‐5

Project attribute Not yet posted transactions/Posted transactions/Both

Start and End date (project net change filter only)


Sample Project Activity report:

Grant Activity. There are no grant filters available with this release of F9 for Financial Edge, however, if you filter on project and transaction code, you can show grant activity.

Transaction Code Activity. You have the ability to show transaction code end balances and transaction code net change.

Activity Details. Keep these things in mind when reporting on activity details:

• You can display activity by fiscal period or fiscal year.

• You can include posted activity or activity that has not been posted.

• You can suppress zero amounts. To do so, select F9, Tools, Zero Suppress from an open spreadsheet.

• You can report on open, soft‐closed, optimized, closed, and summarized fiscal years.

• You can include encumbrance activity.

8 CHAPTER

Drill-down capabilities. You can view transaction detail with journal references, but you cannot drill down to the actual record within The Financial Edge.

Budget. Keep these things in mind when reporting on budgets:

• You can display budget information for all original budget scenarios as well as budget adjustment amounts (represented with a plus sign in its name).

• To include a finalized budget amount, create a formula that adds the original budget amount and the budget adjustment amount.

• You can show budgets for fiscal year and period range budgets.

• You can display budget information by account and project.


Use the Periods and Types fields to set budget parameters.

Sample Budget Report:

Account Structure. Keep these things in mind when reporting on account structure:

• Account structure reporting allows for 13 accounting periods, and non‐calendar year fiscal years.

• You can display alpha characters in account segments.

10 CHAPTER

• The fund does not have to be first in the account structure.

• Multiple segments and segment lengths are supported.

Multiple Databases. You can display transactions from multiple databases in different fields, or within the same field. If the formatting for the two databases is not compatible, you must use separate target fields for each set of function parameters.

F9 for Financial Edge ConsiderationsThe current version (4.5) of F9 for Financial Edge does not support certain Financial Edge report functionality. Please review the following list of items so that you can plan according.

Mock Close. Financial Edge reports have a “mock close” built into them so that the fund balance includes the net surplus (deficit). F9 for Financial Edge does not have this feature.

Account and Project Security. There is no account or project security with this release of F9 for Financial Edge. Your users can see all information and view all the detail associated with the total amounts.

Activity Details. Keep these things in mind when reporting on activity details:

• When you view details in F9, you can view the transactions from the subsidiary ledgers but you cannot open the associated records within The Financial Edge.

• This version of F9 for Financial Edge does not support the renaming of fields.

• You cannot exclude inactive accounts.

• You cannot filter by transaction attributes.

Budget Information. Budget reporting will not display budgets for projects when you mark the setting “Use total expense budgeting.”

F9 FunctionsUse the following F9 functions with your General Ledger data.


ACCTDATA FunctionThe ACCTDATA function is a more general version of the DESC function. It can return other account information in addition to the description.

ACCTDATA = (Data, Account, Organization)

Parameters

Account. A normal account specifier. For the most powerful spreadsheets, build your Account Specifier with the BSPEC function. If you use lists or wildcards, F9 returns information based on the first account that matches the specifier.

Organization. This is an organization specifier and the default organization is specified in the F9 Setup window.Example function to return the account type:

Build Specifier (BSPEC)BSPEC stands for Build Specifier. The GL function takes a number of parameters, the most important of which are the account specifier, the period specifier and the company. The account specifier is usually created using the BSPEC function.

The purpose of the BSPEC function is to allow you to use cell references for each segment of the account code. This in turn allows you to create reports where segments can be grouped in lists, ranges, and wildcards easily.

Data Result

Description Returns the account description (same as DESC)

Account Type Returns the account type (e.g.: Asset.)

Origin Balance Sheet or P/L

Typical Balance Returns “DR” or “CR”

Class Class for the account.

Note: BSPEC returns a string of characters; it does not look into the database.

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BSPEC = ([Segment1 [,...Segment n])

Here is an example of BSPEC to group multiple segments and return the summed balance:

CODATA FunctionThe CODATA function retrieves basic information about a company. The first parameter tells F9 what information you want. For example, if the first parameter is the string “Name” (case is not important), F9 will return the company name or description.

CODATA (Data, Organization)

Parameters

Organization. This is a organization specifier for The Financial Edge. The default organization is specified in the F9 Setup window.

Data Result

Name Returns the company name

Year Returns the first open year

Period Returns the current period

Segments Returns the total segments

Main Returns the current period

StartN Returns the start date of period N

EndN Returns the end date of period N


Example function to return the company name:

DESC FunctionThe DESC function returns the description for a full account code. This replaces the use of ACCTDATA.

DESC = (Account, Organization)

ParametersAccount Specifier. A normal account specifier. For the most powerful spreadsheets, build your Account

Specifier with the BSPEC function. Remember, the DESC Function can also use “Financial Entities.”

Organization. This is a organization specifier and the default organization is specified in the FE Setup window if not specified in the function.

An example DESC function would be:

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GL/NGL FunctionThe GL and NGL functions return balances from accounts. They differ only in that NGL negates its result and should be used for accounts which return credit amounts.

GL = (Account, Period, Organization, Year, Activity, Class, Topic, Project, Account Attribute, Transaction Code1,Transaction Code 2, Transaction Code 3, Transaction Code 4,Transaction Code 5)

NGL = (Account, Period, Organization, Year, Activity, Class, Topic, Project, Account Attribute, Transaction Code1, Transaction Code 2, Transaction Code 3, Transaction Code 4, Transaction Code5)

ParametersAccount. The account(s) being read. For the most powerful spreadsheets, build your Account Specifier using the

BSPEC function.

Period. Determines what F9 considers the fiscal period to be.

Specify the default Period using “ “ as the parameter.

If you do not specify the Period, it automatically defaults to “This Month” where “This Month” is whatever value is entered in the Period override field in the F9 Setup Window or the company’s current open period.

Organization. The organization being accessed. If not included, F9 defaults to Organization in the F9 Setup Window.

Year. Determines what F9 considers “This Year” for the calculation and changes the meaning of “Last Year” and “Next Year” as well. Specify the Year using “ “ as the parameter. If not included, F9 defaults to Year override in the F9 Setup Window.

Activity. The “Activity” is used to determine the amount returned for queries if you specify the term “Budget” in the period specifier or as an account range type. A Budget Scenario is identified by its ID number and if a + is included, F9 will return its adjustment amount.

Class. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific class.Topic. Topic for The Financial Edge should always be “FE”. This parameter is mandatory if any of the parameters

following Topic is used (i.e. Project, Account Attribute or TranCode1 to TranCode5).

Project. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Project.Account Attribute. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Account Attribute.Transaction Code 1 to Transaction Code 5. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Transaction

Code as defined in your Accounting system.

The GL and NGL function will produce sums of period value for accounts found. The F9 Year and Type parameters are not required.


An example =GL function to return a budget total. This report is also available from the installed F9 Sample Reports.xls:

GLTRAN FunctionGLTRAN = (Account, “Start Date”, “End Date”, Organization, Activity, Class, Topic, Project, Account Attribute, Transaction Code1, Transaction Code2, Transaction Code3, Transaction Code4, Transaction Code5)

The GLTRAN function allows you to calculate transactions over a date range. You can use the GLTRAN function to create a P&L for one week, for example.

ParametersAccount Specifier. A normal F9 account specifier.

“Start Date” and “End Date”. The beginning and ending date for the calculation. Organization. A organization specifier. If not supplied, the default organization from the setup window is used.

Activity. This is the account type being included in the result. The default result is NET transactions. Total Debits or Credits can be retrieved by adding “DR” or “CR” into the type parameter.

Class. This is optional to return transactions for a specific class. Topic. Topic for The Financial Edge should always be “FE”. This parameter is mandatory if any of the parameters

following Topic is used (i.e. Project, Account Attribute or TranCode1 to TranCode5).

Project. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Project.Account Attribute. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Account Attribute.Transaction Code 1 to Transaction Code 5. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Transaction


16 CHAPTER

Example GLTRAN function compared with Drill Down by Transaction results:

PJ FunctionThe PJ function returns balances (actuals, budgets and encumbrances) from accounts for specific Project, Project Type and Project Attribute.

PJ = (Account, Period, Organization, Year, Activity, Class, Project, Project Type, Project Attribute, Transaction Code1, Transaction Code2, Transaction Code3, Transaction Code4, Transaction Code5, Topic)

ParametersAccount. The account(s) being read. For the most powerful spreadsheets, build your Account Specifier using the

BSPEC function.

Period. Determines what F9 considers the fiscal period to be.

Specify the default Period using “ “ as the parameter.

If you do not specify the Period, it automatically defaults to “This Month” where “This Month” is whatever value is entered in the Period override field in the F9 Setup Window or the company’s current open period.

Organization. The organization being accessed. If not included, F9 defaults to Organization in the F9 Setup Window.

Year. Determines what F9 considers “This Year” for the calculation and changes the meaning of “Last Year” and “Next Year” as well. Specify the Year using “ “ as the parameter. If not included, F9 defaults to Year override in the F9 Setup Window.

Activity. The “Activity” is used to determine the amount returned for queries if you specify the term “Budget” in the period specifier or as an account range type. A Budget Scenario is identified by its ID number and if a + is included, F9 will return its adjustment amount. An additional type also included is “EE” for Encumbrance amounts.

Class. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific class.Project. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Project.Project Type. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Project Type.Project Attribute. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Project Attribute.


Transaction Code1 to Transaction Code5. Optional for F9 to return balances by a specific Transaction Code as defined in your Accounting System.

Topic. Optional, topic for The Financial Edge should be “FE”. The PJ function will produce sums of period value for accounts found. The F9 Year and Type parameters are not required.

An example =PJ function to return balances per Project Activity. This report is also available from the installed F9 Sample Reports.xls:

PJTRAN FunctionThe PJTRAN function allows you to calculate transactions over a date range for specific Project, Project Type and Project Attribute.

PJTRAN = (Account, “Start Date”, “End Date”, Organization, Activity, Class, Project, Project Type, Project Attribute, Transaction Code1, Transaction Code2, Transaction Code3, Transaction Code4, Transaction Code5, Topic)

ParametersAccount Specifier. A normal F9 account specifier.

“Start Date” and “End Date”. The beginning and ending date for the calculation. Organization. A organization specifier. If not supplied, the default organization from the setup window is used.

Activity. This is the account type being included in the result. The default result is NET transactions. Total Debits or Credits can be retrieved by adding “DR” or “CR” into the type parameter.

Class. This is optional to return transactions for a specific class. Project. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Project.Project Type. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Project Type.

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Project Attribute. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Project Attribute.Transaction Code1 to Transaction Code5. Optional for F9 to return transactions by a specific Transaction


Topic. Optional, topic for The Financial Edge should be “FE”.Example PJTRAN function:

SDESC FunctionThis function produces the descriptions associated with sub‐parts of the account code such as the department or fund.

Often the account parts have specific meanings. For example, a four‐part account code might consist of the location, profit center, account and fund. In this example, each location code and profit center code may have a description associated with it.

SDESC = (Account, Segment, Organization)

ParametersAccount. This can be either a single segment value, a complete account code, or a BSPEC result.

Segment. This is an integer indicating which segment to look up for a description.

Organization. This is a organization specifier. If the value is not provided, F9 uses the default organization from the setup window.

Examples:

To get the description of the fund, which is the first segment in the full account:


To get a description of the department, which is the third segment in the account code:

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