Create a 12 Month Forecast Statement DPHS Version 7.0

Overview A Forecast Statement is designed to show twelve months of balances. Prior months will show Actual balances, future months will show Budget balances, and the current month can be configured to show either actual or budget balances. NOTE: Forecast Statements can only be run for a current period. Column headings will not be accurate if run for a prior month.

I.

Creating Columns

Monthly Columns The first step to creating a Forecast Statement is to create the columns. A column code will need to be set up for each month and the total column. Column maintenance is found in: General Ledger > Statements > File Maintenance > Column In Column, click New to create the first column code.

Page 1 of 11

Fields Code This field is how the column is referenced in the definition. The code for forecast statments should be the letter P (for period) followed by the number of the period being created (i.e. P01 for January). It is important that this naming convention is used due to the utilities required to update the statement on a monthly basis. Description This is the name of the column. It is used for File Maintenance, but it will not print on the statement Heading 1 and 2 These are the column headings that will print on the statement. Heading 1 is the month, and Heading 2 can be blank since the utility will fill in Budget or Actual, depending on the column. Start Period The beginning period for the balances to be displayed in this column. End Period The end period for the balances to be displayed in this column. Enter A (for annual) in the Update column. The columns will reset to the next year when the current year is closed. Continue entering the columns for each month of the year, and click the Save button to save each column.

Total Column A column code also needs to be set up for the Forecast Total. The column code must be ftotl for the utilities to work property. Heading 1 should read Total. The start period of the total will be 01 and the end period will be 12. Both periods update annually, so A should be entered in those fields.

Page 2 of 11

Click Save.

Page 3 of 11

II.

Creating the Definition

The statement Definition ties the row code to the column code, and several other options may be set here. Navigate to: General Ledger>Statements>File Maintenance>Definition

Statement Definition Click New to add a new definition.

The following fields are required for a forecast statement: Def Code A unique code to identify the statement. This is the code that displays when printing statements. i.e. FORE or FCST. Description The name of the definition and statement.

Page 4 of 11

Build Order Determines which statements are created first when statements are printed or exported. This is important for referencing data between statements. If any row code on the forecast statement references another row code, make sure the forecast statement has a higher value build order than the statement definition it will reference. Print Order This determines the order that statements will print or export. Lower values will print first. Stmt Code Selects which statement row code will be used for this definition. Enter the row code for the statement to use for the Forecast Statement. For example, the Profit & Loss statement code can be used. No Columns Enter 14. This represents the description column, the twelve period columns, and the total column. [Date] Col Enter 13. This will base the statement heading [period] on the current period column. After entering any optional information such as the export path or page numbers, click Save. Then click the Statement Header Text to create the statement heading.

Statement Header Text

Page 5 of 11

The Heading Information screen is freeform. The statement header will print the information based on what is entered in these fields. Enter the hotel name, the statement name, and enter [date] to generate the current date when the statement is run. Another option would be to enter [period] to only show the current period on the statement. Click Save, and then continue to Statement Columns when finished with Statement Header Text.

Statement Columns Description Column The first statement column will be a description column. This column is where the row descriptions will print. Click New to begin.

Column Automatically populates to 1. Type Enter d for description. Start Position Should be at least 1, but a higher value will begin the statement further to the right of the page.

Page 6 of 11

Format defaults to x (30). This reserves thirty spaces for the row descriptions. Any description longer than this will be cut off after the thirtieth character. Click Save, and then click New to create the next columns.

Period Columns

Columns 2 through 13 are budget columns. Type Enter B Budget Type Enter Forecast. This is important. The system will not recognize that the columns are for forecast statements if Forecast is not the selected budget type. Column Code for each column. Column 2 will be P01 Column 3 will be P02, and so on.

Page 7 of 11

Start Position This is automatically calculated for each column, and Heading 1 and Heading 2 will be populated based on the Column Code. Format Determines the maximum width of the column. It determines whether an amount will be displayed with or without commas, and whether negative numbers are shown with a negative sign or parentheses. It also determines decimal places. Examples: The format to show -1000.00 would be ->>>9.99 The format to show (1,000) would be (>,>>9) Be sure that the format is long enough for the values that will appear on the statement, or they will not show. Use Rounding to determine at which place the amount will round up to if decimal places are not used.

Total Column The final column to be entered is the Total column.

Page 8 of 11

The Total column is similar to the period columns, but enter ftotl as the column code. This should also have a larger Format since it combines all the previous columns.

III.

Forecast Budget Utilities

There are two utilities that must be run on a monthly basis in order for the forecast statement to display the correct budgets and the correct current month. Create Forecast Budgets The Forecast Budgets utility is found under General Ledger > Utilities > Budgets. Click Create Forecast Budgets.

The utility first explains that it will create a special budget type called FORECAST. Then the Current Fiscal Year and Current Fiscal Month will be shown.

Page 9 of 11

Current Fiscal Year The current fiscal year will be displayed. Current Fiscal Month The current fiscal month will be displayed. Current Month Display The selection here will determine what figure is used as the current month column on the forecast statement. Actual Display the actual amounts shown in the current month column. Budget Display the budget amounts in the current month column. A note will appear on the forecast statement to explain whether the current month is showing Actual or Budget figures. Budget Type to copy from This field is used to select which budget type the utility will copy to the Forecast budget type. Enter a budget type, or click the drop-down arrow to select a budget type from the list. Click Continue when the utility is ready to be run.

Page 10 of 11

NOTE: The Forecast Budget utility needs to be run every month, before printing financial statements, in order for the Forecast budget type to be updated for the current year, based on actual data up to the current month. To incorporate this special budget into a financial statement, make sure the appropriate column in the forecast statement definition references the budget type Forecast. Also, if the financial statements are to be restated in Foreign Currency, be sure the Amount Type flag in Budget Types is correctly set to Dollars or Units.

The next procedure to run is Create Forecast Columns. It can be found in GL > Statements > Utilities > Format This procedure will put the words Actual or Budget in the headings of the columns depending on whether the column is for a prior or future period.

If you have further inquiries, please refer to our website or contact the Data Plus Support department. Website

www.dphs.com

Data Plus Support

978-888-6300 Ext 3 [email protected]

Page 11 of 11