GL Wand User Guide

I

Version 4.30

1

GL Wand Installation & User Guide

www.excel4apps.com

Excel4Apps (Pty) Ltd

[email protected]

All rights reserved.

2

QUICK START GUIDE ............................................................................................... 5

ABOUT DEMO.XLS TUTORIAL ................................................................................ 6

INSTALL ADD-IN ON PC ........................................................................................... 6

Installation files ....................................................................................................... 6 PC Installation ......................................................................................................... 6 Uninstalling GL Wand ................................................................................................ 8 Installation Problems ................................................................................................ 9 Installing PDF Creator ............................................................................................... 9

CONNECT TO VISION ............................................................................................. 13

Connection details ................................................................................................... 13 About the test instance ............................................................................................ 14 Test instance performance ....................................................................................... 14

USING GL WAND .................................................................................................... 15

Toolbar .................................................................................................................. 15 The Menu ............................................................................................................... 15 Shortcut keys ......................................................................................................... 15 Logging on ............................................................................................................. 15 Set of Books and Segment Selector ........................................................................... 21 Discovering ............................................................................................................ 21 Expand .................................................................................................................. 26 Undo Expand .......................................................................................................... 27 Refresh Expand ....................................................................................................... 28 Explode Report ....................................................................................................... 28 Open List of Values .................................................................................................. 29 Create List of Values ................................................................................................ 33 Functions ............................................................................................................... 34 Discovering versus Functions .................................................................................... 44 Special Get Balance Criteria ...................................................................................... 45 Calculating ............................................................................................................. 48 Snapshot................................................................................................................ 50 Hide zeros .............................................................................................................. 50 Undo Hide Zeros (Tools Menu) .................................................................................. 51 Drill downs ............................................................................................................. 51 Drill to My Layout .................................................................................................... 55 Drill Downs Calculated Excel Columns ..................................................................... 56 Sort Drill Report ...................................................................................................... 58 Configuration Sheet (Tools Menu) ............................................................................. 58 Options (Tools Menu) ............................................................................................... 59 Create Drill Criteria Sheet (Tools Menu) ..................................................................... 65 Report Wizard (Tools Menu) ..................................................................................... 67 Audit Get Balance (Tools Menu) ................................................................................ 68 Convert FSG (Tools Menu) ........................................................................................ 68 Report Manager (Tools Menu) ................................................................................... 69 Edit Default Drill Layout (Tools Menu) ........................................................................ 73 PDF Export (Tools Menu and Right click in a cell) ......................................................... 74 About GL Wand ....................................................................................................... 75 Help ...................................................................................................................... 75

BUDGET WAND ...................................................................................................... 76

Budget Wand overview ............................................................................................ 76

3

Technical requirements ............................................................................................ 76 Installation ............................................................................................................. 76 Oracle required setup .............................................................................................. 77 Budget Wand components ........................................................................................ 77 Loading a Budget .................................................................................................... 82 Statuses and Error messages .................................................................................... 85

REPORTS WAND .................................................................................................... 88

About Reports Wand ................................................................................................ 88 Using Reports Wand basic features ............................................................................ 89 Customizing the output template............................................................................... 98 Using Reports Wand advanced features.................................................................... 103 Security ............................................................................................................... 106 Creating Report Definitions ..................................................................................... 106

REPORTS WAND ADMINISTRATOR ...................................................................... 116

Reports Wand Administrator Toolbar ..................................................................... 117 Enabling Reports Wand Administrator Users ............................................................. 118 The Reports Wand Administrator Template ............................................................... 118 Using the Reports Wand Definition Wizard ................................................................ 118 Processing Reports Wand Definitions ....................................................................... 122 Importing Existing Reports Wand Definitions ............................................................ 125 Maintaining Report Assignments .............................................................................. 126 Reports Wand Sample Reports ................................................................................ 127

SERVER COMPONENT ........................................................................................... 127

ORACLE PROFILE OPTIONS ................................................................................. 127

GL Wand: Account Number ..................................................................................... 128 GL Wand: All sets of books access ........................................................................... 128 GL Wand: Contract Number .................................................................................... 128 GL Wand: Custom Delimiters .................................................................................. 128 GL Wand: Enable Extended Languages .................................................................... 129 GL Wand: Get Balance Hint .................................................................................... 129 GL Wand: HTTP Timeout ........................................................................................ 129 GL Wand: License Key ........................................................................................... 130 GL Wand: Query Limit ........................................................................................... 130 GL Wand: Responsibility ......................................................................................... 130 GL Wand: Track User Activity ................................................................................. 130 GL Wand: Upgrade Location ................................................................................... 131 GL Wand: User ..................................................................................................... 131 GL Wand: Budget Wand User .................................................................................. 132 GL Wand: Reports Wand Administrator .................................................................... 132

SUPPORT ............................................................................................................. 132

Support Requests .................................................................................................. 132 Enhancement Requests .......................................................................................... 132

ERROR MESSAGES ............................................................................................... 132

NEW FEATURES ................................................................................................... 134

Release 4.30 ........................................................................................................ 134 Release 4.20 ........................................................................................................ 134 Release 4.15 ........................................................................................................ 134

4

Release 4.10 ........................................................................................................ 136 Release 4.05 ........................................................................................................ 138 Release 3.89 ........................................................................................................ 140 Release 3.85 ........................................................................................................ 143 Release 3.80 ........................................................................................................ 145

5

Quick start guide

Phase Step Action User Guide

Sections

Evaluate GL

Wand on

our online

vision

instance

1. Install GL Wand

add-in on PC.

Unzip the downloaded file and double click GL

Wand.msi. This will install the GL Wand add-

in on your PC and launch Demo.xls.

PC

Installation

2. Log into our online

Oracle Vision instance

via the internet.

Log on to our hosted Vision server. The install

should have created this default connection

and you should have received an e-mail with

your unique user name and password or find

this on the sticker inside of the demo box.

2.1 Refresh sample

sheets, Drill to detail;

learn GL Wand

functionality with

provided example.

Using Demo.xls and the instructions on the

sheets spend some time experimenting and

learning.

Using GL

Wand

Evaluate GL

Wand trial

on your

own Oracle

instance

3. Install GL Wand

server component on

your Oracle

development

database server.

From the options form click Mail to send instructions and the installation script to your

DBA for a release 11i system. Complete

instructions including the installation for

release 12 can be found in the installation

guide.

Server

Installation

4. Create a new

connection in the GL

Wand pointing at

your server.

Enter the correct connection URL and a name

for your connection. Test the connection by

clicking the button on the options form.

Creating

Connections

5. Login to your own

set of books data and

start building reports.

Experience a faster connection to your

server, and see your own Set of books data.

Using your own user name and password

logon and start building your own reports.

Use the report wizard button to build a basic

report you can modify.

Toolbar

Full use trial

6. Request a full use

trial key for your

instance.

While logged into your own instance, click the

about box and click the Trial Key button, this will request a full use trial key from

excel4apps.com.

About GL

Wand

Purchase

and fully

deploy GL

Wand

software.

If you are thinking of

buying a license,

obtain a quote

through an accredited

distributor or directly

from us.

Visit www.excel4apps.com or request a quote

in the buy section of the website.

Enter full use license

keys into production

system.

Enter license keys to cater for production and

development instances. Stop seeing the pop-

up window.

License Key

Set profile options to

control GL Wand user

access and online

upgrades.

Configure profile options in Systems Administration responsibility to control user

access and various other options.

Profile

Options

6

About Demo.xls tutorial

The GL Wand installation process would have installed the Demo.xls Excel worksheet containing some example reports and tips. Demo.xls has been developed using the Vision

Operations and Vision Services sets of books information and can be refreshed against our online Vision instance or your own Vision instance.

Install add-in on PC

Installation files

Please locate and unzip the GL Wand zip file. This file will either be at the location you

downloaded it to or on the CD containing the trial software. The file contains the following:

GL Wand.msi - Client installation (file name will include the version)

GL Wand.txt - Upgrade version file

GL Wand Server - Server side install (file name will include the version) Readme.txt - Instructions

PC Installation

1. Unzip the GL Wand zip file and double click on the GL Wand.msi (Microsoft installer) to

begin the installation.

2. You will be prompted for an install location which you can modify or simply accept the defaults.

7

3. You might receive a message warning you that Excel should be closed during the

installation. If Excel is open on your PC switch to it and quit the application. Then return to the installer and click OK.

If the installer is unable to locate a Microsoft Excel installation on your PC you will receive a

warning at the end of the installation. You will then need to follow a manual process to

activate the GL Wand add-in. The instructions for this manual process can be found in the

Installation Problems section of this user guide.

4. The last screen of the install process will prompt you to "Launch GL Wand

5. Leave this option ticked

6. Click the "Finish" button.

7. This will launch an Excel workbook "Demo.xls" which contains information and instructions on how to get you started with using the GL Wand.

8

If you do remove the tick, you can launch this workbook manually from the GL Wand menu

item on your Windows Start menu.

Once the "Demo.xls" workbook is launched it should open Excel. The GL Wand toolbar should

appear. If the toolbar does not appear follow the instructions in the in the Installation Problems section of this user guide.

You should now be able to log on to our online Vision instance. Follow the instructions in the "Demo.xls" workbook to log on.

Uninstalling GL Wand

To uninstall GL Wand.

1. Start by launching Excel.

2. Close the GL Wand add-in by clicking the Add-ins button on the Excel Tools menu and

removing the tick next to the GL Wand item.

3. Quit Excel.

4. Open the Windows Add or remove programs option from the control panel. 5. Locate the GL Wand in the installed programs list.

6. Click remove. 7. The windows installer should run and the GL Wand will be removed.

If you forget to first close the add-in inside Excel you will be prompted with an error

message the next time you launch Excel. Simply acknowledge the error and then select the

9

add-ins option from the tools menu in Excel. Click on the GL Wand item and Excel will show

a message indicating that the GL Wand cannot be found and ask you if you would like to

remove this item from the list. Simply click yes. The next time you launch Excel you should

no longer see the error message.

Installation Problems

Unusual installations of Microsoft Excel may result in the installer being unable to activate

the GL Wand add-in. This is also known issue with Excel 2010 64bit.

Follow these steps to manually enable the GL Wand add-in

1. Navigate to the location that was specified as the install target during the installation e.g.

C:\Program Files\GL Wand

2. Locate the file GL Wand.xla

3. Copy this file

4. Navigate to the Excel installation path e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office (for

office 2003 it will be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11)

5. Inside this folder navigate to the Library folder (so the path will now be C:\Program

Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Library)

6. Paste the GL Wand.xla into this folder

7. Launch Excel

8. From the Tools menu select Add-Ins 9. The GL Wand should be listed in the list of add-ins. Tick the box next to the GL Wand

item and click OK

10. The toolbar should now appear

Installing PDF Creator

PDF Creator is required for exporting Excel data to PDF and producing Report Manager

output in PDF. It can be downloaded at http://www.excel4apps.com/pdf. Double click the downloaded file to start the installation.

If you receive this message click Run to start the install and select your language.

10

Click next to continue and accept the license agreement.

Pick the standard installation.

11

You must leave the printer name as PDFCreator.

You can accept the default path or change it if required.

You can optionally install the toolbar. The next screen allows you to exclude this option.

12

Uncheck the Internet Explorer toolbar option if you prefer not to install it.

You can uncheck all these options or set them to your preference.

13

The installation should now run successfully.

PDF Creator on Vista

A few manual steps are required to get PDF Creator to work on Microsoft Vista.

Turn off user account control

Right click on the PDFCreator.msi -> properties -> Compatibility -> Select Windows

XP

Run PDFCeator.msi

Go to Control Panel -> Printers -> add new printer

Select the existing PDFCreator port

Use driver from C:\Program Files\PDFCreator\gs8.54\gs8.54\lib\ghostpdf.inf

Right Click on the new printer -> properties Go to ports -> configure port -> check Run as user

Connect to Vision

Connection details

Once you have completed the client side installation, your corporate security settings

permitting, you should be able to connect to our online Oracle Applications Vision instance.

This will allow you to evaluate the GL Wand functionality before you perform the server side installation on your own Oracle instance.

If your organization uses a proxy server that requires authentication to access the Internet

(in addition to the domain logon), GL Wand will prompt you for your proxy user name and

password if required.

If you have any problems accessing our online system, we recommend using a less secure

internet connection, or moving the evaluation to an in house Oracle instance.

The GL Wand installation should have the following pre-configured connection.

14

Please refer to Demo.xls for further instructions on connecting to the online test instance.

See also the Toolbar section for information on how to use GL Wand.

About the test instance

The purpose of the test instance is to

facilitate a rapid connection to an Oracle instance; and show basic GL Wand functionality to prospective buyers.

Once you have mastered basic functionality we recommend

moving the evaluation to your own Oracle Applications environment

work on your own set of books data

gauge GL Wand performance on your own network / hardware.

Test instance performance

A number of factors will influence performance of the test instance. These include

your internet connection speed the bandwidth available to our server to connect to you via the internet

The speed across the internet will not be a true reflection of GL Wand performance. It should

be a lot faster on your own local instance. Averages refresh times are 10-50 cell refreshes

per second over a LAN and 5-30 cells per second over WAN/Internet. Each cell can represent

many GL Balances.

15

Using GL Wand

Toolbar

The GL Wand toolbar gives you access to all the functionality of GL Wand.

The Menu

Functions can also be accessed from the GL Wand drop down menu.

Shortcut keys

Frequently used functions like calculate Range, calculate Sheet and calculate All can also be

executed with ALT+CTL+R, ALT+CTL+S and ALT+CTL+A.

Logging on

- Not logged on, click to log on

- Logged on, click to log on again

16

The first step in using GL Wand is to log on to the Oracle instance that you intend using.

You can log on to the online Vision instance or you can log on to your own Oracle Applications instance.

See also the Creating Connections section.

There are two possible logon methods that GL Wand can use. The method is determined by

a setting on the GL Wand Options form. The method can be Oracle or Excel. It is also possible to access your segment values descriptive flexfields by enabling the option during the logon.

Oracle Logon Method

The Oracle option is the new logon method which utilizes the Oracle web based screen to capture your user name and password. This method is also compliant with Oracle Single Sign

On. When you click the sign on button you are presented with the screen below where you

select which Oracle connection you wish to use.

When you click the logon button the Oracle log on screen will appear. Enter your applications user name and password.

17

When you click Login on this web browser the window will close and you will be presented

with a list of responsibilities that are linked to your user name (see this section if you would

like to restrict this list). You will see one of the two windows displayed below. If your site is

licensed to use the GL Wand Multiple Sets of Books feature, you will see the image on the

right. Else the screen will appear like the image on the left. Trial users using an in-house trial key will by default have access to the Multiple Set of Books (MSOB) feature.

Select the responsibility that you wish to use and click ok. If you are licensed to use the GL

Wand MSOB feature you can select multiple responsibilities. Click an item to select it and click it again to unselect it.

If you are licensed to use the MSOB feature you also have the option of logging on to all the

available sets of books. This option must be enabled by setting the applicable profile option

18

at user level. With the profile option set to yes for a particular user, that user will have an

extra item in the list of available responsibilities. This All Sets of Books option allows a user to log on to all the sets of books configured in the Oracle instance without needing to select

multiple responsibilities.

Please note that when logging on with the All Sets of Books option, no security rules are enforced. For this reason you must enable this option for those GL Wand users that are

authorized to report across all the configured sets of books. By default this options is

disabled for all users.

If you log on to an Oracle Release 12 instance and the data access set linked to the chosen

responsibility contains more than one ledger or ledger set you will be logged on to all the applicable ledgers.

Excel Logon Method

The Excel logon method is the same mechanism that was used in previous GL Wand versions. This method should not be used unless the Oracle method does not function correctly. Again there are two possible windows that you will be presented with depending in whether you are licensed to use the GL Wand Multiple Sets of Books feature.

19

Descriptive Flexfields

If you wish to report on segment value descriptive flexfields, tick this option on the logon

form. This will load the descriptive flexfield information. This option is by default un-ticked as loading this information unnecessarily would slow down the logon process.

Proxy Authentication

If you are connecting to an Oracle instance on the Internet and your organization uses a

proxy server that requires authentication to access the Internet (in addition to the domain

logon), GL Wand will prompt you for your proxy user name and password if required.

20

Enter the required user name and password and click OK. Then click the logon button again.

License Key

If you have not yet obtained a trial license key for the instance that you are logging on to,

you will prompted with the option to request a key. Click Yes to open a web page where you can request a trial key or No to continue without requesting a key.

Customers that have licensed GL Wand will use this exact same process to request the final non-expiring keys.

Limiting GL Wand Responsibilities

By default all the responsibilities assigned to a user will appear in the list available for

selection when the user logs on to GL Wand. If you would prefer to limit this list to only a subset of responsibilities you can configure this as follows:

Log on to Oracle using a responsibility that can create profile options e.g. Application

Developer.

Navigate to the Profiles screen.

Create a new profile option with the following details:

Field Value

Name GL_WAND_RESP

Application Application Object Library

User Profile Name GL Wand: Responsibility

Description Optionally used to identify the responsibilities to display in GL Wand.

SQL Validation SQL="SELECT MEANING, LOOKUP_CODE into :visible_option_value,

:profile_option_value from fnd_lookups where lookup_type =

'YES_NO'" COLUMN="Meaning(10)"

Access See screenshot below

21

Now navigate to the Profile > System menu in the System Administrator

responsibility.

Set this new profile option to Yes at responsibility level for all the responsibilities that should appear in GL Wand.

Set of Books and Segment Selector

- Set of Books and Segment selector

Once you have logged on, the set of books and segment list dropdowns will be populated.

Set of Books

The set of books drop down list can be used to select the set of books that you wish to work

with. If you log on to a single set of books this dropdown list will contain a single value only.

However, if you are licensed to use the GL Wand Multiple Sets of Books feature or are in trial, then this list will contain multiple values in the following situations:

If you selected multiple responsibilities during the logon process all the sets of books

linked to those responsibilities will be listed.

If you selected the special All Sets of Books option all the sets of books configured in the Oracle instance will be listed.

If you log on to an Oracle Release 12 instance and the data access set linked to the

chosen responsibility contains more than one ledger or ledger set, then each of these

ledgers will be listed.

The number in brackets () indicates the Set of Books identifier. This number can be used in

various GL Wand formulas and other functionality in order to obtain information from a specific Set of Books.

Segments

This dropdown list will be populated with a list of the segments that are available in the

currently selected Set of Books. The number in brackets indicates the segment number. The

segment list also includes the special value Period which is used for discovering the period names in your set of books.

In the example shown the selected segment is Company and it is identified as segment 1. Certain dynamic functions require the segment number as an input parameter.

Discovering

The discover tools allow you to extract segment information from the Oracle Applications

database and populate Excel cells with this information. You can use the discover tools to

extract segment values, segment properties, periods or child ranges or the full segment

hierarchy. For segment values you can use the discover level to choose whether to retrieve child values, parent values or both.

22

Discover Segment Values

- Discover Down

- Discover Down All

- Discover Up

1. Select a cell and enter a valid starting segment value e.g. 1000 into the cell.

2. Choose the relevant segment from the segment list e.g. Account.

3. Now click the Discover Down button.

GL Wand finds the next valid account segment value after account 1000 and enters this value in the cell below the one that you started in.

In the same way you can click the up arrow and the previous segment value will be entered in the cell above the one that you started in.

- Discover Left

- Discover Right

- Discover Right All

The left and right arrows work in a similar manner, retrieving the next and previous segment

values but they populate the cells to the left and right of the cell that you start in. When

23

discovering segment values you will notice that some of the values are entered with a bold font. This is because these have been identified as parent values.

You do not need to discover segment values one at a time.

You can enter a starting segment value, choose the segment from the segment list

and then highlight a range of cells.

When you click one of the discover buttons now, GL Wand fills the selected range

with the next or previous segment values depending on which arrow you click on.

The Discover Down All and Discover Right All buttons can be used to retrieve all the

segment values in one operation.

Discover Period Names

You can discover period names in much the same way that you can discover segment

values.

1. Select a cell and enter a valid starting period name e.g. Jan-03 into the cell.

NB make sure that you enter this starting period name as text by first formatting the Excel cell as text or entering the period name prefixed by an apostrophe e.g. Jan-03. If Excel interprets the value entered as an actual date e.g. 01/01/2003 then discover period names

will not work.

2. Choose the special Period value from the segment list.

3. Now click the Discover Down button.

GL Wand finds the next period name after Jan-07 in the Set of Books calendar and enters this value in the cell below the one that you started in.

24

You can also use the Discover Down All, Discover Previous, Discover Right, Discover Right All and Discover Left buttons to discover period names.

Discover Properties

- Discover segment properties

The Discover Properties button will extract a variety of information about the selected segment value.

To use this function,

1. Select a cell(s) with a valid segment value in it.

2. Make sure the correct segment is selected in the segment selector.

3. Click the Discover Properties button.

The cells to the right of the selected cell are populated with segment information.

The first cell indicates the segment description, the second cell indicates if the value is a

parent or not (Y means the segment value is a parent), the third cell indicates if the segment

value is enabled or not (Y means that the segment value is enabled) and the fourth cell

indicates what account type the segment value is e.g. Asset or Liability etc. Obviously the forth cell is only valid for the natural account segment.

Discover Child Ranges

- Discover child ranges

25

The Discover Child Ranges button can be used to show the child values that are assigned to a particular parent value.

1. Select a cell that has a parent segment value.

2. Identify its segment number to the GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the segment list dropdown.

3. Now click on the Discover Child Ranges button.

An Excel note is added to the cell showing the ranges that have been assigned to the selected parent. This is useful for understanding and exploring your Chart of Accounts.

Discover Hierarchy

To discover the hierarchy for a segment proceed as follows:

Enter the starting segment value into an Excel cell. This value must be a parent for

the segment you are using.

Identify the segment number to GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the

segment list dropdown.

Select Discover Hierarchy from the Discover menu. GL Wand will extract the full hierarchy for the selected parent and display it in the

Excel worksheet, indenting the various levels in the hierarchy.

Toggle Discover Level

- Toggle discover level

26

The Discover level button is used to restrict the segment values that are returned by the discover tools to parent values only, child values only or both parent and child values.

When you click on this button it toggles from discovering parents and children to discovering parents only to discovering child values only.

For example,

1. Select a cell and enter a starting segment value.

2. Choose the segment from the segment list.

3. Click the discover level until the option is set to Discovering Parents. 4. Now highlight a range of cells and click the Discover Down button.

GL Wand fills the selected range with the next segment values but skips all child values and

returns only parent values. Similarly, child values can be discovered by toggling the discover level to Discovering children.

If you want to discover both parent and children toggle the discover level back to

Discovering parents and children.

All segment values must be entered using the Excel text format. Either format the cell using

the text number format or enter the cell value using the apostrophe character which marks the contents of the cell as text e.g. if you want to enter the segment value 001 enter it as

follows 001.

Expand

- Expand

You can perform an expand down to the lowest level children (explained below) or you can expand using the hierarchy going down one level or expanding the full hierarchy.

The Expand feature allows you to extract a list of all the lowest level child values that roll up

to a particular segment selection. This might be a parent value, range, wild card or a

combination of these options.

1. Select a cell that has a segment selection e.g. a parent value.

2. Identify its segment number to the GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the


3. Click the expand button 4. The child values are retrieved from Oracle and are inserted below the selected cell.

27

You can also highlight a number of columns and GL Wand will insert the child values and copy the contents of the highlighted cells against each child value that is inserted.

1. Select a cell that has a segment selection and highlight the number of columns that you

would like to have copied into the new rows.

2. Identify its segment number to GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the


3. Click the expand button

4. The child values are retrieved from Oracle and are inserted below the selected cell.

5. The contents of the additional columns that were selected are copied against each new

row inserted. In the example below this contains a generic Get Balance formula which is then resolved for each child value.

You also have the option of selecting multiple rows when performing an Expand. GL Wand will perform an expand on each selected row.

The expand feature can also be used with account combinations. Please see the Special Get

Balance Criteria section for details on how this works.

Expand Hierarchy (1 Level)

This option works in exactly the same manner as the Expand feature except that it will

expand using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a

single parent value. GL Wand will extract the values one level down the hierarchy and list them below the starting cell.

Expand Hierarchy (Full)

This option works in exactly the same manner as the Expand feature except that it will

expand using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a

single parent value. GL Wand will extract the full hierarchy and list all the values below the starting cell, indenting the various levels in the hierarchy.

Undo Expand

- Undo Expand

The expand operation inserts rows into the worksheet to allow the child data to be

populated. If you would like to quickly remove the expand data click the undo expand button. GL Wand will remove the inserted data from the most recent expand operation.

28

Please note that the expand operation formats the inserted rows in a particular way e.g. the

segment values are indented. The undo expand operation relies on this formatting in order

to process correctly. If you modify the formatting of the expanded rows the undo expand

may not function correctly.

Refresh Expand

- Refresh Expand

The expand operation fetches the child data that meets the criteria that you enter and

inserts it into new rows in the workbook. This data may change over time e.g. you may

expand a parent value and over time the definition of that parent is modified. Use the refresh expand button to retrieve the most recent data from Oracle as follows:

Highlight the entire range of expanded data.

This must include the criteria row that drives the expand operation e.g. the row

containing the parent value.



Click the refresh expand button.

GL Wand will remove the old expand data and will refresh the expand with the latest information.

Please note that the expand operation formats the inserted rows in a particular way e.g. the

segment values are indented. The refresh expand operation relies on this formatting in order

to process correctly. If you modify the formatting of the expanded rows the refresh expand

may not function correctly.

Explode Report

- Explode report

You can perform an explode down to the lowest level children (explained below) or you can explode using the hierarchy going down one level or expanding the full hierarchy.

Explode report works in a similar way to the expand feature. The difference is that where

expand inserts a new row in the worksheet for each child value found, explode creates a new worksheet in the current workbook for each child value found. For example:

Start with a complete GL Wand report.

Select the cell in the report that drive the Get Balance formulas e.g. a department

parent value in the report header.



Click the explode report button.

GL Wand will duplicate the worksheet for each child value found for the selected

parent.

Explode Hierarchy (1 Level)

This option works in exactly the same manner as the Explode feature except that it will

Explode using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a

29

single parent value. GL Wand will extract the values one level down the hierarchy and create a new worksheet for each value.

Explode Hierarchy (Full)

This option works in exactly the same manner as the Explode feature except that it will

Explode using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a

single parent value. GL Wand will extract the full hierarchy and create a new worksheet for

each value.

Open List of Values

- Open list of values

The segment list of values form can be used to search through the segment values and

descriptions for a specific segment. First pick the segment from the segment list

dropdown and then click the segment list of values button. The list of values for the chosen

segment is displayed.

You can enter a value to search for in the find box. The list of values will be filtered to show

only items that match the text entered in the find box. The text entered in the find box is

compared to the segment value and segment description. An item will be included in the results if either field contains the text entered in the find box.

30

In the list section you can start entering a segment value (e.g. Account number) and the list

will scroll to the item matching the values that you have entered.

Click the Add button, double click an item in the list or press enter to add the current item to the selection list on the right. You can also click and drag an item to add it to the selection list.

If you want to add a range like 1000-2000 do the following.

31

Start by adding the 1000 value using one of the options explained above. Then find the 2000 value in the master list. Ensure that the 2000 value is highlighted in the master list and the 1000 value is

highlighted in the selection list and click the Add Range button. You can also drag a value from the master list onto an existing value in the selection

list to create a range.

To remove an item from the selection list, ensure that it is highlighted and then click the Remove button or press the Delete key.

Every segment will have the additional value called All. Selecting this value will add a % to the parameter list which means All values. If All is selected then all other selections will be removed and replaced with a %.

If you want to include certain values and exclude others you can use the Add Exclude option. This will add the highlighted value to the selection list prefixed by the reserved exclude character ~.

32

You can add any combination of the options mentioned above to produce your own

calculation

Once you have added all the required segment values to the selection list click OK to copy the list to the clipboard. You can then paste these values into a Get Balance function or

anywhere else on the Excel sheet.

33

Create List of Values

- Create list of values

This feature can be used to quickly format a cell to be a special list of values cell. There are

two types. The first type inserts a drop down list of values in the cell and is used for balance

types, translated flags and actual flags.

The second type creates a link to the standard list of values form. It is used for segment values, periods and balance and encumbrance names.

The cell is identified by a note containing the word LOV. In order to open the list of values,

simply double click the cell or select the cell and click the List of Values button on the

toolbar. This will open the list of values form for the specific data type that the list of values cell was created for. In the example this was the department segment.

The checkbox allows you to link the list of values to a specific set of books. This option is only applicable if you have the Multiple Sets of Books feature enabled.

34

Functions

The GL Wand functions work in a similar way to any other Excel worksheet function. You

provide the required parameters and the results of the function are returned to the Excel

cell. The difference being that GL Wand functions retrieve information from your Oracle Applications system

GL Wand currently has the following functions.

- Get Balance

- Segment Description

- Next Segment Value

- Previous Segment Value

- Parent Flag

- Enabled Flag

- Account Type

- Period Name

- Set of Books Name

35

- Segment Descriptive Flexfield

- Period Offset

Split Text

Combine Text

Functional Currency

Get Daily Rate

You can enter a function into an Excel cell in a number of ways.

Click the applicable button on the GL Wand toolbar (or on the GL Wand menu)

Type the function name into the cell manually prefixed by an = sign

You can select the function from the list that Excel provides when you choose the

Insert Function menu item. The GL Wand functions are listed under the special GL Wand category (Prior to Excel 2007 they are listed in the User Defined category).

If you click the applicable function button on the toolbar and the cell you are in contains that

function, the Excel formula wizard window will open. If you click a function button in a cell

that contains other data, GL Wand will warn you that it is going to replace the contents of

the cell with the chosen formula and will give you the option of cancelling the action.

All parameters must be entered as text values i.e. enclosed in double quotes e.g. enter

USD when entering the currency code or enter 001 when entering a segment value.

See Discovering versus Functions for a comparison extracting information using the discover tools or the functions.

36

Get Balance

The Get Balance function is probably the most important function in GL Wand. It returns a

General Ledger balance individually or summed based on the parameters that you enter.

Example =Get_Balance("Jan-02","YTD","USD","E","A","BIS CORPORATE","01","T","4000-4160","0000","000")

Clicking the Get Balance function on the GL Wand toolbar will open the Get Balance Wizard.

This form has lists of values for items like period name, balance type, actual flag etc. Select

the applicable values and enter a valid currency code and budget or encumbrance name if required.

Double clicking a segment value or clicking the list of values button next to the segment will

open the segment list of values form for that segment. See the Segment List of Values

section for details on how to use this form. When you click the OK button on the Segment List of Values form the selected segment parameters are entered against that segment in the Get Balance Wizard form.

If your Oracle configuration includes dependant segments as part of the accounting

flexfield, this form will support selecting values based on the independent and dependant

segment values. Simply select a value from the available list of values for the independent

segment. Then open the list of values for the dependant segment. The list of available values

will be limited to only those values that are related to the selected independent segment

value.

When you have entered all the parameters click the OK button to insert the Get Balance function into the selected cell with the entered parameters. Clicking the Edit button will open the Get Balance function in the Excel formula wizard form which will allow you to link

parameters to cells in the Excel sheet.

37

You can also open the Get Balance formula in the Excel formula wizard form using the fx

button on the formula bar or by selecting the Insert Function menu item on the Excel menu bar.

Parameter Description

Period The period name as configured in Oracle. This parameter must be

entered in exactly the same format as the period names in Oracle.

For example if your period names are configured as follows Jan-07 in Oracle and you enter Jan-2007 or January-07 or jan-07 for this parameter, GL Wand will not return any data.

When used in conjunction with the special Balance Type CTD (Custom to Date) you can specify a custom period selection. For

example Feb-07-Aug-07 will add all the movement for the entered period range. You may enter multiple lists or ranges of periods and can use wild cards as well e.g. Jan-0% or %-07.

When used in conjunction with the special Balance Types JED, JEDU or JEDP (Journal Effective Date) the period parameter becomes a date parameter e.g. 01/01/2007-05/01/2007,10/01/2007.

The format that your date is in is important. The - character is used in GL Wand to denote a range of values and therefore it cannot

be used as a date delimiter e.g. 01-01-2007 would not be valid. So

take care if your Windows regional setting use the - as a date delimiter. For JED type calculations we recommend that you use the

/ as a date delimiter and that you always format the date as text in Excel otherwise Excel will convert the date based on your regional

setting.

Balance Type YTD, QTD, PTD, PJTD, CTD, JED, JEDP or JEDU all in upper case.

YTD Summarizes the full years balance QTD Summarizes the balance for the quarter

38

PTD Includes just the current periods movement PJTD Project to date CTD Summarizes the custom period criteria entered JED Summarizes the journal movements for the entered

dates for both posted and unposted journals.

JEDP - Summarizes the journal movements for the entered

dates for posted journals only

JEDU - Summarizes the journal movements for the entered dates for unposted journals only

Currency Code The currency code as configured in Oracle all in upper case e.g.

USD.

Translated Flag Enter E, T or C. Use E to retrieve the entered amount and T for the

translated amount. Use C to report on the converted amount i.e.

the functional currency equivalent of a foreign currency amount.

Only E is valid if requesting a balance for the functional currency of the current Set of Books.

You must ensure that you have run the currency translation process

in Oracle for the selected currency and period before reporting on

translated balances. If you enter T to request the translated balance

and there is no current translated balance available in the system a zero is returned.

Oracle Release 12 provides a new feature to allow reporting on the

values entered in the functional currency only i.e. excludes any

foreign currency transactions converted to the functional currency.

Therefore, in Release 12, if you use the E (entered) flag in

conjunction with the functional currency, any converted amounts will

be excluded. To report on the total balance (including values entered

in functional currency and values converted to the functional

currency) use the new Total option. This option is only available if you log on to a release 12 Oracle instance.

Actual Flag A Actual, B Budget, E Encumbrance.

Bud / Encumb Name If you enter B or E above enter the exact budget name or

encumbrance type here. Otherwise simply enter for actual balances.

Segment1 through

Segment20

Enter the segment value here. You must enter it as a text value

including any leading zeros e.g. enter segment value 10 as 0010 if this segment is configured as four characters with leading zeros in Oracle.

You may enter your segment values in a variety of flexible ways

including parents, child values, ranges, wildcards, excludes etc. See

the explanation below on valid values for this parameter.

To include all values simply enter %. Please note as from GL Wand 3.85.0 you can no longer leave the segment blank, a value is

required.

Book Optionally enter a set of books id to bind the formula to a specific

set of books. If this parameter is omitted, the set of books currently

39

selected in the Set of Books dropdown list will be used.

Options This parameter is used to modify the results returned by the Get

Balance function from the standard behavior. Currently two options are supported.

Source Limit the results to a specific journal source.

Category Limit the results to a specific journal category.

The criteria needs to be entered as follows - Source=Manual or Category=Adjustment. To specify both a source and category use the | as a delimiter e.g. Source=Manual|Category=Adjustment. You can specify multiple values by separating them with , e.g. Source=Payables,Receivables.

When creating Get Balance formulas always use % to denote all values as this allows more efficient SQL to be generated. Do not use a range like 000-ZZZ as they will require unnecessary processing.

The segment value parameters can be entered as

a single value representing a child or parent account e.g. 1500 might represent a parent account.

a range of values e.g. entering 1500-1600 in one of the segment parameters will sum all the segment values between 1500 and 1600 for that segment.

a list of segment values e.g. entering 1500,1510,1590 in one of the segment parameters will sum the specific segment values entered. If any of the segment

values are parents GL Wand will sum the hierarchy for that parent.

wild card entries e.g. 1%00 will sum 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400 etc. or entering the

value 1% will sum all values that start with 1.

values to be included and then specific exclusions e.g. 1000-2000,~1500 will sum the values between 1000 and 2000 but will skip 1500.

a combination of any of the above e.g. "1000-2000,2371,2375,2560-

2580,3000,~3200,4000,~4161-4169". In this way you can build up your own calculation definition in the segment parameter.

Please note there are two additional methods for specifying segment criteria in the Get Balance function. The one allows you to specify account combinations and the other

allows the use of segment descriptive flexfields. Please see the Special Get Balance

Criteria section in order to use these options.

Segment Description

Returns the segment description for the chosen segment value.


Segment Value The segment value

Segment The segment number




IndepValue For dependent segments, enter the independent value that the

segment value relates to.

40

Example =Get_Segment_Description(1000,3)

Next Segment Value and Previous Segment Value

Returns the next or previous segment value.


Last Value The starting segment value


Level Enter a P to return the next or previous parent value, enter a C to

return the next or previous child value or leave the parameter blank

to return the next or previous segment value irrespective of whether

it is a parent or child.




Example = Next_Segment_Value(1000,3,P)

Parent Flag

Returns the parent flag for the chosen segment value. Y means that the segment value is a

parent.







Example =Parent_Flag(1000,3)

Enabled Flag

Returns the enabled flag for the chosen segment value. Y means that the segment value is

enabled.







IndepValue For dependant segments, enter the independent value that the


Example = Enabled_Flag(1000,3)

41

Account Type

Returns the account type for the chosen segment value. This function is only applicable for

the natural account segment and will return the value Asset, Liability etc.


Account Value The account segment value







Example =Account_Type(1000,3)

Period Name

Returns the period name for the chosen year and period number. Optionally the returned value can be a certain number of periods into the future or past.


PeriodYear The year that you want the period name for

PeriodNumber The period number that you want the period name for




Offset Optionally enter an offset to return the period name which is n

periods before or after the entered criteria e.g. enter 3 to return 3

periods into the future or -1 to return the previous period.

Example =Period_Name(2006,3)

Set of Books Name

Returns the set of books name for the chosen set of books.





Example =Set_of_Books_Name()

Segment Descriptive Flexfield

Returns the segment values descriptive flexfield for the selected criteria



42


AttributeNo Identify which attribute you want to report on. The segment values

descriptive flexfield has 50 possible attribute values. The applicable

attributes will depend on your configuration and whether this

Descriptive Flexfield is used by your organization.






Example =Segment_DFF(100,2,5) retrieves the 5th attribute on the segment values descriptive flexfield for segment value 100 on segment 2.

Period Offset

Returns the period name for the chosen year and period number.


Period The period name as configured in Oracle. This parameter must be

entered in exactly the same format as the period names in Oracle.

For example if your period names are configured as follows Jan-07 in Oracle and you enter Jan-2007 or January-07 or jan-07 for this parameter, GL Wand will not return any data.

Offset Enter an offset to return the period name which is n periods before

or after the entered criteria e.g. enter 3 to return 3 periods into the

future or -1 to return the previous period.

RetRange Enter TRUE (or 1) to return the result as a range e.g. entering

period Mar-07 with an offset of -2 and the RetRange set to true will

return Jan-07-Mar-07. This can be used in conjunction with the CTD (Custom to Date) balance type in the Get Balance function to

create rolling period reporting.




Example =Period_Offset("Jan-07",-2,TRUE)

Split Text

Splits delimited text and returns a specific portion based on an offset. Especially useful to

split account combinations but can be used to split any text.


Value Some text which has been concatenated using a delimiter e.g. an

account combination like 01.100.7000.

Offset Identify which portion of the text to return.

Delimiter Defaults to . if you leave this parameter blank but you can override it to any delimiter.

Example =Split_Text("01.100.7000",2) will return the 100 portion of the text.

43

Combine Text

Combines selected text separated by a delimiter. Especially useful to combine segment

values to create a delimited account combinations but can be used to combine any text.


Segment1 through

Segment20

Enter segment values that you wish to combine into an account

combination.

Delimiter Defaults to . if you leave this parameter blank but you can override it to any delimiter.

Example =Combine_Text("01","100","7000") will return 01.100.7000.

Functional Currency

Returns the functional currency for the set of books.





Example =Functional_Currency()

Get Daily Rate

Returns the daily exchange rate for the entered criteria.


FromCurrency The From currency code as configured in Oracle all in upper case e.g. USD.

ToCurrency The To currency code as configured in Oracle all in upper case e.g. USD.

ConversionType The conversion type as configured in Oracle. Spelling and case must

be identical to the Oracle configuration.

ConversionDate The conversion date. This must be in Excel date format. Either refer

to a cell which contains a date or use one of the Excel date functions

to return a date in the parameter.

Example =Get_Daily_Rate("USD","GBP","Reporting",DATE(2009,1,1))

Function return values

The GL Wand functions will return a variety of results depending on a number of factors. If

all the information is entered correctly and there are no restrictions on access to the data or

the GL Wand itself, the result should be the General Ledger balance, segment value, segment description etc. However the following are also possible return values.

glwDemo this means that you are using GL Wand without a valid trial key entered into the GL Wand: License Key profile option. When trying GL Wand without a valid

44

trial key you are only allowed to use the first 20 rows and 20 columns of the first

sheet in the workbook. Any formula entered outside this range will not calculate a

value but will only return the word glwDemo. This is called evaluation mode. A trial key needs to be requested from within GL Wand and entered into the profile

option to allow full access to all functionality.

glwNoAccess When you log on you will be prompted for your applications user name and password and will then need to select a responsibility to log on to. Any security

rules that have been linked to the selected responsibility will be enforced on the GL

Wand data. If you attempt to access a balance on a general ledger account that you

do not have access to, the function will return the word glwNoAccess. Please see the Audit Get Balance section for information on how to identify the security rule that is being contravened.

Please note that Oracle's Hierarchical Security is not supported.

glwError If you enter invalid information in a parameter for a GL Wand function the GL Wand error value will be returned. This may happen when you, for example,

enter an invalid budget name or period name in the Get Balance function or when you

enter an invalid segment number in the next segment value function. This error value

will also be returned when you are not logged on. The details of the return value will

indicate where the problem exists e.g. glwError (Logon), glwError (Balance Type),

glwError (Translated Flag), glwError (Actual Flag), glwError (Missing segment),

glwError (Data error), glwError (Range), glwError (Period).

glwPending This value will be returned during the calculation process. Whenever a cell requires calculation and the process has not been completed yet, the cell will

contain the value glwPending. glwEditing Displays in the Excel function arguments window when editing a Get

Balance formula.

glwNotLoaded This may display as the result of the Get_Segment_DFF formula or in the Balance drill down report. To correct the problem ensure that you tick the option to load descriptive flexfield information during the logon.

Discovering versus Functions

You may have noticed that you can achieve similar results by using the discover tools and

using the functions. For example you could use the Discover Down button to retrieve the next segment value or you could use the Next Segment Value function to return the same result. The difference between these two approaches is as follows:

Com

paris

on b

etw

een

Dis

coverin

g a

nd F

unctio

ns

Discovering Functions

Results returned as text string to Excel

cell

Value is calculated based on

parameters

Value is static Value is dynamic

Never changes Recalculated when sheet refreshed

Lower performance overhead Higher performance overhead

Discover Down Next Segment Value

Discover Up Previous Segment Value

Discover Left Next Segment Value

Discover Right Previous Segment Value

Segment Description

45

Discover Properties

Parent flag

Enabled Flag

Account Type

Discover Child Ranges No equivalent

Toggle Discover Level

Parameters of next segment value,

determine whether parents, children or

both are returned.

Use the discover buttons with Period selected in the segment drop down

Period Name

Balance Extract is similar to Get

Balance, though the static values it

produces are refreshable.

Get Balance

Special Get Balance Criteria

GL Wand supports two special types of criteria in the Get Balance function namely Account Combinations and Segment Descriptive Flexfield criteria. These two forms of the Get Balance criteria have very specific syntax which must be carefully adhered to in order to

achieve the correct results. You also have the ability to expand account combinations for a

selection that uses the Account Combination criteria.

Account Combinations

In the past the Get Balance function only supported individual segment values e.g. segment

2 = 100 or 200 and segment 3 = 1000 or 2000. This would result in GL Wand returning all the possible combinations of those segment 2 and 3 values.

Now you have the ability to specify account combinations using the new Get Balance syntax.

This means that you can create new complex criteria for your Get Balance formula e.g.

(segment 2 = 100 and segment 3 = 1000) or (segment 2 = 200 and segment 3 = 2000).

With these criteria GL Wand will no longer return all the possible combinations but rather only the combinations you specify.

In order to specify account combinations in a Get Balance function, you must tell GL Wand

which segments you are combining. You do this by entering a special value into the segment

e.g. if you want to combine criteria for segment 2 and segment 3 you would enter the

following in the parameter for segment 2 Use_Seg3. This tells GL Wand that that it must find the criteria for segment 2 inside the segment 3 parameter. In the segment 3 parameter

you now enter the criteria for both segment 2 and segment 3, separated by the special

delimiter character e.g. 100.1000. This tells GL Wand that you are looking for accounts where segment 2 is 100 and segment 3 is 1000. An example could look like this:

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","", "01","Use_Seg3","100.1000,200.2000","0000","000")

It is possible to combine multiple segments as follows:

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","", "01","Use_Seg5","Use_Seg5","Use_Seg5","100.1000.0000.000")

46

You simply point each applicable segment to the parameter where the account combination

using the special Use_SegX syntax. Then inside the target parameter you combine the fully qualified account combination for the applicable segments delimited with a . character.

When you specify your account combination you have full flexibility to use ranges, lists, wild

cards, parents and exclude criteria. For example this criteria will fetch all the values where

segment 2 is between 100 and 200 and segment 3 is between 1000 and 2000. And in

addition to that it will include the values where segment 2 is 250 (a parent) and segment 3

starts with 33 but will exclude the specific value where segment 2 is 250 and segment 3 is

3320.

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","Use_Seg3","100.1000-200.2000,250.33%,~250.3320","0000","000")

You also have the flexibility to group different parts of the account combination together. For

example this criteria combines the values for segment 1 and 3 together and combines segment 2 and 4 together.

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","",

"Use_Seg3","Use_Seg4","01.1000,02.1150","100.0000,200.1050","000")

These new Get Balance syntax options provide you with tremendous flexibility when building your GL Wand reports.

Expand Account Combinations

The expand feature allows you to extract all the detailed child segment values that roll up to

the criteria that the user specifies. The expand feature has been extended to support account combinations.

In order to expand an account combination you would do the following:

Ensure that the correct set of books is selected in the drop down list on the GL Wand

toolbar

Select the cell containing the account combination criteria e.g. 100.7000 Click the expand button

GL Wand will now identify that the selected cell contains an account combination rather than

a single segment value. You will now be presented with a window to identify which segments from your chart of accounts are represented in the account combination.

47

Select the correct segments and click OK. GL Wand will now extract all the child combinations that roll up to the criteria that you entered and insert them into the Excel sheet.

The other options are as follows:

Fix if you tick this option for a segment, GL Wand will peg that segment using the selected value (this option only makes sense for a parent segment value). You might

for example want to expand all the account combinations used in a particular parent

cost centre. Simply Fix the cost centre segment and GL Wand will return all the account combinations used within that parent cost centre.

Exclude disabled account combination tick this option to only return account combinations that are currently enabled and have not been end dated.

The expand account combinations feature can be used as a normal GL Wand Expand in order to extract the detail behind a total, but it is also very useful to extract existing account combinations from your Oracle system.

This feature can be used very effectively with the Split Text and Combine Text functions.

Segment Descriptive Flexfields

In order to extract balances using the descriptive flexfields stored on the segment values

you need to use special syntax in the Get Balance function. The syntax works as follows:

{1:ABC}

You wrap the descriptive flexfield using curly brackets

The first character after the open bracket identifies which descriptive flexfield

attribute is being referred to.

You then separate the descriptive flexfield attribute from the actual value using a :. You then specify the criteria for this attribute.

An example Get Balance function would look as follows:

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","{1:ABC}","1000","0000","000")

This example will return all the values where attribute 1 of the segment descriptive flexfield on segment 2 is equal to the value ABC.

It is possible to specify criteria for multiple descriptive flexfields as follows:

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","{1:ABC}{2:XX}","1000","0000","000")

Simply wrap each descriptive flexfield value in its own {} and identify the attribute number.

At this stage the descriptive flexfield criteria is restricted to a single value or a single range

of values. Lists of values and multiple ranges are not supported. A range can be specified

using the special range delimiter | (pipe character). This character is different to the range character that is used for normal Get Balance segment parameters. The reason is that the

normal range delimiter - may easily be used in a segment descriptive flexfields and therefore is not suitable. In future you will be able to configure your own range delimiter

48

character which will provide the best flexibility. The range criteria can be specified as follows:

=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","{1:100|200}","1000","0000","000")

This example will return all the values where attribute 1 of the segment descriptive flexfield

on segment 2 is between 100 and 200. Date values are also supported in this criteria and GL Wand will correctly derive the between criteria for a date.

Calculating

The three calculation buttons allow you to control exactly what cells are refreshed from

Oracle. They are used in conjunction with the GL Wand calculation option (on/off). You can stop a calculation at any time by clicking cancel.

- Calculate Range (Alt+Ctl+R)

- Calculate Sheet (Alt+Ctl+S)

- Calculate All (Alt+Ctl+A)

- GL Wand calculation on

- GL Wand calculation off

Calculate Range, Sheet or All

The three calculation buttons allow you to control exactly what is recalculated.

To calculate a range of cells simply

1. Highlight the range

2. Click the Calculate Range button or use the Alt+Ctl+R shortcut key 3. Select multiple ranges using the ctrl button (as normal in Excel).

4. Select a range and then select multiple Excel worksheets to calculate the same range on

each sheet.

Please note, do not use the calculate range option to recalculate the entire sheet i.e. by

selecting all the cells on the sheet. This will take unnecessarily longer. Rather use the

calculate sheet option.

To calculate a sheet simply

1. Select the applicable sheet

2. Click the Calculate Sheet button or use the Alt+Ctl+S shortcut key. 3. Selecting multiple sheets will calculate each of the selected sheets.

To calculate all open workbooks simply

1. Click the Calculate All button or use the Alt+Ctl+A shortcut key.

49

GL Wand calculation on or off

You can use the GL Wand calculation toggle button to control when requests for calculations

are sent to the Oracle server.

If you toggle GL Wand calculation Off, calculation requests are not sent to the Oracle server which means you

you can manipulate a worksheet

change cell values

enter new formulae; and

perform any other task that would normally cause Excel to recalculate

and the applicable functions will only return the glwPending status and will not actually calculate a result.

This is useful during report development.

To calculate the results simply click one of the three calculation buttons Calculate Range, Sheet or All.

If you leave the GL Wand calculation option On, the applicable functions will be recalculated whenever Excel initiates a calculation process e.g.

when changing the contents of the cell

changing one of the functions input values deleting a column or row in the worksheet etc.

Please note that the GL Wand calculation option has nothing to do with Excels automatic and manual calculation. The GL Wand calculation option controls only the calculation of the

applicable GL Wand functions. All other calculations are controlled as normal by the Excel

automatic and manual calculation option.

Calculation progress and stopping a calculation

When you perform a recalculation a window will appear to show the progress of the

calculation.

50

If you would like to cancel the calculation process simply click the Cancel button.

Please note that GL Wand will need to wait for the next reply from Oracle before the

connection can be closed. Therefore it may take some time before the calculation stops and

the window closes.

Snapshot

- Snapshot

The snapshot tool can be used to take a snapshot of your GL Wand report. This tool will

remove all the GL Wand functions from the workbook and will replace them with the values that the function returned.

The results are similar to using the Excel paste values functionality. However, this process will only replace GL Wand formulas. All other Excel formulas will be left as they were.

Please note that you cannot take a snapshot of a protected worksheet, rather output the

sheet to PDF format for archive and distribution purposes.

When producing a snapshot, GL Wand will request a name for the new workbook. You can

select an existing workbook and GL Wand will give you the option to append the snapshot

results to the existing workbook or overwrite the existing workbook. You therefore have the

option of producing various snapshot reports and combining them into one new workbook in a single operation rather than producing a separate workbook for each snapshot.

Hide zeros

- Hide zeros in selected range

Select a report range that contains rows where all the numbers are zero. Click the hide zeros

button and GL Wand will hide all the rows in the selected range where all the cells containing

numbers are zero. This is very useful for formatting a report which includes many rows

where, for example, a number of accounts are not used in a particular cost centre or have no

51

balances in a certain period. At the click of a button you can hide all the rows that contain only zeros.

Select the entire report range when using the hide zeros function. GL Wand checks the

selected range for zeros when determining which rows to hide.

Excel automatically forces a recalculation of Get Balance formulas when you hide rows on a

report. This is normal Excel functionality.

This feature can be used on any Excel worksheet and is not limited to GL Wand reports.

Undo Hide Zeros (Tools Menu)

- Undo the last hide zeros operation

Click this button to automatically undo the last hide zeros operation.

Drill downs

- Drill to default Balance layout

- Drill to default Journal layout

- Drill to default Sub Ledger layout

The drill down options allow you to extract additional detail about a specific Get Balance function.

1. Select a cell that contains a valid Get Balance function.

2. Click on the drill to balance button.

3. A new GL Wand drill down workbook is created.

4. The criteria sheet will be populated with the criteria from the Get Balance function.

5. The drill down to balance detail will be executed showing all the detailed accounts that make up the total in the Get Balance function.

52

See the Create Drill Criteria Sheet section for more details and options on the drill down

criteria sheet.

Budget variance analysis: If you select two cells on the GL Wand report e.g. one cell with

actual values and one with budget numbers, GL Wand will perform a drill down on the Get

Balance function and display the actual and budget values next to each other and a

calculated variance.

You now have a variety of options which can be performed from the drill down workbook.

1. Modify the parameters on the criteria sheet and perform a new drill to balance. Drop

down lists are provided for most of the parameters, see the Create Drill Criteria Sheet for

more details.

2. Create a summary drill down report.

3. If you have performed a balance drill down you can select the Balance sheet and then

click drill down to journal details after selecting one or more rows with accounts.

4. Select the Journal sheet and then click the button to drill down to the full journal after selecting one or more rows with journal lines. The full journal with all the contra

entries for the selected journal lines will be displayed.

5. Select the Journal or Journal-Full sheet and then click sub-ledger drill down after selecting one or more rows with journal lines.

6. Drill down to Global Consolidation System transactions.

When drilling down you have the following options:

Double click any cell on the row that you wish to drill down on.

53

Select any cell in the row that you want to drill down on and click the applicable drill

down button on the GL Wand toolbar.

Highlight a range of rows and click the applicable drill down button on the GL Wand

toolbar to drill down on multiple lines at once.

Highlight non contiguous rows using the Ctrl button and click the applicable drill down button on the GL Wand toolbar to drill down on multiple lines which are not adjacent to each other.

It is possible to drill from a Get Balance formula directly to the journal or sub ledger

information. Similarly you can drill from a detailed balance (on the Balance worksheet)

directly to the sub ledger information. If you select these options, GL Wand will execute the

interim drill steps automatically. Be careful when performing a drill down directly to the

journal or sub ledger detail level as these drill down operations may return many records.

GL Wand will automatically group the drill down to journals and sub ledger information using

Excels group and outline functionality. This will allow you expand and collapse the data to show just a portion of the report. Headings are also inserted on the journal and sub-ledger drill down to make the report easier to read.

On the sub-ledger drill down the heading includes a number in brackets e.g. (23) Journal Name 123. The number indicates which Excel row these sub-ledger lines originated from on the Journals sheet.

You can use the remove drill down report headings button to strip out the headings on

the journal and sub-ledger drill down sheets.

A couple of important things to note about drill downs:

GL Wand will first count the number of rows that will be retrieved by the drill down

operation

If the row count is more than 1000 you will receive a warning message asking you if

you want to continue

If the row count is more than the defined limit (see Query Limit) you will receive a

warning and the drill down will be cancelled

If the row count is more than the number of rows available in your version of Excel

you will receive an error and

Documents

GL Wand User Guide