"How do I start centrally organizing my ERP data so I can use it in FloQast reports?"
The Financial Data Model (FDM) provides a centralized way to organize and enrich your ERP data, allowing for more insightful reporting within FloQast. Think of the Financial Data Model as a unified grouping engine that bridges the gap between your raw chart of accounts and your specific reporting needs.
Navigation: From the All Workflows Dashboard >> Settings >> Financial Data Model.
Key Features and Benefits
The Financial Data Model allows users to transform financial data through core capabilities:
Custom Groupings: Define specific groupings using account dimensions to align with your unique business structure.
Multiple Dimension Groupings: Build and maintain multiple custom dimension groupings simultaneously to support various reporting lenses.
Direct Mapping: For quick adjustments or smaller datasets, you can map accounts directly within the FloQast user interface.
Best Practices
The Financial Data Model sets the data foundation to standardize your account hierarchy and automate data mapping to ensure tools like AI Variance Analysis and Report Builder provide accurate reports and surface meaningful, group-level flux analysis. Here are best practices to ensure consistency in your roll-up hierarchy
- Maintain Roll-up Hierarchy Consistency: Ensure Financial Statement Line Item (FSLI) levels reside at the exact same depth. Do not split related FSLIs across different levels (e.g., one at Level 3 and another at Level 4).
- Consolidate Financial Statements: Include both P&L and Balance Sheet accounts within a single Dimension Grouping. Do not divide Dimension Groups by financial statement type.
- Limit Manual Mappings: Minimize the use of Direct Mappings to a maximum threshold of 10% of total accounts.
- Prioritize Attribute-Based Mapping: Map accounts using the Account Type field rather than relying on Account Number patterns.
- Isolate Deactivated Accounts Last: Create a "DO NOT MAP" rule for deactivated accounts, and position this rule last in the execution order.
- Establish Maintenance Governance: Create a monthly Checklist item to audit and identify any newly added accounts that remain unmapped in FDM.
- Enforce Level Naming: Explicitly name all defined levels within the hierarchy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are there plans to add in AI prompt-based mapping?
A: Yes, the product team is performing research and looking to add in an AI process.
Q: Are rows with multiple rule matches indicated in some fashion in case there's a conflict that needs resolved manually?
A: Not currently. To avoid conflict mappings there is a logic flow that is followed:
- Direct mappings have first priority and do not get overridden by rules.
- Then the rules follow the order from top to bottom.
Q: Is there a use case for having different versions of the groupings? Or can we only have one active grouping per connection at a time?
A: You can publish multiple versions of a grouping. That said, there are multiple use cases that we'll encounter as customers will want to map based on their intended audience:
- Financial Statement Mapping (US GAAP v Local GAAP).
- Bank Reporting.
- Internal Reporting.
- Process Reporting: Revenue, Inventory, etc.
Q: How can I map a specific account into its own group when it keeps getting sucked into a "no department" catch-all rule?
A: FDM reads rules from top to bottom. You need to create a specific rule for that account and physically drag it above the catch-all rule in the mapping interface.
Q: Do customers have to use direct mapping instead of rules if an FDM rule is catching accounts they don't want to flux?
A: You can use direct maps for specific accounts by setting the destination to "alternative". Direct maps act as the very first step in the order, pulling those specific accounts out before running the general rule across the remainder.
If you have additional questions, contact support@floqast.com.
🎓 Ready to master FDM? Complete the interactive Centralizing and Configuring Financial Data in FloQast FDM course on FloQademy. It is CPE-eligible through the FloQast AI Variance Analysis & Reporting program.