Project Analytics 7.9.6.2 addresses budget date range issue
In version 7.9.6.1 of Project Analytics, you may have noticed a subtle difference between the way in which to-date budget amounts are reported when compared to figures in the E-Business Suite (e.g. PJI / Performance Reporting). This has now been addressed (albeit partially) in release 7.9.6.2 of OBI Applications.
The issue depends on how your budgets are phased, and only manifests itself if budgets are being entered by date range (as opposed to period, whether that be GL or PA).
The problem is that budget lines entered by date range are catered for differently between the two applications. In the E-Business Suite, budget line amounts are allocated to periods on a linear basis (including weekends). Conversely, Project Analytics takes a much more simplistic approach, and budget line amounts are reported in the period in which the line start date falls. To make this clear, consider the following budget scenario which has been phased by date range:
Budget Line Start Date End Date Amount 1 01-JAN-2010 28-FEB-2010 1,000 2 01-MAR-2010 03-MAR-2010 250 3 04-MAR-2010 27-APR-2010 1,400 4 27-APR-2010 30-APR-2010 500
Assume that GL/PA periods are defined as calendar months with the name format Jan-10, Feb-10 etc.
If we were to report Period-to-Date (PTD) figures in the E-Business Suite, the following linear formula applies to the budget line amounts:
(number of days within the budget line range that fall in the reporting period × line amount) ÷ number of days in the budget line range
As mentioned above, in Project Analytics, PTD amounts are reported based on the period in which the start date of the budget line falls.
The above scenario gives the following PTD results:
Period EBS Project Analytics Jan-10 525* 1,000 Feb-10 475 0 Mar-10 963 1,650 Apr-10 1,187 500 Total 3,150 3,150 * e.g. (31 * 1000) / (31 + 28) = 525 (approx)
As you can see, only the budget lines with date ranges that span across multiple periods are affected (lines 1 and 3).
This has been addressed in the recent release of 7.9.6.2 of OBI Applications and a new logical fact table has been added. To quote the release notes:
A new logical table, Fact – Project Budget Linear Spread, has been created that contains Budget metrics built using a Linear Spreading logic in the business model and mapping layer. However, the new metrics are not exposed in the presentation layer. You can either replace the existing Budget metrics in presentation layer with the new ones (the same metric names are used in the old and new logical Budget fact tables), or create a new subject area to expose the new metrics. The first option enables you to reuse the existing reports with Budget metrics without any modification.
It is interesting that Oracle have left the option of whether to use the new fact table down to the customer, as I can not think of any scenario where I would wish date ranged budgets to be displayed as per the example above.
Comments are now closed... Please contact us if you have any queries.