IES Consolidator: Using the Trace Option

Purpose

The purpose of this Document is to explain what the ‘Consolidation Trace’ is, and how to use it.

Introduction

When a Consolidation Step is performed (feeding values from 1 or more DataMarts), the system will update Balances in the Consolidation Ledger, but unlike Journals these Balance Updates do NOT generate Transactions that can be drilled. To understand where a Balance in any Ledger Account derives from during a Consolidation step, one has to use the Trace Report.

Example of an Account Drill after a Consolidation Step

And yet, as shown above, when we choose Period 66 ( March 2005 ) on this Account, there is indeed MOVEMENT shown in the amount of $674.90, resulting in an end-of-period Balance of the same value.

When it is necessary to see where that Balance derives from (i.e. according to the Consolidation Mapping applied during execution), it is time to use the Trace Report.

Below is a sample of the Trace Report, showing that the Consolidator found $6,748.95 for Account 10101010 in DataMart ‘infolabb’, for Period 66, and after converting at the specified Rate, accumulated $674.90 into Account 10101010, also into Period 66, in the Consolidator Unit.

Trace Report Dependency

The Trace Report relies on data compiled during execution of the Consolidation step, and the trace data is only compiled if tracing is switched “ON” during execution.

The Trace Report can be performed selectively and repeatedly

The Trace Report can be performed any number of times between Execution Steps, and can be performed selectively or for all Accounts processed during the last Execution step.

© Infolab, 2006