Load Additional Information with Balances by Using Balance Attributes in ARCS

From monthly release 25.05, when loading balances, additional information related to balance can be loaded in ARCS through Data integration. 

This additional information can then be used when defining format rules, profile rules, filters, columns, dashboards, and calculated attributes. To load additional data related to balances, balance attributes need to create.

About Balance Attributes

A balance attribute is a user-defined attribute that contains additional information about the balances that are loaded into ARCS application.

The balance attributes are available directly with the data and are also aggregated into any reconciliations associated with the data. Service Administrators can specify which balance attributes they want to load along with their balances and how to handle aggregating each one. Balance attributes can be displayed in the Reconciliation List, Transactions tab, Reconciliation Balances tab, and Detail Balances tab. 

Use Select Columns from Actions to specify which balance attributes must be displayed. Balance attributes can also be used when defining filters, format rule conditions, profile rule conditions, custom reports, and custom dashboards.

Note:

Existing custom attributes or calculated attributes can't be used to load additional information about balances.

Balance attribute data is aggregated and stored at multiple levels:

• Detail Balance (if specified): Transactional level data will be aggregated by Segments, Sub-segments, Currency Buckets, Currencies and Balance Types
• Reconciliation Balance: Transactional level data or Detail Balances (if specified) will be aggregated by Segments, Currency Buckets, Currencies and Balance Types
• Reconciliations: Reconciliation Balance data will be aggregated by Account ID.

Balance attributes can be viewed along with the sub-segment balances that have been loaded. 

Balance attributes are associated with the data, not the reconciliation. Therefore, if a reconciliation is deleted, the data still exists in the balance attribute and will be displayed in the Balance and Detail Balance dashboards. If the reconciliation is recreated, the balance attributes are included in it.

In the source file that is used to load balances, the balance attribute values must appear in the same row as the corresponding balance.

Creating Balance Attributes

Service Administrators can define up to a maximum of 20 balances attributes in an application.

To create a balance attribute:

1. From Home, select Application, then Configuration
2. Click the Attributes tab.
3. Click the Balance tab.
4. Click Add. The New Balance Attribute dialog displays.

            

 

5. In Name, enter a unique name for the balance attribute.

6. In Type, select the type of attribute. Depending on the type selected, some additional information may need to be provided.

7. Select Reopen if you want the reconciliation to be reopened with the Preparer when the value of this balance attribute changes.

The created balance attributes will appear automatically in the Dimensions tab of the Reconciliation Compliance Balances target application. The Dimension that you associate with a balance attribute must be of type LOOKUP or Attribute.

Note:

When loading balances using Data Integration, balance attributes of type Multi-line Text will not enforce limits on the number of lines.

About Using Balance Attributes

1. Create one or more balance attribute.
2. Classify the balance attributes as Attribute or LOOKUP.
   1. From Home, select Data Exchange.
   2. From Actions, select Applications, and click Reconciliation Compliance Balances.
   3. In the Dimensions tab, under Dimension Classification, select Attribute or LOOKUP for the balance attribute.
3. Map the required balance attributes with your data integration.

   
   

4. Load balances using Data Integration or Data Exchange.

   
   

5. Use the loaded balance attributes, as required:
   • View the balance attributes in the Reconciliation List, Transactions tab, Reconciliation Balances tab, and Detail Balances tab.
   • Include balance attributes in filters, format rules, profile rules, custom reports, and custom dashboards
   • Balance attributes cannot be used with a Set Attribute Value rule.

Best Practices for Using Balance Attributes

• Ensure that balance attributes are included in your balance load
• When loading debit or credit activity (or any currency-based amount), load it at the Functional or Reporting buckets for multi-currency applications.
• Most balance attributes are loaded from source systems. However, for the Balance Comparison method, data need to include the attributes in subsystem integrations.
• Consider aggregation when designing attributes.

Business Benefit: Additional balance attributes enable Service Administrators to make rules more effective and also provide improved insights into data through dashboards and reports.

Created by Mohit Jain and Megha Gupta