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Area Types - Area

Note

The table is of interest only in companies with the Controlling flag active.

The Controlling Data is always managed with a connected analysis area that identifies what types of data are contained within: We can imagine it as a physical box, where each box is filled with accounting values and quantitative values, and each box may have its own distinct calculation model. An area includes data from all the dimensions of the centers.

Specific fields​

  • Code
  • Description
  • Area type
  • Balancing job, not managed

TYPES OF AREAS​

Typically, we will have 3 areas:

  • BUDGET: we will have the budget for the following year;

  • ACTUAL: when we process interim closures;

  • SET OF RULES: an area that has no values, except for some physical measure. It is the area that contains the standard cost driver rules: for example, if I am processing the actuals area and I am trying to allocate my cost for rents via a cost driver, if I find a specific Cost driver for actuals, Fluentis will use that driver; otherwise, it will seek the general rules valid by default linking them to the set of rules area.

Note

We can freely define how many analysis areas we want. The typical goal is to simulate what happens if I change the company's cost driver rules, or perhaps with the aim of applying differentiated cost configurations.

Another use is to 'crystallize' the controlling processes: as we will explain when discussing cost drivers, the controlling processes delete and recreate the data of the year being processed. If we want to historicalize, for example, the first quarter so that it can later be compared with the first 3 months of what was calculated in the processing of the first semester, we can achieve this result by creating different actual areas.