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Having been working on triangulation and euro database conversion since early 1998 I thought I might clarify a few points: As previously stated, for an application to become Euro enabled involves 2 steps: Implementing Triangulation from 1/1/1999 to 31/12/2001 Converting base reporting values/rates (and within BPCS the global values/rates) to Euro by the 1/1/2002 These steps are exclusive - implementing triangulation does not help in converting a database to Euro and converting a database to Euro does not mean you are compliant with the triangulation rules. Triangulation The rules for triangulation were only finalised in December 1997 to be implemented by 1/1/1999 - some 12 1/2 months later. This was clearly not enough time for SSA or most other package suppliers to make their applications perform full triangulation - as mentioned nearly every program in BPCS needed to be changed. There are no penalties imposed by any of the member countries regarding the implementation of triangulation although there are many companies who wanted to be fully compliant for a number of reasons. We at MS400 created a package that converted source code to perform full triangulation in 1998 without database modifications. This was very succesfull and Ciba Speciality Chemicals, among many others, have been succesfully fully triangualtion compliant since early 1999. Although our triangulation package is still available we do not recomend that organisations implement it at this late stage as no company within the current group of 12 member countries would even get 1 full financial year using triangulation. There are two points I would make: 1. If you convert BPCS base reporting data for a company to Euro it does not mean you are triangulation compliant (except when using 4.05CDE & 6.1). If you have transaction data in a member NCU currency and your base currency is Euro then the transaction to base exchange rate will need to be an inverse conversion factor - this is NOT allowed. To convert any NCU to Euro you MUST divide by the appropriate conversion factor. All BPCS rates are multiply rates and so BPCS will check GCC for a NCU/EUR rate to multiply the transaction value with. This means that if you converted a BPCS database to Euro the Euro value of new transactions will not be calculated using the rules whenever the transaction data is in a member NCU. The only triangulation issue to 'go away' after a database is converted to Euro is in the case of OUT tranasaction data. Applications, like MACPAC, that always divide by an exchange rate do become essentially triangulation compliant when their database is converted to Euro. 2. What about other countries joining the Euro? Denmark, Sweden, Uk etc There is a possibility that there will be transition periods, for the current members 1/1/1999 to 31/12/2001, in which triangulation will be 'required'. Although there will be other countries joining and there will be transition periods I cannot see it becoming a legal requirement, in the UK for example, to perform triangulation when the current 12 countries ( Greece have a shorter transition period) have not been compelled to make the change. Database Conversion By the end of the current year all base reporting data (and global in BPCS if applicable) must be converted to Euro with no net financial change to an organisation. An organisation can still transact in NCU up until the end of the year but no new NCU transactions can take place starting 1/1/2002 . You may still be sent cheques in NCU in the first few weeks of 2002 but you should lodge them within BPCS as Euro's (they will be credited to yor bank account as Euro's - problems with 3 way matching ). All electronic transfers will be in Euros from that date - there is no choice. Database layout changes are not required and there will be very few or no program changes (certainly none required in any version of BPCS) - hard coded currency symbols are displayed/printed, where there are hardcode value tests (eg COST IFGT 100) and where hardcoded rounding routines have been added. In Italy things are more complex if inhouse or Italian specific packages have been designed to operate with no decimal places. All code and databases layouts will need to be changed and then all data converted. You should not underestimate the task of DB conversion . Most BPCS users have other AS400 appliactions and nearly all files on your AS400 will need to be converted. In BPCS (as well as other integrated ERP applications) you cannot safely convert a subset of files or a subset of a file by date. Not all package suppliers have created conversion tools for their customers. We have seen an average of more than 200 files that need to be converted on a typical AS400. To write these manually and include re balancing of GL, variance tracking, conversion control, auditing etc may take a few weeks! Multi company databases. Some companies will be OUT and should not be converted, you may want to convert companies individually, you may be using the BPCS workaround to get costs in local currency using the 'fake' global currency method, you may want to convert global before/after base conversion or perhaps your global is OUT. To actually go live and convert your databases nearly every record in every file will need to be updated - time to re assess history and get rid of hard/soft deleted records and all of those redundant members (if have seen ECH/ECL with 2,500 members). We have GL integrity checking reports which can be used to gauge the conversion times for GJD/GJH/GGM or GLH/GHH/GSB (when using our tool) - multiply the run time by 2. When will you go live? Not at the end of December because if the conversion goes wrong you cannot use your systems until the conversion has worked properly. Our tool converts at any point in time but finance (as they will do reconcilliation) prefer a period end. Are you using calander period ends? If so they you only have the choice of the following dates if you want to convert at a period end (remember your normal period end processing needs to take place, backups, database duplication etc) Sat 31st March, Sun 30th June, Fri 31st Aug, Sun 30th Sept, Fri Nov 30th. I agree with the comments that upgrading to CDE for data conversion may not be the answer for those companies considering it. Not all files are converted by the SSA tool and the GL is not kept in balance. V 6.1 still has the same issues re the conversion tool but if an organisation can implement this before the end of the year the extra functionality of V 6.1 may make this attractive. Of course non BPCS databases still have to be converted and the SSA tool will not do these. Our company, based in Ireland, created a triangulation conversion tool for BPCS in 1998 and started work on our DB conversion tool in mid 1998 (EM4). We had around 10 locations live with triangulation on 1/1/1999 and our first DB conversion went live in May 2000 (1st month end after financial year end - seems to be the most desired conversion time) and we have a number who went live on 1st Jan and more will go live every month end from now on. We always work with a customer when designing software and designed both triangulation and DB conversion with Ciba Speciality Chemicals and Leo Laboritories. It was designed from the outset to convert ANY AS400 externally defined database. All programs are generated on site based on the databases selected for conversion with the exception of supplied programs for the BPCS GL. We also supply a popup calculator for BPCS that uses GCC and the Euro conversion factors to perform fully triangulated caclulations - very handy during reconcilliation and post conversion for the users. EM4 will convert any currency to any currency, by company (a field up to 10 alpha can be used for company code) and/or global data, just by generating the appropriate conversion factor. It is easy to convert back from the Euro if a country decides to leave (you never know - there is no legislation to stop a country from going back!) although you would have 2 balancing lines for each journal. I will be happy to answer any questions on or offline regarding all aspects of the Euro. I had an article in the March 2000 issue of News/400 outlining some of the issues that should be looked at. Bill Chisholm Technical Director +--- | This is the BPCS Users Mailing List! | To submit a new message, send your mail to BPCS-L@midrange.com. | To subscribe to this list send email to BPCS-L-SUB@midrange.com. | To unsubscribe from this list send email to BPCS-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. | Questions should be directed to the list owner: dasmussen@aol.com +---
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