Re: Fw: fiscal year change

Ken Sims wrote:

>>I've also worked with companies that have changed their idea of what
>>constitutes a year, so by hard knocks, now keep all data by calendar
>>month (it never changes).  A control file has the fiscal start month to
>>use as an offset.
>
>And what about companies that use a 13 period system?

It takes a bit more work, but if you normalise the files and store by week,
I've been able to handle swaps between a 12 month calendar and a 13 period
calendar.  If the original poster gets to re-design in Utopia, perhaps he
can store each day separately.  Either way (from month to (period or week or
day)) the fundamental business rules have to change.  It doesn't do much
good to try to accumulate data on a weekly basis if you run a batch at end
of month...

Daily has several advantages: more current data, flexibility in reporting,
can readily adapt to "outside" system (i.e. Corporate Headquarters).
Disadvantages: application must post daily, more complex reporting (i.e.
what days made up quarter 1?  Create a calendar file and join to it?), disk
space (is that an issue any more?)

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"Nothing is so firmly believed as
 that which we least know" -- Michel Montaigne
Visit the Midrange archives at http://www.midrange.com
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