About types of models
You can select from five model types: the Global Assumption Model, Exchange Rate Model, Financial model with shares calculations, Financial model without shares calculations, and the Generic Model.
The primary consideration when you determine which model types to include in your application is how you will use the models and their data. For example, an assumption model acts as a resource for other models, but a financial model includes predefined business logic. Additionally, you can create one model of a given model type or multiple models of the same type for different purposes.
Available Model Types
The Generic Model is the most basic model type and you can use it for any other model type that you need. A Generic Model contains no predefined rules for accounting logic.
You can use the Global Assumption Model for baseline data that applies throughout a business, such as headcount or price list information.
In order to use the functionality of an assumption model, you should link it to other model types. Thus, it is useful when you plan your assumption models to identify the other models that you will link with your assumption models. For example, to update your assumptions efficiently, you can create an Exchange Rate Model and link it with another financial model.
The Exchange Rate Model is a special-purpose assumption model that tracks foreign exchange values by period and exchange type for all currencies in a system. One important consideration for Exchange Rate Models is whether you will want to track exchange rates by multiple time granularities, such as daily, monthly, and annually. Because an Exchange Rate Model does not provide aggregation, you must use a separate Exchange Rate Model for each time granularity in your application that uses exchange rate assumptions.
The model type, Financial model without shares calculations, includes built-in logic to perform consolidations, but does not include shares calculations. If you have one entity, or multiple entities that are analyzed individually, use this model type. For example, you can use a Financial model without shares calculations to create a corporate costs model designed for Human Resources.
Another model type, Financial model with shares calculations, includes built-in logic to perform consolidations that include shares calculations and calculate intercompany eliminations. For example, if you have multiple entities and you will provide consolidated reporting at the corporate level, use the Financial model with shares calculations. This model type could also be used to create a strategic planning model.
Note
When your scenario requires cumulative roll-ups of periodic data, such as year-to-date values, use the TimeDataView dimension. Planning Business Modeler generates this dimension in financial models to provide periodic and cumulative views of data.
See Also
Concepts
Comparing different models for financial intelligence processes