Saturday, August 21, 2010

What to Convert in GL: Balance or Transaction Detail

A key question which all consultants face while handling GL conversion is what to convert, whether to convert the prior period balances or to convert the detailed transactions.
Typically most organisations while converting GL from a legacy system bring in only the balances data and very rarely do we bring in the transactions details. The reasons for the same is as follows:
1. Usually there is a change in COA while moving from legacy GL to Oracle GL, hence the code combination would never be the same in legacy and Oracle.
2. Drill down from Oracle GL to Oracle sub-ledger is not possible as there is no linkage between sub-ledger data and GL data post conversion.
3. The legacy system is usually archived for a defined period of time due to audit and legal reasons. This archived instance can be used for resolving historical audit and reconciliation issues that may arise at a later point in time.
However, if we are upgrading from an older version of Oracle to a new one, then it makes sense to bring in the transaction data because drill down feature would be available and code combination would remain the same across both the versions. But, here again, we need not bring in the transaction details for all historical data but only for a small period range, typically we convert transaction details from start of the year to the cut-over date and balance data for prior period-years.

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Krishanu's Oracle Applications Blog - Oracle Apps consulting services scenario in India. Also, an inside view of Oracle Apps outsource services in India. Also the blog features new developments in Oracle Apps and my learning's in this field. The views expressed are my own only and not of my employer Wipro Technologies. The views and opinions expressed by visitors to this blog are theirs and do not necessarily reflect mine.