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Abacum NetSuite integration, and the other source connectors, tested during the survey.
Constancia, an EPM consultancy and official Abacum (FP&A software) partner, tests what NetSuite, the CRM and the HR system will release before designing the model. The connector is configured last.
Abacum at a glance
- Covers
- FP&A: budgets, forecasts, scenarios and reporting.
- Data in
- More than 700 integrations, with data arriving in near real time.
- Our record
- Certified architects and consultants based in the UK.
An Abacum NetSuite integration carries ledger balances by subsidiary, account, period, department and class from NetSuite into the Abacum (FP&A software) model without an export. Constancia, an EPM consultancy, builds it for finance teams whose actuals still reach the plan by spreadsheet.
- Loads
- Balances by every segment NetSuite holds on the posting, and transactions where the plan needs them.
- Tests
- What NetSuite releases, at what grain, on what schedule and for which subsidiaries, before the model is drawn.
- Then
- A connector on a schedule, a load that ties to the trial balance and a named owner for the month end run.
NetSuite decides the grain of the plan, so we read its setup before drawing the model.
NetSuite holds every subsidiary's ledger in 1 instance, with department, class and location as segments on each posting. The connector brings those segments into Abacum as the dimensions the plan uses. Multi-book accounting adds a second set of balances per subsidiary, and the connector is told which book the plan reads.
Abacum connects to NetSuite, 1 of the more than 700 sources it reads. The connector is the shortest part of the work. The 2 charts of accounts in a group that bought a company on Xero are the longest.
Where the NetSuite department list and the headcount plan's department list differ by 3 names, the forecast by department carries 3 lines nobody recognises. The FP&A manager finds them the week of the board meeting.
The NetSuite connector goes in over 6 steps, of which the first 3 happen before anything is connected.
A connector configured before the grain is agreed loads at whatever grain NetSuite happens to hold, so the reading comes first.
- 01
Read the segments
We list the subsidiaries, accounts, departments, classes and locations NetSuite holds, and which of them the postings actually use.
- 02
Agree the grain
The finance team decides whether the plan runs at account or at account by department, and the connector loads no finer than that.
- 03
Map the charts
Each subsidiary outside NetSuite maps to the group chart of accounts, and the mapping has a named owner before a balance moves.
- 04
Connect and load
The connector loads the closed periods first, so the model holds a history the forecast can be tested against.
- 05
Tie to the trial balance
Each subsidiary's loaded balances are reconciled to its trial balance in NetSuite, and the differences are explained before the plan reads them.
- 06
Schedule and own
The load runs on a date in the close calendar, and 1 person in finance owns the run and the exceptions it raises.
The first 3 steps are paperwork, and a group that skips them meets the grain question at its first month end instead.
Abacum takes 3 kinds of source beside the ledger, and each one feeds a different driver.
The survey puts the same 3 questions to each source: what it releases, at what grain and on what schedule.
- 01
The CRM feeds the pipeline
Salesforce or HubSpot in most estates, and the pipeline stage definitions decide what the revenue forecast can read.
- 02
The HR system feeds headcount
Roles, start dates and salaries arrive from the HR system, and the department names have to match NetSuite's before they load.
- 03
The warehouse feeds volume
Where operations keep volume in a data warehouse, the connector reads the table the business already trusts rather than a new extract.
Every source is tested during the survey, and a source that will not release data at the plan's grain is priced in before you sign.
The plan runs at the grain NetSuite posts at, and a finer grain costs the finance team a month end.
NetSuite posts every journal line with a subsidiary, an account and a period. Department, class and location travel only where the person posting filled them in, and a blank segment loads as a blank.
A plan by department therefore inherits every posting made without a department. The unallocated line grows each month until somebody in finance owns it.
The survey counts the postings with each segment blank, entity by entity. That count decides whether the plan runs by department or by entity, and the decision is written down.
The NetSuite connector feeds the implemented model, and Abacum Intelligence reads what it loads.
The connector is 1 of 3 pieces of Abacum work, and the other 2 sit either side of it.
Abacum implementation
The survey of the workbook, the fixed price and the handover to the finance team.
Read about implementationAbacum Intelligence
The forecast, the anomaly flags and the scenario branches the loaded actuals make possible.
Read about Abacum IntelligenceFinancial consolidation
The group result and the eliminations, which sit in the close rather than in Abacum.
Read about consolidation
A group that closes in NetSuite and consolidates elsewhere keeps its eliminations out of Abacum, and the connector loads the entity balances only.
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