Multiple FDM users processing in one location, period, year, scenario

Question

Can more than one user go through a process flow for the same location, period, year, scenario with separate data files (i.e. different entities for different locations)? How does FDM handle the queue process?
Any best practice suggestions for the process flow?

Answer 1

Actually the answer is yes. I'm not sure why you would want to do this with one exception. Assuming that the files are in the same format, say you get one file that has balance sheet items only and the P&L data comes later. You process the balance sheet file then later you import as an append for the P&L file and process/load that data. I have seen this before. What this does is maintain your audit trail which is very important. Now say all of the bs and p&l come in one file, yet you want to load mutliple entities because each entity has it's own file. The very first file should be imported as a Replace and the remainder of the files should be imported as an append. Once you have imported all of the files you can then click Validate, then Export so that you process them all at once (you do not have to Import/Validate/Export each file) which would save you time. Again, you maintain your audit trail. However, if you import each file as a Replace, then Validate and Export each file seperately then all of your data will still load into the target system, which for example is HFM, but the audit trail only shows the data for the last file you processed. It's always best to have a seperate FDM location for each file (unless it's my first example where the data for a single entity is split).
On another note, I'm not sure what you mean by how does FDM handle the queue process but it can import mutliple files at the exact same time, such as 5 users importing their own files to their own FDM locations. If these 5 users are importing files at about the same time then the last one to import will "win" so to speak.
If the different entities from different files are loaded to different FDM locations then there is no overlapping because FDM keeps the data for each location seperate, by location, period, and category. It's the combination of the 3. If you have a location called Michigan, the Period is Jan - 2009, and the Category is Actual and you load data it won't overwritten by any entity unless someone takes a file and imports it to Michigan/Jan - 2009/Actual. If they take their file and import it into say, Florida/Jan - 2009/Actual instead then the two will always be seperate in the FDM database.