12.3. Currency Management

Once installed, SICS is automatically set up with currencies. As System Administrator, however, you will want to customize currency information to the needs of your company. You do this in the Currency window.

Before getting started managing currencies, it is important to understand the different terms used in Currency Maintenance in SICS.

Primary Currency: A primary currency is a currency which acts as the “base currency” or the “against currency” when storing exchange rates. Any currency can be defined as a primary currency and there is no limit to the number of primary currencies.

Currency and Exchange
Rates icon

To access the Currency window, double-click the Currency and Exchange Rates icon on the SICS Desktop.

The main functions of this window are to:

• Open information about an existing currency
• Create a new currency
• Maintain exchange rates

Open a Currency #

On the left side of the currency window you see a list of currencies and their corresponding ISO codes. SICS uses ISO information standards for currencies in the world according to ISO 4217. The official English name is listed next to the ISO code.

You can choose whether you want to show active currencies, inactive currencies, mostly used currencies, or all currencies by clicking the right mouse button and selecting one of the above categories from the Display sub pop-up menu.

Edit a Currency #

If you want to make changes to the properties or exchange rules of a currency, select the currency in the Currency display list, then select Properties from the pop-up menu. You see the View Currency window, which is divided into three tabs: Properties, Country, and Exchange Rules.

There is an Edit button in the bottom right-hand corner. When you click the Edit button, the window changes to the Edit Currency window.

The Properties tab and the Exchange Rules tab are the same as those in the Create Currency window explained later. The Country tab indicates the country or countries that the currency is used in, and the type of currency it is (such as main, for example). You cannot edit information on the Country tab. To change the country that the currency is connected to, you must do so from the Country Properties window. (Refer to Country Properties Handling, explained later in this chapter, for more information.)

Edit Currency Properties #

Name: Currency name.

ISO: International Standards Organization code for the currency.

Alternate code: Used for storing the currency identification/number used in other systems.

ISO numeric: Standard, numeric ISO code.

Factor: Used when showing the value of the currency against another (primary) currency. The factor is usually 100 or 1.

Warning limit: Sets a maximum difference (in percentage) between new rate and previous rate. A warning message, “Confirm override of limit” is issued if that is exceeded.

Number of decimals: To be used when displaying an amount expressed in this currency.

Is EMU Currency: When you select this box, you indicate that the currency is a European Monetary Union currency.

Status Active: Indicator of whether the Currency is Active or Inactive.

Values: Yes - The currency is active No - The currency cannot be used for further updates, e.g it will not be possible to book on this currency..

Default: Yes

Functional Impact: Technical Worksheet Claim Worksheet Currency Transformation Terms Create Bank Account Create New Business Prop Retro Accounting

Status Mostly Used It means that the currency isconsidered one of the often-used currencies that will appear in queries when only currencies that are used a lot are requested.

View Country Properties #

If you want to change the country that a currency is connected to, you must do so from the Country Properties Handling window, explained later under Country Properties Handling in this chapter.

Used in country: Displays all countries in which the currency is a valid currency

Type: For each currency, shows either “Main currency” or “Supplementary currency.”

Edit Exchange Rules #

SICS automatically calculates exchange rates whenever this information is required. You set up the method of exchange for each currency on the Exchange Rules tab in the Edit Currency window.

Primary: A primary currency is a currency which acts as the “base currency” (or the “against currency”) when storing exchange rates. Selecting the Primary box indicates that the currency is primary.

Any currency may be defined as primary and there is no limit to the number of primary currencies.

Exchange Rules: Clear Foreign in Primary or Primary in Foreign to indicate how the exchange rate should be stored against the currency. Selecting Foreign in Primary or Primary in Foreign only applies when the currency is defined as a primary.

Example 1: Foreign in Primary

This method is preferable when you receive information similar to the following: 100 DEM = 500 SEK. This means that:

“rate” SEK = “factor” DEM (“rate” SEK = 100 DEM)

500 SEK = 100 DEM Þ Rate for SEK (500 / 100 = 500)

500 is the amount that should be entered as the relation between DEM and SEK

Example 2: Primary in Foreign

This method is preferable when you receive information similar to the following: 100 SEK = 20 DEM. When using this method the factor on the Primary Currency will always be 1.

This means that:

“factor” SEK = “rate” DEM (1 SEK = DEM “rate”)

1 SEK = 0,2 DEM Þ Rate for DEM (1 / 5 = 0,20)

0,20 is the amount that should be entered as the relation between DEM and SEK

Note! There has to be a “relationship” between the primary currency itself for the exchange rate to work properly in Business Objects. If the “factor” on, for example, NOK is 100 there has to be an equal rate of 100 between the primary NOK and NOK defined in SICS.

Create a Currency #

In the Currency Display list on the left hand-side of the Currency window, select New from the pop-up menu. You see the Create Currency window, which is divided into two tabs: Properties, and Exchange Rules.

The Properties tab is where you input information about the properties of the new currency including its name, ISO, factor, alternate code, warning limit, and number of decimals. See Edit Currency Properties, explained earlier, for descriptions of these fields.

The Exchange Rules tab is where you indicate whether or not the new currency is a primary currency, and whether or not it is Foreign in Primary or Primary in Foreign. See Edit Exchange Rules, explained earlier, for more information.

After you click OK to save the new currency, you see it listed in the Currency display list on the left-hand side of the Currency window.

To connect the new currency to a country, you must open the Locations window (explained later in Maintain Country and State Information) and connect the currency to a country here.

Defining a Currency as Primary #

A primary currency is a currency which acts as the “base currency” or the “against currency” when storing exchange rates. Any currency can be defined as a primary currency and there is no limit to the number of primary currencies.

When creating a new exchange rate, a primary currency must always be selected from the Against drop-down list. (The Against drop-down list only contains currencies that have been defined as primary.)

To define a currency as primary:

1. Open the properties of a currency by double-clicking that currency in the Currency List. You see the View Currency window.
2. Click the Edit button.
3. Select the Exchange Rules tab.
4. Select the Primary box to turn it “on.”

Maintain Exchange Rates #

Switch Between Historical and Most Recent Rates #

You can choose between viewing historical and most recent rates by using the drop-down list in the Currency window, and choosing either Historical Exchange Rates, or Multiple Currency Exchange Rates.

Multiple Currencies Exchange Rates: When you select view Multiple Currency Exchange Rates from the drop-down list, you see the most recent exchange rates for all selected currencies against the selected Primary Currency.

Note! The exchange rate list will only show rates for the currencies you have selected in the Currency List (left-hand side of the window.)

Only rates that match the given extraction criteria will be displayed.

If any extraction criteria changes (such as changing the exchange rate Type), you must click Find Now in order to refresh the exchange rates list.

Example:

To view the latest day rates for NOK, CHF and GBP against primary currency USD:

1. Switch to View Multiple Currency Exchange Rates(since you want to view more than one currency).
2. Select NOK, CHF and GBP in the Currency List (on the left-hand side of the Currency window).
3. Click the Day Rates tab if it is not already the active tab.
4. Select USD in the Against drop-down list on the Day Rates tab.
5. Select a type of rate from the Type drop-down list.
6. Enter today’s date in the Date field if it is not already there.
7. Click the Find Now button.

The system retrieves the most recent exchange rates for NOK, CHF and GBP against USD. Note! This example will only work if these rates have already been entered into the system.

Historical Exchange Rates: When you select Historical exchange rates from the drop-down list, you see the value of a single currency against the selected primary currency.

Select a currency from the Currency list (on the left-hand side of the Currency window) and click the Find Now button. Whenever you select a new currency from the Currency List, you must click the Find Now button to refresh the information.

Define New Exchange Rate Types #

SICS offers great flexibility in defining new exchange rate types. For each main exchange rate category (Day Rate, Period Rate, and Year Rate), any number of exchange rate types can be defined.

Some rate categories and types are system defined. They are:

Adding new reference data entries creates new rate categories. There are, however, a few rules for creating default rates that you should be aware of:

Day Rates: When entering the first rate for a currency, the rate is copied to the date 01.01.00. Later, when entering or deleting new dates, this rate is updated.

Period Rates and Year End Rates: When entering a new rate, the system creates rates for the missing years/periods in the range from the previous rate into the newest rate. For example, if you enter the year-end rate for ‘97, and the newest existing rate is for ‘95, the system will copy the rate for 95 to 96.

It may be desirable to add, for example, a new Period Rate Category called Average Period Rate. Refer to Reference Data Maintenance Handling in this chapter for more information.

Delete Exchange Rates #

There is no “delete” option, so, if you need to delete an exchange rate, you can do the following, which has the same effect as deleting:

Set the rate value equal to the previous rate value for the same combination of currency and date/period.