The Simple Joy of Flexibility in Currency Conversion
Posted on Fri, Mar 09, 2012 @ 01:41 PM
By Sreenivas "Dinu" Davuluri, Chief Business Intelligence Architect
In a typical data warehouse implementation, the multi-currency conversion is limited because the fact data needs to be determined and loaded up front. End users need to make conscious decisions as to what their reporting currencies are going to be at the start of the implementation. At that point, they are pretty much stuck with those decisions.
For example, an end user may choose to keep the local currency on the transaction and report that transaction in multiple currencies. The local currency could be in Canadian Dollars (which the transaction is stamped with) and they may choose US Dollar as the reporting currency. Once the warehouse is loaded with data, the transaction is converted using the exchange rates based on the “Transaction Date” and stored in the database into US Dollars.
If, for example, an executive in China would prefer to report these same transactions in Chinese Yen, they cannot as it is not available in the database.
If we shifted the currency conversion process to run time when the report is getting executed vs. up-front, that gives the end users the ability to see the transactions both in the local currency and any other currency as long as the conversion rate is available in the database.
This shift in control from pre-loading the warehouse with fixed currency conversions to run time creates more accurate reports. A flexibility that is extremely beneficial for Global companies.
Contact Provade to learn more about our out-of-the-box currency conversion flexibility.