Prerequisites

• Install the Winter ’24 release
• Purchase the Accounting Seed Financial Analytics product extension
• Purchase the required licenses, if necessary
• Contact Accounting Seed to enable the product extension

Overview 

This article provides the configuration setups that are required in order to use the Accounting Seed Financial Analytics app.

Do you want to:

• Activate Multiple Currencies (for Single Currency users only)
• Assign CRM Analytics Permission Set Licenses to Users
• Assign Permissions to Users
• Create the Financial Analytics App
• Run Dataflows and Recipes
• Schedule Recipes to Run Automatically
• Review Source Data Caching
• Add a Company Logo

Activate Multiple Currencies (for Single Currency users only)

If you are a single currency user and plan to use the Financial Analytics app, you must activate the Multiple Currencies setting using the steps below.

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup.
2. From the Quick Find textbox, enter Company Settings.
3. Select Company Information.
4. Click Edit.
5. Select the Activate Multiple Currencies checkbox.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
6. Click Save.

Assign CRM Analytics Permission Set Licenses to Users

For each user who needs access to Financial Analytics, do the following to navigate to the user record.

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup.
2. Click the Users drop-down list and select Users.
3. Select a username who needs access to Financial Analytics.
4. Scroll to Permission Set License Assignments and click Edit Assignments.
5. Click the CRM Analytics Growth checkbox.
   Note: If you purchased Plus licenses directly from Salesforce, this checkbox would display as CRM Analytics Plus.
6. Click Save.
7. Repeat this process for each user who needs access to Financial Analytics.

Assign Permissions to Users

Assign the following permission sets for the System Administrator:

• CRM Analytics Growth Admin
• AS Full Admin

Assign the following permission sets for the Analytics Cloud Integration User

• Financial Suite Analytics
  Note: The Analytics Cloud Integration User also needs to be assigned an Accounting Seed license. You can assign this user a license from Manage Licenses (next to Accounting Seed Financial Suite).

Assign the following permission sets for other system users

• CRM Analytics Growth Admin
• Financial Suite Analytics
• The appropriate Accounting Seed permission sets, such as: AS Full Admin, AS View Only, etc.

Create the Financial Analytics App

Use the steps below to access the Analytics Studio and create the Financial Analytics app.

1. Click the App Launcher to access the Analytics Studio.
   
   
   
   The Analytics Studio opens in a new tab.
   
   
2. From the Analytics Studio, click Create, which displays in the upper right portion of the screen. Then, click App.
   
   
   
   
3. From the Create a New App screen, enter Accounting Seed in the Search textbox. The Accounting Seed Financial Analytics template will display.
   
   
   
   
4. Select it and click Continue.
   
   
   
   The Accounting Seed Financial Analytics Details screen displays with overview information in the left panel, which includes features and objects that are used in this app.
   
   
   
   The right panel provides a brief description for the types of Financial Analytics that are includes within this app.
   
   1. Profit & Loss – Monitor real-time business comparisons across multiple dimensions with a visual representation of Profit & Loss, which includes key performance indicators and period-by-period comparison.
   2. Revenue – Drill into revenue across multiple facets of your business to analyze trends and better understand what is driving revenue.
   3. Expenses – Track spending, monitor cash outflow, and identify cost-saving opportunities, in addition to viewing how expenses are trending over time.
   4. Balance Sheet – see a complete picture of the financial position of your business including cash flow trends and key metrics for your Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable balances.
   5. Ledger Inquiry – Query your General Ledger Account balances across an unlimited number of dimensions, and easily drill back to source transactions in Accounting Seed for specific details.
      
      
5. Click Continue.  
6. Enter a name for your app in the textbox.
   
   Note: This can be any name that you choose. The name entered here will display as the title when you click Browse | Apps to view the list of available apps.
   
   
   
   
7. Click Create. This process may take a few minutes. When it completes, the newly created app will display in the list of available Apps.
8. From the Analytics Studio, click Browse | Apps. The new app displays under the Title column.
   
   The app name in the sample screen below is Accounting Seed Financial Analytics.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

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Run Dataflows and Recipes

The Dataflows & Recipes are used to push data from Accounting Seed into the CRM Analytics. Dataflows are used when the data being pushed will include data that will be combined from more than one source. Recipes are used when you need to perform modifications on a single dataset. To view a Salesforce video about the differences between Dataflows & Recipes, from the Analytics Studio, click Data Manager | Dataflows & Recipes. Then, click the Help me choose arrow to display the video.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

As a part of the initial creation process of the Financial Analytics app, the Dataflows & Recipes will automatically run to push the data from Accounting Seed into the CRM Analytics. As you create new records, the Recipes will need to be run on demand or scheduled to run automatically in order for the updated data to be reflected in the Financial Dashboards.

Best Practice: Since the Dataflows and Recipes have to be run in a specific order, we recommend that you first run the SFDC_LOCAL sync, and then run the Dataflows and Recipes as “Event-based,” which will minimize the required manual steps.

Dataflows and Recipes have to be run in a very specific order. The steps below provide the order for a scenario where the Dataflows and Recipes did not run, and you need to manually run everything in order to push the data from Accounting Seed into the CRM Analytics.

Note: After creating the AS Financial Analytics app, if you click through your Dashboards and data is not being presented, this could be an indication that the data was not automatically pushed from Accounting Seed, and you will need to manually run the Dataflows and Recipes.

1. From the Analytics Studio, in the left panel, click Data Manager.
2. Click Manage Dataflows.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
3. If you clicked through the Dashboards and data is not being presented, click Monitor to check the Status (Successful or Failed) on the jobs.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
4. Click Connect to begin the process to manually run the jobs to push the data from Accounting Seed into the CRM Analytics.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   

5. The first job that needs to run is the SFDC_LOCAL. After clicking Connect, click the drop-down list that displays to the right of SFDC_LOCAL, and select Run Now.
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

   After the SFDC_LOCAL sync is complete, to begin pushing the data from Accounting Seed, run a Full Sync of the AcctSeed_Transaction_Archive__b object.

   Note: Since the Full Sync runs automatically as a part of the AS Financial Analytics creation process, typically you will not need to run this again unless you have archived transactions since the last time it was run.

6. Click the right-arrow drop-down list on the AcctSeed_Transaction_Archive_b object and select Run Data Sync.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
7. Click Run Full Sync.
   
   
   
   
8. From the Data Manager, click Monitor to check the Status. When the Status on the Sync AcctSeed_Transaction_Archive_b job displays as Successful, continue with the next step to proceed in the exact order for running each process.
9. From the Data Manager, click Dataflows & Recipes. Then, click the DATAFLOWS tab.
10. Click the right-arrow drop-down list on the TransactionArchiveExtraction Dataflow, and select Run Now.
    
    Note: Once the Run Now button is clicked, this will automatically start running the job.
    
    Note: The name that you gave your app will display as a prefix on the related Dataflow. 
    
    
    Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
    
    
11. Click Monitor to check the Status. When the Status on the Run TransactionArchiveExtraction job displays as Successful, continue with the next step.
    
    Note: The next part of the process is to run the Recipes. 
    
    
12. From the Data Manager, click Dataflows & Recipes. Then select the Recipes tab. Select one of the Recipes below, and click the right-arrow drop-down list to select Run Now. Then, select each of the remaining Recipes, and click Run Now. While the first Recipe is running, the others will be queued to run as each completes.
    
    Note The name that you gave your app will display as a prefix on the related Recipes.
    
    
    1. FinancialTransactionArchiveData
    2. FinancialTransactionData
    3. CreditMemoData
    4. CurrentYearEarningsData
    5. RetainedEarningsData
    6.  Main

Best Practice: If you have not archived transactions since the last time these Recipes were run, you will not need to run the FinancialTransactionArchiveData Recipe. However, as a best practice, all other Recipes that are identified above should be run after creating new records. 

Once all Dataflows and Recipes have been run successfully, the Dashboards can be viewed. Dashboards and more can be accessed from the Analytics Studio homepage. From Dataflows & Recipes, to return to the Analytics Studio homepage, click the Gear icon, and select Analytics Studio.

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Schedule Recipes to Run Automatically

Upon creation of the Financial Analytics app, the Full Sync, Dataflows & Recipes mentioned above will automatically run. Then, as new records are created in Accounting Seed (and new related Salesforce records are created), before the data can be viewed on the Dashboards, the Dataflows & Recipes will need to be run. They can be run on demand or scheduled to run automatically

Best Practice: Since the Dataflows and Recipes have to be run in a specific order, we recommend that you first run the SFDC_LOCAL sync, and then run the Dataflows and Recipes as “Event-based,” which will minimize the required manual steps.

1. To Schedule a Dataflow or Recipe, select Recipe tab or Dataflow tab. Then, click the right-arrow drop-down list on the Dataflow or Recipe, and click Schedule.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   In the sample screen below the “CreditMemoData” Recipe was scheduled to run after the “FinancialTransactionData” Recipe.
   
   Note: The Schedule Mode selection should be Event-based. The Salesforce local connection syncs and the selected recipes or dataflows runs should be the selection from the Run After radio buttons.
   
   
   
   
2. After selecting the checkbox for the Recipe to run After Events, click Save.

Best Practice: As mentioned above, we recommend that you schedule the Dataflows and Recipes to run as “Event-based,” which will minimize the manual steps that are required to run Dataflows and Recipes.

Note: Even though you’ll have the Dataflows and Recipes scheduled, at any time (such as month-end), you can click the right-arrow drop-down list on a Dataflow or Recipe to select Run Now (on demand).

After the creation of the Financial Analytics app, and the data syncs, Dataflows & Recipes mentioned earlier in this article have all completed successfully, to continue updating transactions from Accounting Seed on an ongoing basis, do one of the following based upon:

• Transactions have not been archived
• Transactions have been archived

Transactions have not been archived

• Do not run the AcctSeed_Transaction_Archive_b Full Sync
• Do not run the TransactionArchiveExtraction Dataflow
• Do not run the FinancialTransactionArchiveData Recipe 

Per the Best Practice recommendation, schedule the following:

• SFDC_LOCAL – select Time-based as the Schedule Mode, and then select the frequency options, as desired.
  
  
  

• FinancialTransactionData – select Event-based as the Schedule Mode. Then, in the Run After section, select The Salesforce local connection syncs radio button.  
  
  
  

• Schedule the following Recipes as Event-based:
• CreditMemoData - run after FinancialTransactionData 
• CurrentYearEarningsData – run after CreditMemoData
• RetainedEarningsData – run after CurrentYearEarningsData
• Main - run after RetainedEarningsData

Transactions have been archived

• From the Data Manager, click Connect. First run the SFDC_LOCAL sync. Then, run a full sync on the AcctSeed_Transaction_Archive_b object.
  
  Note: The AcctSeed_Transaction_Archive_b object cannot be scheduled.
  
  Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen.
  
  Note: If you have archived additional transactions, select Run Full Sync (not the Run Incremental Sync).

• • • Schedule the TransactionArchiveExtraction Dataflow – select Time-based as the Schedule Mode. Then select the frequency options, as desired.
    • Schedule the following Recipes to run as Event-based:
      
      • • • FinancialTransactionArchiveData - run after TransactionArchiveExtraction
          • FinancialTransactionData - run after FinancialTransactionArchiveData 
          • CreditMemoData - run after FinancialTransactionData 
          • CurrentYearEarningsData – run after CreditMemoData
          • RetainedEarningsData – run after CurrentYearEarningsData
          • Main - run after RetainedEarningsData

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Review Source Data Caching

If you experience an issue where, after creating records in Accounting Seed and then running the Recipes, you are still not seeing the new records reflected on the Dashboards, it might be due to data caching. One option to resolve this issue would be to disable the Recipe source data caching using the steps below.

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup.
2. Select Feature Settings | Analytics | Settings.
3. Select the Disable recipe source data caching checkbox.
   
   
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4. Click Save.

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Add a Company Logo

Your company logo can be added to display on Dashboards. Follow the steps below to replace the Accounting Seed logo with your company’s logo on the Financial Analytics Dashboards.

1. From the Analytics Studio, click Browse and select Components.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
2. Click the right-arrow drop-down list on the Main Dashboard Logo and select Edit.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   The dialog box below displays. The “heads-up” message informs you that this change will be applied to all five of the Dashboards. Therefore, changing the logo once will apply it on all five Dashboards. You do not have to change it for each individual Dashboard.
   
   
   
   
3. Select Edit Original.
4. If the Accounting Seed image displays, click it. Then click X to delete it. Otherwise, continue with the next step to upload your company’s logo.
   
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
5. Click Upload Image.
6. Drag and drop your image here or click Browse Files to navigate to the location of your image.
   
   
   
   
7. Click Select.
8. Click Save. The saved image will display on all five Dashboards.

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Winter '24 Release

Release Notes and Schedule

This article was new with the Winter '24 Release.