Financial Headers (IBCS)
In financial reporting each measure column is one of a few kinds - actual figures, plan, forecast, the previous year, a deviation - and the IBCS (International Business Communication Standards) notation marks them with a small bar under the header. Smart Matrix draws that bar for you: the Financial Header.
📷 Screenshot needed:
financial-headers.png- a header row with the five markers side by side.
The five markers​
| Header | Marker |
|---|---|
| Actual | A solid black bar |
| Plan | Two black bars with a gap between them |
| Forecast | A black frame with a diagonal hatch |
| Previous Year | A solid light grey bar |
| Deviation (absolute or relative) | A black bar on the lower part of the marker area only |
| (none) | A thin black underline - what a measure header without a category gets |
Every marker is the same height (6 px), so the headers of a row line up. When you copy the table to Excel or Word, a marker becomes the closest border of that header (Excel and Word paste a border, not a picture).
How a measure gets its marker​
- By hand - always wins. Set it with Start tab > Number > Financial Headers, or with the column's right-click Change Financial Header. None removes the manual choice again.
- By its name - the visual looks for these abbreviations in the measure's name (upper or lower case). The first one that fits, in the order of the table, decides:
| Header | Abbreviations looked for |
|---|---|
| Actual | ACT, AC, AKT, IST, IST*, AKTUELL, ACTUAL |
| Previous Year | VJ, VORJAHR, PY, LY |
| Plan | PLAN, BUD, BUD., BUDGET, PL, MJP, MEHRJAHRESPLAN |
| Forecast | PROG, PROG., PROGNOSE, FORECAST, FOR, FC, HR, HOCHRECHNUNG, MFC |
| Deviation | ABW, ABW., DEV, DEV., ABS, ABS., +/-, ±, and for relative deviations (%), %, [%], PERC, PERC., PROZ, PROZ., REL, REL. |
The name is searched for the abbreviation anywhere in it, so a short abbreviation can match inside another word. If a measure gets a marker you did not expect, set its header by hand - a manual choice always wins.
Switching it on and off​
View tab > Display > Financial Headers: Display > On / Off. The Finance template switches Financial Headers on when you pick it; Default and Grid switch them off. After picking a template the switch is yours.
When Financial Headers are off, the Change Financial Header entry of the column menu is greyed out with the hint "Activate Financial Headers in the View Tab".
Changing the colors​
View tab > Display > Financial Headers > Settings opens a dialog listing the five headers, each with its marker as drawn in a
header and the color of its line. Click the color to pick another from the usual color menu;
Default goes back to the standard color of that design. OK applies; Cancel, Esc, the cross and a click beside the
dialog close it without a change. The colors are used in the headers and in the small previews in the menus.
In charts​
The charts of the Chart tab use the same idea: Financial > Forecast draws a chart's bars hatched, and a middle line's Financial > Plan draws it as a double line, Previous Year in the Previous Year color.