Global drivers

Rate based allocations require the use of data values known as global drivers. These values are called global because they are usually entered at a consolidation level and then used to allocate to nodes at a lower level. The line [Tax Rate], from the rate-based example above, is an example of a global driver.

A schedule line that is to be used as a global driver should have the following attributes:

• Account Type set to Balance Sheets, Assets or Balance Sheets, Liabilities & Equities (so the global drivers will not be summed across periods when doing year-to-date calculations)
• Consolidate set to N (so the consolidation will not overwrite global drivers that are entered at a consolidation level)
• Formula Type should be set to Data Entry (use data entry to specify the global drivers)

A schedule that contains a global driver line (or any line that is referenced at a non-leaf level) must be consolidated before any schedules that reference it. If the global driver happens to be on the same schedule as the reference to it, running two passes of the consolidation accomplishes this. Otherwise, you must consolidate the global driver schedule first, and then consolidate the schedule that references it.

For example, this formula requests that the value of Average Shares Outstanding comes from the Global Driver Global ASO - Basic.

[Average Shares Outstanding - Basic]=[Global ASO - Basic] of [Unit]:[Global Assumptions Data];