Period management

Period management

Period Management is the functionality used by an administrator to extract output files for your finance system. It is also the function that allows for approval rules and transaction defaults to be reapplied/refreshed by the system against transactions in each period.

To access this functionality, select Administration > Period Management > Statement Periods from the main menu. In the Statement Periods screen, you can generate extract files from Spend Dynamics for uploading into your organization's finance system.

Extract files you create depend on your organization's setup and account types, e.g., card (from one or more issuers), cash expenses, phone or requisitions. Spend Dynamics supports the following extract types:

• Final (and optional) Accrual. After a statement period has ended, it is manually closed and a final extract (also known as a period extract) is run to permanently extract all transactions (regardless of their coding and approval status) from the system.
• Drip Feed. A drip feed extract is used to extract all fully coded, approved transactions many times during a period, preferably until nothing is left to extract. If incomplete transactions do exist, the drip feed flush extract option can be used to clear (and close) the period. An accrual drip feed extract can be run before the standard drip feed extract to temporarily load financial commitments into your finance system for analysis.
• Provisional and Finalized. Provisional extracts retrieve all expenses within the statement period without marking them as extracted. They can be run at any time during the statement period, including after the statement period has closed and after the expenses have been extracted using the Finalized extract.
  Finalized Extracts retrieve all expenses in the statement period and mark them as extracted. They cannot be extracted again.
  The Provisional and Finalized extracts can be used together but cannot be used in conjunction with other extract types for a particular card program. For example, a card program cannot be set up to use both a Drip Feed and a Provisional extract.

Typically, organizations aim to complete transaction coding and approvals during the monthly cycle so that period closure and posting against their financial system is aligned with the necessary settlement payment to the card provider.

Note: Extract files may be encrypted using PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) technology. This requires some customer configuration. For more information, contact the Spend Dynamics helpdesk: ebsclientservices@bmo.com.