Create Strategic Finance models, also called entities, using templates that are financial model frameworks that contain predefined reporting and modeling standards. Templates enable you to analyze and consolidate business units and to model industry formats and you can password protect templates to prevent modifications. Entities are .alc files and templates are .alt files. See Working With Entities, Databases, and Strategic Finance Servers.
It is best to create your model using the HSF Standard.alt template provided. If you have not defined other templates, this default is used.
The first step in creating models is to use the Time Period Setup Wizard to define your time structures that form the duration of the model. This includes selecting the lowest input level (weeks or months), and determining how to calculate aggregate periods (e.g. quarters, halves and years). See: