Process Overview

Administrators use Close Manager to manage tasks needed for closings. Closings require these steps:

1. The administrator sets up users. See Setting Up Users.

2. The administrator completes the required setup procedures:

   • Set up currencies. See Currencies.

   • Set up organizational units. See Managing Organizational Units for Close Manager.

   • Set up global integration tokens. See .Managing Global Integration Tokens.

   • Set up holiday rules. See Managing Holiday Rules for Close Manager.

   • Set up attachment size. See Maximum Task Attachment Size.

   • Enable email notifications. See Enabling Email Notifications.

3. The administrator reviews the tasks required for a close process and sets up Task Types to ensure consistency across tasks and to leverage predefined product integrations.

   See Creating Task Types.

4. Because many tasks are repeatable over close periods, the administrator saves a set of tasks as a template to use for future periods. See Creating Templates.

   For example, an administrator can set up a monthly or quarterly close once and then use it for all months or quarters. Tasks are defined with task predecessors, Assignees, and Approvers.

5. To initiate the close process for a period, administrators generate a schedule (a chronological set of tasks) by selecting a template and assigning calendar dates. The generic tasks in the template are applied to calendar dates. See Creating Schedules from Templates.

6. To begin the close process, the administrator changes the schedule status from Pending to Open. See Setting Schedule Status.

7. The administrator can also modify the schedule if needed and monitor it throughout the close cycle. See Updating Tasks in Schedules.

8. During the close process, users receive email notifications of assigned tasks and can click links in the email for direct access to assigned tasks.

9. Alternatively, users can log on to review and access assigned tasks in different types of views, for example, the Dashboard, a portal-style interface; or Calendar, Gantt, or Task List views.

10. When users complete tasks, the tasks are sent to approvers and can be viewed by other users.

11. Users can create alerts for issues, such as hardware or software issues, that they encounter during the close process. Alerts are forwarded to Assignees and Approvers for resolution.

12. Users can define and generate a Report Binder for a close cycle, which contains a description of the task details that were executed as part of the process. Report Binders enable administrators and others to review and adjust activities for future periods, and are also useful for audit purposes. See Using Report Binders in Close Manager.