Defining the Match Process by Creating Rules

After defining data sources, the next step is to define the rules used for matching transactions. Match rules determine how matches are made. You can create a match process with auto match rules and also manual match rules.

As a best practice, start rule definition with the most precise rules first, those likely to create the highest number of quality matches, and then work down to the rules that may be less certain in their results.

Note:

The maximum number of match processes within a match type is 20.

Supported rule types are:

• 1 to 1
• 1 to Many
• Many to 1
• Many to Many
• Adjustment

Note:

If you want to perform manual matching only, you can create a match process without any auto match rules.

The possible match status for rules, other than Adjustment, are:

• Suggested

• Confirmed

• Suggested (No Ambiguous)

  To add a rule with suggested matches that does not allow ambiguous results ( multiple transactions that satisfy the rule conditions).

• Confirmed (No Ambiguous)

  To add a rule with confirmed matches that does not allow ambiguous results (multiple transactions that satisfy the rule conditions).

• Suggested Ambiguous*

• Confirmed Ambiguous*

*For 1 to 1 Auto match rules, the match status Suggested Ambiguous and Confirmed Ambiguous can be used when there are a large number of ambiguous matches. These options ensure that all potential matches are found when auto match is run. However, they may impact matching performance.

Note:

If the rule type is Adjustment, you only have Suggested or Confirmed.

Rules are set as default to "active" when they are created.

You can use the Match Type Rule Configuration report to view the configuration settings for all match rules in a particular match type or for all match rules in the system. See Working with Predefined Reports in Transaction Matching in Administering Oracle Account Reconciliation .

Defining the Match Process - Specifying Properties

To specify the properties for a new match process:

1. From Home, select Application, then Match Types.
2. On the Match Types tab, select the Match Type you are working with. The Edit Match Type tab displays.
3. Select the Match Process tab, and the Properties tab displays.
4. Enter an ID for the match process and Name.
5. Select the Number of Data Sources.
6. Select the Source System data sources and the Sub System data sources.
7. As a default, the Set Adjustment Accounting Date to the Match Date is selected. You can change this setting to Set Adjustment Accounting Date to the Latest Accounting Date in the Match Group.
8. Click Save.
9. The default attribute mapping displays the attributes from your defined data sources and shows the relationship between attributes in Source System and Sub System data sources.

Attribute Mapping

Here's an example for the Bank to GL (General Ledger) to see what it looks like to fill in the properties for the match process and see the default attribute mapping. The Default Attribute Mapping automatically displays the Balancing Attribute already defined in your data source.

Use the + (Plus sign) under Default Attribute Mapping to add a new attribute mapping. You can use the New Attribute Map dialog to map the Source System attributes to the Sub System attributes and declare tolerance limits.

For more details on how tolerances work, see Understanding the Transaction Matching Engine.

Defining the Match Process - Understanding Rules and Rule Conditions

Setting rule conditions determines which attributes must be matched together, and whether they must exactly match, or whether a tolerance is allowed. The Rule Conditions makes it easier to define matching rules in multiple source match processes by defining the default relationship between attributes in Source System and Sub System.

Note:

Each match process can have a maximum of 500 rules. This includes Auto Match and Manual Match rules.

The ID and Name identify the match process in various places, so that you know which set of matching rules were used to produce a given set of matches. The ID must always be unique within the match type. The number of data sources determines how many data sources are included in the specific match process.

For example, if three data sources are defined, and Match Process 1 uses two sources and Match Process 2 uses one, then you select the name of the data sources to assign to Source System and Sub System. Then you select the format and the list of available formats is dependent on the number of data sources assigned to the match process.

For example, if you expect to configure multiple match rules requiring a match on Source System "Amount" and Sub System "Transaction Amt", then you can define this relationship once in this table, and every time you configure a match rule referencing Source System "Amount", it will default Sub System "Transaction Amt" as the attribute to matched. You can override this during rule configuration.

The Balancing attribute is the attribute used to generate the reconciliation balancing report. For example, if you are reconciling Intercompany, it would be the Amount value.

Rules are processed in the order in which they appear in the table. You can re-order the rules using drag and drop.

The list of rule types is dependent on the format. For example,

• Balance Comparison with Matching corresponds to a two source match and can be: 1 to 1, 1 to Many, Many to 1, and Many to Many.

  1 to 1 means 1 transaction from Source System will be matched to 1 transaction from Sub System.

  1 to Many means 1 transaction from Source System will be matched to all transactions from Sub System that meet the rule conditions.

• Account Analysis corresponds to a one source match and can be: 1 to 1, 1 to Many, Many to 1, and Many to Many.

  1 + to 1- means 1 positive transaction will be matched to 1 negative transaction.

  1+ to Many – means 1 positive transaction will be matched with all negative transactions that meet the rule conditions.

To create a rule:

1. Assign a unique ID, and then a Name to the rule. A description is optional.

   Note:

   The ID field may contain up to 25 alphanumeric characters and cannot include any special characters except a period (.), dash (-), or underscore (_).The Name field may contain up to 50 alphanumeric characters and cannot include any special characters except a period (.), dash (-), or underscore (_).
2. Specify the rule type. This determines the number of transactions selected on each side of the match. In the example, one transaction will be selected from our Intercompany Accounts Payable and matched to one transaction from our Intercompany Accounts Receivable.

3. Specify the conditions that must be met in order for the rule to be satisfied. For this rule, we require an exact match on Invoice, and an exact match on Amount. The matches produced by this rule will have a status of "Confirmed", which means no user action is required once the match has been made.
   
   

   If you no longer need a rule, but there are existing matches that are matched using a rule, it is recommended that you deactivate the rule instead of deleting it. The rule can be deleted after the matches are purged for that rule.

   This next rule example requires an exact match on Invoice, but allows a variance of up to $100 on Amount. Matches produced by this rule will include an Adjustment for the $100 difference. We’ve configured this rule to create "Suggested" matches, which enables a user with the appropriate level of security privileges to review the matches and the associated Adjustments and to determine whether to accept or reject the match.
   
   

   Note:

   For 1 to Many and Many to 1 rule types, you must define one rule condition which can be Match Exactly or with tolerance in addition to the Balancing attribute condition. For Many to Many rule types, you must define a Match Exactly condition.

Example of Auto Match Rules

Auto Match rules are used by the auto match process. You define the rules or conditions that must be met in order for a match to be made. This is an example of the Rules tab filled out for an auto match process for the Intercompany Type. The Active column shows which rules will run during Auto Match. An X indicates that a rule will not run and is inactive. Rules can be set to inactive using the Edit Rule dialog.

Setting Tolerance Levels

There are three ways to set tolerance levels to allow matching of transactions that have variances. You can set:

• a tolerance variance value that is applied to the transactions. For example, auto match with a variance between -1 and +3.
• a tolerance threshold level expressed as a percentage.. For example, auto match with up to 0.5% of the value of the amount.
• a tolerance threshold level expressed as a percentage along with a variance amount. For example, auto match with up to 1.0% of the value of the amount up to a maximum amount of 100.00.

  Note:

  The percentage value can not be more than 100 for both high and low tolerance. You can use a tolerance level as a percentage for Number and Integer type data source attributes only. The option to express as a percent will not display for other types such as Date.

Tolerance Percentage Checkbox When setting tolerance limits, there is a Use percentage tolerance check box that allows you to express the tolerance level as a percent and you can also then set a maximum variance value.

Example 1. Auto Reconciliation Rule - Tolerance Limits

For Adjustment rule types, the Adjustment Limit is unlimited if the From and To values are blank.

Example 2. Manual Match Rule - Preparer Tolerance Limits

Setting Date Tolerance in 1 to 1 and 1 to Many Rules

The date tolerance is the number of days to consider for matching of transactions between two data sources. Transaction Matching considers date tolerance in the most common way of matching transactions, treating the Source (in the GL for example), as available "before" the Bank deposits or Sub System transactions. The engine anchors on the Source and calculates the range of date values to consider for matching forward from there based on the tolerance values entered in the rule.

The Date tolerance option is available for Date type data source attributes and can be set for:

• Auto match rules
• Manual match rule
• Default attribute mapping

Date tolerance is very flexible and you can use it to specify matching using a:

• Range of days

  Use the date tolerance in rules to establish a range of days to consider for the matching. In rule creation, these fields are labelled Start and End to indicate the range. The engine provides a lot of flexibility for working with the date tolerance range. Let's say you want to consider transactions for matching between today and one day later. That would be Start and End date of 0 to 1. Another example is to start matching transactions two days from the Source transactions and ending 4 days out. You can also consider one day back (start as -1) to 1 day forward by entering a Start as -1 and End value of +1.

• Specific Date

  Additional precision for the date tolerance is offered by being able to match transactions from one source to transactions in the Sub System on another specific day instead of a range of days. This is accomplished by using the date tolerance values in the Start and End fields as the same value. For example, let's say that you only want to match your Source transactions with the Bank transactions 2 days out. You can enter 2 in the Start field and 2 in the End field to only consider exactly that day for matching.

• Business Calendar instead of a regular calendar in order to eliminate holidays and weekends for consideration in matching.

  By default, Account Reconciliation uses a regular calendar to specify the dates in a date range. You also have the option of using a business calendar when calculating date range in order to eliminate counting days that are work holidays for a company or weekends in calculation of the range for matching. The Use Business Calendar check box is available as an option when creating Date Type attribute rule conditions with tolerance and also for match process default attribute mapping. The business calendar option is available for all rules except Many to Many and is not available for manual matching.

  To use a business calendar, you must specify the work days for your organizational unit as well as a holiday rule containing the list of holidays for that organizational unit. The organizational units are assigned to profiles and the associated business calendar is then used during creation of reconciliations. See Defining Organizational Units in the Setting Up and Configuring Account Reconciliation guide.

Note:

For a particular business date, the system calculates the offset business date. Business day is the unique date from the anchor data source. If business calendar is used, then for each unique date the system figures out the calculated offset date for sub system. In the case of 1 to 1 and 1 to Many (source system anchor) and Many to 1 (Sub system anchor), the anchor date is a single unique date and the system calculates the offset date applying the business calendar on that unique date. Many to Many matching may have multiple dates within the group (source system anchor) and that means there is no unique date to calculate offset date.

Here are some examples showing the use of date tolerance and business calendar:

• Example 1 - Showing Date Type rule condition with Use Business Calendar option. This rule specifies the Start is 3 days from the Source System transactions and has an End date for the range at four days out.
  
  
• Example 2 - Shows date tolerance limits in Attribute Mapping and use of business calendar option. This rule specifies the Start is 0 days from the Source System transactions and has an End date for the range at two days out.

  To enter date tolerance and choose to use the business calendar:

  1. From Edit Match Type, select the Properties tab.

  2. Click + (New) in Default Attribute Mapping and the New Attribute Map dialog displays.

     1. In Default Tolerance Limit, enter the date tolerance limits in Start and End.

     2. Optionally, choose the Use Business Calendar check box to use a business calendar instead of a regular calendar.
  
  
  
• Example 3 - Shows how a business calendar matches the dates over Thanksgiving and the holiday weekend.

  This example is for a rule that specified a Start of three days and End of four days but is over a Thanksgiving holiday and the following weekend. Using the business calendar for that organization, the system automatically does not match on dates over Thanksgiving holiday and the weekend following. While the match spans an eight day period from November 25th to December 3rd, the system has properly eliminated the non-work days of November 26 through 29th.
  
  

Deactivating a Rule

If you do not want a particular rule to run during Auto Match, you can change the default "active" status for the rule to inactive by deselecting the Active check box on the Edit Rule dialog. Note that all new rules are automatically set to Active.

If there are existing matches that were matched using a match rule is no longer required, you can first deactivate this rule. After the matches are purged, the match rule can be deleted.

Changing Batch Size and Number of Matching Iterations for Auto Match Rules

Transaction Matching allows you to change the default values for the number of iterations during the match process for Auto Match rules. See Changing Defaults for Maximum Iterations for Auto Match Rules.