These instructions show how to roll a Gravity ACFR report forward from one year to the next, when the report is using the MDFM data solution.
Create Backup
- Click the 3-dot menu on the Main Folder.
- Click "Create Backup"
- Select the Backup workflow for your report type, then click OK.
Create new Report Dimension
- Click "Settings"
- Click "Dimensions"
- On the left, click Period, then on the right, click "+" to add a new Report Dimension.
- Use the calendar to select the new date, in this case 2026/09/30
- Click "Save"
Create New MDFM Dimension
- Click "DATA"
- Click "Multi-Dimensional Financial Model"
- Under Administration > Dimensions > Global Periods, click the Edit "pencil" icon for the Period dimension.
- Click the "+" icon to add a new dimension. In this example, you can see period 2025 is currently in use since it is not Locked, so we need to create Period 2026.
- Fill in the Name and Code with 2026, and Save changes.
- When prompted to add the new dimension to existing pivots and imports, select "No".
Lock Prior Year Period
- Click the Edit icon on the year 2025.
- The "Locked" checkbox will appear. Click it to lock the 2025 period. This will preserve 2025 data, and prevent accidental tampering of the prior year data.
- Click Save to save changes.
Upload Data for New Year
- Click "DATA"
- Under "Data Integration Services" (DIS) click "Start Integration"
- For the Operation, select your Trial Balance upload.
For the Destination, select Data Store.
Upload the data file(s) from your ERP system, that are required for the operation you selected.
Click "Start" to upload the files.
- Note: If you are uncertain which Operation to choose, or which files to upload, please check the Supporting Documents folder in your Report Tree.
- You can find sample files for your Data Integration Service DIS (formerly called ETL) operations. The sample files are the original files you provided to the Gravity team, that were exported from your ERP system.
You can export updated versions of the sample files from your ERP system and upload them to Gravity via DIS. Please remember to keep the structures of the file names and column headers the same as in the sample files.
Roll the MDFM forward
- Click "DATA"
- Click "Multi-Dimensional Financial Model"
- Under Administration, click "Roll Forward"
- Click to select all ACFR hypercubes.
- Click "Validate"
- Gravity will validate the MDFM for any missing data. You should correct any unmapped accounts before proceeding, otherwise if there are only missing fund dimensions, you can click "Next" to skip the correction and do it later.
- Fill in the "From" and "To" dimension members with 2025 and 2026 in this case.
- Optionally rollover adjustments if desired.
- For any imports that need to show PY data, update from 2024 to 2025 in this case.
- Click "Execute" to roll the MDFM.
Roll the Report Forward
- Click the 3-dot menu on the Main Folder.
- Click "Roll Forward"
- Select the new period, in this example "2026.09.30", and click "Next".
- Click "Next" to skip the Eclipse import option.
- Select the Next Period, in this case 2026.
- Click "Next"
- Click "Next" to skip the Dataset step.
- Click "Finish" to roll the report forward.
Update Periods Template
- From the Report Tree, open the "Periods Template".
- Update cell K4 to show the new year, in this case 2026.
- Click the 3-line menu on the Periods Template tab and click "Submit".
Refresh Cash Flow Dataset
- After you have updated the Period Templates, click on “Data” in the blue ribbon of Gravity and click “Multi-Dimensional Financial Model.”
- Open the Administration folder and click “Data Sets”.
- Click on ACFR.
- Click the refresh button to the right of Cash Flow.
Roll up Cash Flow Hypercubes
- In the MDFM, right click on the Cash Flow hypercube.
- Click “Rollup”.
- Repeat the rollup procedure for the Cash Flow Reconciliation hypercube.
Update Default MDFM Pivots
- The following steps are optional.
When you open any Pivot Table from within the MDFM, there will be a default filter applied. You can update all the default filters to show the new year (in this case 2026), rather than the prior year. If you skip these steps, then your pivots will show 2025 by default when you open them, and in those cases you can just manually adjust the filters to show 2026 on a case-by-case basis.
Click "DATA"
- Click "Multi-Dimensional Financial Model"
- Open each pivot, for example "Import"
- Click the Field Chooser in the top left.
- Update the Period filter, for example from 2025 to 2026, and click OK.
- Right-click anywhere on the pivot table and under "View", click "Save", to update the default filters for this pivot.
Repeat for any other pivots that should show 2026 by default, when you open them from within the MDFM.
Refresh Data
- Right-click the Main Folder, then under the "Data" section, choose "Refresh MDFM imports"
- Click DATA > "Refresh Variables"
Update Design Template
- Open the Report Properties to confirm which design template your report is using.
- Check the template name.
- Click "Settings"
- Click "Templates"
- On the left, select the same template name that you saw in the Report Properties. On the right, select the "Text Variables" section. Update the text variable, in this case to 2026.
- Optionally, on the Master Pages Images tab, you can customize any images on divider pages, cover pages etc.
Have more questions or need assistance?
Submit a Request