Chained reconciliation

Chained reconciliation is one of the most typical reconciliations and aims to perform 1-to-1 reconciliations in steps.

What is a chained reconciliation for?

The logic behind it is the need to join or reconcile two sources in order to build the necessary keys to perform a subsequent reconciliation.

This is how chained reconciliation joins two sources, and the result of this reconciliation generates a completely new source that is used as one of the parties in the second 1-to-1 reconciliation.

How to create a chained reconciliation

To explain how this type of reconciliation works, we are going to use the following example using 3 sources:

1. Gateway, a report that is made up of all transactions processed by debit card and credit card.

2. Debit card

3. Credit card both correspond to reports from each provider (ex: bank) that contain all the transactions that were processed with each means of payment, respectively.

Step 1 - Create a reconciliation

The first step to create a concatenated reconciliation in Simetrik is to create a reconciliation of two sources, which can be created from scratch or selected from previously created sources. For the example we are going to call these first two sources: Gateway and Debit card.

Note: It is important that before setting up the crossover, the Prepare Columns step is completed.

Step 2 - Set crossover keys

Create the crossover keys with which you want to reconcile the source records and press Next.

Step 3 - Check the results board

Once you have configured the crossing, the system will automatically generate a dashboard on which you can view the general and detailed result of the reconciliation of all the transactions that were reconciled and those that were not between the Gateway and the debit card source.

For the example, in number of transactions, the system was able to find 37.58% of the transactions that were in the Gateway source, in the Debit card source. While, in number of transactions, the system was able to find 100% of the transactions that were in the Debit Card source, in the Gateway source, as can be seen in the image.

Once you confirm the configuration, the system will save a table with the result of the reconciliation in the Finished Reconciliations section. This reconciliation contains both reconciled and unreconciled transactions.

Step 4 - Create a new reconciliation

In order to create a chained reconciliation, that is, to cross the remaining or unreconciled transactions of the Gateway vs Debit Card reconciliation with the third source Credit Card, you must create a new reconciliation, but this time, in the Select section existing source, you are going to select the Gateway vs Debit Card reconciliation which will be source A.

Step 5 - Select the reconcilable group

Once the reconciliation has been selected, in the Reconciliable Group section, select the Unreconciled transactions from source A (Unreconciled A), that is, from the Gateway source. Prepare the columns that will be relevant in the visualization and Save changes.

Step 6 - Create a new source

Once the columns are prepared, create or select a source. For the example, we are going to create the source Credit Card as source B.

Prepare the columns of source B and Save changes. Once you complete this process, the Configure Crossover option will be enabled again. Click on it.

Step 7 - Set up new crossover keys

Configure again the crossing keys with which you want to reconcile table A (Gateway vs Debit Card), with table B (Credit Card) and press Next. Column names that come from source A will begin with “A.” For example, the AMOUNT column will be called “A.AMOUNT”.

Step 8 - Create the Source Health Dashboard

To view the global result, that is, see what the consolidated reconciliation percentage was, taking into account all the reconciliations created on a specific source, in this case the Gateway source, you must create a Source Health Dashboard and select the column date type and the value type column, on which you need to see the consolidated result.

The system will generate a dashboard with the consolidated result of all the reconciliations created on the chosen source.

Keep in mind that thanks to our pending items functionality, an item that was previously reconciled in a chained reconciliation link cannot be reconciled again. If you want to be sure that this is not happening in your reconciliation, check the collisions section.

Done! 🎉 you now have a chained reconciliation.