Workflows

Confirmation and Certification

Confirmation and Certification are the final stages of the workflow lifecycle. Confirmation Rules validate data quality before sign-off — checking that balances tie, required accounts have values, and business logic constraints are met. Certification is the formal sign-off that locks data and records who approved it and when. Together, they ensure that only validated, reviewed data is finalized.

Confirm → Certify Pipeline

diagramConfirmation and Certification Pipeline

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The Confirm step runs Confirmation Rules. If all rules pass (return True), the user can proceed to Certify. If any rule returns False, the Certify button is blocked until the issues are resolved.

Confirmation Rules

Confirmation Rules are Business Rules (Event Handler type) that execute when the user clicks Confirm. Each rule evaluates data for the current entity/scenario/time and returns a Boolean result:
  • Return True — The check passes. The display value and any informational message still appear in the confirmation results grid for review.
  • Return False — The check fails, blocking certification. The user must fix the issue and re-confirm before they can proceed to Certify.
Rules execute per entity — each entity in the workflow is confirmed independently. Configure multiple Confirmation Rules to enforce separate checks, each with its own display value and message.

Writing a Confirmation Rule

A Confirmation Rule reads key data points, sets a display value for the results grid, and returns True (pass) or False (fail). Use args.ConfirmationRuleArgs.DisplayValue to show a value and args.ConfirmationRuleArgs.Info1 to provide a message.
1' Confirmation Rule: Check that Revenue is not zero
2Dim revenue As Decimal = api.Data.GetDataCell( _
3  si, "A#Revenue:F#EndBal").CellAmount
4
5' Set the display value shown in the confirmation results grid
6args.ConfirmationRuleArgs.DisplayValue = revenue.ToString("N2")
7
8If revenue = 0 Then
9  args.ConfirmationRuleArgs.Info1 = _
10      "Revenue is zero. Please load or enter revenue data before certifying."
11  Return False
12End If
13
14Return True

Certification

Certification is the formal sign-off step that records who approved the data and when. Key characteristics:
  • Requires the user to be in the CertificationSignOffGroup for the workflow profile
  • Once certified, the workflow unit becomes read-only — no data changes are allowed
  • Certification can include a questionnaire — a set of questions the certifier must answer before signing off (e.g., "Have all intercompany transactions been eliminated?", "Have all adjustments been reviewed?")
  • Questionnaire responses are stored and fully auditable
ℹ️Info
Certification is reversible — an administrator can uncertify a workflow unit to reopen it. However, the uncertification is logged in the audit trail, and the original certification record is preserved.

Programmatic Certification

The autoCertify parameter in batch processing APIs (like ExecuteFileHarvestBatchParallel) can automatically certify after a successful load. This is useful for automated data pipelines where manual sign-off is not required — for example, loading actuals from a trusted source system.
1' Auto-certify after batch load
2BRApi.Utilities.ExecuteFileHarvestBatchParallel(si, _
3  scenarioName, timeName, _
4  validateTransformation:=True, _
5  validateIntersections:=True, _
6  loadCube:=True, _
7  processCube:=True, _
8  confirm:=True, _
9  autoCertify:=True, _
10  parallelBatchCount:=4)
⚠️Warning
Use autoCertify with caution. Automated certification skips the manual review step. Only enable it for data sources with robust upstream validation where human review is not required.

Best Practices

  • Keep Confirmation Rules fast — They run per entity and users wait for the result. Avoid expensive queries or cross-entity lookups in confirmation logic.
  • Use separate rules for separate checks — Each Confirmation Rule returns a single True/False result. Configure multiple rules so each check has its own display value and message in the results grid.
  • Test with representative data — Confirmation Rules can behave differently with real production data volumes. Test with realistic datasets.
  • Document questionnaire questions — Certification questionnaires should ask clear, actionable questions that the certifier can meaningfully answer.

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