Dealing with former Single Source Primary Project when switching to Folders in Next Gen
We are evaluating our transition plan to Next Gen documents and filing, and I wanted to see if anyone out there that has already transitioned to Next Gen is using a single-source spreadsheet for both their Q and K filings.
Essentially, when we built our single-source spreadsheet, based on guidance from our CSM and from other users advice in the Community, we created a "Primary Rollforward Project" to house our spreadsheet, our Q Document, our K document, and the various Exhibits, IR materials, AC materials, etc. We roll forward this "Primary Rollforward Project" every quarter and then create a separate project for the specific quarter coming up (ie., for the most recent filing, we had a "Primary Rollforward Project-Q1 2020" and a "Q1 2020 Form 10-Q" project). Since we could put spreadsheets and documents in multiple projects, it was as simple as adding the rolled-forward Q document, spreadsheet, and relevant exhibits/materials to the "Q1 2020 Form 10-Q" project. That way, we could have all our wdesk users navigate and use only the "Q1 2020 Form 10-Q" project to all our wdesk users/preparers/reviewers and nobody would touch the other carried forward documents in the Primary Project.
Now that Projects are going away, I'm wondering how people are dealing with this in Folders. I guess we just skip the step of creating the second Q-specific project, and then have to be REALLY careful to make sure people are opening the right document to make edits, and have to be REALLY careful when we create our Filing that we only add the documents we want to file for that Q? (I'm envisioning people just navigating to a "Q2 2020" Folder and opening the first document they see, and its our rolled-forward 10-K document that we don't touch during the Qs but have to roll forward to maintain links to our spreadsheet.... I'm also envisioning it being a lot harder to Collect documents in the Filing process because I'll have to sort out the actual documents I want to file from the ones that are just carried along for the ride every quarter -- so not accidentally filing a K exhibit in a Q, for example).
Just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this as I'm wrapping my head around all the questions I want to solve before we make any leaps. Thanks in advance!
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I'm in the same boat as we have our set-up the exact same way. I think maybe labeling documents that carry along like your 10-K document, should be labeled "... - DO NOT USE", we label ours as "... - rollforward copy" to keep them organized. Then maybe having sub-folders that could be used like "Q1 2020 10-Q folder" and "Q1 2020 8K folder" and "DO NOT USE folder" might be helpful? You would just need to re-organize the sub-folders each time the primary folder is rolled. Another thing I've been thinking about is the permissions for projects, now folders. I thought that folders could have permissions in next gen, but I haven't tinkered around with that yet. Keep us posted and I'd love to hear about suggestions from those who have already transitioned.
1We don't roll the 10K until year-end. What links are maintained in the roll forward you mention and why is the a preference? Thanks.
0I have limited permissions in documents or SS that I don't want others to edit - make them view only. This will enhance the use of DO NOT USE, which I often use as well.
0I agree with you, Jamie - we'll likely just have to change our organization so that we have a "Filing" folder and a "DO NOT USE" folder to separate out the appropriate documents.
Also - it looks like Folders do not have permissions. Just the files themselves, which is a bummer. Folder permissions would solve the problem so much easier!
Jennifer - we use a single spreadsheet so we can store historical data quarter over quarter, and use formulas to automatically populate our Q's and K's with prior year/prior quarter data simply by changing one cell that has the date in it. It saves an enormous amount of time in rolling forward our document. You can also leverage the same spreadsheet with links to both documents to preserve XBRL tagging and not having to re-do all your work when you have to switch between a Q and a K. So essentially, we carry forward a "DO NOT USE" version of our 10-K every quarter we roll forward for the next 10-Q. Other users may even take this a step further and continuously update their 10-K each quarter with the disclosures, to make the 10-K rollforward even easier (my company does not do that, but it would be easy to do). I strongly suggest you search the Community for other posts from users on single source to get more information. It takes a bit of time to set up initially, but the time savings afterward each quarter are enormous for us. Worth doing a cost-benefit depending on how large and complex your filings are.
0Stephanie, I'm in the same boat. I took the plunge on an 11-K first and I'm test filing it in Next Gen for the first time. I was shocked to see my entire library of files come up for me to select my filing documents. For years, I've been rolling my single source project and creating separate filing projects with only the necessary documents so that I don't accidentally file the wrong thing. This is gonna be an interesting transition.
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