Salesforce Basics – What is Advanced Currency Management in Salesforce?

If you have been using multiple currencies in your Salesforce org you may have been wondering about how to keep the ever-changing exchange rates up to date. Have you? That’s why you are here. In the previous tutorial we’ve talked about how to activate and set up multiple currencies, and how to update the corresponding exchange rates. As promised, in this tutorial we’ll talk about how to manage dated exchanged rates with the help of Advanced Currency Management.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Why You Need Advanced Currency Management

If we went back to the previous tutorial where we updated the exchange rate for an existing currency, what do you think would happen to existing Salesforce records? Exactly, they would get overwritten.

This may actually be acceptable. How come? Let’s look at Opportunity records, since this topic is most relevant to sales data (and for another reason I’ll explain later). As long as an Opportunity record is still open, it may not matter too much if the proposed sales price is still being evaluated. However, as soon as an Opportunity is successfully closed, you may not want the sales amount to change anymore. Because…changes to the final sales price will not only impact revenue tracking but also financial reporting.

Manage Dated Exchange Rates

In order to avoid closed Opportunities being overwritten, you’ll use Advanced Currency Management to manage exchange rates based on date ranges. It’s therefore referred to as ‘Dated Exchange Rates’.

How does this work? First, you’ll need to enable the Advanced Currency Management (ACM) feature. Once ACM is available, you can add multiple exchange rates to each currency you’ve set up. This means, for any given period of time, you’ll determine a specific exchange rate.

The amount on the record will then use the exchange rate of the period the Close Date falls into. Your periods can be days, weeks, fortnights, months, whatever is relevant for your organization.

Let’s look at monthly exchange rates as an example. In September we specify the exchange rate to be 0.6, in October to be 0.8 and in November to be 0.73. Each starting on the first of the month. Since our Opportunity record is closed in September, it will use 0.6 for the conversion accordingly.

Let’s see this in action. We’ll turn on ACM and find out where you need to go to add multiple exchange rates to every single currency in your Salesforce org.

You can follow along from your own Trailhead Playground or Developer Org. Simply click the gear icon ⚙️ in the upper right corner to jump into the Setup.

VIDEO TUTORIAL WALK-THROUGH SCRIPT

  1. In the Setup go down to the Company Settings and select Manage Currencies. 
  2. At the top you will find two options you can enable. The first one is the Advanced Currency Management and the second is the Parenthetical Currency Conversion. This is already enabled and displays the user’s currency in brackets in case it’s different to the currency on the record. You can turn this off if required.
  3. You will now enable the first option, the Advanced Currency Management. 
  4. In the pop-up window tick the Yes checkbox to confirm and then click Enable. 
  5. A new window may open with the updated page which will now look different. 
  6. You will now see a new button at the bottom, Manage Dated Exchange Rates. 
  7. Click on this and then click Continue. 
  8. This will list all the currencies you have in use and displays the exchange rate for each based on the period that is selected on the top right. 
  9. To add a new exchange rate for a specific period, you simply click New Exchange Rates. 
  10. Select the starting day and type in the relevant exchange rate, I’ll do 1.3. In case you have more than one currency set up, feel free to add a new exchange rate for your other currencies as well.
  11. And then click Save. 
  12. Let’s go to the calendar on the top right and select the date next week. Now you can see the exchange rates for that day and after. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see the exchange rates for different periods side by side. So use the calendar to view them.

Advanced Currency Management Considerations

  • Dated Exchange Rates can only be used on Opportunity records and related Opportunity records such as Opportunity Products (Line Items), Opportunity Product Schedules, Campaign Opportunity fields, and Opportunity Splits.
  • Dated Exchange Rates are not applied in Forecasting or other types of records containing currency fields.

These are the two most important you need to be familiar with. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the full list of considerations.

Can you automate Dated Exchange Rates?

Very good question! The answer is Yes you can. BUT!!! Depending on the type of business of your organization, having exchange rates updated automatically can have a not-so-desired impact on critical sales data and reporting.

While exchange rate automation is not available out-of-the-box, there are quite a few partner apps available on the AppExchange. 

Let me know in the comments if you have been working with exchange rates in Salesforce. Do you add them manually or do you use an app? I’d love to know!

WHAT ELSE…

This video tutorial is part of our Complete Salesforce Certification Courses. They cover everything from Salesforce Basics to advanced Salesforce features and functionalities every Salesforce professional should know about.

We provide you with different types of study materials, so you can choose what works best for you. This includes well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams.

And if you are brand new to the world of Salesforce, I’d recommend to sign up to our FREE 21-Day Salesforce Beginners Challenge.

One thought on “Salesforce Basics – What is Advanced Currency Management in Salesforce?”

  1. Pingback: Salesforce Basics – Add New Currencies & Exchange Rates – WeLearnSalesforce

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