SIS Education

Building Financial Models for

Merak Petroleum Financials

September 2007
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 Contents

About building financial models ................................................................................1

High-level financial workflows ...................................................................................1

Assign user access using the Merak Administration Console (MAC) ....................2

Generate consistent project results in Results Broker ............................................5

Creating Results Broker variables .................................................................................................5

Mapping variables to Peep models ................................................................................................6
Creating a result request.................................................................................................................7

Establish a corporate financial structure and appropriate standards ....................8

Manage your models...................................................................................................9

Best practices when creating models: ..........................................................................................9

Create and test financial models..............................................................................10

Model Builder basics .....................................................................................................................10

Defining variables ..........................................................................................................................13
Modeling using properties ......................................................................................................................... 13
Modeling using syntax............................................................................................................................... 13
Using external variables................................................................................................................14
Reusable models ...........................................................................................................................15

Testing the model......................................................................................................17

Viewing variable relationships................................................................................................................... 17
Set up the financial hierarchy...................................................................................19

Enter financial inputs ................................................................................................22

Generate consolidated financial charts and reports ..............................................22

Creating user reports and charts .................................................................................................22

Creating user report or chart templates ......................................................................................24
Linking one or more models to the current template.................................................................25
 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

About building financial models

There are several key workflows in the domain of financial analysis of oil and gas
assets. These workflows are centered around the generation of the three principal
financial statements: Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, and Net Income or
Profit & Loss. These statements are generated using financial models that represent
different levels of financial consolidation in a corporation. Financial input and result
variables are defined and calculated in each financial model. These results can then
be consolidated at different levels in the corporation for the generation and reporting
of financial statements.
The Model Builder is a utility that enables you to create financial models for use in
Merak Petroleum Financials. It allows you to create, test, and save financial models
that can then be used for financial analysis and reporting in Petroleum Financials.
The Model Builder is available with the first commercial release of Merak Petroleum
Financials.

High-level financial workflows

You can use various Merak applications to help you perform the required tasks
within a financial workflow. The list below shows the steps required to complete a
workflow, and the sections on the following pages describe each of these steps in
more detail.
1. Assign user access permissions using the Merak Administration Console
(Administrator)
2. Generate consistent project economic results in Results Broker
3. Establish a corporate financial structure and appropriate standards
4. Manage models
5. Create and test models in "Model Builder" that reflect financial & business rules
6. Set up the financial hierarchy in MPF
7. Enter financial inputs for different hierarchy levels in Merak Petroleum
Financials
8. Generate consolidated financial charts and reports for any hierarchy level in
Merak Petroleum Financials

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Assign user access using the Merak Administration

Console (MAC)
This part of the financial workflow involves using the MAC to create individual users
and groups of users, and granting permissions to those users to launch Petroleum
Financials and any other required Merak applications, and work with the different
types of objects (financial hierarchies, financial incrementals, and batch
incrementals).
These tasks will be described here in general terms. For more details about working
with the MAC, consult Merak Administration Console Help.
1. Open the Merak Administration Console by choosing Start ⇒ Programs ⇒
Merak ⇒ Value and Risk Suite 4.2 ⇒ Merak Administration Console.
2. Working in the Administration Explorer on the left side of the application
window, double-click the User Administration node to open the User
Administration document, which includes four tabs: Users, Groups, Object
Types, and Programs.

In this case, the Administrator is preparing to assign permissions for the result
request object type.
3. Click the Users tab, then click the New button to open the User Details dialog
box. You must create users before anyone can log onto any Merak application
administered by the MAC. Fill in the information required to add a user, then
click Save. Repeat this step to add any other new users.
Tip: If creating many users that share the same database settings, select a user
and click the Copy User button, then use those settings as a base to create each
new user.
4. Click the Groups tab if you want to create groups of users, and apply
permissions to those groups instead of to individual users.
5. Click the New button to create a new group, then select that group and click the
Members button the Group Members dialog box. To add a member to the

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

current group, select the member from the Non-Member list and click the Add
button. Click Save to save the contents of the current group.

In this case, after adding the “Merak” user to the “ResBroUsers” group, the
Administrator can assign permissions to all group members in one step.
6. Click the Object Types tab to assign permissions for individual users or groups
to manipulate different types of objects. If you do not assign permissions for a
particular object type (e.g. Financial Hierarchies), application users will not be
able to manipulate (or even view) that type of object.
7. To assign permission for a particular type of object (e.g. Financial Hierarchies,
Peep cases), select an application from the Application Filter drop-down list to
view all the object types available for that application. Then select an object type,
and click the Permissions button to open the Permissions dialog box.
8. Add a user or group to the Grantees list, then click on that user or group in the
list, and select or clear the check boxes next to the permissions you want to grant
or deny the user or group for that object type.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

In this example, the

Petroleum Financials Users
group has been granted
Create and Read permissions
for the Financial Hierarchy
object type.
Granting Create permission
enables users in this group to
create, read or save their own
hierarchies.
Granting Read permission
enables users in this group to
read hierarchies created by
other users, unless they have
been specifically denied
permission to read a
particular hierarchy.

Tip: You must set permissions for all the Peep, Results Broker and Petroleum
Financials object types.
9. Click the Programs tab to assign permissions for individual users or groups to
access Merak applications.
10. To assign permissions for an application, select it from the Program list, and
then click the Permissions button. Add a user or group to the Grantees list, then
click on that user or group in the list, and select or clear the check boxes next to
the permission you want to grant or deny the user (in this case, granting the
Execute permission allows the selected user to launch the application.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Generate consistent project results in Results Broker

Follow the steps below to generate consistent project results. These include:
  Create Results Broker variables, which will later be used to generate
economic results data.
  If connected to a Merak Peep database, map your variables to Peep model
variables, so that Results Broker knows what data to retrieve from Peep
when generating results for a result request.
(If connected to a Merak database being used only for Microsoft Excel data,
variables are added to Excel Import Specifications, and mapped to named
data ranges in workbooks. However, this is not discussed here; see Merak
Results Broker Help for more information about mapping variables to Excel.)
  Once you have created and mapped the required variables, you can create
deterministic or simple stochastic result requests, which are the frames of
reference by which results are created and accessed. A result request is like a
snapshot of your data.
See the sections below for more information on the tasks described above.

Creating Results Broker variables

1. Double-click the Time Series node to open the Time Series pane.
2. Right-click in the row (or column) of the model upon which you want to base
your variable, and choose Add New Variable to open the Add New Results
Broker Variable dialog box.

3. Type a name and select a month-to-year conversion type for your variable, and
then click OK to create it.
4. Click the Save button in the Time Series pane to save your variable (you can
skip this step and map your variable, then save later if desired).
Note: If you need to create many variables, you can save time by creating multiple
variables at once, based on the Peep model variables within a given model. See

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

“Creating multiple variables based on Peep model variables” in Results Broker Help
for more information.

Mapping variables to Peep models

When you create a Results Broker variable, you do not have to map it to all the
available Peep models – only to those that are used by the Peep evaluations that will
be included in result requests. To map a variable to Peep models:
1. Working in the Time Series pane, scroll across to display the column for the
variable that you want to map (if the grid is transposed, scroll down to view the
row for that variable). In this set of instructions, we will assume that the variable
names appear across the top of the grid.
2. All the models are listed in the Models column. Select the cell that intersects the
desired Results Broker Variable column and model row you want to map. The
Current Model Variables box displays the model from the selected row.
3. In the Current Model Variables box, navigate to the Peep model variable to
which you want to map to your Results Broker variable and double-click it. The
name of the selected variable will be shown in the cell that was selected in step 2
(with the group name in parentheses), and the red shading will be removed from
that cell.

After selecting the cell that corresponds to the Canadian Model, the user has
navigated to the Revenue group in the Current Model Variables list, and will
map to the Gas1 Revenue model variable by double-clicking it.
Tip: After mapping a variable to one model, you can copy that mapping to all the
other models if desired (e.g. in the illustration above, after mapping the Gas Revenue
variable to the Canadian Model, you could copy that mapping to all the other
models). See “About copying variable mappings between Peep models” in Results
Broker Help for more information.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Creating a result request

1. Working in the Navigation pane on the left side of the Merak Results Broker
Administration window, right-click the Deterministic or Simple Stochastic
nodes and choose Create Deterministic Request or Create Simple Stochastic
Request. Then type a name for the request and click OK to create it.
2. Click the Definition node to open the Result Definition pane, and define the
settings that will be common to all evaluations in the request. Click the Add
button at the bottom-right corner to add the variables that you want to include in
your request to the Results Broker Variables list.
3. Open the Evaluations pane and choose the evaluations for which you want to
calculate data for your result request.

In this case, the Administrator has selected two evaluations, and will add them to
the result request by clicking the Add button (above).
4. If creating a deterministic result request, click the Global Outcomes node and
select the desired project-outcome scenarios and price scenarios for your request.
5. If creating a simple stochastic result request, click the Global Price Outcome
Set node and add any desired outcomes to the Global Price Outcome Set,
assigning a probability to that outcome and selecting the desired price scenarios
for each product.
6. Open the Outcomes Validation pane:
  For a deterministic request, use this pane to review the scenario selections
from the Global Outcomes pane before you generate request data, and to see
if each of the Peep cases included in the request contains data for the selected
scenarios;
  For a simple stochastic request, use this pane to create or edit evaluation
outcomes, and to validate each evaluation against the global price outcome
set. The scenario choices in the outcomes of the evaluation outcome set do
not require validation, since the scenario names that appear in the drop-down
lists for each data type are only the scenarios that actually exist in the Peep
case. Each case included in the request should contain outcome and price
data for the selected scenarios before you generate the request results.
7. Generate the result request by right-clicking it and choosing Generate Results
Data.

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Establish a corporate financial structure and

appropriate standards
Enterprise systems require standardization in order to be usable by geographically
diverse user groups. It is important that users adopt a consistent set of standards in
order to maximize the features available in the system at each step. A key step is to
identify the corporate structure and determine the financial reporting levels: Business
units, Country, Corporation, etc. This includes the required inputs and outputs at each
level of the structure for inputs and reporting purposes.
The illustration below shows a corporate financial structure in which projects are
rolled up to assets, and then the assets are rolled up to the highest consolidation level.
The top level could represent a Business Unit or Country reporting level, and the
lower levels would represent asset teams and individual projects.
Project economics are required to adhere to strict corporate-modeling standards in
Peep, including variable-naming conventions and algorithms such as depreciation.
Base project economics are then produced in Merak Results Broker, where consistent
snapshots of result data are generated based on standard corporate variables. These
project-level results are then rolled up in Merak Petroleum Financials to the asset
level. Calculations at the consolidation level in Petroleum Financials also require
standards, and include financial aggregations from the asset level such as working
capital, complex deferred tax algorithms and important financial metrics such as
return on average capital employed (ROACE) and earnings per share.

Base Consolidation Business Unit/Country

Base Asset Rollup

Base Asset Asset Team

Base Project Rollup

Base Project Individual Projects

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Manage your models

The setup created for models is important because it will need to be maintained. It is
important to design models and relationships to maximize use of reusable models.
The less code that is repeated, the simpler it will be to make changes and maintain the
models over time.
It is worthwhile to spend a bit of time creating a flow chart or diagram of the models,
and determining where specific calculations need to occur in relation to a hierarchy
and in what order. This framework can also assist with the final documentation for
the models.
The structure of the folders where financial models are stored is important. If you
move a model from the folder where it is stored, or change the name of that folder,
Merak Petroleum Financials and the Model Builder will be unable to find it, and the
relationships between models will be broken. It is recommended that you leave
models in their assigned sub-folders within the Models folder, and that you do not
change the names of the Reusable Model, Production, and Test folders.
You must consider the consumers of the outputs to the models. If there are reporting
requirements, it will be important to contain those outputs in the same model related
to a level in the hierarchy.
You should work in a consistent manner when creating models, naming each model
based on its purpose, always using the same nomenclature when naming variables,
and using reusable models whenever possible. You must also determine corporate
coding standards for the model environment, and use comments in the code to make
the intent of the algorithms understandable.

Best practices when creating models:

Here are a few best practices to consider before coding models:
  Create a set of comments at the top of the model that indicate the purpose of
the model and its intended use (and, perhaps, things that it will not do).
  Create a set of comments below the top set of comments to define the
relationships between models, such as reusable-models used, inherited
models, or user-defined items.
  Use a version-control system for the models. This way, you can go back to
older versions that were working properly. When checking in the new
version, make comments about the changes to the model.
  When finished coding a model, create a calculator. This is the soundest way
to determine if the model is operating properly.
  Create tests that are associated with the changes and build tests as you build
code. This will make defects in the logic more obvious and detectable.
  Test for successes with the models at their boundaries. What if a variable is
zero, a large number, or negative? Knowing the assumptions helps this
process.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

  Create comments at the beginning of each section explaining the business

context of the coding section. This is great for the end users and for internal
maintenance.
  Reuse calculations as much as possible, in order to reduce clutter and keep
the flow of the model clean. This assists with future maintenance because the
user only needs to change things in one place instead of all over.
  Avoid copy/paste. The intention of one section is not always identical to that
of another section. This indicates the need for a reusable model or custom
operator.
  There aren't any private or internal variables. Be clear when naming
variables, because they will be visible to the system and included in inherited
models and reports.
  Pre-determine the structure of the model (that is, what calculations are going
to be performed at various levels of the hierarchy).

Create and test financial models

The following sections cover the basics of setting preferences, creating and
organizing your models, and defining the variables, as well as some advanced
features, such as using external variables and reusable models, and testing the model.

Model Builder basics

1. To launch the Model Builder, working in Merak Petroleum Financials, choose
Options menu ⇒ Tools ⇒ Model Builder (or click the Launch Model Builder
toolbar button). The Model Builder window opens.
The window is divided into different parts:
  the Model Explorer on the left, where you can access existing models;

  the main working area, which includes a tab for each model or calculator that
is currently open. When a model is opened it is displayed in the Model
Syntax Editor, where you can manually input or edit the model text. When
you open a Calculator for a model, it also opens inside the working area);
  the Properties pane, which displays details about items selected in the
Model Syntax Editor, and allows you to modify the properties of those items.
You can also create or edit content using the Properties pane, without having
to manually type the model syntax;
  the Hints window, which displays information about the currently selected
component. All windows have “pinning” and “docking” capabilities.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

2. Set user Preferences for the Model Builder. These settings apply to both the
Model Syntax Editor and the Calculator.

Using the Model Explorer, you can create multiple folders and sub-folders to
quickly organize and categorize models.
3. Select the level at which a new folder should be added, then right-click and
choose New Folder. The folder is added and can be renamed as needed. Folder
names must not include spaces or other special characters.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

4. Click New in the Model Explorer to open the New Model dialog box. Type a
name and click OK. The Model Syntax Editor opens.

The Model Syntax Editor displays the variable hierarchy on the left, which allows
you to organize your variables. The right side of the Editor contains the actual
model text, beginning with the model’s name and opening/closing curly braces,
and the yellow syntax error pane, which displays any errors generated by the
syntax.
Note: to be valid, all variables in the model must be contained within these curly
braces, with each line of the model ending in a semi-colon.
5. Select the Constants, Inputs, or Results folder in the variable hierarchy, right-
click and choose Add Variable. A new variable definition is added to the syntax
pane, with a default variable type, shape, name, and value (constant or result
variables), all of which can be edited as required.

You can edit the inserted text to change a variable’s type, shape, attributes,
iteration settings, conversion strategy, and periodicity.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Defining variables
There are two methods of defining the model variables:
  Modeling using properties
  Modeling using syntax

Modeling using properties

View the properties of every model, variable, or operation as needed, or use the
Properties pane to build the variables without using the Model Syntax Editor. Access
the Properties pane in one of three ways:
  Choose View menu ⇒ Properties;
Or,
  Press <F4>;
Or,
  Right-click anywhere on the Model Syntax Editor and choose Properties.
You can now edit the variable properties using the Properties pane. If using this
method to define your variables, choose Model menu ⇒ Show Model Syntax to
close the Model Syntax Editor.

Modeling using syntax

All variables must be defined using the following syntax, followed by a semi-colon.
Items in square brackets "[ ]" are optional.
VariableType [attributes] [conversion strategy] [iterative]
[period] [shape] VariableName;
Variables that include a constant or a calculation must use the following syntax, and
may also include the optional items shown in the example above:
[variable type] [variable name] = [constant or
calculation];
A variable definition can span as many lines as necessary in the model text; however,
the definition is not valid until completed with a semi-colon.
Use the Autolist and Infotip features to help you declare valid variables and
expressions in the Model Syntax Editor:
  Autolist: press <Ctrl>+<Space> to see a list of variable types, operations,
conversion strategies, and time periods.
  Infotip: type an opening bracket, "( ", after you select an operation to see
example formulas for that operation.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Using external variables

If Results Broker time-series variables are to be referenced by a Model Builder
model, the variable type must be specified as ‘External’ and the name attribute used
to define the Results Broker variable display name.
External series name:"Total Revenue" total_revenue;

After you have declared the external variable type and the shape, press
<Ctrl>+<Space> to open the Autolist, and choose “attribKey: “attribValue””.
Replace the “attribKey” text with “name”, and the “attribValue” text with the name
of the variable as it appears in Results Broker. This must be done for every external
variable referenced in the model.
If Results Broker time-series variables are to be rolled up in an aggregate or asset
model, the type must be specified as ‘External’, with the variable type defined as
“collection” to indicate a rollup of time-series data and the name attribute being used
to defined the Results Broker variable display name.
Revenue collection name:"Total Revenue" total_revenue;
Revenue series SumOftotal_revenue = Sum(total_revenue);
This rollup or aggregate model can then be inherited in financial models at higher
corporate levels to ensure that the Results Broker variables are rolled up at each
hierarchy level. This will avoid having to redefine rollups of Results Broker variables
in financial models at higher corporate levels.
Note: a model can inherit no more than one other model.
DemoCountry inherits DemoRollup

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Reusable models
Several common operations can be saved as independent models and referenced by a
larger model through the reusable model functionality. There is no restriction on the
number of reusable models that can be referenced by another financial model.
An example of a reusable model is the basic Account concept, with an opening
balance, some movements in the account, followed by a closing balance for the
account. In the Model Builder this can be created as:
Account
{
Cashflow scalar OpeningBal;
Cashflow series Movements;
Cashflow series OpeningBals = SpecifyFirstValue(OpeningBal, ClosingBals[-1]);
Cashflow series ClosingBals = OpeningBals + Movements;
}

This Account reusable model can then be referenced in another model by giving it a
set of required inputs so that it will return the necessary results. In this case, the
Account reusable model must be given two inputs (an opening balance and a
movement of the account) in order to return two results (an opening and a closing
balance).

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// Accounts
Cashflow series Cash_At_Bank_Account_OB_S;
Cashflow scalar Cash_At_Bank_Account_OB = ValueAt(Cash_At_Bank_Account_OB_S);
Cashflow series Cash_At_Bank_Account_MVT = Net_Cash_From_Operations +
Net_Cash_From_Financing + Net_Cash_From_Investments;
Cashflow series Cash_At_Bank_Account_OBS =
Account.OpeningBals(Cash_At_Bank_Account_OB, Cash_At_Bank_Account_MVT);
Cashflow series Cash_At_Bank_Account_CBS =
Account.ClosingBals(Cash_At_Bank_Account_OB, Cash_At_Bank_Account_MVT);

Another example of a reusable model is Units of Production (UOP) depreciation. In

this case, the UOP Depreciation sub-model must be given three inputs (a reserve
additions, a production, and an investment) to return four results (a remaining
reserves, a depreciation rate, a remaining investments, and a final depreciation).
UOPDepreciation
{
Production series ReserveAdditions;
Production series Production;
Capital series Investments;
Production series RemainingReserves = RemainingReserves[-1] + ReserveAdditions -
Production[-1];
Rate series DepreciationRate = Production / RemainingReserves;
Capital series RemainingInvestments = If(RemainingReserves > 0, Investments +
RemainingInvestments[-1] - Depreciation[-1], Investments + RemainingInvestments[-1]);
Capital series Depreciation = If(RemainingReserves > 0, RemainingInvestments *
DepreciationRate, 0.0);
}

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Testing the model

After building a model, or a portion of a model, you need to test that the model is
performing the calculations and using the variables you expect it to. The Model
Builder creates a calculator for each model that generates calculated results for the
inputs you provide. The calculator also contains settings that are not present in the
model or in the project, such as the calculation periodicity and start date.
To create a calculator:
1. Select a model in the Model Explorer.
2. Click Calc. A new calculation grid opens. If the variable hierarchy is not present
in the calculator, choose Calculation menu ⇒ Show variables.
3. Drag and drop variables from the hierarchy onto the calculator grid to create the
grid rows. Result variables are displayed with a yellow background, indicating
they are not editable.
4. Type values into the cells for constant and input variables to generate values for
result variables.
5. To save the inputs used in a calculator, choose File menu ⇒ Save. Provide a
name for the test project, which can be re-opened at a later date to continue
testing the model.

Viewing variable relationships

The Variable Relationships pane displays the relevant inputs, incoming variables, or
immediate dependents of the variable selected in the Model Syntax Editor.
  To view variable relationships, choose View menu ⇒ Variable
Relationships.
Select a variable in the Model Syntax Editor or in the Properties pane, and its
relationships with other variables is displayed. You can drag result variables into the
Variable Relationships dialog box from the menu to identify the required input
variables, precedents and dependents.

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You can then drag result variables from each model into the Calculator, where
the dependent variables are displayed with associated input grids (multiple time
periods for a series input, single time periods for a scalar).

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Set up the financial hierarchy

1. Choose File menu ⇒ New ⇒ Financial Hierarchy to open the New Document
dialog box with Financial Hierarchy selected.
2. Type a name in the Name field and click OK; the Choose Result Request dialog
box opens, displaying a list of all the result requests that currently exist in the
database.
3. Select a deterministic or simple stochastic result request from the list, upon
which to base your hierarchy.

4. Use the options on the right side of the Choose Result Request dialog box to
define how you want to retrieve data from the selected result request (note that
you can change only the Start Date year and number of years of data. All the
other fields in this dialog box are for information purposes only and cannot be
changed).
5. Click OK when finished making your selections:
  If you selected a simple stochastic result request, the Select Price Outcome
dialog box opens (go to step 6);
  If you selected a deterministic request, the Select Model dialog box opens
(go to step 7).
6. If you selected a simple stochastic result request for the new hierarchy, select one
of the available price scenarios from the list in the Select Price Outcome dialog
box and click OK.

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The Select Model dialog box opens. This dialog box is populated with all the
global price outcomes that were created in Merak Results Broker for the selected
simple stochastic result request.
7. From the Select Model list of available financial models (which includes models
at the asset, regional, and global levels), select a financial model to attach to the
top-level node in the new hierarchy (usually the global or corporate model), and
click OK.

The Financial Hierarchy window opens, displaying the new hierarchy on its
own tab.

8. Click the Save toolbar button to save your hierarchy.

9. Populate your hierarchy, adding summary nodes (which are used to organize the
hierarchy into categories) and evaluation nodes (which are based on evaluations
in the result request that you selected when creating the hierarchy):
  To add a summary node, right-click the top node in the hierarchy and
choose Add node (below). Select a model to attach to the node and click
OK, then type a name for the new node and press <Enter>.

  To add an evaluation node, select a node from the Dynamic Result Request
pane and drag it onto a node in the Financial Hierarchy pane. Then attach a
model to the node and click OK.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

In this example, the Hierarchy Manager was used to organize the contents
of the Dynamic Result Request pane. See “Using the Hierarchy Manager”
in Merak Petroleum Financials Help for more information.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

Enter financial inputs

1. Enter any data required for the financial models. To do this, click the Financial
Data tab, and then select a hierarchy node.
2. Click the Opening Balances or Financial Data sub-tabs, then click the desired
cells and type the required values for the selected node.
3. When a calculator symbol appears with a node icon, it indicates that the node
and all its sub-nodes are ready to be calculated. Select a node and click the
Calculate toolbar button to calculate that node and all nodes under it in the
hierarchy. To calculate the entire hierarchy, select the top node before
calculating.

Generate consolidated financial charts and reports

Petroleum Financials user reports and charts enable you to see data about the node
currently selected in a hierarchy. You can create your own customized reports or
charts for financial hierarchies, based on the variables within a given Petroleum
Financials model. Creating templates based on those reports or charts enables you to
build new reports or charts later on, quickly and easily.
You can print reports or charts if required, or copy reports or charts to the Windows
clipboard.

Creating user reports and charts

1. Create a financial hierarchy or financial incremental, or open a previously created
hierarchy or incremental.
2. Click the User Reports tab.
3. If working with a financial hierarchy, select a hierarchy node, and click the
Calculate button to calculate that node if desired.
If working with a financial incremental, change the price outcome for each
hierarchy if desired, and then select a node in the hierarchy (remember, you
cannot select nodes that are shaded red or blue).
Notes:
  When the calculator symbol appears with a node, this indicates that the
node has changed since it was last calculated. You do not have to calculate a
node before creating a user report or chart, but if you do this, the report or
chart will not reflect any changes that were made since the node was last
calculated.
  Reports or charts may (or may not) appear inside the User Reports tab,
depending on whether or not you have linked any templates to the model that
is attached to the selected node. See “Creating user reports or charts” in
Merak Petroleum Financials for more information.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

4. Right-click anywhere on the User Reports tab and choose Template ⇒ New,
then one of the following:
  Single-Period Chart;

  Time-Series Chart;
  Time-Series Report.
5. If creating a chart, drag a variable from the bottom-left pane onto the report, as
shown below.

In this example, the user is adding a new series based on the Other Revenue
variable to a time-series report, by dragging the variable onto the report.
6. If creating a time-series report, add any desired blank lines or text lines to the
report, or add data lines by dragging variables from the bottom-left pane onto the
report grid. You can define how the report will look, insert text or blank lines
into a report, or move lines. See “Creating user reports or charts” in Merak
Petroleum Financials Help for more information on adding lines, formatting, etc.
7. If creating a chart, you can manipulate it in various ways, such as adding a title or
point labels, changing the display type, etc. See “Manipulating user charts” in
Petroleum Financials Help for more information. For single-period charts, you
can define what period to show in the chart, or how information is presented on
the chart.
8. Copy the chart or report to the Windows Clipboard if you want to paste it into
another Windows document:
  For charts, right-click and choose Copy to Clipboard, and then the desired
format;
  For reports, right-click and choose Report ⇒ Copy.
Open a Windows document and paste the graphic or text from the Clipboard into
the document.
9. Print a report if desired by right-clicking it and choosing Report ⇒ Print; to
print a chart, right-click it and choose Print.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

10. Link one or more additional models to the template (page 25) if desired.
Afterwards, if you select a node in the hierarchy, any report or chart templates
linked to the model attached to that node will be used to generate a chart or report
based on the node's data.
Note: When you create a report or chart, the model that was attached to the
currently selected hierarchy node is automatically linked to that report or chart.
11. Create a template (below) based on the report or chart you just created (optional)
if you want to use this chart or report for other nodes in the hierarchy.

Creating user report or chart templates

After creating a user report or chart, you can create a template based on it. Once you
link one or more models to a template, if you select a node in the hierarchy that was
attached to that model, each linked template will be used to generate a chart or report
based on the node's data.

In this example, the user has added the Pecos Area 1 Acquisition node to a hierarchy,
attaching it to Gas Model 1. He then creates the Revenue Chart and Revenue Report
templates, linking both of them to Gas Model 1. When he selects the Pecos Area 1
Acquisition node in the hierarchy, a chart and a report based on his templates are
displayed for that node.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

To create a user report or chart template:

1. Create the desired report or chart.
2. Right-click on the report or chart tab and choose Template ⇒ Save to open the
Template Save dialog box.
3. Type a Name for the new template, as well as any Comments you want to add
about the template.
4. Click OK when finished to close the Template Save dialog box and save the
template. The name you added in step 3 now appears on the tab at the top of the
report or chart.

Linking one or more models to the current template

1. Create a user report or chart, or open a report or chart based on a previously
created template.
2. If you created a new report or chart in step 1, create a new template based on it
(page 24) to save the link between the current model and template. Go to step 3 if
you want to link any other models to the template.
3. To link more models to the current template, right-click the desired report or
chart sub-tab and choose Template ⇒ Update Model Links to open the
Template Model Links dialog box. Any models available to link to the template
are displayed in the Available box, while any models already linked to it are
shown in the Selected box.

4. To link a model to the current template, navigate to it in the Available box, then
drag and drop it onto the Selected box (above). Repeat this step to link any other
models to the current template.
Tip: To break the link between a given model and the current template, drag the
model from the Selected box onto the Available box.

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 Building Financial Models for Petroleum Financials

5. Click OK to close the dialog box and link the model(s) to the template. Or, click
Cancel to close the Template Model Links dialog box without saving any
changes.
6. Right-click the chart or report and choose Template ⇒ Save to save the
template, preserving any newly created model-template links (since you
previously saved the template, you will not be prompted to provide a name.
7. If you try to select another user report or chart sub-tab (or create another report or
chart) without saving the changes, Petroleum Financials prompts you to do so.
Once you link a model to a template and save the changes, the next time you select a
hierarchy node attached to that model, the template will be used to generate a chart or
report based on the node's data. Each chart or report appears on its own tab inside the
User Reports tab.

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