Multi-Currency¶
Overview¶
Multiple currency functionality for OroCRM Enterprise edition is a useful tool for companies that do business internationally and negotiate deals in various currencies.
Currency configuration allows to:
- Create and manage the list of currencies that will be available for selection in multi-currency fields (e.g. opportunity budget).
- Designate one currency as base.
Think of a US-based business that is shipping certain goods to the UK. Its base currency is US dollars, which means that this is the currency that its business’s turnover is usually in. The contract between the US and the UK companies, however, is to be signed in British pounds for the total value of £20 000. When creating a new opportunity for the mentioned contract, a sales manager of the US company would need to add the Budget Amount in pounds rather than dollars.
With OroCRM Enterprise multi-currency feature, the system can make the necessary recalculations of this budget amount into the base currency for you. This means that if you enter the amount of £20 000 into the Budget Amount field, this value will be converted into your base currency and constitute $25 050, as illustrated in the screenshot below. This conversion is calculated according to the currency rate, determined beforehand.
With this example in mind, let us have a look at how you can configure your currencies and rates.
Note
So far, opportunity is the only OroCRM entity to have received multi-currency functionality out of the box.
Configuration¶
Currency and rate configuration can be achieved at two levels, the System level and the Organization level. You can find more information on access levels in Access Management guide.
At the system level, an admin sets up system currencies and rates. The currencies that the admin sets will be the only currencies available at the organization level (for a sales manager, for instance).
Admin can add and delete currencies and change rates.
To configure currencies as an admin, navigate to System>Configuration in the main menu.
Next, open System Configuration dropdown list on your left, select General Setup and click Currency.
Currency Settings¶
The following sections will be available within the Currency tab:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Allowed currencies | Allowed currencies dropdown menu contains a list of all available currencies. This setting controls how the currencies will be identified within the system, by a 3-letter ISO code (e.g. GBP) or by the currency symbol (e.g. £). Note: Not all currencies might have symbols. For such currencies, ISO codes are used instead. |
| Display format | Allows you to select the currency display format across the system, e.g. USD ISO code or $ currency symbol. |
The grid contains several columns:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Base | Allows to select the base currency (i.e. the default currency used within the organization) by ticking one or the other currency. Only one base currency can be selected at a time. |
| Current Name | Contains the full names of the added currencies. |
| Currency Code | Contains ISO codes of the added currencies. |
| Currency Symbol | Contains the currency symbols. If no symbol is applicable to a currency, a currency ISO code is used instead. |
| Rate From | The rate of the selected currency to the base currency. It is used to calculate transaction amounts (e.g. opportunity budget) in base currency if they were entered in a different currency. E.g. If a UK company wants to sign a deal with your US based company and the value of the deal is in GBP, you would need to see the value of the deal in US dollars. |
| Rate To | The conversion rate of the base currency to the selected currency. It is used to calculate new exchange rates when the base currency is changed. E.g. If you need to sign a contract with a client in GBP and the value of your contract is in US dollars, your UK client would like to see the cost in GBP. |
| Sort | Change the order of the added currencies by dragging them up and down to the preferred position. Sorting currencies on the list affects their order in currency selector of multi-currency fields. |
| Actions | The cross sign allows to delete the selected currency. |
Only currencies enabled by the admin at the system level are available in the Currency section at the organization level. Therefore, a sales manager would be able to manage rates at the organization level for the currencies setup by the admin at the system level.
Note
Currently, to allow a sales manager to manage rates, the admin needs to give them access to manage organization records when configuring user roles. This, however, is subject to change. Therefore, the following guide on accessing Currency at organization level is temporary and will be actualized shortly.
For the sales manager to be able to manage currencies, they would need to:
- Navigate to System>User Management>Organizations.
- Click on their organization in the grid.
- Click Configuration in the top right corner.
- Open Currency tab from the menu on the left.
As you can see in the screenshot below, Use System is ticked which means that at this point system currencies and rates are activated.
For the sales manager to be able to change the rates, they would need to unlock the grid by unticking Use System.
Changing currency rate¶
To change the currency rate manually, the sales manager needs to enter the numbers in the corresponding field of the Rate From/To columns.
For example, if the rate of US dollar to British pound is 0.8016, a sales manager would enter 0.8016 in the Rate From field. The system will automatically calculate the Rate To value for US dollars which will constitute 1.2525.
The base currency rate is always 1 to 1 and cannot be changed.
Adding and Deleting Currency¶
A sales manager cannot add the currency that is not set at the system level.
For example, if at the system level the admin has set up 3 currencies – US dollars, Canadian dollars and British pounds, then at the organization level the sales manager will be able to see no more than these 3 currencies. In other words, it is possible to remove unnecessary currencies but not add new ones (which are not set at the system level).
If you delete a currency at organization level, it would appear in the Allowed Currencies field, so it would be possible to add it back if necessary.
Note
You cannot delete the currency that is already in use. In later releases, if you wish to delete the currency that is used by an entity, you would have an option of converting it into a different currency.
To add the deleted currency back, select it from the Allowed Currencies dropdown menu and click Add.
Note
This feature is only available in the Enterprise edition.
Changing Base Currency¶
The base currency can be changed. This will lead to reconversion of all multi-currency data to the new base currency, and all values will be re-converted according to the current rates.
Note
Historical rates for closed deals will not be preserved.
In the example below, the base currency is British pounds but the budget of the deal is in US dollars. In the following screenshot, you can see how this is displayed for opportunities:
You can change the base currency in system configuration by selecting the currency in the Base column of the grid, as shown in the screenshot below. In the screenshot, the base currency is switched from British pounds into Canadian dollars. Changing the base currency in the grid automatically recalculates the rates of other currencies to the new base currency.
Important
When you close a deal (determined by opportunity status), the exchange rate for it becomes locked and will no longer take rate changes into account.
Changing the base currency results in currency change for entities:
Note
Dashboard widgets with monetary values (e.g. Forecast) and monetary metrics work in the base currency irrespective of the currency that the deals were made in.
Visualization¶
When the rates are configured, you can use them to record multi-currency sales and utilize exchange rates.
- Currencies are switched with a dropdown control next to the amount entry field in all multi-currency fields, such an Opportunity budget or Close Revenue.
- When you change the amount currency, the converted value in base currency appears below the control.
- Both Opportunity budget and Close Revenue can be entered in non-base currencies and these currencies might not match. This can be useful if you discuss budgets with overseas clients in their currency, but the actual deal is specified in your currency.
