1. Concepts and Terminology
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An OmniValue document consists of assets which are organized into portfolios which are owned by one owner. An asset consists of a number of identical units of value. The unit itself can be one stock, one bond, one unit of currency, or one unit of something else. The asset is described by defining transactions such as buy, sell, or a dividend. The transactions operate on the set of units in the asset using operators and the cumulated effect of all transactions describe the current financial state of the asset.
At the next level of the value document, assets are organized into Portfolios. The assets are grouped together according to the value type of the asset, i.e. whether the unit of value is a stock, a bond, or a unit of something else. The value type determines properties of the asset, such as the dynamics of the asset. Assets of the type stock are dynamic since the price of one stock may vary. Assets of the type bank account are static since the price of one unit of the local currency can not change (i.e. the value of 1 US Dollar is always 1 in the US).
At the top level the aspect of ownership is taken into account. A common denominator for all assets in an OmniValue document is that they have the same owner. The Owner organizes portfolios of assets of different value types into a single group, and provides an overview of the total investment in and return of all assets.
All three levels of a value document mentioned here, Asset - Portfolio - Owner, are fundamental entities in OmniValue, and they are further described in the rest of this chapter.
An Asset is defined as a set of identical units of value. The unit can be one stock, one bond, one unit of currency, or one unit of something else. An asset is described by defining the type of the unit of value, the name of the unit, the value of one unit, and the number of units in the asset.
An asset can be in one of three states:
By default, an asset is always included in the calculation of financial data at higher levels, i.e. in the portfolio containing the asset, and in the owner owning the portfolio. However, in some cases, it is of interest to exclude the asset from the uppward calculation, or aggregation of financial data. The asset can then be excluded.
If the asset contains transactions which does not make sense in the given context of the asset, the asset is in state inconsistent. An example of a transaction which is not consistent is a sale specifying 200 units, when the asset actually only contains 100 units. If the asset is inconsistent it will not be included in the calculation of financial data at higher levels.
If the asset is not excluded, and it does not contain any errors, it is in state included.
The state of an asset is indicated by its icon. The icon for an asset resembles an urn, indicating that it can hold units of value. If the asset is included, the amount of filling in the urn indicates the amount of investment in the asset, the return of the asset, and if there are any units in the asset. The following table shows all combinations for a stock asset (without a reference).
| icon | asset state | description |
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excluded | Asset is not included in aggregation (upward summation) of financial data |
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inconsistent | Asset contains errors (inconsistent transactions) |
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included | Only investment during the accounting period |
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included | Both investment and return during the accounting period |
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included | No investment during the accounting period |
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included | No units left at the end of the accounting period |
An asset can be connected to a reference. A reference to an asset provides information about the asset, such as the present value of one unit in the asset. A reference is provided by a reference source. A reference source may for example be a web server on the Internet which provides current prices of stocks.
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Icon for an asset with a reference: both investment and return during the accounting period |
The icon for an asset which is connected to a reference has two "antennas" on top, indicating that there is an active reference available in the program.
A Portfolio contains assets of the same type. The type specifies which transactions can be used, which tax rates are applicable, if the value of one unit can change, etc. The value type is always defined when creating the portfolio, and can not later be changed, neither in the portfolio nor in the created assets.
A value type is dynamic if the value of one unit can change. A stock is a dynamic value type, since the value of one stock can change. A bank account is a static value type, since the value of one unit can not change (with respect to the local currency of the country in which the bank is operating).
A value type is productive if the mere possession of a unit of value will generate an income. Examples of productive incomes are interest (e.g. bank accounts), and dividend (e.g. stocks). Examples of value types which are not productive are cash and currency.
OmniValue provides a number of predefined value types described below. These value types can be edited, and new value types can be defined. This is further described in the chapter for value types.
| Icon | Value Type | Dynamic | Productive | Description |
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Stock | yes | yes | A type of security that signifies ownership in a corporation. Possession of a stock usually entitles the owner to receive dividends. Public stocks are traded on stock exchanges at market price. |
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Fund | yes | yes | An investment vehicle collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets. |
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Bond | yes | yes | An investment in which an investor loans money to an entity (corporate or governmental) that borrows the funds for a defined period of time at a fixed interest rate. |
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Product | yes | no | Anything created by human effort which is offered to a market to satisfy a need (e.g. clothes, food, cars, software, services etc). Retail is the sale of products to customers. |
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Natural Resource | yes | no | Anything occuring in natural state which has economic value, e.g. gold, oil, or timber. |
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Currency | yes | no | A generally accepted form of money, including coins and paper notes, which is issued by a government and circulated within an economy. |
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Account | no | yes | A record of a credit at a bank or a similar institution. Typical transactions are deposit, withdrawal and interest. |
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Cash | no | no | Money in coins or notes. |
At the highest level in the value model, all assets are grouped together into a single group, defined by a common legal ownership. All assets in an OmniValue document must have the same owner, and there is a 1:1 relationship between an owner and a document file.
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Icon for the owner. |
In order to describe an asset, transactions are defined. Transactions can only be defined for assets. In general, a transaction describes:
The cumulative action of all transactions in an asset gives the current financial state of the asset.
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Icon for a Buy transaction. |
The transaction icons in OmniValue are defined to tell something about the transaction they represent. The diagonal in the icon represents the change in number of units in the asset. In the case with the Buy transaction, the diagonal has an up arrow, indicating that the transaction increases the number of units in the asset. In the upper left corner of the icon there is a purple dot. This indicates that the transaction increases the investment in the asset. In a similar fashion, a blue dot in the lower right corner of the transaction icon indicates that the transaction increases the return from the asset (which is not the case for the Buy transaction).
A list of all predefined transactions in OmniValue is given below. In addition to these transactions, new transactions can be defined using the interface for defining new transactions.
| Icon | Name | ID | Description |
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Initial Balance | 50 | Use this transaction to specify an initial balance without investment. |
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Buy | 110 | Use this transaction for a purchase where the price per unit is specified. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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Buy Total | 120 | Use this transaction for a purchase where the total price for all units is specified (including any transaction fee). |
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New Issue | 210 | Use this transaction for a purchase where the price per unit is specified, and where the number of units offered depends on the number of units in possession. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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New Issue Total | 220 | Use this transaction for a purchase where the total price for all units is specified (including any transaction fee), and where the number of units offered depends on the number of units in possession. |
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Investment Distribution | 250 | Use this transaction to add investment per unit without changing the current holding of units. Use a positive value to increase investment, a negative value to decrease investment. |
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Investment Distribution Total | 260 | Use this transaction to add a total investment without changing the current holding of units. Use a positive value to increase investment, a negative value to decrease investment. |
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Cost Distribution | 251 | Use this transaction to add a cost per unit without changing the current holding of units. Use a positive value to increase cost, a negative value to decrease cost. |
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Cost Distribution Total | 261 | Use this transaction to add a total cost without changing the current holding of units. Use a positive value to increase cost, a negative value to decrease cost. |
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Sell | 310 | Use this transaction for a sale where the price per unit is specified. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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Sell Total | 320 | Use this transaction for a sale where the total price for all units is specified (including any transaction fee). |
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Clearance | 410 | Use this transaction for a sale of all units in possession where the price per unit is specified. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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Clearance Total | 420 | Use this transaction for a sale of all units in possession where the total price for all units is specified (including any transaction fee). |
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Dividend | 510 | Use this transaction for a cash reward per unit in possession. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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Dividend Total | 520 | Use this transaction for a total cash reward for all units in possession (including any transaction fee). |
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Unit Dividend | 610 | Use this transaction for a reward in the form of new units per unit in possession, and where the value per new unit is specified. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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Unit Dividend Total | 620 | Use this transaction for a reward in the form of new units per unit in possession, and where the total value for all new units is specified (including any transaction fee). |
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Split | 710 | Use this transaction to increase the number of units with a nominal factor to the current holding of units without investment. |
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Reverse Split | 720 | Use this transaction to decrease the number of units with a nominal factor to the current holding of units without investment. |
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Bonus Issue | 810 | Use this transaction to increase the number of units without investment, and where the increase of units depends on the current holding of units. |
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Coupon | 530 | Use this transaction for a cash reward per unit in possession. A transaction fee can also be specified. |
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Coupon Total | 540 | Use this transaction for a total cash reward for all units in possession (including any transaction fee). |
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Deposit | 910 | Use this transaction to increase the number of units in possession. |
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Withdrawal | 920 | Use this transaction to decrease the number of units in possession. |
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Interest | 930 | Use this transaction for a reward in the form of new units in possession. |
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Interest Return | 940 | Use this transaction for a cash reward. |
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Account Balance | 60 | Use this transaction to specify an initial balance without investment. |
If a transaction does not make sense in the given context of the asset (i.e. the date at which the transaction is defined) the transaction is inconsistent which is signalled by the icon for error. In a similar fashion to an asset a transaction can be explicitly excluded from the calculations. This is signalled by the icon for excluded transaction.
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Icon for inconsistent transaction. |
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Icon for excluded transaction. |
The following metrics are used to describe a financial value in OmniValue. They are measures of the current and past profitability of a financial investment. All definitions are valid in the context of a given accounting period. All definitions refer to an asset but they are also valid for a portfolio or an owner.
| Metric | Definition |
| Market value | The most probable price of an asset in a competitive and open market not affected by undue stimulus. |
| Gain/Loss | The gain or loss in value of an asset. This is calculated as market value minus cost basis (cost basis is the total average paid for the current holding). This is measure of the profitability of the investments that are still hold. |
| Cash flow | The amount of cash an asset generates and uses. This is calculated as cash receipts minus cash payments. |
| Investment | Money paid for an asset. |
| Return | OmniValue defines return as the sales, or the revenue of an asset. |
| ROI | Return On Investment expressed as a percentage. This is calculated as the the return of the asset divided by the investment in the asset. This is measure of the profitability of the investments that have been sold. |
| Income | Revenue minus expenses (if any). For a sell transaction the income is the same as the profit. For a dividend transaction the income is the same as the revenue. |
| Tax | A percentage of the income that is paid to the state. |
| Risk | The variability of returns from an investment. In OmniValue risk is measured on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest risk. |
| Elements | The number of all "entities" contained in a value plus 1 (the value itself). For an asset the number of elements = the number of transactions + 1. |
| Errors | The number of inconsistent transactions in an asset. |
| Events | The number of transactions in an asset. |
| First transaction | The first transaction in time in an asset. |
| Last transaction | The last transaction in time in an asset. |
| Last change | The last time data for an asset was changed. The change can either be the last transaction or the last time the asset was edited or updated from a reference. |
The following metrics are used to describe a retail product value in OmniValue. They are measures of the profitability of retail sales of products and of the efficiency of the inventory management. All definitions are valid in the context of a given accounting period. All definitions refer to an product (i.e asset of type Product) but they are also valid for a portfolio (product department) or an owner (typically the store).
| Metric | Definition |
| Sales | Total money amount collected for products provided. |
| Margin (%) | A ratio of profitability calculated as net income divided by sales. |
| Gross Margin ROI | The Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment ratio describes the income generated by money spent on inventory. A high GMROI indicates a good balance of sales, margin, and inventory cost. A rule of thumb is that a GMROI of at least 3.2 is the breakeven for a business. |
| Contribution | Sales price minus variable cost per product. |
| Cash flow | The amount of cash a product generates and uses. This is calculated as cash receipts minus cash payments. |
| Inventory Turnover | A measure of the number of times inventory is sold in a time period. A low turnover implies poor sales and, therefore, excess inventory. A high ratio implies either strong sales or ineffective inventory levels. |
| Days of Supply | Estimate of how long the inventory will last in days given the current rate of sales. |
| Sell Through Rate (%) | Sell through rate is the percentage of units sold from inventory during the period. Sell through is typically evaluated on a daily basis for fast moving products or weekly for slower moving or replenishment based products. A higher value is better indicating good sales velocity and appropriately forecasted inventory. |
| Stock to Sales ratio | The ratio of the inventory available for sale to the quantity sold. A merchandising goal is to reduce the Stock to Sales Ratio as low as possible, without losing sales. |
The name "OmniValue" is composed of the two words "omni", latin meaning "all", and the word "value". OmniValue can thus be interpreted as "all values" meaning that all kinds of values (securities and commodities) can be managed within the same document.
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