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Redundant lines of investment copies in reports

Comments, critical feedback, praise, or suggestions for new features.

Postby Djobydjoba » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:01 pm

Hi Mark,

When there are one or more copies of an investment in the portfolio tree, the copy(ies) can possibly appear in reports in a redundant way.

As an example, this portfolio tree:

-MASTER
--US Market
-----10Y Treasury
-----Apple
-----Microsoft
--European Market
-----10Y Bund
-----Volkswagen
--Stocks
-----Apple (copy)
-----Microsoft (copy)
-----Volkswagen (copy)
-----Other stock A
-----Other stock B
--Bonds
-----10Y Treasury (copy)
-----10Y Bund (copy)
-----Other bond A
-----Other bond B

We want a global report with all the investments, so created from the MASTER level. No grouping (subtotal) in the report. The report displays:
-----10Y Treasury
-----10Y Treasury
-----Apple
-----Apple
-----Microsoft
-----Microsoft
-----Other bond A
-----Other bond B
-----Other stock A
-----Other stock B
-----Volkswagen
-----Volkswagen

Each instance (copy) of the investments appear in this report. It is not wanted, because redondant lines.

Suggestion: only one instance of an investment should be displayed in each group (= subtotal) of the report. If there is no grouping: only one instance. If grouping: only one instance maximum per group.

(?) And maybe this could be relevant for graphs too, only one instance displayed for the selected portfolio.

Thanks.
Djobydjoba
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:39 am

Postby Mark » Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:17 am

Hi Djobydjoba,

If you list by "Investment", and you have the same investment multiple times, you will get a line for each investment. I think this is the best way for it to work, instead of hiding any duplicate investment copies you may have. I guess it could be an option to hide copies, but you can also just list by symbol to solve this. If you want to group all investments of the same security together, choose to list by "Symbol". In this case, it will group all investments with a common symbol onto a single report line.
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
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Postby Djobydjoba » Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:25 am

Hi Mark,

My reports have a subtotal by Asset Type already, so I can't subtotal by Symbol at the same time.

Moreover, I really don't like the output when subtotaling by symbol:

20180303-sam.16h22-01.png
20180303-sam.16h22-01.png (11.95 KiB) Viewed 3042 times


I find it is worst than having the same investment repeated several times. Because:
- the additional lines subtotal with the symbol added for each investment make the report mega heavy, hard to read. Unworkable from my point of view.
- the duplicate investments are still displayed
- the symbols are meaningless for me, so I don't want to see them in reports

I guess this a quite related to the topic here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4658 At the end of the topic you wrote "The symbol is useful to group multiple investments together for reports/graphs."
I understand this is a technical design, but, again, symbols are quite meaningless, there are essentially codes to download prices. There should be a mechanism to group the same investments while displaying by names, and not by symbols. This is equally true for the pie charts.

Considering the current technical design, an option to hide copies in the same sub-total could be useful. Because we are really talking of copies here, duplicates, that share the same investment file.

Anyway, to avoid the duplicate in reports there is always the option to rearrange the portfolio tree. What I've just did. But, to summarize the feedback, it would be great if there could be a mechanism to group the same investments while displaying by names, and not by symbols.

Why not simply group investments when they share exactly the same name (and currency), instead of the same symbol? Couldn't it be an option?
Djobydjoba
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:39 am

Postby Mark » Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:00 am

Hi Djobydjoba,

I was more describing "Listing" by symbol, instead of "Sub-total" by symbol. They are different. You can't list by symbol with as many configurations as you can list by investment though. For example, if you're sub-totaling by Asset type, you can only list by investment or nothing, but not symbol. In general you can list by symbol when you either do not sub-total, or sub-total by sub-portfolio.

If you have the same exact investment instantiated multiple times, it counts multiple times, so I don't like the idea of not showing it multiple times. Instead, expanding the ability to list by symbol in more cases, or re-organizing your sub-portfolio hierarchy would be a preferred solution.
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11252
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:24 pm
Location: Chandler, AZ

Postby Djobydjoba » Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:22 am

Hi Mark,

I've re-organized my sub-portfolio tree in order to avoid duplicates.

Sorry to be insistent on that, but here's an extract of a report listed by investment:

20180305-lun.16h48-01.png
20180305-lun.16h48-01.png (13.4 KiB) Viewed 3001 times


an the same report listed by symbol:

20180305-lun.16h49-01.png
20180305-lun.16h49-01.png (8.05 KiB) Viewed 3001 times


Isn't it unworkable by symbol?


Currently, when we want to merge same investments, when have to display them by symbol.

Don't you think there should be the ability (option) to merge same investments independently of the display (by name or by symbol)?
Djobydjoba
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:39 am

Postby Mark » Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:47 am

Hi Djobydjoba,

Try changing the report setting:

Options / Report Preferences... / General / Symbol Lines Labeled As:

to "Investment Description", and I believe you'll get what you're looking for. In this case, the lines will be labelled as your preference is set under "Options / General Preferences... / Display / Investment Description".
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11252
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:24 pm
Location: Chandler, AZ

Postby Djobydjoba » Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:35 am

Okay! Thanks Mark, I see now...

This is quite tricky, because:
- we have to know that "List by Symbol" must be selected if we want to merge the same investments. It's not obvious, really.
- then we have to change the symbol display to display by name!

And for the pie chart? We have to select by Symbol to merge the same investments. Can we display by name too?

IMHO (and naive opinion), a more intuitive/straightforward implementation, for reports and charts, would be an option (on/off) to merge or not to merge same investments. When on:
- if we select "By symbol", the symbols are displayed, and the investments with the same symbols are merged
- if we select "By investment", the names are displayed, and the investments with the same name are merged
Djobydjoba
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:39 am

Postby Mark » Mon Mar 05, 2018 11:28 am

Hi Djobydjoba,

Sorry, there isn't an equivalent for Graph displays when displaying symbols. I understand your points, and thanks for the feedback. We can consider this for the future.
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11252
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:24 pm
Location: Chandler, AZ


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