CMIE

Prowess Version 3.1 Basics

By: Ashwati Nath (Information Officer)

CMIE CENTRE FOR MONITORING INDIAN ECONOMY

Indias Leading Business and Economic Database and Research Company
11, Apple Heritage, 54-C, Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai-400093 Tel: 30880099 Fax:022-26870696 E-mail: info@cmie.com Website: www.cmie.com Prowess: Basics

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1. An Introduction to Prowess
1.1 What is Prowess? Prowess is a database developed by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. It comprises data (both financial and non-financial) on more than 22000 Indian companies. The coverage includes public, private, co-operative and joint sector companies, listed or otherwise. The database is built on a sound understanding of accounting standards and disclosures currently prevailing in India. 1.2 What kind of company data is available in Prowess? All relevant data required to perform an analysis of a company is present in Prowess. More than 2000 indictors are present. Data includes: Financial Statements (Annual Reports and Interim Results) Fund Flows Ratio Analysis & Technical Analysis Product and Raw material Profiles Share Price data Shareholding patterns Capex Data M & A data Miscellaneous 1.3 What makes Prowess so powerful? The Prowess database is highly normalized. Rich analytical reports are based on a carefully normalized database. The database in Prowess is complemented with powerful analytical software tools to enable extensive querying and research. These tools make data mining very easy and less time-consuming. In other words, finding the proverbial needle in a haystack can be done in a matter of minutes. In short, prowess packages a normalised database in a versatile and amazingly powerful software, which grants unlimited querying power to the user. 1.4 What is meant by normalization of the database? Different companies present accounting information differently. Inter year comparison, growth rates, inter-company comparisons and industry aggregates are all compromised by the uncritical use of raw data from annual accounts. Such a scenario would lead to errors if comparision between different companies were made. CMIE's methodological framework for database normalization addresses this problem. Databases are also subjected to rigorous formal validation and quality control. Prowess inbuilt normalization ensures that comparision made between companies or on a set of companies is totally error-free and correct down to the last detail. 1.5 Is Prowess up-to-date? A sprawling nation-wide network to collect information, highly trained human resources and sophisticated technologies ensure that Prowess is the most up-to-date corporate database in India. Prowess has intra-day updates as well as daily updates that can be downloaded from the internet.

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The database is kept up-to-date at the users end by providing daily, weekly and fortnightly updates as per users convenience. 1.6 What makes Prowess unique? The following three features make Prowess unique and the best in its league: Queries: Query is the most powerful feature in Prowess. It enables an unparalleled and inexhaustible process of discovery. Every part of the database is made intelligently queryable and all kinds of queries can be combined in infinite ways. The prowess query system is a powerful and simplified step by step approach to access the entire database to identify companies that meet your specifications. Structured Selection Process: The Prowess database has been empowered with a knowledge base to assist querying. This enables the automatic encapsulation of intelligence in your queries. Querying thus gets more powerful and yet gets simpler. The structured selection process, which embodies these unique characteristics through its layered groupings simplifies querying on products, locations and ownership groups. Expression based Selection: This is the most versatile feature of any querying system and undoubtedly an integral part of Prowess. However, Prowess takes you a step ahead of the usual expressions. Specially developed functions and a system of macro building makes querying with expressions an enjoyable and exciting experience in prowess.

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2. Prowess Basics
In this chapter, all the basic functions and modules of prowess that are important are explained. 2.1 The Welcome Screen The following screen is observed when Prowess is opened/activated:

These are the various submodules under a particular query module

All the financial indicators are by default mentioned in Rs. Crores

These are the various query modules (menu)

Indicates the data till which Prowess is updated

The query module window is the window within Prowess where the various parameters/ criterion is inserted. As one can observe, the menu on the left is the query module menu. The menu will henceforth be referred in the document as query module. Each query module is further classified into sub modules. All the various indicators are classified into various submodules as per the appropriate classification. The execution of a query is always done in a query window. 2.2 The Important Icons The third row of icons from the top, especially the first three are of prime importance. These icons are basically used to navigate between various windows within Prowess. Moving the mouse over the icon reveals name of these icons.

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Query Window

Reports Window

Output Sheet

Analysis Work sheet

Chart

Query Window: The various indicators required to extract information is available in the query window. Use this icon to revert back to the query window. Reports window: This is a pop-up window, which gives rich and detailed reports for the selected company or set currently on the output sheet or a selected company within the query window. After viewing reports, one can revert back to the query window by closing the popup window. Output Sheet: Is an excel-like sheet where the output of a query is displayed. In the case of transfer pricing, a lot of juggling/toggle will be required between the query window and the output sheet. To view a current output sheet, click on this particular icon. Analysis Worksheet: Is a special type of output sheet that comes into display when multiple data is available for the same indicator. Chart: Becomes active when the output sheet is open. Used to generate graphs. 2.3 Execute Commands Processing of the input parameters and indicators will begin only when a execute command button is clicked using a mouse. These commands are displayed at the bottom right in the query window.

Understanding the Execute commands: AND, NOT, ADD COL, NEW a. New: To create a new output sheet containing the list of companies/sets on which the user wants to run the query. This command is also used to find all those companies, which satisfy a set of conditions input by the user. b. Add Col: To add required financial, non-financial data in columns of the output sheet. c. And: Retains only those companies on the output sheet that satisfy a criteria input by the user. d. Not: Retains only those companies on the output sheet that do not satisfy a given criteria input by the user. e. Or: Retains all those companies, which satisfy any one of the multiple conditions input by the user. From the transfer pricing view, the execute commands NEW, ADD COL & AND are important.

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2.4 How to save the outputs: Output sheets need to be saved in the various format, based on need so that they can be retrieved for future use. Icons for saving the output sheets are available in the second row from the top in Prowess.

Open previously saved prowess file

Saves as prowess file

Saves output as multiple prowess files

Saves as excel file

Saves as word file

Saves as user set

Splits user set

How to save output sheets for further use in future or as reference points As an excel file (.xls): This facility to save the output as an excel file is available to allow portability. The output saved as an excel file can then be viewed on nonProwess PCs. It is important to note that while data can be exported to an excel file, it cannot be imported back into prowess. As a prowess file (.cof): This facility enables the user to save the output in prowess format. All files are saved by default into a folder called usercof in the installed prowess folder. Files thus saved can later be opened using the Open File icon. As an analysis worksheet (.aws): In certain output sheets, each company may consume multiple rows due to multiple data displays for selected indicators. In such a case, the output sheet takes the form of an analysis worksheet. Following are some of the modules within Prowess where the output is in the form of an analysis worksheet. i. Query by Finance Stocks/ Credit Ratings ii. Query by Finance Stocks/ Capex iii. Query by Finance Stocks/ Mergers & acquisitions iv. Query by Basic Information/ Major Equity Holders Information v. Query by Basic Information/ Location of Plants vi. Query by Product Segments/ Product Raw Materials As a user set (.psu): The user can create can create and save a user-defined set of companies for future use. An important difference between a user set and prowess output file (.cof) is that the user set saves only the name of the companies while .cof file saves the companies along with all the other columns that are currently displayed on the concerned output sheet. Note: All the various methods to save the output are also available under the file menu option .

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2.5 The Most Commonly Used Modules Following is a list of the most commonly retrieved information from Prowess and where it is available: i. Annual Report data Query by Finance Stocks/ Audited Financial Results ii. Quarterly Data Query by Finance Stocks/ Interim Financial Results iii. Stock Market Data Query by Finance Stocks/ Stock Prices & Indicators iv. Equity Holding Information Query by Basic Information/ Equity Holding Information.

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3. AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS

Audited Financial Results contain Annual Reports data. This information is updated once a year. Data is available separately for Standalone and Consolidates accounts. Required indicators should be selected by placing in a tick against the required expression in either the S (standalone) or C (consolidated) column. The Query of Year Field As the year for which the data is queried for is of paramount importance, sound understanding of this feature is vital. The year for which data is queried on is input in the field labeled Query on year in the Audited Financial Results sub-module. The default value in the Query on Year Field is L which stands for latest available year.

Query on Year

QUERY ON YEAR FORMAT= YYYYMM

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Illustrations for Query on Year: To find data for Year Ending 31st March 2008. Query on Year: 200803 To find data for both the Years viz. year ending March 2006 and March 2008. Query on Year:200603&200803 (No space to be left between the years. Entered format should be a single string) To execute a conditional query which has to be true for multiple Years. For example: Year ending March 2006, March 2007 and March 2008. Query on Year: 200603&200703&200803 To find data for at least one of the two Years or to execute a conditional query that should be true for at least one out of two years. For example: Year ending March 2007 or March 2008. Query on Year: 200703|200703 (The or symbol is entered by Shift + backward slash button) To find data from March 2005 to March 2008, use RANGE FORMAT: YYYYMM-YYYYMM Query on Year: 200503-200803 To query on data for all available years: Query on Year: ALL To find data for latest available year Query on Year: L To find data for latest all the latest three available years. Query on Year: LA3 To find data for at least one of the latest five years Query on Year: L5 Querying data for Non-March ending annual reports of companies. In the above stated examples of Query on Year, all the examples in the yyyymm format contained the month of March as the financial year ending. This leads to the obvious question as to how companies, which might have their financial year endings in a nonMarch month can be queried. This is a non-issue. The Prowess software is intelligent enough to retrieve such records even if the entered year (suppose 200803) is March ending. When the date is entered, Prowess scans the database for all the records entered from 1st April of the previous year to 31st March of the entered year and outputs the retrieved record. Thus, even December, September or June financial year ending companies can be queried.

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4. INTERIM FINANCIAL RESULTS

Quarterly accounts i.e. Interim financial results are mostly available only for listed companies within Prowess. This data is available on a quarterly basis. Data is usually updated within a month after a particular quarter gets over. The quarter for which data is required is input in the field labeled Query on Period in the Interim Financial Results sub-module. The various expressions available are divided into four categories: SQ (Standalone Quarterly): Gives the standalone data for a quarter(s) entered in the Query on Period field. CQ (Consolidated Quarterly): Gives the consolidated data for a quarter(s) entered in the Query on Period field. SA (Standalone Annual): Unlike SQ, the data output for SA is annual in nature as the name indicates. SA gives the unaudited annual report of a company by aggregating values of the four available quarters for a financial year. The SA values assume particular importance in May to September when the audited annual report of a listed company remains unavailable (Companies have a six-month period after a financial year is over to audit and declare their annual accounts). During such times, the user can make use of the unaudited annual report data available here. CA (Consolidated Annual): Is similar to SA with the only difference that it provides unaudited consolidated annual accounts data of companies.

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QUERY ON PERIOD FORMAT= YYYYMM Illustrations for querying data of type SQ and CQ: To find data for period Ending 31st December 2008. Query on Period: 200812 To find data for both the quarters. For example: Quarter ending September 2007 and September 2008. Query on Period:200709&200809 (No space to be left between the quarters. Entered format should be a single string) To execute a conditional query which has to be true for multiple quarters. For example: Quarters ending June 2008, September 2008, December 2008 and March 2009. Query on Period: 200806&200809&200812&200903 To find data for at least one of the two quarters or to execute a conditional query that should be true for at least one out of two quarters. For example: quarters ending March 2007 or March 2008. Query on Period: 200703|200703 (The or symbol is entered by Shift + backward slash button) To find data from June 2006 to March 2009, use RANGE FORMAT: YYYYMM-YYYYMM Query on Period: 200606-200903 To query on data for all available quarters: Query on Period: ALL To find data for latest available quarter: Query on Period: L To find data for latest all the latest three available quarters/ To run a conditional query that is true for all the latest available three quarters: Query on Period: LA3 To find data for at least one of the latest five quarters/ To run a conditional query that is true for all the latest available five quarters: Query on Year: L5

Querying data of type SA and CA: Since the data values within SA and CA are annual in nature, they are queried for various data in exactly the same way as in Audited financial results. Refer to page 8 for illustrations.

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5. STOCK PRICES AND INDICATORS

All stock market related indicators for listed companies are available under the module Query by Finance Stocks/stock Prices & Indicators. Te data under this module is updated on a daily basis (depending on whether it is a trading date or not).

The Query on Date field: Since data in this module is updated daily, it is imperative to specify the exact date for retrieving required information. FORMAT FOR STOCK PRICES & INDICATORS: YYYYMMDD The Interval field: When large date ranges are entered into the Query on Date field, the user may need to limit the daily frequency of retrieved data to lower frequencies like Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly etc. The interval field indicates the frequency of the data displayed for an entered date range in Query on Date. Select one of the following choices based on need: i. Daily: Is the default interval. Displays data for every single traded date entered within Date Range ii. Weekly: Displays data for last traded date of every week within entered date range.

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iii. Monthly: Displays data for last traded date of every month within the entered date range. iv. Quarterly: Displays data for last traded date of every quarter within the entered date range. v. Annual: Displays data for last traded date of every year within the entered date range. The Date Proximity Field: Often, it may happen that while entering certain dates into the Query on date field, the entered date might not be a traded date. In such a case, the query will fail to execute and a error message will be displayed. Such events can be avoided by using the Date Proximity option, which indicates the nearness of the entered date to Traded Date. Select one of the following options based on need: i. Exact_Date: Indicates that Entered date should exactly match the Traded date ii. Latest: Indicates that Traded date should either match the Entered date or should be the nearest available traded date (back-dated) iii. -1: Indicates that the Traded date should either match the Entered date or should be the immediately preceding traded date of the exchange (back-dated) iv. -2: Indicates that the Traded date should either match the Entered date or should be one of the immediately preceding two traded dates of the exchange, whichever is closer to the entered date. (back-dated) v. -7: Indicates that the Traded date should either match the Entered date or should be one of the immediately preceding seven traded dates of the exchange, whichever is closer to the entered date. (back-dated) vi. Similar to above options, other options available within Date Proximity include -15, -30, -90, -180 and -360. Illustrations for Query on Date in Stock Prices & Indicators Module: To find data for date 13th September 2008. Query on Date: 20080913 To find data for the entire calendar year of 2008 on a weekly basis. Query on Date: 20080101-20081231 Select Interval: Weekly To view data for the date closest to 12th April 2009. Query on Date: 20090412 (This is a Sunday, a non-trading day) Select Date Proximity: Latest To view all available data on a quarterly basis: Query on Date: ALL Select Interval: Quarterly To view data for the latest 60 traded days. Query on Date: L60

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6.USER SETS:
In the menu Select company by Name/company classifications, two frames of classification are observed. In the left frame is the set of classifications created by CMIE as per the commonly followed standards. The main broad classification under this frame include: Industry Classification Indices Classification CMIE Indices Classification Listed/Permitted Companies Classification The need for user sets: However, the user may, from time to time, need to create his own set of companies, which he needs to work on a regular basis. An excellent example is when one wants view a portfolio of companies. The user may create the set after subjecting the original list of companies to many filtration criteria. The tedium of creating the required and frequently used set of companies one uses Prowess can be eliminated by creating user sets. Such User-defined sets can be viewed in the right-side frame of Company classifications window. All usersets are saved by default into the usersets folder.

User Sets are displayed in this frame.

Refresh Button

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Illustration No. 1: Investor X has invested in 5 companies viz. ACC, BHEL, INFOSYS, WIPRO and TCS. Create a user set of these companies, which will enable the investor to view data for his portfolio easily. Ans: Go to Select Company by name Select the sub-module Select Company by name In the field labeled Start tying for auto search, enter ACC This will lead to companies beginning with the syllable ACC.. to be displayed in the frame below. From the list of companies in the frame labeled company alias, double click on the name of ACC Ltd in order to select it. (The selection will be displayed in the righthand side frame.) Repeat the previous two steps again by typing BHEL in the field labeled Start tying for auto search and double click on the display in order to make the selection. Do the same all the other companies, which comprise the portfolio. Click on the NEW button after all selections are made. The output sheet will be displayed. From the File menu, option, choose the option Save as user set. Save the user set by the name portfolio.psu into the default folder usersets. The userset thus created can be viewed in the company classifications sub-menu under the Module Select Company by name. One must click on the Refresh button (bottom left hand side) to view the user set. Place a tick in the checkbox against the desired user set and click on the NEW button to load the set of companies.

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Analysis: The resultant output sheet contains the list of companies comprising the portfolio of the investor. The user can then run queries on this set of companies. The creation of such user sets allows the user to effectively save time in cases where data is frequently sought for a set of companies (which are regularly accessed). Usersets can also be easily edited as per the changes occurring in the portfolio. To edit a user set: Load the user set on the output sheet using the company classifications menu. Delete the unwanted companies by using the Delete Row icon. To add companies to the user set, go to the sub-module Select company by name under the module Select Company by name and key in the desired company and make the selection. Click on the ADD button after the required companies have been selected. The user set thus modified can again be saved as a user set with a different name (or replaced) using the Save as user set option under the File menu. Illustration No. 2: Find all the Create a user set of listed real estate companies, which possess the financials for both 2007 and 2008. Ans: Go to Select Company by name Select company classifications Choose Real Estate under the classification industry by placing a tick in the square provided (Industry/Non-Financial/ Construction/ Real Estate) Execute New button Go back to Query Window Go to Select Company by Name/Company Classifications Unselect Cement by removing the tick against it. Select Listed / Permitted cos in CMIE sets in company classifications Execute AND Go back to Query Window Go to Query by Finance Stocks/ Audited Financial Results In the list of expressions, select the very first expression Finance Year by placing a tick in the S column. In the Query on Year field, type: 200703&200803 Execute AND button. Analysis: The resultant output sheet contains the list of companies satisfying the users criteria. It can be saved as a user set by using the Save as user set option under file menu. This file has a .psu extension and must be saved in the default folder viz. usersets. After the creation of a new user set, click on the Refresh button (bottom left hand side) of the Company classifications module window. The newly created user set will now be displayed in the usersets frame within the Company Classifications sub-module.

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7. OUTPUT FORMATS
By default, on execution of a query, the company is always displayed in the Row of the output sheet while Indicators and Dates are displayed in the columns. Often, it may happen that the resultant output is not very reader-friendly due to this output format. This happens when the user needs to scroll horizontally owing to many columns but few rows. Output Sheets are more reader-friendly when then contain fewer columns than rows in case of an output grid. Three kinds of data are displayed in an output grid: i. The company/set. ii. The expressions i.e. indicators selected by the user. iii. The year/period/date on which the query runs. Based on whichever data type is maximum in number, the same can be set to appear in the row of the output sheet. For example, if for a single company, a single indicator is to be viewed for 30 different dates, it is prudent to make changes to the settings so that the date appears in the row (and not the default type company). Following are the various sub-modules in which the Rows and Columns can be interchanged: Query by Finance Stocks/Audited Financial Results Query by Finance Stocks/Interim Financial Results Query by Finance Stocks/Stock Prices and Indicators Query by Basic Information/ Equity Holding Information Select Indices/Index Numbers Perform Aggregates/Aggregate Financial Results Perform Aggregates /Aggregate Interim Results Perform Aggregates /Aggregate Stock Indicators In the query tab of each of these sub-modules, two fields viz. Output Type and Source Type is given. The field Output Type indicates what will appear in the row of an output sheet. Default type is Company The field Source Type indicates what will appear in the column of an output sheet. Default type is None which indicates parameters other than the company type appear in columns. Illustration: Compare the Income Details of Infosys from March 2002 till March 2008. Solution: Go to module Select Company by name Go to sub-module Select company by name Enter Infosys. Double click on the displayed entry to select it. Execute New Go back to Query Window Go to Query by Finance / Stocks Go to Audited Financial Results The third expression in the Query tab is Income. Using control + Click, place a tick against Income in the S column. This will select all the various break-ups of the income details.

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In query on year, enter: 200203-200803 Select Output type Indicator Execute New Analysis: The query entered had 70 indicators (there are 70 hierarchical break-ups of the indicator income), one company and seven years. Therefore, the output becomes reader-friendly if the indicators (which are maximum in number) are displayed in the rows. The resultant output for above example will display the indicators in rows while the seven years queried are displayed in columns.

Make multiple selections of a hierarchy by using control + click

Change Output type to Indicator

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