Data required for Portfolio Slicer
Overview
Portfolio Slicer works by combining your own portfolio data with external market data.
In practice, that means you need to maintain two kinds of inputs:
- data you enter in Excel tables
- data stored in external files such as quotes and currency conversion history
Understanding that split is one of the keys to understanding how Portfolio Slicer works.
The diagram below shows Portfolio Slicer source data and how it moves into the C:\PortfolioSlicer\PSData folder and then into the report files. Click the image to open a larger version.
Data You Maintain in Excel
Portfolio Slicer uses Excel tables to store information about your portfolio structure and activity.
The main Excel tables are:
- Config table
- ReportCurrency table
- Account table
- Allocation table
- Symbol table
- SymbolSector table
- SymbolAlias table
- SymbolAllocation table
- CompareTo table
- Transactions table
What Changes Often
The table that usually changes most often is the Transactions table, because it records ongoing portfolio activity such as buys, sells, transfers, dividends, and cash movements.
What Changes Less Often
Tables such as Account, Allocation, ReportCurrency, and Symbol usually change less often once your setup is established.
External Files Portfolio Slicer Needs
Portfolio Slicer also relies on external files that provide market and calendar data.
The main files are:
These files are normally stored in the PSData folder and are commonly generated or updated with the provided script set.
Why External Files Are Separate
Market data changes regularly, while your structural portfolio data does not.
Keeping external data outside the workbook makes it possible to:
- refresh quotes and exchange rates without rebuilding the workbook
- maintain long market history files separately
- reuse the same data across multiple reports or workbooks
Minimum Practical Data Set
To get Portfolio Slicer working for the first time, you typically need:
- a valid Config setup
- at least one reporting currency
- at least one account
- at least one symbol
- enough transactions to establish holdings
- quotes for those symbols
- currency data if more than one currency is involved
Dividend data may be optional depending on how you choose to track income.
Common Data Problems
Many Portfolio Slicer issues come from data mismatches rather than workbook problems.
Common examples include:
- symbol names in Excel not matching symbol names in
Quotes.csv - missing quote history for a symbol
- missing currency conversion history
- incomplete transaction history
- incorrect
MinDate