Hello again...

In my continual quest to finish the testing of the OE system for invoicing here at ALSI, I ran into a bit of a snag. I have read the help menues and I still cannot seem to get it working.

In Accounts Receivable we use:

Reference: Order number (workorder number)
Description Line 1 (description of project)
Description Line 2 (profile profile number)
Optional Field 1 (used for PO Number)

They were imported fields from a third party software program and I need to get that data into OE to feed to AR.

So, in OE, I have thus far:

Reference: Purchase Order (which feeds to AR)
Comments Line 1: Project Description (does not feed to AR)
Comments Line 2: Profile Number (does not feed to AR)
Optional Field: Not used since the OE "Order Number" will be used as our Workorder number which feeds to the AR entry line "Description Line 1"

I think I am just confused on the mapping. The reference goes to the reference line. The OE order number goes to the Line 1 description line with a long text: OE: Original Order# XXXXXX".

I need to figure out how to get the remaining two items to AR. I tried the optional fields in OE but they didn't feed to AR after testing.

Also, is there a way to modify the obove text from OE to AR to just show the OE order number instead of the whole statement "OE: Original Order# xxxxxx"?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

Hi Jim,

Currently there are no choices for what information from the OE invoice gets fed to the AR document. What you listed for the reference and the first description is what ends up in AR. There are no options to send different information nor change the text that goes with the order number. This is mostly due to legacy compatibility requirements.

It would be interesting to have a feature such as 'Send to AR reference', 'Send to AR description 1' and so on, like there is for what gets sent to the GL batch, but currently this is not available.

To add to this:

I may be thinking a bit "old school" and how I used to do things. Just because that is what it was.. doesn't mean that is the way it has to be. Meaning the batch file may not need the data if it is accessable in AR already.

After looking further into my Test customer in which I created a few OE invoices, I saw that they were listed in the transaction screen under OE invoices and that when I modified the column headers was able to populate and see the OE "Comment Lines". This might be good enough for viewing in AR.

One additional question: Can those OE comment Line fields be added to the AR spec file to generate a monthly statement? I didn't see them as an option when I looked at the AR spec. My customers are used to seeing that data and I have many that actually pay from the monthly statement.

Thanks.

Ah. Just knowing it can't be modifed will stop me from trying to make it happen. Like you said, it would be great if it can be customized and maybe I was thinking it could be since the GL fields were so nicely laid out to allow exactly what I wanted.

Thanks!

Hi Jim,

Currently the Comment fields on the OE order header do not flow to AR documents, meaning that they are not available for printing on statements. Should we implement the capability of customizing which information on the OE invoice goes to AR, such as these comments, then the answer for your question would change to Yes, this can be printed on statements.
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Here is something that just might work for you, in using the optional fields to send the desired information from OE to AR. You need the current versions AR90A and OE81C. What you need to do is define the optional fields in OE and the respective Batch optional fields in AR with exactly the same title, including capitalization. You must also use the 'Direct' method in the OE company profile for creating AR batches when Day End processing is performed.

If this is setup, then when you create an OE order, you would enter the desired project description, profile number and PO number into optional fields. Then when Day End is done and the AR invoice batch created, this information will be found in the Batch optional fields, as opposed to the Description fields. These batch optional fields can be printed on customer statements.

As an example for you to test out if desired, make the OE optional field text 1 = 'Project desc' and the AR Batch optional fields text 1 = 'Project desc' as well. Also ensure that Direct is the Receivables batch type as set on the System Options tab on the OE company profile. Then do an order and invoice, then run Day End. You should see an AR invoice batch with that optional 'Project desc' information.

As a side note, if you defined the AR Customer optional field text 1 = 'Project desc' as well, then if you edit a customer and put information into the text optional field there, then when you create a new order for that customer, the optional text info will automatically populate the OE optional field of the same name.

Excellent!

I can't wait to try it.

Thanks a ton for the support.

Just tell me who your supervisor is and I will tell them you deserve a raise!

Hi Jim

You may not realize it, but tech support actually runs Softrak. Everybody above them are figureheads.

Steve
(I don't work for Softrak)

LOL, Steve.

Follow up to this. I have the correct versions of AR and OE and the direct flag setting is set.

I was able to make the String Field 1 to come over form OE to the AR batch, but cannot seem to get String field 2 and 3 no matter what I try. I even reduced what I typed to just one letter as a description in case I was continually messing up the "exactness" of the text. Field 1 works great.

Any ideas on what I could be missing? Is it maybe that only String Field 1 is the only field that will come from OE to the AR batch?

Hi Jim,

To get this flow for optional fields, you need to have the identical respective field titles. So the Text 1 title needs to be same for OE and AR batch optional fields. And Text 2 needs to be the same in both, and Text 3, and so on. You cannot match say Optional Text 1 in OE to Optional Batch Text 3 in AR - it must be 1 with 1, 2 with 2 and 3 with 3.

I tried it out and all 9 optional fields do correctly send the information, provided the titles match, including capitalization.

This was good to hear and very encouraging so I could solve some data flow items I need. Now, if only I could duplicate what you did. Alas, I cannot. I do not know why the first Text field goes over to AR but the other 4 I setup do not. The titles match exactly.

I give up. I guess I give my consultant a call.