Department Lookup

When posting I cannot search or get the list of departments, in the department fields the accounts come up. I am wondering how I can pick/see the departments without having them memorized?

Hi Doreen

That question is too vague. What module are you using and what screen? It can't be while "posting" in the way Adagio uses that word. Maybe you meant "entering a transaction"?

Please expand.

Steve

Yes sorry you are right, when entering transactions in GL or AP I cannot lookup the department and get the description. When I use the lookup button I get the accounts. Maybe there is a way to change this in the setup? Right now I have to look them up on a printed list.

Hi Doreen,

There is no way that I know of to look up the department by description from the journal entry screen in the Ledger. However, if you have lanpaks, you can open a second instance of Ledger on another screen and have the Edit>Departments window open and use the F6 key to look up by description using the smart finder.

It's not much better than having a printed listing in front of you unless you have a lot of departments. The same thing would apply if you were keying in AP. Have the GL open on another screen with the Edit>departments window open to search using the F6 key.

If you don't have Lanpaks free, you could go to Edit>departments and use the excel direct button to put the departments in a spreadsheet and use the filters or Find function in Excel to search the list on another screen while doing entries.

Of course, these options only work well if you have a second screen.

Hi Doreen,

If you are not using the second description or optional fields associated with the account, then you can build an Excel sheet with the department names and import them into the account master. Then use the Grid editor to place the second description or optional field on the Finder Grid so that you can see the department name when you press F5.

Your Adagio Consultant would be able to set this up for you pretty quickly.

A couple of questions for the audience:

What sequence of keystrokes do you use to enter:

• A GL account and department where you know both values
• A GL account where you know the account and not the department

Currently, when you type in an account without using the Finder (F5), the department is populated with the first department in the list. If you tab into the department field and press down-arrow, would you prefer to see:

• All the accounts-departments so that you can choose a different account if necessary (this is the way it is now). -or-
• Just the departments that are available for that specific account (which may be empty), necessitating an escape and backtab to change the account if the wrong account was chosen initially.

All comments welcome.

Andew

When both values are known then the current process works fine.

When the account is known but not the dept them the f5 needs to display the dept description.

Hi Doug,

Since you didn't describe any keypresses, I'll assume you are answering question 2. But you didn't really answer question 2.

Is it acceptable to show just the departments that are valid for the chosen account, forcing an ESCAPE-BACKTAB sequence to select another account if the department isn't there that you expect, or is it useful to have the full chart of accounts available for selection - the way it currently works.

Andrew:

What sequence of keystrokes do you use to enter:

A GL account and department where you know both values - Yes

A GL account where you know the account and not the department - Enter the account number, tab to Dept field and press F5. The way this works now if fine except I have had requests to show the Dept name.


Currently, when you type in an account without using the Finder (F5), the department is populated with the first department in the list. If you tab into the department field and press down-arrow, would you prefer to see:

All the accounts-departments so that you can choose a different account if necessary (this is the way it is now). -or-

Just the departments that are available for that specific account (which may be empty), necessitating an escape and backtab to change the account if the wrong account was chosen initially.

Option 1. Again with a column that shows the Dept names.

Andrew:

I vote for Option 2. It's always been a puzzle to me why the Finders for the Account and the Department basically show the same information. I would say that the user enters the base Account code correctly at least 95% of the time. If the user then selects the Finder on the Department field, they are looking to see which Department(s) match the base Account.

If the Department name can also be displayed as Doug suggests, that's a bonus.

I agree, I think that only the departments that apply should be listed but the actual department description should be shown. Showing the exact same account list doesn't do anything helpful.

Andrew:

At the end of the day I would also be okay with Option 2. It looks like the consensus is that the department name should be shown.

We will be adding the department description to the Grid Editor so that it can be added to the Finder.

Since we are looking at that code, we are discussing the further change contemplated by question 2. We will consider your vote "changed".

Thank you Andrew, I will look forward to that.

So you know.....

In the current releases of Adagio applications the department list is restricted to the current account if you have set your account/department finder to 'Active Records Only' in the grid settings.

This has been fixed in the Ledger 92B (170218) SP.

The finder on the GL Department field is now restricted to the departments for the account selected.

The GL Department Description is now available to be added to the GL Account finder with the Column Editor.