Frequently Asked Questions

Q – Is there a way to search for duplicate Social Security numbers in Payroll?

A – Yes. In Sage Accpac ERP v5.4, you can search for duplicate numbers in the Find Duplicate SSN window.

When setting up employees, you may have inadvertently assigned the same social security to more than one employee.  This report will help you identify employees who have been assigned the same number.

The Find Duplicate SSN icon can be found under the Payroll Periodic Processing folder:

Q – We have run into issues with units of measure when setting up new items in the Inventory Control.  Our users are using different codes for “EACH”.  Is there a way to set up a standard list of units of measure and set Accpac so only these selections are available?

A – Yes. In Sage Accpac ERP v5.4, you can now set up a centralized list of the units of measure that you use for your inventory items, along with conversion factors for converting between different units, so you can add them more easily to item records in the Inventory Control module.

Units of measure are the quantities in which you buy, sell, price, and stock your goods. Units of measure can be numbers of items, dry measures, liquid measures, or weights. 

You can add all of your stocking units and multiples of stocking units to the Units of Measure window located under the Inventory Control Setup folder.

To add new units of measure enter the following information (If units of measure have already been added to the Units of Measure form, you will have to press the Insert key to start a new line):

1. The unit of measure code.
2. The default conversion factor between the stocking unit of measure and this unit of measure.
   This is a default conversion factor. You can change it when you add units of measure to item records.

The next step is to set the “Only Use Defined UOM” setting:

3. Open the Inventory Control Options window located under the Inventory Control Setup folder and click on the checkbox next to the “Only Use Defined UOM” setting
4. Click on Save

Note:  This option only affects new inventory items or new units of measure that you add to existing items. If you turn on this option, it will have no effect on existing items unless you add new units of measure to item records.

Q – Can I add new On-screen Coaching?

A – Yes. As an administrator, you can add on-screen coaching for any screen in CRM. You can also edit existing on-screen coaching. To add on-screen coaching to a CRM screen:

1. Select Administration | Customization | Translations. Select the Inline Coaching Caption Editing checkbox and then return to the screen to which you wish to add on-screen coaching. Then click on the Add/Edit Coaching Text link.
2. Select the appropriate radio button on the on-screen coaching dialog box.
   Create New On-screen Coaching Text allows you to add on-screen coaching for the current screen.
   Re-use Existing On-screen Coaching Text allows you to select and re-use text that is already being used on another screen. When using this option, any changes you make to the on-screen coaching text appear on all other screens that use this text. Select the caption you wish to re-use from the Existing On-screen Coaching Entries list.
   Clone Existing On-screen Coaching Text allows you to select and re-use text that is already being used on another screen. When using this option, any changes you make to the on-screen coaching text will not appear on any other screens. Select the caption you wish to clone on the Existing On-screen Coaching Entries list.
3. Enter your on-screen coaching text.
4. Click on the Save button.

Q – Can I check if an Outlook contact already exists in CRM?

A – Yes. When adding a contact from Outlook to CRM, users are presented with a list of possible matches for the new contact that are already in the CRM system.

If the new contact already exists in CRM, the user can select this person from the available list. If no matching contact exists, the user can choose to ignore the list offered by CRM and continue adding their new contact.

To check if an Outlook contact already exists in CRM:

1. Select the CRM button in Outlook and log on to CRM.
   CRM is displayed within Outlook. In Outlook Contacts, select the contact you wish to add to CRM and click on the Add Contact button. If CRM detects possible matches to the new contact, a list of possible matches is offered.
2. If a record in the list matches the new contact you are adding, click on the hyperlink for the person.
   The new person screen is displayed. From here, you can add further details for the new contact if you wish. Select the Save button to finish adding the contact.
3. If the new contact does not match any record in the list, click on the Ignore Warning and Enter Individual button to continue. The person summary screen is displayed.

Q – How can I have General Ledger account balances recalculated?

A – Discrepancies in the GLBALS table can cause serious problems with critical financial reports such as the Income Statement and Balance Sheet. The Recalculate GL Account Balances function identifies and repairs out-of-balance batches and accounts. This feature replaces the FIXBALS and GLBLREC programs that were separately installed in previous versions.

Follow the steps below to execute this function:

Important
Create a full and verified backup before proceeding. The data in the tables will be updated when choosing to repair discrepancies.

1. Open System Manager.
2. Under the Transaction menu, point to System Recovery and click Recalculate GL Account Balances.
3. Select all appropriate options and click Proceed.
4. Click Yes when asked if ready to recalculate.
5. Once complete, a message appears stating how many discrepancies were found and fixed.
6. Click OK.

The recalculation routine performs a number of validations. Refer to the table below for a list of routines that will be fixed if Update Records was enabled in the option grid.
Recalculate Routines

Q – How can I show components of a bill of material on a Sales Order?

A – There are two methods by which components appear on a sales order (SO). Review the descriptions below to determine which option will best meet the needs of the organization. These should best tested in a test environment before implementing in a live company.

Kit During SO Entry: This option treats the BOM as a kit item. All of the components will appear on the SO when this kit item is ordered.

Example One

"KIT1" is a kit item which has components "C1," "C2" and "C3." The SO will display "C1," "C2" and "C3" as line items on the order and "KIT1" will not appear.

Note:
Two options are presented when adding a kit item to a sales order: Kit Now or Sell Item. The components of the kit item will appear on the SO if Kit Now is clicked. However if Sell Item is clicked, the kit item will appear on the SO without any components.

SO Note Type: This option will send the BOM information to the SO as a customer note, internal memo or both. The notes, memo, or both settings should be used to allow components to appear on the sales order the Component list into. See below to review how each setting will appear:

• Components list into notes: The components of the BOM will appear on the SO under the BOM item line.
• Component list into memo: The components of the BOM will appear on the picking ticket for internal use only; not on the SO.
• Component list into both: The components of the BOM will appear on both the picking ticket and the SO, under that line item.

Note: There are other settings for the SO Note Type field; this article only discusses three of them. For more information regarding this option, please refer to "Adding a New Bill of Materials" in the BOM documentation.

Q – Is it possible to setup cost levels in Purchase Orders?

A – In Sage Pro ERP 7.3, cost level functionality was introduced in Purchase Orders (PO). Here is explained how cost levels are setup and how to best use this feature.

Cost levels may be used to specify costs for different quantity ranges of items that are purchased from vendors. This may be especially useful when dealing with vendors who offer differentiated pricing based on the quantity purchased. This feature also allows for setting effective date ranges that can be useful for limited-time or announced vendor price changes for the future.

Cost levels are not required for items and vendors. If there is no cost level available for an item while entering a purchase order, the last cost recorded for the vendor will be used. This value is obtained from ICSUPL.Lastcst (as it works in Pro Series 7.2 and prior versions).

However, if a cost level is defined for a particular item, the appropriate cost will be applied rather than the last cost. Please refer to Knowledgebase article 20480 for more information.

Note: Cost levels are not maintained for product returns or for Job Cost.To setup cost levels, follow the steps below. For the purpose of this demonstration, data in Company 99 will be used.

1. Open PO
2. Under the Maintain menu, click Cost Levels. The Cost Level Maintenance screen should appear.
3. Enter a vendor ID ("ABC1") into the Vendor field. This vendor must have items assigned to it.
4. Click Add when prompted with the message "No cost levels exist for ABC1."
5. Select an item or select a vendor part number and select which item this cost level will be applied to, such as "A2EW."
6. Click Add when prompted with the message "No cost levels exist for item A2EW supplied by vendor ABC1."
7. Specify dates to define a period of time that this cost level will be effective. These fields may be left blank.
8. The Ending Quantity field should be available. Type a value, such as "50," to define the first cost level.
9. Specify the unit cost for this quantity range, such as "500." The unit cost must a value greater than "0" and can be entered in both base and foreign currency.
10. Click Save Line.Note: The Beginning Quantity field will be automatically populated with a value of "51" and the Ending Quantity field should be available to specify the next quantity range. No value is ever manually typed into the Beginning Quantity field; it is always automatically calculated by the system for the creation of a new quantity range.
11. Specify a second Ending Quantity value for the second quantity range. For example, type "100."
12. Continue specifying as many quantity ranges as required. The last range entered should have a value of "99999999.999" which is the default value. This is the maximum quantity that can be purchased for this item. All purchase orders that fall within this range, will use this unit cost.Note: If the ending quantity value is edited, preceding and succeeding quantity ranges will be adjusted accordingly. Changing the ending quantity to the maximum value will remove any quantity ranges that do not fall within this new range. For example, a quantity range of 51-100 is changed to 51-99999999.999 (the maximum). All subsequent ranges (101-150, 151-200, and so on) will be deleted.
13. Save.

Note: This should be tested in the sample company before implementing in a live system. Enter purchase orders for various quantities and notice how the price fluctuates based on the cost levels