Technology in Practice

FDA software validation is when an FDA-regulated company “establishes documented evidence which provides a high degree of assurance that a specific process will consistently produce a product meeting its predetermined specifications and quality attributes.” While the FDA provides guidelines regarding software validation, it does not tell companies exactly how to do it. Each company must determine how to do so and provide evidence that is has been done and that the software meets FDA requirements. And even though most software is purchased from a third-party, the third-party vendor is not responsible for validation. The responsibility lies with the company itself. Who needs to validate software? All companies in FDA regulated industries are legally required to validate software if that software could impact product quality, safety, or effectiveness. Sample industries include food and beverage manufacturers, pharmaceuticals, botanicals, medical devices, surgical instruments, dental equipment and supplies, ophthalmic supplies, and orthopedics to name a few (and the parts/ingredients used to produce these goods). Even if you are not in an FDA regulated industry, validation is still a good idea for businesses that want to improve quality. FDA software validation helps manufacturers reduce risk and ensure their products are produced and distributed according to high quality standards. How do you validate software? Validating software involves establishing documented evidence that proves the software consistently meets predetermined specifications and quality attributes—that is satisfies its intended use. The goal of validation is not only to prove the software works correctly and consistently, but to also identify, document, and mitigate any issues that could negatively impact production of regulated goods or their parts/ingredients. Computer System Validation (CSV) Use Case with Performance Validation Our partner, Performance Validation, has been serving the life science industries since 1988, and is a nationwide leader in providing validation, commissioning, and quality services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device manufacturers. Recently, a medical technology company was upgrading their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system to the latest Sage X3 platform in order to improve their efficiencies in accounting, distribution, and manufacturing. They would be implementing the Sage X3 platform as a SaaS (Software as a Service) with a browser-based interface. The scope of the system implementation was to include warehouse, customer care, field service, purchasing, planning, manufacturing, document control, handheld scanner, and quality control components. Computer System Validation would be required to bring the system into FDA GxP compliance. The company contracted Performance Validation (PV) to create a Computer System Validation (CSV) package for their new system. As a previous client, the company’s stakeholders were happy with the templates, format, and content of the validation package delivered by PV. At the client’s request, PV worked remotely to develop system documentation that would comply with the client’s internal procedures. The client also requested that on-site test execution would be performed, as necessary, to qualify peripherals and to get additional assistance from the client’s Subject Matter Experts (SME). The PV Advantage PV established reoccurring meetings with the client stakeholders to gain information for the creation of a validation plan and to complete assessments (Risk and 21 CFR Part 11). On completion of the system documentation, the PV team accelerated their effort toward writing of the test protocol to ensure adherence to the client’s timeline for implementation. The following components detail the PV solution: 1. PV created a Validation Plan to outline the validation deliverables and the strategy for qualification testing. This document included: A System Risk Assessment was performed and documented following the ISPE GAMP 5 Guide. The software was assessed as a GAMP Category 4 (configured software), with low risk for both likelihood and severity of system component failures. Based on the results of the assessment, PV was able to right-size the qualification phase to focus on integrated testing of standard workflows and configured functionalities, rather than detailed quality testing of individual low-level software component details. 21 CFR Part 11 compliance assessment. PV understood the regulations, the FDA Guidance, and the preamble requirements. This assessment outlined areas of the software that needed to be addressed with a procedure (i.e., gaps) and was also used to create user requirements. A summary of how the gaps were addressed was also generated to include with the validation package. User roles and responsibilities were defined including limitations, exclusions, and assumptions. Requirements for procedural documentation governing security, business continuity, training, and overall validation management were listed. 2. PV created a User Requirements Specification document. The document was develop based on a client-provided spreadsheet list which listed the software requirements to support the business process of each affected department within the organization (example: accounting, warehouse, purchasing, etc..) as well as a list of the “end-to-end” processes. Requirements were developed over several rounds of stakeholder reviews and updates to sort out redundancies and refine the specific required software functionality. The PV team’s extensive years of experience in writing requirement documents for computer systems enabled them to write testable, concise, and repeatable requirements. At the client’s request, the PV team gave additional focus to requirements for several key user roles within organization. A user roles and permissions table was generated and included with the User Requirements Specification to ensure that system permissions satisfied the customer’s business processes, and that these permissions would be tested. Although the Sage X3 software platform is web-based and provided as a Software as a Service “SaaS”, PV identified several peripheral client access components to be included for validation. 3. PV generated initial drafts of the test protocols by exploring the software, help menus, and forums initially. The team then began scheduling time with individual SMEs for respective business areas for support in drafting the test scripts in a manner that ensured that the testing would be reproducible. Final drafts of all test protocols were entered into client’s document management system to be routed for approval. 4. PV sent a team member to the clients’ site to execute testing and to provide guidance, to facilitate review of executed test scripts, and to ensure expedient execution for the remaining user acceptance scripts. A second PV team member simultaneously performed off-site remote testing from the PV office location. It is worth noting that we have since performed several other Sage X3 validations completely remotely, without any onsite execution. 5. PV created a Requirements Traceability Matrix to document where each user requirement was qualified as evidenced by either testing or vendor documentation. 6. Concerns regarding the system and documentation were brought to the attention of the Quality Assurance department in a timely manner to ensure they were appropriately addressed as early as possible to avoid further remediation. 7. PV provided regular project status updates on progress of the validation deliverables, project budget, and risks to the project and schedule. 8. The team delivered a Validation Summary Report to record the delivery of all the planned validation deliverables and to detail how the clients’ documentation satisfied regulatory requirements. The Results The Sage X3 ERP validation was completed ahead of schedule, meeting the customer’s overall system implementation deadlines. The company gained awareness of gaps in their procedures and security and resolved them. PV completed the validation effort by practicing excellent documentation standards, testing processes, and a focus on the customer needs. This medical device company now has an ERP system that is compliant with FDA regulations for computerized systems. The Benefits Performance Validation provided the client with consultation through understanding the software, the stakeholders and their needs, and proposing the best fitting validation strategy for an Enterprise Resource Planning solution. Performance Validation’s experience with creating testable User Requirements from various inputs helped expedite that portion of the project. Experience testing user roles was also valuable to streamline the testing documentation. For more information on computer system validation for FDA compliance, please contact us.

In this video we demonstrate the new document recognition feature in Acumatica Cloud ERP. This is used to create bills based on an invoice for quick entries. Contact Us if you have any questions or would like more information about Acumatica features and enhancements. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Do you constantly find yourself going through multiple steps to get to a Sage X3 query only to end up exporting it into Excel? Sage X3 gives you the ability to refresh the data right inside excel. Pre-requisites: 1. You need to install the Sage Add-in (Utilities > Installation > Install addins for Office). 2. You need to have built the query and know the unique code that you are setting this up for. Bookmark Sage Support Resources today! Instructions: 1. Go to List of menu items (Administration > Authoring > Pages > Menu item). 2. Select ‘Create menu item’. 3. Enter in the following fields (* indicates that they are required): Code: Required Title: Required Application: X3ERP Endpoint: Folder Name Query Name: Required 4. Save. 5. Once you create the menu item, you can select ‘Excel report’. 6. Select ‘No template’ > Ok > Open Excel. 7. You may be prompted to log in with your Sage X3 credentials, you will see the query load. 8. Now to refresh the data, you will select the ‘Refresh’ icon. 9. Save the excel file. 10. The next time you open the excel file, you will be prompted to authenticate and can use the refresh icon to update the data. You will not be required to go back and re-export to see the updated data. For more information on refreshing your Sage X3 query in MS Excel, or for any other Sage X3 questions, please contact us.

The 2020 experience has every company thinking about its workforce. Whether it was keeping teams safe, helping them be productive from home, or finding judicious cuts that would shore up sagging cash flows, business leaders dealt with unforeseen challenges. Now, in 2021, it’s time to reset for growth, finding new customers and moving more product. Your workforce is, of course, a critical driver of initiatives like these, and therefore perfecting your HR practices will be more important than ever. Given their prominent role, HR teams need to have the confidence and common language to partner with peers across the organization to achieve this year’s business goals. This “common language” turns subjective topics such as talent development into targeted, personally-achievable goals for each team member. Teams would do well to revisit these goals throughout any year, but 2021 will present a unique requirement to focus on a select few. Looking to Learn More About HR Solutions for NetSuite? Our NetSuite experts are ready to answer any questions you may have. 1-800-719-3307 Ext 2. | Email Here In short: HR should work closely with cross-functional teams to proactively manage KPIs related to human capital and get a granular view of costs across the organization. As businesses return, at least partially, to a more typical workforce and associated measurements, they must take new or previously under-emphasized metrics into account. Understanding metrics such as labor costs, unemployment costs and cost of benefits requires specific knowledge of regulations, tax rates and legal considerations — and we’ve got you covered. Here are Five Human Capital Analytics Factors That Will Likely Get More Attention in 2021: 1. Unemployment claims cost In 2020 Q4, the nationwide unemployment rate remained mostly unchanged throughout the quarter, at 6.7%, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This number is nearly twice what the agency reported in February 2020, but much lower than April’s numbers. Now, in early 2021, the way that HR manages internal unemployment numbers and new unemployment claims will shift. Unemployment claims cost is an HR and finance metric determined by both experience (i.e., the number of claims) and the state and federal unemployment taxes which employers must pay on the number of allowed claims from former employees. Keep in mind the variables here: First off, unemployment insurance varies by state. Secondly, just as with car insurance, the number and severity of claims affect premiums. The tax rates increase with harder hits and higher frequency. And some states are giving employers a break from premium hikes. Companies pay “SUTA” taxes (State Unemployment Tax Act) on a percentage — within a range determined by the state — of each employee’s earnings. States assign SUTA tax rates for each business based on industry, as well as the volume of current and separated employees who file for unemployment benefits. These ranges can be quite large: Kentucky’s, for example, is 3.5-10%. The “FUTA” tax rate (Federal Unemployment Tax Act), meanwhile, is 6% across all industries and applies to the first $7,000 you pay each employee during the year. Unemployment claims costs go far beyond the cost of paying out benefits. During most of 2020, we generally accepted that if an organization terminated an employee, it was due to pandemic-related causes. Fast-forward to 21Q1, and organizations have had time to reorganize and right-size their labor models. For the most part, the scramble is over, and companies are hoping that customer and financial confidence will return in the second half of 2021, if not sooner. In 2020, many employers didn’t contest any new unemployment claims, but that “all-allowed” approach is shifting in 2021. Check with your state’s unemployment office to learn specifically how your company’s unemployment experience is affecting your tax rate. Reducing your company’s number of unemployment claims by thoroughly documenting the reasons for termination can help set your unemployment claims costs back to pre-pandemic numbers more quickly. 2. Cost of turnover Employee turnover is extremely expensive, with both tangible and intangible costs associated. A company can easily save thousands of dollars by objectively evaluating talent and formulating employee retention strategies. Free internet tools can estimate the cost of turnover by position. Generally, a company can use the hourly average rate of pay, salary of the supervisor and HR recruitment wages to create an Excel formula that may look something like this: Payout of time off benefits such as sick or vacation time earned and accrued + Unemployment costs + Severance + Team member added shifts or overtime to compensate for vacancy (multiplied by the number of days it takes to fill the position) + Labor cost of temporary workers + Contract trainers + Recruitment marketing + Cost of pre-employment screenings such as background and drug checks = Tangible cost of turning over one employee Leaders cannot ignore the intangible costs of employee turnover, either. These may include loss of knowledge that slows operations, a new-hire learning curve that adversely impacts the quality of customer service or product development, or the costs of interviewing, onboarding and providing additional coaching to new hires. Clearly, there is a significant reduction in costs if an organization is experiencing a 10% turnover versus a 20% turnover. As HR spends more time on recruitment and training, they’ll either incur overtime or give less attention to other duties — incurring not new costs, but costs in the form of lost opportunities to do other work. Using a simplified cost of turnover calculator, we can calculate that an hourly employee compensated $20 per hour who reports to a supervisor compensated $50,000 and supported by an HR coordinator making $45,000 equates to a $8,800 tangible and intangible cost of turnover. A commonly-accepted rule of thumb is that one turnover equals 25% of the departing employee’s wages or salary. This generality is likely not specific enough for our finance peers, which is why we recommend creating a spreadsheet tracking the organization’s true expenses. When turnover becomes an issue, it’ll be worth digging back to determine historical costs if they haven’t been closely monitored to date. Monitoring the causes of employee turnover also allows HR and managers to create techniques that reduce turnover rate, then go a step further to dissect useful metrics and identify turnover by performance. Leaders should set goals around turnover causality and turnover rate reduction early in the year, then review them in 60-90 days. This ensures performance and organizational direction align and that performance measurements are documented. Once finance and HR establish objective scores, a company can, for instance, identify if turnover is occurring among the highest performers. If so, it can then work to pinpoint the reason. 3. Technology cost Technology cost expenses are associated with the development, acquisition, implementation, deployment and maintenance of assets of technology that includes depreciation and amortization, according to lawdictionary.com. (Development Cost + Acquisition Cost + Implementation Cost + Deployment Cost + Maintenance Cost) + (Depreciation + Amortization) = Technology Cost To explain in financial and HR terms, this cost may include variables such as cost per-user per-month, cost by population, merging of data, software implementation, integration with other in-house software and the all-important end-user support. To align HR and finance, the user should be able to identify areas for savings and inspire ideas for revenue enhancements. Technology to assist these efforts has never been more readily available, and using it to automate business processes in 2021 is critical. Determining the HR priorities of the company while researching dozens of products that may meet those needs for a reasonable cost is a challenge. With the proper technology, talent acquisition efforts are broader and positions are filled more quickly. 4. Benefit costs Benefit costs reflect money allocated in an employer’s total rewards package outside of wages or salary to create an employer value proposition (EVP). Total Rewards Package – Wages/Salary = Benefit Costs The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported at the end of 2020 that private sector employers paid on average 29.8% in benefits costs, while state and local governments paid 38.2% during the year. The average hourly wage was $26.25, while benefits cost $12.01. Image Credit: Bureau of Labor Statistics (opens in a new tab) To find accurate health plan cost increases for your industry, visit resources like Salary.com or the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). In early 2021, HR and finance professionals should consider strategies to mitigate likely healthcare cost increases. Offering employees a choice of health plans can save benefit costs. High-deductible health plans are not a fit for all — in some industries, lower-paid employees forgo company health benefits because state subsidies are available to them. In this case, the company experiences a lower take rate, which may adversely affect the bargaining power when negotiating premiums from year to year. 5. Labor cost Labor cost is a metric that cross-discipline senior leaders must understand and manage in any company. How leaders report it as they draft strategies, however, will vary by industry and business model. Labor cost-related metrics frequently include revenue per employee (derived from revenue divided by FTE count) and profit per employee (derived from profit divided by FTE count). If leadership is not aware or does not have quick access to this information, it’s an organizational disadvantage — but one that can be corrected. Clearly, the compensation forecast process is nontraditional this year for many organizations. There are ways to ensure your company’s labor strategy is competitive with the talent market: Consider using compensation management software, talent acquisition marketing analytics and timely wage and salary data when drafting such strategies. The SHRM and Salary.com also offer industry-specific data on salary increase budgets for the year. Possible wage freezes, reduction in wages and performance awards, incentives, continued salary reductions and severance agreements as a product of restructuring are line items that finance, in partnership with HR, should carefully reconsider and update to align with desired 2021 financial outcomes. Last year, many companies implemented cost-saving measures such as reduced salaries, suspension of incentive and bonus payments and reduction of benefits. When taking these measures, especially when reducing hours or salary, the employer needed to make a new agreement with the employee — whether as an amendment to the original job offer or an updated job description or employment contract. It’s important to update those agreements when returning employees to a full 40-hour work week and full salary as business allows. For example, if in 2020 a company reduced an exempt associate’s hours to 32 per week minus 20% compensation, this should have been agreed-upon and documented at the time of implementation. In 2021, as business returns and productive hours increase, employers should update the agreement. The return of incentives and benefits is calculated and prioritized depending on the tangible and perceived value of reimplementation. As a business leader is communicating financial performance, the message may be that incentives still are out of reach but a portion of the retirement contribution is back in effect, for example. The Bottom Line By speaking a common language about human capital analytics, the human resource and finance disciplines align to achieve business goals — and there’s an opportunity for these analytical HR KPIs to be succinct and financially-based in 2021. With mutual understanding between the two departments, organizations will have clearer direction on how to maximize growth in 2021. To learn more about HR Solutions for NetSuite Click Here This post was originally posted on the NetSuite Blog. By Jude Reser, regional director of human resources, Atrium Hospitality

X3CloudDocs automates the accounts payable invoice process through a dedicated workflow. The financial record of the invoice is automatically created in Sage X3, with the original document being securely stored in the cloud. Unlike a manual process, X3CloudDocs provides full control, auditability and traceability. This digital transformation for your finance department provides instant cost savings and incredibly quick ROI. Functionality Mysoft has partnered with a world-class OCR engine to fully integrate the Purchase Invoice automation into the Sage X3 workflow. The key functional workflow for the process is outlined below, however the overall functional areas addressed are: Receive invoices from a variety of sources (email, drag and drop, folder automation) Inbound purchase invoice OCR (header and line level) GL Coding Automated or manual Automatic invoice creation in Sage X3 Purchase and Supplier BP Invoices, as appropriate View the invoice image held in X3 Cloud Docs from Sage X3 PO & Invoice (2 way) and PO, Receipt, & Invoice (3 way) matching Workflow notifications Invoice approvals Secure storage of invoices Multi-Currency Documents validated against Sage X3 data Advanced learning capabilities 1.2 X3 Cloud Docs Automated Read more below to discover how your business can work smarter with X3CloudDocs. For more information on X3CloudDocs or on how you can extend the power of Sage X3 with complementary solutions, please contact us. Bookmark Sage Support Resources today!

Businesses running on-premises ERP systems are often reluctant to undertake upgrades because the disruption caused by broken integrations and customizations being overwritten, combined with the added demands on IT, mean the costs outweigh the benefits. With fewer resources to devote to enhancements and businesses reluctant to perform upgrades, users are left to their own devices to figure out how to achieve their strategic objectives with aging technology. These gaps may be hidden during prosperous economic times, when everyone is happy with their company’s performance and things are going well but come to the surface pretty quickly when disruption rears its head and begins to impact the bottom line. For example, when mandatory office closings and shelter-in-place orders forced people to work from home, companies scrambled to find ways to support their suddenly-remote employees. Those using traditional, on-premises software faced the greatest challenge, as demand for remote access to these systems put a strain on network capacity, introduced new security concerns and created a need for better access controls. Sluggish system performance and lack of effective collaboration tools led to a decline in productivity, as completing tasks that were relatively easy to perform while in the office became much more difficult. Lack of integrated solutions and difficulty penetrating departmental data silos made it harder to know what was happening in the business right when companies needed visibility the most. Cloud ERP overcomes these issues by allowing remote users to access the functionality and data they need to do their jobs from anywhere with an internet connection. Here’s how Cloud ERP capabilities help support more intelligent, resilient organizations and why companies need to begin evaluating their need for ERP now rather than later: 1. Enables remote workforce management and collaboration. The shift to remote work was already underway when the coronavirus pandemic forced a rapid acceleration of those plans for many businesses. With state and local shutdowns looming, companies had to quickly find ways to transition their workforces to comply with stay-at-home rules. Reality hit hard when organizations began to have difficulty managing critical process with a remote workforce. Closing the books is just one example. Companies using basic accounting software, like QuickBooks, or an outdated ERP system, learned quickly that their standard approach wasn’t feasible with the entire accounting team working from home. Using a system like Acumatica or NetSuite’s cloud ERP, the same accounting team can confidently review the data, make any changes and close the books remotely without having to be in the same physical location. The system’s checklist functionality lets users know exactly what steps need to be taken and ensures a smooth close process. 2. Complies with accounting standards and regulatory requirements. Complying with changing rules and regulations is a major headache for both public and private companies. Recent revisions to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) have pushed many organizations to reconsider processes typically handled with spreadsheets. Both ASC 606, the new GAAP standard for revenue recognition, and ASC 842, which changes the way companies report lease-related expenses, are already impacting public companies and will take effect for private companies soon. Focused on eliminating off-balance sheet operating leases, the new lease accounting rules require companies to have leases lasting 12 months or longer listed on their balance sheets. This creates complications for companies that now must separate out the presumed interest expense of the asset and the lease expense and amortize them over the duration of the lease. Managing this process in a spreadsheet risks data integrity and data entry issues when moving that data into an accounting system. Modern ERP systems can factor in all of the variables and automate the process. New revenue recognition rules present similar challenges and require companies to recognize revenue in a consistent manner, based on achieving defined performance objectives. This is something older accounting systems and older, on-premises systems weren’t set up to handle. Cloud ERP solutions receive regular feature and capability updates that are automatically passed on to the user and can better handle these types of changes to accounting rules than older on-premises systems or entry-level accounting software, which typically issue less frequent updates. The potential for new rules and regulations always exist, but over the next several years as the global economy weaves and adapts, organizations should prepare for the possibility of greater regulation. Cloud-based ERP systems offer a clearer pathway to adapting to the new regulations. 3. Gives all organizational departments a unified and accurate picture of the business. As companies evolve, they tend to purchase software as a need arises. This leaves them with multiple systems from different vendors, each designed to perform a specific function or support a single department. Without complex and costly integrations, the data in those systems can only be accessed by a limited group of people. When critical information about customers, orders, inventory, capacity and more is spread across multiple solutions, aggregating it for analysis and decision- making is complicated and time-consuming. Also, it’s nearly impossible to get a complete picture of what’s happening in the business. Turf battles often emerge over who has the more accurate data set. As a result, teams can’t work together efficiently, and both productivity and profitability suffer. For example, if sales wants to promote a product but leadership can’t see that there isn’t enough inventory to support the promotion, then orders will go unfilled and customers will be unhappy. Cloud ERP solutions provide accurate, real-time data that helps teams collaborate more effectively. Using real-time inventory data, sales and marketing can develop promotions for products that are actually in stock, leading to increased revenue and happier customers. 4. Drives quick reaction times. Companies that are using disparate systems can’t react fast enough to changes in their environments. With a unified system, reports deliver insights in real-time Businesses with disparate systems often rely on IT or finance teams to gather and produce reports, which is often outdated by the time leadership sees it. Modern ERP systems feature role- based dashboards that give employees immediate access to the data they need to do their jobs and the ability to drill down for further analysis without the need to call on IT for support. As a result, employees can make more informed, faster decisions and take advantage of new opportunities or realize and correct inefficiencies. 5. Reduces operational risk. Without proper accounting and procurement controls in place, organizations can easily fall prey to dishonest practices, including the abuse of power by employees or struggle to provide accurate details to investors, auditors or regulatory agencies. ERP helps limit these risks by embedding approval workflows into procurement, accounts payable and other financial processes, as well as by controlling access to system features and data based on user roles and individual permissions. 6. Tracks unit economics, customer and project profitability. A measure of profitability on a per-unit basis, unit economics are helping companies manage the current economic uncertainty while also helping them prepare for future success. Through a process of regularly evaluating the direct revenues and costs on a per-unit basis, unit economics help companies understand the profitability potential of product lines and adjust accordingly. Without integrated systems, manufacturers struggle to accurately answer these questions and determine how many resource are being allocated to product X versus product Y— visibility gaps that can impact margins. Using cloud ERP, companies have the visibility they need to know which products are posting positive versus negative margins and make projections around business development and profitability. Similarly, without a unified system that tracks customer and financial data, businesses can struggle to determine who their most profitable customers are. Customer profitability requires insight into data across areas like average order volume, discounting and customer service requirements, which only a unified ERP system can provide. Many services-based businesses also struggle to accurately quantify project profitability. An ERP system with a professional services automation component allows a business to allocate staff to projects based on their skill sets and project requirements, minimizing “bench time” for consultants and delivering the greatest profitability. 7. Helps companies scale and adapt. Companies that initially rely on QuickBooks, spreadsheets or another basic accounting system generally outgrow those solutions as they scale and add complexity. When these organizations open additional locations, add subsidiaries and/or start handling multiple currencies, the need for a more robust, enterprise system increases exponentially. Additionally, any attempt to venture into new lines of business, such as services or new products demands the visibility and adaptability that ERP provides. While smaller firms may be able to run on basic systems and spreadsheets, those that adopt cloud ERP not only improve their existing business management processes, they’re also well positioned to scale up in the future.

How to avoid the error message “Order Partially or totally invoiced” In a previous edition of the X3 Insider, we reviewed how to set up prepayments on purchase orders in Sage X3. In this post, we will explore creating multiple prepayments for purchase orders and how you can avoid the error message: Order partially or totally invoiced. Bookmark Sage Support Resources today! Steps to reproduce the problem: We entered a new PO ($200k) We added a prepay amount to be paid – we entered the full amount ($200k) of the new PO (Utilities, Prepayments) We partially paid that PO ($30k) We entered an invoice for that partial payment ($30k) We went to the PO, Utilities -> Prepayment. We got the error that we have been getting (screenshot below*) Instead, we need to create the prepayment schedule beforehand. See these steps: Create the Purchase order for the full amount ($200k in this example): Set the correct prepayment schedule: Now let’s go to issue the 1st prepayment: We create the Invoice for the $30,000 that we just paid as a prepayment: This invoice is automatically matched to the prepayment: Now, we go to create another prepayment for the same Purchase Order. Remember that we defined ALL TREE prepayments before receiving any invoices: Select the second prepayment of the list (once again, created at the 1st moment, when the PO was created and no prepayments processed) Now enter the second invoice for the second prepayment: Note that in the manual matching all looks correct, the prepayments associated with the invoice: You can now proceed with the 3rd prepayment, as defined at the beginning. For more information on creating multiple prepayments in Sage X3, please contact us.

Bad debt is a contingency that must be accounted for by all businesses who extend credit to customers, as there is always a risk that payment will not be received.  The latest release of Sage X3 has new features to help you limit this bad debt risk by: identifying and managing bad debts creating journal entries which will allow your business to have better visibility on bad debt more easily calculating accruals on debts that may not be recovered writing-off bad debts while meeting local legal requirements This post will introduce the new parameters and activity codes related to this new function. The Sage X3 Online Help Center contains more detail about the options available and how to use the features. Bookmark Sage Support Resources today! Define the new parameters by navigating to the Parameter values screen. Select the CPT chapter and CLO group. Define the bad debt process using the following parameters: Bad debt date filter rules (BDTDR) – specify the date used in calculating bad debts Bad debt management rules (BDTMGT) – define the management rules at the company level Select the automatic journals for the following parameters: Bad debts – doubtful receivables (GAUBDTDOU) Bad debts – direct write-off (GAUBDTDWO) Bad debts – impairment (GAUBDTIPR) There are two new activity codes: Bad debt management (BADBT) – controls all the developments related to bad debt Number of Bad debt lines (BDE) – limits the number of lines that can be uploaded in a bad debt function. The default value setup is 300. Bad debt management example: Create the terms that will be applied in calculating bad debt values using the Bad debt terms screen (GESBDT). Enter a bad debt terms code, legislation for which the terms can be used for, description, and short description. Specify the number of days between the accounting due date of an open item and the actual date. The percentages entered will apply to the corresponding number of days in the bad debt management process. Note that for the days and percentages, the following rules apply: No negative values Values can be equal to zero The value of the next line should be higher than the previous one “No. of days late” must be presented in ascending value The value in “Percentage” should never be higher than 100 No two lines on the grid can have the same value No bad debt term code can be saved if the grid is empty—it should have at least one entry Next, define which company and which bad debt management rule is used, select which open items are used to create new bad debts in the Bad Debts Management screen (BADBTGEN). Bad debt management does not apply to late supplier invoices, only to customer invoices and open items. Start by entering the company and the bad debt management rule. The options are doubtful receivables, impairment, or write-offs. Next, select the bad debts terms, which contains the percentage to be applied in the calculation of overdue invoices/open items to be included in the bad debt management processes. Further define the open items in the Criteria field. Select OK when ready to go to the next step. Select which entries will be posted as bad debt. See how much will be posted as bad debt in the bad debt amount column. Select OK to create the journal entry and to complete the process. For more information on using the new features in Sage X3 to help limit bad debt risk, please contact us.

As one of the nation’s largest furniture specifiers and distributor, bfi (Business Furniture, Inc), provides consultative services, product solutions and technical assistance for office, healthcare, institutional, and government environments. bfi engaged Net at Work and its Virtual CTO (vCTO) services with the initial engagment including: oversight and management of technology projects, IT Budget management, Helpdesk and onsite IT services, management of their IT infrastructure, Cyber security and 3rd party IT relationships. “Net at Work’s vCTO took the time to understand our goals and challenges. His knowledge and expertise helped us accomplish our goals through the right technology while keeping our IT costs in check.” For more details on specific projects and technologies used, the full bfi- NetatWork vCIO profile can be read below. To learn more about Net at Work’s vCTO and IT Managed Services, visit here.