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Year-end tips for Sage X3 Business Cloud

As 2021 draws to an end, many companies will start looking at closing the financial year too. If you are a Sage X3 Business Cloud user, here is an overview of the Year-End Closing function in the product.

The Fiscal Year End function FIYEND (Financials > Period Processing > Fiscal Year End) closes a Company’s fiscal year and generates the corresponding accounting entries with the document type “NEW”. The fiscal year-end processing is done on a single screen. To get started, you’ll have to specify the company for which the fiscal year will be closed, the document type, and the journal on which the new journal/document/invoices must be generated. The start date for the new fiscal year is automatically displayed. After the process is launched, a log file will trace all processed operations.

The Year-End Simulation function should be run for the ‘new year’ before closing a fiscal year for the ‘current year’. 

The Year-End Simulation (SIMULFINEX – Financials > Utilities > Year-End Simulation) can be run to simulate what the Fiscal Year-end function will do. 

It would be best to use the year-end simulator for cases where the previous fiscal year must remain open for a period into the current year. Please note, there are no journals created, nor is the fiscal year closed, but it will roll the balances forward for any asset or liability accounts. Performing a year-end simulation allows you to run a trial balance for the new year without formally ‘closing’ the current year.

A few Preliminary Setups  

  • Verify that NEWPR Document Type is created. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Verify that NEWPR Journal Code is created.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Sequence Numbers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Account classes must be set up correctly, and subsequently, each General Ledger account is classified correctly. These steps are essential in determining whether or not to carry forward opening balances into a new year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checklist for closing the year:

  1. Set SUP General Parameter ENDDAT to 12/31/xx, where xx is a couple of years in the future.
  2. You must open the next fiscal year before closing the current fiscal year.
  3. Execute the Dimension Balance Recovery function if necessary; you need only to run the Dimension Balance Recovery function if the dimension views have changed or new dimension views have been added.
  4. Validate all invoices.
  5. Validate all receipts and payments (Batch Posting).
  6. All recurring journal entries must be generated and posted.
  7. Validate all journals before closing. Take note that if the company is using Simulation journals, there may be other functions to execute before Final Validation, such as changing the status of Simulated journals to Actual journals.
  8. Must enter price updates for the following year.
  9. Cost transfers/cost calculations must be entered/updated for the next fiscal year.
  10. Must close all periods for the Current Fiscal Year.
  11. All users must be out of Sage ERP X3.

It would be best if you ran CLOPER, a Pre-Closing verification report, before the year-end closing procedure. This report will list out any open items that you may have missed before a successful year-end close.

Year-End Process

The Year-End Process will shut down the Journal Status Monitor. Therefore, when executing Year-End, the log displays two journals with NEWNP document types. The first entry closes out the current fiscal year (Rolls forward Balance Sheet account balances and posts the Net Income/Loss to the New Period Suspense account – ANOUVO). The second entry clears out the New Period Suspense account and DR/CR the Retained Earnings account. To view the closing journals, restart the Journal Status Monitor.

Please take note: the ‘Closing Document’ field should be blank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two sample closing journals are referenced below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year-End Simulation

Year-End Simulation function can be run for cases where the previous fiscal year must remain open for at least a month into the current year. This function will roll forward the ending balances for the Balance Sheet accounts without creating the closing journal entries or permanently closing the Fiscal Year. By simulating the close, the monthly statements will include the correct opening balances until the previous Fiscal Year is ready to be closed and retained earnings calculated.

Prerequisites

Before you get started, please make sure of the following to ensure correct balances:

  • All users are logged off the system

  • Journal monitor, EDI monitor, and ADC monitor are stopped since they are considered a user.

General parameters 

Setup, General parameters, Parameter values/CPT chapter (Accounting), FIY group (FY end)

 The following general parameters may change the way the function is working:

  • FRWANA (defined at level Folder): Analytic Balance Forward

    • Option: Yes or No

  • FRWGAC (specified at level Folder): General Balance Forward

    • Option: Yes or No

Accounts 

Setup, Financials, Account Classes (GESCLS)

Account classes must be set up for “carry forward” amounts. 

  • Yes: The carry-forward amount is carried to the following fiscal year, either in a simulated manner if the fiscal year under progress is not closed or via the carry-forward entry when starting the fiscal year closure. 

  • No: The closing of the accounts is globalized in the results of the following fiscal year, either in a simulated manner if the fiscal year under progress is not closed or via the carry-forward entry when starting the fiscal year closure.

If any account carries a balance, that shouldn’t check the account class associated with the GL account.

Periods 

Common Data, GL Accounting Tables, (Fiscal) Periods (GESPER)

  • All the accounting fiscal year periods should be closed, but this isn’t required for the year-end simulation function.

  • It would be best if you opened the new fiscal year before running the year-end simulation.

Users 

Development, Utilities, Verifications, System monitor, Users (PSADX)

  • All users must be logged off the system

  • The journal and EDI monitor and ADC monitor must be stopped since they are considered a user.

  • Having users logged off will ensure balances are reflected correctly.

Have queries? Is the process stuck somewhere? Contact us today for expert support.

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What are the changes in Web services in Sage X3 Product Update 9 and later?

Sage X3 Business Cloud product update brought 9 with it significant changes to web services, here is an overview

  • Generic SOAP web services are based on classic clients and act exactly like it did previously

  • The license now controls the data volume consumed through web service and there is no control on the count of clients defined in the pool

  • Web services are managed within the Syracuse administration, there is no more Console configuration

  • All setups and tests of web services will now be carried out in the new Sage X3 Web methodology (You can no longer use the “old” web tester)

Entities

  • hosts (Administration, ADMINISTRATION, Servers, Hosts): Defines the number of Web Service child processes. By default this is set to 0, so it must be configured. This allows you to work with the Sage X3 web load balancer mode

  • soapClassicPools (Administration>ADMINISTRATION, Web Services, Classic SOAP pools configuration): : Defines pools, count of clients to be initialized during pool setup, maximum count of clients allowed by pool (to avoid overload)
    Note: If you set two child processes and two clients per pool, you will have four clients started. (Nb of clients=Nb of child processes*Nb of clients per child processes)

  • soapGenerics (Administration, ADMINISTRATION, Web Services, Classic SOAP Web services): Retrieve WSDL description and is the internal tester for every operation (save, read, query, delete…)

  • restWebServices (Administration, ADMINISTRATION, Web Services, Rest web services):Declares outgoing rest web services to be used from the SAFE X3 dedicated API.

  • licenseViews: (Administration, USAGE, Session management, License follow up) Allows view into Web services consumption

License Parameters

  • WSGRACELIMIT: (%) defines the oversize percentage allowed (typically 10%) if the maximum size is fixed at 1MB / day, this means that:

    • 1 MB per DAY without speed limitation

    • The next 10% (100Kb) at a lower speed

    • The web service does not respond when the 1.1 MB limit is reached

  • WSGRACESLOWDOWN: indicates the rate used to decrease the speed of the Web services when the grace limit is reached

  • WSPERIOD: determines the period on which the size limitation applies (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)

  • WSSIZELIMIT: size, in MB, of the license for the web services

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Sage X3 V11 Architecture and System Requirements Guide

Hardware specifications for Sage X3 V11 and Architecture / Architectural and System Requirements Guide

Once an architecture guide is released there is no further testing to certify any updates beyond that point. The architecture guides do not get updated. To see updated information, refer to online help, preferably from the latest version of Sage X3 available.

For example, under v12, this is found by going into Technical help, Upgrade, public technical help, and Prerequisites overview. This will show updated information for v12, as well as prior versions. If you have access to other lower versions of Sage EM, the information may not be up to date, and will be titled differently, but can generally be found under the Technical help area.

v12 example screenshot (up to date as of January 9, 2019)






















Click here for downloading the Architecture guide for Sage X3 V11

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What’s new in Sage 300c 2021 Product Update 3

General improvements

This product update includes the following new features and improvements in both Sage 300cloud web screens and Sage 300 classic desktop screens:

  • Improvements to bank feeds. On the Reconcile E-Statements screen:
    • When automatically reconciling transactions from a bank feed, the system now tries to match transactions in more ways than it did previously. Transactions will now match if certain information in Sage 300 is in the Comment 2field in the e-statement, even if the Comment 2 field includes additional information (for example, if the payment description in Sage 300 is Check 900 and the Comment 2 field in the e-statement is Invoice 2286 Goods – Check 900).
    • Transactions downloaded using a bank feed have a Bank Cleared Date based on your local time.

Note: In web screens, the “local” time comes from the system where Sage 300 is running, which may be different from the time on your system.

Microsoft 365 integration with Sage 300

The Sage Contact app (for viewing and managing Sage 300 customer information within Microsoft Outlook) is no longer supported.

Posted Originally on: https://www.sagecity.com/za/sage-300-south-africa/f/sage-300-south-africa-announcements-news-and-alerts/175776/what-s-new-in-sage-300c-2021-product-update-3

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What to do when BI Generator is missing in excel (Terminal Server environment)

Steps to follow when the BI generator or BI tool cannot be accessed in Excel terminal server environment even though a licensed version is installed. This generally happens when the registry entry for the BI generator in Excel has not been created properly, or not present altogether.








Before you begin

This solution requires advanced knowledge of your computer’s operating system. Contact your system administrator for assistance. Modifying your Windows Registry incorrectly can severely affect system operations. Evomatiq Business Solutions LLC and Sage Software PLC are not responsible for operation issues caused by incorrectly modifying your Windows Registry.

Always create a backup of your data before proceeding with advanced solutions.

Resolution

We will have to create a registry entry manually





















  1. Create a .txt file on the desktop.
  2. Add the information below to it exactly how it is
  3. Save and change the extension to .reg
  4. Close and double click on the file to open
  5. Click yes to change the registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\BIGenerator]
“Description”=”BI Generator”
“LoadBehavior”=dword:00000003
“FriendlyName”=”BI Generator”
“CommandLineSafe”=dword:00000001
“Manifest”=”C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files\\\\BIGenerator\\AlchemexWizard.vsto|vstolocal”



 

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Things to know before using REST APIs with Sage X3 Business Cloud

Starting in version 7 here are some things that dev teams need to keep in mind if they are going to use REST APIs to work with Sage X3 Business Cloud:

  • The Web API (REST)

    • Can be used to read elements from all modules, as Sage X3 is already providing read-only representations on most resources. Basically, if there is a representation in the Read Only Pages section, REST can be used to read the data.

    • Should be used to update data from modules that have been upgraded. Resources that you can access with the mobile client can be read and modified through the Web API.

  • For the others REST web services currently is only available for READs (i.e. the Read Only Pages).

  • Create, Update and Delete are not currently supported.

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10 common supply chain challenges and ways to resolve them

As we navigate through the COVID 19 pandemic, companies have had to take a hard look at their inventory management systems. Timelines, trimming costs and smart inventory control are the hallmarks of a business with remarkable profit margins in the post COVID world.

Here are 10 most common inventory management problems that a business may face and tips on how you can solve them

  1. Need for supply chain transparency: End-to-end supply chain visibility is key to maximizing efficiencies and your future risk management efforts. Businesses must map their business processes, from concept to customer, to be in control of timelines and make more educated situational pivots.

  2. Missing the bigger picture: Data intelligence is important at every stage of your business. From marketing analytics to inventory quantities to profit margins, all information is important. Supply chain data and context is most of the times ignored as insignificant, but overlooking supply chain data is a big mistake. Make sure you’re utilizing supply chain data appropriately to make wiser business decisions.

  3. Not accounting for business disruptions: Not having pivot plans in place is a sizable risk towards running a smooth business. When the inevitable happens, you will be prepared to keep your customers from being affected. Pandemics like COVID 19 are an eventuality and as much must be factored into processes as much as possible.

  4. Choosing too many partners: Although you want to be prepared, there is such a thing as having “too many cooks in the kitchen.” Too many vendors introduce more complexities to processes. Investigate and find your right balance. Data is going to be your savior in finding the sweet spot and choosing the right partners.

  5. Going lean without supporting infrastructure: COVID 19 has forced businesses to go lean. Here is the dichotomy, lean is good, but being too lean can cause issues. Granted, going lean is desirable to save costs, however going lean without the right systems in place can cause disruptions and bottlenecks to an otherwise smooth operation. Make sure you have the right processes and systems in place to support going lean.

  6. Lack of proper security protocols: In 2021, ransom-ware & phishing attacks are an eventuality. You must have proper processes and systems in place for a) avoiding getting infections in the first place b) recover with minimum disruptions in the event of an infection. The number of businesses that we see without a coherent strategy in this department is too () high.

  7. Lack of optimized business processes: Understanding what comes before AND after your business is crucial to optimizing your supply chain and business plan. (After all, loss of revenue can occur when a customer returns a product.) Prepare for this with a supply chain that is optimized from concept to customer, and beyond.

  8. Not aligning application design to a business strategy: If your supply chain is only aligned with one specific type of business, it will be difficult for you to acquire or change to other products or businesses in the future. Understand your long-term growth plan, and align your supply chain for now and the future.

  9. Not creating effective vendor relationships: Yes, price is definitely important when choosing a supplier. However, employee relations and customer service also are important. Finding someone who is willing to be a partner is much more beneficial to your overall business than a few pennies saved.

  10. Operating in silos: Organizations that operate as networks operate much more efficiently than organizations that operate in silos. Make sure your teams are collaborating with one another and are customer-centric in their approach. The right combination of business suites will make all the difference.

Have you faced any challenge from this list?

Do you think we missed something?

Want some guidance on how to solve any of these challenges?

Drop us a line, we’d like to help.

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Inventory/Stock Account Balance not matching the Stock Valuation report?

The Inventory/Stock Account Balance is not matching the Stock Valuation report

Undertake the following steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Go to Financials, Inquiries, Account balances.
  2. Enter the company/site, Date range and click Search.
  3. Locate the Inventory account number for FG or Raw Materials.
  4. Right click and select Account. Note the value in the Accounting Balance field.
  5. Go to Stock, Periodic processing, Stock Valuation Report.
  6. Enter Today’s date, company, and site. Make sure to tick Site and Category under Subtotals.
  7. Select the Costing mode (same as Valuation method) used for all FG (or Raw Materials) and run it.
  8. The totals for the FG category (or Raw Materials) does not match the Accounting Balance value

Cause

  • This is because the Stock valuation report only presents the value of inventory based on the Valuation method selected, Costing mode.
  • However, there might be stock transactions movements valuated at a different valuation method according to the Stock Valuation method setup under Setup, Stock, Valuation methods.

For example, if the option Order price is selected for the Receipt Valuation method, all Purchase receipts will increase the Stock/Inventory account at the price entered in the Purchase Order. However, if the Valuation method is Standard, when this same item is entered in a Sales delivery, the Stock/Inventory account will be decreased at the value entered in the Standard cost record of this product.

Verify this by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Stock, Inquiries, Movements, Stock transactions.
  2. Enter a site and a product.
  3. Click on Criteria and tick Stock adjustment movement and Value change.
  4. Click Search and locate the Cost Source column.
  5. The Cost Source for some transactions may be different.

Resolution

Other reasons could be that there might be stock transactions that are not posted yet (meaning the GL entry has not been created) at the time the Stock Valuation report is run.

For example: if a Product receipt or a Work Order tracking have been created but the functions FUNWIPACC and FUNSTKACC are not run yet, the GLs are not created. If you run the Stock Valuation report, the system will show a value for the received product. Therefore, we suggest you run FUNWIPACC and FUNSTKACC right before pulling out the Account balances and running the Stock Valuation report.

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How to resolve the “Calculation Capacity Exceeded” error?

Sometimes while rendering reports, eg Trial Balance you may come across “Calculation Capacity Exceeded” error. This error may only affect some accounts over a specific error.

Cause

This error is almost always thrown when a value / transaction that overflows the maximum values supported by the Crystal Reports Print Engine.

For example, a journal entry posted for 59 trillion dollars (21 digits long) to fields AMT1, AMT2, and AMT3 on the TMPBLA will throw this particular error as the table are set up to  not allow any value greater than 9,999,999.99.

Resolution

Before you move ahead with this or for that matter any other fix, make sure you are adequately backed up.

Please note that this fix requires knowledge and experience in changing tables and should only be carried out by someone who is certified to work on Sage systems or is a Sage X3 Developer.

Change the length values on the AMT1, AMT2, and AMT3 from 9.2 to 12.2 (This will allow values up to 9,999,999,999.99)

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How to modify an existing Crystal report in SageX3?

The steps below are for modifying an already existing report in Sage X3 Cloud. Please adhere to your organization’s backup policy before you proceed with any step mentioned here. If you are just starting out developing a backup strategy for your organization, you might like this article where we cover the basics of a robust backup protocol.

Sage X3 Cloud is premium business management software from Sage. The de facto choice for organizations across the world who are seeking to bring down their costs and boot their efficiency. You can read our in-depth review of Sage X3 here.

This is a brief and users are strongly advised not to use this information as a replacement of the detailed steps and screenshots in the PDF attachment below:

  1. At the time of the last date updated of this article, only Firefox is supported for the Sage X3 Crystal Report Connector. Other Web browsers may result in unexpected behavior.
  2. You must already have Crystal Reports 2013 installed on the computer you are using the Sage X3 Crystal Report Connector (used for making a copy of an existing report already inside of Sage X3 Cloud).
  3. The Sage X3 Crystal Report Connector has to be installed on the local computer in order to download and upload the reports in question. To install the connector, launch X3, and go to Administration, Utilities, Installation, Crystal Report Connector.
  4. Click the Transfer button (see attached PDF for detailed instructions and screenshots) and the report will be downloaded to:
    1. C:\Users\<user profile>\AppData\Local\Sage Crystal Report Connector\
    2. If need to replace a report with something you’ve already modified, change the newest modified report filename to match the filename that gets downloaded to this location. Once you click Commit (see attached PDF for detailed instructions), it’ll grab this report, upload it to the X3 server (cloud) and delete the copy on the local computer.

      The attached PDF document references the X3 cloud version, but the logic and steps remain the same for on-premise version of X3 for users who do not have access directly to the X3 server to obtain the actual Crystal Report file.

Detailed Steps PDF

Information credit, Sage PLC