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SUP105 – Segmented General Ledger

The General Ledger Segmentation function was designed to allow business to have extended General Ledger reporting capabilities in organisations with Multiple Branches and/ or departments, with the ability to filter and report on one or more of the segments. This facility has also been designed to complement the account set by warehouse function, allowing us to have a segment integration by item or item category by warehouse, allowing profitability to even be reported on a product line basis. Another market for this is in the issuance and control of Grants or Fund Management whereby we can report on the individual projects managed within the specific fund(s).

Another limitation that has been overcome is that of departments with departmental allocations previously being done at a document level basis. With the segmented General Ledger you can now process integrations document line item.

Setting Up General Ledger Segmentations

The first thing you need to do is to create the segments. It is important to note that creating segments is merely creating parameters and does not create the accounts themselves. Creating segments will be explained in 2 separate sections, ie clients converting an existing (non-segmented) company, and clients creating a new company. Note that the ability to add segments is available to both scenarios at can be done at any time. You can also Manage segments either by accessing the General Ledger / Maintenance / Accounts function and selecting the Add New Account Segment as seen below.

You can also access the account segment maintenance by accessing the Control Panel / Company Options / Company tab as seen below:

Upgrading an Existing Company

Existing Segments

When you upgrade from a pre-General Ledger Segmentation company, on conversion the current Sub-Accounts will automatically become the second segment, and will allow you to report by the values in this segment.  You can see from the screen that we had 2 sub-account settings in the Original Company Data namely 0000 and 0500. All we need do now is to name the segments and report accordingly.

Adding Segments

You can then redefine the General Ledger Segments as required with the ability to add new segments as seen below.

Remapping Accounts

The Manual Setup option as seen here, allows you to define your own segment lengths while the other options below will install the 4-4 account segment structure with the sample data, but allow you to adjust at a later stage. The first segment is reserved for the account number and can have a minimum quantity of 3 digits, that are numerical only, while the other segments are limited to 10 segments 50 characters in total, and can be set as Alpha, Numeric or, Alphanumeric as defined above.

Creating a New Company

When creating a new company there are a number of options afforded to you.

The Manual Setup option as seen here, allows you to define your own segment lengths while the other options below will install the 4-4 account segment structure with the sample data, but allow you to adjust at a later stage. The first segment is reserved for the account number and can have a minimum quantity of 3 digits, that are numerical only, while the other segments are limited to 10 segments 50 characters in total, and can be set as Alpha, Numeric or, Alphanumeric as defined above.

Building or Creating Accounts

Once you have created your segments (or building blocks) you then need to create your accounts. You do this by selecting the primary account segment then select the second segment. In doing this you ensure that only the accounts relevant to that segment (branch or department for example) are created.

Using the Account Builder

The account builder function allows you to build your required accounts with the Segment definitions being added as they are selected as seem here.

Account Import

We also provide the ability to import your General Ledger accounts. You can find this in the Control Panel / Import & Export / Ledger Accounts.

General Ledger Reporting

The general ledger reporting function caters for up to 3 combinations of segment filters in most of the ledger Reports. In addition, you can select one of more of the segments to give you unsurpassed multi-dimensional financial view of your business.

SUP204 – Adding Custom Reports

Setting Up Custom Reports

Palladium has the facility for you to add any additional reports that you may require for the day to day running of your business. Once you identify any reports that you may require that are not there on the system, let us know and we can develop the reports for you and set them up on your system under the respective modules.

Below is an illustration of the use of the Custom Reports function to add externally developed reports on Palladium. Fill in the name and the description of the report and specify which module the report falls under and browse through to the location where your report is saved.

Once the report has been added, it will now be available on the reports list for the selected module under the Custom Reports section.

SUP099 – Assembly and Kitting

The Assembly function is a simple manufacturing process that will take components, and convert this to a Finished Item in one simple process. The main difference between this and the Process Manufacturing function is that the Assembly function does not facilitate the job in a Work In Progress state.

Setup

Setting Up Assembly BOM’s
You set up the Assembly Bills of Material in the Inventory Maintenance function in the BOM Tab. The first thing that we need to do is to add the components for the required number to manufacture – or the Economic Manufacture Quantity. In the example below, you will see that we will use 20 Screws to Manufacture 4 Chairs. This feature becomes very handy when manufacturing small high Volume Items, ie pills where we would never manufacture 1x. Note that this is just a recipe and you can change the quantity to manufacture when creating the Assembly and the system will adjust the component quantities accordingly.

Processing an Assembly

Production Schedule (available in Palladium Enterprise & Premium Versions Only)
The production Schedule allows you to have a graphical view of your planned Jobs. There is also a filter on the top right of the Calendar allowing you to filter on open or closed Jobs and Works Orders. The production Schedule function is not necessary to Process an Assembly.

Works Order (available in Palladium Enterprise & Premium Versions Only)
The Works Order function allows you to group multiple Jobs for the day or selected period and allows you to perform a mass Materials Issue by printing the Works Order Report Summary. In addition, you can create a Works Order by copying Items to Assemble from Sales Orders or from the Production Schedule. In the screen below you will see the Production Schedule Reference number above with the components listed below.

Creating an Assembly or Disassembly
The Palladium Assembly function allows you to create an Assembly, a Disassembly (which effectively inverts the Bill of Material, allowing you to convert from one Item to many items. An example of Dis-assemblies could be to convert a carcass into the respective meat cuts, or for decanting Chemicals from one size packaging to many others. You can create an assembly or Disassembly on one of 2 ways.

Loading a BOM
You can create a job by loading from a BOM (Assembly) and have the ability to Assemble or Disassemble entering the required manufacture quantity.

Load Production Job
When you load a production Job, you can load either from the Works Order from the Production Scheduled Job Itself. In the example below you will see that we have loaded from the Works Order as per our example with Both the To Manufacture Jobs appearing below.

Assembly Reports

Production Schedule Report
This new report will give you a list of the current open Jobs in the production Schedule, detailing their relevant information such as due dates etc.

Where Used Report
This allows you to enter a component and the report will list all the different Assemblies that contain these items.

MRP Report
The MRP report will list all your Assembly Items, allowing you to enter the required Quantity to Manufacture, exploding down to the various components with recommended order quantities.

Download Support Article PDF

SUP048 – Bookmarking Documents

This feature allows you to create documents and bookmark them for later recall or reference.

How does this feature help your business?

  • Copy information from one or more documents to the current document.
  • Search for bookmarked documents, across all documents whether from Accounts Receivable or Payable.
  • Offers salespersons a quick reference lookup function.

The Following Documents offer the ability to bookmark as well as refer to bookmarked documents:

Accounts Payable:

  • Purchase Orders
  • Purchase Invoices

Accounts Receivable:

  • Sales Orders
  • Sales Invoices
  • Freehand Quotes

    Feature Options

    Process a Document and Bookmark It!
    While processing a document, select the Bookmark option as shown below then Record (update) the document accordingly. This document is now Bookmarked, for later recall. In addition you can change the Bookmark status of a document by simply amending the “Document Info”.

Accessing Of Bookmarked Documents
The option to view Bookmarked documents will be enabled when you process a new document. You simply click on “Copy Sales Documents” at the bottom of the window and the Bookmarks option will appear as shown below.

The following screen will appear displaying documents that have been Bookmarked, at this point only documents that belong to this customer will be shown. Document lines are shown individually, so you may select a combination of items from different documents.

Navigating Through the Bookmarked Documents
You may search for bookmarked documents for a different customer by entering text within a customer code, or when you click on the customer filter option indicated below, a list of all customers appears then simply select the required customer.

When there are multiple bookmarked documents you may choose the Expand All option which will show all the lines within a document.

The Collapse All option will show you the document headers only.

The Bookmarks option below also allows you to choose different types of documents to view or you can simply select to view “All Documents”.

Copying Bookmarked Documents
When you are satisfied with the documents you have selected to copy or use as a reference, click on Ok and your selection is copied to the document you are processing from. If you want to view the document you are copying before making a selection, double-click on it as a drill-down, and it will be displayed on the screen. This could be used to view a delivery address, document status, or even a document discount for example.

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SUP073 – Inventory Extended Descriptions

Palladium now has the ability to create extended descriptions of up to 4000 characters, (such as warranty information or disclaimers) with the ability to amend these on the fly at time of processing. In addition the feature could be used for shipping or packing instructions by electing to print this exclusively on the Sales Order documents for example.

Create the Extended Description
To edit the extended description you need to add this on the inventory Masterfile, on the Ext Description tab. Once completed you will define the respective documents where this description should appear.

Editing the Extended Descriptions
You have the ability to edit the extended descriptions by clicking on the description field in the respective sales document as seen below.

Download Support Article PDF

SUP203 – Serial Number and Lot, or Batch, Tracking

As a rule of thumb, the difference between a Serial Number or a Batch / Lot numbers are as follows:

Serial Numbers are generally used in big-ticket items or an item where we are required to track information such as Warranties etc. A serial number is assigned on a one-to-one relationship, ie where items all have a different serial number.

Batch / Lot Numbers are used when there is a one to many relationship, ie many items received are from the same Batch. This is generally user where one has to track items that are perishable or may require recall. Tracking the expiry of Lots is also a key attribute of this feature.

Setting up Serial Number and Lot Items

Creating Serial Number and Lot Number Types
The first thing you need to do is to create different Types, or groupings for Serial or Lot Numbers.

To do this you need to go to the Inventory >> Maintenance >> Serial / Lot Types function.

Once you are there you need to define whether this is a Serial or Lot Type, then setup the required attributes that you would like to be associated with this grouping.

Creating Serial Number Types
In the screen below you will have the ability to set the following:

  • Whether you print the Serial Numbers on your Documents.
  • Whether you assign the Serial Number at time of Receiving or at Time of Selling only. The significance of this feature is that should you set to assign at time of Receiving, you will have to account for that specific serial number throughout processes such as Inventory Transfers and Stock Counts.
  • The minimum and maximum Serial Number length.
  • Whether the Serial Number Formats can be Any Characters / Alpha Only / Alpha-Numeric / Numeric Only.
  • You are unable to Track Expiry Dates with Serial Numbers.

Creating Lot / Batch Number Types
In the screen below you will have the ability to set the following:

  • Whether you print the Batch Numbers on your Documents.
  • The minimum and maximum Batch Number Length.
  • Whether the Batch Number Formats can be Any Characters / Alpha Only / Alpha-Numeric / Numeric Only.
  • You can set whether you would like to Track the Item Expiry date at the various Steps throughout processing, and define whether you would like to Allow / Warn or Block expired Batches of this specific Type at the respective processing process.
  • You can also activate barcoding that will allow you to embed the lot Number and price or quantity into the barcode itself for ease of processing at point of Sale.

Assigning Serial / Batch Types to Items
Once you have created your different Serial and Batch Types, all you have to do is to assign it to the Relevant Inventory Item. Note that you cannot assign Serial or Lot Numbers to Service or Buyout Items.

Allowing for the Over or Under Use of Lots
There is an additional setting to allow the Over or Under Ordering of the Order Quantity based on the Lot or Batch Quantities on hand. This is used in industries that receive batches of specific items such as Rolls of Steel, Fabric or Looms of thread that all generally weigh an approximate value of say 500kg. To activate this feature you go to the Control Panel >> Options >> Inventory and Settings Tab as seen below.

If you refer to the example below, we ordered a quantity of 500 and selected a Batch that contained 506. On Record, the system prompts to allow you to adjust the Order Quantity to agree to the selected Batch Quantity.

Serial / Lot Number Take-On
In the item above I entered a take-on quantity of 21. Rather than having to enter the individual Batch Numbers, I can import them through the Control Panel >> Import & Export >> Serial / Lot Numbers. Don’t forget that the layout of the import files can be found in the Help >> Import Examples >> Ent_SerialLotNumbers.

Using Serial / Lot Numbers

Auto Increment Numbering
One of the features we have added is the ability to Auto-Assign, or Increment the Serial or Lot Numbers at time of processing. In the screen below you will see that we have elected to receive 100 Serial Numbers and opted to auto-assign the numbers, using the Serial Number Start number.

Importing Numbers
We also have the ability to Import Serial or Lot Numbers throughout the processing stage, from Goods Receiving to Sales Invoicing for ease of use.

Download Support Article PDF

SUP107 – Container Items

The purpose of this feature is to remind users to add “Container Items” when invoicing bulk items whether at a value or at no charge to manage their Container Inventory. This feature works similarly to Upsell Items where users are reminded
to Invoice or recommend X number of “related items” per Y number of the Primary Item.

Setup

To setup Container Items, go to Inventory >> Maintenance and select the Primary Item you wish to assign Container Items to, then proceed to the Container Items Tab. Once you have selected the Container Item, you must then enter the Pack Size with the option to Round Up or Down. In the example below, we have entered a Pack Size of 50. This Pack Size is the Ratio to which One Container Item is Added per Qty of the Primary Item. In the example below, we will recommend One Container per 50 Packs of 2 Kg Tomatoes, and round this up.

Processing

This function is available in the Freehand Quotes, Sales Quote, Sales Order and Sales Invoice Functions. The system will Auto-Invoke the Container Item Screen when Creating New Documents, or during the Adjustment process, but is also available at any time using the Container Item button highlighted below. Here you will see that we Invoiced 120 Packs and the system is recommending that we add 3 containers, being the multiple of 50 rounded up.

Download the Support Article PDF

SUP109 – Inventory Reorder Optimisation

The purpose of this feature is to optimise the inventory holding and ordering within the organisation by managing minimum and maximum levels with order lead times, a safety factor as well as an estimated number of days sales to stock in order to optimise in hand levels.

Process

This function is a 3-step process as follows:

  • First setup the delivery lead time, safety factor to apply and set up the number of days sales required in stock.
  • Then run the inventory forecasting process. This function will calculate and average daily sales for the selected period and set the minimum and maximum inventory levels using the safety factor and required days sales.
  • We then process the mass inventory order form allowing us to mass create the individual purchase orders per location per vendor.

Setup

General Setup
You need to go to the Company Options Setup to determine whether you will create Purchase Orders or Purchase Requisition when processing the Bulk Reorder Process per the screen below. Note that you will only be able to create Purchase Requisitions if you are using the Purchase Order Approval function.

Inventory Masterfile Setup
Go to the inventory Masterfile and select the Reorder tab. Thereafter enter the details as below. Refer to the numbering in RED in the screen below.

  • Reorder Point for all Locations – This will set the Max Level across allocations and is used to determine order points for the company – generally used for central store purchasing.
  • Minimum Level – This is the Minimum level for all locations – associated with Centralised Ordering.
  • Safety Factor – Safety factor used to calculate the Minimum Level.
  • Order Lead Time (Days) – Vendor Delivery Lead Time.
  • Days Sales In Stock – Number of Days Sales Stockholding Required.
  • Economic Order Factor – The multiple on which to Order goods from your Vendor.
  • Minimum Order Quantity – this is the least amount that can be ordered for this Item
    Average Daily Sales – Average daily sales are calculated during the Inventory Forecasting process.
  • Minimum Level – Minimum level used to trigger the reorder process, calculated as follows: (Order Lead Time x Average Daily Sales) x (1+ Safety Factor).
  • Maximum Level – Minimum Level + (Days Sales in stock x Average Daily Sales) rounded up to Greater of Economic Order Factor or Min Order Quantity.

Inventory Forecasting
Now that you have setup the Reorder levels you need to generate the forecasting process as seen below with recommended new minimum and maximum inventory levels. The first thing you need to do is to determine whether this process is run per location or as an overall company (15). Then select the period on which you wish to forecast the daily sales, as depicted by point (1) below. As you can see you also have the ability to filter, or process, by inventory category (2).

Other field data as follows:

  • Stock Days to Forecast – this will allow you to mass update the Days Sales field (12)
    Sales – this is the unit sales for the dates selected in section (1).
  • Daily Sales – this is the average sales per day.
  • Adjusted Daily Sales – this is the overriding daily sales to calculate the Min and Max levels.
  • Sales Last 7 days – sales on the previous 7 days from the system date.
  • Order lead time – Order delivery Lead Time in Days per the Inventory Masterfile.
  • Safety Factor – This is the excess safety Stock Factor per the Inventory Masterfile.
  • Old Min Level – Previous Minimum Level.
  • New Min Level – New Minimum Inventory Level that will be updated to the Masterfile on Saving.
  • Days Sales – This is the number of days Sales to Stock.
  • Old Max Qty – Previous Maximum Quantity.
  • New Max Qty – New Maximum Quantity that will be updated to the Masterfile on saving.)

Processing Vendor Orders

The processing of Vendor orders can be made in one of, or using a combination of the following 3 ways:

Inventory Reorder Report
The standard reorder report has been extended to include the new Minimum and Maximum Levels, Economic Order Quantity and the Minimum Order Quantity. The reorder report has the ability to group order items by Preferred Vendor facilitating the reorder process.

Quick Order Form
Regarded as one of Palladium’s best-kept secrets, the Quick Order Form has all the functionality of the Inventory Reorder Report and more and allows you to select the items for reorder within a Vendor Purchase Order, allowing you to filter on only those items purchased from a specific Vendor.

Bulk Reorder Form
This is a new feature that allows you to load all items for reorder (per location) and create mass Purchase Orders from one screen. Note that this feature is only applicable where reordering is done at a per Inventory Location (Store) level. Below is an example of the Inventory Reorder Form. Once complete you will select the Generate Purchase Order.

Download the Support Article PDF

SUP085 – GL Open Item Allocations

The purpose of this function is twofold. Firstly it allows you to “allocate” or suppress from view, transactions that offset each other, allowing you to only see the relevant “outstanding” entries. Secondly, the system is used to auto-allocate transactions during the adjusting process, allowing you to suppress the original and reversal entries on the fly, leaving only the original entry as unallocated.

Manual Reconciliation

Objective
You would generally use this facility to reconcile accounts such as cash clearing accounts or general provisions and accrual accounts where you would like to offset amounts or entries against each other.

Processing
To process open-account allocations, first, select the icon in the General Ledger processing screen and select the account to allocate against. The system will list all transactions in the account whether allocated or not. This will allow you to reallocate previously allocated transactions should you require.

In the screen below you will see that we have offset a loan of R2000 against 2 of the repayments (in red) where the system has automatically applied an adjusted entry in Orange.

Reports
You can now run the General Ledger Transaction report showing All transactions or only the Unallocated Transactions.


Showing ALL transactions


Or showing UNALLOCATED Transactions Only

Automated Reconciliation

Objective
One of the main control features in Palladium is that we write a reversing Journal Entry for all adjusted transactions. This is good accounting practice and corporate governance, but can result in an extensive number of transactions in your General Ledger accounts.

Processing
To overcome this, Palladium automatically reconciles the original transaction with its General Ledger reversal on the fly, allowing users the ability to show all transactions or only the “unaffected’ or unreconciled entries.

Prevention
To prevent excessive transactions we would like to remind you of the Document Info feature that allows you to amend non-financial information, such as a sales representative as on sales documents as will not create any General Ledger Entries unlike the Adjust feature found on the same document.

Download Support Article PDF

SUP104 – Vendor Inventory Pricing

Creating Vendor Pricing

The Vendor pricing setup and selection can be setup in either the Inventory Masterfile under the Vendors Tab as seen below;

Or in the Vendor Masterfile setup under the Item Pricing Tab. The significance of setting the pricing here is that you have the ability to Import the Vendor Pricelists. Note that both these methods update the same information and database fields.

Default Price Selection
When processing Vendor documents on the form of Purchase Quotes or Requisitions, Purchase Orders or Purchase Invoices, the system will first select any Vendor pricing as set above. Should a price not be available, the system will use either the Last Received Cost, or the Default Item Purchase Cost as defined on the Inventory Masterfile below.

Units of measure
There may be a case where there is a different Unit of Purchase Unit to that of the Unit of Stock as seen in the screen below. Note that this will have no bearing on your Vendor Pricing, noting that your Vendor Pricing will be for 6 of this item (ie Unit of Buy) that will convert to the Unit of Stocking at time of receiving.

Converting Documents
This function above only applies in the case where you are creating a new purchase Document and will not apply where prices have been already set or altered on existing purchase documents that are converted, ie in the case of a Purchase Requisition to a Purchase Order.

Download Support Article PDF
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