When migrating Sage X3 to a newer version, it’s easy to overlook automatic journals. One of our clients has customized many automatic journals to suit their accounting needs; for example, they’re customized to include information about the line in the description for use on various reports.
Automatic journals are used by the accounting task (VALPCE), accounting interface (FUNSTKACC), and WIP posting (FUNWIPACC) to create accounting journal entries in Sage X3. Therefore, they play a key role in the Sage Enterprise Management system. Header and line level filters allow the system to identify which table and record will trigger the journal entry creation; the journal entry lines are also defined in the automatic journal records.
Ignoring or losing modifications made by the clients in the past could lead to significant accounting and reporting issues.
Here's how to do automatic journal migration in Sage X3.
During the first phase of a folder migration, it’s necessary to spend time identifying modified automatic journals to avoid losing the changes and causing accounting problems down the road.
|
Tasks/Time utilization |
Phase 1 1st Pass |
Phase 2 Dry Run |
Phase 3 Go Live |
|
Migration |
High |
High |
High |
|
Customizations |
High |
High/Low |
Low |
|
NA-Addons |
High |
High/Low |
Low |
|
3rd-Party integrations |
High |
High/Low |
Low |
|
Automatic Journals |
High |
High/Low |
Low |
An imported migration folder brings the automatic journals from the old system; therefore, it’s critical to update the folder to the latest version of standard automatic journals and then manually apply all modifications from the old system. Depending on how heavily modified the old environment is, and how the client has documented the changes, it could be a tedious and time-consuming process to identify and apply previous modifications to the new folder.
Once the automatic journals are updated and tested, you can create a patch to be applied in following phases.
The folder TEST flag has no functional implication. Regardless of the flag status, Enterprise Management will always look for logic and report files in the child folder, then in the reference folder. There are, however, important considerations during the patching process for system upgrades and migrations.
When a folder is flagged as TEST, the folder is self-contained and can be used to test new patches or customizations. For example, the reference and production folders could be on patch set 2 but a test folder can be patched to the next level (patch set 3) to test and analyze the impact the new patch might have on existing production folder.
In this case, all standard functionality related to processes (logic) and automatic journals will be copied to the child folder during the patching process, overwriting existing elements.
When a folder is a production folder (not flagged as TEST), processes and automatic journals are only installed in the reference folder to avoid causing a problem on the production folder due to loss of configurations. It’s necessary to use the automatic journal comparison tool to identify changes or new elements to be manually added to automatic journals in the production folder. Technical consultants usually rely on financial consultants to update the production folder after a patch set has been applied; the technical documentation from Sage includes information about any automatic journal requirements.
Creating a patch file prefixed with SRC in the file name will allow the patch to install logic, or automatic journal records in a folder, even if they aren’t flagged as TEST. This is a useful trick in case we need to install a patch with automatic journals in a production folder.
Backup warning! Use caution when applying an SRC patch. Always create a backup of your data before proceeding with
advanced solutions. If necessary, seek the assistance of a qualified Sage Business Partner, network administrator, or Sage Customer Support Analyst.
Automatic journals are an important part of the Sage Enterprise Management system and must be considered during the patching and migration process to prevent accounting issues down the road. For more information about automatic journals, Sage X3, or other Sage products, please contact us.