285 Auto-Allocate Transactions

Important 

An ‘Alloc.LOG’ file is created during the allocation process, which details any important information and can be viewed and/or printed afterwards or you can rename it and view if you have a spreadsheet package, such as MS Excel or Lotus Notes.  The system automatically applies Settlement Discount.

If you do not wish auto-allocation to be applied to particular customers’ transactions, you should first use Maintain Customers (211) to ‘flag’ the Customer as to be skipped.

When you select this function a form appears as shown below. You can change the Allocate Match Options selections that have previously been set up as the defaults in Maintain Central Information.

The Auto-Allocate routine cannot continue without selecting at least one match option.

Match Exact (Oldest First)

If you check this box, the oldest invoice (determined by the oldest invoice date) with an exact amount match to the payment/credit will have that “payment” allocated to it. For example, if a customer’s outstanding payment has a remaining balance of £117.50 and there are three outstanding invoices, the oldest having a remaining balance of £59.00 and the more recent both with a remaining balance of £117.50, the payment is allocated to the older of the two with the £117.50 balance.

Oldest Outstanding Item(s)

If you tick this box the “payment” allocation will start with the oldest outstanding “invoice” item and work through towards the newest outstanding item until the full amount of the “payment” has been allocated (assuming there are enough invoices against which to allocate the payment). When allocation of the “payment” has been completed (i.e. its remaining balance is £0.00) the routine moves onto the next outstanding “payment” record and evaluates/allocates it in the same manner; this process continues until either no “payments” for auto-allocation are left on the system for the customer concerned or no suitable outstanding “invoices” are left.

When you select the Oldest Outstanding Item(s) option, a drop-down dialog box and a value field become available. The drop-down box lets you include/exclude customers depending on their Credit Limit values as set up in TAS. The options are:

• Include All Customers
• Exclude Customers with Credit Limit Greater than £x
• Exclude Customers with Credit Limit Less than £x
• Include Customers with Credit Limit Greater than £x
• Include Customers with Credit Limit Less than £x

You can also tick both Match Exact andOldest Outstanding Item(s);in this case, the program tries to find a Match Exact first, but if not found it checks the Oldest Outstanding Item(s).

Below is an example where the Exclude Customers with Credit Limit Greater than is selected; all customers with a credit limit greater than the value entered (in this case £500) will be excluded in the auto-allocation routine.

When you are happy with your selections click the Allocate button to continue

Click the OK button to confirm and continue. The Auto Allocate form displays the maximum number of payments which could be allocated. For a display showing full details on progress simply press the Alt+F11 keys. On completion the progress bar advises you of the number of transactions processed.

Click the Exit button to return to the Main menu.

To check how Sales Ledger payments and credits have been allocated view the ALLOC.LOG text CSV file. If you have a spreadsheet package, such as MS Excel or Lotus Notes, you can rename the Log file to “Alloc.csv” and view it in easy to read columns, like in the example shown below: