Expert on Phone Newsletter

September 2008

Editorial
Welcome to the September edition of the Expert on Phone Newsletter.
For all of you who found this summer to be a bit wet and cold (especially
in Europe) I hope the following Tips and Tricks will help cheer you up.
Tips in this edition include: Calculation of Actual Component and Actual
Product costs in production, and Gross profit in Sales BOM; How to stop
users from creating/updating BOMs; How to populate Prior Period Bal in
Customer Statements and Profit Centres in JE based on marketing docs
Should you have any comments/feedback please send to d.shah@sap.com.

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Index
How are Actual Component and Actual Product Costs computed during a
production process?
Why does an item which is defined as a Sales Bill of Material show 100% as gross
profit in the Gross Profit window?
How to set up alerts for Task Activities?
Where does the default House Bank come from when using Cheque as a means
of payment in the Outgoing Payment window?
Why are open A/R Invoices not shown in Recommendation Report during the
Dunning Wizard run?
Why can users with Read-Only authorisation to Price Lists not create or update
Bill of Materials?
How is the field 'Prior Period Balance' populated in the 'Customer Statement' print
out?

From the Documentation

Resource centre, expand
the required version e.g.
SAP Business One 2007 ->
Data Transfer Workbench
Product Enhancement
Solutions go to:
A-Z Index - Product
Enhancement Solutions
Self Help go to:
Support Self Help
Application
Archive: Expert
Empowerment Sessions
Reconciliation Engine in
2007
Notes

How is the Info Price field used in Goods Issue function under Inventory ->
Inventory Transactions?
Why are Profit Centres set in marketing documents not showing in journal entries?
How can we change the number of Invoice lines appearing in the Cheque for
Payment stub?

Page 1 of 40

Contents

How are Actual Component and Actual Product Costs computed during a production
process?
Note 1089549
In Production Order -> Summary tab, there are fields for Actual Component Cost and Actual Production Cost. How
are these costs computed?
Actual Component Cost
This cost is the sum of actual issuances for production through the Issue for Production window.
Actual Production Cost
This cost is based on the planned quantity in the production order which is defined in the Bill of Materials.
The difference between the two costs is posted as a production variance in the Total Variance field.
For example:
Consider this scenario:
A Bill of Materials for Production item has two components, both of which are issued manually:
A1007 5 Units
A1110 8 Units

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1. Create a Production Order.

2. Issue only some of the components to production:

A1007 4 Units
A1110 4 Units

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At this stage, the Actual Component Cost field is updated in the Production Order:

This value has been computed using this formula: Issued Quantity x Current Cost
Hence:
Component
A1007
A1110
Total

Issued Qty
4
4

Current Cost
GBP 83.34
GBP 13.00

Total Cost
GBP 333.36
GBP 52.00
GBP 385.36

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3. Receive the finished item through the Receipt from Production window.

It is at this stage the Actual Product Cost and the Total Variance fields are updated in the Production Order:

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The Actual Product Cost of GBP 520.70 is computed as the Actual Component Cost plus any difference between
the Planned and Issued Quantity. Hence:
Actual Component Cost + Quantity Difference
= GBP 385.36 + GBP 135.34
= GBP 520.70
The Quantity Difference of GBP 135.34 is calculated as follows:
Component
A1007
A1110
Total

Planned
5
8

Issued Qty
4
4

Difference
1
4

Current Cost
GBP 83.34
GBP 13.00

Total Cost
GBP 83.34
GBP 52.00
GBP 135.34

The Total Variance field is also populated by the sum of the variances that occurred during the production
process; in this case it is GBP 135.34.
4. When the Production Order is closed, the system automatically creates a journal entry for the Total Variance as
follows:

Note: The WIP Variance Account is taken from the WIP Inventory Variance Account field in the Item Group,
Warehouse or Item Level depending on the setting on the Set G/L Accounts By field of the Parent item.

Index
Page 6 of 40

Why does an item which is defined as a Sales Bill of Materials show 100% as gross profit in
the Gross Profit window?
Business Scenario:
In Document Settings -> General tab the display for a bill of materials (BOM) of a sales type is set to Price and Total
for Parent Item Only. This setting allows users to enter a sales price on the parent item instead of setting
independent sales prices for the component items. The Base Price Origin field is also set at Item Cost as basis for
gross profit calculation.

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The Sales BOM is shown below:

When creating a sales invoice for an item defined as a Sales BOM, the Item Cost field in the Gross Profit window is
empty. Hence, the gross profit is calculated at 100%. Why is this so?

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In SAP Business One, an item that is defined as a Sales BOM cannot be defined as a Stock item. The logic behind this
system definition is that Sales BOM items are regarded as kit items which can be quickly assembled during the sales
process. It is then not necessary to maintain physical stocks of such kit items. As an item that is not defined as a
stock item in the system does not maintain item cost, the Base Price will then show zero when the Item Cost is
used in the Gross Profit window.

To get an estimated gross profit for each Sales Type' BOM, the following workaround can be considered:
1. In the Sales Type BOM record, select a Price List that will hold the estimated costs of the parent. This is the
sum of all its components. In the screenshot shown below, a Price List called Estimated Costs has been
created. Then, for each component line item, select the Last Purchase Price (LPP) as Price List (PL). The
Last Purchase Price will be the closest estimated costs of the components. As in the screenshot, the
Estimated Costs is GBP 43.00.
With respect to data correctness in the LPP, please consider Note 889702: The Last Purchase Price is
updated automatically by the system when posting specific SAP Business One transactions, where all
transactions that update the LPP are listed.

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2. When creating sales documents for the Sales Type BOM, in the Gross Profit for Outgoing Invoices window,
select the Estimated Costs in the Base Price List field before adding the document. Then, click on Update
in the Gross Profit of Outgoing Invoice window.

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3. Once selected, the Base Price will now show the GBP 43.00. The Gross Profit will now show the difference
between the Unit Price and the Base Price. Hence GBP 100.00 less GBP 43.00 is equal to GBP 57.00. The
Profit % field is computed based on the Calculate % Gross Profit option selected in the Document
Settings window.

4. Alternatively, if maintaining such an Estimated Costs PL is not feasible, the Base Price may be set to
Manual and the user can enter the appropriate cost.

Page 11 of 40

Index
Page 12 of 40

How to set up alerts for Task Activities?

Note 870570
When creating an Activity in the Business Partner Master Data -> Activity, SAP Business One allows a user to set a
trigger for an alert for a reminder to be sent to the user. This applies to the activities Phone Call, Meeting, Note or
Other. Simply place a tick in the checkbox for Reminder and define when this reminder should happen.

Note however that a reminder cannot be set when an activity is a Task.

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When an alert is needed for an Activity that is a Task, the following workaround can be used to achieve this.
1. Create two user-defined fields (UDF) as follows:
U_Hour: Date/Time Type and Hour Structure
This field will hold the length of time prior to the appointment and at which time the reminder should be
sent.
U_Reminder: Date/Time Type and Hour Structure
This will be used to indicate that a reminder must be set for this Task Activity.

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2. Save the query below in the Query Generator.

Select
Distinct T2.ClgCode,
T2.CardCode,
T2.ContactPer,
T2.Tel,
T2.Details
From
OALT T0
Inner join
ALT1 T1 On
T0.Code = T1.Code
Inner Join
OCLG T2 on
T1.UserSign = T2.AttendUser
WHERE
T2.Action ='T' and
T1.UserSign is not Null and
Convert(char,T2.Recontact,104) =
Convert(char,getdate(),104) and
T2.Closed= 'N'and
Convert(char,(T2.U_hour -T2.U_Reminder),108)>=
Convert (char,getdate(),108)

Page 15 of 40

3. Set up an Alert using the above query. Indicate the SAP Business One users that should receive the alert.

4. In the Administration -> System Initialisation -> General Settings -> Services tab window:
Tick the Send Alert for Activities Scheduled for Today option.
Tick the Display Inbox When New Message Arrives
The number of minutes in the Update Messages field should be set to a minimum to ensure frequent
updates.

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5. When a reminder for the Task becomes due, an alert will appear in the Messages/Alert Overview window.

Index
Page 17 of 40

Where does the default House Bank come from when using Cheque as a means of
payment in the Outgoing Payment window?
Note 1240747
When selecting the payment method Cheque for an outgoing payment, details of one of the House Banks is already
shown in the window:

This House Bank does not always correspond with the House Bank that is defined for this Business Partner (BP):

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SAP Business One will always pull the details for cheque payments from the bank that is defined as House Bank
under Administration -> Company Details -> Basic Initialization.

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The House Bank may of course be changed manually by selecting another bank from the drop-down menu. If there is
no House Bank defined under the Company Details, there will be no bank details displayed by default in the Cheque
Payments. The user must then select an appropriate House Bank and G/L Account from the drop-down menu.

Index
Page 20 of 40

Why are open A/R Invoices not shown in Recommendation Report during the Dunning
Wizard run?
There are 2 possibilities why open AR invoices are not displayed in the Recommendation Report during a Dunning
Wizard run.
Possibility 1:
Un-reconciled A/R Invoices will only appear in Dunning run when they meet the criteria set for the next Dunning
Level.
Consider this scenario:
1. Set up Dunning Terms under Administration -> Set up -> Business Partners -> Dunning Terms.

Under these terms, the first dunning letter will be proposed to be sent 30 days after the due date for invoices of
a BP whose outstanding balance is a minimum of GBP 100.00, the second letter will then follow after an
additional 15 days for any outstanding balance.

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2. The Dunning Term is assigned to the Business Partner in the Business Partner Master Data -> Payment Terms tab.

3. In this example, the due date of the A/R invoice is 15.08.2008. A dunning run on 17.09.2008 will hence pick up on
that invoice, as long as the BP balance is equal to or more than GBP 100.00 on that date.

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4. The above A/R Invoice meets the criteria for the 1st Dunning Level. The calculation is as follows:
Data Range
August 16 to 31, 2008
September 1 to 17, 2008
Total Days Past Due

Days
16
17
33

A Dunning Letter for this A/R Invoice may now be printed.

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5. If there are two invoices for the same Dunning Terms but with different due dates, 15.08.08 and 15.09.08, only
the Invoice with Due Date of 15.08.08 is displayed in the Recommendation Report. The Invoice with Due Date
15.09.08 is not displayed since it does not meet the criteria of the 1st Dunning Level, it is only 2 days past due at
the execution date of the wizard.

6. To display all open items, including all open A/R Invoices, the Display All Open Items option may be ticked in
Step 4 of 6 of the wizard.

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Open items that do not match the criteria set in the dunning terms are displayed with a dunning level of 0; here
IN 132/1 with due date of 15.09.08 falls into that category.
Therefore, if the box Display All Open Items in Step 4 of 6 of the Dunning Wizard is not ticked, only open items
that match the criteria in the dunning terms are displayed in the Recommendation Report.

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Possibility 2:
A particular invoice has been excluded from dunning runs by manually placing a tick in the checkbox Block Dunning
Letters on the Logistics tab in the A/R Invoice.

To identify such A/R Invoices, this query may be used:

SELECT T0.[DocNum], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName] FROM OINV T0 WHERE T0.[BlockDunn] = 'Y'

Index
Page 26 of 40

Why can users with Read-Only authorisation to Price Lists not create or update Bill of
Materials?
Note 1251003
If a user has been defined with Read-Only access to Price Lists an error message appears 'You are not authorised
to perform this action [200-30]' when creating or updating a Bill of Materials (BOM). Why is this so?
Consider the authorisation for user Andy and the error he receives when attempting to update a BOM:

Page 27 of 40

SAP Business One is very versatile in granting or not granting usersusers access to modules and submodules. When a
user is defined to have Read only access to price lists, then s/he will not be able to perform any action that will lead
to a change in any of the pricelists. This includes the creation of a BOM, from which the parent price can be changed
in the pricelists and similarly, it includes the update of a BOM. Any changes in the BOM components can affect the
parent price.
Consider this example, where a user with full authorisation updates a BOM:
When a user creates a Bill of Materials (BOM), the price of the parent item defined in the header is automatically
updated when the triangle icon next to the 'Product Price' field is clicked. Hence, a user who has 'read-only'
authorisation for price lists cannot create or update a BOM.

In the above screenshot, the Selling Price is updated to GBP 255.00 when the triangle icon is clicked.
If the Selling Price Price List is assigned to an Authorisation Group and the user does not have authorisation to the
Price List Group, the user will not be able to update the specific price list of the BOM.

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Hence, if Selling Price is assigned to Authorisation Group 2 and the user Peter does not have access to Price List
Group 2 in the Authorisation window; Peter cannot update the Selling Price in the BOM; but he can update the
other Price Lists.

Index
Page 29 of 40

How is the field 'Prior Period Balance' populated in the 'Customer Statement' print out?
Note 1228195
The 'Prior Period Balance' field, which appears in the 'Customer Statement Report' printout, displays the cumulative
open balance for that customer prior to the starting posting/due/document date range defined in the 'Customer
Receivable Aging' selection criteria window.
The printout is launched through Financials -> Financial Reports -> Accounting -> Aging -> Customer Receivables
Aging. In the toolbar click Tools -> Print Layout Designer.

The 'Prior Period Balance' value ensures that the ending balance in the 'Customer Receivables Aging' report always
matches the account balance of the customer in the BP Master Data window.
The 'Prior Period Balance' will display a cumulative total in the 'Customer Statement' print out, as long as there are
values defined in the 'To' and 'From' date fields in any one of the 'Posting Date', 'Due Date' or 'Document Date' in the
'Customer Receivables Aging' report - selection criteria and if there are open invoices prior to the defined date
range.

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For example, consider this scenario where BP C1000 at the precise point of the aging date has a balance of
GBP 1,194.09 as shown below. The last transaction before the above defined From Posting Date took place on
20.05.2008. The cumulative balance at that point was GBP 868.09, which will now be automatically inserted in the
Prior Period Balance field.
If the From date was prior to 15.05.08, the Prior Period Balance would be GBP 343.09.

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Note: If the Prior Period Balance does not match the figure in the Cumulative Balance column in the BP account
balance window, untick the checkbox for Display Unreconciled Trans. Only and ascertain that the date in the
Posting Date From field is prior to the From Posting Date defined in the selection criteria for the aging report.
Access the Financials -> Financial Reports -> Accounting -> Aging -> to open the 'Customer Receivables Aging' report.
Define a posting date range from 12.09.2008 to 19.09.2008 with the 'Aging' date as 19.09.2008.

When the customer statement is printed, the 'Prior Balance Due' field will show the value of GBP 868.09.

Page 32 of 40

Index
Page 33 of 40

How is the Info Price field used in Goods Issue function under Inventory -> Inventory
Transactions?
Business Scenario:
When doing Goods Issue transaction, the system automatically uses the current valuation cost when posting the
stock release. Once added, the Goods Issue document will then show this current cost in the Item Cost field.
In instances where the Goods Issue function is used to generate an external document, users may need to show a
reference price for the item that is not necessarily the Item Cost. For example, when shipping free items or
replacement units to customers, the Info Price field can be used for this purpose.
When using the Info Price field:
The default value in this field comes from the Price List in the Goods Issue header. This default value can be
changed. In the screenshot below, the GBP 75.00 comes from Price List 05.

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The journal entry behind the transaction still uses the current item cost and not the price in the Info Price
column.

This Info Price is shown in the default print out template of the Goods Issue.

Index
Page 35 of 40

Why are Profit Centres set in marketing documents not showing in journal entries?
Note 1085205
When creating a service type marketing document with profit centres defined for each line item row, the
corresponding journal entries do not have a Distribution Rule in each line. How can this be rectified?

Solution:
Check the definition of the G/L Account in the Chart of Accounts window. If the G/L Accounts Account type is
defined as 'Other', the profit centre assigned to it in the document will not be copied to the respective row in the
journal entry. The profit centre will only be copied if the G/L Account in the respective row in the journal entry is
defined in Chart of Account as Sales or Expenditure type.
In the above example, the G/L Account 605020 was initially set as Other in the Account Type field; hence the
journal entry lines did not have the profit centres. Changing this G/L Account to Expenditure will only affect the
transactions created after the change. Accordingly, the journal entry for AP Invoice 102 will not be updated despite
of the change.

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After changing the Account Type to Expenditure and a new AP Invoice is created, the journal entry lines have the
profit centres as shown below:

Index
Page 37 of 40

How can we change the number of Invoice lines appearing in the Cheque for Payment stub?
The number of invoice lines that are printed on each page in the Cheque for Payment stub depends on the setting in
the House Bank Accounts Setup window. If the Maximum Line column is blank for a specific bank, the systems
will obtain the Maximum Lines setting from the Print Preferences window.
To set the maximum invoice lines for all banks, proceed as follows:
1. Go to Administration -> System Initializations -> Print Preferences -> Per Document -> Select 'Cheque for
Payment in the Document field.
2. Enter the required number of lines in 'Maximum Lines' field.
3. Click on Update.

To set the maximum invoice lines for individual banks, proceed as follows:
1. Go to Administration -> Setup -> Banking -> House Bank Accounts Setup.
2. Enter the required number of lines in 'Maximum Lines' field.
3. Click on Update.

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When printing a cheque stub for a payment using Bank Code 201030 as House Bank, there will be 7 lines appearing
on each page in the layout as defined in the House Bank Accounts Setup window. Hence:

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The remaining invoice lines will appear on page 2 of the cheque stub.

Index
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