Over the last 8 weeks two new updates have been applied to the Aqilla platform.
The principal enhancements (in versions 2021.10 and 2021.12) include some significant updates as to how Microsoft Excel processes updates of large volumes of reference data and significant enhancements to the automatic processing of Purchase Orders – Goods Receipts (optional) – Purchase Invoice Matching processes especially where automatic creation and OCR (Optical Character Recognition (automatic scanning) methods are in use by way of Aqilla SmartDocs.
Three new parameters have been added to the reference data get functions to facilitate the maintenance of very large data volumes.
In order to maintain reasonable processing times of batch data, the Excel add-in limits the maximum number of reference data that can be downloaded and processed to 5000. Where more data exists, it is now possible to specify from what point in the dataset to extract data. For instance, if you have more than 5,000 customers, you can specify to extract up to 5000 customers starting after the 5000th customer.
By default the data is retrieved in the sequence that the data was created. The new parameter “Sort By” provides options to sort by typically code or name, depending on the data type.
The parameter “Search Value” is unchanged from previous versions of the add-in, providing additional options to filter data starting by the characters entered. For instance, entering “AB” in the Customer “Search Value” parameter would return all customers with codes or names commencing with “AB”.
Note that all parameters are optional. This feature is available when the latest optional upgrade of the Aqilla Excel is installed.
A new flag has been added to the supplier to provide finer control of purchase order processing.
2.1 PO Processing – Default
This is the current setting for PO Processing and allows both purchase orders and independent purchase invoices to be created for this supplier. The inclusion of Goods Receipt matching within the PO process is controlled by the Instance wide Flag “Goods Receiving”.
2.2 PO Processing – No PO
This setting prevents entry of purchase orders for this supplier.
2.3 PO Processing –PO and Invoice Quantity Matching
This setting prevents entry of purchase invoices, requiring purchase orders and purchase invoice matching. Quantities invoiced are controlled by the purchase order.
2.4 PO Processing – PO and Invoice Value Matching
This setting prevents entry of purchase invoices, requiring purchase orders and purchase invoice matching. Quantities invoiced are not controlled by the purchase order, but values are checked against tolerances (see below).
2.5 PO Processing – PO, Goods, and Invoice Matching
This setting prevents entry of purchase invoices, requiring purchase orders, goods receipts, and purchase invoice matching. Quantities received and invoiced are controlled by the purchase order.
Two additional fields have been added to the Supplier to enable the value invoiced to be checked against the purchase order. If specified, tolerances are checked irrespective of whether quantities are also checked.
Tolerances are checked on a line-by-line basis against the purchase order and are expressed as either the percentage or value over spend based on the net value of the purchase order line. If the tolerance is left blank it is not checked. Either of the tolerances may be specified and if both are specified, the lowest effective tolerance is used. If either of the tolerances is set to zero, then no overspend is allowed.
For example, if the Tolerance Percentage = 1.00% and the Tolerance Value = £1.00 and the Purchase Order line has a net value of £500.00. The overspend for the purchase order line is calculated as the lower of 1% od £500 = £5 or £1. So the total spend may be up to £501.00.
Note 1 – the overspend is calculated at the time of entering the purchase order. Any subsequent changes to the tolerance specified against the supplier will only be used for new purchase orders.
Note 2 – if the PO Processing flag is set to PO and Invoice Value Matching, it is important to specify a tolerance otherwise there will be no check of quantities or values invoiced.
When performing Purchase Invoice Matching with Tolerances in use, you will receive the following information:
It is now possible to create user defined attributes against the Company using the Attribute Wizard.
These attributes can subsequently be used to output company specific information on formatted documents such as invoices and statements or through Sharperlight.
A new filter has been added to the Statement of Accounts selection criteria to specify whether Rough Posted transactions are to be included in the statements. If Rough Posted transactions are included, a warning message is also displayed to this effect.
Obviously in most circumstances Rough Posted transactions would be excluded from statements until such time as they are fully posted as a “system of account”.
Two new options have been added to the options to be applied to dates when copying a document.
6.1 Clear All Dates – this will clear any date field requiring the user to explicitly enter the date. Note some date fields, such as Document Dates, override this setting with Today’s Date.
6.2 Set All Dates to Today
6.3 Keep All Dates (new)
6.4 Set All Dates To … (new) – this opens a date selector to specify the date.
This provides much more flexibility when cloning template or previous documents, saving effort in realigning dates from those set on the original.
A new flag has been added to Company Edit to mark this company as no longer in use in a multi-company instance. The setting of this flag will prevent access to the company, and Aqilla customers will no longer be charged for the use of the company.
NB: An instance must always have at least one active company.
Data will be archived and stored for a disabled company and if necessary, customers can request to re-enable a company through Aqilla support (support@aqilla.com). A company usage charge is for a minimum of one month.
Pending the deployment of new Open Banking API technology, two new additional payment formats are now supported by Aqilla.
It is now possible to restrict a bank account to a specific company in the Bank Account Details function. When a bank account has been restricted to a specific company, the Payments and Debits functions will only offer payment bank accounts that are associated with the company minimising the risk of selecting the wrong bank account.
When information is being audited in Aqilla, most records contain a Reference. Typically, this would be the account code, item code, customer code, etc., or a document reference. It is now possible to filter by this reference to easily view what has changed on, say, a specific creditor account.
