Every department has tasks they perform on a regular basis and steps and procedures they will need to follow in order to perform the tasks accurately and ensure no tasks are missed. It is common for each department to create their own written steps and manually check them off as tasks are completed. Users can get busy and forget about a specific task or attempt to perform a task only to remember they forgot about a previous one that needed to be done first.
Acumatica has a really nice way to enter these tasks in the system and link the tasks directly to Acumatica screens and reports and assign the tasks to users. As the users complete each task, the progress can be tracked online. There is also a nice feature to define if a task is a successor or a predecessor of another task; helping the user follow the steps in the correct order. Although this tool can be used in any department, one example is the Month End Closing process. Multiple steps need to be completed to prepare for the following period.
For example, let’s assume that Company ABC will Reconcile AP & AR subsidiary ledgers to the AP & AR accounts in the General Ledger, run some financial statements and then close the month end. Of course there are more steps and processes to follow than this example, but with the Acumatica Scenarios tool, you can add as many as you need.
Here’s How:
The first step is to create a New Scenario. In this example, we called it Month End Closing Steps.
Go to: Configuration > Common Settings > Scenarios >
Enter the Scenario Name and Site Map Location (and Role Name if you would like to secure access) and save it.
Next, click on the Scenario – the scenario tasks screen will open.
At this point, you create each step and sub steps for the Month End Processing. Assume the first Step is to Reconcile and Close Accounts Payable. In this example, we created three sub steps, Print the AP Aging Report, Reconcile to the GL and then Close AP. At each step, you can define if the step is optional, if there is a predecessor or successor step, provide full details on what is expected at this step, link the step to the screen, or report in Acumatica and assign the task to an employee to complete and to show up on their task list.
This Scenario will now be located on the Main Site Map and can be launched from the location we originally defined; in this example: Finance > General Ledger > Processes > Closing > Month End Closing Steps
By launching this process, this Scenario screen will show the full task list for this particular scenario, who they are assigned to and the status of the tasks.
By Clicking on the Link, the user can “Go to the Screen”, Assign a task, Start the task, or Mark the task as Completed. If the user starts the task, the previous screen will show an In Progress status and the date the task was started; if the user select “Mark as Completed”, the task with show a Completed status and the date the task was completed and the user completing the task.
By Setting up a Recurring Scenario, the scenario can be scheduled and automatically created at a particular time. In this example, the Scenario is set to the “By Financial Period” and “End of Financial Period”
Remember, this can be used by any department (with security rights) with procedures and tasks they need to follow and to ensure they are completed on a timely basis.
If you have questions or need some assistance, visit our support page for more help.
