Configuring Work Logs for an application

We all are aware that our world is a client driven world. We need to get workarounds for most of the requirements we gather. We came across one such requirement to configure work logs for Invoice application. So, we added relationships from INVOICE object to WORKLOG object as recordkey=:invoicenum and class='INVOICE'. We included the work log tab in our application xml. When we decompiled the WORKLOG.class in psdi.app.ticket folder in MAXIMO 7.6, we could see it includes PO and PR with earlier TICKET and WORKORDER class records only. So. while you want to add a record to WORKLOG from Invoice application, system is unable to decipher what is the parent class, what to set in recordkey field, etc.

We explored two approaches to get a work around to the above stated problem. One is to insert records into APPFIELDDEFAULTS table using below sql insert scripts

Next approach which is also very effective is using automation script. We created an object launch point on WORKLOG object with event as Initialization and wrote our source code as attached in the images below:

So far so good. We had another requirement to add similar tab to Item Master application. We had configured every thing accordingly but on click of New Row button in the Work Logs tab, we encountered the below error:

We found out that ITEM object is at ITEMSET level and does not have ORGID attribute, so we were thrown this particular error from the system. So, we rolled back all configuration changes we had done to add the Work Logs tab in Item Master application as any other application with Logs tab. We could not find a solution. As a work around, we created a custom object which had all the attributes as WORKLOG object, created a new relationship from ITEM object to this custom object and managed to add records to this new custom object. If someone had encountered such a scenario and were able to find a better solution, please feel free to share your thoughts.

References:

Reference 1

Reference 2

Payment Schedule Creation in Contracts and Invoices for the Purchase Order

There is a new feature introduced from Maximo 7.5 which allows users to schedule payments. You can use the Contract Line Items tab in the Contracts application to create a schedule of payments for the contract line items. I am going to present some scenarios where this feature can be useful and how the invoice is created for the same.

Points of Consideration and Scenarios for Payment Schedule functionality:

1. Payment Schedule can be created for each contract line.
2. Before you can create a payment schedule, you must select the Payment Schedule check box on the Properties tab.
3. Out of the box payment schedule can be used to create Invoice on PO Approval and Receipt of Materials:
• Payment Percent should be selected such that line cost of each milestone do not exceed total line cost.
• For Example: A contract line has total line cost as 1000,
• Payment % for action POAPPR= 10, line cost=10% of 1000=100
• Payment % for action RECEIPT=90, line cost=90% of 1000=900
4. Scenario 1: Contract Line with Qty=10, Unit Cost=100, Line Cost=1000,
• Payment Schedule 1: Action=POAPPR, Payment Percent=10, Line Cost=100
• Payment Schedule 2: Action=RECEIPT, Payment Percent=90, Line Cost=900
• On PO approval, one invoice is created as: Invoice Qty=Ordered Qty=10, Unit Cost=10% of 100=10, Invoice Line Cost=100
• On partial receipt of 6 items, one invoice is created as: Invoice Qty=90% of Received Qty=90% of 6=5.4, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=540
• On receipt of remaining 4 items, one invoice is created as: Invoice Qty=90% of Received Qty=90% of 4=3.6, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=360
5. Scenario 2: Contract Line with Qty=10, Unit Cost=50, Line Cost=500
• Payment Schedule 1: Action=RECEIPT, Payment Percent=100, Line Cost=500
• On Partial Receipt of 5 items, one invoice is created as: Invoice Qty=100% of Received Qty=100% of 5=5, Unit Cost=50, Invoice Line Cost=250
• On Partial receipt of 3 more items, one invoice is created as: Invoice Qty=100% of Received Qty=100% of 3=3, Unit Cost=50, Invoice Line Cost=150
• On receipt of remaining 2 items, one invoice is created as: Invoice Qty=100% of Received Qty=100% of 2=2, Unit Cost=50, Invoice Line Cost=100
6. Scenario 3: Contract Line with Qty=10, Unit Cost=100, Line Cost=1000
• Payment Schedule 1: Action=RECEIPT, Payment Percent=20, Line Cost=200, Days Interval=7
• Payment Schedule 2: Action=RECEIPT, Payment Percent=80, Line Cost=800, Days Interval=7
• On partial receipt of 5 items, two invoices are created as:
• Invoice Date=7 days after receipt, Invoice qty=20% of Received Qty=20% of 5=1, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=100
• Invoice Date=30 days after receipt, Invoice qty=80% of Received Qty=80% of 5=4, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=400
• On partial receipt of 2 more items, two invoices are created as:
• Invoice Date=7 days after receipt, Invoice qty=20% of Received Qty=20% of 2=0.4, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=40
• Invoice Date=30 days after receipt, Invoice qty=80% of Received Qty=80% of 2=1.6, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=160
• On receipt of remaining 3 items, two invoices are created as:
• Invoice Date=7 days after receipt, Invoice qty=20% of Received Qty=20% of 3=0.6, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=60
• Invoice Date=30 days after receipt, Invoice qty=80% of Received Qty=80% of 3=2.4, Unit Cost=100, Invoice Line Cost=240

Example for Scenario 1

1. Created one Purchase Contract with one contract line with payment schedule as below:

• OrderQty=10, Unit Cost=100, Line Cost=1000
• Payment%=10, Action=POAPPR, Line Cost=100
• Payment%=90, Action=RECEIPT, Line Cost=900 
2. PO created for the above contract and approved as below: 
   
   
   
   
   
3. On PO approval, an invoice is created as below with Pretax Total = 10% of 1000 = 100 USD:
                                           Check the values in Total Cost and Uninvoiced Total fields. Also, check the Invoice Line details as below: Qty=10, Unit Cost=10% of OrderQty=10, Invoice Line Cost=100
4. Receiving 6 items out of 10 ordered for Partial Receipt as below: 
                                                          
5. One invoice is created for the above partial receipt as below: 
   Uninvoiced Total = 376.20                                           Check the Invoice Line details as: Unit Cost=100, Invoice Qty = 90% of Received Qty =    (90x6)/100 = 5.4, Line Cost = 540
6. Receiving 2 more items as below: 
   
7. Invoice created for above receipt as below: 
   
   
                                        Check the Invoice Line details as: Unit Cost=100, Invoice Qty = 90% of Received Qty =    (90x2)/100 = 1.8, Line Cost = 180.
8. Receiving remaining 2 items as below: 
   
9. Invoice Created for above receipt as below: 
                                                 Note that Receipt is now Complete and Uninvoiced Total=0. 
                                                  Also, check Invoice Line details as:  Unit Cost=100, Invoice Qty = 90% of Received Qty =    (90x2)/100 = 1.8, Line Cost = 180.

I hope this blog will help people in understanding how this feature works. Please feel free to share your comments.

2way / 3 way / 4 way matching in Maximo

I have come across queries related to invoice matching in many occasions. What type of matching does Maximo support? Is it a three way matching or four way matching? For some of us who are not familiar with accounting, these questions lead you to a black hole.

The three way match refers to a procedure followed to avoid paying incorrect and fraudulent invoices and is used when processing an invoice received from a vendor or supplier. An invoice that is received from a supplier will be approved and paid by an organization if the purchase order and receiving report prepared by the organization are in compliance. That is in the world of maximo, we need to concentrate on the Invoice(s), Purchase Order(s) and Receipt(s) for a three way match. And the match refers to comparison of quatities, unit prices, total cost, etc. presented in the invoice record with the information on the PO and PO Line Items in the Purchase Orders application and the quantities that are actually received in the Receiving application against each PO line item. So the comparison points are:

1. Quantity billed Vs. quantity ordered
2. Invoice cost Vs. PO cost
3. Quantity billed Vs. quantity received

After the invoice has been validated by this three way match, it can be paid by taking into consideration tolerances if any. 

The four way matching refers to a process when an invoice is matched with the corresponding purchase order for quantity and amount, receiving and, inspection details. In Maximo Purchase Orders application, we can create a purchase order for a material and mark both the checkboxes Inspection Required?  and Receipt Requied? against it. 

Alternatively, in the Item Master application, you can keep the checkbox Inspect on Receipt? checked for an item. When you select that item for a line in the PO, the Inspection Required? checkbox is marked automatically for this PO Line item.

So when you go to the Receiving application to generate receipt of the material and select the ordered item(s), you can check that material with transaction type RECEIPT is in status WINSP (Waiting for inspection). 

Now you need to change the inspection status where you are presented to enter accepted and rejected quantity. 

After changing the inspection status, you can check one more row for the material with transaction type TRANSFER and status COMP. You can also see that the material has now come from the holding location to the storeroom location of the site.

In this case, we see a four way matching as invoices are matched with purchase order, receiving information and inspection information. The comparison points in this type of matching are:

1. Quantity billed Vs. quantity ordered
2. Invoice cost Vs. PO cost
3. Quantity billed Vs. qunatity received
4. Quantity billed Vs. quantity accepted

Now there is another question, if I create a puchase order with a line item for which the checkbox for Receipt Requied? is not checked. In that case maximo allows a two-way matching as invoices are matched with the purchase order only. The comparison points in this type of matching are:

1. Quantity billed Vs. quantity ordered
2. Invoce cost Vs. PO cost. 

So to answer the query about procurement and invoicing in Maximo, it supports two-way, three-way and four-way matching for invoices.

Reversed Invoice and cost adjustments to line item

I would like to explain about one scenario where a PO gets closed when the invoice goes to paid status, but then there is a requirement to make changes in the PO Line item cost and invoice needs to be changed accordingly.

The checkbox to close the PO was checked on changing the invoice status to PAID in the maximo Invoice application. So, the status of the PO gets changed from APPR to CLOSE when invoice status is changed to PAID. Now there we came across a situation where we created a PO with one PO line item with incorrect tax code but we realized the error when the invoice for this PO was already paid. We did not want to revise the PO and go through the approval process again. So here is a solution to reverse the invoice and make changes to the PO Line item or Invoice Line item as described below.

The first step would involve the reversal of the paid invoice. As discussed in my previous blog, from the paid invoice record, you need to choose the option Reverse Invoice from the select action menu and select autonumber to create a new invoice in pending reversal status, with reversal reason, G/L posting date, etc. A new invoice is created with status as PENDREV and negative entry in the cost fields and with a reference of the original invoice number. When you change the status of the new invoice to APPR, the status of the old invoice gets changed from PAID to REVERSED.

The second step would be to create a new invoice with the same PO number and site details. You need to go to the Invoice Lines tab, and you can check the uninvoiced quatity for the line item when you select the Copy Lines button. Select the line item accordingly and make the necessary changes to the tax code.

You can verify that in the Invoice tab that invoice total and total base cost has been changed accordingly. You can also verify that total cost of the PO is not changed and it is as per the original invoice.

Now the process of changing Invoice status to approved and then to paid remains the same. This way you are saved of PO revision and approval process and changes or adjustments can be made at the Invoice application only as per your requirements.

Invoice Reversal in MAXIMO 7.5

I would like to draw your attention towards a functionality of Reversing Invoices in Maximo 7.5. There may be some requirement when you need to cancel an approved/paid invoice to make corrections due to say typos in the original invoice. I had been asked by my client to define a process where they had faced a similar issue and they did not want to go through the whole process of returning transaction. There is an out of the box option available in the Select Action menu in the Invoice application which allows a user to reverse an already approved/paid invoice.

In the original invoice, you can select the option of Reverse Invoice from the select action menu. You will be presented with two statuses – PENDREV and APPR. If you select Pending Reversed status, a new reverse invoice will be created where the original invoice number will be stored in the ORIGINVOICENUM attribute and the new reverse invoice number will be stored in the original invoice’s REVINVOICENUM attribute. All the invoice information, invoice lines and invoice line costs will be duplicated from the original invoice to the new invoice.

If you select APPR status while reversing an original invoice, Maximo Invoice application will insert all the related records that were created by the original invoice/credit/debit memo by setting opposite values in the new invoice. The new Reverse Invoice status will be set as APPR and the original invoice status will be set as REVERSED. The new inserted related records will follow the same business rules as the original invoice and any variances previously created will be reversed and appropriate costs will be updated in

-          INVOICEMATCH

-          INVOICETRANS

-          MATRECTRANS

-          MATUSETRANS

-          SERVRECTRANS

-          INVENTORY.AVERAGECOST

-          INVENTORY.LASTCOST

-          INVVENDOR.LASTCOST

In the Invoice Application, from the select action menu choose option Reverse Invoice. You are required to enter a Reversal Reason and G/L Posting Date.

A new invoice gets created with negative entry and reference to original invoice number.

On changing the status of the new invoice from PENDREV to APPR, the status of the original invoice changes to REVERSED.

References-

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21683870

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/a9ba1efe-b731-4317-9724-a181d6155e3a/entry/reverse_invoice10?lang=en