Accounts Payable Processing Flaw?

RLessor

Member
Our company is getting ready to go live with OneWorld Xe accounts payable shortly but I have found a issue that bugs me not only as a IT Manager but as a previous accountant and developer. The process in question is accounts payable check writing whereby I can not understand the J.D. Edwards/PeopleSoft thought process. Hopefully one of you has encountered the same problem and possibly a solution.

We use OPTIO check writing solutions and it works exceptionally well. The problem I have is we have a main office staff of accounting clerks and over fifty remote sites with the ability to process accounts payable checks all through a web client (no fat clients). When actually processing the a/p check process, one UBE (R04571) has interconnects to other reports (R04572 and R04573) which causes me to have security concerns. The IT Department goal is to have the PDF check file report print immediate to the appropriate queue at the main office with the balance of the reports to print immediately elsewhere regardless of the user or their location. What we have found is all reports can be printed to one queue unless one decides to create a lot of custom code.

My desire is to have the checks hit the check writing queue OPTIO_PZAP with the accounts payable attachments to print on the printer next to the check printer. PeopleSoft has stated that is not possible without much customization hence the need to have users manually move the check PDF to the correct printer from a “work with submitted job” screen. Because the process starts with the R04571 UBE we are told everything else must follow the interconnected report structures as well.

I get blown away thinking this is not an issue for others. While I could print generic reports to the MICR printer, this is a waste of money. The second option of having users manually print the report to the proper queue is a major design flaw. Think for one minute a user could select one payment to oneself but not actually print the check until later. One could then reset the check writing process and have the check written by others through the manual process. One could then send the original check to the check printer thereby paying one twice. Banks would cash both checks without any problem and it would fall back to the company as a control problem.

While this is somewhat true, having the ability to print directly would eliminate the issue altogether. The PeopleSoft support group has not been very helpful and thought we should request a SAR but like that is going to happen with the life of Xe. Has anyone out there found a solution to this major problem? I hope I have given enough information to the group.



Randy K. Lessor
Manager of Information Technology
World Software/OneWorld Xe Coexistence
OneWorld SP23
Enterprise Server – iSeries/400 (V5R2)
Application Server – Windows 2000 Web Server
 
First... I think you are being a bit unreasonable that JDE does not accomidate your third party check printing software out of the box.

Second... I don't think it is unreasonable to expect to make some realitively minor modifications to the check printing program so that it better flows with your third party check printing program. Remember, out of the box JDE is designed to print to regular preprinted/prenumbered check stock. So the control issue is really between how you interface your 3rd party software with JDE.

Now, a few suggestions.

1. Accept that some modifications will be needed.
2. Post this question on the developers board.
3. Find a good developer to make it happen.

Personally, I would recomend modifying the check printing program to create a text file that could be written to a secured folder and then fed to Optio. This would address a lot of your concerns.

Good luck.
 
I hate to sound negative but the issue has nothing to do with OPTIO but rather the a/p check processing itself. Why can't one send a PDF output file to one queue while in the same UBE interconnect send a second PDF to another printer and have them print immediately. I am reasonable and feel this is a short coming as we are now moving backwards compared to World possibilities.
 
Randy,

I am not familiar with the Optio product, however, most of the third party
products allow you to define what output queue to print to by UBE name and
environment. I know my last company used eResolve (JetForms) and I defined
what printer to use. Also, have you tried setting the output queue name at
the version level for the UBE?

Just an idea,
 
The check, and the two reports can be sent separately to one or several =
virtual queues that can then be processed through Optio. You can =
determine from within Optio the destination printer based on the =
incoming data or by utilizing an external database.
=20
 
Re: RE: Accounts Payable Processing Flaw?

I must not have been very clear in my original posting. Forget OPTIO, that is not the issue!

I want to have all versions of R04572 - the checks - to print imediately to a printer (iSeries queue) but have the "see attachment" report R04573 PDF print to a secondary printer within the same department.

All of my clients are web clients and the printers are all located within the main office building. We were told that becuase the process starts with UBE R04571, all interconnected jobs would have to follow the same printer queue as the specified one for R04571.

This makes little sense as why would one want to send a PDF report for attachment details to a printer loaded with check stock paper or to have the check file PDF be processed manually to the proper queue.

This is not rocket science stuff. In World I can have overrides to many printers but can not seem to get this to work within OneWorld. Am i missing something??
 
Re: RE: Accounts Payable Processing Flaw?

Randy,

I understand your issue - and it is one that has been discussed several times before as I think you have found. To the best of my knowledge there is no current solution that does not involve customization and programming. One of these days Peoplesoft will change the behavior - but for now - its just the way it is.

Regards,
 
You can create a version and add code to assign a different printer to the called UBE report. It's under Report Level Event Rules in the "Do Initialize Printer Event" you can use the System Function called "Initialize Logical Printer Name" to change the printer assignment for the called UBE.

Or you can have Optio control the printer assignment based on any business rules in put in the document flow

Print immediate is a function of the JDE.ini for each user. You can have all reports print immediate without using Subbmitted Reports application. Also, the user can choice print immediate at the time you submit the UBE for processing
 
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