General WIP Entry is used to enter Work-in-Progress charges that are not directly associated to an employee's time sheet.  When the User Charges Interface is executed, it loads it's charges, and optional Recap Detail records, into a General WIP Transaction batch.  A General WIP transactions has associated to it a Recap Detail record only if a WIP/RECAP Record ID Number had been specified.

When a General WIP Transaction Batch was being posted, if a WIP/RECAP Record ID was specifed, it assumed that a valid Recap Record had also been defined.  If there actually was not Recap Detail record, the transaction still had been posted.   The Posting function has been enhanced so that now, if the General WIP Transaction had a non-zero WIP/RECAP Record ID Number, but no associated Recap Detail record was on file, that transaction will now be flagged, and it WILL NOT be posted.   (Nov-22-2010)

Occasionally, a company name, address, or Recap Search-Name or Recap Ordered-By name would have a <~>, <|> or <*> character embedded.  These are used as field and/or line terminators in the EDI file that is generated and transmitted.  As a result, these files would be rejected.  The EDI Invoicing routines have been enhanced to replace these special characters with <^>, </> and <+> characters respectively.   (Nov-17-2010)

To automatically email generated invoices as PDF documents, for those Projects that have been set up to do so, the operator must now click on the Push Button labeled Email/Post Finals found on the Invoice Grid Processing screen.  If the Print/Post Finals push button is selected, those invoices for Projects set up to be automatically emailed are skipped.   (June-02-2010)

The P/I system has been enhanced to offer the ability to generate PDF invoices and have them automatically emailed to the respective customer.  A new EDI Specification Type has been introduced.  To set up to have invoices emailed, the following steps need to be done:

Note that when PDF Invoices are generated, they are really generated as an MS Word document, and from within Word, is saved as a PDF.  This functionality ONLY works if Microsoft Office 2007, or later, is installed on your client computer.   (Mar-18-2010)

A new type of EDI Specifications Control record has been introduced.  It is used to designate that invoices, for the Projects to which it is assigned, will be generated as a PDF document and automatically emailed to the customer.  As an option, a Detail Recap report will also be generated which is also emailed.   (Mar-05-2010)

The EDI Specifications record have been increased in size to accommodate larger fields.  As well, the Historic Statistics table has been broken out and is now kept in a separate file that now holds up to 25 entries, (up from 15).  In the Specifications record, the Data Directory Path has been increased to handle names up to 100 characters in length.   (Feb-25-2010)

The Invoice EDI file that is generated has a summary total line as the last record in the file.  The  total number of Credit Units reported was incorrect.  The problem has been fixed.   (Feb-03-2010)

Those Invoices that had tax amounts allocated to charges were not reporting the tax amounts correctly.  The TXI record was being output, but the amount was not being included.  The problem has been fixed.   (Jan-28-2010)

For the cXML invoices that are generated, the Search Company Name, and the Ordered By fields that are loaded from the Recap records, are appended together into a string as information within the <Description> tag of the <InvoiceDetailItemReference> tag.  The logic has been revised so that any <%> characters will be replaced with the <p> character, and any <'> or <"> characters will be removed.   (Jan-07-2010)

The option to export data to spreadsheet has been enhanced.  There are up to 8 different types of data that may be output to an Excel spreadsheet.  Each type will now be output to it's own worksheet within the Excel workbook.  (Dec-16-2009)

For those functions that export data to Excel spreadsheets, the following enhancements have been made:

The following applications have been revised accordingly, where applicable (Dec-15-2009) :

This was provided as a function from the the Select Project for Billing application.  It now may be accessed with a menu item from the P/I menu's Operations  drop -down menu. (Nov-10-2009)

Context sensitive Help has been introduced to the screens offered in the Invoice History Inquiry functions. (Nov-10-2009)

Credits may be entered and applied against a selected Historic Invoice.  A number of cosmetic enhancements have been made to the screens used to enter the Credits.  In particular the operator may now switch between the Credit Note Entry and the Apply to Invoiced WIP Item tabbed sub-screens at will.   (Nov-10-2009)

Both Historic Invoices and Archived Invoices may be inquired upon.  From this function, the Historic Invoices Register report may be selected.  A number of cosmetic changes have been made to identify which types of historic records are being displayed, and reported on.   (Nov-10-2009)

Context sensitive Help has been introduced to the Project Inquiry function. (Nov-10-2009)

The functions to Apply Credit to WIP items, and to Write-Off a Project's WIP items have been removed from the Project Inquiry application.  Entry of Credits to specific Invoices is provided only as a function within the Historic Invoice Inquire application.  Writing Off a Project is provided as a function within the Select Project for Billing application. (Nov-10-2009)

When a WIP item's Extended Amount is edited, from the P/I Project Inquiry function, the Unit Rate will now be recomputed and displayed accordingly based on the revised Extended Price and the # of Units. (Nov-02-2009)

To correctly handle Credits, the cXML invoicing routine has been revised as follows:

This was needed because there was some inconsistency with how the signs were passed in the Unit Rate and the Quantity fields in the Recap records. (Aug-25-2009)

The LEDES98B Invoice Generation program has been revised to output a variation to the standard as required by Kilpatrick Stockton. (Aug-25-2009)

The LEDES98B Invoice Generation program has been revised to accommodate variations needed for Kilpatrick Stockton.  The EDI Control maintenance screen has been revised offering a new field used to indicated the version of LEDES that is to be used.   Also, a 2nd new field was added to provide the Line Item Expense Code that must be output. (Aug-25-2009)

The Invoice Generation routines have a feature to honor a $ Value Limit of Invoices defined by the Invoice Layout records.  As each WIP charge is assigned to an invoice, if the amount that it contributes to the total value of the invoice exceeds the $ Limit defined by the Layout, it is not included, and the invoice is completed.  If the value of an individual WIP item was greater than the $ Limit, a problem occurred, in that the system would create up to 999,999 Zero Valued invoices.  The system has been revised to ignore any WIP items whose $ value exceeds the Limit defined by the corresponding Invoice Layout. (Aug-05-2009)

For the cXML invoices that are generated, the Search Company Name, and the Ordered By fields that are loaded from the Recap records, are appended together into a string as information within the <Description> tag of the <InvoiceDetailItemReference> tag.  The logic has been revised so that any "<" or ">" characters will be removed.  This was necessary so the XML processor system would not think that a new tag was in the file.   (Aug-05-2009)

The logic for the EDI Invoices has been revised so that if Credit Invoices are generated, the minus sign will now be on the leading edge of the numbers that are reported.   (July-29-2009)

Tax charges will now be reported within the <Tax>....</Tax> tag within the <InvoiceDetailItem>....</InvoiceDetailItem> area of  the cXML file.   (For JP Morgan/Chase, no tax detail information is recorded).   (July-2-2009)

The generated XML code has been revised so that commas in numeric quantity or amount fields will now be removed.   (June-30-2009)

The Invoice Generation program has been revised to consolidate the charges for a given invoice to a single charged item.  This consolidation is done when the LEDES98B output interface file is generated.  (Note that the detail associated to charges are lost). (June-24-2009)

The Invoice Generation program has been revised to consolidate the charges for a given invoice to a single charged item.  This consolidation is done when the Paymentech output interface file is generated.  (Note that the detail associated to charges are lost). (June-24-2009)

The control properties for EDI Invoices generated to be submitted to customers that require Invoices to be submitted using LEDES98B has been enhanced.  A new option has been introduced to have the all invoice detail items consolidated to a single a single charge when the LEDES98B output interface file is generated.  (Note that the P/I Invoices will still show the detail when inquired upon). (June-23-2009)

The control properties for EDI Invoices generated to be submitted to Paymentech has been enhanced.  A new option has been introduced to have the all invoice detail items consolidated to a single a single charge when the Paymentech output interface file is generated.  (Note that the P/I Invoices will still show the detail when inquired upon). (June-23-2009)

The Invoice Generation routines have been enhanced to honor the new $ Value Limit of Invoices property that was introduced to the Invoice Layout records.  As each WIP charge is assigned to an invoice, if the amount that it contributes to the total value of the invoice exceeds the $ Limit defined by the Layout, it is not included, and the invoice is completed.  A new invoice will be started for the remaining charges to be billed for the given Project.   (June-18-2009)

A new property has been introduced to the Invoice Layout record to define a dollar value limit that is allowed for any given invoice that is generated.  The limit will apply to all P/I Projects that use the specified Layout.   If a $ limit is applicable, a check-box is set and the maximum $ value may be set.  The limit field has a maximum value of $ 999,999. (June-18-2009)

For numeric fields in the Ledes EDI output file, for numbers greater than zero, the first character of the field was output as a space.  Leading spaces are not allowed in numeric fields.  The program was revised to set this field to the number ZERO where applicable.  For negative numbers, the first digit will continue to hold the "-" negative sign.  Note that the formal specifications of LEDES98B states that leading ZEROS are acceptable in numeric fields, and leading and trailing blanks in character fields are acceptable. (June-16-2009)

A new function has been introduced to the P/I system.  Under the menu's File drop-down menu, Clear All Credit Card Numbers may be invoked to have all occurrences of credit card numbers cleared.  That is, in those data records where a credit card number is stored,  the number 1111-1111-1111-1111 will be assigned to the card number.  A cutoff date may be entered as a filter to limit the records that have the numbers cleared for those files were dates would be applicable.  This function should be executed on a regular basis to ensure that historic Invoice records have their credit card fields cleared.  Also, if data files are being used in a test environment, all data files should have the credit card fields cleared. (June-01-2009)

When the Purge A/R function is executed in the Accounts Receivable system, if the items being purged originated from the P/I system, the associated P/I Invoice history record is read, and flagged as having had it's Cash Payments applied.  For a specific situation, if the Cash Payment Open Item had an earlier, or the same date as the Invoice and a different Invoice in the PI system had the same Invoice # as the payments Check Number, it was incorrectly being flagged as being paid.  Also, the Payment Date will now be correctly recorded in the P/I Invoice History record.  These problems have been fixed. (April-21-2009)

The generated XML code has been revised so that leading ZEROS in numeric quantity or amount fields will now be removed.   (April-17-2009)

When prepaid P/I Invoices are posted to Accounts Receivable as Sales Transactions, if paid with Credit Cards, the Credit Card number is passed as xxxxxxxxxxxx9999, where 9999 is the last 4 digits.  The Credit Card # as stored in the Sales Transaction is not encrypted. (Mar-11-2009)

A new program has been developed that will process all PI records that contain Credit Card numbers.   It reads the Credit Card Mapping, Invoice and Invoice History  files and encrypts any Credit Card Numbers that have been previously stored.   (Mar-11-2009)

The function to generate charges submitted to Paymentek has been revised to deal with the encryption/decryption of the Credit Card numbers used for generating invoice for designated Projects.  When these invoices are created, the credit card # is encrypted.  The encrypted Credit Card numbers are also moved into the A/R system's Sales transactions.   (Mar-11-2009)

The Credit Card fields in the mapping records are now encrypted.  The encryption is considered a "strong" encryption based on a Vigenere Cipher algorithm using multiple dynamically built conversion tables.  The file is also encrypted using Acucobol's ISAM file encryption, (which is a "soft" encryption).   (Mar-11-2009)

The definition of the Invoice and Historic Invoice records has been revised.  These records had a field that carried an applicable Bill Code associated to the Invoice.  This field has been increased from 20 to 30 characters in size.  A rebuild must be executed on the Invoice file, the Invoice History file, and the Archived Invoice History file.  All related PI functions have been modified to use the 30 character code. (Nov-11-2008)

The input column for the Recap Search Time may now be either blank, a 6 digit number representing hhmmss, or a text string of "hh:mm:ss".  Previously, if the text string was input, it was interpreted as an error, and the remaining Recap fields of the item was not being input. (Nov-3-2008)

A problem has been fixed.  When generating a Recap Report or Spreadsheet for Un-Posted Invoices sorted by Invoices, no detail was not being reported. (Nov-3-2008)

A new Codes Maintenance function has been added to the P/I system.  This maintains records that will map product codes, (that are actually segments of the P/I Task Code), to the Ariba Line Reference code.  When cXML invoices are generated, a segment of the PI Task Code will be used to look up the Line Reference code which is assigned to the argument in the <InvoiceDetailItemReference lineNumber=99999> tag.  Also the segment of the PI Task Code will be inserted in the <ItemID><SupplierPartID>.....</SupplierPartID></ItemID> tag. (Nov-3-2008)

A number of fixes were required for files submitted to Ariba to be accepted (Oct-15-2008)

                   Date: Recap Search Date  Name: Recap Searched Company  User: Recap Searched By  Desc:   Recap Activity Description

Minor changes to the data being generated in the spreadsheet. (Oct-15-2008)

The Find/Replace function was enhanced to provide for the searching and replacing the fields associated to a Project's EDI controlling fields.  These were in a different record, and were not handled correctly.  Now, you can use whatever Search criteria you wish to select projects, and specify to assign, or replace, settings of the EDI control fields.  If originally, the record did not exist, it will now be written.  This makes it easy now to assign EDI options to may projects. (Oct-15-2008)

The generation of XML Invoices has been revised so that each invoice produces a separate XML file. (Oct-7-2008)

The definition of one of the fields of the Recap Detail record has been changed.  What used to be the RECAP-DETAIL-DFS-NUMBER field is now used to hold information passed from the WIP record.  Specifically, it will hold a copy of the WIP's Task Code from the Recap's associated WIP record.  The WIP Task Code is moved into the Recap Detail record when Invoices are generated.  This new field is needed in the Recap Record so to be available when cXML invoices are generated. (Aug-28-2008)

The invoicing function producing cXML invoices for submission to Ariba has been modified.  The <Supplier Secret> tag field is now obtained from the P/I Projects associated EDI Control specification record.  Also, the  <Supplier Part ID> tag will be determined as either the entire, or part of the P/I WIP Task Code, as determined by a setting in the EDI Control specification record. (Aug-28-2008)

The [PER] Invoice Header Data record used to provide information about each Invoice has it's CONTACT-NAME field. This field now contains the Customer Code, and the Invoices "Attention To" individual as a text string "XXXXXX-Attention Name".   It used to just have the Search Date of the charge. (Aug-28-2008)

In the EDI Specification Control record used for ARIBA cXML Invoices, a new field has been added, and an existing fields has expanded in size.  The new field Supplier Secret, defines one of the required tags; and the Remit-To Identifier field was increased from 10 to 30 characters in size.  The EDI Control Maintenance application screen has been revised accordingly. The UPGRAD_UCC3 utility must be executed to have the existing EDI Control records rebuilt to accommodate the new and larger fields. (Aug-28-2008)

The Professional Invoicing system now has On-Line Help.  You can access these help files from the application's screens or menu bars. (Aug-10-2008)