Configuring Schedules for Recurring Documents

Certain documents in the Accounts Receivable module repeat regularly, such as lease and rental invoices. That is, at regular intervals, documents with the same amount and most of the same document settings need to be entered. To automate the entry of recurring documents, you can create schedules for them. A schedule defines how many times and how often a specific document or specific documents should be repeated. You can set up a maximum number of times the schedule may be executed (or allow an unlimited number of executions) or set an expiration date.

In this topic, you will read about the steps you need to perform to schedule document generation, to run a schedule, and to process the generated documents.

Scheduling the Generation of Documents

Each time you need to schedule the generation of an Accounts Receivable document, you perform these steps:

  1. You create a document on the Invoices and Memos (AR301000) form, which will serve as a template for the future documents generated as a result of running a schedule. For details, see AR Invoices: General Information.
  2. You create a schedule on the Recurring Transactions (AR203500) form and specify its settings.
  3. You add a template document to the schedule, either during schedule creation or later.
    Note:
    Only the documents of the following types Invoice, Debit Memo, and Credit Memo, and with the following statuses Balanced, Pending Print, or Pending Email can be scheduled.

    Once you have added a template document to a schedule, the system changes its status to Scheduled. You can assign one document or multiple documents to a schedule.

    As an alternative to Steps 1–3, if you need to schedule only one document, on the Invoices and Memos form, you click Add to Schedule (under Other) on the More menu to create a new schedule for this document.

  4. Optional: You can attach to a schedule the scanned documents or electronic versions of the documents that are the basis for the schedule you have created. Also, you can attach a file or multiple files for each document in the table on the Recurring Transactions form explaining why this document is generated periodically. For details, see To Attach a File to a Record and To Attach a File to a Record Detail.

Once you have finished the scheduling, you run the schedule regularly by using the Generate Recurring Transactions (AR504000) form. For details, see Running Schedules.

When these documents are generated, you process them as you do for regular documents.

Running Schedules

To generate documents in accordance with the schedule, you can use the following forms:

When you run a schedule, the system uses the template document to generate similar documents. The documents generated by a schedule can differ from the template document as follows:

  • Date: The date of each document is determined by the schedule you have configured.
  • Reference number: A new reference number is generated for each document in accordance with the numbering sequence specified on the Accounts Receivable Preferences (AR101000) form.
  • Tax rate: If a tax or taxes are applied to a document, the system calculates tax and taxable amounts in the document by using the tax rates effective on the date of the document creation. Thus, in documents generated according to the same schedule, the tax amounts can differ. You can find the tax rate used by the system in each particular document on the Taxes tab of the Invoices and Memos (AR301000) form.
  • Currency rate: If a currency of a document differs from the base currency set in the system, the system uses for conversion the currency exchange rate effective on the date of the document creation.

No matter how many times you run the schedule, documents will be generated only as required by the schedule. The system determines whether it should generate documents depending on the current date, the schedule's start and expiration date, the schedule type, and the date when the documents were last generated. After the required documents have been generated, the system updates the Last Executed On date on the Recurring Transactions form. Thus, no documents will be generated ahead of time, but missing documents can be generated by running the schedule once for each missed date.

For example, imagine that you schedule an invoice to be generated weekly on each Tuesday with an unlimited number of times. If you run the schedule every week on Wednesday, one invoice will be generated each time. If you run this schedule every day, the invoices will be created only on Tuesdays. If you run this schedule only on the last Wednesday of each month, run it four times to generate one invoice each time.

When you run a schedule on the Generate Recurring Transactions form, you can generate documents ahead of time. You specify the current date in the Start on box, select the On this date option button in the Stop section, and specify a future date. Thus, you define a date range within which the system will run a schedule. The system checks every date in this range and generates documents only on dates that comply with the frequency settings of the schedule.

You can view the documents generated by a schedule on the Generated Documents tab of the Recurring Transactions form. Generated documents have the Balanced status and can be released or posted, as any other documents can. If needed, you can change the amounts of the transactions. To view and edit a generated document, use the Invoices and Memos (AR301000) form.

When necessary corrections are made, the document can be saved only if its status remains Balanced.

Editing Template Documents

You can edit the template document (that is, the document with the Scheduled status) any time you need to. On the next schedule run, the system will use the modified version of the document for generating documents.

Also, you can remove a scheduled document from the table on the Document List tab of the Recurring Transactions form by using Delete Row on the table toolbar. The system changes the status of the document to Voided and does not use the document anymore for generating documents.