Sage 100

Trying to get a feel for how this is used. Was on site doing a v2013 upgrade and the client was actually using this feature - Associated PDF's. I have never used the feature nor encouraged my clients to do so. This particular client uses it every time. However, it seems to be a bit kludgy to use. What do others think/recommend.

Good luck with that one!!!

What part seems kludgy? I always thought it was pretty straight-forward. One example I'm aware of for its usage is for attaching a .pdf of a deposit's scanned checks from customers to the A/R Cash Receipts Journal during the posting process.

Hmmmm, @BrettZimmerman Interesting. The client was attaching the AP invoice journal to the gl transaction update that generates immediately after. But what you are saying is that you can attach anything. Very interesting. Any other ideas out there?

Just remember you're only attaching the path. The document has to be saved to a common location for it to be useful.

I think it is handy to put a combined PDF of all the supporting data that you are updating.You can only enter one path to a file so you would have to combine all the PDF's of the invoices/etc being updated into one PDF.

@ToddMartin - I've been using a script at the time of AP invoice entry to scan the invoice being entered and archiving it automatically to a designated folder. I then use another script button when drilling down into the AP invoice which will locate the document and launch adobe reader to display the image. Been using it for six or seven years. Low cost of entry plus a very simple way to store your documents. While there are more powerful solutions out there (DocLink and ACOM), my solution works well for a small company. @BrettZimmerman - I just scanned the cash receipt check stubs for the 90Minds deposit batch and used the associated path feature as you described. VERY cool use of this feature. I think I will roll this out to my clients that have a scanner.

@ToddMartin - It would be great if this feature would allow you to associate multiple PDFs.... for example, 1 for each AP invoice entered. You could use a script similar to @JeffSchwenk to first store each invoice in a vendor folder. The user could then attach each invoice to the transaction using the associated PDF feature (although this would be really slow and inefficient for companies with large volumes of AP invoices). A more efficient method would allow the user to attach the pdf during AP invoice entry. Logic could be attached to the pdf lookup button to default to the vendor folder containing the scanned invoices written there by Jeff's script (scanned as they are received). @JeffSchwenk - does your solution attach the pdf to the invoice during invoice entry, or does it search for and launch the pdf when accessing an already updated AP invoice?

Searches for and launches the PDF based on values in the AP invoice history header record.

@DougHiggs I think it would be great if they enhanced this feature. Sadly I do not see it getting enhanced unless it is done by a 3rd party. It would also be handy to have a way to archive pdfs. The folders that hold the pdfs can get very large and there is no way to auto manage them. You must manually move them to archive them. It would also be handy if the PDFs created would flow to SageCRM. So when you create your sales order in Sage 100 the pdf would be a document in SageCRM that would then be available to attach to communications. Or better yet have it auto attach to a email as part of workflow. I know this related to so forms not so much the registers but it would be great if they made the integration stronger.

Agreed. It wouldn't be a big leap to create a simple method of attaching scanned documents during invoice entry. In addition, there needs to be a way to archive pdf history. The only good 3rd party options have tons of features but have a big price tag. It would be nice to have some simple pdf attachment capabilities for AP invoices. This could save a lot of file cabinet space and allow users to search for invoices using a computer. Jeff - If your solution is efficient and reliable as history grows, and there are a large number of pdfs to be searched, it would have a huge advantage over attaching invoices to transactions......the user doesn't have the step of attaching the invoice.

I guess it all depends on how much history grows. This is a lower end solution for my clients, if they need robustness, then they should look at a Doclink or ACOM solution. My solution also stores AP invoices by year, so the folders do not grow too much.

I set up paperless in AR to prompt for the associated PDF. I am now scanning my check stubs in cash receipts and attaching that PDF to the journal. Starting to grow on me....

The more I use this, the more I like it. In addition to scanning cash receipts, I have started scanning/pdf'ng the source documents for the GL journal entries. Excellent way of archiving this important backup directly to the journal. I have also started scanning my bank statement and attaching to the bank register when I am done with the reconciliation. Everything is accessible with one button click for future reference.