Overview

The Settlement Balance keeps Fisherman Balances table keeps a running tab of amounts owed and due to vendors with a “Vendor Type” of Fisherman, Tender, or Fisherman/Tender. The balances are appropriately adjusted automatically by Adjustments, Balance Transfers, Cash Receipts, Credit Memos distributed to fishermen, Delivery Tickets, Fisherman Sales, Invoices distributed to fishermen, Tender Sales, and Transfers. From the Settlement Balance, users may process checks to pay remaining balances.

Prerequisites

Required Prerequisites

• Vendor Setup
• Financial Account setup
• Fisherman Check Format

Optional Prerequisites

• Set the purchasing preference for “Default Account – Settlement Accrual”. 
  • This will ensure that transactions will still post if the settlement account has not been manually configured for each fisherman or tender.
  • Set the purchasing preference for “Enable Real Time Integration” to “Yes”. integration setup for Checkbook transaction to immediate or timed.
    • This user guide assumes the preference is set to “Yes”integration to be on. If the preference integration setup is set to “No”none, then the integration components described in Steps 4 and 5 will not occur.

Understanding the data flow

Once payments are processed in Settlement Fisherman Balance, a Payables Transaction Entry is created for each check in the host system’s Purchasing module as an invoice.

To view the data flow of Settlement Check payments, click here.

Step 1: Viewing settlement balances.

From NorthScope, expand the Purchasing module on the navigation menu and select “Settlement Balance“Fisherman Balances.” This will open the Purchasing Settlement Balance a list view, which displays all settlement balances for fishermen, tenders, and fishermen/tenders. These settlement fisherman balances are displayed with the following details:

• Account: Displays the name of the vendor the balance is owed to via a hyperlink.
• Activity: Displays a hyperlink that will open the Fisherman's activity with all transactions that are New, Approved, Ready to Post, or Posted, Voided and Replaced; excluding those that have been voided deleted by default.
• Batch: Displays the batch the payment belongs to. This field auto-populates after a payment has been entered and processed.
• Open PO's: Displays the fisherman's balance resulting from all open Purchase Orders. 
• Open Transactions: Displays the fisherman's balance resulting from all open transactions. Negative balances will appear within parentheses. 
• Payment: Enter the amount to pay the vendor. This is the only editable field.
• Posted Balance: Displays the remaining balance from posted transactions. Negative balances will appear within parentheses. 
• Net Balance: Displays the sum total of the vendor’s balance. Negative net balances will appear within parentheses. 
• Statement: Displays a hyperlink that will open the fisherman's statement report.

To view the detailed transactions producing the displayed settlement balances, click the “Vendor” hyperlink. This will open the vendor’s Settlement Detail view. This view displays all the transactions affecting the vendor’s settlement balance, distinguished by those that have been posted and those that remain open, with the following details:

• Amount
• Date
• Description
• Doc No
• Remaining
• Transaction
• Trans Type

To view the detailed versions of any displayed transaction, click the “Transaction” hyperlink.

Step 2: Entering settlement payments.

From the Settlement Balance Fisherman Balances list view, enter the amount being paid to the vendor(s) in each vendor’s line item “Payment” field. All settlement payments entered must be greater than 0. Once all payments have been entered, click the “Process Checks” toolbar icon.

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Also, clicking “Process Checks” will open the Process Checks window.

If, after entering a payment and clicking “Process Checks,” the vendor’s settlement detail record is opened, the user will see that an open settlement transaction will appear for the pending payment.

Step 3: Processing checks.

The Process Checks window will open with the following header fields:

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Select the auto-populated batch name from the Batch ID field. This will automatically update the Process Checks window to display the defaulted data from the payments while also removing the Void and Approve toolbar icons. In the Process Checks grid, each payment entered will appear as a single line item with the following details:

• Account: Select the account for which the payment is being made. This field defaults to the account a payment was entered for but can be edited. This field is required to save the check. 
• Address ID: Select the Address ID to which the check will be written. This drop-down menu displays all Address IDs for the selected Account. Once an Address ID is selected, the Payee, Description, and Address fields will default. This field is not required. 

• Address 1: Displays the address 1 line of the selected fisherman address. This field is editable until the check batch is printed.

• Address 2: Displays the address 2 line of the selected fisherman address. This field is editable until the check batch is printed.

• Address 3: Displays the address 3 line of the selected fisherman address. This field is editable until the check batch is printed.

• Amount: Enter the amount to be paid to the “Payee.” This field defaults to the total “Payment” amount entered for the vendor but can be edited. Negative amounts are not permitted and entering a $0 amount or deleting the amount and saving will removed the line item. 
• Check Number: Displays the check number assigned to the payment. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited. The field auto-populates when the check(s) have been printed.
• City: Displays the city of the selected fisherman address. This field is editable until the check batch is printed.
• Description: Enter the description to appear on the check. This field defaults to “Settlement” from the Address ID but can be edited.
• Payee: Enter the name to appear on the check. This field defaults to from the Vendor’s name Address ID but can be edited. Vendor
• State: Select the vendor for which the payment is being made. This field defaults to the vendor a payment was entered for but can be edited. This field is required to save the check. Displays the state of the selected fisherman address. This field is editable until the check batch is printed.
• Zip: Displays the zip code of the selected fisherman address. This field is editable until the check batch is printed.

To create more checks than those that display, click the “New” toolbar icon. This will open five new rows for data entry. If a “Payment” was not entered for a vendor in the Settlement Balance list view, a payment can still be created in the Process Checks window by creating a new line for the vendor.

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Once all desired payments have been entered, click the “Save” toolbar icon. This will update the header data fields.

Step 4: Approving and/or printing checks.

To create check requests, click the “Check Approval” toolbar icon. This will open check request forms on screen for each of the created checks with the payment amount, payment date, vendor account, payable to, address, GL account, and description information.

To print the created checks to the screen for review or to print, click the “Print” toolbar icon. This will open the created check(s) ready for print. Once printing, saving, or exiting the printed checks, the Process Checks window will appear with an updated status of “Printed,” all fields other than the Batch ID field will no longer be editable and the following toolbar icons will display: Check Approval, Approve, and Void.

Note: Purchasing Preference 'Fisherman Check Format' is required in order to print checks.

Clicking the Approve toolbar icon will send the checks to the host system, update the Process Checks status to Approved, and, upon exiting the Process Checks window, will update the Posted Balance(s) to reflect the payment(s) and clear the Batch and Payment fields for new entry. The posted balances will update by first applying the vendor’s “Due From” balances to the “Owed To” balances to get a final balance owed. Then, the approved payment will be applied to the remaining balance(s) by applying to the oldest transaction first. Transaction applications utilize the check batch date when checks are created and posted.  Transactions dated after the check batch date would not be applied.

Note: If the payment pays the Posted Balance in full, the vendor's Settlement Balance line item will no longer appear. 

Clicking the Void toolbar icon will not send the checks to the host system, will update the Process Checks status to Void, and, upon exiting the Process Checks window, will return the Settlement Balance to its original balance before the payments were entered and will clear the Batch and Payment fields for new entry.

Step 5: Posting the check(s) in the host system.

Approving checks in NorthScope will send each individual check as a Payables Transaction Entry in the host system’s Purchasing module as an invoice with a check attached for the full amount of the payment. The transaction entries will appear in the batch titled NS followed by the year, month, and day with the following format: NS: YY_MM_DD. For example, if the payment was integrated on July 14, 2015, the Batch ID for the transaction entry would be NS: 15_07_14. 

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One credit line for the amount of the check to the checkbook’s cash account. The distribution type will be CASH.

Once the user is satisfied that all the GL Distributions are correct, the user can post the batch in the host system.

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Posting the transaction will create a posted purchasing invoice and a posted purchasing payment, fulfilling the amount of the invoice, which will create a posted journal entry will the same distributions as the invoice.