This article is designed to help diagnose some of the more common problems which can cause the Sales/Customer balances to not agree with their respective Control Account balances.
Does the Snapshot agree?
In Dimensions, if using the Ribbon Menu, click System.
If using the Module Menus, click System Control.
Click Company.
In the Record section, click Snapshot.
Click the Validate, set of old scales icon. A dialog appears asking the user to validate the Snapshot.
Click Yes.
Note: This process simply adds up the balances of all of the customer and supplier records and compares them to the future-most balance on the sales and purchase control accounts. It also validates the Trial Balance by adding up the balances on all of the Nominal Accounts.The Snapshot Validation appears. Read the information displayed and click OK.
If the Customer Balances and Supplier Balances both agree to their respective Control Account balances, then take no further action.
However, if there is still a difference between the Debtors or Creditors Aged Report and the Nominal Ledger, or if the Trial Balance is out, please raise a new case online and reference the title of this article and please include details of the accounts and the balances that don't agree.
What to do if the Snapshot does not agree.
If the Snapshot does not agree, there are some steps to take in order to help diagnose the reasons.
In Dimensions, to load the Help files, either click Info, Help, or click the red Access Icon and select Help.
Use the Search option to search for troubleshooting.
The Troubleshooting section offers some guidance on how to deal with a Snapshot that does not balance.
As an alternative, Access Support has put together a diagnostic Crystal Report to help step through, and fix, some of the more common issues, see below.
How to load the crystal report into Access Dimensions.
As mentioned above, Access Support has put together a Crystal Report to help fix some of the more common issues, to load this report:
Download the Zip file which is attached to this Knowledgebase article and save it to the computer.
To extract the Crystal Report, unzip the file. If needed, contact the own internal IT representative or System Administrator for assistance.
Copy and paste the Crystal Report file to an appropriate folder which the version of Dimensions being used can access in order to run. The default location for a standard installation of Dimensions is as follows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Access Applications\Dimensions\Accounts\version number\Access Reports\SQL\ . There are then a series of sub-folders representing the various Dimensions modules. If needed, contact the own internal IT representative for assistance.
Log into Dimensions and navigate to that section of the software where the Crystal Report was copied to.
If using the Ribbon menu style, click the ACR icon.
If using the Module menu style, click the relevant section, Reports, Access Crystal Reports.
The user will then be presented with a list of available Crystal Reports. These are displayed alphabetically unless any have been added favourites. Favourites will appear at the top of the list. Within the list, double-click the new report called Control Account Differences (External). A Parameter Selection Window appeasr.
Select either Sales Ledger or Purchase Ledger as required.
Click OK. This will present a diagnosis of the Snapshot.
Note: The report is designed to run on a single ledger at a time. If there is a difference on both ledgers, run the report separately for each ledger.
Analysing the Report.
The report is broken down into five main sections. Full commentary and explanations are given in the report. However, these are as follows:
The Company Snapshot: Ledger and Control balances for the selected ledger, together with an explanation.
Journals Posted to the Control Account(s): This is a summary of year and period of journals posted to the Control Account(s), together with an explanation.
List of Control Accounts: This is simply a list of all Nominal Accounts which Dimensions recognises as Control Accounts, together with their balances. This is important should there be more than one Control Account for each currency. There is also an explanation alongside this.
Incorrect Analysis Codes: Displays a list of any sales/purchase analysis codes which are currently set up incorrectly.
Mis-posts Section: This provides a list, together with drill-down, of any transactions that have been posted using incorrectly set up analysis codes. There is an explanation of what’s shown, together with a detailed description of how to go about fixing them.
Note: This report is not designed to diagnose and resolve all issues related to snapshot differences. However, it does address some of the more common problems. In some cases, there may be other factors involved which will require the assistance of Support. Therefore please raise a new case online and reference the title of this article and please include details of the differences seen and what has been tried to resolve them.