Configure Update Company
Explanation
The Update Company feature is useful in the following
cases:
- A new component is installed and added to an existing
installation of IFS that contains active companies, and you need to add
company-related basic data to the new component in one or more existing
companies.
- An installation of IFS is upgraded to a new release.
The new release contains new company-related basic data that is to be added
fully, or partly, to an existing company.
The upgrade mechanism makes it possible to add company-related
basic data automatically (rather than doing so manually). Note that this feature
does not update any existing data in a company; it only adds new basic data.
Prior to performing the update, you need to consider
the following:
- What basic data do you want to add to an existing
company?
- Should data be added on the so-called "key level"
or not?
- If you are updating on the key level, should both
non-account and account-related Logical Units be updated, or only one of
those two types?
- What should be the source for the update?"
If a company was originally created in the 2001-3 release
or earlier, then the From Company and the From Template ID
fields will be empty in the Update Company
dialog box. This is because there was no Company Template feature in those releases.
If this is the case, you must select a Company Template as the source for the
update. Choose a template that is most compatible with the installation, i.e.,
choose the standard company template that is built to fit the needs of the current
company.
If a company was originally created in a release later
than the 2001-3 release, then the source company or source company template
that is used to create the current company will be displayed in the dialog box.
A natural choice is to also use the original company source when upgrading the
current company.
In any case, you can select any existing company template
as the basic data source. The template should be selected with care.
Two different update mechanisms are supported:
- Standard update
Each logical unit checks
to see whether there is any data associated with the company. If yes, nothing
will be added, otherwise new data will be added.
- Update on key level
Each logical unit
checks (in the company to be updated) the existence of all basic data records
from the source, and adds the data that does not already exist.
Since an update on the key level may cause some inconveniences,
there are two possible options related to this type of update:
- Update only the non-account related Logical Units.
This is the suggested option, since it will not affect the chart of
accounts and posting control related data.
- Update only account-related Logical Units.
This option means that account-related Logical Units, e.g., the chart of
accounts, will be updated. This might be handy in a case where the current
company uses the chart of accounts as defined in the source company/template
and it is desirable to add new accounts added in the new release.
The following special company update configuration
is also available:
- Specify that the logical units is a part of the
update.
- Generate a difference template showing the data
in the update source that does not exist in the current company. The difference
template can be used as a source for the update. It is also possible to
specify the exact basic data in the difference template to be used during
the company update.
You should determine the purpose of the update and
then configure the parameters and options in the best possible way before starting
the update process.
Prerequisites
An active company must exist and you should want to
add new basic data (normally for one of the following reasons):
- An upgrade of IFS to a new release has been performed.
The new release contains new basic data that you want to add to an existing
company.
- A new component, supporting the Create Company
concept, is added to an existing installation of IFS. You want to add basic
data associated with the new component to an existing company in order to
get started quickly with the basic data setup.
System Effects
The configuration will affect how the update process
is executed. It is important to note that the process only adds new basic data
to an existing company. Existing data is never modified or removed.