Each module is a little different with respect to year-end. Following is a module-by-module checklist of things to do and remember. This should be used as a guideline. We haven't included many reports you may want to run but only those required or strongly suggested. If you are unsure about anything or would like lists of specific recommended reports or if you have any questions don't hesitate to give us a call.

Also, please note, all month and quarter end functions are automatically included in the year-end procedure; do NOT do all three! There is one exception to this and it’s in Fixed Assets. In the What Happens sections, we have concentrated only on descriptions of the things unique to year-end. Most important of all remember the two most important words of year-end BACK UP! Please make sure they are clearly labeled with date, time and what was the last thing completed prior to the backup. As long as you have plenty of room on your hard disk, you may also make some of the backups suggested below on-disk, rather than to tape. Certainly, the interim ones as opposed to any you want to keep can be done over others, whether on-line or on tape. This will save you immense time, trouble and frustration should you encounter a problem or accidentally miss a step, etc. along the way.

All year-end periodic processing functions (regardless of module) are single user; everyone else should be out of OSAS. Payroll may be done almost anywhere in the sequence, but must be done before Job Cost or Contractor’s Job Cost, if you have either. Accounts Receivable/Sales Order and Accounts Payable/Purchase Order should be done next and can be done concurrently at different stations. Inventory should follow them. Any other accounting modules like Fixed Assets should be done next. There is no periodic processing per se for Bill of Materials/Kitting or for Bank Reconciliation, however there are some suggested things to do in the following detail listings. Tools modules (CJC and MPM) should be done next and General Ledger should be done last. Most of the modules that have a year end close procedure will still allow posting back to the “last” year after the close and start of the new and then “current” year.

One thing you can do to save time is to run reports and output them to a file instead of to a printer and they can be printed at a later time. You may find it helpful, if you haven’t yet implemented Print Manager (part of Resource Manager beginning with version 6.05), to do that, as it is helpful in archiving reports to be printed at a later time. By holding off the printing, you can advance to the next step more quickly instead of having to wait. Be careful to name your files uniquely and meaningfully and pay attention to the directory path where you can later find them to print. For versions older than 6.05, reports “printed” to a file can be later printed through Report Writer.

Another thing you can do to save time now is to hold off doing most of the file purges (especially for summary and detail history files which would take the longest time) for a later time when you aren’t so busy or under a time deadline.