Last year, I posted an article about a tool I’ve created that that makes it easier for JD Edwards users to balance their general ledger (GL) against perpetual inventory. Since then, I’ve received a flood of suggestions for enhancements to make this tool (known here at Andrews Consulting Group as RapidReconciler) even more effective. I’m happy to announce that we’re shipping a new release of RapidReconciler in April that includes many of these suggestions. In fact, we’re going to unveil the new release at COLLABORATE 08 in Denver.

I’ll say more about what we’re doing at Collaborate in a minute. But first, let me give you a sneak preview of the enhancements we’re going to demonstrate there.

  • Checking and notating worked transactions. The new release lets users check off which transactions they’ve already analyzed and either changed or validated. Users can also add their own comments to help their teams understand any actions they have taken. You can also filter your transactions so that users only view those that have not yet been worked. This makes it easier to isolate any remaining problem transactions. The following screen shot illustrates both of these new features.
     
      rapidreconciler-screen-03-2008.jpg
     
  • Single click reconciliation packages for audit history. As you can see from the screen shot, RapidReconciler presents inventory data through several tabbed views. The new release will let users click a single button to gather all of the data from these views, summarize it, and output it to a single PDF file. This gives you all the data you need to do your end of month reporting in a file that cannot be accidentally altered.
     
  • Screen print capabilities for any view. Face it…we all do screen prints to share data with each other. However, it’s a hassle to hit the “Print Screen” key, then paste the screen to a Word document. That’s why I’ve added a command that takes screen shots of the application only and sends them directly to printers.
     
  • Support for both primary and common units of measurement (UOMs). Some companies need to measure all items in inventory with a common UOM (such as kilograms active in the pharmaceutical industry) as well as a primary UOM. To support this need, RapidReconciler now displays both UOMs in its Perpetual Inventory view.
     
  • Improved performance. We all want faster loads and better response times from our applications, so we’re delivering both in this release. We did it by adopting an updated version of the Infragistics toolset that we use to develop the presentation layer. If you’ve ever seen RapidReconciler in action before, you’ll notice the difference.

If this information has piqued your curiosity about RapidReconciler and you want to know more, feel free to leave a comment below or drop me a line at egutkowski@andrewscg.com. If you’re going to COLLABORATE 08, you can also learn more by attending one of the sessions I’ll be leading on inventory reconciliation. Here they are.

  • Session 34750: Inventory Reconciliation…There Has to Be a Better Way. This session is scheduled on April 16 at 9:45AM. We will address the factors that lead to an out of balance condition with inventory accounts, then discuss the processes and tools available to help with the reconciliation process.
     
  • Session 44930: GL/Inventory Out of Balance? – Problem Solved. This session is scheduled on April 16 at 3:15PM. It will explain how RapidReconciler enables companies to reconcile accounts quickly at any point during the accounting period.

By the way, I’ll also be available in Booth 922 on the expo floor to answer questions and demonstrate RapidReconciler. Feel free to drop by for a chat!

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