Thanks, Pete. As indicated previously, I'd like to support user defined account structures. CIMS does that. But I decided to increase the number of possible account elements from 10 to 100. With the way the country is headed toward socialism we may end up with federal organizational charts that are up to one hundred levels deep :-(
But rather than generate long account numbers to store in records, I've structured the definition like a linked list, where any element at any segment holds a reference to its parent.
I envision user authorization as a drill-down check-box process. Simply let the administrator check the box of entities and accounts the user is authorized to.
I don't envision a problem turning the concepts into code. Actually, I look at it more as adapting existing code to new subjects. It's more important for me to understand the concepts. And accounting has been interesting to me since my freshman year - Financial Accounting 101. The instructor pointed out that one difference between accountants and bookkeepers is that the former should be able to design accounting systems.
Nathan.
----- Original Message ----
From: Pete Helgren <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 12:13:22 PM
Subject: Re: Financial Accounting System (Questions)4
Infinite Visions is MS SQL Server based, not i (unfortunately).
The "filtering" concept is what worked well in CIMS. Different filters
were applied for budgeting, A/P, P/R etc. So, you could have access to
a different set of accounts based on what function you were performing.
There was also a concept of "control account" where you could budget at
a lower level of detail but expense at a higher level. For example, you
could have a high school "equipment" budget, but expense at a department
level. The control accounts were created with filters attached so that
all accounts associated with the control account were automatically
selected. Viewing a control account would select the associated
accounts and their totals.
I was a Payroll/Human resource manager when I was a user of CIMS so my
CIMS finance experience is limited. I have found copies of the CIMS FMS
User Guide on the web. It could probably help explain the concepts it
uses. Turning that into code however might be a *bit* more of a
challenge :-)
Pete
midrange.com
