Client wanted to add another department range to his financial statements. He was following the same procedure as before but said the "OK" button was not lit up, and he could not TAB to it.

GL is version 8.0, (040618)

I edited GLDTREE to create the groups he needed and sent it to him, but I wondered why the function is not working.

Hi Kate,

We're aware of an issue with adding new Department Masks in the current Financial Reporter, but not with Ranges. If it's ranges that is the issue, please let us know.

The issue with Masks is that if you create one that starts with question marks (ie ??00), then the OK button is disabled. You can workaround this by doing one that doesn't start with question marks (which works) then do the one(s) you want. Delete the other one if not necessary.

This will be addressed in a future service pack.

According to the client, no matter what he put in as a mask, the OK button was not available.

Kate:

Just a thought . . . when you sent the new GLDTREE files to your client, were they on a CD?

If so the read-only attibute would have been set and retained when they were copied to the client's system.

I experienced the same behaviour but randomly. Never had a chance to try to figure it out but it would also occur in the sample database as well where I have never added any departments or masks before. It was just easier at the time to create the masks with a text editor.
I was always able to edit or delete any masks that had already been created.

While we are mentioning Departmental masks - Is there a formula that allows us to print the mask's description on the financial sheet.

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Don Wise
Westboro

Hi Don Wise,

=DEPARTMENT(0)

returns the currently selected department's name.

Andrew;

Sorry I should have been more specific. In the sample data deptDemo.sam, if you replace the department 100 with a mask such as ?00 or a range, can you get their descriptions to print similar to the way the department descriptions print.
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Don Wise
Westboro

Hi Don,

Not that I can think of, off the top of my head. It's a good suggestion though. I'll add it to the list.

The problem is that the masks and ranges are stored in a different file from the deparmtment numbers and descriptions. Hmmm - Have you tried adding the masks to the Ledger Department file?

Kate;

I think I have found what you client may be running into. When creating a departmental mask, if you highlite the word "Departments" in the department view window and right mouse click, an option is available to Create Departmental Mask. You can create the mask and give it a description but the OK button will not activate. If you highlite an existing department in the department view window, then you can create the mask you want and the OK button will activate. If you highlite an existing mask in the department view window, you can only edit or delete the mask you highlited. It seems that you must create one department before before you create a mask.

Note that the help manual says otherwise, but this the only way that I could get it to activate the OK button on any Adagio station I have tried.

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Don Wise
Westboro

Thanks for the research, Don. I passed it along to the client to test.

In my GL, with "Departments" highlighted, I can create a mask and the "OK" button works. But I cannot create a mask in the form 201:215, because only 6 characters are allowed, although I was able to do this before in my client's data.

I have the same options to "create" when one department is highlighted and "edit" or "Delete" when a departmental mask is highlighted.

When I create a mask with "201215" or "depart", it acts like a department and cannot be deleted.

I am using W2K and my client has XP Pro.

I am curious to know what operating system you use.

Kate;

XP with service pack 2 installed.

Hi Kate,

"201:215" is not a mask, it's a Range. Masks must have "?" in them.

If you are trying to create a statement that sums two non-contiguous departments, use "Departmental Comparative" to select the two departments, and then create a column that is the sum of the two departments.

Masks are a maximum of 6 characters and must have question marks ("?") in some of the character positions.

Andrew;

Agree about the range but I am attempting to create a mask. In version 8.0b using the sample data, the ok button will not activate if you start with the word Departments highlighted in the department view. If you first highlight a department;ie 100, then create a mask it will activate. In version 8.0a it works either way. It happens on both Windows 2000 and XP.

It is not much of a problem unless you are trying to create masks without having any departments.

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Don Wise
Westboro

Hi Don Wise,

OK, I see the issue if you have the word "Department" highlighted when you right mouse click. If you have any department selected, then the OK button will be enabled as soon as you type your first question mark ("?"). A bit disconcerting.

In any event, just add a single department into the Ledger (Edit | Departments) to give yourself something to click on. The department doesn't have to exist.

How can you be creating departmental masks with no departments? I don't think I understand that.

Andrew;

In this particular case we have taken the one 6 digit department number and subdivided it into three 2 digit categories, called funding, program and location. A fourth category called division adds a fifth digit to the 4 digit account code. It is like having a five segment GL account number. Departmental masks are critical to the financial reports as they allow us to report on a category or combinations of categories. The adselect function allows us to pick out the division. The traditional Adagio department would only exist if we were reporting on a specific funding/program/location combination.

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Don Wise
Westboro

Hi Don,

Aaah - I get it.

OK - just add the "traditional" Adagio Ledger departments (or at least one) so that you have something to "click on" when defining the mask.

Andrew,

When I Right Click in the Department View, I don't see Create Department Range at all. I can only Create a Department Mask. When highlight is on a Department Range already created, I can edit that range.
Thought maybe terminology had changed, but I think something is missing.

Hi Kate,

In order to see the 'Create Departmental Range' option on the menu, you must multi-select two or more consecutive departments. Only then will the dept range function be available. Note also that ranges are restricted to consecutive departments; if you highlight non-contiguous departments then the range function will not be available.

Hi Kate,

To summarize:

To create a department range, select a contiguous range of department codes using shift-click, and right mouse button to create (and name) the range.

To create a departmental mask, select a single department, and right mouse button. The OK button will turn on when you have typed a question mark ("?") in one of the character positions to define the mask.