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 Applications 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 Applications 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 Applications 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 Applications. 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.

Window

Company

Related Window Descriptions

Update Company 

Procedure

1. Query for the company to be updated in the Company window.
2. Right-click, and then click Update Company.
3. Decide if an update on the key level should be performed, and in this case decide if  the update should affect non-account related Logical Units, account related Logical Units, or both.
4. If needed, define a company template as basic data source.
5. If needed, perform special configuration such as:

• Selecting the Logical Units to be part of the update.
• Generating a difference template and specifying exactly what basic data is to be active in the update process.

6. Click OK to start the update process.