Does anyone here use the MS Office Addins for changing the cost in your price agreements? It's 2006, and I have a stack of price updates I'd rather not key in manually (or delegate to my buyers to key in, hehe).

I've used the addins to build new items in IC11, IC12, PO13, made mass changes on countless other forms in other modules, but I've NEVER been able to get the addins to work consistently with the PO25.6 Vendor Agreement Lines form. Sometimes I will get an "I" reported back as the result, sometimes the lawson item number is reported back, and about one time in ten, I'll actually MAKE the change I was trying to make.

I've spoken to other people about this, and they say they've had better luck applying a price change as a future price using the addins, but I can't even get that to work consistently.

I don't see any feature in this forum to attack files, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'll send a screenshot of what I'm doing, and maybe you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong :)

I don't know if this helps, and I know it sounds silly. I have tried running the same addin query from two different PCs with different results. CONSISTANTLY!!
The one that worked best was the better PC with more RAM. Take that as you may.

Not all that related, but we'll soon have a feature through which you can attach files. I don't think you'll be able to attach any type of file you want (EXE are probably out) but it should help :D

What product or programming language was this site created in?

It has been a little while, but I (we) often use the MS Add-Ins appliation to make corrections/changes to the PO25 with very few issues. I will not ever be the biggest advocate for Add-Ins, but it does what it does. Also, I find it to be pretty consistent...as long as I am consistent (which is not always a certainty).

Specifically, what issues are you dealing with, or what errors are you coming across? My guess is that there is something about the vendor part number or Lawson item number that is out of whack.

One last thought... The error messaging in Add-In is, umm, lacking. I find it helpful to try make the EXACT same change in the LID/Portal screen as I am trying to make in Add-Ins. Then I get to see the true error message.

Attachments sound nice - at least .jpg so we can see what we're talking about :)

Specifically, we've just finished an investigation with our primary distributor, and we concluded that we've been overcharged a fraction of a percent on somewhere around 2,200 items for the last year. They're sending me a new pricebook for my entire catalog, so I'm simply changing existing agreement lines. It's a catalog price agreement, not a contract. I really need to have these prices accurate, as we EDI with them, and are hoping to start electronically matching with them this year (856).

So it should be simply matching the items by lawson item number, agreement reference, and procurement group, placing a "c" in the FC field, and inserting the new price. I'm failing miserably somewhere...

The two times I attempted a small group of items yesterday, the "error" the addins reported back simply consisted of the Lawson number for the item, nothing more.

I'll try again, and take some screenshots of the mapping, and the results.

The Edit button is broken - just wanted to clarify, I am the same user as "williamss" above, I changed my ID to be consistent with other forums.

Maybe you need to load a newer version of add-in's - what version are you using?

Version 1.0.1014 is what I'm using now.

I have seen problems on some forms when using addins, sometimes because fields are missed, try support article 549882. It goes over troubleshooting oledb in a lot of detail.
You turn on the debug in portal with "lawson/portal/index.htm?DEBUG=true
", then do the PO25.6 transaction. see what pops up in the debug window, it shows all fields. Add the missing fields to the addins.
It can take some time, but I think it's worth it if you do this often.

Hmm... I am trying to figure out the best way to state this.

The short answer is that I have the framework set up for price changes to existing PO25.6 lines.

So... there are only five (5) columns that I used. The numbers in front of the name represents the screen's field number. Here are the fields I used.
2 - Procurement Group
4 - Vendor Agreement Reference
9 - Position To (Item Number)
17 - FC
21 - Base Cost

I ran this on a test box and it worked fine.

So here is the long anser...
I think many people try to give MS Add-Ins too much credit when it comes to analytical power. They look at multiple line detail displays (the PO25.6, the IC81, etc) and absorb each line as a part of the whole. However, MS Add-Ins is far more,umm, literal.

In the above example, I am using the item that I want to make the change as the Position To value. When you Inquire on the screen with the first three values, it brings that item's line to the first line (think of this as the "focus" line). I then am telling it to change (FC) just the cost (Base Cost) in this instance.

So the first lesson is, "Map absolutely only what you need." I am pretty sure that you probably mapped field 20 - Item Number, but you are not changing that value, so I would suggest skipping over it.

The second lesson is, "Think of and map only the "focus" line." I will grant that each iteration of the FC field has a discrete field number, but in order to access that field you would need to map each field as a separate column (which would get VERY messy).

The addendum to lesson 2 is that each new row on your Excel sheet causes MS Add-Ins to reset (Inquire on) the screen. Without using the position to field, it resets to the top line and, thus, the first line is then the "focus" for the next set of changes. If you mapped field 20 (Item), and the FC was set to change, MS Add-Ins was trying to change the Item value of your first line to the item you had on that line. I am not sure I am making that clear, but try the mapping above, and i am sure it will work.

Thus ends lessons 1 and 2 of Lawson and MS Add-Ins. Next time we see how MS Add-Ins can cure most forms of cancer and solve the dilemma of Schroedinger's Cat.

Enjoy,

>>The addendum to lesson 2 is that each new row on your Excel sheet causes MS Add-Ins to reset (Inquire on) the screen. Without using the position to field, it resets to the top line and, thus, the first line is then the "focus" for the next set of changes. If you mapped field 20 (Item), and the FC was set to change, MS Add-Ins was trying to change the Item value of your first line to the item you had on that line. I am not sure I am making that clear, but try the mapping above, and i am sure it will work.<<

You have made this PERFECTLY clear, and it has opened my eyes! I understand what I was asking the application to do now, and realize why it wasn't working...I wasn't using the "Position to" field at all, and yes, I was mapping field 20.

You have NO IDEA how much you just helped me out. Thanks, I owe you one!

Ahhh, its seeing posts like that which make this all worthwhile. :D

Has anyone sent you an example? I have a detailed document with an example Add-In file, if you’d like I could send it.

Thanks, I was actually sent an example about the same time that Rogue cleared it up for me.

I don't know if we can attach files here yet, but if/when we can, it would be great to have a copy of that template for anyone else interested!

Okay, I hate to drag this old thread into the light again, but I need to..

With the help of Rogue's explanation above, I am now able to make changes to existing agreement lines just fine. But, now I'm struggling to add new lines to existing agreements - could someone show me the mapping you use to do this?

Thanks!

Is it time for Schroedinger's Cat already?...

Hmm... As it turns out, I am finishing up the build of a new company and had to load in new Agreement Lines. I'll give my exact upload profile, but it will "slightly" contradict one of my previously stated tenets ("Map Only What You Need). And, of course, because I love to hear myself type, I will try to explain my contrariness.

The first thing is that I based this profile on the "rngdbdump" output of POVAGRMTLN. I do this because, more of my time is spent revising existing information rather than creating new information. Your mileage may vary.

Here is the field mapping. The letter represents the Excel column, the number represents the Lawson Field Number, and i represents the square root of -1.

A: (2) PROCRE-GROUP
B: (4) VEN-AGRMT-REF
C: (17) FC (for your purposes, this would be "A")
D:
E:
F:
G:
H: (20) ITEM1
I: (19) VEN-ITEM1
J: (90) NDC-NBR1
K: (95) MANUF-NBR1
L: (28) DESCRIPTION1
M:
N: (21) BASE-COST1
O: (25) COST-OPTION1
P:
Q:
R: (44) BEG-NET-CST1
S:
T:
U:
V: (22) UOM1
W - AC are blank
AD: (77) TAXABLE FLAG1
AE - BX are blank
BY: (97) PURCH-MAJCL1
BZ: (98) PURCH-MINCL1
CA: (99) INVEN-MAJCL1
CB: (100) INVEN-MINCL1
CC - CU are blank.

Okay, now to disappoint you. Assuming the item is built in your IC11 and PO13, the only columns you abslutely need to load in are A, B, C, E, F, H, I, N, O , V and X (and maybe even a couple of these are optional). Using the bare minimum required columns above relies on Add-Ins to trigger standard Lawson functionality, bringing in related information from other tables (the vendor part number from PO13, as an example). Some of this probably depends on your specific build.

If you are still with me, here is where I try to make worth your while. My lesson for the day, "When is a blank not a blank?" Or "i really does make me irrational!"

For this scenario we will assume that the Vendor Item has changed in PO13, but not in the PO25.6. You download the POVAGRMTLN table and remove all of the values in Column I and then reload the table (with the FC set to "C"). Alas, nothing changes.

The problem is that a blank field in the Excel sheet is skipped over by MS-Addins. This is what allows me to use the above profile to add new agreement lines and also change existing lines. During a change, a blank field will leave the existing information intact.

Back to our scenario, you could query the items against PO13 and populate Column I with the correct information, which, when uploaded, will make the change. The other option would be to remove the existing information and have Lawson pull in the related information from PO13 on its own. But if you cannot "send a blank", how do you do it?

You send space. Rather, you send a space. I, being a special breed of anal retentive, I actually send a "' ". The hyphen is an Excel indicator to treat the field as text and the space is the text value. This also lets me know that I intentionally put a space there (rather than forgetting to fill the column in).

The " " will also work to completely remove information from a field (such as the Transaction UOM from IC12), as long as it can be valid to have a blank in the field at the end of the operation.

That's the end of this lesson, but I want to attach a specific PO25.6 caveat. The scenario above may not be necessary in the real world. In our experience, the UOM multipler on the agreement line does not automatically synch with its counterpart in the IC11. I don't know why, but this has caused a bunch of RNI issues. The silver lining in this pre-cyclonic cloud is that we do not have to upload a complete file to correct it. In LID if you put a C" in the FC field and do a change, it somehow resets the multiplier. Again, I don't know why. In Addins, we set the profile to do the same thing and the lline corrects itself. If this automatically corrects itself, the Vendor Item migght correct itself too (but probably not).

Okay... My fingers are cramping. I apologize for the length of the response, but I am happy to clarify any issues... if I can.

Hmmm...okay. I did exactly as you described (except where I didn't), and I still don't quite understand my result.

Since I don't have a commandline (remote client...), I have pulled the information using the Excel Query from the old vendor agreement - and as far as I can tell, the only fields I NEED to be able to populate these lines are as follows (and correct me if I'm wrong):

PVN-PROCURE-GROUP
PVN-VEN-AGRMT-REF
PVN-VEN-ITEM1 <---actually, I think this is optional, but I specify it anyway
PVN-ITEM1
PVN-BASE-COST1
PVN-UOM1

I allow the rest of the information (description, mfr nbr, etc...) to populate from IC11, PO13, etc.

The result I get when I try to upload using just the above items is simple: the "Item" field from the first (existing) line on the agreement. No error message, no "Change Complete - Continue". I would SO love to attach a screenshot at this point to show you what I'm seeing...

It's very similar to the problem I had when changing items, before you helped me grasp that I needed to map the "Position To" field - but since I'm adding a brand new line, there is not a "position to" available.

I'm confused, and now I need a break!

Mr. Jac.... Mr. Flash... whichever you prefer.

First, I sent you note with my e-mail address. I am not exactly sure what kind of notification you might get, so take this as that notification.

In the mean time, a couple things come to mind.

You are correct that vendor item is optional...AS LONG AS it is already defined in the PO13. I think, though without looking at the screenshots I wouldn't bet my pelt on it, that either the IC11 or the PO13 do not exist, OR that the vendor item you are putting in your upload file does not match the entry in your PO13. With the error that you are getting this is one of those cases that I would try to enter the information in LID manually and see if you get a more robust error.

Again, we can move this off the topic until we get it resolved.

Wow... that was a quick one.

JacFlash and I did work on his problem offline. And, eventually, he figured out what the issue was. In this case, Jacflash was getting an "error" that listed the first item that already existed on the vendor agreement (not the first line he was trying to add to the agreement). It turned out that the first few items already on the agreement had been inactivated at the IC11.

I am adding this as a sort of restatement of the second largest weakness of the MS AddIns... Usually (but not always) the error/feedback messages are less helpful than they reasonably could be. Why the error message above couldn't have the single word "inactive" added to the end of the message, I dunno'.

So, if you come across this specific issue and error, maybe you'll remember this. If not, let me reiterate something I have said a few times...

If the MS AddIns error message you are getting makes no sense, which I think most would agree in the case, use the EXACT same data and make the change in LID or Portal. The error messages are far more robust and can save you from that ugly scab that you get when you bang your head against a brick wall (or maybe that's just me).

As a "by the way"... This is only personal opinion, but I consider the biggest weakness in MS AddIns to be that there is no "report" mode version you can run to troubleshoot BEFORE you commit to the changes.

Thanks again for the help, I'm glad you posted the findings in here.