About the CM Batch Process Form

The CM Batch Process form is used to process CM batches. You can access the CM Batch Process form from the main menu or by selecting the Process Batch option from the File menu of any of the posting programs in CM (CM Outstanding Entries and CM Transfers).

Once you have specified the month and batch to process, the Info section displays information about the batch (i.e. creator, creation date, source, and status).

Audit Reports

The next step in batch processing is to validate the information in the batch. This is done by clicking on the Validate button. The program runs through all of the data in the batch and creates Audit Reports that you can preview and/or print before you proceed with posting the batch.

  • Batch List — Prints the CM Outstanding Entry Audit List or CM Transfers Audit Lists, depending on the batch source (i.e., the posting form). Shows related information for each entry in the batch, with totals by account and batch.

  • GL Account Distribution — Prints the CM GL Outstanding Entries Distribution List or CM GL Transfer Distribution Lists, depending on the batch source. Shows distribution information from the batch by GL account.

  • Error List — Lists the sequence number and the error message for any entries where errors were found in the validation process. Errors must be corrected before the batch can be posted.

It is recommended that you print the audit lists before posting a batch, because once the batch is posted, the audit lists are no longer available.

Note: Users who have access to batch processing forms do not automatically have access to the related audit reports. It is recommended that if they will be processing batches, you give them access to the related audit reports using VA Report Security. If users do not have access, they will receive an error message when trying to preview/print those reports to which they do not have access. In addition, if using the ‘Attach Batch Report to HQ Batch Control’ feature (assigned in CM Company Parameters), restricted access to one or more audit reports will prevent the user from posting the batch.

For information about setting up security for audit reports, see About the VA Report Security Form.

Updates

Updating a batch is the process that takes each batch entry and makes all the necessary transaction updates. This may involve posting transactions to other modules as well as in CM. The following is a list of the updates that occur when an AR batch is posted.

  • GL Interface — Displays the interface option selected in the CM Company Parameters form.

  • Journal — Displays the journal to which these distributions will be posted.

Once the batch is ready for processing, enter the posting date and click the Post button at the bottom of the screen. After all the entries have been successfully updated, the entries are cleared and the batch is closed.

Clearing the Batch

When you create a batch, the system adds the data to a batch table and stores it until you are ready to post the batch. Data is not updated online; therefore, you can delete it completely without affecting any modules, including the module in which you created the batch. To clear a batch table of stored data, select ‘Clear Batch’ from the File menu. The system will clear/delete all data from the batch. (Note: Previously posted transactions added to the batch are only cleared from the batch—they are not deleted.)

Note: The system creates an audit record each time you clear a batch. For information about cleared batches (i.e. user who cleared batch, as well as the date and time the batch was cleared), use the VA 'Other Events' Statistics report.

The Clear Batch option is disabled if the batch’s status is 4 (Posting in Progress). This is to prevent partially updated batches from being deleted should the update process be interrupted (i.e. power outage, system failure, etc.). When a batch update is interrupted, only a portion of the intended updates may occur. If a user later clears the batch, there is no way to determine the updated data.