Symptom
This SAP Note describes the implications of different posting period statuses and their settings.
Cause
Functionality description
Solution
The different posting period statuses (Administration → System Initialization → Posting Periods) and their implications are as follows:
- Locked: Neither data entry nor journal entry can be posted to the period by any user.
- Unlocked: Authorized users can post transactions to this period.
- Unlocked Except Sales: Authorized users can post all types of transactions and documents except sales documents. Only users who have Full Authorization status (assigned in Administration → System Initialization → General Authorizations → Users tab→ Period Status: Unlocked Except Sales) can work under this period status.
- Closing Period: Authorized users can post all types of transactions and documents to this period. Only users who have Full Authorization status (assigned in Administration → System Initialization → General Authorizations → Users tab → Period Status: Closing Period) can work under this period status.
The Period Indicator links a specific numbering series to the posting period with the same Period Indicator value.
When you log on to a database either after an upgrade from a previous version or during regular logon, SAP Business One checks whether the To Date value of the Unlocked and Unlocked Except Sales periods is older than the actual system date. If the To Date value is older than the system date, the period status is changed to Closing Period.
It is also possible to enable or disable the automatic update of the period status or to define a delay in days. For more details, please see the Automatic change of period status section below.
Automatic change of period status:
- The period status of the recently ended posting period (based on actual system date) is automatically changed from Unlocked or Unlocked Except Sales to Closing Period (based on actual system date) if the Automatic Change of Period Status to Closing Period checkbox is selected. The day in the new posting period when this change occurs depends on the value in the Date When Automatic Change Is Applied field. The default setting is 1, meaning that the change occurs the day after the first day of the new posting period. However, if an authorized user changes the period status from Closing Period back to Unlocked or Unlocked Except Sales, and the system is restarted (for example, the next day or simply a few seconds later), the change is not automatically applied again.
- To disable the automatic change of period status functionality, deselect the Automatic Change of Period Status to 'Closing Period' checkbox.
- To execute the automatic change on a different day in the new period or even in the following period, enter a new value in the Date When Automatic Change Is Applied field in the posting period. When the value is '1', the change is applied on the second day of the new period. In this scenario, if you log on to the database for the first time on the second day, then the change will be automatically applied. When the value is '2', the change is applied on the third day. In this scenario, if you log on to the database for the first time on the third day, then the change will be automatically applied. The default value for both a new company and after an upgrade is '1'.
The Posting Date To field is disabled:
When you add a new posting period, SAP Business One offers the next available year which has not yet been defined. For example, the posting period for the year 2017 already exists. You now want to add a new period for 2018. SAP Business One automatically suggests the year 2018. Moreover, when you want to define a period with a sub type other than Year (for example, Quarter, Month, and so on), the Posting Date To field is automatically calculated to the end of the period. For example, if the Posting Date From date is 01.01.2018 the To date field is automatically calculated as 31.12.2018 and is not editable.
When creating a transaction, SAP Business One checks whether the entered date value in the Posting Date field is included in the current posting period. If, however, there is no posting period defined covering the entered Posting Date value, the application displays a system message such as the following:
'Posting Date deviates from the defined range. To complete the action, define the posting period to match the entered Posting Date.'
When deleting the posting periods or sub periods, SAP Business One checks whether there is any data entered within the periods.
