How to Import Transactions
using the ASCII File Post
Process
Session 267
Presented By:
Jim Collins
Director of IS
Graceland University
This presentation and supporting documentation is
available TODAY at
http://personal.graceland.edu/~collins/JAM2007/
Who Am I?
 I’m a computer guy
 I’m Graceland’s transaction file post guru
 I converted our Accounting office to CX including nightly
transfers and past years data
Who I’m Not
 I’m not an accountant
 I’m not a CX Menu user
 I’m not a CX user
 I’m not an ACE report expert
 I’m not an expert on your campus’ use of CX
Any of these could cause some confusion and frustration during this
session!
A quick note on Graceland’s (non standard?)
Account Numbers
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We have a 2 character fund
We have a 5 character function (and blank is valid)
We have a 4 character object
We do not use subfund
Some example account numbers:
10- -1210
10-16309-6000
What is an ASCII Transaction Post File?
 A CX STANDARD way to load transactions from
outside sources into CX
 “ASCII” = a plain text file
 CSV (comma delimited) file
Format: Header Row
HD: author, User ID, post date, station, fiscal month, journal code, doc code
HD: XTRANS,,05/31/2007,,MAY,AR
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Author: Name of process that produces the file. This is not loaded into the
database.
User Id number: We’ve always left this blank. I think it’s not loaded into the
database
Post date: MM/DD/YYYY format. CX standard process ignores this field.
Station Number: posted files don’t go through a station so this is typically left
blank
Fiscal month. CX standard process ignores this field.
Journal Code: AC, AP, AR, SA, CH, QC, DA, PD, FA, JC, CK, BG, PC, PR, PS,
SB.
Document code. We’ve always left this blank (the doc code is on the GE lines
below).
Format: General Ledger Entry Row
GE: Doc ID, doc code, doc num, "comment", entry, Form of Payment, Pay number
GE: 000000,XT,20070531,"Extensions",XTND
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Document id: If there is a 1 to 1 relationship between the GE and a single ID, this should be
the ID number to make certain CX reports show the subsidiary info. Otherwise, 0.
Document Table Code: Must be an active doc from doc_table.
Document Number: an integer. Often made up (like the date in yyyymmdd format) or the
serial key from a driving table. The most desirable is to increment last_issued_num from
doc_table and use that number, but that’s very difficult to build into a file.
Entry Description: 24 character description. The only description in files without subsidiaries.
The comment is for the batch of transactions and not a single transaction. It should have
quotes around it but should not contain any quotes.
Entry Type: XTND, BOOK, etc. Must be an active ent in ent_table.
Form of Payment. We have never used this because we load charges not payments. But
this would be any valid form of payment like CK (check).
Form of Payment number (check number). We’ve never used this because we load charges
not payments. But this would be the form of payment number (like check number).
Format: General Ledger Transaction Row
GT: amount, fund, func, obj, subfund,
GT: 107.90,10,,1210,,
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Amount: the amount of the charge or the credit.
The amount cannot have dollar signs or commas. Parenthesis cannot be used to indicate
negative amounts. A negative must be represented by the minus sign.
Fund
Func
Obj
Subfund
Format: Subsidiary Ledger Entry Row
SE: subs, subs num, doc id, doc code, doc num, "comment", entry
SE: S/A,255671,255671,XT,12345,"ENGL3410",XTND
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Subs Code: S/A, etc. Must match the account number in the GT
account record for the transaction as defined in subs_table.
Subs Number: student’s id number
Doc ID: student’s id number
Doc Code: same as the doc code on the GE line. This may not be
required but it has been in all the files I’ve made.
Doc Number: an integer. See the note on GE doc number
Description: 24 character description. It should have quotes around it
and should not contain quotes.
Entry Type: Must be valid code. Same as the entry type on the GE line.
This may not be required but it has been in all the files I’ve made.
Format: Subsidiary Ledger Transaction Row
ST: tot, tot period, bal, bal period, amount, assoc amount
ST: BKST,SP07,SB,SP07, 21.81, 0
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Note: Some subsidiaries require tot codes, some do not. For those that do not have tots, the
tot code and bal code must be spaces (surrounded by quotes) and the periods are left
blank:
SE: MISC,1,1,AR,56350,"Housing",ENT
ST: " ",," ",,100.00,0.00
Tot Code: Must be an active tot_code from subt_table (if required).
Tot Period: 2 character Session + 2 char year (SU07) for students, calendar year (CY07) for
wages.
Bal Code: This code is “SB” or blank in all the files I’ve done.
Bal Period: The bal period is “INV” for accounts payable, it is the same as the tot period for
student accounts (“SP07”), and is the combination of payroll code and payroll number
(“MON100”) for wages payable.
Subsidiary Amount: amount of individual line
Subsidiary Associated Amount: Typically zero. In payroll, amount deduction is based on.
Format: Trailer Row
TR:
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Every posting file ends with a trailer line. It has no other inputs.
Format: Comments
# This is a comment on its own line
ST: BKST,SP07,SB,SP07, 21.81, 0,# This comment explains an ST line
A pound sign starts a comment which continues to the end of the line.
You can put comments as their own lines or at the tail end of any line.
Pound signs are allowed in transaction descriptions. For example, this row
does not have a comment:
GE: 5981,AR,86283,"PARKING VIOLATION #1149",ENT
It will load a transaction with “PARKING VIOLATION #1149” as the
description.
Examples
 See the full examples on
http://personal.graceland.edu/~collins/JAM2007/
Excel
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In the examples above here is a colon after the line type. The file format also allows for a
comma here. This makes it a completely comma delimited file which means it can be
created from or loaded into Excel or other spread sheet programs.
HD: XTRANS,,05/31/2007,,MAY,AR
HD,XTRANS,,05/31/2007,,MAY,AR
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If you save a CSV file from Excel, you may need to check it for issues before you load it. For
example you can’t have quotes in the transaction comments.
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You can’t have dollar signs or commas in the amounts
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We do a lot of GL files in Excel but avoid files with subsidiaries.
How to load
 In Menu:
[c] Fiscal Management
[a] Accounting
[c] Journal Processing Menu
[i] ASCII Posting Menu
[a] Post ASCII Files to G/L
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At Unix command line:
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cd ascii
($CARSPATH//vchpost/Filepost/ascii)
filepost -n filename -m a -d 05/31/2007 -p MAY
Official CX Documentation
 CarsDocs/Print Files/Techman/Tmglvol1.doc
My Software Contest Entry
 Grrrrrrr! 1 Error at a time!
 Accounts needing to be set up
 Accounts not allowing that kind of journal
 Closed dates
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http://personal.graceland.edu/~collins/JAM2007/index.htm#contest