How to Assign General Ledger Codes

A general ledger is a report that provides detailed descriptions of a company’s financial information. This report stores all kinds of transactions which are used to create the income statement, balance sheet reports, and serves several main purposes in the financial operation of the business.

OTM assigns general ledger codes on order releases, shipments, payment invoices, and bills and then sends invoices, vouchers, and bills to the external accounting system along with general ledger codes so that necessary accounts are updated.

The process of assigning general ledger codes consists of the following steps:

1. Create General Ledger Key Component. This key component holds attributes which match costs to general ledger codes.
2. Create General Ledger Lookup Key which organizes in what order the key component attributes will be considered.
3. Create General Ledger Codes which contain information to be associated with a cost.
4. Assign General Ledger Codes with UI or agent actions.

Now, let’s review each step in more detail.

Prerequisites

Before you create and assign general ledger codes in OTM, you must first create general ledger key components and general ledger lookup keys.  

General Ledger Key Component

A General Ledger Key Component comprise of various component types and their respective parameters which are a part of general ledger lookup key.

A General Ledger Key Component is categorized as follows:

1. Order General Ledger Key Component
2. Shipment General Ledger Key Component
3. Invoice General Ledger Key Component
4. Bill General Ledger Key Component

To create a general ledger key component, see General Ledger Key Component.

General Ledger Lookup Key

A General Ledger Lookup Key consists of one or multiple general ledger key components. The lookup key ranks the key components based on the order it is saved in the General Ledger Lookup Key manager. For example, a general ledger lookup key is active and consists of the following multiple key components and ranks the key components as:

• Invoice Involved Party – rank 1
• Invoice Accessorial Code – rank 2
• Invoice Cost Type – rank 3

In this example, the general ledger lookup key searches invoices by their involved party, accessorial code, and then cost type. If all three lookup key values exist on the invoice then the General Ledger Code in which this lookup key is added, that code would be assigned to the appropriate invoice.

You can create different lookup keys based on the object (order release, shipment, invoice, and bill) on which the general ledger code needs to be assigned. For example, if you want to assign a general ledger code on a buy shipment, then the general ledger code must have respective buy shipment lookup key. Similarly, you can create different general ledger lookup keys for various objects according to your requirement.

A General Ledger Lookup Key is categorized as follows:

• Order General Ledger Lookup Key
• Shipment General Ledger Lookup Key
• Invoice General Ledger Lookup Key
• Bill General Ledger Lookup Key

To create a general ledger lookup key, see General Ledger Lookup Key.

Creating General Ledger Codes

General Ledger codes contain general ledger lookup keys along with key component and corresponding values which determine the general ledger code if it is for an order, shipment, invoice, or bill.

Note: Only one general ledger code can be active per domain.

If there are multiple general ledger codes, then only the active general ledger code along with its compatible lookup keys is assigned to the order, shipment, invoice, or bill.

To create general ledger codes, see General ledger codes. Following is the process flow for creating a general ledger code.

1. Create object supporting GL Codes (order, shipment, invoice, bill).
2. Create GL key component.
3. Create GL Lookup Key.
4. Create GL Code with lookup key component values.

Assigning General Ledger Codes

You can assign general ledger codes in two ways:

• Web Action
• Automation Agent Action

Following is the process flow for assigning general ledger code via Web action and automation agent action:

Web Action

Use the Assign General Ledger Code action to assign general ledger codes to order releases, shipments, invoices, and bills based on the general ledger lookup keys and details specified in the general ledger codes.

Assign General Ledger Code Actions

For Order Release: Assign General Ledger Codes – Buy or Sell

• The Assign General Ledger Code (Buy and Sell) actions assign general ledger codes to order releases, order release line items, freight forward lines, and shipments.

For Shipment: Assign Shipment General Ledger Codes

• The Assign Shipment General Ledger Codes action assigns general ledger codes to shipment costs.

For Invoice: Assign Invoice General Ledger Codes

• The Assign Invoice General Ledger Codes action assigns general ledger codes to invoice line item.

For Bill: Assign Bill General Ledger Codes

• The Assign Bill General Ledger Codes action assigns general ledger codes to bill line item.

Automation Agent Actions

The table shown below provides a list of agent types and their corresponding automation agent actions.

Agent Type	Automation Agent Actions
ORDER	Assign General Ledger Codes - Buy Assign General Ledger Codes - Sell
SHIPMENT	Assign Shipment General Ledger Codes
INVOICE	Assign Invoice General Ledger Codes
BILL	Assign Bill General Ledger Codes

Example

This example demonstrates assigning general ledger codes for invoices.

The Invoice General Ledger Key Components values which are provided in your general ledger code must match with the values of the invoice then the general ledger code is assigned on the invoice.

Invoice Key Component Type	Invoice General Ledger Key Components	Order General Ledger Lookup Key	Shipment General Ledger Lookup Key	Invoice General Ledger Lookup Key	General Ledger Code
INVOICE_ACCESSORIAL_CODE	INVOICE_ACC_CODE	ORDER_LINE_PCKGDITEM	TRANSMODE	INVOICE_GL_LOOKUP_KEY	SVCCT
INVOICE_LINE_ITEM_TYPE	INVOICE_LINE_ITEM_TYPE
INVOICE_SERVICE_PROVIDER	INVOICE_GL_KEY
INVOICE_REFNUM	INVOICE_REFNUM_KEY
INVOICE_INVOLVED_PARTY	INVOICE_INV_PRTY_K

Perform the following steps to assign a general ledger code on an invoice:

1. Create Invoice General Ledger Key Components using the key component details from the table above.
2. Create Invoice General Ledger Lookup Key using the above invoice general ledger key components and select the Active check box.
3. Search for SVCCT general ledger code which contains both Buy Side Order Key and Buy Side Shipment Key.
4. Edit the SVCCT general ledger code, select the Active check box and add Invoice Key as INVOICE_GL_LOOKUP_KEY in the Header tab.
5. Click Next, the Invoice Lookup tab appears. Enter values for all the look up keys and then click Save. The SVCCT general ledger code is created.
6. Ensure that the invoice details matches with the values provided in the SVCCT general ledger code you created.
7. Search for the appropriate invoice and run the Assign Invoice General Ledger Codes action. The SVCCT general ledger code is assigned successfully to the invoice.