Here is the scenario. This happens in multiple companies, a couple of times a month out of a couple thousand checks printing. We are using MICR.
After a check run with numerous checks in a batch, one check (possibly more sometimes) out of the batch no longer shows up on the transactions by Vendor Inquiry. The check posted with no errors and hit the GL properly, and hit the Checkbook. Under "Transactions by Vendor", the three vouchers it paid show up with a Unapplied Amount of 0. However, drilling into the "Unapplied Amount" returns a blank screen with a message that says "Vendor Not Found." The invoice Status is "OPEN" (open table) when I expect them to be in History (HIST). The payment (check) is not even listed on this vendor's record. Just the 3 invoices.
At this point, the tables look like this.
PM00400 - (PM Keys) The record for this check exists in this table however, the TRXSORCE which would typically be populated with 'PMCHK0000..' is blank for this one record (I think this is the contributing factor to how this gets messed up.) The records for the 3 Invoices also show up in this table.
PM10000 - This check transaction does not exist in this table. Nor do the invoices (as expected)
PM10100 - The distributions for all 3 of the vouchers that were paid with this check still exist in this table (it is Work and Open Distributions). The Check distributions do not exist in this table
PM10200 - (Apply to Work/Open) - The 3 invoices are in this table and the Check's "Voucher Number" is the proper voucher number that should be applied to them.
PM20000 - (Open/Posted Transactions) - The three invoices show up here (the distributions are in the PM10100) but no check.
PM30200 - (Historical / Paid Transactions) - Nothing about the 3 vouchers or the Payment show up here.
PM30600 - (Historical Distributions) - Nothing about the 3 vouchers or the Payment show up here.
My first step (in a test environment) was to Run Checklinks. All that did was tell me that the Check I was looking for (with the right voucher number) "The Transaction for this Keys record is missing. The Keys Record has been removed."
So it deleted the record out of the PM00400. Now going into the Transactions by Vendor, these 3 invoices show up as due again, even though the Check has actually been written and the GL Distributions have posted to the GL.
Once I get a restore of this database again, I am going to try to insert the proper PMCHK0000..... into the blank column in the PM00400 Record. Then I will Run Checklinks again. I am hoping that Checklinks will then be smart enough to move the appropriate records to the History Tables and I believe it will also have to recreate the Payment Transaction in the PM20000 or PM30200. But I have doubts that it will be successful at doing so.
After all of that, has anyone seen this before? It is an error that is virtually impossible to reproduce because it happens randomly, with multiple users, on multiple workstations.
We have asked Microsoft about this and their solution was to back out the journal entry from the GL and delete the record of the check from the PM tables, then issue the check again (turning on the setup that allows us to use the same check number again). This is to create an audit trail because we are a public company.
Any idea why the record in the PM Keys might be coming through as Blank instead of putting the proper TRXSORCEwhen the rest of the checks in that batch were fine?
Thanks, and have a nice Thanksgiving. I may not check back for a few days to see if someone has any suggestions.
Kevin
