The Accounts posting buffer (invoice buffer) is a temporary holding area within Autoline and serves to hold transactions so that files may be updated in the most efficient way. Until daybooks have been processed, entries will still reside in the buffer at "blank" status. When daybooks have been processed, entries will be assigned a new status of "P".
Transaction information can be checked and viewed within the buffer. Furthermore, when the batches of transactions in the buffer are finally printed as daybooks and subsequently posted to the Nominal Ledger, these postings can be viewed for a limited period of time- until the Nominal Ledger process "Central Reprint of NL daybooks" and "Clear Processed Batches" has been run. The limited period of time is effectively the current day's trading, and one day after that, before it is cleared.
The View posting buffer option allows you to view on screen or to print the detail of any batches of postings within the posting buffer.
To access the option:
1. From the Autoline Master Menu select the Nominal Ledger option and the company you require.
2. Select the View Posting Buffer option.
3. The View Posting Buffer form is displayed.
On entering this option you are shown a selection screen with a help note for each field. These fields are as follows:
Note: Any fields left blank will presume an ALL selection.
Posting date To...: You may choose to view transactions
posted between the two dates entered here. For your convenience,
their is an ellipsis button 
search facility that accesses
a calendar when clicked.
User ID and Terminal number: These fields identify the user who processed the transactions and Terminal number is where the postings you wish to view were originally entered. They default to the current User ID and Terminal number unless the "Self" check box is not ticked.
Cost centre & Expense code: These fields identify the
accounts in the Nominal Ledger to which the transactions to be
investigated have been or are about to be posted. There is a search
option here, activated by clicking the ellispis button However, if you know the Cost centre and Expense code you can enter
the information directly.
Suffix, Journal Ref, Narrative & Customer Ref: By entering any of the above data for particular accounts, you may select postings whose accounts contain these suffixes, references, narrative or customer references. It is a means of narrowing down your search. The mask facility is also supported here.
A highlighter indicator on the screen below the suffix and narrative searches [and next to the radio buttons] tells you whether you are in slow, middle or fast display mode. This refers to the fact that as the system becomes more certain as to the exact information you want, it will make it available faster.
Autoline recognises certain fields, such as user ID and terminal number, as providing a decisive indication of the particular information required from the vast quantity available. As you complete these fields, the display mode will change, to indicate that Autoline knows that it needs to search fewer records.
Source module & Source company: Postings may be selected
on these two fields which default to blank. There is a search option
here, activated by clicking the ellipsis button
However, if you know the Source module and Source Company you can enter the
information directly.
Trading Account: Postings may be selected on this field, if you know the account.[This is where the documents were sourced from the PL,SL, SO, PC or VS modules]
Batch number: Each batch of transactions in other modules is allocated a sequential batch number. You may view transactions by entering a batch number.
Module sequence no: Each module has a unique sequence number and you may view transactions by entering a sequence number.
Daybook number: If you know the daybook number enter it here.
Alternatively, there is a search facility, which is activated by
clicking the ellipsis button . Bear in mind that if any transactions have not been posted to the NL, they will not have been assigned a daybook number.
Status: Status may be filled with a SPACE to display transactions which as yet have not been posted to the Nominal Ledger. A 'W' to display postings which have been withheld for any reason. A 'P' to display processed postings. A " * " symbol denotes ALL postings.
An 'H' to display transactions which have been placed on hold awaiting investigation and correction, or left unaltered [asterisk symbol populated in the field] to display all transactions.
Document No: An individual document may be selected.
Daybook Type: Each daybook has a system-generated type which
can be viewed for selection by clicking the ellipsis button search facility.
Execute: Activates the search based on the entered selection criteria.
Reset: Resets the entered selection criteria.
Exit: Exits from the screen
Help: Accesses the on-line help.
RADIO BUTTONS
The transactions found in the search will be displayed in the sequence specified by the radio buttons:
Forwards: Select the Forwards radio button and then click the Execute button to produce a standard search screen for documents which meet the selection criteria previously entered. They are identified by Batch number, by Posting date, by Source, by Account number, Type, Document number, and Nominal Ledger account code (that is cost centre and expense centre), in ascending order. The posting value is also shown together with the Status 'P' for printed, BLANK for not yet printed, 'H' for on hold, etc.)
Backward: Selecting the Backwards radio button and then clicking the Execute button has the same effect as the Forwards radio button option, but with the transactions shown in reverse order. Whether the transactions are displayed in forward or backward sequence, two pages of information can be seen on any posting selected from the screen.
Totals: Selecting the Totals radio button and then clicking the Execute button displays a Transaction totals screen showing the total number of transactions and the total amount.
Print: Selecting the Print radio button and then clicking the Execute button prints the items which meet the selection criteria to the currently selected printer.
This option can be used in conjunction with the Reprint daybook option to locate and print the Daybook number of a posting under query.
Once Autoline has searched and found the items that match the search criteria, the results will be displayed in a grid. The user can select further detail by clicking into the grid and then clicking the Detail button to scrutinize the transactions in more depth. There are three tabs that display salient information fields regarding the postings. These are follows [note that not all fields are populated or of relevance to every user, hence they are not discussed in detail:
Page1
Batch number
Batch item
Sequence
Cost Centre
Expense code
Suffix
Sterling value
Currency Value
Difference
Control Account type
VAT code
Sterling vat
Currency VAT
Line type
Legal Tax code
Journal ref
Customer ref
Narrative
Misc ref
Document date
Posting date
Due date
Document status
Page2
Source Module
Source Company
SL/PL Account
Daybook type
Posting type
Currency code
Document number
Module seq
Journal Class
Journal type
Accounts module
Accounts company
Journal seq type
Stop flag
Status
Userid
Terminal number
Daybook number
Daybook item
1st discount %
If paid by
2nd discount %
If paid by
Page3
from US Tax area
to US area
When all of the Daybooks have been printed and reprinted as required, and the days work is completed the buffer can be cleared, using the option described above.
Note: Daybooks will not be available for a reprint in any ledger module once this option is taken.
The normal method of End-of-day operation is that the Clear processed batches option runs before the option to Print all daybooks.[hence it is not a manually run process under normal circumstances] In that way 'todays' transactions are not removed from the posting buffer during the same end-of-day run as the one during which they are printed, and are available for re-print during the following day. For further details, please see Daybook Miscellaneous Options
