A common type of table, the chart of account (COA) requirement element table, provides a means of controlling the entry of COA and other accounting line fields at a level lower than the Event Type Requirements (ERQ) table or Required Budgets (REQBUD). These COA required element tables are a tool to ensure COA data entry occurs as desired on documents with accounting lines. Documents without accounting lines and tables with chart of account codes listed do not edit against these tables.
On a COA requirement table, one can require elements to be used when others are entered. These requirements can be specified for any field on an accounting line, such as those visible like Accounting Period, Bank, Document Code, or any COA element or rollup field.
In a required element table, you create entries with three levels of control: required, optional, and prohibited. When a key to a required element table is not found, then the fields that would normally be controlled are considered optional. Wildcard functionality is not allowed nor is leaving a key field blank on any of the required element tables. If one key field needs to be blank sometimes and not for other times, then two required element tables should be used with one having the field.
When a field is required but no valid is specified, a generic message (one without a message code) is issued stating, by name, that the field is required. When a field is prohibited and one is specified, another generic message is issued stating, by name, that the field is prohibited. Here the end user is not told which required element table is being enforced.
This section of the user guide includes the following areas: