Actinic Link V2.1 to Business V7.01

[Simpsons]

Hi,

My site a just gone live and the first few orders received exported perfectly without error. However, I have now since received another order, which when exported reported the dreaded 'overflow' error.

Just to rule out any common link and possible cause. Can anyone also experiencing this problem confirm whether any of the products within the failed order had discounts associated with them?

This is the only factor which differentiates the failed order export from the previous successful ones.

I'd be very interested to know what Actinic suggests businesses should do if this problem cannot be quickly resolved?

Clearly we're all trying to run a business here, and we must not keep our customers waiting for their orders.

Thanks
Kevin Simpson

[NVL]

Re index your data in Sage then try the export again.

[Simpsons]

Already tried and it made no difference.

Posted a ticket at Actinic support, let's hope they can sort this one out quickly.

Thanks
Kevin

[NVL]

By the way "support team" I notice that the Sage Link problem of non-stock items in Sage being exported and subsequently stock monitored in Actinic, thus not allowing the client to order unless you have stock monitoring globally disabled hasn't been fixed in the latest release.

When shall this be addressed? I mean it has only been about a year...

[NVL]

Simpsons; when I experienced that problem last time we worked around it by exporting each order individually (re-export to files) until we found the rouge and then skipped that order. This got most of the data over to Sage then the rogue order was entered manually...

[cdicken]

When shall this be addressed? I mean it has only been about a year...

This problem will be fixed in the next maintenance release of Actinic Link for Sage Line 50 - due in beta in the next few weeks.

[NVL]

This problem will be fixed in the next maintenance release of Actinic Link for Sage Line 50 - due in beta in the next few weeks.

Don't forget about the "Telephone 2" field in Sage being imported to Actinic and creating an error, as the two data fields "Telephone 1 and Telephone 2" in Sage are combined and seperated by a slash in the customer record of Actinic... which creates a number string too long for the data field in Actinic.

That being fixed in the release too?

[cdicken]

Hi there David

I don't have a record for this issue. Who did you report it too?

Anyway, I have raised a bug for it now.

[NVL]

Nadeem I think but don't quote me...

A 'real world' issue with Link is that Sage restrict most data fields to eight chars and the Actinic order number becomes useless therefore when imported, what would be nice is the invoice number is Sage via reverse communication or allocated batch numbers of invoices to become the order number... As we have a prefix option for the invoice it could be done...

The advantages are in the tracking of despatches online for the client and as the dropship / automation imporoves in V8 this shall be essential. Problem is that as "is now" the client doesn't know the order ref we're using until the invoice is sent so the goods can arrive before the invoice.

Not an easy one but worth considering.

[cdicken]

David

Many thanks for passing on your views here. We really value your input.

I have recorded your problem with telephone numbers now as a bug and although it won't be in the next imminent release, it will be in a future release.

I think it's also only fair to let you know that the next major version of the Actinic software will not feature any changes with regards to shipping charge calculation. I know this is an area you feel very strongly about, but I hope that the substantial enhancements we are planning for most other areas of the software will compensate for there being little change in this particular area.

[Simpsons]

I've never received a response from Actinic Support despite submitting a ticket and sending a snap-shot of my site.

Although the problem went away for a while it has returned this morning! I have one theory which I'd like Actinic support to consider.

Of the 20 orders received over the weekend, I have 2 that will not export to Sage. I have examined these particular orders in detail and have found the following tax error.

Order #1
Goods Total = £34.23
Carriage = £6.77
Tax = £7.21
Amount Due = £48.21

I calculate the tax to be £17.17
-------------------------------
Order #2
Good Total = £13.35
Carriage = £5.06
Tax = £3.25
Amount Due = £21.66

I calculate the tax to be £3.22
-------------------------------

In both instances you can see that the tax in wrong by +3p. Could this feasibly be why the overflow error is occuring?

I look forward to receiving your earliest reply.

Regards,
Kevin Simpson

[Nadeem]

Hi Kevin

I'm not sure why the tax would be wrong by 3 pence, That is something that needs to be investigated firstly. It is possible that this is why you might not be able to import this order. But an investigation with Actinic Support would be needed.

Kind Regards

[NVL]

Rounding?

Did you have several lines in the order Kevin which were perhaps like this after the 17.5% for VAT was added to the item?;

£2.745
£2.136
£2.681
£1.736
£9.298

Which if rounded the correct way would be £9.30 but if each item is rounded individually and then added up would be £9.31, perhaps in your case you had many items and this rounding was exagerated.

I am unsure as to how the two Actinic systems work but Sage to my knowledge rounds the correct way by adding up all items with a value beyond the second decimal point and then rounding the sum total. As a guess this would suggest that Actinic is not rounding correctly and as perhaps Actinic Link is the overflow is being created beacuse the sum total in Actinic doesn't match the sum total in the Actinic Link data.

Could anyone from Actinic look at the program logic for import and let us know if this theory is balderdash or indeed if there is a fundamental problem with the import checking script?

Strangely our bugs tend to happen on orders with many items.

[Nadeem]

Hi there

I will get this checked, but would firstly need Kevin ticket number, as he got this logged with Support at the moment.

Kind Regards