Cash Flow Help and User Guide

1. Overview

The Sicon Cash Flow has been created to provide a real time summary of the Sage 200 data in a drag and drop spreadsheet style view of the selected company’s data. Incorporating every transaction type from Sage 200 that is likely to affect the cash position to create a day by day summary balance.

With the ability to view and add memos to all transaction types, amend forecast dates that don’t affect the original document due dates, drill into invoices and orders to see more information, attached documents etc. this module provides a very functional and productive interface for the user.

Using a new nominal cash budget that defines the projected cash impact of any type of revenue or cost nominal we are able to project the likely movement in cash (rather than a spread of costs or revenue that may usually be seen on a nominal budget) in both the short term as well as over several years.

2. Installation

The Sicon Cash Flow installs into the Sage 200 system as an Add-On product.

Step 1: Download the Cash Flow module and the latest Sicon Common Components from the Sicon business partner portal.  NB: You will need a Sicon Business Partner login to be able to do this. If you are a Sage 200 end user please speak to your Sage Business Partner).

Step 2: Using the Sage 200 System Administration module select the Add-Ons menu.

If there are no other Sicon add-ons installed, right click in the right-hand pane and select the Add New Add-On option. The order that you install the Sicon Common Components and Cash Flow add-ons doesn’t matter.
If there are Sicon Add-ons already installed then it is important that they are all from the same version. i.e. You cannot install Cash Flow v 22, if they client is using Sicon Service v 21.1. Either you would need to install v 21.1 of Cash Flow to align it with the existing Sicon modules, or update those Sicon modules to v 22 at the same time.

Once both of these add-ons are successfully installed, select the Companies menu option on the left. In the right-hand pane all the configured Sage 200 companies will be displayed. You can update a single company but we recommend that you ‘Update All Companies’ using the right click option as shown below to create the new fields and structures into each.

This process will create new Sicon fields and Sicon tables into each company, it will not change any standard Sage 200 data.

Once the companies have been updated you will need to add the new features to a role that is linked to the user that will access the new Cash Flow module.

From within the System Administration choose roles, select the role that you wish to add the cash flow manager to and right click. Choose the features option and scroll down to the Sicon Cash Flow section. Choose the features that the user will require by ticking the boxes. If the user is currently logged in they will need to log out of Sage 200 and back in to see the new menu options.

3. Settings

Once installed you will need to setup your Cash Flow settings.

Choose the settings menu option from within the Cash Flow Forecast menu section and select the settings tab once the screen is open.

Your Sage 200 DL number will be displayed on the screen. You will need this in order to register this module with Sicon and receive an enable string to allow you to continue to use it. The product will run for 30 days from installation without an enable string.

3.1. Settings: detailed explanations

Number Format: This is the way in which you wish to display the information in the Cash Flow Forecast itself. ‘{0:n2}’ displays numbers over one thousand with commas, and also shows all numbers to two decimal places. Other options are available on the Microsoft Web Site for standard numeric format strings

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/standard-numeric-format-strings

Default View: This controls the default view in the cash flow between Month, Week and Day. This can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen once open.

Width of Value Columns: Sets the default width for the columns within the Cash Flow Forecast screen.

Default Level of Detail: Select between Summary, Account, Document and Item. The default level of detail can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen, but the more detail that is shown the slower the screen will run. If you are reviewing high level weekly or monthly trends then the lowest level of detail will provide enough information. However, if you are managing detailed daily cash projections from Sales Order and Purchase Order lines with the ability to amend any line date, then you will need this at the highest level.

Default Duration: When the Cash Flow Forecast opens, this will set the default number of days/weeks/months ahead to display. This can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast once open.

Week View Column Heading: Allows the selection of Week Number, Week Start Date or Week End Date. This controls the week column headings in the Cash Flow Forecast, if a week view is being used.

Enable Forecast From Date: This setting is really useful for demonstration or training purposes. Because the Cash Flow Forecast runs in real time any training data will be out of date very quickly. By setting a date in this field the cash flow manager will assume that this is todays date and display the Cash Flow Forecast accordingly. It should never be set in a live system.

Automatic Refresh: When unticked the Cash Flow Forecast will not automatically update when changes are made.

Enable Currency Filtering: Allows the cash flow to be filtered by a specific currency, so that the Cash Flow Forecastcan be run for a specific currency.

Prompt To Adjust Cash Budgets After Processing Invoices/Payments: With this setting ticked when a purchase invoice/credit or nominal payment/receipt is put to a nominal with a cash budget set, the system will prompt whether the budget should be amended and the Cash Flow Forecast recalculated.

When a purchase invoice is put on to a nominal code with a budget assigned, the system will pop up a window so that the cash flow forecast can be amended.

The cash budget is then amended.

Use Customer Average Time To Pay for Expected Forecast Dates: This setting will use the customer details to calculate the average time taken to pay work out the forecast date as opposed to the payment terms set against the account.

Exclude Sicon Intercompany control accounts: If you are also using the Sicon Intercompany module, and do not want any balances in any of the Sales or Purchase Ledger accounts defined as control accounts, then you should check this box.

Automatically update Purchase Invoice due dates when Forecast Date Changed: In addition to the purchase invoice due date, the Cash Flow Manager stores a ‘Forecast’ date that allows the invoice to be moved in the Cash Flow Forecast to view its impact. This option can be enabled to change the due date of the invoice at the same time as it is moved in the cash flow. You may do this so that it does not need to be amended manually should you wish to move the payment of this invoice to a future month and exclude it from the current month suggested payment routine.

Bank Clearing Days For Supplier Payments: This setting will add on a number of days to the expected cash flow based on the number of clearing days. For example, with the bank clearing days set as 10, a PL payment put on with a date of 10/10/2018, will appear on the cash flow on the 20/10/2018.

Automatically Clear the Forecast Date When Invoice Due Date Changed: When amending a SL/PL invoice due date, with a forecast date populated, the system will clear the forecast date out.

Number of Days to Add After Month is Added to The Tax Period End Date: Enter the number of days to add to when then VAT liability needs to paid/received. This is normally set as 7 per HMRC guidelines.

Remove VAT from SOP and POP Transactions in The Forecast: Defaults VAT to be removed from SOP and POP transactions in the forecast. The values of the POP and SOP transactions will appear on the forecast net of VAT.

With the setting to remove VAT, the net values of the above sales order show on the Cash Flow Forecast.

Stored Procedure Timeout: Enter number of seconds after which the stored procedure will time out. You would only need to change this as a result of a support issue.

Initialise Default Data: For a new system, or where a system needs to be reset to system default as installed then this option should be used. This will destroy all changes to the default structure so if you have used this structure you should be very careful.

Clear All Data: This option will clear out all Cash Flow structures from the system and all information from the SQL tables.

Clean Up Database: When lines are deleted from the cash flow structures they are initially soft deleted. In order to run a tidy up of the database this menu option can be selected to clear out all unwanted lines and related data entries in the SQL tables.

4. Creating a Cash Flow Structure

You now need to setup your Cash Flow Structure.

Choose the settings menu option from within the Cash Flow Forecast menu section. Click the drop-down selection to choose the cash flow set you wish to amend. At installation there will be a single ‘Default Forecast’ option.

4.1. Default Cash Flow Structure

Opening balance: At the top of every Cash Flow Forecast column will be the opening balance brought forward from the previous day’s (weeks/months) closing position.

Banks: You can select which bank accounts to include in the Cash Flow Forecast. Values displayed are taken from the Sage Cash Book accounts and transactions, not from the nominal ledger postings behind them. They will appear in the first column only (Balances & Overdue) and feed/create the initial opening figure for the forecast. The figure shown will be in the base currency of the Sage 200 Company and any foreign currency bank accounts that are included will be converted to that currency.

On a new installation, you will need to select the relevant bank accounts to display in the forecast, none are pulled through by default.

Click New Section (or right click on then Banks line) and click on New Bank Section, then Bank to specify the bank from the available Sage 200 bank account list.

Within this section you also have the facility to add a Cash Sales Forecast. Click New Bank Section, then Cash Sales Forecast. (This feature is used to forecast cash takings for business who deal directly with the public in shops or other cash-based service industries).

Sales / Sales Invoices: Sales Invoices are read directly from the Sage 200 sales ledger in real time and displayed in the cash flow. They are placed in the cash flow on the invoice due date or the forecast date when added. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen.

Sales / Sales Orders: Sales Orders are read directly from the Sage 200 sales order processing module in real time and displayed in the cash flow. They are placed in the forecast on the date that is calculated as the sales order promised date plus the customer terms in days. Where the setting to use average customer time to pay is set, then this value will be added to the promised date to come up with the expected cash inflow date. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen.

Purchase / Purchase Invoices: Purchase Invoices are read directly from the Sage 200 purchase ledger in real time and displayed in the cash flow. They are placed in the forecast on the invoice due date, or the forecast date when added. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen.

Purchase / Purchase Orders: Purchase Orders are read directly from the Sage 200 purchase order processing module in real time and displayed in the cash flow. They are placed in the forecast on the date that is calculated as the purchase order requested date plus the supplier terms in days. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen.

Applications/Customer: The Customer Applications are read directly from the Sicon Customer Applications Module and are displayed in real time. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen. (Only shown when Sicon Construction module is installed).

Applications/Supplier: The Supplier Applications are read directly from the Supplier Application Module and are displayed in real time. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen. (Only shown when Sicon Construction module is installed).

Retentions/Sales: When the Valuation Invoice is paid, the Retention amount will immediately be displayed in real time. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen and can also be released using the link (right mouse click) to the Retentions Ledger. (Only shown when Sicon Construction module is installed).

Retentions/Purchases: Purchase Invoices with Retentions are read directly from the Sage 200 purchase ledger in real time and displayed in the cash flow. They are placed in the forecast on the retention due date. These transactions can be amended within the Cash Flow Forecast screen and can also be released using the link (right mouse click) to the Retentions Ledger. (Only shown when Sicon Construction module is installed).

Contracts: Contracts created within the Sicon Contracts module are read directly into cash flow.

Nominal Cash Movements: These are divided into 2 sub sections to either pull information from cash budgets set against a nominal, or ad hoc manually entered nominal values. A new section can be added to the structure using the new section button, this section can then be renamed.

Within this section, sub sections can then be created for either manual nominal entries or nominal cash budgets.

Manual Nominals Sub Section: Use this feature to insert ad-hoc costs and revenue elements to the cash flow.

Having added the Manual Nominal sub section, you can then rename the sub-section and give it a description. You can then a select nominal code, a value and a date that this cash items should appear in the cash flow. In the example above, we have forecast to spend £2000 on professional fees on 13/09/2018

Nominal Cash Budget Sub Section: Use this feature to insert Sage 200 nominal codes that have been configured to use the Sicon Cash Budget column maintained within the nominal ledger account maintenance screen, see section 5. Nominal Ledger Cash Budgets below. This allows you to represent the cash impact of the nominal budget rather than the P&L or balance sheets impact that may be used for the monthly spread of annual costs and income. This feature is ideal for recurring nominal costs.

The cash budget column set against the nominal can be pulled into the Cash Flow Forecast.

Having added the Nominal Cash Budget sub section, it can be renamed and a description added. Nominal codes to include in the sub section can then be added. The date that the cash should appear in the forecast can be set. If the item appears around the last day of each month check the optional box and it will automatically appear on whatever date is the last day of each month (28th, 29th, 30th or 31st).

VAT Liability:

The current VAT liability/repayment can be pulled into the cash flow forecast. The system looks at the VAT return end date to calculate when the VAT amounts are due. In the example below, the VAT return for the 31/12/2018 is due for payment one month and 7 days (based on the cash flow setting), so appears on the cash flow on the 7^th Feb 2019.

4.2. Adding / Amending Sections

The New Section/Delete section buttons allows sections to be added/removed from the cash flow set. The menu can also be accessed by right clicking on the title.

Sections with a tick in the ‘allow move’ column can be moved up and down in the menu structure. In the example below the ‘sales’ section is being moved up.

4.3. Cashflow Set Settings

If you have multiple cashflow sets defined, then you can use this button to specify different defaults for the different sets. This enables you to easily have different sets preconfigured to act as weekly/monthly views for example.

These settings work identically to the same settings that are detailed in section 3.1, but act as overrides for the specified cashflow set.

5. Nominal Ledger Cash Budgets

This feature has been designed to allow the cash flow module to reflect the cash impact of a nominal ledger budget. For example, a company may have to pay for Sage Services and Telephone support annually but spread this in their profit and loss reporting by creating monthly budgets and spreading the actual using an accrual or pre-payment.

From a cash impact perspective this cost will be incurred in a single month so the cash flow module will pick up the cash budget to reflect this accurately.

Where the cash budget and nominal budgets are the same we have provided a ‘Copy Nominal to Cash Budget’ button to speed up the process.

When the cash budget has been paid it can be flagged and removed from the cash flow, especially useful if these items are ever paid early. Because the nominal ledger budgets are not linked directly to an invoice or an order it is not possible to automatically mark them as paid.

When you have completed making amendments to the nominal cash budgets click the save button. If the Cash Flow Forecast is currently open you will get the following message to allow you to update the cash flow with the changes you have made.

There is also an option to include VAT in the forecast, with this ticked, the Cash Flow forecast values will include VAT.

5.1. Nominal Cash Budget Import

This feature can be used to import cash budgets from spreadsheets.

An example import file can be created by clicking on Generate in the window.

The file can then be prepared; an example is below. You can leave the four rows from the generated example file, and add new rows beneath them with the actual data that you would like to import. You would leave column A (the Description) empty for your actual data rows.

Then using the Cash Budget Import, select the file:

You can validate the file in this window.

You can then import the file.

This will update the cash budgets against the nominal.

6. Understanding the Cash Flow Forecast

Select the Cash Flow forecast menu option from the cash flow menu.

Once opened, select the cash flow structure model that you wish to review. You can alter the duration days and the level of detail at any time.

The Cash Flow forecast will take a few seconds to build and display the information reading it in real time from Sage 200. The results are displayed in the exact format of the cash flow model.

In order to keep the cash flow performance optimised it has been defaulted to show sales and purchase orders at header level rather than for every line (for customers who have Construction, Applications and Retentions will also display at header level). The values displayed will be derived from the individual line dates and values (and these can be amended by using the amend order options) but the lines are not shown. If you wish to see all order lines more clearly then change the Level of Detail drop down to either Document of Item as required.

The first column displayed is the Balances and Overdue column. This will display the balances derived from Cash Book/Purchase Ledger/Outstanding Purchase Orders/Sales Ledger/Outstanding Sales Orders that are dated prior to the next column. These are all totalled in the Closing Balance at the end of this first column. This figure then becomes the Opening Balance of the next column, with that column displaying the transaction totals that fall within whichever date range that column represents (Day/Week/Month). The Closing Balance of this column then becomes the Opening Balance of the next column, and this is repeated for all remaining columns.

7. Navigating the Cash Flow Forecast

The cash flow screen allows you to choose the cash flow structure you wish to review. You can open multiple cash flow screens and structures at the same time. You can also select the duration in days that you wish to display on the cash flow.

The screen below shows the high-level options available to navigate around this screen.

1. Selected Cash Flow Structure
2. Selected Duration
3. Forecast From Date (if enabled in Settings)
4. Filters – Payment Terms and/or Analysis Code
5. View – Day, Week, Month
6. Bad Debts – Include, Only, Exclude
7. Level of Detail – Summary, Account, Document, Item
8. Currency- Filter by currencies (if enabled in Settings)
9. Remove VAT from SOP and POP Transactions
10. Options Ribbon – Features will enable and disable with each part of cash flow e.g. when Bank is selected thaticon is available to click. The key symbol opens a new Legend window
11. Use arrows to expand/collapse details
12. Scroll bar to enable quick movement across days/weeks/months.

So, there are separate options for Sales and Purchase accounts. You can select multiple analysis codes values using those buttons, and also filter for specific payment terms if desired.

Key Icon will show the Legend and explains what each of the coloured symbols means on the various transactions.

7.1. Bank

Click the expand icon on the bank to view the banks that have been included. Values displayed are taken from the Sage Cash Book accounts, not from the nominal accounts behind them. View and add memos to the standard Sage 200 bank memo’s screen directly from the cash flow.

If you do have any transactions in the Cash Book that fall either into the first column to the right of the Balances & Overdue, then they will be displayed in that column (or even in columns to the right of that for future dated transactions). Otherwise everything from the Cash Book will be displayed in the Balances & Overdue column.

Right click the bank account cell in the forecast sheet (must be expanded to a specific bank) and you will see various options available. In this case you can add/View memo’s or open and view the bank account if the user has permission to do so.

View Bank: Opens the standard Sage 200 Cash Book Account Enquiry screen.

NB: Standing Orders and Direct Debits have been deliberately excluded from the cash flow summary as these values will be duplicated in the nominal budget and/or represented in the nominal cash budgets.

NB: All values in the cash flow summary screen are shown in base currency.

7.2. Sales

Expand the Sales section to see Sales Invoice and Sales Order values. Anything due before today will be displayed in the overdue column.

7.3. Sales Invoices

Expand out the Sales invoices section to show sales ledger accounts and again to show individual invoices.

The diagram below explains what can be seen and what can be actioned from this screen.

1. Account Number
2. Invoice Number
3. Second Reference
4. Legend Flag e.g. unallocated receipts
5. Icon indicates a forecast date has been applied to move the income to an alternative date
6. Memo Flag – Use Memo’s within Sage 200 Sales Ledger and the Cash Flow to create a simple but effective credit control tool
7. Mark as Bad Debt (right click to view this option)

Note: The values in Sicon Cash Flow are inclusive of VAT as we are dealing with cash.

ToolTips

When you hover the cursor over a transaction, the system displays information about the transaction, namely the transaction number, description, forecast date (where set), value, reference, second reference, invoice date and due date.

7.4. Options available for Sales Invoices

Add View Memos: Click the Add/View Memos to add or edit sales invoice notes.

Using the Cash Flow for Credit Control: Cash Flow displays all existing Sales Invoice transaction memos and allows the user to add and edit these memos from the cash flow screen in the normal way, so memos added here will also be visible in the sales ledger transaction enquiry screen too.

By using Sicon Cash Flow in this way, it can become a simple but very effective credit control tool with overdue invoices being displayed in the overdue column of the Cash Flow Forecast screen.

Change Forecast Date: You can drag and drop the selected invoice to the desired date but if this date is off the screen it may be simpler to enter it manually. Use this feature to change the expected cash receipt date of invoices when you need to select multiple invoices.

From the sales ledger enquiry screen, you can also see the forecast date and change it here too. This will update the cash flow forecast if it is currently open or at next refresh.

The Forecast Date has been added to the sales ledger transaction as we do not want to change the invoice due date that reflects the invoices original due date. The forecast date allows us to record the date we expect the cash to arrive.

You can select multiple invoice and change the forecast date on all the invoices, using the change forecast date icon at the top of the cash flow screen.

Toggle Bad Debt: Change between marking invoice as bad debt or taking flag off.

View Sales Invoice: This opens the sales ledger enquiry screen filtered with this single invoice, allowing you to see all the details relating to any scanned documents that have been attached via the Sicon Documents add-on.

View Customer: Allows the user to access the Sales Ledger account enquiry screen for the selected account.

Amend Customer: Where the user has the amend account feature enabled in their user role they will also be able to amend the Sales Ledger account from the cash flow screen.

7.5. Sales Orders

Expand out the Sales Orders section to show sales ledger accounts and again to show Sales Orders. For visibility of individual sales order lines in the cash flow increase the detail by changing the Level of Detail to Item. You can still edit the sales order due dates by amending the sales order and its lines from the cash flow menu options.

The diagram below explains what can be seen on the screen and the options available.

1. Date of transaction reflects the sales order promised date plus the customer payment terms (or if switched on, the average time to pay)
2. Account Number
3. Order Number
4. Customer Order Number
5. The value on the Cash Flow will include VAT but will also deduct any settlement discounts and exclude items that have been invoiced from the sales
6. Menu options reflects relevant features for Sales Orders

Sales Order Forecast Dates: The date and value displayed on the cash flow will be calculated for each sales order line.

The cash flow date is calculated as the promised date from the sales order line plus the customer account terms (if switched on in settings, this will use the customer average time to pay).

There is a forecast date provided on the sales order header which can set the forecast date on all the sales order lines or each line can be updated individually to reflect the forecast cash income date.

If these fields are blank it means that no change has been made from the default calculation of dates on the cash flow.

Sales Order Header Forecast Date:

Sales Order line forecast date:

Notes on cash flow values displayed:

1. Sales Order values include settlement discount as we need to represent the worst-case scenario in the cash flow.
2. Sales Order values will only include un-invoiced lines. Once an invoice is created from a sales order the value in the cash flow will automatically be reduced.

7.6. Purchase

Expand the Purchase section to see Purchase Invoice and Purchase Order values. Anything due before today will be displayed in the overdue column.

7.7. Purchase Invoice

Expand out the Purchase invoices section to show Purchase ledger accounts and again to show individual purchase invoices.

The screen shot below explains what can be seen:

1. Account Number
2. Invoice Number
3. Second Reference (if used)
4. Indicates the date has been changed in the Cash Flow from the original invoice due date
5. The value on the cash flow will include VAT as we are dealing with cash movements
6. Menu options reflect features available within Purchase Invoices.

If desired, you can use a setting on the supplier account to reverse the supplier payment terms to reflect suppliers where you have to pay in advance. This setting is found in the Cashflow section of the Sicon tab when amending a purchase ledger account.

In the above example, Invoice 1005-001 has an invoice date of 10 May 2022, and as far as Sage is concerned it is due on 30 June 2022. However, this supplier needs to be paid in advance, so the Forecast Date has been set to 1 April 2022, as this date is the effect of the reversed payment terms. i.e. minus 30 Days from End of Month in this case.

7.8. Options available for Purchase Invoices

Add View Memos: Click the Add/View Memos to add or edit purchase invoice notes.

Change Forecast Date: You can drag and drop the selected invoice to the desired date but if this date is off the screen it may be simpler to enter it manually. Use this feature to change the expected cash receipt date of invoices when you need to select multiple invoices.

From the purchase ledger enquiry screen, you can also see the forecast date and change it here too. This will update the cash flow if it is currently open or at next refresh.

The Forecast Date has been added to the purchase ledger transaction as we do not always want to change the purchase invoice due date that reflects the invoices original due date. The forecast date allows us to record the date we expect to pay this invoice.

NB: it is possible to change the cash flow setting to allow the purchase invoice due date to be updated based on the forecast date chosen. This could help with the payment of invoices as any moved into the following payment period would be excluded from the current suggested payment routine run and would fall into the correct period for payment processing based on the change of forecast and due date.

View Purchase Invoice: This allows you to open the purchase ledger enquiry screen filtered with this single invoice, allowing you to see all the details relating to is and any scanned documents relating to it attached via the Sicon Documents add-ons.

View Supplier: Allows the user to access the Purchase Ledger account enquiry screen for the selected account.

Amend Supplier: Where the user has the amend account feature enabled in their user role they will also be able to amend the Purchase Ledger account from the cash flow screen.

7.9. Purchase Orders

Expand out the Purchase Orders section to show purchase ledger accounts and again to show Purchase Orders. For visibility of individual purchase order lines in the cash flow increase the detail by changing the View and Level of Detail.

You can still edit the purchase order due dates by amending the purchase order and its lines by selecting the Amend Purchase Order option from the options available from the cash flow menu.

The screen shot below explains what can be seen on this screen and the options available.

1. The date of this transaction reflects the purchase order requested date plus the supplier terms
2. Account Number
3. Purchase Order Number
4. The value of the cash flow will include VAT and will also include any settlement discount and exclude any purchase order lines
5. Menu options reflect features available within Purchase Invoices

Purchase Order Forecast Dates: The date and value displayed on the cash flow will be calculated for each purchase order line.

The cash flow date is calculated as the requested date from the purchase order line plus the supplier account terms.

There is a forecast date provided on the purchase order header which can set the forecast date on all the purchase order lines or each line can be updated individually to reflect the forecast cash income date.

If these fields are blank it means that no change has been made from the default calculation of dates on the cash flow.

Purchase Order Header Forecast Date:

Purchase Order Line Forecast Date:

Notes on cash flow values displayed:

2. Purchase Order values include settlement discount as we need to represent the best-case scenario in the cash flow.
3. Purchase Order values will only include un-invoiced lines. Once an invoice is matched to a purchase order the value in the cash flow will automatically be reduced.

Container Deposits recorded against Purchase Order:

If you are using the Sicon Distribution module, specifically the Container Management module, then you can reflect that you have paid a deposit against a container. In this case, the Cashflow Forecast will reflect this by reducing the value of the purchase order displayed.

When you are in the Amend Container screen within Container Manager, having Cashflow also installed will cause a Deposits tab to appear. The values on this tab only impact the Cashflow Forecast, and have no impact anywhere else.

In this example, we have entered a deposit amount of 200.00, and allocated it to the third item in the container which is on Purchase Order number 0000003314. The full value of this Purchase Order is 582.00.

Finding that purchase order on the Cashflow Forecast, the value of the purchase order has been reduced by that deposit. Hovering over the relevant value in the forecast will display this information in the box that appears.

7.10. Nominal Cash Budget Entries

Where budgets costs need to be added to the cash flow this is the feature that can be used to achieve this. Providing an additional field to display the Cash impact of the budget (especially useful when the nominal shows a spread of cost or revenue).

These cost items are still related to a nominal ledger to help understand where future projected costs/revenues might have become actual purchase/sales invoices.

Each entry can have a specific date that it should be displayed within the cash flow.

Amend/View Nominal Account: Opens the nominal account, that can then be amended or viewed.

Adding Nominal Cash Budgets to the Cash Flow

Add/View Memos: Allows memos to be added or viewed.

Change Forecast Date: Allows the manual amendment of this specific value to an alternative date.

Mark as Paid: when selected this will remove the item from the cash flow.

Adjust Nominal Cash Budget: The nominal cash budget for the month can be amended.

Amend Nominal Account: This option will open the Sage 200 ‘Amend Nominal Account’ screen and allow you to edit the details. In addition to this you will see the new Sicon cash budget and paid information displayed on these screens.

View Nominal Account: This option will open the Sage 200 ‘View Nominal Account’ screen and allow you to view all nominal ledger details.

7.11. Ad-Hoc / Manual Nominal Ledger Entries

Where one-off costs need to be added to the cash flow this is the feature that can be used to achieve this.

These cost items are still related to a nominal ledger to help understand where future projected costs/revenues might have become actual purchase/sales invoices.

Each entry can have a specific date that it should be displayed within the cash flow.

Maintain Manual Nominals allows the entry to amended from the cashflow screen.

Add/View Memos: Allows memos to be added or viewed.

Change Forecast Date: Allows the manual amendment of this specific value to an alternative date.

Mark as Paid: when selected this will remove the item from the cash flow.

Amend Nominal Account: This option will open the Sage 200 ‘amend nominal account’ screen and allow you to edit the details. In addition to this you will see the Sicon cash budget and paid information displayed on these screens.

View Nominal Account: This option will open the Sage 200 ‘View nominal account’ screen and allow you to view all nominal ledger details.

7.12. Applications

NB: this Option will appear when you have purchased the Sicon Construction module.

Expand the Applications section to see Customer Applications and Supplier Applications. Anything due before today will be displayed in the overdue column.

7.13. Customer Applications

NB: this Option will appear when you have purchased the Sicon Construction module.

Expand the Customer Applications section to show Customer accounts and again to show Application lines, increase the detail by changing the View and Level of Detail.

1. Account Number
2. Job/Application Number
3. Outstanding Application value. This will update in real time as Valuations are raised against the application
4. Menu options reflect features available within Customer Applications

The Outstanding Application Amount cash flow date is calculated as the application date plus the customer account terms.

Change Forecast Date: You can drag and drop the selected application to the desired date but if this date is off the screen it may be simpler to enter it manually. Use this feature to change the expected date of applications.

7.14. Supplier Applications

NB: this Option will appear when you have purchased the Sicon Construction module.

Expand the Supplier Applications section to show Supplier accounts and again to show Application lines, increase the detail by changing the View and Level of Detail.

1. Transaction Date which is the date of the application plus supplier terms
2. Account Number
3. Job/Application Number
4. Outstanding Application value. This will update in real time as Valuations are raised against the application
5. Forecast date changed

Change Forecast Date: You can drag and drop the selected application to the desired date but if this date is off the screen it may be simpler to enter it manually. Use this feature to change the expected date of applications.

7.15. Retentions

NB: this Option will appear when you have purchased the Sicon Construction module.

Expand the Retentions section to see Sales Retentions and Purchase Retentions. Anything that should have been released before today will be displayed in the overdue column.

1. Transaction Date which is the date of the retention release
2. Account number
3. Application number
4. Retention amount
5. Forecast date changed
6. Menu options reflect features available within Sales Retentions

1. Transaction Date which is the date of the retention release
2. Account number
3. Account Name
4. Customer Reference
5. Retention amount
6. Menu options reflect features available within Purchase Retentions

Notes on cash flow values displayed:

1. Sales & Purchase Order Values include settlement discount as we need to represent the worst-case scenario in the cash flow.
2. Sales & Purchase Order values will only include un-invoiced lines. Once an invoice is created from a sales order or matched to a purchase order the value in the cash flow will automatically be reduced.

8. Enable Module

This screen is used to show all configured Sicon Add-ons and allows the entry of enable strings to allow use of a module.  When a new module enable string is provided, copy into the ‘Enable string’ field and then click Apply to save the changes.

If online enable strings have been activated these will self-populate.

9. Release Notes

The release notes page shows which release of the system includes new features or issues resolved.

At the release of Sicon v21 we announced that going forward, we will only be supporting Sage 200c and as such we are able to drop the year from our version numbers. We moved from 201.201.0.0 to 210.0.0.

New features detailed in the Release Notes relating to Pre-Release versions will not be detailed in the current Help and User Guide until the end of development phase.

10. Cash Flow User Videos

These videos will help you use the Sicon Cash Flow module.

10.1. How to use Sicon Cash Flow with Sage 200 Cash Book Accounts

10.2. How to use Sicon Cash Flow with Sage 200 Purchase Orders

10.3. How to use Sicon Cash Flow with Sage 200 Purchase Transactions

10.4. How to use Sicon Cash Flow with Sage 200 Sales Orders

10.5. How to use Sicon Cash Flow with Sage 200 Sales Transactions

11. New Features & Important Information