Helpful Tips: The JD Edwards Item Ledger (Cardex or F4111)
Edward Gutkowski, Chief Architect – RapidReconciler
The item ledger, aka the Cardex or F4111, is the place where all transactions that impact item balances are recorded. This extremely important table provides the foundation of the inventory management system and is used extensively to answer questions about item balances as well as providing backup details for audit control. In this article, I would like to share a few pointers, some you may know while others you may not, which are intended to enhance your JD Edwards knowledge and help maintain a healthy inventory system.
Validating Item Balances (Cardex)
Users are able to view an item’s history using native JD Edwards inquiry screens or by using the data browser. The ability to export the details to Excel minimizes the need for IT to run ad-hoc reports. When reviewing the data take note of:
- Conversions to Primary Units of Measure (UOM) – Item balances are recorded in primary units of measure. Each Cardex transaction would need to be checked and converted if necessary. More recent versions of JD Edwards have a dedicated column for units in primary UOM. Always use this if possible.
- Posting code ‘X’ – These transactions would need to be filtered out as they are memo only. Types in this category include location adds, lot releases and work order scrap.
- Purging – If records have been purged there must be ‘balance forward’ records in place to account for the units and amounts removed, or this type of analysis would be impossible.
- Each item's total units must total to match the quantity on hand. Any discrepancies must be adjusted using SQL or other direct database access tool. Remember the quantities must be in primary unit of measure when summarizing.
- Each item's extended cost total must match the amount on hand. Discrepancies can be adjusted using a dollars only IA transaction. Amounts do not need conversion to primary.
Sequencing the Results
Sequencing the transactions allows for calculation of prior period end balances. The most common practice is to use one of the date columns provided, which may not always be the best solution. They are:
- GL Date – This is the date the transaction is recorded to the general ledger for financial reporting. Since it can be overridden from the system date on transaction screens or in processing options, it would be impractical for transaction sequencing.
- Transaction Date – This sounds like it could be used, but it can be manually overridden by users on many transaction screens. Be wary however, as I have seen mistakes where this date has been mistakenly keyed into the future or far into the past! Obviously, sequencing would be difficult if that were the case.
- Creation Date – The date the transaction is recorded in the system. Aha! This sounds like the one to use if not for a little-known fact. If an items’ second or third item number is changed in the item master, ‘Global Item Update’ may be run to propagate those changes throughout the database. When that happens, the creation date for ALL item ledger records may be updated with the current date, making sequencing impossible to determine.
- Tip - On the technical side there is a column in the table that makes it easy to determine the order of transactional activity. The column is named ILUKID and acts much like a ‘Next Number’ would in the transaction system. This also is proof positive of the sequence the records were written to the system. If you need to know the EXACT sequence of events, use the data browser and include this column for sorting.
So, there you have it! I’ll bet you learned at least 1 thing you did not know prior to reading this article about the Cardex or the F4111 table. Until next time…
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