What I wanted to say when I wrote "we could take a more informed decision" is that the community (including Vikas and you) could take a better decision, not that the OFBiz PMC was going to discuss this privately (we never do code level discussion in the private list). Please solicit a reply from Vikas rather than me.
Jacopo On Jun 30, 2012, at 11:19 AM, Pierre Smits wrote: > Jacopo, > > Almost a month ago you asked for use cases regarding the pros and cons of > the implemented change as with commit > r1344568 > on cost center screens and forms by vikas in order to be able take a more > informed decision. > > Can you inform us if now a decision has been taken and what the outcome was? > > Pierre > > 2012/6/2 Pierre Smits <[email protected]> > >> While Vikas does a great job explaining why there is a need for cost >> centers, he doesn't address the issue of why the change should be >> implemented. >> >> Before the commit following functionalities were available: >> >> 1. Create cost >> centers<https://demo-trunk.ofbiz.apache.org:8443/accounting/control/FindGlAccountCategory> >> 2. Get per cost center an overview of related GL Accounts and add new >> >> ones<https://demo-trunk.ofbiz.apache.org:8443/accounting/control/EditGlAccountCategoryMember?glAccountCategoryId=9301> >> 3. Have one entry form where the administrator of a company, >> subsidiary or department could add, edit and delete associated GL for all >> cost centers available based on all GL Accounts available to said entity. >> Having this form the administrator only had to enter a percentage number >> for the appropriate cost center and when clicking the submit button the >> association (or mapping) between cost center and GL Account was created or >> modified. >> >> After the commit the functionality of item 3 is reduced to only showing >> the accounts for which a mapping has been created. If an administrator >> needs to add a new mapping he/she than has to go to functionality 2 to >> create it, and repeat that step over and over until all associations are >> created. >> >> In a sense this reduction of functionality means a reduction of user >> experience. Having been a financial controller for many years in various >> SMEs and having worked with all kinds of administrators I know that ease of >> use of functionalities is something that is always highly appreciated. >> >> If Vikas wanted to provide an overview of only associated GL Accounts to >> all cost centers, he should have added a new >> functionality in stead of diminishing the existing one. Actually, having >> one that is read-only (and/or exportable/printable) would make sense. >> >> Regards, >> >> Pierre >> >> >> 2012/6/1 Vikas Mayur <[email protected]> >> >>> Pierre, I really don't know whether it was intentional to show all the >>> accounts of the organization because I don't see any such discussion in the >>> past except couple of jira issues. Perhaps the author of the code could >>> throw some light. >>> >>> Jacopo, I support the idea of just showing only the accounts related to >>> the cost centers based on the following use case / theory. Let me know if >>> you think otherwise. >>> >>> Cost centers are part of the organization (could be division/department) >>> which adds to the cost of an organization. Lets say the organization have >>> three divisions namely Sales & Marketing, Customer Service & Operations >>> where each division have a certain number of employees for its operation. >>> Suppose, the organization gives health insurance to each employee which is >>> an expense account. To know the cost (% of total expense) of health >>> insurance by each division, the organization will setup three cost centers, >>> one for each division. This would basically means that the health insurance >>> account is now also associated to each cost center with an amount >>> percentage of the total expense. There could be other accounts where the >>> organization would like to know the expenses by each division / cost center >>> and such accounts can also be associated to these cost centers. >>> >>> Now, if there are any other accounts since all the accounts won't be just >>> for expenses then why we would be needing those accounts on cost center? >>> If, the organization need some of them at some point of time they can be >>> added to cost centers in similar manner. >>> >>> PS - I don't find any other way to know whether the cost center belongs >>> to parent organization or any other internal organization except by looking >>> at the gl account(s) of the organization which is/are associated to the >>> cost centers via GlAccountCategoryMember entity. I believe we just setup >>> cost centers through GlAccountCategory (with type COST CENTER) and the gl >>> accounts associated to cost centers will denote which organization(s) are >>> related to the cost centers. We perhaps need to simplify the service that >>> generates the data for cost centers screen, it contains lot of iteration >>> code to build a data in such a simple form. >>> >>> Regards >>> Vikas >>> >>> On May 31, 2012, at 7:46 PM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote: >>> >>>> Vikas, Pierre, >>>> >>>> it would be useful if you both could provide a simple use case of the >>> screen to highlight why you think it should work in that way; then we could >>> take a more informed decision. >>>> >>>> Jacopo >>>> >>>> On May 31, 2012, at 10:05 AM, Pierre Smits wrote: >>>> >>>>> Please don't. >>>>> >>>>> Showing all accounts of the parent organisations was intentional, so >>>>> changes could be effected in one overview/screen/form. >>>>> >>>>> 2012/5/29 Vikas Mayur <[email protected]> >>>>> >>>>>> Ok, I'll work on a fix since all the gl accounts assigned to the >>> parent >>>>>> organization 'Company' are showing up in the cost centers screen >>> while the >>>>>> only accounts associated to cost centers should show up. >>>>>> >>>>>> Thanks >>>>>> Vikas >>>>>> >>>>>> On May 29, 2012, at 2:57 PM, Pierre Smits wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Vikas, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> New cost centers can be added through the 'GL Account Category' menu >>>>>> item. >>>>>>> See: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>> https://demo-trunk.ofbiz.apache.org:8443/accounting/control/FindGlAccountCategory >>>>>>> >>>>>>> If you then go to 'Cost Centers', you'll see newly added cost >>> centers (if >>>>>>> any), plus an overview of all assigned gl accounts. As a means to >>> easily >>>>>>> manage percentual aspects of costs related to cost centers. As such >>> it >>>>>>> makes sense. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> If you want an overview per cost center, you'll have to go back to >>> the >>>>>> 'GL >>>>>>> Account Category' menu item, select the cost center of choice and go >>> to >>>>>> the >>>>>>> 'GL Account Category Member' overview. See: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> vhttps:// >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>> demo-trunk.ofbiz.apache.org:8443/accounting/control/EditGlAccountCategoryMember?glAccountCategoryId=9301 >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Regards, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Pierre >>>>>>> >>>>>>> 2012/5/29 Vikas Mayur <[email protected]> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> In OFBiz demo data there are three cost centers namely cost center >>> 1, 2 >>>>>> & >>>>>>>> 3. The GlAccountCategoryMember associate GL Accounts to a particular >>>>>> cost >>>>>>>> center. At the moment only three GL Accounts are added to these cost >>>>>>>> centers. When you go to Accounting > Global Gl Settings > Cost >>> Centers >>>>>>>> screen it shows all the accounts that are related to the >>> organization >>>>>> party >>>>>>>> Id while it should only show the accounts related to cost centers? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Regards >>>>>>>> Vikas >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>
