9.13.2 Currencies

The currency list is the starting point for money in PharmaERP. Each country can be given its usual currency on the Countries page. When you add a customer or supplier, the currency is filled in from the country and you confirm it. From then on, every order, invoice, credit memo and PDF of that party shows that currency. PharmaERP also uses the list to compare prices across currencies. The list is usually kept by the master-data owner, often a system administrator or a finance lead. It is set up once and changed rarely.

Before you start

Access you need

These ticks are set in Role Master, on the page "Currency" in the group SYSTEM. Ask your administrator for them. The ticks are read when you sign in. If your role changes, sign out and sign in again.

Records that must exist first

Nothing has to exist first. The page works with an empty list.

For changes to be recorded in Currency History, your administrator must install the history feature. If it is not installed, both pages show a yellow notice "Currency History is not installed on this database." Changes are still saved, but they are not recorded.

Where to find the page

1. Sign in to PharmaERP.

2. In the left menu, open System Settings.

3. Under the heading MASTER DATA, click Currencies.

Currency History has no menu item of its own. Open it with the Currency History button at the top right of the Currencies page, or with the history icon on a currency's row.

The screen at a glance

The Currencies page lists one row per currency. The buttons at the top right open Currency History, reload the list and add a currency. Each row has three buttons under OPTIONS: the pencil to change the currency, the bin to delete it, and the clock to see its history.

The Currencies page with its list of currencies

Step by step

Find a currency

Use this to check whether a currency is already on the list, for example before you add Swiss francs.

1. Open the Currencies page. All currencies load at once, sorted by code from A to Z.

2. Type part of a code or symbol in the search box, for example CH or Fr. The list narrows as you type. The count shows how many match, for example "Showing 1 to 1 of 1 currencies (of 6)."

3. To sort, click a column heading: CODE, SYMBOL, LAST CHANGED or CHANGED BY. To go back to the normal order, click Default order.

If nothing matches, the grid says "No currencies match the search." The currency is not on the list yet, so you can add it.

The System Settings menu with Currencies highlighted

Add a currency

Add a currency when a new customer or supplier trades in a currency that is not on the list. You need the Create tick.

1. Click Add Currency at the top right. The Add Currency window opens with two empty boxes.

2. In Code, type the international three-letter code, for example CHF. Letters are turned into capitals for you. Use 2 to 10 letters or digits.

3. In Symbol, type the sign to print beside amounts, for example Fr. Use up to 20 characters.

4. Click Save, or press Enter.

The Add Currency window, empty

After you save, the window closes, the message "CHF added." appears, and the list reloads with CHF in it. LAST CHANGED shows today's date and time, and CHANGED BY shows your name. If the save cannot finish, the window stays open with a red message. See "Messages you may see."

Change a currency's symbol or code

Change a currency when a symbol was typed wrongly or the business wants a different sign. You need the Update tick.

1. Find the currency and click the pencil in its OPTIONS cell. The Change Currency window opens with the current code and symbol.

2. Correct the Symbol, or the Code.

3. Click Save.

4. If you changed the code, your browser asks you to confirm. Click OK to go on, or Cancel to stop.

The Change Currency window for EUR

After you save, "CHF saved." appears and the list reloads. If you click Save without changing anything, nothing is recorded.

Warning: Change a code only to correct a mistake. Orders and invoices do not keep their own copy of the currency. Every past and future document of every party in that currency shows the new code and symbol at once.

Delete a currency

Delete a currency that was added by mistake and is not used anywhere. You need the Delete tick.

1. Find the currency and click the bin in its OPTIONS cell.

2. Your browser asks you to confirm. It says the currency is deleted only when nothing uses it. Click OK.

If nothing uses the currency, "CHF deleted." appears and the row disappears. If something uses it, nothing is deleted. A red message lists where it is used, for example "EUR cannot be deleted. It is used by ... supplier(s), ... customer(s)." Move those records to another currency first, or keep the currency. There is no way to switch a currency off while it is in use.

See who changed what: Currency History

Use Currency History to answer "who changed this currency, when, and what was it before?" You need the View tick.

1. On the Currencies page, click Currency History to see all currencies. To see one currency, click the history icon on its row.

2. Read the list. The newest change is at the top. Each row is one changed item, with the columns WHEN, WHO, VIA, CURRENCY, WHAT CHANGED, FROM and TO. VIA shows ERP for a change made in PharmaERP, and SQL for a change made directly in the database.

3. To find a change, type in the search box, or click a column heading to sort.

4. When you are viewing one currency, click all currencies to see everything again.

Currency History for all currencies

History of one currency

Fields explained

The Currencies list

The Add Currency and Change Currency windows

What happens after you save

When you click Save in the Add or Change window, the system does the following, in this order:

• It checks your right. Without Create (to add) or Update (to change), you see a message that names the right you need.

• It removes spaces at the start and end of your entries and turns the code into capitals.

• It checks the rules again. The code must be 2 to 10 letters or digits, the symbol must be present and at most 20 characters, and the code must not be used by another currency.

• It saves the currency and records you and the date and time as the last changer.

• It writes the change to Currency History at the same time. If the history cannot be written, the save is cancelled too.

• The currency lists on other pages, such as Customer DB and Supplier DB, are refreshed, so the change appears there straight away.

Things that do not happen: no e-mail or notification is sent, nothing is sent to Business Central, and existing customers, suppliers and documents are not copied or re-saved. They simply show the currency's current code and symbol. No exchange rate is created.

When you delete a currency, the system checks where it is used: customers, suppliers, countries, company bank accounts, invoices and order links. If it is used anywhere, nothing is deleted. If not, the currency is removed, and Currency History keeps a "Deleted the currency" line with the last code and symbol.

Messages you may see

Good to know

• Do not rename the six currencies that exchange rates use: GBP, EUR, USD, INR, NOK and CAD. They are recognised by their code. Renaming one stops rate collection and the European number format on EUR PDFs for every party in it. The confirmation box does not warn you about this.

• PharmaERP collects exchange rates once a day, after the first sign-in after midnight UTC, and only for those six currencies. A currency you add, such as CHF, gets no rate, so price comparisons for parties in that currency stay empty. Ask your administrator before you rely on them.

• If an Excel import of suppliers or customers leaves rows with an empty CODE on the Currencies list, tell your administrator. Do not delete them until the imported parties have been moved to the right currency.

• The page stops you from adding a second CHF, but a currency added outside the page could create a duplicate. Report any duplicate you see.

• The questions before a code change and a delete come from your browser, not from PharmaERP. Answer them with the browser's own OK or Cancel.