Simple solutions: Keeping the ego in check

I tend to think that I am the sort of curious person who comes up with creative solutions to complicated problems. And in that way, I am somewhat proud of my troubleshooting abilities. Give me some time, peace, and quiet and I can figure out an issue through my powerful logic and reasoning capabilities--if you didn't catch the sarcasm in that statement, it was dripping with it :)

Today, I came across one of those issues that had me stumped. I assumed it had to be a problem report, after all I couldn't figure it out (again, sarcasm here). So here was the issue...

1. Client has used project accounting since 1/1/2009, there has been no change to their fiscal period setup
2. I needed to export project periodic balances for reconciliation
3. I ran the project utilities (Utilities>>Project>>Reconcile Periodic, Recreate Periodic)
4. I checked the results in the PA01304 and there are records, but no balances at all
5. I checked the actual project data in GP, and there are detail transactions and project balances but no periodic balances
6. I searched the knowledge base on PartnerSource
7. No luck
8. Tried PA check links
9. Tried more PA reconciles
10. Tried in other companies, same results
11. Tried on my system, different results
12. Hmmm

So, I started a case, knowing that there have been past issues with the reconciles and thinking that maybe there was a known issue I was not finding in my search. Maybe, it's a service pack issue but I really wanted to avoid having to apply service packs just to get the data we needed. And, maybe, if I am honest with myself, I was being a bit lazy about it all.

So Brady at Microsoft has me check the period setup table for project accounting entries, select * from SY40100 where SERIES = 7. And, lo and behold, it returns nothing for project for the year 2009. So, he has me go in to Fiscal Period Setup (Tools>>Setup>>Company>>Fiscal Periods) click Calculate and Save to create the records.

I run the reconciles again, and I have data! I had faith the periodic data would return, because the detail was still there but for it to be such a simple fix was both good and bad. Good because it was quick to resolve, bad because I didn't get there myself :)

So I thought I would share this little nugget with you, just in case you run across this specific issue. And even if you don't, maybe it will remind you of the fact that most issues have simple causes and resolutions...it's just a matter of finding them.

Have a great weekend!