To setup and maintain NewViews properly, a basic understanding of tags for partitions is required. Three preset partition tags are provided to get you started: financial, order and budget. Allocation tags are optional, and when used, function in tandem with partition tags.
In the Partitions and Allocations - Tags section, we will examine the following topics:
Accounting databases typically have lots of different types of transactions (e.g. order and invoice). The accounts "in play" are the same (i.e. same customer, same sales and tax accounts, etc.) and orders and invoices are nearly identical, but they need to be segregated by type. We call each type of transaction a Partition, and each transaction is identified by a Partition Tag.
Also, many business and non-profit organizations want to track transactions in more detail. For example, you have one telephone expense account, but you want to allocate the phone bill to many different projects. You can split any transaction detail item into any number of pieces to allocate portions of the total amount to each project. We call this technique Allocations, and each portion of the allocation is identified by an Allocation Tag.
With allocations there are some cases where separate phone expense accounts for each project is a better solution. But this is normally not true, and creating or copying a lot of accounts is tedious and error prone. The objective is to build one set of accounts, and use it for many similar/identical projects.
So, there are two recurring themes in accounting that are solved by tags:
Separating and tracking entire transactions, like orders and invoices, that post to one set of accounts.
Briefly, each journal in NewViews must have a tag specified, and all transactions entered in that journal will be automatically "tagged" with the tag value. You can then examine ledgers and account balances for whatever tag you select. It's a simple way to track transaction "stages" (e.g. quotes, bids, orders, invoices) as documents move through the workflow. It's also a simple way to create and track one or more budgets (e.g. optimistic and pessimistic).
Transactions separated this way are called partitions, where each tag creates a partition. The key feature is the ability to track many types of transactions using one set of accounts.
A partition will likely balance (i.e. the trial balance and balance sheet will proof to zero).
Separating and tracking individual transaction details, like purchase expense items by project, that post to one set of accounts.
Briefly, each journal in NewViews can have an optional list of allocation tags specified, and you pick one or more tags from this list for each transaction detail item entered. The allocation tag(s) you pick are appended to the list of partition tags, to form the full list of tags for the item. You can then use your ability to examine ledgers and account balances for whatever tag you select to track projects, funds, departments, etc.
Transactions separated this way are called allocations, where each tag creates an allocation. Again, the key feature is the ability to track many types of transactions, while using one set of accounts.
An allocation will likely not balance (i.e. a trial balance and balance sheet will not proof to zero).