The Entry table type contains Posted activity detail, the data other systems call history. NAV data flows from a Journal through a Posting routine into an Entry. A significant advantage of NAV Entry design is the fact that NAV allows retaining all transaction detail indefinitely. While there are routines supporting compression of the Entry data, if at all feasible, we should retain the full historical detail of all activity. This allows users to have total flexibility for historical comparative or trend data analysis.
Entry data is considered accounting data in NAV. We are not allowed to directly enter the data into an Entry or change existing data in an Entry, but must post to an Entry. Posting is done by creating Journal Lines, validating the data as necessary, then posting those journal lines into the appropriate ledgers. Although we can physically force data into an Entry with our developer tools, we should not do so.
When Ledger Entry data is accounting data, we are not permitted to delete this data from an Entry table. Corrections are done by posting adjustments or reversing entries. We can compress or summarize some Entry data (very carefully), which eliminates detail, but we should not change anything that would affect accounting totals for money or quantities.
User views of Entry data are generally through use of list pages. The following screenshots show a Customer Ledger Entries list (financially oriented data) and an Item Ledger Entries list (quantity-oriented data). In each case, the data represents historical activity detail with accounting significance. There are other data fields in addition to those shown in the following screenshots. The fields shown here are representative. The users can utilize page-customization tools (which we will discuss in Chapter 4, Pages - the Interactive Interfaces) in order to create personalized page displays in a wide variety of ways. First, we have the Customer Ledger Entries list:
Second is the Item Ledger Entries list:
The Customer Ledger Entries page displays critical information such as Posting Date (the effective accounting date), Document Type (the type of transaction), Customer No., and the Original and Remaining Amount of the transaction. The record also contains the Entry No., which uniquely identifies each record. The Open entries are those where the transaction amount has not been fully applied, such as an invoice amount not fully paid or a payment amount not fully consumed by invoices.
The Item Ledger Entries page displays similar information pertinent to inventory transactions. As previously described, Posting Date, Entry Type, and Item No., as well as the assigned Location Code for the item, control the meaning of each transaction. Item Ledger Entries are expressed both in Quantity and Amount (Value). The Open entries here are tied to the Remaining Quantity, such as material that has been received but is still available in stock. In other words, the Open entries represent current inventory. Both the Customer Ledger Entry and Item Ledger Entry tables have underlying tables that provide additional details for entries affecting values.