Segments

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.
2. Click . The New Segment window opens.

   

3. Enter a unique Name for the segment.

   Note

   You can use spaces in segment names but AccountingWare does not recommend it. Using spaces introduces unnecessary complexities when designing financials.

4. In the Plural Name field, enter the plural form of the name to display on the folder for this segment and in other places in ActivityHD where the segment name is used.
5. In the Segment Type field, select the type of segment to create. The segment type affects how segment items are defined, how segments behave, and chart of accounts generation. Your options are:
   • Primary. The main account segment. Members of this segment represent your main breakdown of assets, liabilities, capital, revenue, and expenses. You must have exactly one primary segment.
   • Ledger. The ledger segment associates a data type with each account in the general ledger. You can require all accounts in a particular ledger to be in balance, or forgo that requirement for statistics and budget ledgers. Units can be specified on ledger segment items. You must have exactly one ledger segment.
   • Auxiliary. Auxiliary segments let you expand accounts to reflect the diversification of your organization. When appropriate, you can specify address information for auxiliary segments that can be printed in the headings of user-designed reports.

   Note

   The segment type cannot be changed once the segment is saved.

6. In the Data Type field, select the type of data that is valid for the segment item codes for this segment. Your options are:

   • Alphanumeric. Segment item codes can contain numbers, letters, or miscellaneous characters.

     Note

     You cannot use wildcard characters such as asterisk (*), underscore (_), percent (%), or question mark (?) in a segment item code.

   • Numeric. Segment item codes can only contain numbers.

   Note

   You can change the data type from numeric to alphanumeric at any time with no restrictions. You can only change the data type from alphanumeric to numeric if all segment item codes are already numeric.

7. In the Size field, enter the length of the segment. Segments can be up to 12 characters long.

8. If you want to require that debits and credits for the segment always be in balance on either a period or daily basis, mark the Require Balance? checkbox. Typically, only self-balancing entities (like companies, funds, and independent divisions) should require balancing. The checkbox is marked by default for ledger segments.

   Note

   This flag can be overridden. This makes it possible to create statistical ledgers that do not require balancing even for self-balancing entities.

9. If the Require Balance? checkbox is marked, the Require Calendar? checkbox is enabled. Mark this checkbox to require a calendar for the segment. If no segment for the chart of accounts requires a calendar, the default calendar is used.
10. If you marked the Require Calendar? checkbox, the Calendar field is enabled. Select the calendar to use for the segment.
11. The Create Indexes checkbox is marked by default. When marked, indexes are automatically created on database columns for segments either at the account level or the journal detail level. Using this option has the potential to dramatically improve performance for queries which limit by those values. If you do not want indexes created automatically or have not experienced performance issues, clear the checkbox.
12. Save the new segment.

Activated segments appear as segments in your account numbers.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Both the primary and ledger segments must be activated before accounts can be created.
• Active segments cannot be deleted. If you need to delete a segment, first deactivate it, then delete it.
• You should create segment items in a segment before activating the segment.

To activate a segment:

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.
2. In the HD view, highlight the inactive segment to activate.
3. Click . ActivityHD prompts you for the default segment item to add on all existing accounts.

   

4. Select the segment item to use, then click OK. ActivityHD activates the segment.

Deactivating a segment is an alternative to deleting it. Deactivation removes the segment from account numbers but does not remove the segment from the system. You must deactivate a segment to delete it, but deletion is not necessary.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Primary and ledger segments cannot be deactivated while there are accounts. To deactivate them you must first delete the accounts.
• A segment cannot be deactivated if it causes accounts not to be unique.
• A segment cannot be deactivated if it is currently rolled up. First, delete the rollup.
• A segment cannot be deactivated if it is referenced in an account rule.

To deactivate a segment:

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.
2. In the HD view, highlight the active segment to deactivate.
3. Click . ActivityHD reminds you that the segment will be removed from all accounts and prompts you to confirm the action.

   

4. Click OK. ActivityHD deactivates the segment.

Resizing segments is part of the tremendous flexibility in chart of accounts maintenance. Instead of deleting the segment that needs to be resized and creating a new one, you can simply increase or decrease the size of the segment.

A few rules apply to resizing segments:

• A segment cannot be resized if the segment is rolled up by an active rollup.
• The maximum size of a segment is 12 characters. If you increase the segment size, padding must be added to the mask and to the starts or ends of any rollups that directly roll up the segment. Use the same pad character that is used to pad the segment item codes and pad the same side.
• Decreasing segment size is not allowed if it results in any duplicates.
• When segment size is decreased, the masks and starts or ends of any rollups that directly roll up the segment must be trimmed. Trim from the same side as the trimming is done from the segment item codes.

To resize segments:

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.
2. In the HD view, highlight the segment to resize.
3. Click . The Resize Segments pop-up window opens.

   

4. In the New Size field, enter the new length for the segment.
5. If you are increasing the size of the segment, the next field is labeled "Expand On". If you are decreasing the size, the field is labeled "Truncate On". Select the side of the field to expand or truncate. Your options are:
   • Right
   • Left

   

6. If you are increasing the segment size, the Pad String field is enabled. Enter the number(s), alphabetic character(s), or space(s) to use in the pad string. Enter one character per new position in the segment. If you leave this field blank, 0 will be used.
7. Click OK to resize the segment.

Reordering segments changes the appearance of the chart of accounts by changing the positions of the segments in account numbers.

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.
2. Click . The Reorder Segments pop-up window opens.

   

   Segments appear in account numbers in the same order as they appear here.

3. In the list box, highlight a segment you want to move.
4. Use and to move the segment to the desired position.
5. Repeat steps 3-4 for other segments as needed until you achieve the desired order.
6. When you finish, click OK.

To remove a segment from an account, you must first deactivate the segment. However, you cannot deactivate a segment if doing so results in duplicate account numbers.

To ensure no duplicate account numbers will result:

1. Identify the segment item to combine existing accounts into.
2. Create a filter on the Chart of Accounts folder to select all accounts where the segment item is not equal to the segment item you will be combining into.
3. Apply the filter.
4. Press Ctrl+A to select all accounts returned by the filter.
5. Right-click and select Change from the shortcut menu. The Change Accounts wizard starts.
6. On the Changes tab, ensure the Account branch is expanded and select the account segment which contains the segment item to change.
7. In the segment item field, select the item you will combine the other segment items into.
8. Click Next >>. You are prompted to confirm your action.
9. Click Yes. You can ignore the errors for accounts that already had the selected segment item.
10. When the process completes, click Finish.
11. Select the segment folder for the segment you want to remove.
12. Highlight every segment item in the folder, except the one you want to combine the others into.
13. Right-click and select Combine. The Combine Segment Items wizard starts.
14. In the Combine Into field, select the segment item to combine the others into.
15. Click Next >>. ActivityHD prompts you to confirm that you want to combine the segment items.
16. Click Yes.
17. When the process completes, click Finish.
18. At this point, you can deactivate the segment since all accounts have the same segment item in the segment.
19. Once the segment is deactivated, you can delete it.

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.
2. Select the inactive segment you want to delete.

3. In the toolbar, click . ActivityHD prompts you to confirm that you want to delete the segment.

   

4. Click Delete.

   If the segment has no segment items and no references, ActivityHD deletes the segment.

   If, on the other hand, the segment has segment items, ActivityHD warns you that deleting the segment will result in the segment items being deleted as well. Choose wisely, grasshopper.

   

   If you want to delete the segment despite the consequences, click Yes.

If you have a segment that you no longer use, but which should not be permanently deleted, you can flag it as obsolete. When you flag a segment as obsolete, its folder is no longer visible in the Navigation pane.

1. In the Navigation pane, highlight the General Ledger > Setup > Segments folder.

2. In the HD view, right-click the segment to flag as obsolete and select Obsolete from the shortcut menu. You are prompted to confirm the action.

   

3. Click Yes. The segment is flagged as obsolete and is removed from the HD view (unless the Include Obsolete checkbox is marked).

To restore a segment that has been flagged as obsolete, repeat the steps above.