A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your New Reporting Year
Welcome to that time of year again! It’s time to create a new Reporting Year in Seed System Solution. In this week’s video, we’ll walk you through the key items that we recommend setting up before you begin taking bookings. While these steps can usually be done afterward, making changes later often requires manual updates to each booking or reaching out to Portage Bay for assistance in applying these updates across the system.
Below are the common tasks we cover in the video. You can find links to each of these items by navigating to Menu → System Settings → “New Year Checklist”.
NOTE: You may not need every section listed. Please complete the ones that apply to your organization and the data you want to capture.
Price Types:
Set up any new customer price types, and assign them to the appropriate customers in your customer list. The Price Type module can be found under Menu → System Settings → Price Type.
You most likely won’t need to complete this task every year, but it may be necessary if you’re reevaluating how pricing, discounts, or commissions are calculated.
Discounts:
Yearly discounts are managed under Menu → System Settings → Discounts.
To copy discounts from the previous year, first display the year you want to copy on the screen, then select “New Year.” Enter the new year in the pop-up dialogue box. Be sure to update the dates for the new year once copied.
- Line Item Discounts: Assign the Price Type, choose Class Discount as the type, then assign the product class. Repeat for all necessary price type and class combinations.
- Early Payment Discounts: Assign the Price Type, choose Early Pay Discount as the type, then assign the eligible booking type. Repeat for all applicable price type and class combinations.
NEW TOOL: Use the Duplication Wizard (found on the Discount page) to quickly copy one discount structure into a new Price Type or Class.
Trait Royalty Table:
The Trait Table is located under Menu → System Settings → Trait Table.
Add any new traits that will be sold in the upcoming reporting year by selecting “New” in the Hamburger menu.
NOTE: The Trait Name is your internal name that will display on product lists and cannot be changed.
If a trait requires reporting and is tied to a license, be sure to populate the License Company field.
If royalties apply, both a Liability Account and Expense Account must be entered. Entering royalty values for all zones is recommended.
Gross Royalty is the royalty amount before rebates. Zone price adjustments are calculated from this value, with the Default zone serving as your base.
Net Royalty is the actual amount you expect to pay, which will accrue in the expense and liability accounts.
Use the “New Year” option in the Hamburger menu to roll forward existing trait royalties. Display the year you want to copy, select New Year, and enter the new reporting year in the dialogue box.
Product List:
The Product List is located under Menu → System Settings → Product List.
Enter new products for the reporting year in one of three ways:
- NEW OPTION: Use the Hamburger menu to manually add a single product.
- Use the duplicate option to copy an existing product and make edits.
- Use the Product Wizard to build a set of products all at once.
Enter pricing for all products, including all product price numbers tied to Price Types that require automatic pricing.
NOTE: Zone price adjustments for applicable traits will apply on top of these base prices.
Use the “New Year” option in the Hamburger menu to roll forward pricing. Only the products currently displayed (the found set) will be copied over. Display the year you want to copy, then select New Year, and enter the new reporting year in the dialogue box.
Genetic Royalty Table:
The Genetic Royalty Table is located under Menu → System Settings → Genetic Royalty Table.
A genetic royalty record is automatically created whenever a new hybrid is added to the Product List.
NEW FOR 2026: Royalty reporting is now available by zone. You can enter both royalty pricing and replant royalty pricing at the zone level. Price adjustments will apply automatically to booking prices based on your default Bayer zone and will STACK ON TOP of trait adjustments.
NOTE: If you are entering Bayer product pricing by zone for one hybrid, we recommend doing so for all hybrids, even those with trait-only reporting, since this is the model Bayer is transitioning to.
Liability and Expense accounts must be entered for all royalty amounts.
To push genetics adjustments to booking lines, run the “Update All” option from the Hamburger menu. We recommend doing this in WebDirect, as the process can take significant time depending on when the changes are made.
To roll royalties forward, use the “New Year” option in the Hamburger menu. Display the year you want to copy, select New Year, and enter the new reporting year in the dialogue box.
Allocations:
The Allocation Report can be found under Menu → Reports → Sales → Allocation Report.
Allocations can be created by:
- Sales Rep
- Department
- Customer
Allocations apply only at the Hybrid level and do not affect the Position Report—all units will still display as available, regardless of allocations.
Should it be required, Portage Bay can enable a setting that prevents bookings from being entered when an allocation is in place. You can use the Allocation Detail Report to track bookings against allocations.
Sales Rep Commissions:
Commissions are managed under Menu → System Settings → Sales Rep. Open the gear icon and go to the Commission tab.
Use the commission table for each Sales Rep, or open the Commission Setup Report. From here, you can duplicate an existing commission line or create a new one.
Commissions can be rolled forward using the “New Year” option in the Hamburger menu. Display the year you want to copy, select New Year, and enter the new reporting year in the dialogue box.
A Commission Type must be assigned to each product for commission values to calculate correctly. Please contact Portage Bay if existing products need this data added.
Position Restrictions:
Restrictions are managed from the front screen of Menu → System Settings.
Restrictions are set by class and can either stop users or issue warnings if seed levels are oversold.
Multiple dates can be configured to stop or warn users based on different criteria, such as at the Hybrid level, Hybrid + Grade level, or across the full product.
NOTE: While restrictions typically prevent oversold bookings, they cannot account for situations where inventory changes after the fact—such as adjustments to available inventory or delayed product receipt.
Change Your Default Year
Although this step can be done earlier, we recommend saving it for last to ensure all setup items are complete first.
To change the year, go to Menu → System Settings, then update the Default Year field. Users will see the new default year applied at their next login.
If a date is entered in the “Year Begins” field (e.g., 9/1), the system will update automatically on that date. The year cannot be manually adjusted unless this field is left empty.