By Poornima Gowda
When implementing iMIS EMS, many configuration decisions made early have a significant long-term impact on how the system functions. The following areas are important to review to ensure the system operates smoothly after go-live.
When adding a new address in iMIS, contacts must select an “Address Purpose”, which is configured under Settings -> Contacts -> System Options
iMIS provides three default address purposes which you can define: Main, Second and Third.
These values are not simply labels that can be renamed later. Address purposes are system identifiers with referential integrity, meaning they are tied to data relationships within the system and cannot be easily changed after implementation. It is important to finalize the intended address purposes during implementation. Additional purposes can be added later, but existing ones should not be modified. iMIS also allows phone numbers and emails to be associated with specific addresses, which can help maintain clearer contact records.
Configure Communication Preferences Properly
Communication preferences allow contacts to control which emails they receive. When setting up email communications in iMIS EMS, it is important to assign a communication type rather than having it set to “None” as iMIS will send the those email to all recipients regardless of their communication preferences. This means the system will not respect opt-out settings configured by contacts.
Billing and Shipping communications cannot be unchecked, so contacts will continue to receive these emails. To avoid unintended emails being sent, ensure that each communication is associated with the appropriate communication type, so user preferences are properly honored.
Understand the Difference Between Global Payments and Stripe
Global Payments and Stripe are commonly used payment gateways in iMIS EMS and both support ACH payments. However, their capabilities differ slightly, and it is important to understand those differences during implementation.
For example, Stripe’s ACH configuration does not support one-off payment scenarios, while Global Payments require you to set up separate gateway configurations for ACH and credit card processing.
Because of these differences, some organizations choose to configure both Global payment and Stripe to provide flexibility for different payment situations.
Define Default General Ledger Accounts Early
During the finance setup in iMIS, it is important to define the default General Ledger (GL) accounts that can be used within the default financial entity. These default accounts act as fallback mappings for transactions when a specific GL account is not defined at the product or item level. Without proper configuration, transactions may be posted to unintended accounts, creating confusion during financial reconciliation. Reviewing and confirming these defaults early helps ensure revenue and payment transactions are recorded correctly from the start.
Understand How Orders and Invoices Are Processed
In iMIS Commerce, orders are not always invoiced automatically depending on system configuration. If orders are not automatically invoiced, staff need to manually generate invoices under Commerce -> Process Orders -> Generate Invoices
It is also important to ensure orders move to the “Complete” stage. When orders remain in another stage like back order or invoice, the associated amounts may not be posted correct GL account. The financial workflow should be tested during implementation to ensure financial transactions are recorded correctly once the system is in use.
