Skip to content

How Macola® ES finds the currency conversion factor

Adapted from the Leahy Consulting white paper "How does the Macola® ES software obtain the currency conversion factor when processing customer orders?", updated February 2004.

During customer order entry, Macola® ES works out the customer's native currency code first, then looks up the conversion factor for that code. Two files, in that order. When a converted amount looks wrong, one of these two records is where the answer is.

Step 1: the customer file

The customer file holds one record per customer, and each record carries the currency code to use for that customer. The file is ARCUSFIL.

The Financial tab of Maintain customers in Macola® ES, with the Currency field on the General panel
Maintain customers, Financial tab. The original white paper circled this row by hand; the callout rings the same field, and only that field.

Step 2: the currency code file

The currency code table holds one record per currency code, and each record carries the conversion factor — for example 1.0 or 0.7688. The factor is relative to the US dollar. The file is VALUTA.

The ISO currency codes screen in Macola® ES, showing the currency code and the conversion factor
The ISO currency codes screen. The conversion factor is relative to the US dollar.

When an order converts at an unexpected rate

Check the customer's currency code first and the factor second. A customer set to the wrong code converts consistently wrongly, which is easy to miss; a stale factor converts everything wrongly at once, which is not.

Support & contact

Our team is glad to help with anything from a quick question to a full implementation.