1.    Introduction:

This latest Edition of the System is now available under the Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome and Firefox Browsers. In addition, it includes a new updated User Interface which presents a much cleaner navigation model and one which incorporates a great many improvements and smarter access to both the system’s data and functions. The original Menu Structure has been retained, but the entire system has also been greatly enhanced by the introduction of an additional “modus operandi”. The Screen and Window sizes have been increased and now take advantage of all the available space on your Display device - most of which devices now use “Wide-Screen” format. If you want to, you can re-configure most of the window sizes by dragging them from the corner like this;

Also, as before, wherever and whenever you encounter a field or an option which is coloured light or mid-blue with an underline when you place the cursor at or near it, then this signifies that there is further functionality to be had by clicking on the field or option in question.

When you now Log On as an authorized Company User, this is the new Menu Structure you will initially encounter;

The traditional Menu Access is shown in the Burgundy coloured Bar. These drop-down Menus will co-exist alongside the alternative the new “grid” based functionality. Their continued use will also allow those long-term users of the system to continue to function without interruption until such time as they wish to familiarise themselves with the newer options and concepts. In terms of your access to both these System Menus, as heretofore, you will only see those Functions which are relevant to your specific role and its related activities, which is determined by the level of authorisation specified in the administration layer of the Company - regardless of which Menu Access path you choose to work with.

In addition, if you Click on the option highlighted in the Yellow Circle above, you will also see another Menu comprising those functions you have nominated as your personal “Favourites” and to which you want fast access. To nominate and add a favourite to this Menu, using the Mouse, just “hover” near

your chosen Menu option and then click on the Star which appears next to the function.

Turning to the newer System Menu access (highlighted in “Green” above), this facilitates increased flexibility in terms of personalising your view of the system, together with smarter, easier and rapid access to the tasks you might wish to carry out, or the data you want to access. For example, with just a couple of “clicks”, you can now go directly to Customer Maintenance, Product Invoices or anywhere else along that second row underneath “Sales” using the new “Grid” listing function described hereunder.

2.    Drop Downs:

The system uses Drop Down fields extensively throughout. When invoked, these provide the user with a list of entries from which he can choose to fill in a field. For example, the Supplier (Vendor) Drop Down will list the all the Suppliers (Vendors) that you have set up, in Code sequence initially, so that you can click on one to choose that entry for your field. Alternatively, you can click on any of the other headers to sort the list on that header and click again to sort it in reverse order.

If you find, however, that the entry you expected isn’t present you can update the table there and then without leaving the function that you were attending to. Clicking on “+ Add new Account” will raise the Supplier (Vendor) Maintenance program in an overlay window where you can add the missing entry.

Not all the screens have yet been converted to this new format.  A few older screens still exist and will be converted in due course.  If you encounter one of these then, to access the Drop Downs, proceed as follows: place the Cursor in the field that you want to search and enter a "?" followed by "Enter".  The system will then present a drop down list in which you can choose your selected entry using the Mouse Pointer.

Again, if you encounter a screen like this, Click on this symbol to invoke the Drop Down;

3.    Using and Manipulating the Grid Listing Function:

With this new Grid Function, you can immediately access any or all of the Master Data and Transactions within your Company very quickly indeed. You no longer have to go through successive layers of menus to get to what you want to see. When you choose “Customers”, for example, under “Sales” as highlighted above, the system immediately returns (very rapidly using new and enhanced Database access techniques) the list of Customers in the Sales system which you can scroll. You can now refine and retain your own personal view of the Customer List using the various Filters and Layout Options available and described hereunder. Similar functionality applies to the transaction data under Quotes, Orders, Deliveries and Invoices within the Sales module and also to all the other listings available under each of the modules (Purchases, Bank, Inventory, etc.) available under this Menu Banner.

3.1 Modifying the Layout of the Grid: We begin with the Customer Listing shown below as a working example;

If you’re not satisfied with the layout or content of the grid current listing, then you can modify it using the “Add/Remove Columns” function located in the top right-hand corner of the display. On clicking this option, the following Window will open;

Simply drag the Columns from the one Panel to the other (i.e. Adding or Removing Columns). You can also re-arrange the order of the Columns in the List by dragging the fields in the right-hand portion up or down. When you’ve finished Click on “Save”.

Here we’ve added the Base Currency Value and the Credit Limit as two new fields to be shown in the Customer Listing;

Similarly, you can re-configure any of the Grids in any of the system Ledgers and when you have “Saved” each of the modified Grids they are “remembered” for you so that, when you subsequently log in, you will be presented with your re-configured grids. In this way, the Credit Controller can have a completely different view of the Customers’ accounts to that of a Salesperson.

On some Grids you can also modify the layout by dragging Column Headers

3.2 Using Filters; There are a number of pre-designed Filters provided which you can use to refine your list of Customers as shown here;

Each different Grid has its own set of filters. Here, for example, are the pre-designed filters for the Customer Invoices;

You can also use the Filter Boxes at top of your (now modified) listing grid (highlighted in Blue below);

Under Currency Code, for example, enter “GBP” to display just those Customers with GBP as their Currency Code (In fact all you really need is the “G” or, in other cases, just the first few letters);

And you can use the “Advanced Filter” (highlighted above) for further Compound Filtering. When you invoke this option, the following Window opens;

Again, the contents and options of the operations available vary and depend on the particular grid you are working on. Here, in the Customer Invoices grid, we are selecting “Avg. Pay Days” greater than 50 as the first component of the Compound Filter;

And here we are selecting the second component;

When you have finished adding Conditions (all of which are of “AND” type at present), Click on “Apply Filter” to view the results.

Similarly, we can use the “Advanced Filter”, to find a set of Invoices in a particular day or month;

Or in the Customer Grid, to find a particular Account;

3.3  Sorting the Listing; You can Sort the Grid by clicking on any of the field Headers shown in mid blue below. Click once for an “Ascending” Sort (lowest value first) and click again for a “Descending” Sort (highest values first).

3.4  Producing a Report of the Grid Listing; Having manipulated the Listing Grid using any or all of the foregoing selection criteria, you can then Export the Grid Listing to Excel. 

4.    Drill Down Access:

Whenever or wherever you see fields in lightly coloured blue throughout these Grid Listing functions, you will find drill down capability by clicking on these highlighted fields.

Click on “New Customer” (Blue Circle) above to add a new Customer in the system. Click on the any of the Customer’s Account Codes (Green Circle) to access the Customer’s Administration Window in order to add further detail or otherwise maintain the Customer’s “Standing” data;

Click on the Customer’s Balance (Red Circle) above to examine the Customer’s Account and his Transactions. Here you will also encounter the Grid Customisation facilities described in 3.1 above; 

 In this instance, simply drag the field you want to include and place it between any two existing fields; 

The example above shows the “Exchange Rate” field being dragged and placed between “Amount” and “Base Currency Amount” fields. Do the reverse if you want to remove fields, and if you want to re-arrange the order of the fields, just drag the field Header (for example the Due Date) and place it anywhere you want amongst the other Headers. Don’t forget to “Save” your changes if you want to retain these changes for future use by you (i.e. these changes are saved against your User Profile and do not affect other system users of this functionality).

This Customer Transactions screen (above) also support all the Filtering, Sorting and Exporting facilities described in 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 above – as do all other Grid Listing screens throughout the system. Using these pre-designed, or “on-the-fly” filters, can greatly improve your productivity. For example, in this Customer Invoice Transactions screen, you can quickly access a sub-set of Invoices “Due for Payment” or, in the case of Purchase Invoices, Invoices which have been “Rejected” by the Approver where the Supplier needs to be informed.

Also, if you un-click the “Summarise Transactions” tick box, you can see the individual General Ledger Postings for each Invoice, Receipt, etc.;

You’ll notice, on this Drill Down screen, that there are further fields coloured “Blue” (and on many other screens which have been “Drilled Into”). These provide further Drill Down facilities; Clicking on the “Ref. No.” will open up a window displaying the General Ledger postings for the Invoice or Receipt.

And, Clicking on the “Int. No.” will display the Original Invoice preparation screen in a window. (If the Invoice is “Unposted” then you can modify it and add more Invoice Lines, if you wish);

4.1    Actions:  Most of the “Actions” you can perform are in the Drop Downs at the right hand Side of a screen; 

However, you can create New Customers by clicking on the highlighted field on the left hand side of the Window. This will also be the case when you invoke the “Quotes”, “Orders”, “Invoices”, etc., tabs in that you will be able to add new Quotes, Orders, Invoices and so on from this area of the window.

On the right hand side you can see the actions you can invoke from this, the “Sales > Customers” Tabs. Some of them, have secondary Actions, such as the “Print” action highlighted below; When clicked this will result in the following pop-out;

Similarly, with the “View” and “Email” options, they will result in their own individual pop-outs, as is the case when you encounter such “Actions” in different modules throughout the system.

You also have an “Actions” function on the Drill Down screens. Here, for example, you can, among others, choose to Print the Invoice regardless of how old it is;

All of the other Tabs (whether in Sales, Purchases, Bank, etc.) have similar, but relevant to the transaction in question, “Actions” located in the same place on each relevant screen. For example;

here in the Sales System, Product Invoices, there is a simple “Action” which will allow you to quickly create and allocate a Sales Receipt against the Invoice in question in a Pop-Up Window which is automatically populated with all the relevant details from the Invoice. You might also note that the Grid in this Sales Receipt Window is also configurable as described heretofore.

Similarly, if you choose “Create New Invoice” as an Action against a particular Customer, then the Customer details are automatically carried across to the Invoice Entry module without the need to search for and retrieve the Customer again. This, and similar productivity-enhancing features are now widespread throughout the entire system.

5.    Locking and Unlocking Transactions:

When you open a Transaction, it is automatically locked by you so that no other user can access that transaction while you are working on it.  You might be making edits or creating a new Transaction from the old one, or simply viewing the Transaction;

On opening the transaction, the grid will look like this (when "Refreshed");

 Other Users will not now be able to access this transaction . When you Close or Save the transaction, the "Lock" will be released.

You can also "Unlock" the transaction yourself by clicking here;