Reseller Technical Training Manual

Transcript

Reseller Technical Training Manual All Rights Reserved Palladium Software Pty (Ltd) (c) 2012 www.palladium.co.za 1 Table Of Contents Installation Company Setup Company Options Sales Taxes / VAT Linked Accounts Terms Currencies Exchange Rates Number & Date Formats Forms Setup Custom Reports POS Pole Displays Document Status Types Credit Note Reason Codes Check Data Integrity Clear Data Function Archive Data Function Perform Year End Close Fiscal Period Exclusive Mode Users The Palladium Server Dealer Tools VPN Functionality Connecting to the Palladium Database 3 5 8 10 12 13 15 16 16 17 18 19 19 20 20 21 22 23 23 23 24 26 33 34 35 2 INSTALLATION Document Definitions 1. Palladium Accounting Software - This is the actual accounting software program that must be installed on each computer that will use Palladium. 2. Microsoft SQL Server - This is the database engine that Palladium uses to store it's data and must be installed once per installation. For a single user setup, MS SQL will be installed on the same computer and for a Client/Server setup, MSSQL will be installed on the Server with connections established from the workstations to the Server. 3. Palladium Accounting Server Module - This is an application that runs on the computer where the Microsoft SQL Server is installed and provides a number of MS SQL functions including an automated backup solution. There are the facilities to execute a local backup (to a network computer or external device) or a remote (offsite) facility (via FTP to our secure backup server). The remote backup solution is a subscription service at an additional cost and is available for free to all clients who will are on a support plan. 4. Palladium Accounting Prerequisites Software Package – This includes all the software runtimes which Palladium Accounting Software requires to run on a machine. The required runtimes have been bundled into one executable package for easy installation. The Palladium Pre-requisites package must be installed on every computer that uses Palladium. All the software above is available under the Downloads section on the Palladium Software website: www.palladium.co.za SINGLE USER SETUP The Single-User Setup is based on the assumption that both the database (SQL) and the software (Palladium Accounting) will be running on the same computer. You will use the Palladium Software install shield which will install all the required software for you. It will install all the components described above for you automatically. [OPTIONAL] Install Palladium Server - You can optionally download and install Palladium Server to do automated backups. This is optional on single user installations since you will have the ability to perform manual backups inside Palladium Accounting itself. CONNECTION SETUP (Single-User) The last step is to setup the connection to the SQL database as illustrated below. If you used the Palladium SQL package to install SQL on a single computer, then select the two top connection options (Local Computer/ Default Instance & Palladium Installed SQL Server). If SQL was already installed on the computer, then select the two bottom options and specify the local computer name or the Server name, the user name and the password for connecting to the database. If there is more than one instance of SQL installed on the computer, you will need to specify the instance name as well , eg COMPUTERNAME\SQLExpress 3 MULTI-USER (CLIENT / SERVER) SETUP A client / workstation setup assumes that multiple computers will be accessing a single Palladium company database on a server (multi-user environment) . Server Installation 1. Install SQL Prerequisites Package - Download and install the appropriate SQL Pre-requisites package. x64 for a 64bit operating system and x86 for a 32 Bit Operating system. This package will install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition on your computer. 2. Install Palladium Server – Download and Install the Palladium Server software. Please take note of the Server Name or IP address, you will need either of the two when you setup the client computers' connections to the server. You must also create a shared folder on the server for your Document forms to be stored in. All Client machines will connect to this share to retrieve the customized document forms (ie invoices/orders etc). Workstation Installation 1. Install Palladium Pre-requisites Package - Download and install the Palladium Accounting prerequisites package. This package installs all the other software that Palladium Accounting software requires to run properly (Crystal Reports, .Net framework, etc.). 2. Install Palladium Accounting Software - Download and install Palladium Accounting package of your choice ( Individual, Business or Enterprise ) CONNECTION SETUP (Multi-User and VPN) The last step is to setup the connection to the SQL database as illustrated below. For a client computer connecting to a server, select the two bottom options and specify the Server name, the user name and the password for connecting to the database. If there is more than one instance of MS SQL installed on the computer, then you will need to specify the instance name as well, eg SERVERNAME\SQLExpress. If you used the Palladium SQL package to install your MSSQL, then the default username is sa and the password is System2008# and if SQL was already installed on the server, you will need to get the username and password from your administrator. 4 COMPANY SETUP Once the software has been installed and setup, the next step would be to create a new company database in Palladium. This can be accomplished in one of two ways, from the main company selection start screen press the new button or from inside Palladium go to the file menu (at the top of the screen) and select new. 5 Enter the company name here and click OK. The company name cannot contain spaces, symbols, and the length must be 25 characters or less . This name is only for recognizing it inside Palladium. You will have the option to enter your full legal company name during the setup process. ENTERING A NEW COMPANY FOR THE FIRST TIME The first time that you enter the new company , you will see the screen below. At this point you can enter your companies legal name, address details, phone numbers, and registration numbers. Please note that the information you enter here will appear on all documents you create in Palladium. You can change this information at anytime by going to the company setup menu on the Control Panel inside Palladium. The next step on this same window is to enter your company date information. Please note, the previous year is not created at setup. You will only have access to the current year until after you do a year end in Palladium to move the current year into the previous year slot. If you have multiple delivery addresses for your business, you can add those here as well. This would be for multiple offices or maybe an offsite warehouse. These addresses will be available as delivery location options during the purchases transactions processes. 6 SETTING UP A CURRENCY FOR THE NEW COMPANY In the next window, Palladium will ask you to define a default home currency (your base currency). You must setup the currency you regularly work in, regardless if you are going to be using multicurrency or not. On the multicurrency window, press the new button and select your home currency from the list. You can also add other custom currencies that may not be available on the list. If you wish to use multiple currencies, you simply press the new button again (after selecting the home currency) and select all your other currencies you work in. Note, you can add more currencies later by selecting the currencies option on the control Panel. CHOOSING A CHART OF ACCOUNTS The next window that opens is for selecting the chart of accounts that Palladium will use. Palladium gives you four different options that you can use : 1. Manual Setup - No accounts are created. Use this setting for creating your accounts manually or if you plan to import them from another application. 2. Generic Setup - A typical chart of accounts is used with the basic account sets. This option is ideal for small businesses. 3. Generic Setup Extended - This chart of accounts includes extended accounts for fixed assets, payroll options, etc and is ideal for larger companies. 4. Industry Specific - This option uses the generic set of accounts and adds in revenue and expense accounts that are suggested for your selected industries. 7 Please note, you can rename or delete these accounts until they have been used for the first time. It is better to choose a template to setup accounts and then modify them to suit your needs versus setting them up from scratch (manual option). Once you click OK, you will be taken into the main Palladium screen. Now you must setup company options and import data as necessary to finish the setup process. COMPANY OPTIONS Palladium Accounting stores all the company options in a single location. As each company is different and operates under different parameters, Palladium can be customized to meet any specific business requirements or operating practice. Each company inside Palladium will have its own distinct company options defined (they are not global to all companies in Palladium). To access the Company Options menu, go to the Control Panel inside Palladium and select Options. The following menu will be displayed; COMPANY TAB The company tab allows you to set date handling (if transactions are allowed in the future beyond the session date, and allow the session date in the future). The final option allows you to post journal entries into the linked accounts. This option should only be used to correct balances and then should be immediately turned off again once you have finished with it. Naming conventions (Enterprise Edition Only); Here you can change the name of different items inside Palladium to better suit your requirements as a business. You can rename "customer" to "debtor" as an example. The names here will be shown in all user interfaces in Palladium. PAYABLES TAB The payables options allows you to define the aging you use for your vendors and if payments can be entered on invoice entry. If payments are blocked, you can only enter payments though the payments processing window. You can also block the users’ ability to edit line descriptions and line units (on requisition, orders, and invoice documents). 8 RECEIVABLES TAB The receivables tab allows you to set your company aging options (calendar for days from statement and periods for days from invoice). You can also set the default terms for new customers (which you can block users from changing under their account permissions in user security). There is also the option to check for duplicate reference numbers. You can also require administrator rights to enter credit notes and do invoice adjustments. If these options are checked and the user does not have administrator rights, a permissions window will open to allow the admin user to enter their username and password to complete the transaction. There is also an option to set the system to either allow, issue a warning or stop the user from proceeding if a reason code has not been entered when processing credit notes. There is also an option for you to set your document processing mode depending on whether you want the cursor to go to the quantity field or to wrap to the next line after selecting the item code. INVENTORY & SERVICES TAB The inventory & services tab allows you to turn off / on negative inventory levels (please see warning) and also if you would like your inventory sorted by item number or description in transactions windows and lists. CASH BOOK TAB In Palladium there is a cash book entry method. This forces the user to only work with a single bank account at a time for doing entries. Here you can force the use of this entry method, block it, or allow access to both. SMS TAB The SMS service module is a credits / prepaid system. Here you can enter your username and password (please contact Palladium Software to sign up for an account). You can also have Palladium check for replies automatically every hour and also automatically send messages to customers on document creation. POS TAB These options are for the point of sale system. This allows you to control if discounts are allowed, refunds are allowed, etc. You can also set your payment options. You can also control how price changes are handled and also when cash drops are required to make sure you never have too much cash in any single drawer at any given time. One of the more important features for setting up the POS is if you are using cash mode (no customer selection allowed) or using a customer account for each transaction. POS BARCODE TAB The embedded barcode function allows you to connect Palladium Accounting to a scale that prints embedded barcodes. You must specify the control character (the character that is first in the barcode such as "2"). You then tell Palladium where to find the embedded quantity (such as weight) and / or the embedded price. FORM NUMBERS TAB Here you can setup the form numbers you choose to start off with. You can adjust these numbers later, but only to a higher number than currently specified. AUTO NOTES These notes automatically appear in the notes section on all new documents created. The user can remove them or modify them, but it keeps productivity up as they don't have to type them each time. OPTIONAL FIELDS Palladium Accounting uses optional fields for searching, displaying on forms, reporting, etc. Once you designate a specific field for a purpose you can label it here. Once labelled, the user will understand what information should go in here or is displayed here. 9 OPTIONAL FIELDS (DOCUMENT AND DOCUMENT LINES) Palladium Accounting Enterprise Edition allows you to enter optional field information on the document level (12 fields) and also on each document line (12 fields). This applies to both purchases and sales documents. Here you can label those fields to allow easier entry for your users. EMAIL Palladium Accounting sends email by default using Microsoft Outlook. If you do not have Outlook you can choose to send email directly to a mail server. The settings for your mail server should be entered here. Please note: you must have an active internet connection at all times to send email this way. You also lose your ability to keep a copy in your sent items as well as the mail is sent directly out to your email server. PROFIT CENTERS These options allow Palladium to prompt users for center allocations during entries. DEPOSIT SLIPS Here you can enter the denomination (cash values) for your deposit slips in the currency you use for your banking transactions. SALES TAXES / VAT Palladium allows you to run your company with or without sales taxes. If you don't charge sales taxes at all , then you can skip this step. Palladium Accounting allows you to have multiple tax definitions if you have several government bodies that collect tax. Through the use of tax codes, you can setup multiple tax definitions and rates into a single code. Please note that your tax registration (VAT) number is entered on the Company setup screen when you first started the company. It can also be accessed by choosing Setup from the company menu on the Control Panel.The Sales Tax / VAT menu is accessible through the Control Panel. The following menu will be displayed once you select the taxes option; From the menu, you can create , edit or delete tax definitions and codes. You can also set a selected code as the default tax code for existing Vendors/Customers using the set as default tabs on the menu. 10 SETTING UP TAX DEFINITIONS (GOVERNMENT BODIES) On the Sales Taxes menu shown above, select the Tax Definition tab, Enter the name of the authority such as VAT or STATE TAX , etc. At this point you must also select the control accounts where purchases and sales taxes are recorded when a tax code linked to that definition is used. SETTING UP TAX CODES Once you have finished your tax definitions above, the next step is to setup the tax codes and link them to the definitions. On the Sales Tax / VAT menu, select the Tax Codes tab and the following menu will be displayed; Enter the tax code such as "01", "02", etc. This code will appear on all documents you create inside Palladium. Enter a description such as "VAT on Sales", etc. This will help your users to determine what the code is used for. The ‘allowed in’ drop down allows you to select the journals the code is allowed to be used in. It is recommended you have codes just for sales and others for purchases. Your exempt and non taxable codes can be allowed in all journals. The final option is the defaults. If selected, this code will be the default for all new customers or vendors (or both) when they are created (but can be changed during creation). 11 TAXES IN CODE The next step is to press the new button to actually enter the taxes to be charged into this code. Once you press new you will see the following screen: The tax drop down is populated with the definitions we created earlier. In this example it is VAT. The status drop down allows you to select if the authority is taxable, non taxable, or exempt. You then enter the tax rate. If you use amounts on invoices that include sales taxes, you need to check the included in price check box. If your prices are exclusive of tax, then leave this clear. The last check box (refundable) signifies that this tax should be offset (refundable sales less refundable purchases) on your tax reports. USING TAX CODES TO AID ENTRY In order to aid in the entry of purchases, it would be advisable to have (2) purchases codes. One code that is included in price and another that is not. That way each supplier can be setup based on how they present invoices to you. The operator can also change between the codes as necessary to prevent them from having to use a calculator to remove any sales taxes during the entry process. On the sales side you should only have (1) code. This code should either be included in price, or not. Do not setup both codes for the sales process. All the price lists, etc., inside Palladium do not allow you to specify the tax amount. Your company should decide as standard which way they would like to produce invoices and set pricing in Palladium. LINKED ACCOUNTS Palladium Accounting uses linked accounts to locate special accounts that are used in the various modules.(Accounts payable, Accounts receivable, General Ledger, Inventory and the Warehouse Modules) and also to locate default accounts (default bank) etc. If you chose a template for your accounts setup, this information will be populated automatically. If you chose manual accounts setup (during company creation) you must fill in this information manually. You access the linked accounts through the control panel. The following window be displayed: 12 At this point you can access your linked accounts for the current year, or the previous year. Note: you will not have access to the previous year if you have not done a year end . Here is a list of the various linked accounts and their purpose: 1. Retained Earnings: This is an equity account that holds earnings from previous years. 2. Current Earnings: This is an equity account that holds earnings for the current year. This account cannot be changed once it is selected for the life of the company. 3. Default Bank: This is a bank account (asset) that is used by default on all entry screens in Palladium. If you have more than one bank account, choose the bank that is used most often. 4. Currency Exchange: This account is used to hold the exchange functions such as rounding errors, exchange differences between unrealized and realized. 5. Accounts Payable: This account is a liability account that holds money to be paid out to suppliers. This is for all purchases that are paid on account. 6. Purchase Discount: This account is an expense account that is used to record all discounts received from suppliers. 7. Prepayments: This is an asset account that holds monies paid in advance to vendors entered as a prepayment in the payment processing window. 8. Accounts Receivable: This account is an asset account that holds money to be received from your customers. All invoices that are paid on account will be recorded into this account. 9. Sales Discounts: This is a revenue account that records the discounts given to customers. 10. Deposits: This account is a liability account that holds money given to you by your customers in advance on orders using the deposit system in the receipts processing window. 11. Item Assembly Costs: This account is an expense account that is used during item assembly when additional costs are recorded as part of the assembly. 12. Adjustment / Write off: This is the default expense account used during stock counts and adjustments. This is just a default and can be changed during the entry process. 13. Received Vouchers: This account is used to hold monies for stock that is received by GRV in the warehouse module. When the actual invoice arrives, the stock will be adjusted automatically to correct values and this control account will be cleared. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE / ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AS DEPOSIT AND PREPAYMENT ACCOUNTS Please note, you can have your accounts receivable and deposit accounts as the same account. This goes true for accounts payable and prepayments. However, it is advisable to use separate accounts for this purpose. The reason for this is, as an example, your accounts receivable account is an asset (people who owe you money). However, your sales deposit account is a liability (you owe them the money back if the sale does not complete). The opposite is true for accounts payable and prepayments. To keep with accounting rules, the accounts should be separated and have the correct account type. TERMS Palladium Accounting Enterprise Edition uses terms for both vendors and customers to determine when transactions are due. Each vendor and customer is setup with a default term, but this can be overridden during a transaction entry. So, as example, and customer can have 30 days from invoice term. When a new invoice is generated, that invoice will be due exactly 30 days from the invoice date. The user can however, override the term and set a 60 day from invoice term for just that single invoice. Palladium will age each invoice individually, so the 60 day invoice will only show as overdue once 60 days have passed. You access the terms menu on control panel. The following window will be displayed : 13 ADDING A NEW TERM Press the new button on the terms window and the following appears: Here you can give the term a description (this will appear on the drop downs in Palladium and also on the customer / vendor documents). You can then select if this term is allowed in receivables, payables, or both. The next option is to select the actual term itself (when items are due). You have the option of standard term or calendar term. The next option is to select any settlement discounts you allow. If you don't allow settlement discounts, then put 0%. ‘Calculation of statement date’ is used when the ‘from statement’ option is selected in payment term or settlement discount to determine how Palladium will calculate statement date (which date Palladium considers to be statement date). Term Control (COD): If the cash on delivery option is selected, no account payments will be allowed for this term. The user must select a cash type payment for all transactions. UNDERSTANDING THE DUE DATES AND HOW THEY WORK Palladium Accounting will calculate the due date for each document and age it appropriately. As example, if an invoice is due "30 days from invoice" and we are entering the invoice on the 1st of September, Palladium will calculate the due date as 30 September. If you run your statements on the 30th of September, that invoice will show as CURRENT. The invoice will only show as overdue as of the 1st of October. 14 In summary, any items that are ON or BEFORE their due date are CURRENT. Any items that are past their due date are overdue. Palladium will move overdue amounts into the appropriate columns in aging based on your aging settings under company setup (30 days overdue, 60 days overdue, etc.) CURRENCIES Palladium Accounting Enterprise Edition allows for an unlimited number of currencies in your company. While you are free to transact in any setup currency, you can only have certain asset accounts (cash, bank) and liability accounts as held in different currencies. The remaining accounts in your ledger are held in home currency and a conversion process will take place when transactions are entered (accounts receivable as example). Any rounding or realized exchange from this conversion process will be entered into your currency conversion linked account (as explained in linked accounts). The new currencies is accessible through the control panel . The home currency was setup during the company setup process (see new company setup) and cannot be changed. You can modify the format of the currency by double clicking on it or pressing the edit button once it's selected. If you wish to use multiple currencies, you simply press the new button and select all your other currencies you work in. 15 EXCHANGE RATES Palladium Accounting Enterprise Edition will keep track of exchange rates (used in foreign currency transactions) in the exchange rates window. You can access the exchange rates function under the company menu, multicurrency, exchange rates. The following window appears: Select the currency you wish to view exchange rates for in the drop down at the top of the window. HOW EXCHANGE RATES WORK If a user enters a transaction on a particular date, Palladium will try to find that date in its exchange rate table. If that rate cannot be found, Palladium will use the next oldest date's exchange rate. If the user processes the transaction, the rate the user enters for that day will be automatically added to the exchange rate table. If you want to have better control over exchange rates, you can enter them yourself manually at the start of each day using the exchange rates screen (shown above). You can also set the minimum and maximum rates that Palladium will accept for this currency on any particular day. NUMBER & DATE FORMATS Palladium Accounting uses the default Windows Regional settings to obtain: 1. Numeric formatting (1,000.00 or 1 000,00). 2. Date formatting (day / month / year or month / day / year). 3. Currency formatting ($ USD or R ZAR, etc.) Should you wish to change the format of your numeric numbers, dates, or currency symbols , you should go into the control panel in Windows, regional settings, and change them and restart Palladium Accounting for the new changes to take effect. Please note: if you are using a long date format (Sunday 22 October 2010) in your short date setting, your dates may scroll off the drop down selector in the transaction windows. To solve this problem, please change your short date setting back to a simple short date such as (22/10/2008) by using this format string: dd/MM/yyyy. YOU CAN ALSO ACCESS THE WINDOWS REGIONAL SETTINGS THROUGH THE CONTROL PANEL UNDER THE COMPANY SETUP MENU. 16 FORMS SETUP Palladium Accounting uses linked Crystal Reports form files to print documents such as invoices, receipts, etc. These files can be customized using Crystal Reports XI or 2008 (version 12). Crystal Reports is not included with Palladium Accounting and must be purchased separately. By default, the blank forms templates are located in the Palladium install directory in the forms folder. If you do not know where this is, you can choose Forms Templates under the help menu and Palladium will open a window directly into this folder to assist you. Once you have customized your forms by adding your company logo, etc., you need to link them. The best practice is to put them on a file share and then link them once for the entire company (all workstations to use). To link the forms go to the Company menu and choose Forms Setup. The following window will be displayed: GLOBAL CACHE These form settings are stored in the Palladium company database and are accessible by all computers in the Palladium workgroup. LOCAL CACHE These form setting are stored in the Palladium company database, linked to each computer name, and apply only to the computer they are setup for. The Local cache settings will override the Global cache settings on that particular machine. HOW PALLADIUM LOOKS FOR FORMS & PRINTERS Each time you print a document in Palladium, such as an invoice, Palladium will look for the form template to use in the following order: 1. Any defined form in the local cache. 2. Any defined form in the global cache. 3. Use the default blank template in the install / forms directory. Each time you print a form in Palladium, such as in invoice, Palladium will look for a printer in the following order: 1. Any defined printer for that form in the local cache. 2. The users default printer as defined in Windows. 17 As such, if you don't define a form in the local cache but there is one defined in the global cache, the global cache will be used. Also, you can define a printer under local cache for invoices, but do not need to specify an invoice form in the local cache. The printer will be used but the global form will be printed. Also, you can define a single form in local and leave the rest blank. If the local set is blank for any form, the global settings will prevail and be used. SETTING THE FORM PATH IN THE GLOBAL CACHE If you are setting up a forms depository, using a shared folder on a sever, the path to the forms entering into Palladium must be the UNC path such as \\server\share\formname.rpt. If you receive a "load report failed" error in Palladium when printing forms, you know that the path you entered cannot be resolved by that computer. USING THE CORRECT FORM TEMPLATE When working with forms, you cannot link forms to other form types. As an example, there is a sales order form template. You cannot link this to the invoices form settings in Palladium. If you do this a runtime error will occur. Each form template is different and Palladium expects to find the correct form when printing. CUSTOM REPORTS Palladium Accounting can access custom reports you have written in Crystal Reports XI or 2008 (version 12). As every company is different, and requires different reporting options, this comes in very handy to add reports to Palladium. Once you have written the report and done all the necessary database connection logic, you can tell Palladium where the report file is located, which report module to display it in. The Custom Reports menu is accessible through the Control Panel. The following window will displayed once you press the new button: Here you will give the report a name and description for the user. You will designate which module it will show under and where the actual report file is located. Please note, no connection information is passed into the custom report. You must do all the database connection logic inside the report itself. The report will only be run and displayed inside the Palladium preview window. Any parameters in the report will still be displayed for collection from the user. 18 POS POLE DISPLAYS The POS Pole Displays option is accessible through the Control Panel. This is where you define the settings for the Pole Display in a Point Of Sale Environment. You define the Port to which the pole display device will connect through to the computer and also define the messages that will be displayed on the pole display when its idle. DOCUMENT STATUS TYPES Document status types allows to set the status or stage reached when processing documents allowing the user to manage the flow of processing from one stage to the other until the final processing step of the document. The status type can be changed dynamically without adjusting the whole document. In the definition below, the user can track the flow of processing from when the Quote is accepted until the order has been completed. 19 CREDIT NOTE REASON CODES This function allows you to define reason codes for use when processing credit notes. The credit notes reason codes functionality will ensure that all returns are categorised and can therefore be scrutinised and managed accordingly. The definition below illustrates examples of reason codes that can be defined. ADMINISTRATION FUNCTIONS CHECK DATA INTEGRITY The check data integrity system allows you to verify that your Palladium company has not become out of balance. It also helps you while entering history to know if your ledger account history is matching your sub-ledgers (customers, vendors, and inventory).If you are changing account sets in your inventory often, your inventory summary may report that it is out of balance. Your total inventory figures do match, but the summary by account does not. In that case, you will see a fix inventory button appear. This function will automatically create a journal entry to balance the inventory between inventory accounts. You can assess the data integrity check feature through the control panel under the company administration section. The following window will appear: 20 CLEAR DATA Note: You must be in exclusive mode to access this function. Please see obtaining exclusive mode in this section for further instructions on how to obtain exclusive mode. Clearing data allows you to free up space in your Palladium company database allowing Palladium to work faster. You can only clear data that is older than the previous financial year (2 years are always online and available). You should only perform this function if your database has grown in size and Palladium's overall speed is affected. If you don't have that many transactions in your company, it is best for reporting purposes to leave that data online. You can assess the Clear Data feature through the control panel under the company administration section. The following window will appear: Here you have complete control over what data you wish to clear (delete). You can also clear historical data sets (ledger entries that are older than your previous year) by selecting the historical data tab. If you decide to clear invoicing information, you will no longer have the information online. Invoicing and receipt data stay online until they are cleared. 21 ARCHIVE DATA The archive data function allows you to set customers, vendors, and inventory items as inactive though an automated interface. By setting these items inactive, your Palladium company will be more responsive as they will be excluded from the lists windows. You can assess the Archive Data feature through the control panel under the company administration section. The following window will appear: PERFORM YEAR END Note: You must be in exclusive mode to access this function. Please see obtaining exclusive mode in this section for further instructions on how to obtain exclusive mode. The yearend function must be performed to invoice in the next (new) fiscal period (year). The yearend function archives your previous year (if it exists), moves your current year into the previous year, and then rolls up your revenue and expense accounts and does the final journal to retained earnings. You should only perform a year end when all processing has been done to the current previous year (2 years ago) as this period will become archived. You can still post freely in the previous year (current year before year end) allowing you to perform a year end immediately when the new year begins and not hold up your business. This makes 13th period schemes obsolete. You can assess the Perform Year End feature through the control panel under the company administration section. The following window will appear: 22 CLOSE FISCAL PERIOD Note: You must be in exclusive mode to access this function. The close fiscal period function allows you to close periods that have already been audited and approved. This is different from setting the earliest transaction date under company setup. The earliest transaction date can be moved at random to reopen periods again. The close fiscal period function cannot be undone once the period has been closed. To access the close period function you would select Administration from the home window menu and then chose Close Fiscal Period. The following window appears: WARNING: ONCE A YEAR END OR CLOSE PERIOD HAS BEEN DONE YOU CANNOT REVERSE IT. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN USING THIS FUNCTION AND ONLY CLOSE PERIODS YOU KNOW ARE COMPLETED AND NO LONGER SHOULD BE POSTED INTO.MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE THESE OPRATIONS EXCLUSIVE MODE Most topics in this section require the Palladium company to be in exclusive mode. Exclusive mode effectively sets the company in single user operation in SQL Server so that only you can gain access to it. This protects data integrity by ensuring that other users are not working in the system while you are performing administrative functions. OBTAIN & RELEASE EXCLUSIVE MODE To obtain exclusive mode you would select Mode from the home window menu and then obtain exclusive mode. If successful (no users are in the system) then the menu item will become checked and it will now read "release exclusive mode". Select this again to release exclusive mode. While a company is in exclusive mode the main company selection window (when Palladium starts) will also show exclusive as the company status to inform users that the company is being administrated and is off line at present. VIEW USERS IN COMPANY The View Users In Company option is accessible through the Control Panel. It Allows you to view all the users who are currently logged on to the system. 23 USERS Palladium Accounting uses user accounts to allow login to a company and determine what rights each user has in the system. You must follow some basic rules for setting up user accounts in Palladium. 1. If no users are present, no login window will display allowing anyone access to the company. 2. If adding users, the first user must be an administrator with full access. 3. If removing users, the last user to be removed must be an administrator will full access. 4. All users must change their passwords at first login. This prevents the system administrator from ever knowing their passwords and is a security feature. You can access the user accounts menu by going to the Control Panel and selecting Users under the System administrator section. SETTING USER PERMISSIONS Administrator Level Users - If a user is designated as an administrator, they have full and unhindered access to Palladium. This includes access to the user accounts section as well. The administrator permission level will not allow you to set permissions on the access rights tab, they always have all the rights in the system. You designate an administrator user by checking the box at the bottom of the screen labelled "User is Administrator". Non-Administrative Users (Normal Users) - Non-administrative users are created by entering the username, password, etc., on the user information tab. You then select the access rights tab and choose the appropriate permissions for the user. All module permissions are based on the actual icon on the home window. You can block access to specific entry tasks by leaving the check box clear for any given function. 24 LOCKING OUT USERS If you want to prevent a user from gaining access to the system, but not delete the account, check the box that says "Account Locked Out". This will prevent the user from gaining access to the system. SYSTEM PERMISSIONS There are 4 system permissions as follows: 1. Company File Handling: This permission allows the user to backup data, restore data, delete data, and import & export data. All these functions can be found at the top of the home window. 2. Company Setup, This permission allows access to the company menu in the control panel and includes company setup, taxes setup, forms setup, and company options. 3. Company Administration: This permission allows access to the administration menu on the Control Panel and includes clearing data, archiving data, and performing year end. 4. Main Menu Summary: This permission allows access to the main menu (home window) summary tab containing ratios as to the performance, health, and profitability of the business. GL SECURITY If you have designated accounts as secure (under the account setup) you can allow the user to post into the account here. You can also choose users under the account itself, but this provides an easy way of maintaining GL security during user creation. LOGIN HISTORY / STATISTICS This tab provides information about when the user has signed onto the system and what their current work statistics are. MAINTAINING EXISTING USERS You can maintain existing users basically the same way you would add them. Instead of clicking on new, you would double click on their account to open it. RESETTING PASSWORDS If a user has forgotten their password, you can reset it. Delete all the stars from the password entry boxes and type a new one. The user will be required to choose another password when they first login. AUTOMATIC LOCKOUT If the user enters their password 5 times incorrectly, their account will become locked out. For security reasons, especially if you are using Palladium over a VPN, this feature is required to protect your data. Please note: administrator accounts can also be locked out, but Palladium will not lockout an administrator account if it is the only one left in the system that is not locked. To clear a locked out user: log into Palladium as an administrator. Under the user's account, clear the check box next to "Account Locked Out". SERVER PASSWORD By default, Palladium Accounting installs SQL Server using its default password. It is a very good idea to change this password to enhance security. Anyone who knows your server password can gain full access to Palladium Accounting and its data. Please keep this password secure at all times. To change the password select Server Password from the Company menu. The following screen will appear: 25 Choose a password that is at least 8 characters long, has upper and lower case letters, and at least 1 of the following symbols: ! $ # %. THE PALLADIUM SERVER INSTALLATION Palladium Accounting Server is an optional backup system and utility system for Palladium Accounting. Usually you install Palladium Server on the server computer in a multi-user environment or as an optional automated backup system on a standalone installation. Download and install Palladium Server Software from the Palladium Software website. STARTING THE PALLADIUM SERVER FOR THE FIRST TIME Once Palladium Server is installed, you must configure it for your environment. To do this configuration, click the Palladium Server icon on your desktop or under your start menu in Windows. Backups of your company data will not take place until the service is started. The service starts automatically when Windows starts, but you may wish to start and stop it manually. Click on the START icon, wait a few seconds for the status icon (top right corner) to change to started. To stop the service , click on the STOP icon, wait a few seconds for the status icon (top right corner) to change to stopped. 26 SETTINGS You access the configuration by clicking on settings in the home window. Each setting is explained in more detail in the following sections. SERVERS TAB On the servers tab is where you designate all the SQL instances you have running on your local computer or server. Press New to add a new instance, the following window will appear: 27 Instance Name - If you have installed SQL Server in a specified instance, you must enter the instance name here. If you have used the prerequisites packages with Palladium, you can leave this blank (they install SQL in the default instance). Port Number - If you have specified a port number for SQL Server, you must specify it here. The default port for SQL is 1433. If you have not changed the port number in SQL, you can leave this as default. Port numbers are often changed when the SQL Server is exposed to the internet for security reasons. For more information, contact the network administrator. If you let Palladium install SQL server, you can just choose default under the login name and password. LOCAL BACKUP TAB 28 Backup Location - This field is required. You select the folder location where the backups for all Palladium Accounting databases will be kept on the local computer. When the local backup runs, it will create a subdirectory (folder) for each company in SQL Server, under this folder location. Backup Frequency - Here you specify how often you would like to do local backups of your Palladium Accounting data. Backup File Handling - Here you can specify to zip your backup files to save space, and also optional security features. OPTIONAL SECURITY FEATURES You have the choice of 3 different security features (one you have elected to zip backup files), as follows: 1. No Security - The backup data will be zipped into a zip file and can be opened with any unzip program by anyone. 2. Zip Password - The backup data will be zipped into a zip file and a password will be set on that file. The data inside the zip file is NOT encrypted. This method is weak as there are password breakers out there that can circumvent this security. 3. AES-256 - This is the strongest security option. The backup data will be zipped into a zip file and that zip file will be encrypted. You must use the decrypt function (on the server menu) to decrypt your backup files before trying to restore them. The password used for the local backup security features is the same password you entered for the SQL Server account. REMOTE BACKUP TAB (My Space Account) Remote backups (My Space) allow you to securely transmit your backup files (Palladium Accounting company data) to our remote backup server. Each My Space account has a secure location on our backup server that only you can access. My Space is a subscription service, for more information please contact your Palladium dealer. Enable Remote Backups - This check box allows the remote backup feature to be turned on and off. User Name & Password - Here you would enter your My Space username and password given to you by your Palladium dealer. Backup Frequency - Here you set how often you would like your remote backups to take place. Remember, more frequent backups ensure you always have up to date data, but also use more bandwidth on your internet connection. 29 Security / Encryption - Here you specify which security method to use. For an explanation of the security methods, please see the local backup (security) section in this chapter. Backup a Folder - This is OPTIONAL. You can elect to backup a folder on your local computer to also send to the remote backup server. The backup folder must be less than 4GB and contain less than 32,000 files in total. This folder will be zipped up, secured (based on chosen method), and uploaded to the backup server on the schedule you specify. EMAIL REPORTING TAB The email reporting tab allows you to receive email messages when Palladium Server encounters any errors or problems. HOW PALLADIUM SERVER DOES ERROR REPORTING Palladium Server is a Windows service application. Windows services cannot popup error messages like normal Windows applications do. Palladium Server will log any error messages it encounters in the Windows event log. If you wish to be notified of any errors, you must use the email reporting tab to receive error messages via email. BACKUP NOW (Local & Remote) If you are running Palladium in a client server environment the backup and restore functions inside Palladium will not be available unless Palladium Accounting is running on the same computer as the SQL Server installation. In these cases you must use the Palladium Server to do backup and restore operations. To run the backups from the palladium server, click on the options to run backups now on the main menu. If you choose backup now (local or remote) you will receive a message that the controller is going to send a message to the Palladium Server service to perform a backup. To find out if this was successful, you have a few options available to you: 1. Check the backup directory to see if the backups are there. 2. Check the Windows event viewer to find success or error messages. 3. If you have email error / success reporting turned on, you can check your email for these messages. 30 RESTORE COMPANY Use this function to restore a Palladium company backup. RESTORE FROM BACKUP This function will allow you to restore a Palladium Company from a backup file. If the company already exists, it will be overwritten. RESTORE FROM BACKUP AS NEW This function will allow you to restore a Palladium Company from a backup file giving it a new name. This allows you to restore data from a company backup file but not overwrite the company on the current server. INSTALLING / RESTORING A SAMPLE COMPANY Use this function to install or restore the sample data included with Palladium Accounting. If the sample company already exists, it will be overwritten. From the menu, choose which version of Palladium you currently have. Note, it is possible to run all the sample companies for all versions in the same SQL Server as they all have different names. Microsoft SQL Server Management Functions ATTACH A DATABASE This function allows you to attach raw database files to SQL Server. If you have had a hardware issue and can only recover the raw database files (data / log file), you can use this function to reattach the database to SQL Server. DETACH A DATABASE Detaching a database allows the raw database files for that database to be moved or backed up. Once detached, this database (Palladium Company database) will no longer be available until it is re-attached again using the attach a database function. CHANGE sa PASSWORD This allows you to change the default "SA" user account password inside SQL Server for security purposes. All users of Palladium Accounting must be out of the system before you do this. Once this is done, the server connections in Palladium Accounting (clients) must be configured to use the new password. 31 MYSPACE EXPLORER If you are using the remote backup capabilities of Palladium Server, you will need to know how to retrieve and manage your remote backups. MySpace Explorer, allows you to do just that. You can see your backups on the remote server and also download them for installation. List Backups on Server - This button will retrieve the list of all backups available in your account on the remote server. Download - This function allows you to download a selected backup to your computer for restoration. If the backup file is encrypted, you can use the "Decrypt Backup File" option on the Palladium Server menu to decrypt it. Once decrypted, you can restore the backup. Delete - Removes the backup from the server. INSTALLING UPDATES From time to time a new update will be released on our web site. To update your Palladium Server to the latest version, download and install the latest version from our web site. You must uninstall the old version of Palladium Server before trying to install the new latest version. You can do this by going to the control panel in Windows and "add or remove software". Remove Palladium Server and install the latest version. 32 DEALER TOOLS The Dealer Tools allows you to log into a company via the back door if a user has forgotten the administrator password. The Dealer tools Utility also allows dealers to manually activate Palladium if the machine they are activating does not have internet access to connect to the keys application 33 VPN FUNCTIONALITY The VPN functionality on Palladium allows you to log in remotely from anywhere for as long you have got an internet connection giving you the ability to work from home connecting directly to the Server at the office. It also makes it possible for organisations with several depots countrywide or worldwide to use one server and transact on the same company, or have multiple companies all running on one server. The Diagram below illustrates the VPN concept. Palladium Client Computer Internet ADSL Router Local Area Network Palladium Server To be able to use the VPN Functionality, you will need to have a free DynDNS account from www.dyndns.com setup and have it configured in your ADSL router. . If for example you setup your DynDNS account to be mycompany.dyndns.org and have configured it in your ADSL router, then you would set it up in Palladium on the connection setup as illustrated below : 34 CONNECTING TO THE PALLADIUM DATABASE Because Palladium runs on a Microsoft SQL database, you can easily define connections to the database and retrieve data from the tables and write reports directly from the database. There several ways in which you can connect to the database depending on the report writer that you are using. In this manual we will look at how you will connect to the database directly through Microsoft excel and then we will look at how you can connect to the database through an ODBC connection and finally we will look at connecting through the Crystal Report Writer. CONNECTING TO DATABASE DIRECTLY FROM MICROSOFT EXCELL. In Excel, you can connect directly to the palladium database and retrieve data from the tables or SQL views and write reports. Below is an illustration of how you would connect to the database tables directly from Excel. In Excel, go to Data tab and click on the Get External Data tab, Click on From Other Sources and select From SQL Server. 35 You will then be required to specify the name of the server and the username and password to connect to the database as illustrated below and click next. You will then select the database that you wish to connect to and the table from where you need to extract the data from as illustrated below and click next. 36 Then on the screen below you can provide a friendly name and a description for the connection so that it can easily be identified and then click on finish. Lastly on the screen below, you would then select the type of the report that you wish to write and then click OK. 37 The data from the specified table will then be displayed in your spreadsheet as illustrated below and then you start formatting the report the way want, insert headings and remove any columns that you don’t want. CREATING VIEWS IN MICROSOFT SQL Creating views on the database will help you to get your data in the format that you want and also select only the columns that you want on your data before you even retrieve it from the database. It also allows you to use formulas in the view if there any calculations to be done for the report or if there is any selection criteria that you want to use to get only the required data. They will also give you the ability to join one or more tables and create one view of the tables. You will need to have Microsoft SQL management Studio installed on your machine. The Management Studio is the software that will give you access to the database so that you create the views on the database. Once you have the views created, you can then create connections to them through Excel as illustrated earlier and also through other report writers like Crystal. 38 Below is an illustration of how to create Views in Microsoft SQL. Open SQL management studio and provide Server name, username and password. You can also use the Windows authentication mode to connect as illustrated below and then click on Connect. Once you are connected, you will see the list of the databases for the companies that you have got on your server. Click on the + sign on the database you want to create views on and it will expand as illustrated below. 39 Right Click on Views and select New View and the screen below will be displayed, select the tables you want to obtain data from. In this example, we are extracting data from the Invoice Header and the Invoice Details table and joining them together. Click on add and then close. The screen below will be displayed and here you can select the fields that you want on your wiew. 40 The data will be displayed in the bottom panel. Once you are happy with your selections, Click on save on the menu illustrated below and give the view a name. This will complete the process of creating your view and now you can access it through Excel, OBBC connections and through report writers like crystal. CONNECTING TO DATABASE THROUGH CRYSTAL REPORTS. You can connect to the Palladium databases from several report writers that are available on the market either directly or through an ODBC connection. In this manual, we will illustrate using the Crystal Reports Writer. Open Crystal and then click on the New tab to create a new report as illustrated below. 41 Then following screen will be displayed. Here you will select the connection type, you can either use any of the connection types listed but the most commonly used are the ODBC and the OLE DB. Here we will use OLE DB. Click on the + sign before OLE DB (ADO) and the following screen will be displayed, select the provider as shown below and click next. 42 Enter the Server Name, SQL username and Password and the Database that you want to connect to as shown below and then click on Finish. The screen below will be displayed and here you can now select the tables that you want to use in your report. You can also use the Views created on the database. Here we will use the view that we created earlier on. Highlight the view and click on the > sign to move it to selected tables and then click Finish. 43 The screen below will be displayed with all the fields from the View displayed on the Left and all you will do now is to drag the fields on the report area in the middle of the screen and format the report. 44 NOTES 45 NOTES 46 NOTES 47