Data entry

Data entry is a general term meaning the placing of information within Enterprise 6. This can be achieved by user input (which will be covered in this section) or by data import.

Broadly speaking, information in Enterprise 6 is classified under two broad headings: Major files and Minor files.

Major file information is the data with which you will actually be working, such as Company, Contact, Product and Diary data and is entered in the appropriate volume.

Minor file information is generally ‘look-up’ information, one of the benefits of a relational database model such as the one used by Enterprise 6, and is entered in the Data Manager.

Information stored in the Minor files is very often used by the Major files. Usually this is to provide an elementary form of data consistency and also to classify the Major information for reporting purposes. For example, when entering a Diary item (Major file), you will look into the Actions and Results files (Minor files). This will ensure that all your Sales Call Diary items, for example, carry the same Action Code, which makes later searching much easier. Similarly, when entering Stock Movements (Major file), you will need to ensure that each Stock Movement conforms to a Stock Movement type (Minor file). Minor file information is given that term because you will directly access this information very rarely. The chances are that you will only use it as looked-up information when entering Major file data.

You will find that the efficiency of Enterprise 6 will improve if you give some thought and planning to the structure of the information in your Minor files. Indeed, some volumes such as the General Ledger depend for their accuracy upon the information in the Minor files they access. Enterprise 6 is supplied with some suggested data in the Minor files (especially those to do with the General Ledger) and further suggestions are offered in the Set Up chapters for each volume. The basics of data entry to Minor files are covered in Data Input in the Data Manager.

Entering data to Major files usually requires you to be in the relevant volume. For example, to enter Transaction Batches, you need to be in the General Ledger volume, to enter Stock Movements, you need to be in the Stock Control volume, and so on.

However, there are some occasions where the data can be entered remotely. For example, from the Sales Orders screen, you can create Sales Invoices and Purchase Invoices. There are also three examples of Major files that can be used from several volumes. These are Companies, Products and Diary items. Collectively, these are known as the Core Data files.

The Products menu, for example, can be found in most volumes apart from Word Processing and the General Ledger.

To begin with, you will enter most of your information to Major files directly from the relevant menu. You will use a function entitled ‘Enter…’ For example, when working with Products, you will use the ‘Enter Products’ function: Selecting an ‘Enter…’ function brings up a blank entry form ready for data entry.

In the rest of this section, we will cover features common to each entry screen. For information on each field of the Products screen, please refer to the Reference chapter on Products, which can be found in the Core Data manual.

To navigate between the fields, the following keys are used:

<Tab> or <Return>

The <Tab> key is the recommended method for moving to the next field. The <Return> key can also be used for this purpose in most circumstances, but not when the cursor is in a text field (such as the Description field in the illustration above). In this situation, the <Return> key will issue a carriage return (ie a new line) within the text field. Do not use the <Enter> key to move fields.

or

Either of these key combinations can be used to move back one field.

Arrow keys

These can only be used to control the cursor within a field. Their main use is when editing a text field.

The Right Arrow moves the cursor one place to the right. If the text within the field is highlighted, the right arrow moves the cursor to the end of the field.

The Left Arrow moves the cursor one place to the left. If the text within the field is highlighted, the left arrow moves the cursor to the beginning of the field.

The Down Arrow acts in the same way as the Right Arrow in single line fields. In text fields, it can be used to move down a line.

The Up Arrow acts in the same way as the Left Arrow in single line fields. In text fields, it can be used to move up a line.

Many fields feature automatic uppercasing. This means that non-typists do not have to worry about using the <Shift> key as Enterprise 6 will convert the appropriate characters to uppercase. Users who do capitalise text themselves can carry on doing so without adversely affecting the operation of this feature.

If, in an individual case, you are unhappy about the way Enterprise 6 capitalises what you have just typed, you can precede your text with an exclamation mark. Enterprise 6 will remove the exclamation mark but will otherwise leave the text as you have typed it.

There is a Preference on the Core page where the extent of automatic uppercasing can be set.

Text fields can store up to 32,000 characters or about 10-15 pages of text. They are identifiable by scroll bars on the right hand side of the field.

Key controls for text fields are the same as for other fields, with the exception of the <Return> key, which does not move the cursor to the next field. Instead, it issues a carriage return within the text field. The Up and Down Arrow keys can be used in conjunction with the scroll bars to navigate the text.

If it is desired to see a larger version of the text field, there is a menu item ‘Expand Text’ which is on the Functions menu. Selecting this function with the cursor in a text field brings the text field up in its own full page layout. This has a Functions menu with ‘Find’ and ‘Replace’ options.

Searching in text fields 

‘Find…’ (<Command-F>/) allows you to specify what to Find. It will remember what was last found, or will pick up any word or phrase currently highlighted in the text. The searching is done from the current cursor position onwards. The first found example is highlighted for manual editing.

‘Find Next’ (<Command-G>/) finds the next occurrence of the text string last specified in the Find… or Replace… dialogue box.

‘Replace…’ (<Command-R>/) shows a window with an option for the text string to be found and another for its replacement. The [Replace] button replaces the first instance found after the current cursor position (including the current highlight if that is the text string to be found), and places the cursor after the last character of the replacement made.

There is a [Replace All] (<Command-R>/) button, which changes all instances from the current cursor position onwards.

‘Replace Next’ (<Command-T>/) replaces the next occurrence of the text string. Click [√] or [X] or the close box (depending on whether you wish to save changes) to return from the expanded text screen to the main screen.

Note that because text fields can contain so many characters, searching on them from a User Search is very slow and should be avoided if possible.