Personnel and Resources

Selecting this item will produce a list that shows all members of your company known to Enterprise 6 and should be kept as up to date as possible.

Note that the list should not be confined to those staff actually using Enterprise 6 - it is important that sales people, remote users and staff whose time is charged to customers are also on Enterprise 6 so that reporting and time recording can be comprehensive.

Double-clicking on one of the lines or crating a new record produces the entry screen shown below. Depending on which volumes you have purchased, there are up to four other screens available as part of this function, and these are accessed using the Section menu.

The Resources listing features a Find Menu. This allows you, for example, to Find Resources by Companies, Contacts, Orders and Order Items, including double options where for example the Companies file has both a Sales and a Taken By Person reference.

Job title

Enter the Job title of the member of Resources being entered. It will be used when letters are printed with that person as signatory.

Supervisor

Enter here the initials of the Supervisor of the member of Resources being entered. Ensure that the initials used are of a person known to Enterprise 6.

Extension

The Extension of the member of Resources should be stored here. Although its main purpose has relevance to Telephony, it is also a potentially useful feature for searching.

Three further screens are available, where details about how the member of Personnel will be using the Remote access and Job Costing volumes, and where details about their level of use of Enterprise 6 are entered. These screens can be brought up using the Section Menu. 

This section is where the individual user IDs are set, as well as the volumes to which each user has access. Note that only users with a senior password can gain access to this screen. As well as being set up as a type of user (for example, manager, Designer, user) for logging-on purposes, each individual person within your organisation can have a unique ID to further increase logging-on security.

Change user ID

Click this button to set a unique ID for this user. Once set, this user will need to complete a two stage ‘Who Are You?’ signing-on process. A single click on his or her name must be followed by typing his or her unique user ID, providing an additional level of security. The number of characters in the current user ID is shown to the right of the button.

Include in ID list

Switch this check box on if you wish this person’s name to appear in the ‘Who Are You’ list when signing on to Enterprise 6. This has to be switched on if the person has their own user ID (see above), as this ID has to typed in when signing on. If the person has no user ID, but is included in the list, simply clicking on their name will be sufficient to gain access to Enterprise 6.

Although, as mentioned above, all your resources should be entered to Enterprise 6, you are only likely to include them in the ID list if they are actually going to be Enterprise 6 users. In certain circumstances, for example in single user copies of Enterprise 6, it may be desirable to ensure only a single name appears in the ID list. This will speed up the start up process because only the ID need be typed (there would be no need to select the correct resources name).

This can of course be achieved by only entering a single member of Resources, but can be enforced by using the ‘Default Person’ setting in the Core data section of Preferences. The person whose initials are entered to this field will be the only person to appear in the ID list. Be aware, though, that if the person so entered has no user ID specified, the ID list will not appear at all. This will of course further speed up entry to Enterprise 6, but will reduce the task of security to the initial password.

Confirm user Id after screen saver

Switch this check box on if, as a security measure, you would like this member of Resources to enter their user ID before restarting work after the screen saver has been activated.

Diary: launch on startup

If this person desires his diary to be opened automatically when he starts Enterprise 6, that is recorded here. There is choice between the complete To Do list for the day and a more restricted To Do list of Priority 1 Items. Simply click on the appropriate radio button.

Access to diary of

This included list is controlled by the [+] and [-] buttons in the Buttons palette. If this person needs to view other persons’ Diaries (perhaps as a Supervisor), enter the initials of those people here. When doing a general search in the diary, Enterprise 6 will only show those diary Items belonging to individuals listed here. There is no need to put the person’s own initials here.

Diary queries use whole group

Switch this check box on if you would like the ‘Priority 1’, ‘To Do’, ‘Appointments’, ‘Done’ and ‘Calendar’ Check diary functions when carried out by the member of Resources whose record is on screen to find diary Items relevant to all the Resources in the same Personnel Group as that Person. This setting is overridden by the ‘Access to diary of’ included list described above. Therefore, if this check box is on, diary queries will find diary Items of this person’s group to whom he or she has access.

Volumes and access rights

This is an Included list. Click the [+] button in the Buttons palette to add a volume, then type the @ or * wildcard characters. You will be presented with a list of volumes you have purchased, sorted into alphabetical order. Click on the appropriate volumes to allocate access for the current member of Resources. The included list includes two check boxes - Read Only (no changes allowed) and No Deletions (nothing may be erased). If you wish this user to enter new information Read Only should not be checked. If you wish this user to add new information, but be unable to delete, check No Deletions and leave Read Only blank. Repeat the above process for each of the volumes to which you wish to allow this user access.

Note that leaving this included list blank will give the member of Resources under consideration full access rights to all volumes present, although when creating new Resources the access column will contain bullets for all the volumes listed. This is also the case if the member of Resources is only allocated access to companion volume(s). Otherwise, problems could arise. If someone was allocated access to the EnquiryWriter only, for example, then Enterprise 6 would try to launch the diary manager volume on startup (the EnquiryWriter being a companion to the diary) but would fail because no access to the diary manager was allocated. Forcing access to the parent volume as well as the companion would cause problems as well. For example, it is valid to grant Multi-currency access (for use in the Sales Ledger or Sales Order Processing) without granting access to the General Ledger (Multi-currency’s parent volume). Therefore, for restrictions to be put in place you must allocate at least one full volume.

Those signing on at Administrator or Administrator WP levels have automatic access to the data manager (a full volume), so such Resources can be allocated access to companions only.

Start with volume

This pop-up list should be used to define which volume should be loaded first for this member of Resources. The pop-up shows only the volumes to which the Person has access. The list is recalculated every time you click on the access column, so it will revert to blank if the ‘Start with volume’ that you’ve chosen is then denied access. If left undefined, the volume shown will be the first one available in Enterprise 6’ own order (Diary, WP, Sales Ledger etc).

Default accounts analysis

Enter here the analysis code of the Department or Branch to which you wish this person’s costs and earnings to be attributed. If you enter the code ‘ASK’ here, whenever this user logs on, Enterprise 6 will ask, after the ‘Who Are You?’ window, which analysis should be used as a default during this work session. An analysis can be chosen either by clicking with the mouse, or by using the arrow keys followed by <Return>.

Override other analysis defaults

This should be switched on if you wish all transactions for a particular user to rigidly adhere to a single analysis code (ie the analysis code for the user will override any default analysis specified for a product or Company or Transaction Type). Whenever an analysis code is required, it will always default to the one defined or Asked. If the user clears the analysis code field, or enters a non-existent code, the analysis code will revert to the default of the user. To switch this check box on, the default analysis field above must contain an entry.

Do not allow other analyses

If switched on, this will deny the user from posting anything with an analysis different to that defined or Asked. Any accounts Comprehensive Selection (More Choices) dialogue box will feature a default analysis code matching that defined or Asked. This is not a security measure, but simply a useful default - anyone always working with a particular analysis will probably want to view only data with their own analysis code. To switch this check box on, the Override check box above must first be switched on. The following exceptions to the analysis overrides apply: analyses themselves can still be set up (assuming the person has clearance for the data manager); Transaction Types can be set up with any analysis code for other users to use; the analysis code of products will not be overridden; and Invoice Receipts and Purchase Payments will be posted using the analysis code of their associated invoice.

Check diary macros and messages

If switched on, this user will always have an extra process (launched on startup) that periodically checks to see if there are any macros in the diary that need to be performed. If switched off, then macros in the diary for that user will simply be ignored. The same background process is also used to periodically check whether any messages have come in that need responding to. There is a setting in the Core data Section of Preferences to define the ‘Message Action’. This Action is searched for in the diary once every minute, and a message will appear informing you if any are found. If just one is found, it says who the message is from and gives a brief version of the Description text. If more than one is found, you are just told how many items there are, and asked ‘Do you wish to see them?’. If messages will be used often, it is a good idea to switch this check box on even for someone that doesn’t have access to the macros volume.

Play data entry macros

It is possible to force a Macro to be run on saving a record by clicking [√] or pressing <Enter>. Such a Macro is termed a ‘Data entry Macro’. When a record is saved, Enterprise 6 will search for a Macro with a specific Macro code, and will run it if found. That code should consist of the word ‘Accept ’ (including trailing space) followed by the File number of the File to which the record belongs. For example, such a Macro for the Sales Orders File would have ‘Accept 24’ as its Macro code. data entry macros will be run if they exist and if the this check box for the current user is switched on. It is also possible to create macros that operate before creating a record, before viewing an existing record and after modifying individual fields: such macros will also only be run if this check box is switched on for the current user. Full details can be found in the macros chapter elsewhere in this manual.

Allow data manager additions

Most of the functions in the data manager are dedicated to controlling the look-up files used by the main data.

For example, when a new Company is being added to the database, the user will use look-up files to determine that Company’s Source, Area, Type, Status and so on. The Core, accounts and Others menus in the data manager are full of functions controlling these files. Usually, these look-up files will be completed prior to the entry of the main data. However, there will occasionally be need to add new records to these files. Most commonly, perhaps, will be the need to continually add new Brands (for use when adding products), and new Problems and Solutions (if the service centre volume is present). If this check box is on, this person will be able to make these additions ‘on-the-fly’ from the screen they are in. They will be presented with a dialogue box as shown below: If this check box is switched off, this person will not be able to create look-up records ‘on the fly’. They will be forced to go into the data manager.

It is probable that users who cannot make such additions will also not have clearance to go into the data manager. This is a guard against the look-up files becoming full of undesirable records. It must be remembered that some look-up files need careful planning, which can be destroyed by unwelcome additions. Whatever the setting of this check box, some major look-up files, such groups and some of the accounts settings can only be added to via the data manager. Note that this check box also determines whether the person will be able to access the definitions screens used to customise included lists.

Allow product price updates

It is possible to update product prices remotely (from the Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Job Costing and Service Call screens). This is one of the labour saving devices featured by Enterprise 6.

If, for example, a Sales Order is being entered and the Retail price of the product has altered, that new price can be entered to the Sales Order and Enterprise 6 will then ask if the product is to be updated. There is no need to bring up the product screen. For this facility to be enabled, two criteria need to be satisfied.

First, the product must have its ‘Allow price updates from other files’ check box switched on and, second, the user desiring to make the change must have this ‘Allow product price updates’ check box switched on in their Resources record.

Further fields    (command-5 or control-5)

Further fields are user-definable fields which can be set up if it is necessary to store information for which Enterprise 6 otherwise has no provision. Their setting up is described in the ‘Further fields’ section later in this chapter; their use is covered in the Core Functions reference chapter earlier in this manual.

It is possible to set up Further fields to be used only by certain Resources. If no such allocations are made then all of the Further fields will be available to all of the users with access to the relevant File’s volume. Such allocations are made using this section of the Resources record: it is deliberately very similar to the access rights section in that it displays an included list of Further fields in which you can click to place or remove a bullet (•).

Placing a bullet in the access column allows full access to the field concerned for the user whose record is on screen, while placing a bullet in the RO column allows Read-only access. There is a Files pop-up to show the Further fields defined for each File. There is no need to use the ‘Change access’ function after changing these settings for them to take effect: all changes are immediate after saving. Note that leaving this included list blank will give the member of Resources under consideration full access rights to all Further fields. Thus you cannot disallow access to all Further fields by removing all the bullets. If you wish to do this, you could create an additional, inconsequential Further field and allow access to that alone.

If the member of Resources has Read Only access to the volume to which the File belongs, then all Further fields of that File will be in Read Only Mode - whatever the settings here. Macros This function is used to view and create macros. Please refer to the macros chapter earlier in this manual for full details.

The Pictures file used to store Pictures of any kind within an Enterprise 6 data file.

In addition to the normal code (11 characters) and name fields, there is the Picture itself, and a format choice. The latter displays a list of choices of format, which are converted into a number 1 to 5. One use for Pictures might be the storage of signatures or company logos to be included on documentation produced from Enterprise 6. Another is to display any colour or black and white image alongside the diary’s Calendar dates. If you wish to do this, create twelve records with Picture codes of ‘January’, ‘February’ and so on and paste in the pictures and these will then be used when displaying the Calendar.

Note that displaying these images may have a detrimental effect on the operating speed of the diary. The Core data section of Preferences contains a check box where the displaying of Calendar pictures can be switched off. Pictures can be called up and displayed using macros. Please refer to the Core Functions reference for details of the Execute(Picture Dialog) command.

In many areas of Enterprise 6, there are alternative ways of describing a function or field. This screen controls this feature. As the illustration below shows, it is possible to create several Terminology records (distinguished by different Terminology codes). There is a field in the Preferences where you can specify which Terminology record is to be used.

As supplied, Enterprise 6 does not include a Terminology record uses defaults settings. If you wish use these settings, you can either create a record to preserve them, or leave the Terminology Used field in the General section of Preferences blank.

The Terminology screen offers alternative terms to describe a particular function. For example, if you prefer Inventory to Stock Control, or Estimate to Quotation, this is where such preferences can be set. Many of these preferences will be determined by regional differences.

Many files in Enterprise 6 can have their contents subject to a secondary level of classification. For example, the Sales Order file might contain the sub-divisions of ‘Enquiries’, ‘Quotations’, ‘New Orders’, ‘Confirmed Orders’, ‘Cancelled Orders’ and ‘Lost Orders’.

There might be functions which are appropriate to one sub-division but not another. For example, creating and printing Invoices would be acceptable for ‘Confirmed Orders’ but not for ‘Enquiries’, while for printing a quotation the preference would be the other way round. The sub-divisions are known as ‘File states’ and they a completely user definable.

The files which feature file states are Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Jobs and Projects. This function is used to carry out this definition. The title bars in the entry screens for these files each contain Upgrade and Downgrade buttons which are used to change state. They also show a numeric code which can be overtyped and which is a concatenation of the File code and the state code.

When you have added or modified any file state, you will be asked, ‘Do you want to rebuild the file states tables according to any changes made?’. If you click [Yes], the updating is carried out. If you click [No], the lists of states shown in the More Choices windows may no longer match the states allocated to records, and the default states for new records will not be changed until Enterprise 6 is restarted. This will also apply to other users if you make changes while they are logged on.

State code

This field, which can hold three characters, is not required to be unique over all files, but should be unique for the definitions you make for one file. The automatic creation process will create codes such as 10, 20, 30 which are in a sortable order. Room for later expansion is also provided in this structure. The alphabetic sorting of these state codes will determine how the Upgrade and Downgrade buttons work, so the structure is very important. The lower the code, the lower the state. For example, ‘Enquiry’ might be code 10, while ‘Confirmed Order’ might be code 40. Letters can be used as well as numbers.

Listing name/entry name/abbreviated name

Listing name is a maximum of 21 characters long, and is the text used to refer to the state on screen in listing forms and More Choices windows. Entry name is 31 characters long, is always in uppercase, and is used as the heading of entry pages. For Projects, for example, you might create ‘Provisional - PROVISIONAL PROJECT’, ‘Confirmed - CONFIRMED PROJECT’, ‘ current - current PROJECT’. Note that if you want the word ‘PROJECT’ to appear when looking at the Projects entry screen, you must add it here - it will not be appended automatically. Abbreviated name is used where the state name needs to be very compact - such as on field names of entry screens. It is only 7 characters long.

File number

This field is used to refer to the file for which you’re defining states. File numbers of files for which file states should be defined are 024 for Sales Orders, 026 for Jobs, 057 for Purchase Orders and 089 for Projects. This is most easily done by means of the File names pop-up menu that appears when you click on the grey downward facing arrow.

Functions access…

Click on the functions which are applicable to the state on screen. Bullets (•) appear beside the enabled functions. These functions are described below.

Acknowledgement
Allows the printing of Order Acknowledgements. Authorisation Allows the printing of Order Authorisations.

Copy Previous
Allows the use of the Copy Previous function, which should be restricted once data has begun its ‘processing’ stages. Also controls whether entering a Source will create an Order Item for the Source’s associated product.

Credit Check
This activates two credit checking routines at the point of upgrading to the state in question. The first routine checks the Company’s current default Credit Stage, and if that Credit Stage’s check box ‘Prevent state change if Credit Check is allocated to state’ is switched on, it will not allow the upgrade. The second routine checks the credit balances of the Company and brings up the same credit checking window as occurs when you specify a Company.

Delivery Notes
Allows the printing of Delivery Notes. Full Details Form Allows the printing of the Full Details Form.

No Deletions
Prevents the Deletion of records with the relevant state. On entry forms the palette [Delete] button will be greyed appropriately when you press the Upgrade button. This greying can’t apply to the listing layout, which may contain more than one state, so when you try to Delete you may get a message ‘The file state … does not allow Deletions’. You may wish to prevent deletions for confirmed orders, for example, which has attached stock movements and invoices.

Prevent Downgrade
This option can make it impossible for a user to downgrade. It applies to the state from which you are downgrading.

Prevent if Delivered
This option makes it impossible to change to a given state if the Order already has one or more Order Items that have been Delivered. It might be appropriate to switch this on for Cancelled Orders.

Prevent if Invoiced
Likewise, makes it impossible to change to a given state if the Order already has one or more Order Items that have been Invoiced. Automatically allocated to Cancelled Order.

Prevent if Stock Allocated
Again, makes it impossible to change to a given state if the Order already has one or more Order Items that have had any Stock Allocated.

Prevent Upgrade
This option can make it impossible for a user to upgrade. It applies to the state from which you are upgrading.

Purchase Ledger
This allows access to Purchase Ledger functions, where available.

Purchase Orders
This allows access to Purchase Ordering functions, if this volume is present. It would be appropriate to switch this on for Confirmed Orders.

Sales Ledger
This allows access to Sales Ledger functions (printing Proformas and Invoices) if this volume is present.

Stock Control
This allows access to Stock Control functions (the Allocation/Unallocations options on the Functions menu) if this volume is present.

Warn on Downgrade
This produces a warning message on downgrading. It applies to the state from which you are downgrading.

Warn on Upgrade
This produces a warning message on upgrading. It applies to the state from which you are upgrading.

Many fields in Enterprise 6 have attached choices lists from which the correct selection can be made. In many cases, these choices lists are set up using individual menu items in the data manager. Examples are groups, Brands, accounts and Transaction Types.

In some cases, usually those where alterations will be rare and where a name is the only information to be stored, the choices lists are set up using this menu item. Those cases are Ad Colours (ie Advertisement Colours), Ad formats (ie Advertisement formats), Del Methods (ie Delivery Methods),  Del Terms (ie Delivery Terms), formats, Info From, lists, Mailsort (ie Mailsort Types), Qual groups (ie Quality groups), Qual Sub groups (ie Quality Sub groups), Skill Levels, Terms (ie Payment Terms), titles (Mr, Mrs and so on), Usage Countries, Usage groups and VAT Prefixes. Selecting the menu item brings up a list of the current list Entries, as shown below.

Note that each list name appears several times. The list name signifies in which options list from which field elsewhere in Enterprise 6 the item will appear, while the list entry shows how the item will appear in that list. For example, when entering a Sales Invoice and obtaining an options list from the Payment Terms field, that list will show the list entry text of all items whose list name is ‘Terms’. Such items might have as their list entry ‘Pay on Invoice’, ‘7 days’, ‘30 days’, ‘60 days’ and so on.

Note that the list name text should not be altered as doing so will prevent the correct options list appearing when required. One of the items in the list can be modified by double-clicking, or a new item created by clicking the [+] button. An input screen appears.The list name field itself accesses a options list, thus ensuring that the correct text is entered to the field. If a typing error is made here, the item may not appear in the expected list. Type a wildcard or a partial code to obtain the options list. From this list can be chosen the field to whose selection list you wish the entry to be appended. Then, enter appropriate text to the list entry field and click [√] or <Enter>.

The items that appear in the options list attached to the list name field themselves are list entry records and appear in the list of current entries obtained when first accessing the ‘Lists’ function. For example, when setting up a list of Terms of Payment, you should ensure that an item is set up with ‘Lists’ as its list name and ‘Terms’ as its list entry. You might then end up with the following: List name List entry Lists Terms Terms Pay on Invoice Terms 7 days Terms 30 days

If you are setting up your own lists for use with Further fields (see below), it is important that you follow this model.

Note that if you modify the list entry of the first item shown in this list (for example, changing ‘Terms’ to ‘Conditions’), upon saving all records with a list name of ‘Terms’ will automatically be altered to ‘Conditions’ to retain consistency. However, such a change should only be made to lists set up for your own purposes (ie, those attached to Further fields), not to the standard lists as listed earlier in this section, otherwise the items will not appear in options lists as expected.

Enterprise 6 is capable of storing a sufficient quantity of information to cater for most requirements. However, for certain users in exceptional circumstances, it may be that it is necessary to store additional data for which no fields have been provided. So, in many areas of Enterprise 6, you can add your own fields to store additional information if those provided with the system are insufficient. These are termed ‘Further fields’.

Further fields are added to each File (with some exceptions, see below) and are then available for every record in that file. For example, once a Further field has been created to store the Audit Date of a Company, you will be able to record the Audit Date of all Companies stored without further set-up work.

This set-up work is done using the ‘Further fields’ menu item in the Settings section of the Core menu. When first accessing this function, any existing Further fields in the Companies File will be listed, as shown below. Should you wish to list the Further fields of another File, use the pop-up menu that appears towards the top left of the screen. Certain minor Files (those without unique identifiers) cannot have Further fields added, so a message will appear to that effect if one is selected. The screen first apppears in Selectable mode. Use the [Editable/Selectable mode] button in the top right of the screen or double-click on one of the fields to change to Editable mode. Use the <Return> or <Tab> keys to navigate the list. Use the [+] button (or <Command>/<Control>-N) as normal to add items, specifying their attributes as follows:

Field name

This can be up to 31 characters long, and the first letters of words will be capitalised automatically. The name must be unique - not just within the File concerned, but across all Further fields defined for all Files (a warning will appear if you attempt to use a name that has already been taken). field names can be changed at any time.

Type

The field Type should be set to A - Alphanumeric, up to 31 characters, T - unlimited Text, N - number (Real or Integer) or D - Date. Entering a wildcard or any other character will cause a window to appear asking you to select a Type by means of radio buttons. If you wish to use the Further field to store pictures, use the Alpha Type and specify in the list or format column that you wish the Further field to use the options list named ‘Pictures’.

For example, if you want to store a map with a Company record you might create an Alpha Further field called ‘Company Map’, and allocate it the list ‘Pictures’. The Type of a Further field can be changed at any time, but in doing so there is a risk of information loss. For example, if you convert Text to Alpha, only the first 31 characters of any information stored will survive. In converting Text or Alpha to number, any numeric characters will be extracted, and conversions to and from the Date Type carry similar risks. Once such changes have been saved, any information lost will be irretrievable.

List or format

Entries to this field are optional, and are dependent upon the field Type. If this is Alphanumeric (A) or Text (T), then, if appropriate, you can specify the name of an options list that will prompt users when making entries to the field. Such an options list could be created in advance using the lists function (see above), although this is not necessary. In the first line of the illustrated example, if you entered “Importance” as the list or format and this was not an existing list, then an options list showing existing lists will appear on the right with the new item added - press <Enter> and a new list item will be created. When subsequently using the new field, additional options can be added to the ‘Importance’ list in the same fashion.

View definitions

Clicking this button allows you to show the Further fields in the usual Enterprise 6 listing format. This permits you to carry out operations such as searching, selecting, sorting, reporting, Global Change and import/export. When the screen first appears, the list will show the Further fields defined for the last-selected File, but if, for example, you want to export all records you can use the [Find] button to expand the selection. Click [√] or the close box to return to the initial Further fields screen.

View values

This button gives you direct access to the values stored in the Further fields, as entered using the [Further fields] button in the Buttons palette. When the screen first appears, the list will show the Further fields defined for the last-selected File, but you can use the [Find] button to alter the selection.

For example, you can list Further field values for a particular Unique code. The Unique code identifies the parent record to which the Further fields are attached. It is constructed of the File number followed by a unique identifier, so Further fields attached to a particular Company would have a Unique code made up of ‘002’ (the File number for the Companies file) followed by the Company code. You could also search for a particular field name, or, using the More Choices window, find Further fields containing a particular value. Click [√] or the close box to return to the initial Further fields screen.

When the list is in Selectable mode, you can re-order the items in the list by dragging. This affects the order in which the Further fields are shown on screen when they are being used.

No changes to any Files will be visible to other users or processes until you’ve saved them and put the list away by clicking [√] or pressing <Enter>. If you click [X], you will lose all the changes you’ve made since the window was opened. Consequently, you will be asked to confirm that you do not wish to save changes. If you use the [-] button to delete Further fields, all information that has been stored in those fields will be lost. Again, therefore, you will be asked to confirm the action. However, deleting Further fields and then clicking [X] to close the list, because [X] has the effect of losing all changes (ie, reverting to saved), will cause those fields not to be deleted.

It is possible to permit the use of a particular Further field to certain Resources. If no such allocations are made, all Further fields will be available to every user with access to the relevant File’s volume. To make these allocations, use the ‘Further fields’ section of the ‘Resources’ function on the Core menu in the data manager. Please refer to the ‘Resources’ section earlier in this chapter for full details.

Use this function if you need to amend your licence number or validation code, or if you want to remind yourself of the number of days remaining on your validation. In this latter instance, simply press [OK] to put the window away. If amending the validation code, once it has been accepted by Enterprise 6 it will disappear from the screen.

When you press [OK], you will be asked to log on again via the user ID window.

The [Volumes] button can be used to view all the volumes available in Enterprise 6, with • bullets beside those to which the current licence number allows access. This window also displays the number of users that the licence number allows. If you have purchased additional volumes or extra users, these will be supplied serial numbers which can be entered here.

Selecting ‘Preferences’ at the base of the Core menu will take you direct to the single record within this file, storing details of the current user company of the database plus various accounts Settings and other Preferences. Use of the wildcard (@) is unfortunately not possible in the Preferences. This is because it is possible in certain fields to build the wildcard in as part of the preference. On selecting the Preferences Menu item, the user Details screen is brought up. The Section menu is used to access the other screens.

User name, organisation, address, telephone, fax

Enter here the name and address etc of your company. The user name and organisation will appear automatically, taken from the initial screen where you entered this information together with your licence number and validation code.

VAT reg no

Enter your VAT Registration number here, for it to appear on Invoices and other documentation.

Screen title

What you type here will be put at the top of every Enterprise 6 main splash screen. Usually, simply repeat your company name. Note that Enterprise 6 needs to be restarted for any changes to take effect.

Version no

Displays the version number of Enterprise 6 you are currently using.

Unique office code

Many of the unique codes (such as the Company code or the Job code) used by Enterprise 6 are generated automatically, prefixing a sequential number with this code. If you have several offices using copies of the Enterprise 6 database, the information created by the offices may be differentiated by entering different Office codes here at each site. If you are in the habit of keeping each copy up-to-date with Remote access or by other means, the originating office of each piece of information can be deduced from the Office code part of the coding structure

Order item

This button can be used to test and/or change the number that is the ‘base’ for the Order Item number unique sequence. This number is incremented whenever a new Order Item is created. In normal circumstances, this button will only be used when importing Order Items into another data file. In such a circumstance, there is a risk of a duplicate Order Item number when creating a new Order Item. Therefore, the button should be used to record the last Order Item number used in the old data file, and to change that in the new data file to that recorded.

Unique file nos

This list of numbers refers to the sequential numbers used when creating codes such as the Company code or the Invoice number. The File column on the left identifies to which File they belong. The numbers can be changed if required, but note that reducing the number creates a risk of duplicating previously used ‘unique’ numbers. The database will give an error message ‘Duplicate Key’ if this happens.

Two check boxes define whether the Office code prefix is to be used for a given File’s Unique number, and whether that Office code should be separated from the rest of the number by a / symbol.

The column entitled 00 can optionally contain an integer representing the total number of digits you want a code to use, with any gaps filled in automatically by leading zeros. For example 384 would get converted to 000384 by setting the 00 column to 6. This method can be used to ensure that newly-created codes will consistently be sorted into sequential order, despite the fact that the sort is alphabetical. These formatting options are not relevant for four of the Unique numbers, as they must be integers and therefore can contain no alpha characters: Attendees, Batches, Order Items and ( current) Stock numbers.

The following Unique numbers should be set to have an Office code prefix if Remote access functions are used, or are ever likely to be used: Companies, Contacts, diary, Letters, Orders, Jobs, Sequences, price Table. In fact, all of these will be turned on automatically the first time you log on to a system with access to the Remote volume.

MN stands for Multiple numbers, a method of creating the Unique numbers which is recommended for multi-user systems. The method is intended to ensure accounting integrity (by using each number once in sequence), but without the disadvantage of locking the standard unique numbers. This locking delays their access by other users while processing is going on, thus slowing down everyone who processes similar information.

The Multiple number method creates in advance batches of 40 unique numbers at a time, which can then be individually used by any number of Enterprise 6 users without ever locking the whole number sequence. One important implication of this method is that if a given user Cancels an Invoice, for example, after its number has been created, and if other users in the meantime had created one or more Invoices with higher numbers, then the cancelled number will again become available for use. It is therefore possible that numbers could become slightly out of sequence with their associated entry dates. This is accepted as an 'industry standard' method of working, so should not raise any difficulties with auditors, but if problems are anticipated, turn off the MN check boxes of the relevant files.

As shipped, the MN check box is switched on for the following files: 4 (Invoices), 7 (Batches), 8 (Purchases), 10 (Movements), 15 (Deposits), 16 (Purchase Orders), 18 (Stock numbers), 19 (Proformas), 25 (Credit Notes) and 28 (Payments). These defaults are only implemented for multi-user copies.

The Multiple numbers method can, of course, be used for all Files, in single- or multi-user. However, this is not the default setting because the real advantage of the new method only applies to multiple user access to sequence numbers that are required by 'Transactions' processing. In other situations, the disadvantage of slightly slower access to the next number (which is inevitable because of the greater complexity) would outweigh any advantages. By contrast, if there are sections of Enterprise 6 that are only ever used by one user then it would be valid to turn off the MN check box. Likewise, if there are sections that are accessed by a very great number of users at once but where the maintaining of a strict sequence is not so important (for example many people creating new records in Companies, Contacts and diary), then it could be a good idea to turn on the MN check box. This is because it is still possible for queues to build up for access to a number, even though each user may only lock it for a fraction of a second. If you turn on the MN check box you'll be asked, 'Are you sure that you want to convert the [eg diary] Unique No sequence to the ‘Multiple numbers’ method? 40 numbers will be created, starting from the number specified +1’.

If you say [Yes], then the next batch of 40 numbers will be created, and the number field will be incremented by that amount. Note that if the MN check box is switched on, the number field will no longer show the last number used. Instead, MN Unique numbers show the highest number of the most recently created batch of 40. You can find out what the actual next number to be used will be by clicking in the relevant line, then pressing the [ current MN] button. It will simply report that 'The next Multiple number to be used is x'. If you modify the number field while the MN check box is turned on, you will be asked, ‘Are you sure that you want to modify the [eg Batches] number? Existing ‘Multiple numbers’ will be deleted, and 40 more created, starting from the number specified +1.’ As usual, if you do modify the number, you must do so with great care, so as to not set it back to a sequence 'area' which will overlap with existing records.

The [Recreate] button sets all the numbers to zero. Clearly, this should be used with caution as there is a large risk of ‘duplicate key’ errors after its use. It will mainly be used when installing a copy of the database onto a machine intended for use at a remote or different site, where a different Unique Office code is intended. The use of this code will mean that no duplicates occur.

Note that all the settings of Preferences are global - they apply to all users. However, some of the settings on this screen only can be overridden by individual users on their own machine. For example, there might be a global preference to have Batch entry switched on and an individual user can switch it off on their machine only. This local preference setting is done on the File Menu of the Client machine, available at any of the splash screens. Note that, after every restart, the local File Menu will revert to the global settings.

File nos wait (secs)

This controls the delaying mechanism that waits for a Unique number to be unlocked when running multi-user. The ‘is it still locked’ check is performed three times a second for a default period of 15 seconds. Once this time has elapsed, the user is asked if they still want to wait for the number to be unlocked, or if they wish to leave the process and try again later.

Maximum processes

The default is 20 and sets the maximum number of processes (screens) that may be open at one time.

Keep a ‘waiting’ process for entering/viewing

Enterprise 6 will at all times (unless this Preference is set to zero) maintain an extra Process that waits in the background for you to choose a menu item, and when you do so, gets called up instead of the system needing to always launch a new one. This speeds up the appearance of the window containing your chosen function. A new process is launched at this point; but since it is the new waiting one; speed is not so much of an issue.

This Preference is used to set the maximum number of processes that can be open before Enterprise 6 stops launching this background process. If it is set to three, for example, as long as you don’t have more than three processes currently open, the system will at all times maintain an extra Process waiting in the background. The amount of memory allocated to the waiting process has to be able to cater for the ‘largest’ of the possible things you could choose from the menu. Therefore it only operates for Entering and Viewing Processes (ie not printing, importing, data manager files etc). This, allied with the fact that you will have one extra process open, also explains why the Preference is designed as a limit on its extent of operation. If you set the Preference to 20, for example, it would mean that you’d be guaranteed to meet your memory limit rather sooner than before.

Alternative wild card

If you are unhappy with the standard 4th Dimension wildcard character (@), you may set an alternative here. This will not prevent @ acting as a wildcard, but it will do so in addition to the character you select. We suggest * is a suitable wildcard as it is easy to reach if you have a numeric keypad and does not require the use of the <Shift> key. Note that in the user search windows (which come up when the ‘User search’ function is selected on the comprehensive search windows, and occasionally come up when [More Choices] is clicked in the Quick search windows) the @ is the only wildcard character that can be used.

View always shows lists

When using any View function, Enterprise 6 will usually list the records found after the search if more than one record is found. If, however, only one record is found, Enterprise 6 will go straight to the full page input layout to display the record, where it can be modified if required. This tendency can be counteracted by switching this check box on, in which case you will always be presented with the listing format, whether one or more records are found. This can be useful if you mostly use View to do just that rather than to actually modify data, since the speed of displaying a list is always greater than that of displaying the full entry screens. The option does also apply to the displaying of lists when using the View menu from within other forms. Note that when viewing a list and double-clicking, you are always allowed to see (but not modify) the full screen version of a locked record (because it is in use by another process or user), whereas if you go straight to the full screen in this situation, you will not be able even to see the record.

Copy previous copies dates

Wherever Copy Previous Functions exist - Sales Invoices, General Ledger Batches, Stock Movements and Bookings - this option will make the system default the record’s date(s), except for any entry Date, to that of the record copied.

Window offset

Different operating systems employ window title areas of different pixel sizes, and on the Macintosh you can change the ‘look’ yourself. Using Mac OS 8 or Aaron under System 7, for example, the first data window to appear would ‘underlap’ the palettes slightly, which looked ugly. You can experiment with different settings, or use the OS buttons beneath the Preference to choose defaults.

Use products buttons as orders

This converts the Add product and View product icons on the Functions palette into what, for many users, would be a more useful option - the entry and viewing of Enquiries or Orders (depending on whether the user has access to the full Sales Order Processing volume).

Entry defaults and find defaults

These options are available in two places on the system. If clicked here, all users of the system have the facility. Each user also has these options on their File menu. It is therefore possible to have them active generally, though inactive on a local workstation or vice versa. The options are as follows:

Batch record entry from menu

If switched on, Enterprise 6 will present a new, blank record screen for data entry after the previous record has been saved. This would be useful when, for example, you are entering many new products from a price list and to continually have to select ‘Enter products’ would be time-consuming and annoying.

Data entry defaults from previous

Enterprise 6 always remembers the code(s) of the last record looked at, and then can use that code for what you do next.

For example, if you are looking at a Company, then put it away and choose Enter to diary, the Company (and Contact) will be entered by default if this option is on.

Note that when using the View menu on an input layout, it can be advantageous to have this option switched on.

An easier way to perform the example described in previous paragraph would be to do View diary Items directly from the Companies screen and then click [+] at the subsequent list to create a new diary Item. If entry defaults are on, Enterprise 6 will automatically bring in the Company code to the new diary Item, whereas it would be blank otherwise. If performing this action from the Service screen, for example, with entry defaults on, the Company code, Contact code and Service Call code would all be transferred to the new diary Item. entry defaults are therefore very useful if using the View Menu for tasks such as time recording. Note that Multi-processes must be switched on for the View Menu to perform in this way. On less powerful machines, it is recommended that this option be switched off for speed optimisation.

Find window defaults from previous

Enterprise 6 always remembers the code(s) of the last record looked at, and then can use that code for what you do next. For example, if you are looking at a Company, then put it away and choose View diary, the Company code (or Contact code if available) will be put in the Find (quicksearch) window as a default if the Find defaults option is on.

All occurrences in Quicksearch

The quicksearch dialogue box can work in two ways. Each quicksearch dialogue box has the capability to search on several fields.

For example, the quicksearch dialogue box in the ‘View Sales Ledger’ function can search by Invoice number, Invoice Company code and name, Invoice Date, Contact Forename, Contact Surname, Forename and Surname in combination, Company Postcode and Company Telephone number. Therefore entering a telephone number will find all Sales Ledger records belonging to the Company with that number.

Each quicksearch dialogue box displays which fields in its own file it can search in, and in which order. The ‘View Sales Ledger’ quicksearch window, therefore asks you for the ‘Invoice number, Company or Date to find’. The additional queries (Contact name, Company Postcode and Telephone number) are carried out on the Contacts and Companies file respectively. For example, entering a Postcode will cause Enterprise 6 to search in the Companies file for a Company with that Postcode, and then in the Sales Ledger file for records belonging to that Company, which are then listed.

When you enter something in a quicksearch dialogue, Enterprise 6 will search through the fields in the order displayed until it finds a match. The usual default is for Enterprise 6 to stop searching once it finds something, whether or not it has searched each field listed. If you enter “HAM” when Viewing the Sales Ledger, for example, it is likely that Enterprise 6 will search in the Invoice number field without finding a match, and then in the Invoice Company code field and find some records to list (those belonging to Ham Supplies Limited, perhaps). The search will then stop before an attempt is made to search for Invoice Dates, Contact names or Company Telephone numbers or Postcodes that match “HAM”.

This Preference, if switched on, will force Enterprise 6 to search each field listed, create a set for each field searched, then amalgamate the sets and display all records found. In the example, therefore, Sales Ledger records belonging to Contacts such as David Hamilton (ie Contacts whose Surnames begin with ‘Ham’) will be listed in addition to those belonging to Ham Supplies. If this Preference is switched on, you are much more likely to find a match using any search criteria. However, some of the records listed may only be related very distantly to the search criteria and this may cause some initial confusion.

The Preference affects the following queries: Companies, Contacts, products, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Sales Ledger, Purchase Ledger, Jobs and Projects. On less powerful machines, it is recommended that this option be switched off for speed optimisation.

Find products by further analyses

Switch this on if you would like the products quicksearch to search by Further analyses in addition to product code, product name, Short code, etc. This will also happen when entering products elsewhere, such as in Sales and Purchase Orders, Sales and Purchase Invoices and so on. If you have a large data file, this preference may have a detrimental effect on search times. Note that it is a good idea to have the ‘All Occurrences’ option on as well because the Further analysis search is always done last. For example, if you were to search for a product with a Further analysis of ‘Green’ but there was another product with a product name starting with Green then you’d only find the latter unless ‘All Occurrences’ was on.

Find data of current user

As with many of the options on this page of Preferences, this option sets a general default for all users that can be overridden for the individual user using the File Menu.

If the check box is switched on, for all queries performed from the quicksearch dialogue box on files that contain one or more reference to a Person, the data displayed will be limited to just those records that are applicable to the current user. These files are Companies, diary, Sales Orders, Jobs, Applicants, and Documents.

Where there is more than one Person field (for example Company has Sales Person and Taken By, diary has Person and Originator) the search done is on either field - ie an or search. This feature is not intended as a security measure, just as a useful time-saver for larger users, so if the search would result in no data being found purely because of the Person search, the latter search is ignored.

In other words, if you search for a particular Company, for example, whether or not you are the Sales Person for that Company, you will always find it, whereas if you search very generally (for example just typing “V” to find all Companies starting with V), the list will be reduced to just Companies starting with V with your initials as Sales Person or Taken By.

The feature only applies to queries performed from the quicksearch dialogue, not those from the More Choices window. On less powerful machines, it is recommended that this option be switched off for speed optimisation.

Use QuickAccess screens

If switched on, Enterprise 6 will use QuickAccess screens where they exist to optimise the speed of operation. Should you need to use the full version of a QuickAccess screen, there will always be a ‘Switch access’ item on the Functions menu for this purpose.

Word processing: plain text/4DWrite/SuperWrite

The Word Processing volume contains three different methods of writing letters: one using 4D only, not allowing for font and other text characteristics to be altered; and two offering full word processing facilities, using the optional 4DWrite or SuperWrite programs. Specify here which option you wish to use.

Use SuperReport report generator

If you use the SuperReport generator more often than the Quick Report generator, switch this check box on. Doing so will cause the SuperReport window to be brought up when you click the [Report] button in the Buttons palette. In this circumstance, clicking the [Report] button while holding down the (Macintosh) or <Alt> (Windows) key will bring up the Quick Report window. If you use SuperReport only occasionally, you should not switch this check box on; in this case the button’s operation will be reversed. SuperReport can be used in a similar fashion to the Quick Report window to produce custom reports. It is also used to produce custom forms, examples of which are supplied with Enterprise 6. Please refer to the Form Settings 2 section of this chapter for details of which such forms Enterprise 6 expects.

Don’t play sounds

All Enterprise 6 sounds can be muted using this option. These include the volume notes (sounded when changing volumes), the sounds which accompany the use of the macros palette and those which accompany the Alert, Confirm and Close dialogue boxes. On less powerful machines, it is recommended that this option be switched on for speed optimisation.

Volumes palette icons or symbols

This setting, which is available to Macintosh users only, governs the appearance of the volumes palette.

Palette Help Delay

When moving the mouse over the buttons in the volumes and Buttons palettes, it is possible to obtain a brief help message naming the button’s function. This preference is used to set the time period between the moving of the mouse over the button and the appearance of the help message. The default is 45, which means that there is a delay of three quarters of a second before the messages. When set to zero, the messages will appear immediately, while, if set to 1000, they will almost never appear. Note that changes to this field will not take effect until you either restart Enterprise 6 or close and re-open the palettes.

Screen Saver after x minutes

Enter here the required period of inactivity after which you require the Enterprise 6 screen saver to be activated. When the screen saver appears, all other windows are temporarily hidden. The screen saver can also be activated by double-clicking the large button on the far left of the volumes palette containing the Enterprise 6 logo and current volume name. When you need to start work again, any click or keystroke closes the screen saver. While Enterprise 6 is in the background (with another application in use in front of it), the screen saver timer is still operational and Enterprise 6 will still go into screen saver mode after the appropriate period of inactivity. However, in this situation the screen saver screens are not used.

This section of Preferences allows the user to partially customise the printed Forms produced by Enterprise 6, including Order Authorisations, Delivery Notes, Invoices and Service Contracts.

Each of these settings is entirely optional, since you may wish to print your forms onto headed paper that includes your full address, VAT Registration details etc.

The font information for the various forms is set on Form Settings 2 (see below). The numbers beside each field name refer to the diagram at the end of this section showing where the text entered to those fields appears on a typical document. To obtain larger versions of most of the fields on this screen, ensure your cursor is within the one to be viewed and use the ‘Expand Text’ item on the Functions menu. Dept, Company (1) These three boxes should contain the Department and Company names to be used on documents issued by the Sales Ledger, Purchase Ledger and Service Contract Department respectively. The text for Sales might for example read ‘Sales Ledger Department, The Apple Pie Trading Company’.

Address, Tel, Fax (2)

Two lines of text in the font specified on page six are available to type in an address to appear on the forms. Probably, all the actual address elements can be fitted onto the first line separated by commas, followed by a Carriage Return, then the Telephone and Fax numbers.

Payment Terms (3)

Up to four lines of text are available to type a general payment terms description.

EandOE etc (4)

One or two lines appear, centred across the whole page, and can be used for any other kind of terms or message that you would like to stand out.

VAT Reg etc (5)

Up to two lines can be used to write in your Company Registered address, Company No, VAT Registration No etc.

Authorisation (6)

On appropriate forms such as the Order Authorisation should appear some text to ensure that the signatory is aware of what they are signing. This appears in the same position on the form as the Payment Terms, which are not printed on such forms. The diagram below illustrates how each of these fields appears on the finished form, when using the Enterprise 6 text templates:

Depending on which option you desire to use, switch on the appropriate radio button for Enterprise 6 Internal Forms, SuperReport Editable Forms or Word Processing Forms.

Form Printing Font

If using the Enterprise 6 internal forms, type here the name of the font you want the text determined in Form Settings 1 above to be printed in. NB You must type the font name exactly as it appears in the System Folder.

Update Font

This button updates the Form Settings 1 screen if you have changed the font requirements on this screen.

Title, Text and data Font Sizes

If using the Enterprise 6 internal forms, type here the font size you want these text types to be printed in. Typical settings would be 18, 8 and 8 point respectively.

Title Left Right or Centre

If using the Enterprise 6 internal forms, enter here where on the form you want the form title (for example, Invoice, Purchase Order) to appear. Form title Picture If you are not using pre-printed stationery, but would like a scanned copy of your logo to appear on your forms, paste a copy of it here.

SuperReport Editable Forms
If you are using SuperReport Pro (supplied with Enterprise 6 version 4 onwards), SuperReport forms are stored in the Enterprise 6 datafile. If an expected SuperReport form is not present, the default Enterprise 6 form will be used. The [Edit Templates] button can be used to edit (but not print) these forms. 

Currently, Enterprise 6 can use the following SuperReport forms: “SR Invoice”; “SR Invoice DT” (ie an Invoice with a separate delivery address) and “SR statement” (from the Sales Invoices file, number 39); “SR Order Quote”; “SR Order Auth”; “SR Order Ack”; “SR Delivery” (from the Sales Orders file, number 24); “SR Movement” (from the Stock Movements file, number 40); “SR Purch Order” (from the Purchase Orders file, number 57); “SR Remittance” (from the Purchase Invoices file, number 37) and “SR Contract” and “SR Call Sheet” (from the Service Contracts file, number 17). If you wish to create your own versions of these forms, they must have these Report codes. It is recommended that you use the supplied forms as models.

Selecting a menu item which would usually use one of these forms with the mouse and with the <Alt> key held down will cause Enterprise 6 to revert to the standard Enterprise 6 form.

If you want to set up any Forms that do exist on disk, but were not previously in operation, you will need to double-click on the relevant Form (with an ‘SR •’ prefix), and use the ‘Open’ function on the SuperReport Pro File menu to open the appropriate old-format disk file. Then, select the correct file (such as Orders or Stock Movements) from the File No pop-up menu. Finally, to make the form operational, remove the ‘•’ symbol from the Document code.

Enterprise 6 Text Templates, print Form Settings 1

WP Templates can be considered in the same way as pre-printed stationery. If you are using WP Templates, you may have designed them in an integrated fashion with your address details and other text as part of the form (ie with these details “pre-printed” to continue that analogy). Alternatively, you may have designed them without these and be expecting them to be printed automatically (ie analogous to a bare pre-printed form consisting merely of a logo).

In the former instance, you would turn this check box off, in the latter you would switch it on. In the latter case, the text and text positions determined on the Form Settings 1 screen would be used. The [Edit Templates] can be used to edit the WP Templates.