Core menu

Many files in Enterprise 6 can have their contents subject to a secondary level of classification. For example, the Purchase Order file might contain the sub-divisions of ‘Unconfirmed Orders’, ‘Confirmed Orders’ and ‘Cancelled 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 are 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 layouts 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 - not all will be relevant to Purchase Order Processing.

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 note

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 layouts 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.