version 32 v6.20 update notes - abacus ii for windowssilvermountain.ca/dloads/software/abacus 32...

Abacus 32 V6.20 Release Notes

- 1 -

Version 32 V6.20

UPDATE NOTES

THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF MAJOR CHANGES MADE TO ABACUS. PLEASE PRINT AND READ ALL OF THE UPDATE NOTES TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE CHANGES.

Please Read and Follow the UPDATE Notes.

Installation Instructions:

1. Run Abacus function USUU to ensure no other users are signed into Abacus. If other users are showing as being in Abacus, ensure that they are in fact signed off, and then run function USR to reset the network flags.

2. BACKUP your data before installing the update. If the installation requests the entry of a CD-Key and you do not have one, contact Silver Mountain Software at 905-853-6922. 3. Download the Abacus V6.20 Update file ABV620.EXE and run the program, and click OK.


- 2 -

Click on the Setup button:

4. You will be presented with the following screen:


- 3 -

Your choices:

1- New Installation

Will install a new copy of Abacus on the drive you select.

2- Install Abacus Will install the update to Abacus at the location you select.


- 4 -

3- Search for Existing Installations Will search all hard drives and present all the Abacus installations located and ask which one to update. If the location you want to update does not appear, use option 2 and point to the Abacus2 folder you want to update.

4- Update Licenses Only If you have purchased extra user licenses, the Licenses only will be updated. Select the location where the program is installed.

You will be asked to enter the CD Key provided to update the user licenses.

Q- Quit This will quit the installation program.


- 5 -

After the installation is complete, start Abacus and select the data location. You will be asked to Update the data location:

Make sure you have backed up the data before performing the update!! After selecting Yes, the program will update all the data files in the data location selected.

You will need to update all the data locations that you are using. Remember to back them up before updating!! Proceed with the Release Notes and perform the tasks required.


- 6 -

Abacus 32 V6.20

RELEASE NOTES

THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF CHANGES MADE TO ABACUS. PLEASE PRINT AND READ ALL OF THE UPDATE NOTES TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE CHANGES.

Please Read and Follow the UPDATE Notes.

Changes Made in Abacus V6.20: We would like to thank all the Abacus users for their support.

This release DOES NOT support the DOS environment. This document does not include the changes that were made in previous versions of Abacus. If you would like to review the changes in previous releases of Abacus, please download and review the following documents. 1) Abacus V5.50 Documentation 2) Abacus V6.00 Documentation 3) Abacus V6.10 Documentation


- 7 -

Enhancements and Changes in this release:

1) The size of the font used within Abacus may be scaled for each user ID. 2) A number of Changes to ACV A/R – Customer – View to improve finding information on

a customer. 3) Expanded lookup windows. 4) ACV - A/R Customer View. A number of enhancement and features. 5) ACE - A/R Customer Edit. New fields have been added to the customer file. 6) WCE – Wages Canadian Payroll Employee Edit. New fields have been added to the

employee file. 7) PVE – Payable Vendor Edit. New fields have been added to the vendor file. 8) UICR - Util / Initialize / Control Accounts / Receivables. Expanded controls under

Receivables. 9) UICI Util / Initialize / Control Accounts / Inventory. Expanded controls under Inventory. 10) IE – Inventory Edit. Changes to Inventory Edit. 11) UIV– Util / Initialize / Variables:System. Expanded controls under Variables:System. 12) IUI – Inventory – Utilities – Inventory Code Change 13) UIU – Util – Initialize – User Lookups. 14) UICJ – Util / Initialize / Control Accounts / Jobs. Expanded controls under Jobs. 15) JJ – Jobs / Job Master Edit. Job Edit Phases with Revisons. 16) JRO –Jobs / Reports / Other Job Reports. Other Job Reports. 17) Graphic Forms. 18) Email of invoices directly to the customer. 19) When printing, output can be saved to PDF format. 20) New totally rewritten Windows Quote System.


- 8 -

1) Multiple Core CPU - Abacus now takes advantage and uses the multiple CPU Cores. Each new window is

assigned to different CPU Cores. Thereby improving performance. 2) Screen Font Size Can be changed: With new large monitors, the text seems to get smaller and smaller. We now allow you to scale the font size use within Abacus. This is controlled on a per Abacus user sign-in. To change the Font Size, go to the Help – About menu item. Press the Set button to change the scaling factor

You can set the Current Screen Scaling for your user ID from Scaling Factor 1 (Normal) to Scaling Factor 5 (Large)


- 9 -

The screen below shows Scaling Factor 1.


- 10 -

The below is Scaling Factor 4. Notice how much more of the screen the box takes up.

Please Note: If you select a scaling factor too larger for you Monitor, the screen may be too large to fit on your Monitor. You have to either increase the Resolution setting of you monitor within Windows, or reduce the Scaling Factor.


- 11 -

3) Expanded Lookup Windows When looking at Browse Windows, they are expanded to take advantage of the vertical window space. Screen below not expanded.

Below is the new vertically expanded Browse


- 12 -

4) ACV A/R Customer View When you enter on a customer, you may now select the order that the informaton is presented.

Invoice Order presents the information in the Ref# column order and the Quick Lookup will automatically position you on the desired data.


- 13 -

Purchase Order presents the information in Purchase Number Order and the Quick Lookup will automatically position you on the desired data.

Date Order presents the information in Date of Invoice or Payment Order and the Quick Lookup will automatically position you on the desired data. Please note the date is presented in the format of YYYYMMDD so that it is in chronological order.


- 14 -

Other Changes to ACV

ACV – Modify-F4 allows you to view and edit the customer information on file.

ACV – Memo-F7 allows you to view and edit the customer Memo information on file.


- 15 -

ACV – After expanding the customer and viewing the history, we have added a PrtInv-F6


- 16 -

ACV – After expanding the customer and viewing the history, we have added a Search-F7. The search will ask for text to search for.

This will search the “Description” Column and display any records with the text contained inside the column.

The information contained in the “Description” comes from the AR Reference that is entered on the invoice.


- 17 -

5) ACE A/R Customer Edit

- Added Customer Cellular Number - Added Customer Email Address

6) WCE Wages – Canadian Payroll – Employee Edit

- Added Employee Email Address


- 18 -

7) PVE Payables Vendor Edit

- Added Vendor Cellular Number - Added Vendor Email Address - Added the information for EFT (electronic funds transfer) Will be added for paying

vendors through direct deposit.


- 19 -

8) UICR - Expanded controls under Receivables – Util/Initialize/Control Accounts/Receivables.

- Enforce Credit Limits? If you answer Yes, when entering the payment method on an invoice, you may not put the payment on account if the current outstanding and this invoice is greater then their credit limit. The only way that the invoice will be allowed “on account”, is if the customers credit limit is increased to accommodate this invoice amount.

- Warn When Overshipping Items? Yes, will warn when the inventory item is being overshipped. No, will not warn when the inventory item is being overshipped

- Warn When Selling At Loss? Yes, will warn when the selling price is lower then the cost. No, will not warn when the selling price is lower then the cost.

- Default form to print. When printing an invoice, which choice is highlighted as your initial choice Picking Slip 1 Invoice (one copy printed) 2 Invoice (two copies printed) 3 Invoice (three copies printed) # Invoice (select number of copies from 1 to 6) Alt Invoice Other Picking

- Use Graphic Invoice Forms? Use the new Graphics Forms. Please refer to the section on the graphic forms.

- Show Cost During Invoicing? Yes, will display the costs on the sale of inventory items. No, will not display the cost on the sale of inventory items, *’s will be displayed.

- Check Inventory Price In Days? Specifies the number of days that the price on inventory items must be checked before it is outdated. The is a date field within the inventory department record. This date can be manually changed, or is automatically changed when the sell price is edited or inventory is received for the particular part.

- Print Invoice After Picking Slip? When you specify Yes, after you print the Picking Slip, Abacus will stay on the “Print Selection” screen so that you can print the Invoice.


- 20 -

- Stop On P.O. Number to Enter?

This refers to when you are entering an invoice in ABI – A/R Billing Invoicing or ABO – A/R Billing Order Entry. Yes, will force a stop on the P.O. field when you press F8-Accept or Page Down.

- Use New Quote System? Yes, will tell Abacus to use the New Quote System. No, will tell Abacus to continue using the Old DOS Based Quote System Please refer to the documentation on the New Quote system.

9) UICI - Expanded controls under Inventory – Util/Initialize/Control Accounts/Inventory.

- Set default Costing Method for MR’s This will default the cost to be assigned when inventory is being assigned to the MR’s

- Allow Edit Quantities/Costs (Yes or No)?

It is highly recommended that this be set to No. By setting this to No, will not allow costs of quantities to be edited manually within the inventory system. When you specify YES, this allows the editing of the costs and quantities manually within the inventory system, Abacus does not track these changes when they are done.

- Default Current Sell in OR.

If you specify Yes, then at the time of receiving an inventory item, the default selling price will be the current fixed sell withing the inventory department record. If you specify No, then the price at the time the item is received will the suggested selling price that was entered at the time the PO was created

- Labour Inventory Class

Specify an inventory class that you want to us for labour costs. This is used for reporting and in new Quote system.


- 21 -

- Use Pics and Pdf Y/N

Specify if you want to attach pictures and Pdf files to inventory items. If you specify Yes, you can now attach Pictures and PDF documents to inventory items. After this feature is turned on, the inventory edit and invoicing screens have the pictures displayed.

The above image is the new Inventory edit screen. The F3-PicPdf key allow you to add and delete Pictures and Pdfs on an inventory item.

Press PicPdf-F3 will display the following screen.


- 22 -

Select Pictures to Add New Picture or Delete an attached Picture

Select Documents to Add New Document, Delete an attached Document or View an attached document.

When you select Add New Picture, or Docment, you will be presented with a file selection screen.

If pictures are selected, the file selection screen is displayed. Abacus supports picture files on BMP, GIF, JPG and PNG formats. If documents are selected, then the file selection screen displays PDF files only.


- 23 -

NOTE: When the Picture/Document option is turned on, Abacus will create a folder under the data folder named “PICSPDFS”. Whenever a new Picture or PDF is attached to an inventory item, the file is automatically copied to the PICSPDFS folder, so that the file is available to all users.

When the Pictures/Documents option is activated, pictures are displayed during invoicing.

10) IE – Inventory Edit – Changes to Inventory Edit.

- Pictures and PDF’s added. Please refer to Item 9 (previous) - F5-Search has been added.

Press the F5-Search will display the follow message

By answering Yes, will search all unposted Invoicing Batches for the inventory Item and display all the current invoices that contain the particular item.


- 24 -

Displaying the Batch and Invoice details of all invoices that contain the item. Press F3-Expand will display the detail for the particular invoice.


- 25 -

11) UIV - Expanded controls under Variables:System – Util/Initialize/Variables:System - Use DOS Colors in Lookups

If this features is set to use, the colors used to highlight information will more closely match the old DOS Colors with foreground and background colors

Below is with DOS Colors set to No.

- Use DOS Printer for Forms Printing

If you are still using preprinted continuous forms on dot matrix printer, they you need to set this to yes, and tell Abacus which forms are still being printed to dot matrix printer on the old LPT ports.

- Use Email Feature

Please refer to the section on setting up and using the email feature.

- Put Lines On Reports If you specify yes to putting lines on Reports, the new report generator will automatically place lines across the page every 3 lines to make it easier to follow across the page.

- Under F7-DepRec we have added the F7-ChkAll(ocated)


- 26 -

Pressing the F7-Allocated presents the following choices:

“Just This Item” will verify the allocated quantity on this one inventory department record within all open batches and display all the batches that make up the allocated amount.

“All Inventory” will verify all the allocated items in all department records for all inventory codes against all open batches and automatically adjust the allocated quantities to match.


- 27 -

12) IUI – Inventory – Utilities – Inventory Code Change This function will allow you to make changes or corrections to inventory codes that have been setup. This will change all the files that reference the old code to the new code, including all old history. If you do not see the menu item, go into Util – Passwords and increase the security access above 0 (zero) on the UIU item for the user requesting access to the utility. Note: This will not merge one code with another code The utility works by entering a number of inventory code changes into a batch file.

After you have entered in all the changes you want to be made into the list,

you then press the F6-Apply to finalize all the changes. The apply may take a while to perform, depending upon the amount of history data contained in your files. The time required to preform the changes does not increase much, when a large number of changes are done at one time. If you have a number of changes to make, it is recommended that they be done in a batch, then applied. As opposed to doing the changes one at a time.


- 28 -

13) UIU – Util – Initialize – User Lookups. This function will allow you to set up a custom Lookup Key as well as set the default order when looking up any of the following:

14) UICJ - Expanded controls under Jobs – Util/Initialize/Control Accounts/Jobs

- Enforce Estimates Yes/No/Warn This control is related to posting Payable against a Job/Phase. Answer No, to allow payables against a Job/Phase without checking if the amount of the payable would put the actual over the estimate. Answer Warn, to receive a warning when the payable against a Job/Phase would put the actual over the estimate. Answer Yes, will NOT ALLOW the payable batch to be posted until Revised Estimates (Change Orders) are entered to take into account the amount being posted against the Job/Phase.


- 29 -

15) JJ – Job Edit Phases with Revisons – Jobs/Job Master Edit. There have been a number of changes in the way that Abacus handles Estimated and the Actual Costs entered into phases. The first thing to note is that the Job MUST BE “In Process” for the system to handle Estimates/Revisions and Actual Cost. Once the job is “In Process”, revisions (Change Orders) may be entered one of two ways:

In the screen above, you may edit the Revised Estimate. For example you could enter 1300.00 into the Revised Estimate field. You are presented with the following screen.

If you use change orders, enter th Change order reference number and a short description, such as CC1453 – Extend flooring 10Sqft


- 30 -

Or you may press the F5-RevEst key.

You are presented with the following screen,

and then enter the amount to adjust the estimate by. 16) JRO – Other Job Reports – Jobs/Reports/Other Job Reports

- New Job Reports have been added.


- 31 -

17) Graphic Forms Sample form below.


- 32 -

Note: Currently Abacus will handle the graphic forms for only Invoices, Picking Slips, and Quotes. The other forms will be release in due course. General Terms and Definitions. First we would like to give you a description of the general description of things you would need to know to design a form. Definitions: Fixed Pitch Fonts: A fixed-pitch also called a monospaced font, fixed-width or no-proportional

font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space.

An example of a Fixed Pitch font is Courier New Bold. Fixed pitch makes it simple to align numeric values so that the values all end in the same left column.

Example: 1,234,567.89 45,768.99

Proportional Fonts: A font in which different characters have different pitches (widths).

Proportional fonts are also called proportional-pitch fonts. An example of a proportional font is Arial. Arial fonts can not be made to align left without

being placed within a column since each character has a different width. As in the example above the proportional font would align up as follows. 1,234,567.89 45,768.99 (there are three spaces preceeding the 4) Columns: A column is used so that information can be placed within it and then aligned left,

right or centered within the column. A column is defined by defining the left(across) position and the width of the column.

Header: The header information is usually placed before the body of the form. It prints on all the

pages of every document in the run. For example, the customer name and Address information at the top of an invoice are part of the header. Titles above the body columns are also included in the header.

Body: The body of the document holds the detail lines. An invoice body line, for example, would

have the item description, quantity, price per item, and extended total for each line item on an invoice. When defining a form, you need to define the number of lines that are printed within the Body section.

Overflow messages: Overflow messages print at the bottom of every page where the body

overflows the end of that page. An example of an overflow message is “continued on next page.”

Footing: A footing appears once at the end of every document. The footing of an invoice could

have a literal message saying “Please pay this amount,” total, taxes, and other items.


- 33 -

Font Style: Refers to the appearance of the font with any combination of the following attributions:

0- Normal 1- Bold 2- Italic

4- Underlined 8- Strikeout To create a combination of the following styles, add the numbers together to come up with the style you require. For example: Bold-Italic-Underlined = 7 and results in the follow: Sample text

Point Size: The point size is the vertical height of the font. There are approximately 72 points in 1 inch. For example a 6-point font is considered very small, a 10 or 12-point font is quite normal for displaying text to be read. Any text larger than 12-point is usually used for headings.

Examples: 6-point type

10-point type

12-point type

16-point type

24-point type Line Spacing: The amount of vertical space a line occupies. When printing on a dot-matrix

printer, line spacing is typically 6 lines per inch or a vertical space of 0.167 inches. When converting the existing forms from the old forms, from Abacus, the line spacing is defaulted to 6 lines per inch.

Graphic Elements: Graphic elements are pictures or logos in the format of BMP, GIF, JPG or

PNG. These graphic elements are typically placed in the Header, Footer or Overflow sections

Box Elements: Box elements are defined by defining the top left corner (down and across) and

the bottom left corner (down and across) and whether it is a one or two line box. Line Elements: Line elements are defined the same as boxes with the top left corner and the

bottom left corner. If you want a vertical line, then the across co-ordinates will be the same. If you want a horizontal line, then the down co-ordinates will be the same. If all of the co-ordinates are different, then you will have an angled line from the top-left to the bottom right. A line may be defined as a single or double line.

Text Elements: Text elements are fixed text that is placed onto a form, such as headings or

comments. The text is entered, with the down and across co-ordinates. Text may also be placed into a predefined column. The text is assigned to a font to be used and the alignment of text (left justified, right justified or centered)


- 34 -

Data Elements: Data elements are predefined fields that are assigned to the document being printed. For example: In an invoice, the following would be a few of the data elements, Invoice number, Customer Code, Customer Name, Customer Address, Inventory code, Inventory Description, Quantity Sold, etc. The data elements available are all predefined and you can select the data to be printed and where it is to be placed. You can specify a column to place the data in as well as the font to use and the alignment.

Co-Ordinates: All co-ordinates in the form design system are defined in inches. When trying to determine the location on the page, you can use a ruler with 10ths of inches on it. You can also, press the F8-Print and select “Test Print”. Then select whether you want the footer or overflow printed. Then view the printout on the screen. In the picture below, if you place the curser at a location on the screen, (below the cursor is placed to the top left of the “S” in Sold), you will notice the red lines in the top and left rulers. That is the location of the cursor. The ruler is set to 10ths of inches.

When you are previewing, there are a number of things available to get you around the preview

window. Below is the help screen that is displayed when your click on the Help button at

the top of the screen.


- 35 -

Designing a form DPF – D/Base – PowerTools Setup – Forms Setup. There are a three ways to design a new form.

1) Pressing F3-Add and creating a new form from scratch. 2) Copying an existing from by highlighting the form to be copied and pressing F9-Utility and

then selecting Duplicate Form. You can then modify the new form to your specifications. 3) If you have a form designed within Abacus, you can go into UIS – Util – Initialize – Setup

Forms. Highlight the form you want to use in graphic forms and press F5-Print. You will be asked if you want to convert to Windows Graphic Form?

Answer Yes and the form will be added to the list of forms in the graphic forms available. Then you may edit the form and add a number of elements such as:

- Logo and Graphics - Heading - Lines - Boxes - Data


- 36 -

Converting an Existing Abacus Invoice Form To convert an existing Abacus Invoice Form, you would go into UIS – Setup Forms and highlight the existing form to be converted and press F5-Print and then answer Yes to convert the form. Note: You will NOT BE ASKED to convert, if the form has already been converted. This is controlled by the form ID (I75 below). If you would like to convert the form a second time, you will need to either delete the existing Graphic form under UPF, or F3-Duplic to duplicate it here to assign a new form ID, before converting it a second time.

After you answer Yes, you must then complete the printing of the form to have the conversion completed. You can view on screen or print directly to a printer. The form will be converted and added to the invoice forms within the graphics forms under, Util/PowerTools/Forms Setup.


- 37 -

The above picture is a test print of the converted form. Now you may modify this form and add other elements to it.


- 38 -

Higlight the form you want to modify and then press the F-Key to modify the section desired.

F2-Edit Function Key to edit the information on the form.

Items available for editing: Form name – this appears when you select a form to be used when printing. Form Status – Only Active forms will be available for use when printing. Paper Format – Pressing F1 will present you with the available paper formats:

o Letter Portrait o Letter Landscape o Legal Portrait o Legal Landscape o Form 1” o Form 4” o Form 7”

The other fields are currently not in use. Will be used in the future.


- 39 -

FONTS: After completing the first screen, you will see the Fonts currently assigned to the form. If the form was converted from the old Abacus Forms, you will see the following screen.

The first 8 fonts are the Monotype.com fonts and are the fixed pitch fonts used for printing the old Abacus forms. The fonts used are as follows: Font 1 – Monotype.com 7 point – used for Compressed printing 17 CPI Font 2 – Monotype.com 10 point – used for Elite printing 12 CPI Font 3 – Monotype.com 12 point – used for Normal printing 10 CPI Font 4 – Monotype.com 15 point – used for Expanded printing 6 CPI Font 5 – Monotype.com 7 point – used for Bold Compressed printing 17 CPI Font 6 – Monotype.com 7 point – used for Bold Elite printing 12 CPI Font 7 – Monotype.com 7 point – used for Bold Normal printing 10 CPI Font 8 – Monotype.com 7 point – used for Bold Expanded printing 6 CPI The next 8 fonts are the WP BoxDrawing fonts and are used for drawing boxes and lines in the old Abacus Forms. If the old Abacus form did not have boxes or lines, then these 8 WP BoxDrawing fonts are not required. The fonts are used in the same order as above. If the WP BoxDrawing fonts are not being used, they may be deleted and used for other fonts. In our example they were deleted so that other fonts may be used. In this example we will delete the WP BoxDrawing fonts and add others to be used for the text elements and headings. Pressing F3-Add displays the following screen.


- 40 -

Font Name: The name of the font to add. Press F1 to lookup. Font Number: The number to assign within the font list. Point Size: The size to assign to the font. (Remember 1 point is approx 1/72”) Font Style: The style to assign to the font, normal, bold italics, etc. Press F1 for help Font Color: This is currently not being used. Pressing F1 on the Font Name, displays a list of all of the fonts that exist on your system.

As you scroll over the font names, a sample of the font is displayed in the box above the font list. When you select the font name, it will be put into the Font Name field. NOTE: THE NAME OF THE FONT MUST BE EXACTLY AS SEEN IN THE LIST. TAKE SPECIAL CARE IN SELECTING A FONT TO ENSURE THAT IT IS AVAILABLE ON ALL COMPUTERS THAT WOULD BE PRINTING THE FORM. SELECTING A FONT THAT DOES NOT EXIST ON OTHER COMPUTERS WILL HAVE UNPREDICTABLE PRINT RESULTS.

This will add two fonts: Font 9, Arial in 8-point, bold (1) Font 10, Arial in 10-point normal (0) Font 11, Arial in 12-Point bold(1)


- 41 -

COLUMNS: After you have finished with the fonts, you will be presented with a Column Definition screen.

As you remember, columns are used if you want to center or right justify data within a column when using proportional fonts.

Column Number: Assign a Column number to the column, starting with 1. Across: The distance from the left edge of the paper to the start of the column in inches. Width: The width of the column in inches.

When converting from the original Abacus forms, the data is all printed with fixed pitch fonts and columns are not required. If you would like to see examples of columns, duplicate one of the existing forms by pressing the F9-Menu and selecting the Duplicate function. On the same Silver Mountain Invoice at the beginning of Section 17 Graphic Forms, there are columns defined for “Qty/Ord”, “Qty/Ship”, “Unit/Price”, “Amount”, as well as for the column with no heading, that is use to print a discount %. In our example


- 42 -

We are going to modify the form brought over from Abacus,

We are going to do the following:

- Place a Company Logo, Name Address and Phone Number in the top left. - 2 line box around the body with horizontal lines separating the heading and body. - Box around the totals - Headings above all the columns and to the left of the totals - Extra text elements in the bottom left of the form.

There are three sections to a form, Header-F5, Body-F6 and Footer-F7(includes Overflow) F5-Header: is where we will place all the boxes, lines and headings except for the totals in the footer. F6-Body: There is nothing we need to do with the body (unless you want to change what is printed in the body) F7-Footer: This consists of two parts:

The Footer is only printed on the last page of the invoice. The Overflow is printed if the invoice requires more then one page.


- 43 -

Header Section: Pressing F5-Header will show you all the elements currently assigned to the header. In our case they are all Data Elements.

Pressing F3-Add will allow you to choose the type of element to be added.

Selecting Graphic, brings up the following screen:

Graphic Name: Press F1 and locate the graphic file you want to insert onto the form. The graphic file may be a BMP, GIF, JPG or PNG. After selecting the picture file, it is copied into the data folder, so that everyone will have access to it when printing. Placement: Down: The number of inches from the top of the page to the spot on the page you want to place the graphic. Placement: Across: The number of inches from the left side of the page to the spot on the page you want to place the graphic. Size: Height and Width: The height and width you want to print the graphic in. The system will always maintain the aspect ratio of the graphic and will do a best fit.


- 44 -

As you progress in designing the form, you can always do a test print of the from to screen to see the results – Press F8-Print and select “Test Print”.

Next we will add the Company Name, Address and Phone number beside the logo. Pressing F3-Add and select Text:

Text: The text you want include in the form. Placement: Down and Across: The down and across co-ordinate in inches for placing the text. Within Column #: The predefined column to place the text into. Press F1 to see the defined

columns. Font Number: The font to assign to the text. Press F1 to see the defined fonts. Alignment: The alignment of the Text Element. Left, Right or Center. Continue adding the rest of the address and phone numbers. Also add in the heading “Sold to:”

and “Ship To” above the two addresses.


- 45 -

Now we will place a double box around the part below the address to just above the totals. Press F3-Add and select Box

One or Two Line Box: a single or double line box. Placement Top Left Corner: Down and Across: Top co-ordinates of the box in inches. To Bottom Right Corner: Down and Across: Bottom co-ordinates of the box in inches. Now we will add lines to the form. Two horizontal lines, one below the date NET 30 line and one above the body line. Also add vertical lines between the columns. Press F3 and select “Line”.

One or Two Line Format: a single or double lines. Placement Top Left Corner: Down and Across: Top co-ordinates of the line in inches. To Bottom Right Corner: Down and Across: Bottom co-ordinates of the line in inches. Note: If you are doing horizontal lines, then the down co-ordinates will be the same. If you are doing vertical lines, then the across co-ordinates will be the same. If all four are different, the line will be drawn as a diagonal line.


- 46 -

The image below shows the lines added.

Next we will add the heading inside the top of the box. These are added as Text Elements.


- 47 -

The last item to discuss within the header, are the Data Elements. When the form was transferred from the original Abacus Form, the data elements were automatically transferred. You may F2-Edit, F3-Add or F4-Delete the Data elements.

Data elements are predefined fields available to be printed onto the forms. Field Code: Press F1 for a list of all the field codes that are available for the section you are

editing. The same Field Code may be use multiple times. For example, the invoice number may be place in the header at the top, as well as in the footer.

Placement – Down and Across: The down and across co-ordinate in inches for placing the data element.

Within Column #: The column number to place the data element into. Press F1 to see the defined columns.

Picture: The picture clause, defines how the data is to be printed. These are predefined and automatically populates when the data element is selected.

Font: The font that is assigned to the data element. Press F1 to see the Fonts available. Alignment: Defines the alignment of the data element, Left, Right or Centered. The alignment is

normally left aligned, unless the data is place within a column. Data Type: Defines the type of data within the data element. These are predefined for the data

elements and normally are not changed.


- 48 -

Body Section: The Body Section needs to be defined, before the elements are added or modified. When the form is transferred from the old Abacus forms, the body section is automatically defined. Pressing F6-Body, brings up the following screen:

Pressing F5-Modify will bring up the definition of the body sections:

Section Number: Presently we only support one section. In the future you will be able to define multiple sections. Description: General description of the section being defined. Number of Lines: Defines the number of body lines to be printed before going to the next page.

This also triggers the overflow footer. Line Spacing: The vertical space in inches, that each line takes up. After defining/modifying the body definition, press F2-Edit to display the details within the body section.


- 49 -

Data elements are predefined fields available to be printed onto the forms, based upon the section you are editing. Normally the body section only contains Data Elements. An example of a form where other elements may be included within the body section might be a Picking/Packing Form. There may be a column on the far right where the employee would tick or initial each item as it is packed. In this case, you might want to put a line in the column for the tick or initials. Also, you may also want to space the lines further apart, so that there is room for the initials. You would modify the body definition and increase the line spacing from 0.144 inches to .25 or more inches.


- 50 -

Footer/Overflow Section: The footer section is only printed on the last page of the document and normally contains the final totals and other information, such as conditions, warranties, etc. The overflow section is used when the document exceeds one page and is used on all but the last page. If the document only contains one page, then the overflow section is not used. When designing this section, always define the Footer section first, with all the text elements defined. Then you can copy the footer section over to the overflow section, thereby saving you the time of defining the data twice. When you press F7-Footers, you are asked to select either the Footer or the Overflow to be edited.

First we will edit the footer and draw lines around the totals at the bottom left and add the text elements for the amounts.

We will add our Tax number to the bottom of the form as well as some text elements on return policy. The Tax number consists of a text element and a data element. The return policy is entered as text elements.


- 51 -

To design the overflow section, we will first copy the complete footer to the overflow section and then edit the information. To copy the footer section, enter the footer and then press F5-Copy and select “All Records”. This will duplicate all the items defined in the Footer, over to the Overflow section.

Now enter the Overflow section and you will see an exact duplicate of the overflow section. We will do the following:

- Delete the line above the Total invoice amount - Delete the Total invoice amount Text Element and Data Element. - Delete the two tax lines, Text Elements and Data Elements. - Change Data Element – Invoice Subtotal to Data Element Page Total - Reduce the vertical height around the page total.

We have completed the forms design of the new invoice. DON’T FORGET YOU NEED TO SET THE FORM TO “ACTIVE”.


- 52 -

The last step in activating the new graphic forms is to tell Abacus the default forms to use. You will need to have at least one active for the three forms used during Invoicing and Quotes. The three forms are:

- Invoice Form - Picking/Packing Slip - Quote Form

After you have designed and activated the three forms, you need to tell Abacus the Default form to be used. This is done under UICR – Util / Initialize / Control Accts / Receivables. You need to set the control “Use Graphic Invoice Forms” to Yes.

After answering yes, you will be asked to select the forms to be used as the default forms for: Invoicing,

Packing Slip,

and Quote Form.

One of each forms MUST be selected as the default. If you do not use the Packing Slip or Quote Forms, just activate one of the existing predefined forms, so that they may be selected as default.


- 53 -

18) Email of invoices directly to the customer. This goes hand in hand with the graphic forms, the generation of PDF files and the addition of the customers email address. Currently you can email Invoices, Picking/Packing Slips and Quotation. The forms must be designed, activated and selected for printing. Please refer to the Graphic Forms design section of this manual. This MUST be completed before the email can be setup for use. The Email system allow you to set email accounts for each individual Abacus User to send out emails. Or you can set Abacus to use one common email setup for all users. If you do not set up the email account information for individual users, when they attempt to send out an email, it will default to the setup for the SUP user account. The email system DOES NOT receive emails, only send. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU SET UP THE SUP USER FIRST AS THE DEFAULT EMAIL ACCOUNT THAT WOULD BE USED FOR USERS NOT ASSIGNED THEIR OWN EMAIL ADDRESS. HAVE ONE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING THE EMAILS SENT OUT THROUGH THIS ACCOUNT, IN CASE OF REJECTION. There are two type of email systems that are being used on computers today:

1) Computer based Email Client Software. You have a piece of software installed on your computer to send and receive email. You need to setup each account on the software for sending and receiving emails.

2) Web based email. You have no software installed on your computer and you open your web browser and go to a web page and sign in so that you can send and receive emails.

Some computer based email clients make it very difficult to send emails directly through their services. It was decided that we would set up all the account information which is required for the mail accounts and send directly to the email server, bypassing any local Email Client software. Information that will be required before you can set up your email:

• POP3 Server Name

• Incoming Mail Server o POP3 Port Number o User Name o Password

• SMTP Server Name

• Outgoing Mail Server o SMTP Port Number o Server Requires Authentication? Yes/No

� User Name � Password

• Is TLS/SSL Required? Yes/No


- 54 -

If you do not have this information, you can either check the properties for the account on your local email client software, check with your web based email provider, or check with your network administrator. To turn on the email option, you need to do this under UIV – Util / Initialize / Variables:System. If you are not logged in as SUP, you can only modify your own email account information.

After answering yes to the Use Email Feature you will be presented with the following, but only if you are logged in as SUP:

Select “One Common Email”, if all emails are sent through the same setup. Select “Separate Emails”, if users have their own email accounts. Remember, if the user is not set up with their own email, then their emails will be sent using the setup for the SUP User. If you select “Separate Emails”, you will be presented with the users. Select the user you wish to setup.


- 55 -

After selecting the user, you will be presented with the email setup screen.

Enter the information into the appropriate fields. Please refer to the section later on the “Information on Common SSL Mail Server Setups”. After you completed entering all the information, you will be asked if you would like to test the setup, by sending a test email?

After Answering Yes, enter an email address into the “Email To:” files. You may edit the Subject and Email Details fields.


- 56 -

Once you press F8-Accept or press PgDn past the Email Detail, Abacus will attempt to send the email.

The above will be displayed as the email send is attempted. You will either receive a successful result,

or an error message if the email could not be sent.


- 57 -

Information on Common SSL Mail Server Setups Some common servers that require TLS/SSL are listed below. Note that the only differences between them are the server names and the SMTP port, which is either 465 or 587.

Provider Port Server Name

-------- ---- -----------

GMAIL 465 smtp.gmail.com

995 pop.gmail.com

HotMail 587 smtp.live.com

995 pop3.live.com

Yahoo 465 plus.smtp.mail.yahoo.com

995 plus.pop.mail.yahoo.com

MS Online 587 smtp.mail.microsoftonline.com

995 pop.mail.microsoftonline.com

Sympatico 587 smtphm.sympatico.ca

995 pophm.sympatico.ca


- 58 -

19) When printing, output can be saved to PDF format. With the Abacus V6.20, you can save any output to a standard PDF file. All that needs to be done is to view the document on the screen. Then press the Save File Icon in the top left corner of the screen.

After pressing on the save file icon, you can specify the location and name of the file to be saved.

Any report that can be viewed on the screen can be saved as a pdf file.


- 59 -

20) New totally rewritten Windows Quote System. New quotation system under ABQ – A/R Billing Quotes.

F2-Edit, allows you to edit an existing quotation. F3-Add, allows you to start a new quotation.


- 60 -

After the Quotation Header, you can create the body of the quotation. It works in the same way as an invoice does. The F8-ExpAsm will display the parts associated with a part that is set up as an assembly inventory item.

When viewing the list of open Quotations, F6-Order displays the above order options. This makes easier to find an existing quotation as the number of quotations grows.


- 61 -

When printing a Quotation, you have the following print options. Remember, the Email Quote option only appears if the Email system is setup and the customer has an email on file.

When you press F4-Copy, the following screen appears. The “Copy Quote” will allow you to duplicate the highlighted quote. A new invoice header appears. You assign the new customer information, and the details of the original quotation are copied to the new quotation. The “Export Quote” will allow you to transfer the quotation to a live invoice. When you select the export quote option, you will be presented with a list of open invoice batches. You are required to select an invoice batch to export the quotation into. A new invoice number is assigned and created within the selected batch.


- 62 -

When you press the F7-Util key, the above options appear. 1-Delete Old Quotation, allow you to delete the currently highlighted Quotation 2-Recalculate Prices, will recalculate the quotation, based upon the current prices within

the inventory system. 3-Append Another Quote, will allow you to select another quotation which will be

appended to the currently highlighted quotation.

Whe you press the F9-Import key, a list of all the existing quotations within the OLD QUOTE system appears. You may select one of the old quotations and they will be imported into the new quote system