29061 GENERAL SYSTEM GUIDE INTRODUCTION GS1-01 Application Overview
OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Ideal Online Users Manual. This introduction to the manual provides a comprehensive overview of the many features of Ideal's software applications that will provide your company with efficient, accurate and easy to use data processing and financial management.
Ideal's software applications are user-friendly and menu driven. To gain access to an option, simply select the corresponding menu item by typing the number assigned to it at the cursor. If you are working in a graphical environment, you can select menu items with the mouse. Ideal's software is designed specifically for ease of use and to increase the efficiency with which you move from one area to another during your daily data processing.
Ideal software has been designed to ensure maximum uniformity in the performance of maintenance or processing tasks. This means that the function assigned to a key will generally remain fixed wherever you may be in the system. For instance, the F4 key exits a function. The F3 key will back you up one field at a time. The F5 key displays inquiry options. This uniformity enables greater efficiency because once you learn the basic commands, it quickly becomes second nature to work with them in all program areas.
FILE MANAGEMENT
The Ideal system manages two types of data files. These are master data files and transaction data files.
Master file information refers to data that once entered is not going to be changed very often. All master file information is entered in the maintenance programs found in the various modules throughout the system. Data pertaining to a specific entity is created using the appropriate maintenance program and this data is then stored as a record within that specific maintenance file.
For example, all data relating to a supplier is entered using the Supplier Master Maintenance program. This data includes information such as the supplier's name, address, phone numbers, payment terms, currency types, and internal codes used by the system to identify the supplier and other information relating to that supplier. This record, when updated, is then stored with all of the other supplier records in the Supplier Master file.
Master maintenance data can be modified or deleted as required. New entries can be added at any time. The listings option allows you to print all or some of the records contained in each master file.
Transaction files contain data that changes frequently (usually on a daily basis). Such files include product and service transactions, customer invoices and receipts, and supplier invoices and expenses. Ideal software applications are batch oriented and in most cases data is not entered directly into transaction files but stored in temporary work files that are updated in "batches" to the transaction files as often as desired. This batching process allows operators to print and review audit trails of just how the system will be affected by the batch before updating the transaction files, thus reducing potential errors.
IdealWare Only:
Purchase ordering and point of sale transactions create special work files called "current order files" which are shared by all operators on the system. Entering orders immediately affects certain time-sensitive information such as product availability and customer spending limits. Any purchase order or point of sale transaction that is entered by any operator at any terminal is immediately accessible to all other operators working at other terminals. The batch process then selects the completed orders from the current order files for final processing and updating.
SECURITY SYSTEM
Ideal software comes with a security system which you may implement in full or in part depending on your company's specific needs. You can implement the password feature to restrict access to authorized users and you can create security profiles to limit each user's access to programs.
The security system permits you to set up groups of users who share a common security profile. This feature makes it easy to make changes in the program access permitted to a group of users. For example, you may wish to restrict the access of A/P clerks to Invoice Posting only. You simply create a user group named APCLERK, for instance, and create a profile that grants access only to the A/P Invoice Posting program. Then you add the names of the individual users and their passwords to the group. Thereafter, any change to the APCLERK profile affects all the users in that group.
PRINTED OUTPUT
Ideal software generates different types of printed output, including listings, reports, registers, cheques and forms.
Listings are printouts of all or part of the records stored in the selected master file. In selecting a listing program, you are presented with a parameters selection screen where you tell the program what criteria you wish to apply to the listed output. This enables you to limit the listing to only that specific data or range of data in which you are interested. You then advance to the print menu where printers are selected and the listing printed.
Reports are printouts of transaction file data. Before printing any report, you are prompted to select various options pertaining to the parameters of the specific output you desire. These user defined parameters include such things as the number of records you want printed, the type of data to include, and whether you want summarized totals or full details printed. The parameters vary depending on the report and are explained in detail in their specific sections of this manual. Once you have defined your report parameters you advance to the print menu. You can preview most reports by printing the report to your terminal screen.
Registers are printouts of data entry batches that have not yet been updated to the transaction files. Batch processing makes registers available for review to allow you to check your work to ensure that all data entries have been keyed in correctly before you actually update this new information to the various transaction files. After reviewing a register, you may update the information to the transaction files, re-enter the batch to make additional entries or edit the existing entries to correct errors. The procedures for editing batch file entries have been designed to ensure accuracy and ease.
Your Ideal application gives you full control over cheque formatting and printing. You may print cheques both automatically and manually.
Your Ideal application also prints a number of forms that enable you gather and collate information required for data entry.
IdealWare Only:
Purchase ordering and point of sale transactions create special work files called "current order files" which are shared by all operators on the system. Entering orders immediately affects certain time-sensitive information such as product availability and customer spending limits. Any purchase order or point of sale transaction that is entered by any operator at any terminal is immediately accessible to all other operators working at other terminals. The batch process then selects the completed orders from the current order files for final processing and updating.