BUSINESS SUPPORT MANAGER

SUFFOLK COUNTY COUCIL

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

ISTUG

Customer or Client

Warehouse or Store

Product Code or Stock Code

Use Analysis A to E in Supplier entry

Use the Telex field in Customer entry

Do your product descriptions contain a mixture of upper and lower case characters but you really want them as upper case only?

In sales ledger transaction enquiry if the bulk of your enquiries is by "Item No" or "Date"? Why keep "tabbing" the customer field?

In the Stock Summaries report do you want the "physical stock" to appear after the description or the "free stock"

This is a one-character field.

The response is not a Y or N, the input is "D" or blank.

Why not put a note on the screen "D" or "blank"

If you use transaction archiving and you go to an archived transaction enquiry screen you cannot browse on the "file identifier" field. Why not put a note on the screen listing the file identifiers.

A possible solution is to use the analysis fields and change the field type to a "yes/no" field for obtaining credit references and change another analysis field to a "date" field to hold the next credit check date.

In "Customer Transactions" you get a screen that asks you to make selections on

Supplier, Item Number, Our Reference, Date Range.

Invoices? y Open Items? Y

Credit Notes? Y Closed Items? Y

Cash? Y Registered? Y

Journals? Y Posted? Y

When you write a "Report Writer" report with run time parameters, when you come to run it, the screen you are presented with is totally pathetic. There is no information about what the report does, what the output is, all the input fields have standard lengths e.g. some string fields are15 characters others are 30 characters, even date fields are 15 characters.

The notes provided here assume that the end user has had System Manager training and is familiar with the Sage Tetra system to the extent of knowing how to set up new users, and the rudimentary aspects of system housekeeping, and system structure.

Each user on the system should have a formset unique to that user, or the group to which the user belongs. The formsets should be uniquely identified for good housekeeping purposes, and a log maintained of formsets and users to aid any subsequent editing requirements.

DO NOT MODIFY THE MASTER FORMSET any system upgrades will overwrite the master formset, and your edited forms will be lost.

The same rules apply to user Menu’s as for formsets above.

The same rules apply to Screen Messages as for formsets above.

When creating a new user from within System Manager, one of the options is to define a user formset, if this option is left blank, the master formset will be used.

Any forms not incorporated into the user formset will default to the master forms.

Must be carried out within System Manager/Configuration option where one of the options is that of Forms/Messages/Menu/Help Files. Select this option.

This will allow you to copy selected forms/menu’s/messages from the master form set and copy them by module to your defined user formset.

This facility can be used to copy facilities from one user formset to another, simply by selecting the from and to points, allowing common facilities to be migrated around formsets.

Must be carried out within System Manager/Configuration option where one of the options is that of Menus. Select this option. Specify the formset, and select the menu you wish to edit.

Any option in the options file can be placed upon any menu. The aim of menu editing should be to give the user all the options they need to carry out their job, and to remove all options they are not likely to use, or that you do not want them to use.

The tiled menu structure can be reduced for limited access users.

Use the function keys to change the header names and welcome messages.

The option names can be altered by over typing on the menu screen.

Once the edit is complete, press F9 to save the changes.

Must be carried out within System Manager/Configuration option where one of the options is that of Options. Select this option.

This facility can be used to make a global change to an option name.

New options can also be created, which can be inserted on your menus.

e.g. options to run facilities such as shell routines, or third party software.

Press F9 to save any changes made.

Must be carried out within System Manager/Configuration option where one of the options is that of Forms Editor. Select this option.

There are two types of forms Screen and Print forms, demoted by S for Screen form, and P for Print form, in the list of forms within the user formset.

One of the prime reasons for wishing to edit forms is that of removing from the screen information which the end user does not need, and presenting displayed information in a clear easy to read form.

A secondary reason could be that of displaying information, and preventing the user from changing it.

In the more advanced system the use of fields may be changed, and the titles adjusted to reflect the change of use. Where this is done, and the change is to be global, it is as well to adjust the field names in the data dictionary.

Having selected and displayed the form you wish to edit, one of the first tasks is to look at the data dictionary available for the form, and to see which fields are in use, and which fields are suspended. Press F11.

To look at the details of an individual field, place the cursor on the first character of the field and press F7, from this point using the function keys, the details of the field can be reviewed.

To remove an unwanted field from the form place the cursor on the first digit of the field and press F5 this will suspend the field and remove it from the form. Remove the associated text by over typing.

To insert a suspended field onto a form, press to F11 to obtain the dictionary, move the cursor to the field required, and press F9, you will be asked to denote the position on the form you want the field to appear, position it, and press F9. It is a good idea to place the associated text first.

Changing field characteristics can be carried out as stated using the F7 key over the first character of the field. Press the F7 key again to get the field characteristics, one of the highlighted fields is Mandatory/Skip you can place M in this box to make entry into the field mandatory, place S in the box to prevent entry into the field.

For report run time prompts it is a good idea to place an initial value, which can be used to prevent the user F9 syndrome starting long reports, or issuing all works orders inadvertently.

In order to prevent such events happening, one technique is to edit a field in the run time prompt for a report with an initial value, then suspend it. All other prompts act as normal.

Having become familiar with removing and inserting fields on our forms, we will want to be able to tidy then up, and make them look as the end user wishes to see them.

In order to carry this out we need to familiarize ourselves with the facilities offered by the F4 key, to select and move individual fields, or complete blocks of both text and fields.

When in the forms editor mode we can select the F4 key, the normal mode for this facility is TEXT, however this can be altered by using the UP and DOWN arrow keys. The other options are MOVE, SHOW, REMOVE, PASTE, COPY, and SHIFT.

To move objects around on our forms easily, and having selected the F4 option, use the Up and Down arrow keys to select SHIFT, you can now start to move things around.

Press the F9 key and you will be asked to select the top L.H corner of the block, move the cursor to the top L.H. position, and press F9 again. You will be asked to define the bottom R.H. position, move the cursor to the bottom R.H. position, and press F9 again.

You will now be asked to define the new position for the top L.H. corner, move the cursor to the position selected (the created box will move with the cursor) and press F9.

Further edits may be carried out using the same process, until you have the form looking as you wish. To complete the edit press F1, you will be asked if you wish to save the changes, press F9 to confirm, or F1 to abort.

The more advanced user can suspend multiple fields and remove blocks of text using the F4 and REMOVE facility.

The very experienced forms editor will wish to be able to modify Print Forms, and Screen Forms in such a way as to adjust the positions and sizes of the scroll areas.

The scroll areas can be viewed in the forms edit facility by pressing the F8 function key, the size and positions of each scroll area, are represented in a pull down strip. The F1 key will return to the normal forms edit state.

The names given to each scroll area are critical, and SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED.

The order in which the scroll areas appear is also important and SHOULD NOT BE ALTERED.

Providing the names of scroll areas are not changed or the order of the areas is not altered, their position and size can be changed.

In order to carry out this process, the existing scroll area must be deleted, and then a new scroll area inserted at the repositioned spot and then given the same name as the removed scroll area.

This process should not be attempted by inexperienced persons, it is strongly recommended that anyone wishing to edit forms to this level, should be properly trained in all aspects of forms editing by their reseller.

Screen messages can be edited in the user formset. They need to have been copied into the user formset in the first instance.

All messages are simple text messages, and can be edited using normal selection and over typing techniques.

You may, have some difficulty in identifying which message relates to which form.

Paste, Copy, Shift.

Prepared by ISTUG as a guide only, for full details of the use of function keys in Forms Editing, reference should be made to the Sage Tetra Forms Editor Manual or ON-LINE Documentation.

Persons who wish to extensively edit user form sets are strongly urged to obtain proper training from their Reseller on the very extensive use to which Forms Editing can be put.