MLNewFeatures

Sales module

Disable selling price override

You can now prevent part prices from being changed on a part sale or a work order.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Inventory, Parts, Update, Parts Update and select a part. 
2. Answer No to the question “Selling Price Override”

Changes to your procedures:

• Make sure that the person who sets up new parts knows how this question should be answered.

Sales Tax Report

You can now run the sales tax report by fiscal period instead of date range.

Benefits:

Easier to balance the report to the General Ledger tax account(s).

Service module

Payments made through Accounts Receivable Update Payments now show on work order or unit sale

Payments entered for a work order invoice through Accounts Receivable Payment Update will show on the work order payment screens.  Payments entered for a unit sale invoice through Accounts Receivable Payment Update will show on the Unit Sale payment screens.

Benefits:

Payments on work orders and unit sales are accurate regardless of what menu option was used to enter the payment.

Automatic exchange calculation on invoices and payments for US$ work orders

You can now enter warranty work orders for US manufacturers in US dollars.  Exchange will automatically be calculated.

Benefits:

You don’t need to do manual exchange calculations.

The Balance Sheet is more accurate, with US$ receivables converted to domestic currency,

To start using this feature:

1. Set up or check the US exchange rate.  Go to Finance, Payables, Administration, Funds Codes and select or add a funds code for US dollars.  Enter the current Canadian to US exchange rate. (as of August 24, 2007 it was .9507) 
2. Set up the following General Ledger accounts, if you don’t already have them:
   1. Accounts Receivable US$
   2. Accounts Receivable US$ exchange
   3. US$ bank (if you have a separate US$ bank account)
   4. US$ bank exchange (if you have a separate US$ bank account)
   5. Gain/loss on foreign exchange
3. Set up a US bank code (even if you don’t have a separate US$ bank account).  Go to Finance, Payables, Administration, Bank Codes.  Select or enter a US bank code.
   1. Check or enter the bank information (if you don’t have a separate US$ bank account, enter the information for your Canadian bank account)
   2. Select the US funds code
   3. Enter the US$ bank GL account number (if you don’t have one, use your Canadian bank GL account number)
   4. Enter the US$ bank exchange GL account number (if you don’t have one, use your Canadian bank GL account number)
   5. Enter the gain/loss on foreign exchange GL account as the currency variance account.
4. Set up a US Accounts Receivable code.  Go to Finance, Receivables, Administration, A/R code update.  Select or enter a US Accounts Receivable code.
   1. Enter the US$ bank code
   2. Enter the US$ Accounts Receivable GL account
   3. Enter the US$ Accounts Receivable exchange GL account
   4. Enter the GL account for prompt payment discounts, if any.
5. Check that the customers you want to invoice in US dollars have the US AR code. 

Changes to your procedures:

• Select the US AR code when setting up a new customer to be invoiced in US funds.
• Change the exchange rate periodically (your accountant can advise you on how often)
• Balance the Aged Receivables report for US$ invoices to the US$ Accounts Receivable GL account; the invoices and the GL transactions will be in US dollars.
• Enter payments for US$ invoices in US dollars.

Sublet service sale codes

If you use the sublet section of work orders, make sure you have service sale codes set up specifically for sublet. 

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Service, Administration, Table Menu, Service Sale codes.  
2. Review your labour service sale codes – do you use any of them for sublet labour or services?  Set up new service sale codes for these, selecting Work Order section Sublet.  (You can use the same GL accounts.)

Work orders billed from actual hours or flat rate hours

You can now specify whether the extended labour price on a work order should be calculated based on the actual hours worked or the estimated hours from the flat rate file based on the labour code.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to System Admin, Parameters, Store and click on the Service box.  Click to check the box labeled “Bill by Actual Hours” if you want the work order labour to be billed by actual hours and click to uncheck the box if you want the work order labour to be billed by the flat rate hours.  Close the Service Parameters pop-up and submit the store changes.

Work Order part installation status

Each part on a work order now has a status, indicating whether the installation of the part is complete, partially complete, waiting for approval or if the part is on order.  New work order part lines have a default status, which can then be changed as required.

Benefits:

Provides better visibility about why a work order is still open.

To start using this feature:

1. To set the default part installation status, go to System Admin, Parameters, Store and click on the Service box.  Go to the question “Default Part Install Status” and choose the status you want new work order part lines to have.  Close the Service Parameters pop-up and submit the store changes.

Changes to your procedures:

• All part lines for a specific type of work order must have status complete before you can close that work order type.  

Increase unit inventory value with internal work orders

You can now increase the value of your unit inventory from repair or pdi work orders, instead of expensing them.

Benefits:

The General Ledger unit inventory account will now match your unit inventory with work orders included.

Your Profit and Loss statement will be more accurate, with work order costs recognized in the period the unit is sold instead of the period the work order is closed.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Service, Administration, Table Menu, Service Sale Codes.  Select the code(s) used for internal work orders (it will have a non-paid debit account) that you want to update the unit inventory GL account instead of an expense account.
2. Change the non-paid debit account from an expense account to the unit inventory account

Changes to your procedures:

• Ensure that all internal work orders for a unit are closed before finalizing the sale.
• When the work order is closed, its GL transaction will debit the unit inventory account.
• When the unit is finalized, its GL transaction will credit the unit inventory account for the unit costs and the work order costs.  It will debit the cost of sales account for the unit.
• When running the unit inventory report to balance to the General Ledger unit inventory account, check the box to include closed work orders in the cost

Automatic creation of purchase orders from work orders

If a part on a work order is not in stock, a purchase order can automatically be created.

Benefits:

You save time on purchase order entry.

Parts ordering is more accurate and timely.

To start using this feature:

1. Make sure that all parts have a vendor and a cost.  Run the standard product listing (Inventory, Parts, Reports, Listings, Std. Products) sorted by vendor – the parts without a vendor will appear at the beginning of the report.

Changes to your procedures:

• When you submit a work order requiring parts which are not in stock, a question will appear asking “Part(s) must be ordered.  Do you want to create PO(s)?”  If you answer Yes to this question, a purchase order will be created to the primary vendor for the part, or, if an open (ie unprinted) purchase order already exists for the vendor, the part will be added to that purchase order instead.  When a purchase order is created, the work order part installation status is changed to Order.
• On a regular basis, go to Purchasing, Inquiry, PO Inquiry and click on Purchase Order to review purchase orders which need to be printed and sent to the vendor.
• If you phone in your purchase orders or submit them through the vendor’s website, you should still print the purchase order so that new parts aren’t added to a purchase order already submitted to the vendor.  

Default work order type

If you don’t enter a type on a work order, the type will now default.  

To start using this feature:

1. To set the default work order type, go to System Admin, Parameters, Store and click on the Service box.  Go to the question “Default Work Type” and choose the type you want new work order lines to have.  Close the Service Parameters pop-up and submit the store changes.

Work order cost display

It’s now possible to determine your gross profit, gross profit percentage and markup percentage  on a work order for both parts and labour.

Benefits:

Analyze your work order costs more easily.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Service, Administration, Table Menu, Mechanic Table.
2. Set up a code for each mechanic, with the name and the hourly pay rate.

Changes to your procedures:

• On a work order labour line, enter the mechanic code.
• View revenue, costs, gross profit, gross profit percent and markup percent from any of these Service menu options:

• Administration, WO Cost Display
• Update, Open/Create and click the WO Cost button
• Update, Close and click the WO Cost button
• Inquiry, WO Inquiry and click the WO cost button

Inventory module

Multiple store locations

It’s now possible to have separate parts and unit inventory, work orders and sales by location (store).

To start using this feature:

1. Go to System Admin, Parameters, Stores and click on the ‘Copy Store’ button.  Select an existing store (usually 1) to copy from, and enter a store number to copy to.  Review the settings for the new store and change any that are different from the original store.
2. Set up new General Ledger accounts for sales, cost of sales, parts inventory and unit inventory for the new store.  (This is not required, but is recommended.)
3. Add the new store’s General Ledger accounts to the following tables:
   1. Product class
   2. Add on table
   3. Payment codes
   4. Sales cost codes
   5. Sales rebate codes
   6. Service sale codes
   7. Deductions
4. Go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Employees and update the store that each employee normally works for.  (You may also want to change the Salaries and Wages account if you are separating labour costs by store.)
5. Go to System Admin, Security, Users and click the checkbox “Access other stores” for each user who should be allowed to update information for other stores.  For other users, update the store ID with the store they normally work for.

Changes to your procedures:

• Part sales, Unit sales, Work orders, Purchase orders, Purchase order receipts, Receive Product, On-hand adjustments and Unit Update are all store-specific, for the store specified on the user’s profile.  If you have permission to access other stores, you can select the store you want to work on when you log in.  If you want to change the store you’re working on, click on Internet Explorer’s refresh button to get the store selection prompt.
• Go to Inventory, Parts, Update, Part Transfer to record parts transferred from one store to another store. (This will create a General Ledger transaction)
• Go to Inventory, Units, Update, Store Transfer to record units transferred from one store to another store. (This will create a General Ledger transaction)

Disable price grid update of retail prices

You can now prevent part retail prices from being changed by an update from price grid.

Benefits:

Prevents accidental changes to your part retail prices.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Inventory, Parts, Update, Parts Update and select a part. 
2. Answer No to the question “Grid Retail Overwrite”

Changes to your procedures:

• Make sure that the person who sets up new parts knows how this question should be answered.

Update General Ledger from on-hand adjustment

You now have the option to create a General Ledger transaction for an on-hand quantity adjustment.  The previous software version always created a GL transaction for an on-hand adjustment.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Finance, General Ledger, Administration, GL Tables, Product Classes and check that all the product classes related to parts have an inventory adjustment account.

Changes to your procedures:

• Make sure that the person who does on-hand adjustments knows whether to check the Post to GL box or not.  Generally, unless you are just loading your parts inventory on-hand quantities, the box should be checked.  Otherwise, you should create a manual journal entry to reflect the adjustment to parts inventory in the General Ledger.

Purchasing module

Purchasing Accruals 

It’s now possible to update the General Ledger inventory account when you receive against a PO. 

Benefits:

The GL inventory account is updated at the same time as the on-hand quantities, so that your parts inventory GL account balances to your parts inventory product listing.

To start using this feature:

1. Create a new General Ledger liability account to be used for the purchasing accruals. 
2. In the Purchasing section of the store parameters, enter the Purchasing Liability GL account number.

Purchase order receipts entered from this point on will create a GL transaction to debit the inventory account(s) associated with the received part’s product class(es), and credit the purchasing accrual account, for the extended cost of the received parts.

Changes to your procedures:

• When entering an Accounts Payable invoice for the parts received, enter the purchasing accrual account.
• When using this feature, ensure that the cost displayed on the PO receive screen is the same as the cost that will be on the Accounts Payable invoice.  If necessary, you can override the cost on the PO receive screen, which will also affect the cost on the part.
• Alternatively, if you don’t want to override the part cost (because it’s a special price, for example) enter the same amount on the Accounts Payable invoice as you accrued on the PO receive, and enter the difference between the purchasing accrual and the AP invoice to the purchase price variance GL account.

Automatic conversion to US$ of purchase orders for US vendors

Purchase orders for US vendors are automatically converted to US dollars.  Changes to costs on purchase order receipts from US vendors are automatically converted back to Canadian dollars.

Benefits:

Keep your part costs accurate without doing a manual currency conversion calculation.

To start using this feature:

1. Check that your US vendors have a US payables code.
2. Check that your US exchange rate is current.  Go to Finance, Payables, Administration, Funds Codes and select the US funds code.  
3. Check that your part costs are in Canadian funds.

Changes to your procedures:

• When you enter a new part, the part cost should be in Canadian funds.
• Change the exchange rate periodically (your accountant can advise you on how often).
• Purchase orders to US vendors will automatically convert the part costs to US funds.
• When receiving against a purchase order for a US vendor, if the part cost has changed, enter the new cost on the receipt in US funds.  The system will calculate the new Canadian cost and update the cost on the part.  

Finance modules

More detail in Daily Sales General Ledger transactions

The General Ledger transactions generated from part sales and payments from part sales, special orders, work orders and unit sales by the Daily Update routine are no longer summarized by payment type.  Instead, each payment shows as a separate line on the GL transaction, referencing the receipt number and the customer name.

Benefits:

You can easily find the source of any discrepancies between the daily sales GL transaction and the payments report.

You can easily determine which amounts to move from the undeposited cash GL account to the bank GL account.

Bank Reconciliation

This new menu option allows you to reconcile your bank statement(s) to your General Ledger bank account(s).

Benefits:

Less work than reconciling manually or with a spreadsheet.

<Ctrl> F function allows you to search bank GL transactions for an amount.

To start using this feature:

1. Decide on a date when you’re going to start using the bank reconciliation routine, and contact Peartree Software to reconcile all the GL bank entries prior to that date.  

Changes to your procedures:

• Go to Finance, General Ledger, Update, Bank Reconciliation.  Select the bank code and the fiscal period you want to reconcile to the end of.
• You no longer need to do cheque reconciliation – the bank reconciliation replaces this menu option.  Use the Print Unrecs button to get a list of outstanding items (including cheques) from the bank reconciliation.
• Use the Print X’s button and the Cycle History button to print items reconciled in the current or prior bank reconciliation sessions.
• Check the Derived Balance (General Ledger bank balance less unreconciled total) – after reconciling all the amounts on your bank statement, the Derived Balance should be the same as your bank statement balance.  

Automatic creation of lien payable

Finalizing a unit sale which has a lien amount automatically creates the payable to the lienholder for the lien payout.

Benefits:

Eliminates the step of entering the payable – you just need to create the cheque.

Ensures that your liens payable General Ledger account always balances to zero.

Changes to your procedures:

• When you set up a lienholder as a vendor, ensure that the vendor’s default GLT account is the liens payable account
• You cannot change or cancel an automatically created lien payable.  If you need to adjust the lien amount, you need to:
  • Roll back the unit sale, change the lien amount and finalize again OR
  • Create an additional payable for the difference (but not to the liens payable account)

Unit cost update from Accounts Payable

It’s now possible to update the costs on a unit when you are entering the Accounts Payable invoices for the costs.

Benefits:

Saves duplication of data entry and paper handling.

Ensures that the General Ledger unit inventory accounts balance to the unit inventory report.

To start using this feature:

1. In the Accounts Payable section of the store parameters, check the box labeled “A/P update of unit costs”

Changes to your procedures:

• Enter the information about the unit (description, model, serial number etc) from the Inventory Update Units screen prior to entering the Accounts Payable invoices for the unit or additional costs.
• When entering an Accounts Payable invoice for a unit cost (either the base cost or other costs), after entering the line amount and account, click on the box labeled “Unit Costs”.  Select the unit, then enter either the base cost or a cost code and amount.  Ensure that the GL account you enter on the invoice is the same as the inventory GL account corresponding to the unit’s product class, or to the cost code’s inventory GL account.
• You will no longer be able to enter or change unit or other costs from the unit inventory update screen.  
  • To update costs for a used unit taken in trade, click on trade balance from the finalize sale screen.  Select the trade unit if it’s already in inventory, or click in the empty trade unit id box to add it.  In either case, a new window will open allowing you to fill in additional information about the unit, including the cost.  
  • To update costs for a new unit, change the Accounts Payable invoice for the unit base cost or for the other costs, and click on the “Unit Costs” box to adjust the unit base or other costs.

Update Unit Rebate from Accounts Receivable Invoice Update

It’s now possible to update the rebate on a unit when you are entering the Accounts Receivable invoice for the rebate.

Benefits:

Saves duplication of data entry and paper handling.

Ensures that the General Ledger unit inventory accounts balance to the unit inventory report.

To start using this feature:

1. In the Accounts Payable section of the store parameters, check the box labeled “A/P update of unit costs”

Changes to your procedures:

• When entering an Accounts Receivable invoice for a unit rebate, after entering the quantity, price and account, click on the box labeled “Unit Rebates”.  Select the unit, then select a rebate code and enter an amount.  Ensure that the GL account you enter on the invoice is the same as the rebate code’s GL account (normally the new unit inventory account) and that the invoice extension is the same as the rebate amount.
• You will no longer be able to enter or change rebates from the unit inventory update screen.  To change the rebate for a new unit, change the Accounts Receivable invoice for the rebate, and click on the “Unit Rebates” box to adjust the rebate amount on the unit.

AR Activity Report – to facilitate balancing AR to GL

This new report shows invoices and payments affecting Accounts Receivable (all customers) for a range of dates.

Benefits:

Facilitates balancing Accounts Receivable to the General Ledger.

Accounts Receivable to Accounts Payable invoice transfer

You can now transfer invoices from Accounts Receivable to Accounts Payable, to offset invoices for a vendor who is also a customer, or to write a cheque to a customer with a credit balance.

Benefits:

Simplifies the process of transferring invoices from Accounts Receivable to Accounts Payable.

To start using this feature:

1. Set up both a customer and a vendor.  The funds for the customer and the vendor must be the same, but the customer id does not have to be the same as the vendor code.
2. Go to Finance, Receivables, Update, AR to AP.  Select the customer you want to transfer invoices from, then select the vendor you want to transfer invoices to.
3. Click on the customer’s invoice number that you want to transfer.  Change the transfer amount if desired.  Repeat for all the invoices you want to transfer, then submit.
4. The Receivables invoice is now in Accounts Payable, where it can be selected for payment or offset against other payables.  Note that you cannot change or cancel an invoice transferred from Accounts Receivable.

Remove zero balance customers from Aged Receivables report

If the Aged Receivables Report shows customers whose invoices and payments total zero, you can now remove these customers from the report.

Benefits:

Reduces the size of your Aged Receivables Report.

You no longer have to enter zero dollar payments to match up a credit to an invoice.

To use this feature:

1. Go to Finance, Receivables, Administration, Clear Zero Balances. Select a customer, or leave the Customer ID box empty if you want to process all customers.
2. Click the Clear Zero Balances button.  Note that this routine only matches invoices to credits if the customer balance is zero, not if the customer has an offsetting invoice and credit but also additional charges to their account.

Payroll adjustments, special pay

You can now issue more than one payroll cheque per employee per pay period.  These additional cheques can be for adjustments to regular pay, bonus payments, advances, retroactive pay or vacation pay.

Benefits:

Greater flexibility on the timing of payroll cheques.

To use this feature:

1. Go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Adjust/Special Pay.
2. Select the employee, select the reason for the special pay from the drop-down list, and select the pay period.  Enter the employee’s earnings.  Standard deductions (CPP, EI and TAX) will be automatically calculated; to override these amounts, click on the override boxes.  You must enter non-standard deduction amounts.
3. Submit the pay, and click the Print Chq button to print the pay cheque.  Employee year-to-date amounts are automatically updated.

Vacation pay

You can now automatically accumulate vacation earned by employees, and pay all or part of the vacation pay as a separate cheque.

Benefits:

Reduces payroll administration time and effort.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Employee and ensure that each employee has a vacation rate (to enter a rate of 4% of gross pay, enter 4.00).  Each subsequent pay will accumulate vacation earned.
2. To pay out vacation, go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Adjust/Special Pay.  Select the employee, select vacation pay as the reason for pay, and select the pay period.  Click on the YTD Vacation box to see the vacation pay earned and paid out.  To pay out all the vacation pay, click on the Earned Vac box.  To pay out only part of the vacation pay, close the Employee YTD Vacation Pay box, and enter the vacation pay amount in the Other Income box.  Adjust the deduction amounts if desired.
3. Submit the pay, and click the Print Chq button to print the pay cheque.  Employee year-to-date amounts are automatically updated, and the vacation pay amount is subtracted from the vacation earned.

Payroll advances

It’s now possible to track payroll advances and subtract them from a later pay cheque.

Benefits:

Reduces payroll administration time and effort.

To use this feature:

1. To pay an advance, go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Adjust/Special Pay.  Select the employee, select cash advance as the reason for pay, and select the pay period.  Enter the amount of the advance (deductions are not calculated).  Submit and print the cheque.
2. To deduct an advance from a regular pay, go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Payroll Run, Payroll Entry.  Select the payroll code and the employee.  Enter the employee’s earnings, then click on the YTD Advance box to view previous advances and repayments.  Close the box, and enter the amount to be repaid in the Less Cash Advance box.  Submit the pay and process as usual.
3. To deduct an advance from a non-regular pay, go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Adjust/Special Pay.  Select the employee, select the reason for pay, and select the pay period.  Enter the employee’s earnings, then click on the YTD Advance box to view previous advances and repayments.  Close the box, and enter the amount to be repaid in the Less Cash Advance box.  Submit the pay and print as usual.

Cancel payroll cheques.

It’s now possible to reverse a payroll for all or selected employees.

To use this feature:

1. Go to Finance, Payroll, Update, Cancel Pay and select the payroll code and period that you want to cancel.
2. From the list of pays displayed, delete any pays that you do NOT want to cancel, then submit.

Automatic creation of payables for payroll remittances

It’s now possible to create Accounts Payable invoices for your payroll remittances automatically.

Benefits:

Reduces accounting administration time and effort.

Guarantees accuracy of remittances to Revenue Canada and other payroll-related vendors.

To start using this feature:

1. Go to Finance, Payroll, Deductions and select a deduction code that you want to create a corresponding payable for.
2. Select the vendor that the deduction payable should be for, from the drop-down list.
3. Check the box labeled “Create AP Invoice” and submit.

Changes to your procedures:

• You cannot change or cancel an automatically created payable for payroll deductions.  If you need to adjust the payable amount, you should cancel and/or adjust the payroll, which will also adjust the vendor’s account.
• Note that the payable created for CPP and EI will also include the employer portion of these deductions.