KMP

Year End Procedure - Sage Pastel Partner / Xpress

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +1100

PURPOSE:

This documentation will guide users through the information required in order to successfully go through the Year End procedure for Sage Pastel Partner or Xpress software.

SCOPE:

The year-end procedure itself is fully automated, and prepares your company for processing in the new financial year. During the procedure relevant account balances, budgets and transactions are transferred, date parameters changed, and so on.

Unlike many other accounting systems, you can still post adjustments and accruals to the previous year once you have run the year-end procedure. In effect, running the year-end is therefore not time critical, in that you can still run your year-end without waiting for all financial transactions to be done.

However, you cannot process customer sales documents and supplier purchases documents to the previous financial year. You must therefore ensure that you have processed all customer and supplier documents for the current year before running the year-end procedure. Journal and cashbook transactions/adjustments can be left for after the year-end.

Before performing the year end procedure, please take the time to read all instructions below so that the year end process can go through as smoothly as possible.

CRITICAL NOTES:

Before the Year End Procedure, you need to be aware of the following:

Backup - Ensure you have made at least 2 working backups of your company data - to different locations. (DO NOT skip this step)!
Data Integrity - Perform a Data Integrity (verify data only) check prior to running year end to ensure your data is free from errors. Further details below.
Periods - Do not change the dates of your current year periods to next year. The year-end procedure does this for you.
Period 13 - You can use period 13 to post next year transactions, and thereby delay the year-end procedure for up to a month at most. (Please note that period 13 is not available in Sage Pastel Xpress).
Supervisor Access - You have sole access to your company data and are logged into Partner as a supervisor
Retained Income Account - This account exists in your General Ledger.
No Open Batches Exist - Documents 'on hold' for users who have multiple period access are not considered to be open. You must update all open batches before running the year-end procedure. However sales, purchase orders and quotations processed before the year-end procedure are carried over to the next year.
Last Period Processing - You have processed transaction into last period of the current financial year. If there are no transactions in the last period of the current financial year, Pastel warns you of this fact, since in all probability you should not want to run the year-end. However, you can continue if you wish to.

PLEASE also view our document on what to check first before running the year end process for more detailed information in regards to this - Click Here!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

It is very difficult to predict how long the year process may take to completed as a number of variables such as, size of the data, PC hardware specifications as well as available system resources will impact on the duration of the process.

A common occurrence that tends to happen during the Year End process is that the system appears to hang when processing the acctrn.dat (transactions), acchisth.dat (history header), acchistl.dat (history lines) files. Please understand that these files are often very large and although the system seems to be not responding it is actually processing away as intended.

It is absolutely vital that you are patient during this process as shutting Partner down forcefully (i.e. by using ctrl-alt-del) will almost certainly corrupt your company data files.

PREPARING FOR YEAR END CHECKLIST:

It is absolutely imperative that you prepare thoroughly before you process the year-end. The following checklist will help to ensure that you have done all the necessary preparatory work.

Task	Details
Update Open Batches	You cannot process the year-end if you have open batches in your company data. (To determine whether you have any open batches simply click on View….Open batches from within Partner). Note, however, that invoices on hold, outstanding sales orders, purchase orders and quotations will not prevent the year-end from running.
Backup Your Company	We cannot overstate the importance of this step. You should keep this backup and never overwrite it. As a precautionary measure, make at least two sets of backups and store them in different physical locations. If the year-end procedure does not complete for any reason you will have to restore from backup and reinitiate the year-end procedure. It is also recommended that you run a data integrity before making this backup.
Copy the Company to a New Company	This step is optional, but highly recommended. If you have enough disk space, you can create a new company as a copy of your company prior to the year-end. This is useful because you can continue to do queries on transactions and balances, which are more than two years old. If you decide to do this, we suggest that you change the password(s) on the copied company to prevent you from inadvertently posting entries into that company. Note that this procedure is not sufficient as a backup – if your hard disk fails you will loose the data of both companies. You can do this within the Year-end Assistant.
Make Printouts	We recommend that you make at least the following printouts before running the year end: - Trial Balance for the year - Balance Sheet for the year - Detailed ledger for all accounts and all periods - Customer and supplier age analysis reports - Any other reports you deem necessary
Create a Retained Income Account	If this is the first time you are running a year end, ensure that you have created a retained income GL account. The system posts the profit or loss for the year to this account. Steps to ensure that the Retained Income account is created/setup correctly: - Search for the Retained Income account. - If it exists, ensure iis allocated to: B15 - Retained Income Balance Sheet Financial Category - If not, create the account and ensure its allocated to the Retained Income Financial Category - Once you have finished creating the account, click save.
Foreign Currency Revaluation	If you use the Multi-Currency add-on module, you must run a foreign currency revaluation prior to running the year-end.
Disk Space and Memory	It is important to check that the available disk space is sufficient to run the year-end. There should be at least disk space available equal to the size of your data directory. Furthermore, please ensure that the available conventional memory (i.e. the “Largest Executable Program Size”) is 585K. How do I check on my computer what my free memory is? - Go into your MS DOS prompt and simply type in MEM and press Enter. - Locate the area Largest Executable Program Size (3rd line from bottom) - Ensure this setting states at least 585k. - If it is less, then you may experience problems such as memory errors or hanging problem
Processing Inventory Count	One of the routines you usually perform before the year-end procedure, is a stock count. It is not necessary to complete all the options in the inventory count assistant before running the year-end. If you perform a snapshot before the year-end, you can always complete it after running the year-end. You can adjust stock quantities in the last period of last year via inventory journals.
Preserving Budgets at Year End	Budgets are transferred to the correct year automatically during the year-end procedure. Please refer to the section “what the year-end procedure does” for further details on exactly how the processing is done. If you want the current budget values before the year-end to remain as the current budgets after the year-end, copy the values for this year's budget to next year's before running the year-end procedure. This is done through the Edit…. Budgets menu.
Unmatched Payments	When you process to open item accounts you allocate payments and receipts to original invoices. After you have run the year-end you will be able to allocate payments/receipts to the previous year's outstanding invoices.

WHAT RUNNING THE YEAR END PROCEDURE DOES:

The year-end procedure automatically sets up the company for processing in the next year. During this procedure the following processing is done:

Process	Explanation
Updates General Ledger Balances	For income statement accounts, current year balances move to last year. For balance sheet accounts, last year balances consolidate as one total, and the current balances move to last year. Current year balances are set to zero. Current budgets move to last year budgets, future budgets move to current budgets, and next year budgets become zero. The system posts the profit or loss for the year into the retained income account.
Updates Customer and Supplier Balances	Last year balances are consolidated into one total, this year balances move to last year and last year's closing balances are transferred to this year as opening balances. This year balances and sales / purchases values become zero.
General Ledger, Customer, and Supplier Transactions	The system deletes last year transactions. This year transactions become last year transactions, and the system creates a new, empty transaction file for the current year. Invoices on hold have their period set to period one.
Updates Inventory Costs, Sales, and Quantity Values	Closing stock quantities become opening stock quantities in the New Year. The respective costs of these items are also carried forward.
Periods	The years are incremented by one year in the period table, and period end dates are adjusted if necessary, for example, for leap years. The current period for single period users is set to one.
Moves Period 13	If you set period 13 as the first period of the new year, the system transfers period 13 transactions and balances to period one of the new year.
Invoice History and Open Item History	Invoice history and open item history are not deleted by the year-end procedure. To delete these you must run the Delete History / Clear Files function.

PROCEDURE:

1.) Running the Year End Procedure:

In Sage Pastel Partner click on the Change.. Year End menu option. When prompted for a password simply type in your supervisor password and click on 'OK'
The Year End Assistant will display on screen providing you with the option to create a backup. If you have not already done so please click on the 'Backup' option to create a backup. Otherwise, click on the 'Next' option to continue if you already have a backup.
The assistant will then prompt you to optionally copy your company to another company. As stated previously it is highly recommended that you use this function.

Please be aware that this does NOT replace the need to do a backup.
If you have chosen to copy the company, please specify a name for the new company and tick the option to 'Run the Year End in the new company' option

If you have chosen the option to create a copy company you will be prompted to change the password of you original company so that you do not inadvertently post transactions to the incorrect company in future. After acknowledging the message click on 'OK' to continue.
The Assistant reminds you of the minimum reports you should run. However, you cannot produce these reports here. If you still need to produce some reports, cancel the Assistant, run the relevant reports, and then return to the Assistant. After acknowledging the message click on 'Next' to continue.
The assistant then reminds you what exactly the Year End procedure does. To proceed further click on the 'Next' option.
Finally you are prompted with a confirmation message before the system performs the procedure. At this point click on the 'Process' option to run the Year End procedure.
Once the system has completed the Year End process successfully, a "Year End Complete" message will appear. Simply click on 'Ok' to continue and then 'Finish' to close the Year End Assistant. If you do not receive confirmation that process has completed successfully, please restore from a backup and run the Year Procedure again.
Once the Year End Assistant is closed, Partner will log you into you company data. To ensure your company data is setup for the current financial year, within Sage Pastel Partner click on Setup..Periods and verify that the period dates are correct.
It is strongly recommended that at this time you run another data integrity check. To run a data integrity check you will need to be logged in as a Supervisor and have sole access to your data. To initiate this process simply:

Click on File..Data Integrity.
If you have not already made a backup please do so before proceeding. If you do have a current backup then please click on 'Next' to continue.
Ensure the 'Verify Data Only' option is ticked and then click on the 'Process' button

If errors are revealed by the Data Integrity, please report these to us by emailing support and attaching the error report to support@sagepastelsoftware.com.au or fax this to 1300 130 532

2.) Processing Last Year Transactions After the Year End:

As mentioned earlier in this documentation, you will be able to create transaction or make adjustments for the previous year, but you will not be able to create Customer or Supplier documents for the previous year. To process a Journal entry for last year you'll need to do the following:

Go to the relevant cashbook/journal.
Click on Settings button (bottom right hand corner).
By checking/un-checking the 'this year transaction' option you will be able to switch between this year and last year processing. Last year will be displayed in red at the bottom of screen. However this year and last year transactions cannot be posted in the same batch and the option to last year or this year will be grayed out if a batch already exists.

If you require further assistance or information, please contact our support department. If you do not have a support contract, please contact sales@sagepastelsoftware.com.au

Using the Sage Pastel Partner Help Menu

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +1100

Purpose:

This documentation will guide users through the Help menu within Sage Pastel Partner and introduce each topic of assistance available to users of the software.

Scope:

Many users disregard the Help menu as having anything to offer.

The Help menu gives you links to the system's on-line help and documentation. It also allows you to register your package and switch languages.

Each topic that is available is described briefly below.

Details:

Help menu areas explained

Within your software, the very last option within the menu bar is the Help menu. Each of the related Help topics will be explained briefly within the following areas.

PASTEL HELP
Choose this option to access the on-line help and browse to topics. If you press whilst you are in a screen, the system selects that screen's help automatically and displays it on the screen.
What's New...
To see new features relating to the specific version you are using, select the Help...What's New in Pastel Partner 2005. menu option.
View Tip of the Day
The system can display a tip or technique each time you start the program. You can disable this feature on the tip screen. To reinstate the feature, and/or to browse the tips, choose this menu option.
Documentation...Manual (PDF)
This option displays the printed user guide in PDF format. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this file. You can download this free software at http://www.adobe.com
Internet
This gives you access to the product's Internet pages.
Register Your Package
To register your package for the first time, or to re-register when you add new features, use this option.
Log a Support Incident
If you are a registered Pastel Cover member, you can log a support query via this option. You will require your Product Serial Number as well as your Customer Number in order to do this.
About
This menu option shows you registration details. It also has links to other help menus, and to the operating system's System Info function.

This concludes the introduction to the Help menu. If you require further assistance or information, please contact our support department. If you do not have a support contract, please contact sales@sagepastel.com.au

What happens with my Evolvepay payroll when I go on holidays?

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:17:47 +1000

If you are the person who normally runs the payroll, but you won't be in the office - don't fear!

Evolvepay's accessible Software as a Service model provides you with two options:

You can set up another employee or stakeholder as an authority. That person will then be able to login to Evolvepay from their own computer and run the payroll in your absence. By having their own login, there will also be a record of what changes were made while you were out of the office
Or, you can simply login to Evolvepay yourself from any computer with internet access, anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night, allowing you to retain complete control of the payroll process

It's entirely up to you!

How long will it take for me to process our payroll?

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:13:57 +1000

Each company is different. Generally, the more staff you have the longer it will take. However, once set-up, Evolvepay automatically generates a standard input sheet for each employee based on their regular hours and salary package. All you need to do is enter any variations, and this simple process has proved to be far less time consuming than using other payroll software and manual procedures. Some of our customers have been able to reduce their payroll processing time to just minutes - check out our Testimonials page to see what some of our existing clients have to say about Evolvepay.

Importing Files into Sage Pastel Partner

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:56:21 +1000

Importing data from other applications into Pastel can be a tedious task especially when you are not familiar with the required import format. Pastel Partner 2009 allows you to import files such as the Customer Accounts and Supplier Accounts with ease, by making use of the original field names and linking those to the required fields in Pastel Partner.

To do this :

1.Select File | Export/Import

2.Select the item you want to import (e.g. Customer Accounts) from the drop-down list

3.Select the file you want to import by clicking on the magnifying glass in the Import File Name block, and locating your import file.

4.If you have exported accounts from another set of data within Pastel Partner, uncheck the Map Fields box. The exported file will already be in the required import format.

5.If you have exported your information from any other application, check the box and click on the Process button.

6.You will then be asked if the import file contains headings. Once you have answered the question, the Map Fields window displays.

7.From the drop down list, select the field on the import file that matches the Pastel field name. If you had selected Yes, your import file contains headings, the drop down list in the Import File Field Name column will display customer information. You will then need to match the fields in the right hand block with the respective field on the left.

8.If you had selected No, your import file does not contain headings, the drop down list on the right hand side will show field numbers as per your import file. You then need to match the field number with the Pastel Partner field name.

9.Once you complete the mapping of fields, click on the OK button and then Process.

Note:
Fields in red are compulsory fields, and you have to link these to fields in the import file. Fields in black are optional. The system will fill in fields that you leave blank with defaults. The more fields you can link, the more accurate and complete the import.

Will Sage Pastel 2009 run on Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:39:53 +1100

SCOPE:

Whether Sage Pastel 2009 can run on Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.

DETAILS:

Sage Pastel 2009 was released long before both operating systems, information regarding the compatibility has been confirmed by Sage Pastel International. They have performed tests on both operating systems and have concluded that:

For Windows 7:
A new build (Build 10.2.4 update or later) is compatible with Windows 7.
For Small Business Server 2008
The package will need to upgrade to new Pervasive V10 release in order to run the program.

You would need to install Pastel Partner 2009 build 10.2.4 with Pervasive V10 on all the machines for your client to operate smoothly.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact our support department. You can also submit the support enquiry forms from our website. The new Pervasive codes for V10 are also now available.

Subscript Out of Range

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +1000

CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES WHEN THIS OCCURS AND HOW TO FIX IT

ISSUE:
Subscript Out of Range is a Visual Basic error message; the most common reason for a
Subscript Out of Range error message appearing is data corruption.

Note it is essential that backups be made before proceeding with any of the steps below

EXAMPLE 1: SUBSCRIPT OUT OF RANGE IN INVENTORY JOURNALS
When you enter inventory batches, Pastel does not use Btrieve to write the batch files. This means that these batch files are more liable to corruption than most of the Pastel data files. In the unlikely event that an inventory batch file corrupts, you will encounter a "Subscript out of Range" error when you attempt to enter data in or Update the batch. In order to continue working, you need to delete the batch files and then re-enter the information.

To delete a corrupt inventory journal batch:

Using Windows Explorer locate the directory in which your Pastel company data exists (e.g. P:\PAS60)
Locate inventory journal batch files for your user ONLY (inventory journal batch file names have the following format):
ACCBSJ.uuu, ACCSJCTL.uuu, ACCTGRID.uuu
where uuu is the user number (0-099).
You can obtain the user number from the Setup...Users/Passwords menu option.
3. Right click on the appropriate file and click Delete

You need to delete each of the above 3 files for the user number where there is a corruption. You will also have to re-enter the batch information itself.

Operation must use an updateable query

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +1100

ISSUE:

Error message showing "Operation must use an updateable query" when load / running Pastel Evolution.

CAUSE:

This error message occurs when Pastel Evolution cannot find or does not have access rights to Business Intelligence Centre (BIC) executable.

SOLUTION:

Few ways to resolve this issue and they are listed below:

1.) Adjust the location for Business Intelligence Centre (BIC)

Start Pastel Evolution on the machine where this error message occurs.
Click "OK" when error messages and let it run for a while till you are able to click on top menu items. (Generally takes about 10 - 15 minutes in this case)
Click on Utilities .. Explorer Options
Select "Business Intelligence Centre" tab and check the Application Path.

Please Note: If you do not have "Business Intelligence Centre" tab, it is most likely that you have not installed Business Intelligence Centre (BIC) properly or you do not have access to use the module. Please try re-install the program on the problematic computer and make sure Business Intelligence Centre is selected during installation. Also, make sure you have Administrator rights and turned off anti-virus / firewalls when doing this process.
Double check the Application Path

Ensure Application Path is a valid Path
Ensure the BIC executable exists in the Application Path folder

2.) Ensure that the user have permission to access BIC

Using Administrators

Log off Windows for current user and log on as System Administrator
Start and Log into Pastel Evolution with the user that was having the error

If the error does come up:
Please uninstall and reinstall Pastel Evolution on this computer.
If the error does not come up:
Please ask your system administrator to double check the permission whether the user have full access rights to Pastel Evolution or not.

If the error still persist after checking the above, please do not hesitate to contact our support team at support@sagepastel.com.au for further assistance.

Error Status 116

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +1100

ISSUE:

Unable to access Pastel Software with Error Message Status 116 showing.

CAUSE:

The error 116 is a network communication problem between a workstation and the server. These communication problems could be due to network hardware, cabling or the network user rights and pervasive settings. This error is thrown by pervasive because it cannot establish a connection to the server.

SOLUTION:

OPTION 1 - Engine and Loc file

First check that the Pervasive Pre-load icon is running in the bottom right hand corner of your screen (in your systray).
Log everyone out of Pastel.
Locate your company data folder and delete any `pvsw.loc files that may be within there.
Then log everyone back in and see whether the error occurs.
You will then need to assign the Gateway thereafter (please view option 3 below).

OPTION 2 - Pervasive Licence - Check if Pervasive License is Correct

Go to Start...Programs...Pervasive SQL ...Other Utilities...Licence Administrator
At the very bottom, please check to see whether there is a Permanent licence applied for Pervasive. If there are no Permanent Licenses, you will need to re-register your Pastel Program. Please contact our support staff at registrations@sagepastelsoftware.com.au to obtain a temporary pervasive license in order to get into Pastel for registration. Otherwise, move to option 3.

OPTION 3 - Assigning a Gateway

Log everyone out of Pastel.
Locate your company data file.
Delete any 'pvsw.loc' file that may be within your data file. We can then assign a Gateway.
To assign a Gateway, (PLEASE NOTE: THIS PROCEDURE MUST BE DONE IN THE SERVER AND THEN IN ALL WORKSTATIONS)

In Windows click on Start.....Programs.....Pervasive.SQL .... Other Utilities... Gateway Locator
click on Change button
select "Assign a Gateway"option and type/browse your server name and click ok
The UNC field will now be filled with a path for your server, something like this "\\YOUR_SERVER_NAME\C$\PVSW\Bin\~PVSW~.LOC"
Click in exit

Then log everyone back in and check to see if the error occurs again?

OPTION 4 - Pervasive Settings
If the error continues to occur, then please run through the following Pervasive settings that need to be set on all PC's including the server:

In Windows click on Start.....Programs.....Pervasive.SQL ....Control Center
On the right panel double click on the 'Pervasive.SQL Engines' icon
Double click on the resulting computer name icon
Double click on the 'Configurations' icon
Double click on the 'Client' icon
Double click on the 'Communications Protocols' Folder
Double click on the 'Enable auto Reconnect' option and set it to 'ON'
Double click on the 'Supported Protocols' option and ensure that 'Microsoft TCP/IP' is the only selected protocol in the right panel.
On the left panel click on the 'Performance Tuning' folder
On the right panel click on the 'Use cache Engine' option and set it to 'OFF'
On the left panel click on the 'Configurations' icon
This time double click on the 'Server' icon
Double click on the 'Communications Protocols' Folder
Double click on the 'Enable auto Reconnect' option and set it to 'ON'
Double click on the 'Supported Protocols' option and ensure that 'Microsoft TCP/IP' is the only selected protocol in the right panel.
On the left hand panel click on the 'Memory Usage' folder
Double click on the 'System Cache' option and set it to off.
Note: The above steps need to be performed on all PC's on the network (including the server) which runs Pervasive.

Adding extra company in Tradepoint Enterprise

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +1000

If you are hosting more than one database on your local PC you need to first restore the database using the server tools from:

http://www.tradepoint360.com/enterprise/servertools/default.aspx

To allow Tradepoint to access a different data set

1. copy the C:\Program Files\Tradepoint Enterprise directory except for database folder
2. delete the evolution.userconfig
3. Run start.exe
4. choose remote user as a database option
5. Download the backed up database
6. Uncompress the zip file into a location file location
7. Select the location in Tradepoint find location server
8. If database was backed up by tradepoint click yes. the example above it wasn't
9. Key in the sync location
10. Once done you should be able to login.

Create a shortcut for the new company for future use.