Give me a Shortcut! Series Part 2 - More SchoolBooks Settings

We're picking up where we left off from the last post! More SchoolBooks Tips from School Settings! For information about the series or SchoolBooks School Settings, scroll down to check out the previous post.

Accounting Tab

• "Don't Prompt to Print in PO Entry Screen" - Do you enter multiple Purchase Orders in one sitting? If so, you probably want this box checked. This means you'll be able to enter a PO and you won't be prompted to print when you click Accept. You'll be able to enter the 10 that you have and then go to "Print Purchase Orders" on the Entry menu instead. 10 PO's, you just saved yourself clicking "No" 10 times!
• "Use Auto-Complete" - Some of you love it, some of you hate it. Turn it on or off here. You'll usually be able to take advantage of this feature with fields like Purpose and Advisor.
• "Keep Import from Tracks Open" - Do you have more than one deposit to import from Tracks each day? If so, then this was added for you! Check this box to keep the Import from Tracks screen open after you import a Closeout into SchoolBooks. You will most likely check this box if you import more than one deposit at a time (for example, you have a deposit you take to the bank and a WebStore deposit each day).

Three check boxes that could save you time! That's what I like!

To see more "Give me a Shortcut" posts, click here.

Give me a Shortcut! Series Part 1 - SchoolBooks Settings

I am one of those people that likes "settings." I like to change the options on my cell phone so calling, using the calculator, and locking keys are as easy as possible. At home, I find myself changing the temperature on my freezer to get it "just right" often enough to realize it.

So, it should come to no surprise that when I think about making SchoolBooks work faster and better, it would start in School Settings. This screen has MANY options that can customize your daily activities in SchoolBooks. I'm going to highlight some of my favorites that are easy to change in this post, but feel free to explore more on your own!

How do you get there? In SchoolBooks, go to the Management Menu, click on Customize, and then choose School Settings. There are 7 tabs containing information specific to your school. We'll only discuss two today.

School Data Tab

• "Report Date Starting at" - Do you open a report screen (maybe the Account Analysis Detail Report or Cash Disbursement Report) and change the "Start Date"? If you're changing this date a lot - you could probably just change the default and save yourself some time! Setting the default will just auto-fill the date, you'll always be able to change it for a specific report.
• "Default 'Auth By' Value"- If you want to save time, you should have something here. It's most likely that the majority of your time, you will have the same "Authorized by" value. Just type it in here and then you'll see it on the entry screen so you can tab over to the next field or change it on the fly!

Month End Tab

• "Enable Automatic Printing of Month End Reports" - Just check this box and choose the reports you want the system to automatically display before you close your month. It even automatically changes the report date range to just that month! It's a dual time-saver!

I hope some of these tips have helped you! Next time I'll give you three more SchoolBooks Settings tips! And a reminder, the ideal temperature for your freezer is 0 Fahrenheit.

To see other "Give me a Shortcut" posts, click here.

Do you use it? That long, 60-character Purpose field in SchoolBooks

We’ve always prided ourselves for being responsive to our users and adding requested enhancements on a fairly regular basis. In an attempt to keep our software up-to-date and fresh, we usually add new features, new sorting options, new reports, or something fun (you name it) about once a year. Then every once in a while, we come back and check to see who is actually using the new stuff we added.

In May 2008, one of the Version 5.9 changes was the lengthening of the Purpose (Description) field from 30 to 60 characters. We increased the length in Purchase Orders, Invoice Entry, Receipting/Bank Deposits – in short, everywhere throughout the software. Users had been telling us for years that they needed more room for longer and more detailed descriptions. We had held off for quite a while because it was a major change, requiring us to modify almost every data file, several of the screens, and to change the layouts on many of the reports. But we did it and that longer Purpose field has been out there in the world now for a year and a half.

So – here’s the question: How many of you out there regularly use more than the old 30 characters in your Purpose fields? Who out there is taking advantage of all that space to enter long, detailed descriptions of the transaction? Please comment and let me know. All feedback will be appreciated.

Need a Refresher About Doing Year End?

Try these links to our "How To" Videos:

For Tracks: This video reviews hw to load your new students for 2009/2010, clear out last year's history and more - http://www.activeeducate.com/take-a-tour/dr-download-video.htm

For SchoolBooks: This video has everything you need to know about doing year end - http://www.activeeducate.com/take-a-tour/school-books-year-end-video.htm

New Update Available - Version 6.05.14.602

You should have received an email on June 17 with information about a new update available for Tracks and SchoolBooks. This update will be the last before school starts up again in the fall, so you'll want to make sure you get updated soon, especially before you take off for the summer.

To check out all of the new features in the update, in either Tracks or SchoolBooks, go to the Help Menu and select "Release Notes."

Some of the highlights in this last release include:

• SchoolBooks - There is a new optional Category Required functionality that will require a Category on all your transactions. If you love Categories and the Category Reports available, enable this new option to ensure that you never forget to assign a Category to a transaction.
• SchoolBooks - We fixed Purchase Orders to print the Vendor's address from the Addresses Tab instead of the Main Tab, if applicable.
• Tracks - We updated the transaction download process for the WebStore transactions and syncing to make sure all of your transactions are downloaded correctly from the WebStore.
• Tracks - We fixed the syncing of changes you can make on the WebStore/Software Options screens, such as enabling or disabling the "About Us" section on the WebStore.

Go get the update today to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as it possibly can this fall!