There are three different types of transactions within Costing: Time Sheets, Miscellaneous and Sales.

The transaction entry windows are similar to other entry windows in Access Accounts and consist of a Header window, Detail line entry window and a grid that displays the detail lines that have already been entered and the transaction totals. Additionally, there is an Options window where you can select the properties and behaviour of the Header and Detail windows.

Depending on whether the Working Periods feature is enabled and on your Security Profile permissions, it may be possible for you to continue to post financial changes, for month end procedures, even after the posting period has been advanced; in this situation the Period becomes a drop-down and you can select the appropriate period.

Status menu (not labelled) - Clicking the Status menu displays a drop-down menu of transaction types. Select the entry type you require. This Status is independent of the Project Status.

Reference - Not a compulsory field; if entered does not need to be unique.

Batch Ref. - This entry field will be available if you have selected the Batch Transaction checkbox in Options. Enter a reference to identify the batch into which the transaction will be posted.

Date - This will default to the system date but can be changed to any date relevant to the transaction.

Week No. - This is calculated from the Date that you have entered, by comparing it with the Financial Year Start Date and taking into account the Days remaining in the first week for calculating week number (as entered in System Options for Costing Timesheets). The system can cope with any date as the start date of the financial year and any number of days in the first week of the year.

Current Year - This is the period to which the transaction will be posted.

Description - A description can be entered if required.

Detail - Any text entered in this field will be copied to the detail field on the detail line entry window.

Whenever Transactions are being posted, the System makes a series of Options available. Clicking the Options button on the transaction Header window displays the Options window, which overlays the Transaction Header window.

The options available depend on the type of Transaction you are entering; additionally, some options are greyed out if they are not available for a certain Transaction type.

Copy Options (and bypass) - Allows the values of specific fields to be entered automatically (by copying their value from the last Detail line) and then saves further keyboard time by allowing the cursor to bypass the field. This applies to the Project, Cost Centre and Resource fields.

Bypass entry - Allows the cursor to bypass specific fields (Quantity, Price, Uplift, Uplift %, Detail). The mouse can always be used to access bypassed fields and these Options can be reset at any time.

Archive Transaction - The System can save Transactions for ever or will remove them when a purge routine is run if you choose. Transactions flagged for archive will be retained when other Transactions are removed during a purge.

Batch Transaction - Saves entry time by delaying the update of Records. Transactions normally update the relevant Costing Records at the same time the Transaction is saved to disk. Batched Transactions are still saved to disk so they cannot be lost, but they only update the Costing Records when the Post Batch function is run.

Enter Currency Value - Providing the Currency Module is installed, this allows entry of Foreign values which are calculated into Home values and vice versa.

Exclude Resource Uplift - As standard the System displays the charge out rate for Resources as the Resource Price plus Uplift, this option ensures the Uplift is ignored.

Copy Timesheet detail from Resource - This option allows the System to copy the contents of the Detail field in the Resource Record, into the Detail field of each Transaction Detail line.

Please see the Post Batch topic.

The fields available are dependant on they type of transaction.

Project - Enter or lookup from the Project list. When you enter a Project code, the notes from this record are displayed on the associated tab.

Cost Centre - Enter or lookup from the Cost Centre list. When you enter a Cost Centre code, the notes from this record are displayed on the associated tab.

Resource - Enter or lookup from the Resource list. When you enter a Resource code, the notes from this record are displayed on the associated tab.

Qty - The quantity will be used to calculate the value.

Price - The price will be taken from the resource record you have selected but can be changed. If a resource uplift exists, this will be added to the price whilst it is unchanged.

Value - For Sales transactions only, there is no uplift, you should enter the net value of the sale. The value will be calculated as Quantity * Price.

Uplift - The uplift value from the resource record rate. The rate to be used is defined by the cost centre you select. The uplift value calculated using the uplift percentage.

Uplift % - The uplift percentage from the selected cost centre. This can be changed.

Total - Calculated as the Value + Uplift value.

Detail - The text entered in the detail field on the header window will be displayed in this field unless you tick the transaction option Copy Resource Notes in to Detail. If this option is selected, the detail field will be empty until a resource is selected when the text held in the resource record will be displayed here. You can revise the text or clear the field and enter new text.

To the right of the input fields are several tab cards. These tabs are only visible if you have Use combined Detail and Total Window option switched on in System Options). Access to these tabs is controlled by your Security Profile.

When valid Project codes are entered, the name associated with the code will be displayed so that you can make a visual check that you have selected or entered the correct code.

When valid Cost Centre codes are entered, the name associated with the code will be displayed so that you can make a visual check that you have selected or entered the correct code.

When entering time sheet transactions, you will be required to enter a Resource record code. The price from the transaction will be taken from the charge-out price entered on the Resource record.

Clicking on the search button alongside the Project, Cost Centre or Resource entry fields will display a list of codes from which you can select.

Any WFF associated with the transaction will automatically display as a popup window for initial entry. Existing WFF can then be edited by clicking on the Workflow Form button. If no WFF is associated with the transaction, the window will not display.

WFF can be attached to: