minimized overlines save time and space on your estimatesjuly 2010 news and information for users of...

July 2010News and Information for Users of Sage Timberline Office Software

Minimized Overlines Save Time And Space on Your Estimates ............................. 1

Estimating Tips ..................... 2

Why are “Roundtable Discussions” With Your Staff So Important? ....................... 3

PJ Users Packed Up Tips & Tricks From the Annual TUG Conference ........................... 3

Part 1: Using the Job Setup Tabs ..................................... 4

Modifying User-defined Fields And Job Checklist in Job Cost ........................... 5

Do You Want to be Right on the Money? Use Multi Currency for Foreign Estimates ............ 6

Start Up an Account to Track Those Endless Credit Card Charges ........................ 8

TUG Online Webex Training & Open Forums ................... 10

What’s New on the TUG Talk Bulletin Boards ................... 11

Do you work with WBS codes? Do you work with multiple sort levels of WBS codes and are tired of hav-ing to resize the columns and change spreadsheet layouts every time you open an estimate? There’s a quick and

easy solution to that prob-lem: Minimize Overlines. This command is l oca ted , as shown below, in the View p u l l - d o w n menu.

Minimize Overlines will combine the sort levels into a single column in each spreadsheet sort se-quence, except Takeoff Order. Once selected, the single column heading will

Minimized Overlines Save TimeAnd Space on Your Estimates

by: Scott R. Bishop, CEP HDR Design-Build, Inc.

appear as Spreadsheet Level, but you can change this name in the column properties. Sage Timberline Office will remember your Minimize Overlines setup and will keep that format for future estimates.

This tool not only provides you more room to work in the spreadsheet, it also allows you to minimize overlines with a single click without leaving the spreadsheet.

This is an advantage with spreadsheet reports as well. When you run your spreadsheet report and choose Prefill from Spreadsheet, you get a good look-ing report with more room to view

other columns in your estimate report.This is another option from Sage

Timberline for those of you looking for something a little different.

No t i ce t he tree format for expand-ing and col-lapsing the spreadsheet

July 2010 News and Information for Users of Sage Timberline Office Software

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the TUG PulsePublished by the

Timberline Users Group, Inc.and sent to all members.

ESTIMATING TIPS & TRICKS

TO: The Answer-It-All GuruA couple of my estimators used

Microsoft® Windows Explorer to copy estimate files to another folder on their hard drives. Now they can’t access the files. What went wrong?

Exploring All Options

TO: ExploringFirst, your estimators need to wave

a dead chicken over their monitors while dancing naked under the full moon. That will exorcise the computer demons. This won’t actually do anything about their files, but it should indelibly imprint one thing on their minds: Don’t use Windows Explorer with Estimat-ing files.

With the release of Estimating 6.0 several years ago, the file structure for an estimate changed so that it is very difficult to use Windows Explorer for file maintenance. Instead, use File Tools, available in Estimating (File, File Tools). This utility is a wizard designed to manage Sage Timberline Office files. It ensures that all the necessary files are included when you move, copy, rename, delete, backup, and restore estimating files. (Attention Sage Timberline Office Accounting and Project Management users: It works for you, too.) At File Tools, select the operation you want, and step through the wizard to perform all your file maintenance.

Who but the Guru would know this???

TO: The One and Only Estimating Guru

We have one guy who builds our database assemblies and the rest of us have to use them. Sometimes it’s a little difficult to follow what he was thinking

when building an assembly. Is there any easy way to document the assembly?

Nothing to FollowTO: Nothing

Yes, sometimes it’s hard to believe the database builder even has the sense to come in out of the rain. Fortu-nately, Estimating has a way to quickly document the assemblies. It’s called Assembly Guide.

Assembly Guide, available from the Set Up pull-down menu in Estimating Tools, will quickly document all items, variables, formulas, assumptions—and even images—into an HTML help file. All of the information is linked so that, for instance, clicking on a variable in the formula will jump you to that variable which will then display the defaults, min/max, and notes. If you have notes on the assembly and/or a graphics file as an assembly attachment before running Assembly Guide, they will be included as assumptions in the As-sembly Guide help file.

After running Assembly Guide, all the information is available to the estimator during takeoff by clicking the Attachments button in Assembly Takeoff. This will display the information in your browser and will help you figure out how the assembly is calculating and why it is returning the values it is.

The Guru above all gurus

Board of DirectorsNatalie Allen, President

Matt Weaver, Vice PresidentJon Banse, SecretaryJulie Brown, Treasurer

Tim CookeSharon HessongKimberly Jordan Maeva MayesBarbara Morse

Toni SykoraLenni Wittl

Robin PetersonDenney Benedict

Publications CommitteeBrent CatoJulie BrownDavid Brown

Sharon HessongMaeva Mayes

Liz Perez-LavinVal Steffen

Shanna Torges

Carolyn Boettner, EditorMaureen Connolly,

Consultant

National AdministratorBoettner Business

ProfessionalsP.O. Box 697

Sylvania, OH 43560Phone: 419.885.9004

Fax: 419.885.9007Toll Free: 800.884.4630

Scott Boettner,Marketing Director

800-884-4630

Web Site


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o Continued on page 12

In the more than 30 years I’ve worked with builders and contractors, I’ve realize that one meeting essential in every company is what I call “The Roundtable.” This type discussion between staff and management is extremely informative. Roundtables are not only to plan process im-provement within the organization, but more importantly, to provide an eye-opening experience for the managers and “C” level executives.

Here are a couple quick questions to ask yourself when evaluating a roundtable discussion within your company:

• Have you reviewed your processes and proce-dures within your organi-zation with your staff?

• Do you know what your staff job duties are daily, w e e k l y and monthly and how they hand off processes to the next staff person?

• Do you have a business and technology plan?• When the phone rings, what are the processes to

market, sell, construct and service the customer?

I’ve witnessed the roundtable discussion as a very powerful meeting within a construction company. It allows a contractor to flowchart company processes, to define the job du-ties or tasks of everyone and how all staff communicate with one another to better serve the organization and, as a result, create a better organization.

How the Roundtable WorksPut large pieces of paper on the walls in a meeting

room. Have each department (sales, production, accounting, customer service, etc.) identify the duties that each person in that department performs. Give everyone the opportunity to offer suggestions for making each position better. Consider the type of verbal and non-verbal communication (e-mails,

Why are “Round-table Discussions” With Your Staff So

Important?by: Tom Gebes, President

BuilderMT

We had another successful PJ track at this year’s TUG National Conference. Many PJ users were there to get the most out of their software. I asked several attendees, “What was the best tip or trick you learned at this year’s conference?” Here are their responses:

• For me, one tip was good enough to pay for my trip to the TUG conference. The idea is

using Desktop and In-formation Assistant to reduce the use of PJ and other licenses for project managers

or other casual users of reports and inquiries. One of my biggest fears with

increasing the utilization of Sage Timberline Office with my project managers and estimators is that I’d need to add to my already nine licenses of PJ. With this tip I should be able to maintain nine PJ licenses while having my PMs logged into Desktop all day with instant access to their reports. (Richard Fiore)

• I learned how to preview Crystal forms and reports from inside the Crystal Reports application by editing the @tsDataFolder formula. This will simplify and speed up editing forms. (Darlene Field)

• I saw a demo of Bluebeam PDF Revu. This looks like a great third-party tool with tons of

capabilities as an alterna-tive to Adobe Professional.

Bluebeam can be used to add “stamps” to electronic

submittals, to review and mark up CAD drawings, as

well as to fill out or to mark up PDF forms. (Sarah McCabe)

• General information and discussion about how to provide remote access to job site supervisors and traveling project managers through Terminal Server. (Richard Fiore)

PJ Users Packed Up Tips & TricksFrom the Annual TUG Conference

Compiled by Tom Moore


Tips & Tricks

Roundtable Discuss

ionsRoundtab

le Discussions

Tips & Tricks


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o Continues …

Job Cost is a multi-level costing system. Over the next couple of months we’ll explore this system in detail. The Job Cost module offers you and your company the ability to provide timely and accurate project cost information. Job Cost can do this in detail or summary format. You can also retrieve comparative information such as estimated cost vs. actual cost. In this article, we’ll look at the Setup menu.

Within the Job Setup window, we’ll focus on five different tabs:

1. General2. Status3. Billing Info4. Scope and PR5. AP and GL

The General TabThe first tab, General, is for the basic job information. The first task you’ll need to do is enter your new job number then tab over to the Description. Next, tab once and you’ll be in the Address box. Proceed by tabbing until all the information has been completed. If you’re using 9.6, you’ll want to make sure you enter the Security ID so that all users who have permission will be able to access the job information. There are a couple of ways to modify the information included in Job Setup.

In the screen shot below, the assorted titles and miscel-laneous information are circled in red. Here you can enter any names or alphabetical data up to 30 characters. These items are for reporting purposes only and will give you additional ways to sort reports. You can change the title of each item by clicking Change desc when the cursor is in the field next to the title to be changed. If you’re looking for more ways

to sort inquiries as well as re-ports, then you’ll want to use the user-defined fields which are circled in blue. (See the accompanying green box for more on user-defined fields.)

The Status TabThe second tab in Job Setup is the Status tab. Here you’ll enter the Estimated Start date and Estimated Completion date. The Status of the job will automatically change from Unstarted to In progress once the first cost is posted to the

job. When the job needs to be closed, Sage Timberline Office will not au-tomatically do so. Therefore, you’ll have to manually click on Closed.

On this tab you can also specify whether or not an extra is being tracked.

And, on the right hand side t h e r e ’s a J o b Checklist. This list can be modified to accommodate

any other type of information. For example, you could track whether a Notice to Owner has been has been filed.

The Billing Info TabThe third tab in Job Setup is Billing Info. On this tab you’ll specify the customer and whether it is billed using Quick Bill or Contracts. Last, but not least, you’ll be able to specify the AR Tax Group.

The General Tab

The Status Tab

The Job Cost Module in Focus:

Part 1: Using the Job Setup Tabsby: Elizabeth A. Perez-Lavin Service Painting of Florida


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The Scope and PR Tab

Next is the Scope and PR tab. On this tab you’ll speci-fy the Scope of work, as well as the Worker’ Comp Group, State and Local. The box la-beled Payroll daily entry control is very important for your jobs that re-quire Certified Pay-roll. If the Certified job, require daily entry checkbox is not checked, you won’t be able to print the Certified Payroll job reports.

The AP and GL Tab

On the AP and GL tab, you can specify whether or not to produce lien waivers. On this tab, you’ll also specify the Ap-proval ID for the job, as well as the AP bank. You’ll also want to make sure that you fill in the GL account prefix box and make a choice under Rev-enue recognition.

Setting Up Extras

Now that your job is set up, you can move on to extras. Extras are a great way to track phases of a job or any ad-ditional costs that you want to track

The AP and GL Tab

The Scope and PR Tab

The BillingTab Modifying User-defined Fields And Job Checklist in

Job Costby: Elizabeth A. Perez-Lavin Service Painting of Florida

As mentioned in the article, The Job Cost Module in Focus: Part 1:Using the Job Setup Tabs, user-defined fields can be modified to suit your needs. These fields are great if you’re looking for additional ways to sort inquiries as well as reports. Remem-ber, if you’re only looking for ways to sort reports you’ll want to change the description of the Assorted Titles and Miscellaneous Information. You can change the title of each by item when you are in the Job Setup screen by clicking Change desc when the cursor is in the field next to the title to be changed.

To change the title of the user-defined fields, you’ll need to go to Common Tasks, File, Company Set-tings, Custom Descriptions. Look for JC User Def Key 1 and JC User Def Key 2. Under Description, enter what you’d like to track. You have a limit of 30 characters.

In Job Cost Setup, on the Status tab, there’s a section labeled Job Checklist. This section is modified just like the Assorted Titles and Miscellaneous Information under the General tab. Click on the checklist item you’d like to modify and click on Change Desc. This will bring up scription to whatever item you’d like to track. For example, you can track whether your company has filed a notice to owner on the job. I’ve found this checklist to be useful for close-out documents as well. You can also write a report to show the jobs for which you’ve received all warranties or final releases.



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o Continues …

Do You Want to be Right on the Money?Use Multi Currency for Foreign Estimates

If you’ve ever needed to track mul-tiple currencies in an estimate or to convert your entire estimate from one currency to another, Sage Timberline Office version 9.6 includes a powerful enhancement that’s just for you.

With Multi Currency, you have the ability to track as many currencies as necessary. You can even track a differ-ent currency on each category. You can take a price or an amount in a foreign currency and convert that to your base currency. Or, you can takeoff an item in the base currency and convert to a foreign currency.

There are two major steps in pre-paring to use Multi Currency for your estimates:

Setting a Base CurrencyIn order to have correct totals, Esti-mating must convert the estimate to a standard base currency. This is the currency your database is currently priced in. To set the Base Currency:

1. Go to Database, Database Settings.

2. On the Miscel-laneous tab, give your database the Base Cur-rency. That is what your data-base is priced in today, most likely the US Dollar (USD) or the Canadian Dollar (CAD).

Configuring the Estimate to Use Multiple Currencies

Next, configure the estimate to use

multiple currencies. You must turn on Multi Currency. Then enter the conver-sion values from the base currency to the foreign currency. To configure the estimate:

1. Create an estimate in the usual manner.

2. Go to Takeoff, Estimate Set-tings.

3. In the Estimate Settings dialog box, click on the Miscellaneous tab, and then check Enable Multi Currency. This turns on Multi Currency columns in the spreadsheet and enables the Multi Currency table.

4. Go to Takeoff, Multi Currency Table.

5. Enter the currencies and con-versions. NOTE: You should use the currency’s three-letter designator (EUR) rather than the currency’s symbol (€).

Notice that you now have four ad-ditional columns for each category on the spreadsheet, Currency, Foreign Cnv Factor, Foreign Currency Price, and Foreign Currency Amount. Takeoff items as you usually would. (Figure 1)

Now you have several options. For this example, we’ll assume you’re working only with Material. However, Multi Currency works the same with all five categories.

Suppose you’re sourcing 100 KW solar panels. If you have a database price and then select a Material Cur-rency, the Material Foreign Currency Amount will show the amount con-verted into foreign currency. This is useful if you want to have a ballpark amount when you get pricing.

If British Solar gives you a unit price of 265,300 British Pounds, entering that value into the Material Foreign Currency Price field will calculate a Material For-eign Currency Amount in British Pounds and will back calculate a Base Currency Amount and a Price. If British Solar gives a total amount, the system again

back calculates the Material Amount and Price into the base currency.

One of the other enhancements with 9.6 is a Vendor Name column en-abling you to track which vendor gave you the price. (Figure 2) This also works in non-multi currency estimates.

Figure 1

by: Gary Simpson G L Simpson & Associates


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The Job Cost Module in Focus: Pt. 1: Using the Job Setup Tabso Continued from page 5

separately from the regular cost incurred for the job. Extras have their own set of cost codes and categories. To set up an extra, go to Job Cost, click on Setup, and select Extras. Enter the Job number and, in the Extra box, enter the number you’ll be using to track this extra. Next, enter the Description. Under the General tab, you can enter the Estimated Start date and Estimated Completion date. The Actual Start date and Completion date will automatically fill in once the extra is used for that specific job. Click Save.

Your job and extras are now set up and you’re ready to set up cost codes and categories for this job. Go to Job Cost, then click on Setup. Select Cost Codes. Enter the job number and press the Tab key to go down to the Cost Code box. Enter the cost code that you’d like to add to this job. If you don’t have all of your cost codes memorized, click on

the List icon at the bottom; List will provide a list of all the available cost codes. (Quick Tip: F4 on your keyboard is also your list function from any screen where this is available.) On the General tab, you can enter the Estimated Start Date and Estimated Completion Date. The Actual Start Date and Completion Date will automatically fill in once the cost code is used for that specific job.

Next, you’ll need to set up the categories. To do this, go to Job Cost, click on Setup and select Categories. On this screen you can set up the categories for the job or the extra. Enter the job, enter the extra, select or enter the cost code, and select or enter the category. Then, press Tab. The description will automatically fill in and so will the information in the Accumulate as section, as well as the Cost account. The Cost account that will be used to track this category can be changed from this screen, but for that particular job only.

In the next article in this series, we’ll be taking a detailed look at the Tasks menu.

Converting an Entire Estimate to Another

CurrencyYou can also convert an entire estimate from one currency to another. To convert the entire estimate:

1. Click File, Convert Esti-mate Currency.

2. Go to the Conversion tab. (Figure 3)

3. Give the estimate a new name. (Your original estimate remains.)

4. Enter a new currency.5. Enter the conversion

from the base currency to the new currency.

6. Click the Create Esti-mate button.

NOTE: the database and estimate must be configured for Multi Currency in order to

convert the entire estimate.

Track ing mul t ip le currencies probably isn’t something most of us do daily. But we live in a global economy. Sage Timberline Office has given us the ticket for our estimates to fly from the AUD (Australian Dollar) to the NOK (Norwe-gian Krone) or to anywhere else.

Figure 2

Figure 3


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As-s i s t an t .

Under Setup As-sistant Step 5 (Enter Bal-

ances window), enter 0.00 for the Last Statement end-ing balance, then click Next. Under Setup Assistant Step 6 (Enter Open Transactions window), don’t enter any open balances, just click Next. Un-der Setup Assistant Step 7 (Go Live window), select Go Live. This completes the setup of the credit card bank account.

Entering Credit Card Charges

Now you’re ready to enter credit card charges. Go to Accounts Payable, Tasks, Record Manual/Print Quick Check. Select Manual Check and the credit card Bank ac-count previously set up. Next, enter the Check (this could be a transaction number or anything you’d like) and the Date. Then, select the Vendor and continue entering as you normally would. (Tip: Set up a vendor called CC Charges if you don’t want to set up a vendor for every place that the

credit card is used.) Once the necessary information has been entered, click Ac-

o Continues …

Start Up an Account to TrackThose Endless Credit Card Charges

by: Elizabeth A. Perez-Lavin Service Painting of Florida

A credit card GL account is a con-venient way to track a credit card without entering endless distribu-tions for one invoice every month. With this account, instead of waiting for a monthly statement, you can keep on top of the credit card on a weekly or daily basis. And, there’s no waiting for that monthly statement.

The first step is to set up a base account. Go to General Ledger, Setup, Prefix/Base, Base Accounts. Enter the new Base account, as well as the Title. Under Account Type make sure to select Current Liabilities. Click Save and then click Close. (Figure 1)

Don’t forget to set up the account for the company. To do that, go to General Ledger, Setup, Prefix/Base, Accounts. Enter the account number. That will automatically recall the description from the base account set up in the previous step.

Now that the liability ac-count is set up, you’ll need to set up the bank account. Go to Cash Management, Setup, Setup Assistant. Click Next until you reach the third step. Here, click on the Bank account button. Click on the Asterisk button (shown circled in red in Figure 2) to set up the new account. Enter the Bank account and the Description. On the General tab, in the Ac-count type field, select Credit Card. (Figure 2)

Next, on the GL Cash Accounts tab, under General cash account, make sure to select the CC liability account

(previously set up) as displayed in Figure 3 Also, don’t forget to check the Accounts Payable box so that the account can be used in Accounts Pay-able. Click Close. A warning will pop up letting you know that the AP check format has not been set up. Click OK.

In this case, it isn’t necessary to set up the AP check format because no checks will be printed out of this account.

This will bring you back to the Setup

Figure 1

Figure 2


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Next, go to Accounts Pay-able, Tasks, Select Invoices to pay and select the in-voice, or go to Record Manual/Print Quick Check if you’re only cutting that one check. Next, go to Print Checks to pay the invoice from your regular operating Accounts Payable bank account. The

printed check debits the Accounts Payable

account and c r e d i t s

t h e

O p e r -ating Cash account.

After printing the check, you must manually update the credit card bank account. From the Cash Man-agement Tasks menu, select Edit Register. Select the credit card bank. Under Type, select Adj which is an adjust-ment-type transaction. Enter the amount of the Accounts Payable check in the Addi-tion column. In the Adjust-ment window, the GL Debit account prefills with the CC Liability account. You’ll also want to enter the CC Liabil-ity account in the GL Credit account field as well. This is so that the entry adjusts the credit card bank ac-count to include the payment, and it creates a net-zero entry to the General Ledger account balances. Click OK to return to the Register grid. Click Finish. Print the journal to a file, but make sure to review it.

cept Check, then click Finish. (Figure 4)

The charges or manual checks can be entered on a daily or weekly basis, or whatever works best for your company. However, there is one problem that we’ve come across using this system: a credit or a refund. Sage Timberline Office won’t allow you to enter a negative check. The solution that we’ve found is entering the credits at the time that we enter our monthly bill. For example, let’s say that your monthly statement balance is $20,000 and there was $1,000 in refunds. You’ll enter the invoice amount as $20,000, but when you’re on the distribution level, you’ll enter $21,000 (which is the statement balance plus the credit/refund) to the CC Liabil-ity account previously set up. Also, you’ll enter each of the credits/refunds on its own line and code each to whatever job or GL Code it pertains to.

Paying the BillNow you’re ready to pay

the bill. First, go to Accounts Payable, Setup Vendor. Select your credit card vendor and enter the CC Liability account as the default GL debit ac-count on the Vendor record. This is located on the Terms and Defaults tab as illustrated below.

Next, go to Accounts Pay-able, Tasks, Enter Invoices and enter a lump sum invoice for the credit card vendor for the amount you want to pay. Click on Accept Distribution. Click Accept Invoice and then click Finish. The posted invoice debits the CC Liability account and credits the Accounts Pay-able account.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5


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DATE TOPIC

TUG ONLINE WEBEXTRAINING & OPEN FORUMS

June 10, 2010Maryland Local Chapter [email protected]

June 16, 2010San Antonio Local Chapter Meeting

tsykora@koontzmc combs.com

June 17, 2010Iowa Local Chapter [email protected]

August 19, 2010Iowa Local Chapter [email protected]

October 6, 2010Iowa Local Chapter [email protected]

December 16, 2010Iowa Local Chapter [email protected]

April 26 - 29, 20112011 TUG National Users Conference & Workshops

Grapevine, Texas

All training sessions take place at 1:00 EST (unless otherwise stated) and last approximately one hour. To register, email

[email protected]. Just let her know which class(es) you would like to participate in. We’ll get you registered and email a con-firmation along with connection information. These classes are free of charge and open to members only - one more benefit of belonging to the Timberline Users Group!

We are adding more sessions every day. Check the Training Calendar at www.TUGweb.com for an updated list. If you have any suggestions on sessions you would like to see, please email [email protected].

JULYThurs7/01/2010 Job CentralTues 7/06/2010 PJ Settings, Custom Descriptions, Custom Fields & DefaultsThurs 7/8/2010 REAL ESTATE COMMITTEE & FORUMFri 7/9/2010 EDUCATION & PUBLICATION MEETINGFri 7/9/2010 Explorer Standard & Explorer ExtendedMon 7/12/2010 Address BookTues 7/13/2010 Using Address Book with PJThurs7/15/2010 CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE & FORUM Fri 7/16/2010 Estimating ReportsTues 7/20/2010 PJ Job Setup & Workflow/Security RolesTues 7/20/2010 SERVICE MGMT COMMITTEE & FORUM 11:00-ESTWed 7/21/2010 Using DesktopFri 7/23/2010 On-Center TakeoffMon 7/26/2010 IT COMMITTEE & FORUMTue 7/27/2010 PJ COMMITTEE & FORUMWed 7/28/2010 ESTIMATING COMMITTEE & FORUM – 11:00 ESTFri 7/30/2010 Totals and Add-On’s

AUGUSTTues 8/03/2010 PJ TransmittalsFri 8/06/2010 WBS CodesTues 8/10/2010 PJ RFIsThurs8/12/2010 REAL ESTATE COMMITTEE & FORUMFri 8/13/2010 EDUCATION & PUBLICATION MEETINGFri 8/13/2010 Beginning ModelsTues 8/17/2010 PJ Meeting MinutesTues 8/17/2010 SERVICE MGMT COMMITTEE & FORUM 11:00-ESTThurs8/19/2010 CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE & FORUM Tues 8/24/2010 PJ Correspondence LogWed 8/25/2010 ESTIMATING COMMITTEE & FORUM – 11:00 ESTMon 8/30/2010 IT COMMITTEE & FORUMTue 8/31/2010 PJ COMMITTEE & FORUM

SEPTEMBERTues 9/07/2010 PJ Entering Commitments/ Commitment RoundtableFri 9/10/2010 EDUCATION & PUBLICATION MEETINGTues 9/14/2010 PJ Entering Contracts/ Billing RoundtableTues 9/21/2010 PJ Allowances & Contingencies RoundtableTues 9/21/2010 SERVICE MGMT COMMITTEE & FORUM 11:00-ESTMon 9/27/2010 IT COMMITTEE & FORUMTue 9/28/2010 PJ COMMITTEE & FORUM


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What’s New on the TUG Talk Bulletin BoardsWhat’s New on the TUG Talk Bulletin Boards

Accounts Payable – compiled by Elizabeth Perez-LavinCredit Card Refund

Deemah Ramadan asked, “I post all of our credit card charges by re-cording manual checks. But, how do I charge a refund when it will not let you post a negative check?”

Susan Gladd’s idea is to post the invoice as a credit invoice, then next month, when posting a manual check, select both the credit invoice and the current invoice.

Accounts Receivable – compiled by Elizabeth Perez-LavinSpecific Info to Add to Quick Bill

Brandi Clapper stated, “We have certain projects where we are required to put specific info on the invoice. This info is different from in-voice to invoice. I was thinking I could do a copy/paste into Attachments/Notes. However, the info is coming to us from an Access table, so the formatting is lost. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this info onto invoices without having to re-type it? Sometimes it gets pretty long!”

Gemma Fulton noted that no one else had responded to Brandi’s ques-tion. Gemma said, “I suspect that is because what you need is not avail-able in Quick Bill. I also cannot find a way to set up a purchase order in Quick Bill. I sometimes have special pricing on a product for a specific customer PO and have to keep a copy of the PO available to enter the PO# and the price for every invoice I send. Seems like a couple of enhance-

ments would be good for this system. The only way I know to put a note on an invoice is to type it in Word and put the invoice back in the printer. I have a Word document with the top margin set to 7.5” to accommodate printing notes on the bottom of our Quick Bill and PB Contract Summary Invoice format that we use.

Brandi Clapper replied to Gem-ma’s posting, “I didn’t think there was a way to do this, but wanted to double check, thanks!”

However, Dennis Stejskal had another idea. “At this year’s TUG conference, I learned of a PDF edit-ing tool called Bluebeam. You might take a look at this solution and see if it could help you add content to the invoice after it is created in a PDF format. You would want to alter the report design to have a “box” where you can paste client-specific text into the PDF. You can Google Blue-beam software and download a trial version. I believe the cost is around $150 per use.

Then Brent Cato chimed in. “This can be done a different way. If you have the data in Microsoft® Access, you can incorporate that information into your Crystal report. Crystal re-ports aren’t solely tied to Timberline data and can use other data sources, including Access. I don’t know if you edit your own Crystal reports. If not, you can have your consultant create it for you.”

Cash Management – compiled by Elizabeth Perez-LavinCheck Number

Lisa Marinacci requested, “How can I reset my check number? Someone posted a quick check with

a 10-digit transfer number, and now all my checks are printing with 10 digits.”

Randee Young replied, “Go to Cash Management. Click on Audit Setup Activity located under Tools. Go to Setup, Select your bank ac-count. On the Last Transactions tab, put in the last check number, date and amount of the good check you want to follow (under the AP box section). This does not delete any of the information for the other check that is irregular.”

Crystal Reports – compiled by Tom Moore

Job Overview ReportJohn Jankowski asked how to

modify the Job Overview report to include a contract amount from a specific contract item number.

Tom Moore explained that the Job Overview typically displays a group header (or footer) grouped by Job. That way you can add a formula to the detail section checking for the specific Contract Item number, then use the Max function to take the non-zero value of that formula across all contract item numbers.

Project Management – compiled by Tom Moore

Error: File @ EndDianne Mikruk encountered an

error and didn’t find resolution in the Sage knowledgebase, so she wasn’t sure how to proceed.

Tom Moore suggested contact-ing Sage Support since they have the resources and expertise to help resolve system problems.


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computer-generated tasks, etc.) that currently impact each person’s job. Ask how that communication could be improved and can bet-ter flow to the next step in the process. Look at how, with better processes and communication, staff could reduce the time it takes to do their jobs.

For example, consider “Auto-Pay.” This is where a purchase order or sub-contract, which is a legal document, informs the trade, sub or supplier how much you are going to pay them for the work to be performed on a project activity. Now think about the fact if you make this process paperless. You e-mail or post the purchase order document on a web trade portal. The trade, sub or supplier performs the tasks described, the superintendent approves the work or material deliveries via a mobile device, the purchase order is then approved automatically and the data updates the production and accounting systems, all paperless and with little effort on the staff. It just makes sense!

This type of function is available in the technology sys-tems on the market today. They evolved from meetings just like the roundtable discussion I mentioned above. Therefore, as a contractor, you’re finding ways for your company to operate leaner and more efficiently. You make enhancement requests to your technology partners and they develop the software to handle this process for you automatically. Isn’t that better than the number of hours you spend trying to do this manually and with more staff than you really need?

Why are “Roundtable Discussions” With Your Staff So Important?

PJ Users Packed Up Tips & Tricks From the Annual TUG Conference

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• I learned that the STO Desktop homepage reports provided by Timberline also provide links to certain project documents that are linked to the job. All I have to do is press the Attachments button in PJ Job Setup. This is a really cool shortcut to help centralize job information and allow project managers to get to the info with fewer clicks. (Tom Moore)

• Workflow centers in STO Desktop. (Mary Jo Hamik)• I vote for the “how-to” on creating a “master” ver-

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Roundtable TipsTry the roundtable discussion for yourself. I

truly believe you’ll be amazed at the number of holes you have in your process that you are just not aware of. Here are some getting started tips:• Schedule this meeting for a half day that’s convenient for everyone.• Purchase sheets of large sticky paper and place them around the room so everyone can see them. Label the sheets by department.• Have your staff write down their job duties and what would make their job easier.• Go through each department, one at a time.

• Have each person explain his/her duties and what information that person needs, as well as what information each produces, how he/she produces it, and any thoughts on improving each person’s job/process.

• Have someone flowchart each activity.• Define the holes in the activities, such as someone

having to generate spreadsheets for the next per-son in the process—especially where this could be replaced with an automated software solution.

• Once you have your “hit list,” start working on im-proving the process.

• This will also become a shopping list for better technology that adheres to the way you build.

Good luck and happy building!

Tom Gebes is President of BuilderMT, a long-time tech-nology development company and part of the Sage Develop-ment Partner Program. He can be reached at [email protected] or www.buildermt.com.

sion in Crystal Reports to allow customizing both the “(T)” version and the menu version of form templates. We have all our forms customized, and our staff was no longer using the linked forms since those forms didn’t update to the new version,. With this tip we were able to update the “(T)” version of our Crystal forms to match our existing edits on the menu versions. Now that is a time-saver. (Richard Fiore)

We know there was much, much more handy information for PJ users. Don’t miss the next TUG conference and your chance to get your share of tips and tricks.

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