Tips to becoming a SagePastel Evolution pro

Make the most of your Pastel Evolution software by using these handy hints to help with some common procedures.

1. Setup point of sale network printers

You may have a need to share a single till slip printer between two or more point of sale operators.

This can be done by following these steps;

• Go to Point Of Sale Maintenance | Devices, select the relevant printer device on the list, set the Type option to Parallel Rec. Printer and then click on the OK button.
• Select Point Of Sale | Transactions | Transactions and select the Receipt option from the Till Transaction dropdown.
• Select the Print menu and click on Print Options.
• On the Report tab, select the Print this Document option (and the other relevant filters)
• On the Printer Options tab, select the Always Use Printer option and specify the correct printer, located on the network.

2. Splitting accounts receivable control contra accounts

When processing an Accounts Receivable (AR) or Accounts Payable (AP) Journal batch, you may want to split a particular transaction between different contra accounts. In this case, the contra account is the account that has the opposite posting direction to the Receivables/Payables Control Account.

To explain this further, let’s refer to an Accounts Receivable batch as an example (and you can then reverse the logic for an Accounts Payable Journal batch).

On the AR Journal Batch Properties screen, select the 3 Contra Account related options as below:

• Always show GL contra Account
• Always allow editing of GL Contra account
• Allow GL Contra Splits

On the Batch transaction line, enter an INVOICE (IN) transaction line for any customer and enter two split lines, by selecting the Split Contra button, and then post the batch:

Note that with our example above, and by not selecting the Split Contra option, the General Ledger Account distribution would have been in accordance to the IN transaction type, as follows:

When making use of the Split Contra option, the Sales account (which is the contra account in this case) has been substituted with the 2 accounts that have been selected to post to. Therefore the following posting will occur:

3. General ledger account lookup

You can change your General Ledger (GL) Account field lookup to either display the GL account Code or Description on any Transaction Type screen (e.g. Inventory | Maintenance | Transaction Types).

To do this:

• Open the General Ledger | Enquiries | Ledger Enquiries screen
• Right click on the Account field, select Lookup Field and then select between either the account Description or the account code: Account (Master_Sub_Account):
• You can now select the same account lookup type (Code or Description), in accordance to the blow selection, on the Account field lookup on any Transaction Type screen.

4. Emailing inventory documents

Pastel Evolution allows you to e-mail Inventory related documents such as quotations, invoices, credit notes, GRVs, supplier invoices and other documents from the relevant document type maintenance screen (e.g. Invoice Maintenance).

However, ensure that there is a valid e-mail address on the relevant customer’s account, found in the Maintenance screen and the Contact Details tab. You also need to confirm that the option to E-mail Invoices and Credit Notes is selected on the Bank and Other tab.

If your Maintenance screens have not been setup as above, you will receive an error warning you that there are no records to email.

5. Login security

Pastel Evolution makes it possible to force all agents to not have blank passwords but also to have passwords that expire after a certain pre-defined period.

This is made possible by selecting the option: Enable Login Security on the Administration | System Configuration | System Wizard | Login Security tab.

Here you also specify the minimum password length and the number of days an agent’s password is valid.

6. Desktop shortcuts

You can create a desktop shortcut for virtually any screen in Pastel Evolution that will directly open that screen when the short cut is selected. You can also choose to force the user to logon when this desktop shortcut is selected.

To achieve this, follow the instructions below. We have used the Inventory Invoice node as an example:

• Open the Inventory | Transactions node on the system tree.
• Right click on the Invoice node and select Create desktop shortcut to ‘Invoice’
• Notice the two further options:
  • Auto Login to ‘DB NAME’ as ‘admin’ – where ‘admin’ is the agent name. This will not prompt a company logon screen when the new desktop shortcut is selected.
  • No Auto Login – this allows the Invoice screen to open immediately when the new desktop shortcut icon is selected, no user login is required.

7. Automatic drop down on lookup fields

Save time when looking up fields on maintenance and processing screens by activating the automatic drop down function.

This feature speeds up processing by making use of arrow keys on your key board to quickly select the relevant record. When this option is activated, you would type the first letter of the record code (eg. item code) that you require and immediately a drop down list of inventory records will display. By typing in more characters in the field, you narrow the search results of records displayed on the automatic drop down.

This is accomplished by doing the following, using the Item field on an Invoice transaction line as an example:

• Right click on the relevant lookup field in the maintenance or processing screen and select Customise
• Select the Options tab and tick the ‘Immediate drop down’ option and click on OK.

8. Copy and increase budget values between accounting years

You can copy budgets from one accounting year to another, while simultaneously increasing the new budget values with a set percentage value.

In the example below, we have a R100.00 value on all periods for Year 1 for the selected GL Account. We want this to increase to R150.00 per period for Year 2.

This is done in the following way:

• Open the General Ledger | Maintenance | Budgets screen
• Select the relevant GL Account for which budget values must be entered, and click on the View button.
• Select the Year 2 tab and click on the Copy button
• Select the option Year 1 to Year 2
• Select the Add as Percentage option and set the percentage to 50% (or relevant percentage value)
• Enter a reason value below and the OK button
• This will change budget values for this account for Year 2 to R150

9. Un-selling assets

You can un-sell a sold or scrapped asset and thereby return it to the same state it was before it was sold or scrapped.

This function proves especially valuable when a selling/scrapping of an asset has been captured incorrectly (incorrect asset, selling/scrapping price, date, etc).

To un-sell an asset:

• Locate the relevant sold/scrapped asset on the Fixed Assets | Maintenance | Assets grid.
• Right click on the asset, select the Unsell Asset option and click Yes on the confirmation screen.
• Enter the correct values for the fields as displayed below and select the OK button. Your asset is now available for reselling.

10. Showing open cashbook batches in the bank reconciliation

Pastel Evolution allows you to include transactions from open, un-posted cashbook batches on your Bank Reconciliation.

To do this, select the Options menu and tick the Include Open Batches option in the Bank Reconciliation.

Remember to select the Reconcile up to Month and capture the Statement Balance before selecting the View button in order to see all of the open batches transactions for that bank account.