Advanced Fund
Management Solutions

Note that the "Grant" box is checked under "Usage". (This is a new check box.)

In addition, for reporting purposes, the grant's account mask has been entered.

The information that you are used to seeing on tabs has been made easier to access by organizing them in a vertical scroll format, as seen in the lower left of the Organization form.

Most of the information you can display about an Organization will be familiar to you (Addresses, Bills, etc.). There are two new types of information that are unique to the new Grants Module; Grant Items, and, further down the list, Grant Query. We'll look at these two new capabilities in order.

Grant Items allow one to attach any information needed to the grants. You may attach any number of items to the grant; each item may contain multiple pieces of information that would probably be related. For example, one item may contain grant submittal and award dates, grant start and stop dates, review dates and results, etc. Another item may contain total budget amounts, dates, budget revisions, etc. Below is shown the lower portion of the form with the Grant Items selected:

You can see, above, that two Items have been added (GrantBudget and GrantStatus). Each has a number of fields of information in it, some of which can be seen. Opening the GrantBudget item with the "Change" button reveals the information in a much more legible format:

Each of the fields in an Item is available for reporting in the Reports/Forms Designer.

Notice that the fields can contain different data types such as rates, dates, and amounts. Other types of data may also be added, such as check boxes, text fields and drop down lists.

Items, such as this GrantBudget item are created in Setup/Grant/Item. Here is what this item looks like in Setup:

Each item may contain any number of fields (they're called Variables here). This one has six.

We've seen that you may attach any amount of data to a grant. Next we'll look at the Query feature that allows you to pull in financial information.

Note: The financial reporting we can do from within the Organization form is in addition to that provided by the Financial Reporter.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the "Areas" list, you will see the Grant Query item. When selected, you will see the Query drop down list, as indicated below:

There are two queries that have been defined (one happens to be a copy of the other). These queries were created elsewhere (we'll see where in a moment). Any queries that have been created may be used on any grant. We're selecting the query called "Grant Summary". Select a report date. To run the query, click on the "Find" button. A portion of the query results are show below:

The rows are controlled by classifications that are attached to accounts. Each classification will display in summary form (as indicated by the "+" sign to the left of the classification name (such as GRLabor). To see the accounts comprising the sum, click on the "+" sign (as indicated by the cursor arrow above). Then the accounts and amounts making up the summary are displayed. (The accounts that show are brought in by classifications, and are subject to the account mask on the General form.) This is a form of "drill down" that applies to a whole row. To see all of the columns, you must scroll to the right. Or, click on the "Quick" button to print the entire query results.

You may have up to 25 visible columns in your query, plus hidden columns. Go to Setup/Grant/Queries. You'll see the queries listed on the browse form. Highlight "Grant Summary" and then click the "Change" button. You'll see the three columns that have been included in the summary:

The rows that will be brought into the query results are controlled by classifications you have assigned to accounts, and are selected in the "Query Rows" drop down list shown above. Click on the "Insert" button to see your options for adding columns. You may add others as required.

You have now seen that the Grants Management module presents you with a new grants category of organizations. That category allows you to attach any information (items) to the grant you wish. Queries may be created and run for any grant, giving you access to financial information, in addition to other information, all in one place. All of the items (information) you have attached to the grant may be reported with the Reports/Forms designer, as well. If you are managing programs, projects, or grants, you will want to give the new Grants Management module a try!

The Columnar Report Writer

Version 3.04 brings us a new capability that has been added to the Reports/Forms Designer. It's a Columnar Report Writer! This new reporting capability gives us the ability to bring fields from the database tables into columns in our report. This opens up a vast range of reporting opportunities that will be sure to interest you. This article takes you through the creation of a simple report.

The first step in creating a new report is to design it-things go more smoothly when you're following a plan! Our report will have five columns: Vendor name, Invoice Number, Activity Date, Description of Transaction and Invoice Amount. A report of this type is known as an A/P Accounting Document (because it pulls at least some information from the General Ledger transaction file (even though this is an AP report, it posts to General Ledger). To start the report, open Setup/Reports/Forms, Filters. You will see a browse form such as the one shown below:

Highlight the A/P Accounting Document report type, as shown.

To add our new report, click on the "Form" button at the bottom of the form.

The following form will open:

Fill in the name of the report, as shown. Note that the Type of report is A/P Accounting Document (that was the type we highlighted before). This form allows you to create a columnar report (where you add your own columns), a standard report (where you drag and drop fields onto the design screen) and a form (such as a receipt or label form). Click on the "Columnar" radio button, as indicated by the arrow cursor. We won't be changing any of the Page Setup data, go with the defaults.

Click on the "Fields" item in the "Report/Form Property list. You will see a list (shown below) of the fields available, by table, for our report. We want the name of our vendor in the first column (remember, vendors are considered organizations in AccuFund). Open the AFLst table by clicking on the "+" sign to its left. You will see the fields available for our report. Click on the Name field (shown highlighted below). Then click on the "Insert" button.

The field will then be moved to the right hand window, as shown below:

Notice that the name of the table and the field we selected is shown (AFlst.Name). To bring in the other information our report requires we will add in APinv.Invoice, GLtac.ActivityDate, GLtac.Description and APinv.AmountPaid. When you finish, the assigned fields window should look like the one below:

The Assigned Fields window translates directly to the columns that will be on our finished report. If you wish to format the columns, highlight the field (in the Assigned Fields window) and then click on the "Change" button.

Let's take a sneak peek at what the report looks like. You'll notice a "Test" button on the right middle of the form. Click on it to run the report (in test mode in only displays a few records, not the whole database). This runs quickly, and is great for catching mistakes in the report.

You'll notice that the sample report has a yellow highlight-that was selected by going to the "Templates" property item and selecting it.

The report shows useful information, but it would be better if it was grouped by vendor and sorted by invoice number within the vendor. That's all done on the grouping property item-click on it.

The form below appears (it's only partially shown here):

Highlight the "Detail" that's between the Heading, and Total, as seen below:

Click on the "Insert" button. The following form will open:

Move the AFlst.Name field to the right hand window. Vendors will now be grouped by name. Click on "OK". Click on the "Detail" which is between Heading 2 and Total 2. Then click on the "Change" button. Move the APinv.Invoice field to the right hand window, as shown below:

Click on "OK" and then the "Test" button. Your report should now look like the portion shown below: (Column titles are at the top of each page.)

Click on "OK" to save your report!

This new reporting tool is ready for you. Use it!

Did You Know...?

Human Resources.You may know that the HR module allows you to attach information to employees via HR Items. For example, performance review dates may be tracked, whether the employee has been issued a cell phone, etc. In addition, however, information may be attached to an employee that is used in calculating the employee's pay. Employment anniversary dates (attached by an HR Item, for example) can be used in calculating things such as vacation accruals, or insurance rates). The use of HR Items in calculations can greatly increase your payroll efficiency and save lots of time!

Cash Receipts.When recording a credit it may be designated a deposit. If it is, you may indicate upon what date the deposit may be "released" to be applied as a credit against a customer's charges. This is especially useful for those organizations that hold deposits for specified periods. After the deposit period has expired, the credit (which was a deposit) can be applied automatically.

Work Orders. The Work Order component, when installed, becomes part of the Utility Billing module. It allows you to create utility work orders, and to maintain them to reflect changes, dates of completion, cancellation, etc. The Reports/Forms Designer allows you write any needed reports.