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IBM Group of Arrow ECS

IBM Group of Arrow ECS
N/Compass Software      ( Fix Report | Help Form | Manuals | Products | Version 10)

Accounts Payable | Accounts Receivable | Ally | Billing | Fixed Assets
General Ledger | Inventory | Menu Security | Payroll | Personnel | Purchasing

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To view any updated information on Version 10, please click here.

Version 10 detail overview
This document is designed to give a basic understanding of the enhancements that have been made in the N/Compass Version 10 release. Each module that has been changed is listed in alphabetical order. The capability to record every change to a file has been added to the Control File; you can turn this on or off for any file and purge accumulated data at will.

Accounts Payable
Accounts Payable has had a variety of database changes in order to expand the reference number field to a 22-character field. The reference number has been lengthened in all files, and all reports and inquiry screens have been altered to accommodate the increased length of the field. In some reports an additional line has been added; in others, you can print a truncated reference number or choose a more condensed font to display all of the information on a report.

Accounts Payable is also now capable of processing ACH payments. You will have the ability to designate a vendor as receiving electronic payments; they will receive an electronic payment as a default, but you have the ability to override vouchers to be processed on a physical check at entry and release time. Safeguards have been added to prevent the accidental release of new vouchers after checks have been run.

A great deal of information has been added to the inquiry screens. You can sort Vendor Inquiry by PO#. You can display gross and net due dates, plus the PO# and reconciliation/voided status of a check by pressing the F8 key. The total dollar amount of vouchers available for payment also displays on this screen.

The entry function now allows you to credit all vouchers for a single vendor in a range - much more convenient if you need to do some bulk credits and there are vouchers for other vendors in that range. You can also book quantity amounts to a unit account from during AP distribution entry instead of making additional entries in the General Ledger application.

You can now change the distribution of a paid voucher after it has been posted. The General Ledger is updated in the current period, and both the original and the corrected account will appear in inquiry and the distribution report. The distribution report can now be run with Level 1, Level 2, and Account Number ranges.

When you change vouchers to a prepaid check, you will now see a list of all open vouchers for your selected vendor. If you do not select a vendor, the option will operate as it does in Version 9.

1099's can also be magnetically submitted for multiple companies. Vendors can also be easily copied into a new company.



Accounts Receivable
Major enhancements have been added throughout the Receivables application. The terms code is now alphanumeric to expand the number of terms you can utilize.

Due date, discount, and PO information has been added to current and history inquiry. A last payment date, country code, and international phone number have been added to the customer information screen and relevant reports. Current inquiry now allows you to view transactions in a real-time or static aging mode, to mirror the trial balance options. You can also look up a customer by searching for a string of characters in the customer name.

Cash application now allows charge backs. You can enter adjustments at the same time you are applying cash, and apply the amount the customer has requested as an adjustment. Those adjustments can be written off in the normal fashion, but will remain on the account and age like a normal charge if they are disallowed.

History statements now show unapplied cash. Current statements can be run for open items only or as they run now. When statements are posted, completed transaction detail is added to a new transaction history file (including non-A/R cash). True transaction history can easily be printed out with the new reporting option.



Ally
Ally is a contact management program and more. You can begin by importing your existing customer master file and truly document your interactions with your customers. A call tracking capability lets you log and report on with whom you are talking and for how long. You also have unlimited capability to record detailed comments, if you have the authority to do so; security for each function of the software is included in the package. Each user can also use the scheduling features to set up a personal reminder list - entries can also be tied to individual customer records or other user's calendars.

Ally is a great tool for securely saving important customer information and improving your customer interactions. Unlike other contact management systems, Ally is not priced by user. Source code is also available to allow for your in-house customization.



Billing
Version 10 provides a pre-invoicing report that shows what will print on the upcoming invoice run. You will be able to make corrections to orders before actually generating the real invoice run. A global comment can also be printed on up to the top four lines of all invoices automatically.



Fixed Assets
The Future Depreciation report is now available summarized by Class Code or Level 1 and Level 2 combination. The Summary List by Asset has had additional information added to the report.

The Trial Depreciation now includes a General Ledger summary of what will post to GL during the Final Depreciation. The Final Depreciation routine now records what depreciation was taken in a new history file. This individual period history is accessible via Asset Inquiry.

You can also now delete retired assets for all companies simultaneously.



General Ledger
The posting period file has been expanded to allow you to close modules on an application-by-application basis. This capability is optional and not required; the existing closed period flag overrides the individual application flag.

Changing the Balance, Operating or Unit flag to an X can now deactivate accounts. History is maintained for a deactivated account, but it will no longer appear in an F4 lookup and you will be unable to make new transactions to the account.

The Financial Statements have been enhanced by a menu option that allows you to resequence all line numbers in an increment you choose (ie 5 or 10). This allows you to easily add new lines to an existing report. There is a new column option, Percentage of Annual Budget remaining.

There is also an online Financial Statement drill-down feature; you can see which account combination had a balance that contributed to a particular line of a report, and even drill-down to the underlying detail. This detail is automatically purged once accessed after 10 days to reduce data storage requirements.



Inventory
Transaction Inquiry has been enhanced by the ability to sequence transactions in ascending or descending chronological order.

Transaction entry now provides a General Ledger trial report. Transaction entry also is entered and posted in batch form, similar to the General Ledger and Accounts Payable applications.



Menu Security
You can now elect to have new users automatically masked from all N/Compass options. Information for users who have been deleted can now be purged also.



Payroll
The check form has been redesigned to document the tax statuses of the employee at the time the check is run, and to include all four PTO balances on the check stub if you have the Personnel application. The most significant changes to Payroll are not as easily visible, however..

All information about earnings codes and deductions have been removed from the existing files and put in separate new files. This allows you to use more than 24 earnings and/or deduction codes per employee and simplifies many kinds of custom reporting challenges. The earnings master is now kept by month instead of quarter; the existing reports have been enhanced to take advantage of the new structure of the data. Many of those reports can also now be run with Level 1 and Level 2 parameters, and some are available in both a detail and summary format. Historical labor reporting is also now available. State unemployment percentages are now maintained by year.

New fields have been added to employee maintenance; you can also set a default employee record to simplify the addition of new employees.

Processing has been enhanced with additional sort options and total information on the input audit register. Auto Transaction Generation now allows you to produce checks with up to three earnings codes instead of one; it also notifies you which employees do not have the selected earnings codes in their employee master file so will not have the earnings code on this check run. A maximum net pay error will show on the check register for any employee who exceeds the amount in their master file, helping eliminate gross keying errors. Employees who are paid in more than one company that has the same tax ID number will now honor the Social Security wage limit in multiple companies. A new garnishments listing appears with the check register; all garnishments are listed and individual deductions for less than the standard amount of the garnishment are flagged for you.



Personnel
A variety of new functionality has been added to the Personnel application. The terminations report now includes a turnover ratio. Leave of Absence tracking has been expanded and enhanced with new reporting options. Full Certification Tracking and the attendant reporting have been added, along with a new report to identify which employees are eligible for benefits based on length of service and/or hours worked. Supervisors are now defined in a table file, and many reports can use supervisor number as a selection parameter.



Purchasing
Purchasing now includes a requisition application. Internal staff can make requests for supplies or stock to be ordered, which are approved by a configurable one or two step approval process. Approved items can be accessed during P.O. entry and automatically added to a P.O.

Receipts can now be entered and posted in batches, similar to the Accounts Payable and General Ledger applications. Freight, tax and container charges can be allocated to an item's cost during the Receipts Verification process.