Job Streaming User Guide

Transcription

1 Job Streaming User Guide By TOPS Software, LLC Clearwater, Florida

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3 Document History Version Edition Date Document Software Trademark Copyright First Edition TOPS JS AA The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, translated to another language, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise), for any purpose, without the express written permission of TOPS Software, LLC. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e mail addresses, logos, people, places and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e mail address, logos, person, place and event is intended or should be inferred. Copyright 2006 TOPS Software, LLC, Printed in the United States of America. Disclaimer This guide has been provided by TOPS Software, LLC as a reference and help tool when using the TOPS 2000 Job Streaming function. Illustrations used in this guide may display screens with modules, features, and or functions that may not be part of the basic system but available as add ons or as plug ins to an interface to third party products. It is neither the intent nor purpose of TOPS Software, LLC, to provide accounting, wage, or tax advice. For specific information regarding accounting methods, procedures, tax rates, deductions, or earnings calculation speak to your company accountant or contact the appropriate Federal or State agency. It is also assumed that the user of this guide is familiar with basic Windows functionality and navigation tools. Refer questions regarding the use of Windows Explorer to your system administrator.

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5 Contents CHAPTER INTRODUCTION... 2 CHAPTER CREATING A NEW JOB... 4 Available Job Types... 4 Selecting a Job Type... 4 Create a New Job... 4 Choose Communities...5 Define Settings...7 Schedule...7 Save the New Job...8 Create a New Folder...9 Create a Report Defaults Print Job CHAPTER USING JOB STREAMING Run an Existing Job Run a Job Job Settings Edit or Delete a job Edit a Job Delete a Job Scheduling a Job TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

6 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Job Streaming is designed for portfolio managers and management companies. It enables you to automate many repetitive processes across your portfolio providing increased productivity. Job streaming allows the customized automation of recurring tasks across multiple communities such as: Print Monthly Reports from the Report Defaults menu Print Monthly Financial Packages Print Owner Mailing Labels Apply Recurring Owner Charges Apply Owner Prepayments Apply Late Fees Apply Interest Process Collection Actions on Delinquent Owners Print Coupons and Create a Coupon File. The more associations in your portfolio, the more time you ll save. Instead of having to launch repetitive functions individually for each association, Job Streaming allows you to perform such functions globally for several or all managed associations. Job Streaming can be scheduled to run unattended during non working hours for maximum productivity. Jobs can be defined with various parameters, saved so they can be re used, and setup so they execute without further staff involvement. You may also schedule Jobs that prompt a staff member to execute on a specific day of the month. This flexibility is built in to provide portfolio managers with total control of these global processes while increasing productivity and improved time management. Save jobs under file names that you define in custom folders to organize your jobs. Create jobs to automate numerous tasks. Job types are sorted by module to make it easy for users to select the right job type. Choose the communities that will be affected by your jobs. The community list can be filtered to only display communities to which individual users have access. Customize settings for each individual job type, including preferred printer and posting dates. Schedule Jobs to run automatically or prompt a user to run the job when they log in. As a global function it allows you to create jobs that will run across multiple communities regardless of the community you are working in. 2 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

7 Figure 1.1 Job Streaming action selection window Job Streaming is located on the TOPS 2000 main menu bar, making it accessible from any Module within TOPS TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 3

8 Chapter 2 CREATING A NEW JOB Jobs are created by selecting job types, defining print and posting parameters, selecting communities, and scheduling run frequencies, dates and time. Save the new jobs in custom folders that you create to organize the tasks. Name the folders according to job types or modules. Define folders according to run dates, frequencies, or user names. AVAILABLE JOB TYPES Module Owner Data Accounts Receivable General Ledger Accounts Payable Billing / Reporting Mailing Labels Job Type Apply Owner Charges Apply Prepayments Apply Late Fees Apply Interest Categorize Collections Print From Letters Close Current Period Recurring Journal Entry Recurring AP Report Defaults Print Coupons Create Coupon File SELECTING A JOB TYPE Job types are sorted by module to make it easy for users to select the right job type. The table above shows all the job types currently available in Job Streaming. Special note about Billing / Reporting, while it is not an actual Module within TOPS 2000 it allows you to create coupon files and print coupons for your communities all from within the Job Streaming function. The Reporting option when used in conjunction with the Report Defaults allows you to create jobs that print recurring month end, weekly and yearly reports automatically or on demand across your entire management company s portfolio. CREATE A NEW JOB 4 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

9 From the TOPS 2000 main menu: 1. Click Job Streaming on the menu bar. 2. Click Run Job Streaming from the drop down list. 3. The Job Streaming action selection window appears. Figure 2.1 Job Streaming action selection window 4. Click Create a New Job. 5. The Select a Module window appears. 6. Click the Accounts Receivable Module button. 7. The AR job types appear. Figure 2.2 Create a New Job: Select a Module 8. Click the Apply Late Fees radio button. 9. Click the Next button located at the bottom right of the window. Choose Communities When choosing communities for which to create a job, you have the option of filtering the My Communities list. This list displays only the associations that you have access to as defined by your Users and Passwords settings. Depending on your permissions you may be authorized to delegate a job to be run by another user. If the Users and Passwords option May View My Communities list for other users is checked in the group settings, you may create jobs that will prompt a specific user to run that job. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 5

10 1. The Choose Communities window appears. Figure 2.3 Create a New Job: AR Module Choose Communities 2. The default is set to the user currently logged in. If the job will be assigned to another user, Click the down arrow and Select a user from the drop down list. 3. The Community list box will display all the communities the selected User ID has access to, as defined in Users and Passwords. Users with the Administrator Group setting May View My Communities are able to view all users and the communities they have access to in the community list box. 4. Click the (+) symbol to the left of a community to reveal the type of charge code associated with this community. Figure 2.4 Create a New Job: AR Module Job Types 5. Click the charge code checkbox beside each individual charge that will be included in this action, or click the checkbox beside the community name to select all charges for the community 6. To review your selections easily, Click the Show Selected Communities Only checkbox. 7. If you are satisfied with your selections Click the Next button located at the bottom right of the window. 6 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

11 Define Settings Define Settings allows you to set your preferences as to how the job will behave when it is run. You may define a default printer (for jobs that include a printing task) as well as the date that will appear in the As Of or Post Date field in TOPS Accounting based jobs will also allow the selection to only accrue monies, or to accrue and post transactions. 1. The Define Settings window appears. Figure 2.5 Create a New Job: AR Module Define Settings Schedule 2. Click the Default Printer down arrow and select the default printer for this job. 3. Set the Run date or As of Post Date. You can select from one of two ways for the post date that charges will hit; one option is the post date will be a given day of the calendar month or on a specific weekday during a given week of the month in the previous, current, or next period. You may elect to set a default that will only allow charges for the current month Select the Accrual Preference, the options are Accrue or Accrue and Post. 6. Select an Apply to, either the Owner or Renter. 7. Click the Next button located at the bottom right of the window. The scheduler in Job Streaming allows jobs to be automatically run on a recurrent schedule that you set, such as the first weekday of the month, or the last Friday of every other week. Scheduled jobs may be set to run automatically at a set time on the job date, or may be set to prompt users upon login on the scheduled date, or at the time you create a job. You may not need to define a set schedule if the job will be run manually on an as needed basis. 1. The Schedule window appears. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 7

12 Figure 2.6 Create a New Job: AR Module Schedule Window You may schedule a job to run; Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. Each selection contains options compatible with the schedule selected. 2. Click the button to select a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly schedule. 3. The options for the schedule appear. For example if you select Weekly, you may choose the number of times a job will run in a week and the days of the week on which it will run. 4. Define the schedule by clicking the appropriate radio button.. 5. Select additional job options below by clicking the radio button: To be prompted of a job run upon logging in to TOPS Select a user other than yourself from the drop down list, if this user will be responsible for running the job Run the job automatically at a specified time. 6. Click the last radio button if this job will only be run when needed. 7. Click the Next button located at the bottom right of the window. Save the New Job The last step is to save all your settings for the job you ve been defining. Jobs may be saved in the Jobs root folder, or save them in custom folders that you create to better organize your jobs. You can organize jobs by module or by user names if jobs are assigned to another user; use whatever works best for you. 1. The Save Job window appears. The default is set to the <Jobs Root Folder>, which is typically located in the TOPS data path. C:\TOPS2000\Master\Jobs. 8 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

13 Figure 2.7 Create a New Job: AR Module Schedule Window 2. Click the down arrow next to Save in this Folder 3. Click the folder to select or create a new folder. 4. Enter the name you wish to assign to this job in the Save Job As field. 5. Click the Finish button. 6. The following dialog box appears. Figure 2.8 Create a New Job: AR Module Schedule Window 7. Click OK. Create a New Folder From the Save Job window: 1. Click the New Folder button. 2. The Browse for Folder window appears. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 9

14 Figure 2.9 Create a New Job: AR Module Schedule Window 3. Click the Make New Folder button. 4. A new folder appears in the Jobs root folder. 5. The cursor is positioned in the folder name field, enter a name that is relevant to the jobs that will be saved in this folder. 6. Click OK. 7. You are returned to Save Job window. 8. Go to Step 2 of Save a New Job and follow instructions to save the job in the folder you just created. 10 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

15 CREATE A REPORT DEFAULTS PRINT JOB By creating a Billing / Reporting job to run Report Defaults based on pre defined Report Defaults, you can set a job to run reports automatically or on demand across your entire management company s portfolio. Please note that Report Defaults must be set up before you can define a Report Defaults Job. Report Defaults is a menu option on the TOPS 2000 main menu, and instructions are provided in a separate manual. The following table lists the reports currently available in the Report Defaults function. Module A/R GL A/P Reports Aged Delinquency Delinquency Status Prepaid Owners Owner A/R Activity Cash Receipts Journal Balance Sheet Income / Expense Statement Reserve Statement Yearly Spreadsheet General Ledger Aged Open Items Check Register A/P Distribution to GL Vendor Check Register For example, each month you print a Board of Directors month end reports package for each community. Job Streaming enables you to create a Reporting job in Job Streaming by calling up a predefined Report Defaults file that you created, then selecting all communities to be included in the Job using Job Streaming. To create a Reporting job for Report Defaults, from the Main menu: 1. Click Job Streaming on the menu bar. 2. Select Run Job Streaming. 3. The Job Streaming Select an Action window appears. 4. Click the Create a New Job button. 5. The Create a New Job window appears. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 11

16 Figure 2.10 Create a New Job: Billing \ Reporting options 6. Click Billing \ Reporting Module button. 7. The Select a Job Type appears. 8. Click the Report Defaults radio button. Figure 2.11 Create a New Job: Billing \ Reporting options 9. Click Next. 10. The Select Communities window appears. 12 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

17 Figure 2.12 Create a New Job: Billing \ Reporting options 11. Click the checkbox to the left of each community you wish to include in this job run. 12. Click Next. 13. The Define Settings window appears. Figure 2.13 Create a New Job: Billing \ Reporting options 14. Click the down arrow to display the Report Defaults files created using the Report Defaults function in TOPS 2000 and select the Report Defaults file for this job. Note: In Report Defaults you defined various report settings including the reporting period. The options are Cut Off Date or Current Period. When defining settings for a job, reports included in a Report Defaults file that were predefined using current period will not be affected by selecting Start and End dates in Job Streaming. Report Defaults defined to use Cut Off Dates will reflect the selections entered in the Define Settings window or Job Streaming Start and End Date fields at the time the job is run. 15. Define a Start date. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 13

18 16. Define an End date. 17. Click Next. 18. The Schedule window appears. Figure Click a button to select how often a job will run, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. 20. Based on the frequency selected, define the day(s) the job will run. 21. In the Options section, select how the job will run. Will it be automatically launched, or run on demand? You can assign the job to be run by another user. Only users with the Users and Passwords group setting May Assign Tasks to Other Users are able to assign Jobs to other users. 22. Click Next. 23. The Save Job window appears. Figure Select a folder in which to save the job. 25. Enter a name for this job. 26. Click Finished. 14 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

19 The following two examples are from the same Job Streaming Report Defaults job run. When the Report Defaults file was created, one report was defined using Current Period, the other Cut Off Dates. At the time of the job run the Cut Off Start Date entered was 05/01/2006, and the End Date was 05/15/2006. Cut Off Date Period Ending Date TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 15

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21 Chapter 3 USING JOB STREAMING RUN AN EXISTING JOB Once jobs are created and saved, depending on the schedule options selected, there is very little left to do except run a job. When prompted or if you wish to run a job manually, use the Select Jobs Folder in the Run a Job screen to locate the job by job types. Jobs set to run automatically require no action on the user s part. From the TOPS main menu: 1. Click Job Streaming on the menu bar. 2. Click Run Job Streaming from the drop down list. 3. The Job Streaming action selection window appears (refer to Figure 2.1 in the previous section.) 4. Click Run an Existing Job. 5. The Run a Job window appears. Figure 3.1 Run an Existing Job: 6. Depending on how you have organized your jobs, Click the Select Job folder drop down arrow. Or 7. Click the down arrow next to View All Jobs in this Folder to filter jobs of a module type such as Accounts Receivable. 8. Select a job from the desired folder. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 17

22 Selecting a job in the Run Job screen will display a preview of the job, including the job type, and what communities are associated with the selected job. 9. Click desired folder name. 10. A list of jobs appears in Select Job list box. Figure 3.2 Run an Existing Job: 11. Click the job you wish to run. 12. Click the Show Last Run button, for more information about a job. Show Last Run displays the activity from the last time the selected job was run. 13. Click the Next button. 14. The Job Settings window appears. Run a Job Job Settings When jobs are created and saved, all the original settings are saved as well. When running a job you may elect to change some of these settings, for example deselect certain charges or deselect some communities just for this job run, while retaining the original settings for future jobs. Figure 3.3 Run an Existing Job: 18 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

23 1. Expand the list of communities and processes in this Job, check communities and options that you wish to deselect for this particular job run. 2. Enter an effective date for this job post date, the default is set to the current day. 3. Select the Print To location: system printer, pdf or file. 4. The Accrual method and Apply To fields default to the original Job settings, you may edit them at this time for this job run. 5. Create Backup is checked as the default, it is recommended that this is always checked for accounting based jobs. 6. Click the Preview button located at the bottom of the window. 7. The Run a Job Job Preview window appears. Figure 3.4 Run an Existing Job: The list box displays the type of action to be performed, each community included in this job run with a summary of the number of owners, actions, and where applicable, the total dollar amount that will be applied by community. 8. Click the Run Job to proceed. 9. Run a Job Community Backup window appears, displaying the Job Type, date and time and Backup created. 10. Click the Run Job button. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 19

24 Figure 3.5 Run an Existing Job: 11. Depending on the Print To option selected in Job Settings, you will be prompted to select a printer; if pdf or file, select a file name in which to save the job. 12. The system will generate the job and create the output based on the Print To option: Print To a Printer, a report or labels will be produced on the selected printer. Remember to insert labels into printer before printing. Print To pdf, the output file will be created and display in a separate in Adobe Acrobat window. The pdf is the easiest electronic format to distribute. Print To File will use the standard Windows Save As dialog. 20 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

25 EDIT OR DELETE A JOB Edit a Job From the TOPS main menu: 1. Click Job Streaming on the menu bar. 2. Click Run Job Streaming from the drop down list. 3. The Job Streaming action selection window appears. Figure 3.6 Run an Existing Job: 4. Click Edit or Delete a Job button. 5. The Edit a Job window appears. Figure 3.7 Run an Existing Job: 6. Select the job you wish to edit. 7. Change the settings that should be different from the current job. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 21

26 Figure 3.8 Run an Existing Job: 8. Click the Next button to proceed to the Save Job window. 9. Click Finish to Save edits Or 10. Copy an existing job then edit it as needed. 11. Save your edits under a new name to create a new job. 12. Enter a new name under Save Job As. Figure 3.9 Run an Existing Job: 13. Click Finish. 14. A dialog box appears displaying the following message; You have saved Job Name successfully. 15. Click Ok. 22 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide

27 Delete a Job From the TOPS main menu: 1. Click Job Streaming on the menu bar. 2. Click Run Job Streaming from the drop down list. 3. The Job Streaming action selection window appears. 4. Click Edit or Delete a Job button. 5. The Edit a Job window appears. Figure 3.10 Delete a Job: 6. Select the job you wish to edit. 7. A dialog box displaying the following message appears: Are You Sure You Want to Delete the Job Job Name? Yes or No. 8. Click No to cancel the delete command and return to the Edit a Job window. 9. Click Yes to delete the Job. 10. The Job is removed from the Select a Job list. 11. Click the red X to exit Job Streaming. SCHEDULING A JOB The Scheduler in Job Streaming allows you to define a recurring schedule to run jobs automatically. It also provides options that allow you to set a prompt for a user to run a job when they log in to TOPS. You will have some jobs that may run on an as needed basis. When your requirements change you can use Scheduling to re define the job schedule, or stop a recurring scheduled job from running. From the TOPS main menu: 1. Click Job Streaming on the menu bar. 2. Click Run Job Streaming from the drop down list. 3. The Job Streaming action selection window appears. 4. Click the Schedule button. 5. The Schedule a Job Select a Job window appears. 6. Select the job you wish to schedule. TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide 23

28 Figure 3.11 Create a New Job: AR Module Schedule Window 7. Click the Next button 8. The Schedule window appears. Figure 3.12 Create a New Job: AR Module Schedule Window You may schedule a job to run; Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. Each selection contains options compatible with the schedule selected. 9. Click the button for one of the scheduling options mentioned above. 10. The options for the schedule appear. For example if you select Weekly, you may choose the number of times a job will run in a week and the days of the week on which it will run. 11. Define the schedule by clicking the appropriate checkbox. 12. Select additional options by clicking the radio button: To be prompted upon log in of a job Select a user other than yourself from the drop down list, if this user will be responsible for running the job Run the job automatically at a specified time. 13. Click the last radio button if this job will be run on demand when needed. 14. Click the Finish button located at the bottom right of the window. 24 TOPS 2000 Job Streaming User Guide