master files

Codes or Descriptions in your Free Purchase Order Software?

Did you know that you can display master file descriptions rather than codes on screens throughout SpendMap?

For example, if GL Account “0-663-1” isn’t meaningful for your users, you can display “Office Supplies” instead.  This applies to all of the main Master Files, including all account code fields, item/part numbers, supplier codes, and so on…

Display Description Instead of Code

If you would like SpendMap to display descriptions rather than the codes for one or more Master Files, here is where you can set that up…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > Master file settings > Master file code/description display options

Alternating Between Codes and Descriptions On-The-Fly

Regardless of whether you’re displaying codes or descriptions per above, you can alternate between the two at any time by pressing the <F2> key on your keyboard

Alternatively, you can hover your mouse over fields, like this…

Sorting Look-Up Lists

Drop-down lists can also be sorted either by code or description, using…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > Master file settings > Additional sort options for master file lookups

Who can add to Master Files on-the-fly in your Free Purchase Order Software?

Did you know that, by default, all users in your Free Purchase Order Software will be able to add suppliers, items, account codes and other Master File information “on-the-fly” as they work on Purchase Orders and other transactions in the system?

That’s right, while creating a new Purchase Order, if you type in a new supplier code, part number, account code, etc. that doesn’t already exist in the respective Master File, SpendMap will prompt you to add the information to the Master File right there-and-then, so you don’t have to stop what you’re working on in your PO Work Area.

Of course, you may not want everyone doing that, so you can turn this feature on or off, using the setting called “Allow adding of codes on-the-fly?”, which you can find in the [Permissions] folder/tab of the User Master File.

on-the-fly

Purge Database While Importing data into your Free Purchase Order Software

Seth works at a seniors’ community in California and wanted to know if he could start over and delete/purge all records in a Master File before importing new information/data…

“I wanted to know if it is possible to delete the entire cost center database (I am attempting to re-upload the database). It has plenty of old data that will take a long time to delete one by one.”

Sure thing Seth, just go to the [Permissions] folder of the User Master File and select the 4th check-box called “Allow purging of master files when importing?”.

Then, the next time you import, SpendMap will ask you if you want to purge/delete all existing records before importing, for a complete refresh…

Purge Table Before Importing Data into PO Software

Item Catalogs in your Free Purchase Order Software

Most new SpendMap users get pretty jazzed about the Item Master File (item catalog) in SpendMap.  They love that they can put a list of approved items in front of their users.  They love how most of the data entry goes away when entering new Purchase Orders (since item descriptions, pricing, account coding, etc. will default on new POs based on the selected item).  And they love how they can run reports to get accurate spending history by item/part number.

But at some point the reality sets in and then comes the inevitable question, “You mean I have to set up all my items?”.

This post outlines some options for (and alternatives to) maintaining item catalogs in SpendMap…

(more…)

Importing Items (parts, products) into your Free Purchase Order Software

Abdul needs to get 9,000 items/parts/products into the free version of SpendMap and he isn’t about to type all that information in manually…

“We have about 9000 products. Do we have option to upload products in bulk?  Because if I add one by one it will take months to finish this task.”

For sure, manually typing in 9,000 items would take way too long!

You can import your items into SpendMap’s Item Master File to save all that data entry. It’s a two-step process as follows…

1) First you need to set up an Import Configuration to tell SpendMap where the specific pieces of information (fields) are in your Excel spreadsheet, TXT or CSV file. Here’s the menu path…
– PURCHASING > Utility > Data Interfaces > Item master file > Item data > Import > Configure import file layout

2) Then, to actually run the import utility and bring in all your items, use this…
– PURCHASING > Utility > Data Interfaces > Item master file > Item data > Import > Import into Item Master File

When you run the import utility (#2 above), it will prompt you to select the Import Configuration that you set up in #1 above, and then you will select your file to import.

But before you get started, may I suggest that you review the following section of the Online Help in SpendMap…
– System-Wide Features and Information > Integration Tools > Overview and General Information

Click the “YouTube” icon at the top of that Help section, to watch a video tutorial on importing data into SpendMap (the video actually uses importing of items in its examples).

Also, as you will see during the video tutorial, in the Evaluation Copy of SpendMap (the one that comes preloaded with sample data), we included a sample Excel spreadsheet with a few sample items to import, and there is an Import Configuration already set up to match that spreadsheet.  So give it a try in your Eval Copy first, to see how it works, before actually importing your items into your Live Copy of SpendMap.

Finally, here are a few other blog posts related to importing data.

Hope that helps.

-FP

Codes or Descriptions in your Free Purchase Order Software?

Throughout SpendMap, when creating Purchase Orders and working in other areas of the system, you will select master file “codes”, such as GL account codes, item codes (part numbers), supplier codes, etc.

For example, your GL account code for “office supplies” might be “0-663-1”, or something like that, which might not be very meaningful to your SpendMap users.

If you use meaningful codes that make sense to your users, don’t bother reading the rest of this post and just get back to saving your company money or whatever you were doing.

But if your master file codes don’t have meaning to your users, here are some tips to make SpendMap more intuitive for them…

Display Description Instead of Code

Did you know that you can set up SpendMap to display the description rather than the code on screens throughout the system?  Here where you can do that…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > Master file settings > Master file code/description display options

Alternate Between Code and Description

Regardless of whether or not you’re displaying the code or description per above, you can alternate between the code and description at any time using the <F2> key on your keyboard, or you can hover your mouse over a field, like this…

Sorting Look-Up Lists

Drop-down lists can also be sorted either by code or description, using…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > Master file settings > Additional sort options for master file lookups

“Add” vs. “Replace” when importing data into your Free Purchase Order Software

Peter works at a hotel/resort in Florida and had a great question about importing data into SpendMap…

“When I import my items, it just keeps adding the new items to the items that are already in the system.  Is there any way to start over and replace everything with the next list of imported items?”

Yes, by default all Master File imports in SpendMap will add to what is already in the Master File.  This is true not only of brand new items, but also new or changed fields for a particular item.  So, for example, you can import the same items over and over again, perhaps to update pricing or other details on an ongoing basis.

But if you’d like to start over, just enable the setting “Allow purging of master files when importing“, in the [Permissions] folder of the User Master File, and then you will see the following prompt the next time you run any of the Master File imports…

import-refresh

How to copy items, suppliers and other Master File codes in your free PO Software

On the heels of last week’s blog post on time-saving tips, John makes custom t-shirts and was asking if he can copy items to save time…

“Is there any way of duplicating an item? I have several items that are all the same except for item (part number) and description.”

Yes, you can copy items, suppliers, account codes, and most other Master File codes in SpendMap to save time and reduce data entry.

Just go into the applicable Master File and click the [ADD] button to get a blank screen, then enter an existing code in the Code Field and you will be prompted to copy the existing code to a new code.  All details (fields) will be copied to the new code, any of which can then be modified as required.

This section of the Online Help has more information about generic features that can be used across all Master Files in SpendMap…
– System-Wide Features and Information > Master Files > About Master Files

Copy-item