Did You Know? – Entry options in the Program Setup

The Program Setup (accessed from the Tools menu) contains a variety of entry settings that may speed up the data entry process, allow for more detailed records, or assist in eliminating data entry mistakes.  Due to the large number of entry options, we won’t cover every one is this posting, but following are a few of the most commonly used options:

Payables
Rate Entry on Checks/Invoices – This option allows you to enter a Rate in addition to Units on invoices and checks.  This enables you to record the number of units and price of items purchased.  This may be helpful when looking back to see the cost of items such as tools, equipment and chemicals.

Repeat G/L # & Job ID – This option will repeat the G/L # and Job (Phase, Operation) on additional line items.  This eliminates the re-entry of these fields when you are entering multiple lines for different cost centers.

Payroll Entry Settings
Daily Payroll Employee Entry – A new option has been added to allow for entry of the Name Key or PIN instead of the Account # in Daily Payroll.  This may be helpful for customers that do not get Account #’s on time sheets.

Batch Check Entry – An option is available to change the Day column to a full MM/DD/YYYY date entry.  This is necessary if you often enter line items that don’t fall within the pay period.  With the full date, the program can accurately apply the date worked to the employee.

Global Entry Settings – Several options are available to add additional entry fields to both daily payroll and check entry windows, including columns for Memo entry, Production Units (to record units when paying hourly) and Days Worked (used if paying multiple days with one line item)

Check Printing Settings – Several options can be enabled to print on the check stubs including Days or Hours worked, miscellaneous deduction balances, Marital Status/Dependents and Crew #.

Farm/LC Settings – For farming operations you can set whether cost centers and jobs are required on payables and/or payroll entries.  You can change the Autofind on the Cost ID to Require Exact Match to help reduce the possibility of data entry mistakes.  On both the Farm and Labor Contractor tabs you can set the entry order for Cost ID, Job and G/L #.  The Labor Contractor tab allows you to change defaults for the invoice date, whether the Employer ID & Workers Comp information prints on the invoice and the option to allow the labor report to be finalize (and generate invoice) by Previewing the Labor Report instead of having to print it to paper.

Receivables – The Invoice Entry Settings tab allows you to select which columns you want enabled on the invoice entry and whether the line items for manual invoices default to the Cost Center or Job Description.

If you have any questions on any of the program options, feel free to call our support department at (888) 222-DATA opt. 3 or email support@datatechag.com.

Did You Know? is a series on Datatech’s blog that will highlight hidden and lesser known program features that I’ve found many customers aren’t familiar with. If you have a favorite “hidden” program feature, email it to me at Hannah@DatatechAg.com.

Did You Know? – How to Exort Employee Info to Excel

A new option has been added to the Employee Abbr./Detail list to export Employee Information to Excel.  To enable the export option, select the Custom option under Report Type.

Then Click the Customize button.  Enter a Report Name.  This will be saved for future use.  You can create multiple reports/excel templates by clicking on the New Report button and entering a unique Report Name for each respective report/template.

Then Click the Columns button to select what information is printed on the report and exported to Excel.  You can select from the Available Fields and click Add or double click on the field to add it to the Selected Fields.  You can also select from the Selected Fields and click Remove to remove it from the report/export.

You can use the Move to Beg, Move Up, Move Down and Move to End to change the ordering of the information.  Click OK on the Column and Customize windows to save your selections.

You can use the selections on the Employee List to select which employees will be selected.   Then, select a file location and name to save the file under.  Click Preview to preview the report and create the Excel file.

If you don’t have the Custom option on your Employee Abbr./Detail List, use the Check for Updates option from the Tools menu to download the latest version of the software.

Export by Hours/Earnings
A similar export option is available on the Employee Check Detail Report.  This allows you to export employee information with particular wage or hour ranges.

Piece-rate Lawsuits Begin

The Western Growers Association posted an article yesterday regarding class action lawsuits targeting large grower-shippers and farm labor contractors alleging failure to pay piece-rate employees for non-productive time and break periods.  You can read the article here: http://www.wga.com/blog/2014/09/17/got-sued-piece-rate-compensation-lawsuit-update

Insurance Hours Analysis

To help insurance companies analyze your payroll and provide quotes and options for ACA insurance compliance, the PPACA Hours Analysis Report can be saved to Excel and emailed to your insurance agent.

The PPACA Hours Analysis Report is located on the Payroll > Reports menu.

After selecting the Report Order and Starting and Ending Dates, click on the Customize button.

Enter a Report Name (i.e. Hours Analysis Export).

Then click on the Columns button to select the information that your insurance company requests.

You can use the Move to Beg, Move Up, Move Down and Move to End to arrange the columns in the order that you’d like them exported to Excel.  Click OK to save the Columns and click OK to save the Report Settings.

If you run the report/export again in the future, you simply need to select the Report Name from the lookup button.  You will not have to re-select the Columns.

Click the Folder button and select the location and enter the Excel Filename you wish to save the report under.

Click Preview and the standard Hours Analysis Report will be generated.  This may not include all of the columns selected in the Customize window, however ALL of the columns selected will be exported to Excel.  The Excel file will open immediately after the report is generated.

For additional information on the Hours Analysis report click F1 on the window for the on-screen help.

Did You Know? – Filtering Entries in Daily Payroll

Did you know you can filter the view in Daily Payroll Entry to view entries just for a particular Employee, Crop/Cost Center, Job, etc?

In the Daily Payroll entry, click in the Field you want to view entries for.  For example if you want to view entries for a particular employee, find one of those entries (Ctrl  and F keys), then click in the Acct # field.  Press the Ctrl and = keys and only entries with this Acct # will now be displayed.

The Title Bar of the Daily Payroll Entry will display the information you have filtered:

The Totals at the bottom of the window will also re-calculate based on the entries displayed.

Press the Ctrl and = keys to go back to viewing all entries.  This filter works on all columns in the Daily Payroll entry.

Did You Know? is a series on Datatech’s blog that will highlight hidden and lesser known program features that I’ve found many customers aren’t familiar with. If you have a favorite “hidden” program feature, email it to me at Hannah@DatatechAg.com.