NEW TOOLBOX FUNCTION: TBC-001: Import Billing Items

Transcription

1 NEW TOOLBOX FUNCTION: Document Ref: TBC-001 Date: Jan 21, 2005 Document Version: 0.1 Modules Affected: Earliest available version of COINS: Documentation Updated: Billing COINS Version 7 (software level 9.7c2.25) This document may contain information that is not incorporated into the documentation, such as procedures and sample reports, so you may want to keep a copy for future use. An archive of CE documents is available on the COINS USA Client Center web site at Construction Industry Solutions Corp 6 Airport Park Blvd. Latham, NY Construction Industry Solutions Corp

2 CONTENTS 1 Background Preparing the Import File Accessing the Import Billing Items Function Importing the Billing Items Check the Billing Items Import the Billing Items Sample Import Billing Items Report Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 2 of 12

3 1 Background A new Import Billing Items function has been added to the Toolbox. This function allows users to import billing items from a comma-separated values file (.csv) to facilitate the exchange of data between different computer applications. The program will read the information from the file, validate it using COINS business rules and if appropriate, create new billing items in COINS for the specified jobs. Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 3 of 12

4 2 Preparing the Import File The Import Billing Items function is designed to import data from a comma separated values file. This standard file type can be easily created from an Excel spreadsheet, using the Save As... command. Once the file has been created: Use your preferred method of FTP to place the.csv file in the directory from which you are running COINS. Make a note of the file name, since you need the name for the Import function s selection screen. (See Importing the Billing Items on page 8.) Check the file s permissions once it is on the server, if you run COINS under Unix or Linux. Use the chmod command if necessary to change the permissions to rw-rw-rw so that the data can be read and imported when you run the toolbox program. The spreadsheet must contain the data listed in Table 1: Layout for Billing Item Data, in the order specified. Even if data is not entered for one of the optional fields, the column must be present in the spreadsheet. For example, if you don t use Profit Centers, the spreadsheet must still include a Profit Center column. Table 1: Layout for Billing Item Data Description Bill Type Data Type Max Size Required Validated Valid Data Job Number All Char 8 Y Y Contract Number All Char 8 Phase All Char 2 Y Billing Item Number All Char 8 Y Description All Char 80 Billing Item Type All Char 2 Y Y A, CA, CB, D, LS, UP Original Date All 99/99/99 8 Sales Company All Num 3 Y* Y Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 4 of 12

5 Description Bill Type Data Type Max Size Required Validated Valid Data Sales Division All Num 3 Y* Y Sales Center All Num 3 Y* Y Sales Account All Num 7 Y* Y Trade Disc. Company All Num 3 Y* Y Trade Disc. Division All Num 3 Y* Y Trade Discount Center All Num 3 Y* Y Trade Discount Account All Num 7 Y* Y On Hold All Logical 1 Y/N New Page All Logical 1 Y/N Customer's Billing Item All Char 30 Retainage Pct All Decimal Scheduled Value LS Decimal +/- 99,999, Original Scheduled Value CB Decimal +/- 99,999, Revised Scheduled Value CB Decimal +/- 99,999, Recalc Scheduled Value CB Logical 1 Y/N Calculate Retainage as the Summation of Subcontract Retainage Payable or by a Percentage of Work Done CB Logical 1 S/P Flat Amount A Decimal +/ Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 5 of 12

6 Description Bill Type Data Type Max Size Required Validated Valid Data Tax Amount A Decimal +/ Unit of Measure UP Char 4 Bid Quantity UP Decimal +/- 99,999, Unit Price UP +/- 99,999,999, 9999 Start Summing with Item T Char 8 Y End Summing with Item T Char 8 Y Replace the items above with this item or print as a Subtotal (R/S) T Logical R/S ** Optional Items if left blank will default Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 6 of 12

7 3 Accessing the Import Billing Items Function Follow these steps to access the Import Billing Items function: 1. Select any module from the COINS Master Menu. 2. Select Report Menu from the module menu. 3. Select User-defined Reports from the Report Menu. Figure 1: User-defined Reports prompt User-defined Reports Enter Report Name: tbc001.p Enter tbc001.p at the Enter Report Name prompt. The Licensing Code prompt appears. Figure 2: Licensing Code Enter Licensing Code: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX Enter the authorized license code at the Enter Licensing Code prompt and press [Enter]. The code must be entered in upper and lower case characters, exactly as provided to you when you purchased the Toolbox program. NOTE The licensing code was provided to you when you acquired the Import Billing Items program from COINS. Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 7 of 12

8 4 Importing the Billing Items After you enter the Toolbox program name and appropriate licensing code, the Import Billing Items selection screen displays, as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3: Import Billing Items Screen 01/21/05 Import BI Billing Items d6-9.7 INTCO/DV Check or Import (C/I): C Import File Name: importbilling.csv Input Lines to Skip: 3 Printer* lj6 Style* lc Number of Copies: Check the Billing Items Before importing the billing items, use the Check option to check the data that will be imported. Since an entry in the spreadsheet will not be imported if it has errors, you should identify and correct the errors before proceeding. The Check function produces a report (shown on page 12 that helps you do this. As it checks the data, the Toolbox program validates each data element for the correct data type and maximum length (see Table 1) as well as for values appropriate to their usage. This function will only create new billing items for existing jobs. Specifying an existing item or an item for a job that does not exist will result in an error. Field Definitions Check or Import To check the data, enter C at this prompt. Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 8 of 12

9 Import File Name Specify the name of the file that is to be imported. This file needs to be in comma separated values format and typically has the file extension.csv. If the system cannot find the file, e.g., if it was not placed in the same directory as the COINS programs, or if the file name was entered incorrectly, the following message will display: The Import File cannot be found. Number of header lines to skip in the import file The system will not import the lines at the beginning of the file according to the value you enter here. For example, if the spreadsheet has a title row, blank line, and column headers as shown in Error! Reference source not found., you would enter 3 as the number of header lines to skip. Figure 4: Sample Spreadsheet with Header Lines 4.2 Import the Billing Items After you have checked the billing item entries in the spreadsheet and corrected any errors, you may import the billing items to create records in the Billing Item File. To do this, use the same file name and number of lines to skip as when you checked the file. See the field definitions that follow Figure 3: Import Billing Items Screen on page 8 for more information. Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 9 of 12

10 Figure 5: Import Billing Items Screen 01/21/05 Import BI Billing Items d6-9.7 INTCO/DV Check or Import (C/I): C Import File Name: importbilling.csv Input Lines to Skip: 3 Printer* lj6 Style* lc Number of Copies: 1 Field Definitions (selected fields) Check or Import To import the data, enter I at this prompt. After the billing items have been imported, you can review them in Billing Item F/M. The Show screen shown in Figure 6 illustrates the records imported from the sample spreadsheet used for this documentation. Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 10 of 12

11 Figure 6: Billing Item F/M Show Screen with imported items 01/21/05 Billing - Item F/M d6-9.7 INTCO/DV Show JOB CONTRACT PHASE ITEM DESCRIPTION OF WORK C/O TYPE ke-001 K10000 K10000 CB Billing item descrip N CB ke-001 K20000 K20000 LS Billing N LS ke-001 K30000 K40000 UP Billing N UP ke-001 K40000 K30000 UP Billing item N UP ke-001 K50000 K50000 T Billing N T ke-001 K60000 K60000 D Billing N D Use CURSOR-DOWN, NEXT-PAGE, HOME, etc. to scroll or / for Menu. NOTE: If the report shows that there are no errors in the file, yet no data is imported, there may be a problem with permissions on the file. The file needs read write permissions, not read only. See Preparing the Import File, beginning on page 4. Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 11 of 12

12 5 Sample Import Billing Items Report The following sample report illustrates how error messages appear when you run the Check function. A similar report, but error free, is produced when the errors have all been corrected and the data successfully imported. RUN DATE 01/21/05 14:07:15 COINS BILLING MODULE PAGE 1 IMPORT BI BILLING ITEMS REPORT REPORT ONLY JOB CONTRACT PH ITEM TYPE ke-001 K10000 CB ** Error ** Input length for description field too large Errors encountered - This Item will not be created ke-001 K20000 LS ke-001 K30000 UP ke-001 K40000 UP ke-001 K50000 T ke-001 K60000 D Items Read: 6 Items with Errors: 1 Valid Items: 5 Total Errors: 1 Construction Industry Solutions, Jan 21, 2005 Page 12 of 12