Connect Conference 2014 Was a Great Time for All Attendees

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1 1 Connect Conference 2014 Was a Great Time for All Attendees Connect Conference 2014 held at The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, was a huge success. This year s event took place from November 10 12, with participants from nine countries representing all of the industries served by the ECi family of companies coming together under the theme of educate, collaborate and inspire. Connect Conference consists of two days of intensive, specific training on a user s software. In addition, by popular demand, many more Business Solutions sessions were added. These sessions offer instruction on marketing, social media, sales, Web design and a host of other subjects relevant for small, independent business owners. The conference had many highlights including a memorable keynote performance during the Opening Session by The Passing Zone, a very talented juggling duo who kept the crowd laughing and amazed while delivering an inspirational message on the value of teamwork. ECi CONTENT Connect Conference p. 1 Changing Internet Provider... p. 1 Important Info: Credit Card Processing Changes... p. 2 Unapplied Payment List... p. 2 Advantage Legacy Webinar Schedule... p. 3 Next Gen Training... p. 3 Holiday Info... p. 3 President and CEO Ron Books and COO Trevor Gruenewald kicked off the Session with this video on the importance of small, independently owned businesses to the economy. As well, they communicated the growing importance of millennials in the marketplace, emphasizing how this generation is creating a significant change in the way consumers interact with businesses. The pair urged attendees to get in touch with their inner millennials, to learn and understand the new commerce technologies, and begin to capture this market. During Tuesday s breakfast, attendees were serenaded by Shane Elvis, an Elvis impersonator, who also honored all military in observance of Veterans Day with a rendition of America the Beautiful. Connect Conference 2015 will be held at Disney s Coronado Springs Resort in Central Florida from November Registration will open in the spring. Come out and experience this spectacular training event! ECI CONNECT 2015 November 9 11 DISNEY S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT Walt Disney World Resort, Florida SAVE THE DATE Changing Internet Service Provider? Whenever the Internet service provider changes, the ECi will stop working until it is configured for the new provider. Please plan ahead and notify the Hardware department. When the service provider changes without the appropriate configuration, the ECi will be down and your customers will not receive invoices or statements. Vendors will not receive purchase orders. For assistance, please contact the Hardware department via . Please note the underscore character ( _ ) at the start of the address. This notifies the entire hardware department. Or call and select option 2 for the hardware department. Legacy End of Year Info... p. 4 Next Gen End of Year Info... p. 4 Get a NET1 $50 Gift Card... p. 4 Legacy Payroll End of Year Questions... p info@ecisolutions.com

2 IMPORTANT Impending Industry Changes to Credit and Debit Card Processing EMV chip technology (a.k.a., smart card technology) is quickly becoming the standard for all merchants who accept credit cards. Smart card EMV technology is in full deployment across Europe and Canada today. This is because the technology helps drastically decrease credit card fraud. American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa have all announced their rollout plans and timelines for introducing an EMV-based payment infrastructure in the U.S. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? As of October 2015, credit card fraud liability will shift from the credit card companies to the merchants (retailers). Any merchant who does not take steps to support EMV technology faces substantial risk when credit card fraud occurs at their location. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Eliminate your chances of being held liable for credit card fraud make sure your business is proactive in supporting EMV technology. Upgrade your credit card processing technology to devices that support EMV chip cards. The new devices support not just future smart cards but also process to today s U.S. standards resulting in technology that can deployed today and fit future requirements. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NEW TECHNOLOGY AND GUIDELINES AND YOUR RISK POTENTIAL (click on links below): American Express (press release on the subject of EMV timelines) Discover Networks Unapplied Payment List MasterCard Visa EMV FAQs OCTOBER 2015 WHAT TYPES OF DEVICES SUPPORT EMV? The most common EMV-compatible device used by Advantage dealers is the Equinox Hypercom L5300 payment terminal. The L5300 is not only EMV and NFC compatible, but also PCI Compliant. NOW is the time to plan to upgrade to an EMVcompatible device. Talk to your representative today. The end of the year is a great time for general customer account cleanup. Unapplied payments will remain on a customer s account until the payment is either applied to unpaid invoices, refunded, or adjusted off the customer account. NEXT GEN USERS may obtain a list of Unapplied Payments from the Customer Detail Listing. Filter for the Invoice Status not equal to Closed; and filter by Transaction Type equal to Unapplied, as shown in the example below. Only unapplied transactions will display. LEGACY USERS may run the A/R Aged Trial Balance report. Select U for the Print Which Account option on the right, and choose D for the Report Format to Print option on the left side of the screen. Unapplied transactions will appear with ******* in the Invoice column, and UNAPL PYMT in the type column, as shown in the last transaction on the report below. 2

3 FIRST QUARTER ECI ADVANTAGE LEGACY WEBINAR SCHEDULE These classes are for ECi Advantage Legacy customers with software version or higher. Webinar training is conducted via conference call and online meeting. The call opens 10 minutes before the meeting start time. The instructor is available to assist people in accessing the website so training begins on time. Attendees will be able to see the entire process and ask questions during the class. JANUARY Tuesday 01/20 1:00 p.m. Payroll Wednesday 01/21 10:00 a.m. Inventory Counts Thursday 01/22 10:00 a.m. Report Generator FEBRUARY Tuesday 02/17 1:00 p.m. Accounts Payable Wednesday 02/18 10:00 a.m. Point of Sale Thursday 02/19 10:00 a.m. AML Gun MARCH Tuesday 03/17 1:00 p.m. General Ledger NOTES: All class times are 10 am and 1 pm Central Standard Time (CST) Registration is required by 4 pm CST 72 hours prior to the class invitations are sent with the link to the online webinar, conference call and other class materials Without the , there is no access to the class Classes will be cancelled if no one registers 72 hours prior to the class date Wednesday 03/18 1:00 p.m. Accounts Receivable Thursday 03/19 10:00 a.m. EDI Ask questions and make reservations by calling , option 1. Anyone on the Support Team will be able to assist you. Looking for Next Generation Training? Head to for access to the training video library. The library houses an extensive collection of videos on a wide range of topics. CHECK IT OUT TODAY! HOLIDAY SCHEDULE Christmas Eve Wednesday, December 24 Christmas Day Thursday, December 25 New Year s Day Thursday, January 1, 2015 (emergency support only) 3

4 Legacy End of Year Info NEWSDECEMBER 2014 Legacy users have a specific set of steps to follow for a successful End of Year experience. In 2014 there are two separate documents for software users on the most current version of , and companies that are on the older 1205 or 1105 software releases. All companies running an automatic end of month should be on Please the Support team to request the update at _Advantage_support@ecisolutions.com We will contact you once the update has been placed on your server, and send the activation instructions and release notes. Please note the underscore ( _ ) character in front of the address. This will reach the entire Support team. The 1312 activation instructions have changed! The new instructions completely replace the old procedure. The activation process must be done after hours and after End of Day completes. Activation will take about an hour, and requires a test transaction entered and invoiced at Point of Sale. Click on links below for more information. Legacy Version 1312 End of Year Steps Legacy Version 1205 End of Year Steps Legacy End of Year Payroll Questions WHAT S MY SOFTWARE VERSION? Not sure which version you are using? Here s how to check. From any Legacy menu, look at the top left corner of the screen. Two or three lines down, there is a long number. In the example above, the number indicates the software version is The workstation number is 2. Please visit to obtain either the Legacy Version 1205 End of Year Steps, or Legacy Version 1312 End of Year Steps document. Next Gen End of Year Info The Next Generation software, which is version and higher, has no end of day, end of month, or end of year process. However, a few things need to be checked to ensure a smooth transaction from one year to the next. The General Ledger Fiscal periods were defined for multiple years, when your system was initially configured. At some point, the New Year will not be defined. Check this any time before the last day of the calendar or fiscal end of the year. Many companies enjoy scheduled jobs for daily, monthly or any time reporting. Reports are run at the date and time of your choosing, and sent directly to single or multiple addresses and or printers. All scheduled jobs have an expiration date. Check the scheduled job listing and verify reports don t expire too soon! Please visit Next Generation section, to obtain the Next Generation End of Year Prep and Cleanup document. GET $50 FROM NET1 JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Interested in low-cost credit card processing? Receive a $50 gift card with each approved NET1 credit card application. Offer good until 12/31/14! CONTACT US: OR kasey@net1creditcard.com 4

5 Legacy Payroll End of Year Processing QUESTIONS This document explains the most commonly asked questions regarding calendar end of year payroll processing. Remember, all W-2 and End of Year payroll reporting takes place in the End of Year (EOY) dataset. NOTE: January 2, 2015, falls on a Friday and people will need to plan accordingly. Many may choose to process the first payroll of the New Year on or before December 31. MOST COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS: 1. The payroll check date controls where the dollars hit in General Ledger, and on the W2, so dates and datasets matter. a. Payroll checks entered in the live dataset always update the current year, regardless of the check date. b. As of 1/1/15, all payroll checks, including bonus or commission that must update 2014, must be entered in the EOY dataset. 2. The bonus check or regular check needs to be on last year s W-2. Today s date is in How to get a bonus check for 2014? Create the payroll in the EOY area. Use a December 2014 date. The check run will be recorded on the 2014 W Do you want the check run recorded in the New Year? Any payroll run in the live datasets and completed after the Calendar End of Year will be recorded on the 2015 W-2. This includes Bonus and Commission checks. 4. You want to complete payroll on or before December 31, with a check date in 2015: a. DO NOT CHANGE THE TAX TABLES until this correction is completed. It s the only way the payment and the void will match! b. Be advised that General Ledger will not close due to an unposted batch dated for January Manually close GL after the End of Year completes. Do not clear the batch! c. The first 2015 payroll was entered and posted prior to December 31. After the End of Year completes, go to the End of Year dataset. Void the payroll. This also corrects General Ledger, which is why the batch cannot be cleared! d. Go to the live area. Enter the payroll in for It must match the original payroll to the penny. Print the checks on plain paper and post. e. Update the Federal Tax Tables for DO NOT update the Federal tax tables until after EOY processing completes. Otherwise EOY dataset will have 2015 tables, not 2014, and reports will be wrong! 6. Perform all W-2 processing and 2014 payroll reporting from the End of Year Dataset. 7. End of Year Processing clears all time clock data! Companies with pay periods that span December and January must print the time clock report in EOY for last week of December. Print time clock report for first week in January and manually add and enter the time! Time will be entered manually for first pay check of Please plan accordingly Companies using Payroll must be on for current software and State tax tables. Please your request for the update to _Advantage_support@ecisolutions.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company on the .