Auto Locking Data Entry

Fuel Station/Gas Station/Petrol-pumps are generally working 24×7 and normally there are shifts under which different people work. In a given situation the business goes on irrespective of owner/employer/manager present at the outlet. This warrants that the software system is highly secured so as to not allow anybody to manipulate the data by editing or deleting and fiddle around unrestricted. Many a times when owner has multiple outlets they would want work of the shift to be completed by the end of the day so that he can get reports by day end, this is possible only if work for the shift is finished immediately / within stipulated time and without any lethargy. Auto Locking forces the users/employees to finish work for the day/shift in stipulated time.

Quicksoft ArtRM-PP (The Art of Retail Management for Petrol-pump) is highly secured system with user based selective module access rights to only add/enter data or optionally allow user to Edit/Delete data if the right for the same is given. But, that is not enough, there are time when you want Edit/Delete right available to user only for the current date/shift and he should not be able to Edit/Delete the already tallied/audited data or it will be difficult to find what went wrong in the past entries.

In fact, with the daily rate change  it is all the more necessary to lock the previous days data entry or the user will enter the next days data in the previous day with new rate or same rate and so on. So, we introduced the Auto Locking System to Automatically lock the data entry for the shift after the specified number of hours as shown in the screen below:

So, if there are two shifts and the First Shift (6.00AM to 6.00PM – the shift timing can be set in the Masters->Employee->Shift Master for each shift) Ends at 6.00PM in the evening, then the system will allow to Add the data in the First Shift only till the 11:59:59PM (as Grace period specified is 6 hours), the moment system date/time exceeds 11:59:59PM it will not allow user to add any entry after that in the first shift. He/she will not be able to Edit/Delete (even if edit/delete right available to user) in the first shift or any data prior to the current date.  The Grace period can be set by administrator as the case may be from 1-24 hours. Please note that it is only restricted only to normal users. However, if Administrator has logged in then Auto Lock will not be applicable to Administrator.

If Administrator decides to lock Adding the data or Editing/Deleting data by mistake by him/her then he/she can Lock Add/Edit/Delete even for Administrator by providing the Date and Click on Lock Radio button in the “Lock Data Entry for Everybody (including Admin)” frame.  The system will not allow to Add/Edit/Delete prior to the date specified below the “Lock Entry Before” caption even for administrator.

In fact, in Configuration Screen->General Tab one can also lock data Add/Edit/Delete for user by turning on Tick for “Lock Slip Add/Edit/Delete after Auto Cash” option. This will be activated once the Auto Cash Entry / Day Close Entry for the day/shift is done. Which means once the day close is done, which means the cash is tallied then there should be no changes made as it can impact the closing cash balance which was tallied by accountant. However, voucher can be entered inspite of auto cash lock provided, but with Auto Lock option shown in above image even voucher entry will be locked.

 

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Ledger code can now be Edited/Updated!

Version 2.1.55

Since, quicksoft ArtRMPP – petrolpump management software is creating separate database for each year, at times there are issues relating to ledger synchronization and this feature update is to handle that issue.  There are pros and cons of having separate database file for different accounting years. With separate database for each accounting year there is a safety of data, it is also faster to work on less amount of data for the chosen year as compared to several years data to be queried. From statutory point of view also it is advisable to not allow to edit/update balances or stock after the finalization of balance sheet and so on.

However, when new year gets created ArtRMPP software allows to transfer all the ledger and item stocks to new year on 31st March or 1st April of next year so that one can start working in the new year immediately and avoid back-log. By practice, the provisional trial balance is carried forward to new year on 1st April as some expense voucher, journal entries and adjustment entries are being posted at a later date, even some provisional and outstanding entries are required to be posted over a period of time.

So far, it was not possible to assign code to ledger by users as it was protected and automatically assigned by system.  But because new ledgers are created in new financial year as well as previous financial year, which lead to descripancy.

We will explain above with an example: Let’s say accounting year (1-4-2011 – 1-4-2012) had 235 ledgers, which when carried forward to (1-4-2012  to 31-03-2013)  all the 235 ledger gets carried forward and if there are no new ledger codes created in either of year then there is no problem in again carrying forward closing balance from previous years database, which is possible through Administration->Update Oepning Balance from Previous Year (closing balance) option.

The problem was when in the new year say a New customer ABC is created, which automatically get 236 ledger code assigned and similarly in previous year say a ledger required to be created say OUTSTANDING EXPENSES… which also get ledger code 236, so when user updates opening balance from previous year the wrong balances get carried forward for ledger code 236 as ledger ABC would have balance of OUTSTANDING EXPENSES… With Version (2.1.55) you can now create new ledger with ledger code of your choice and even edit the existing code to new ledger code of your choice and system will change ledger code for any existing data in the system as shown below:

ledger code validation

In fact, user need not worry about new ledger code, as system automatically assigns new available ledger code as earlier, but simply allows user to edit/change which earlier was not available.

Ideally, in the New Financial Year, one should create just one ledger with value 1001 instead of 236 as the first new ledger to be created and after that all new ledgers will be created with ledger code 1002, 1003, 1004… and so on. So, when you update opening balance from previous year all the new ledgers created in previous year 236,237,238… will automatically get transferred correctly without any problem.

Installation Procedure Clip on Youtube.

Quicksoft Petrol-pump Software Installation Procedure on Youtube.

The most frequently asked question is, How do I Install the petrol-pump software on my pc and where can I get the software from?

For those who is interested in watching the clip/movie rather than going through the detailed instructions (text), here is installation procedure on youtube in a very simple and easy to understand language.

Please visit http://www.quicksoftservices.com for further information or write to info@quicksoftservices.com for assistance.

Whats New

30/09/2010
Introduced new features Whats New.

The New features Whats New is accessible from Menu Help->Whats New.

As the name suggests, Whats New pertains to what is new in the software or the new updates available in the software. Every time any changes or update in the software or fixing of bug in the software is now updated and uploaded on the blog, which can be viewed from the software by clicking on the whats new menu item.

So now, you can click on Whats new before downloading the software to check if any important changes/updates in the software useful for you, then you can download or continue using the same last version.

In fact, whats new takes you to in-built web browser now provided in the Quicksoft ArtRMPP software. So now, you don’t need to come out of the software to surf or visit any site or for google search, etc., When you click on whats new, it by default takes you to the https://artrmpp.wordpress.com a blog site created specifically to upload the changes in the petrol-pump software and notify existing customers of updates in the software, which otherwise was very difficult and time consuming to inform to all the customers. Informing all the customers would also be costly and highly time consuming if to be informed by calling each of them, even mailing would not reach to all the customers as people use multiple email accounts and so on.

In the browser, we have also provided the Bookmark Button button next to Go Button to save the url surfed by you just like add to favourite provided in Internet Explorer. Also you can goto any of your favourite site by clicking on the My favourite button in the tool bar. By default following sites are added in the My Fvourite
https://artrmpp.wordpress.com
http://www.quicksoftservices.com
http://www.petrolpump.co.in
http://www.google.com
http://www.teamviewer.com
http://www.iocl.com
http://www.hindustanpetroleum.com
http://www.bharatpetroleum.in
http://www.ril.com
http://www.essar.com
http://www.petrolplaza.com

Also there is a Quicksoft Services logo/button provided to switch to http://www.quicksoftservices.com

Mass Mailing / Mail Merge
Now you can send mail to your customers, suppliers or employees the email from inside the software by clicking on the Utilities->Mail Merge menu item. In fact, in the previous version also the Mail Merge was working to send the email, but it was using the cumbersome MAPI protocol, the Mail API Protocol would use the Mail Outlook which was also slow and not very reliable to send the mail through vb application. So now, we have changed it to use built in CDO protocol to send the email.

Just Select the customer, suppliers or employees to whom you would like to send the email. Click on the particular customer for which the email address is already entered in the customer master. As soon as you click on the customer it would display the email address for the selected customer in the text box. Next enter the text you would like to send and select the attachment / file to be send as attachment and select text format for body text as HTML or Text format. You can also copy paste you HTML code in the body text area to send the text as HTML message.

Click on the Send Message to send the email.

Installation Procedure.

Installation Procedure for ArtRM for Petrol Pump:

If you have a Installation CD of the ArtRMPP software then just insert the CD in CD Drive and locate the Package Folder. Open Package folder by double clicking. Inside the Package folder Setup application (setup.exe) is available. Just double click on Setup.exe to start installation of the Software and follow the instruction as given below:

If you do not have the Quicksoft Software Installation CD then you may Download all the zip files as shown below from the Quicksoft website page :

a) Setup

b) Software

c) Rreports

d) Users Manual

in a New Folder on Desktop.

Select the Zip file from which you wish to extract file

Click Right Mouse Button on the selected zip file

and Extract the File by clicking the “Extract to here” as shown below:

Extract File

Extract the Setup.exe from the Package.zip and execute the setup file by

1. Double Clicking On the “Setup.Exe”

and The Installation Will  Start . . . . .

File Copy Status

2. Please wait for few minutes, while it is copying the necessary files…

3. Select OK To Proceed Further.

Confirm Installation

When you Press OK in the above screen, The Following Screen will appear. This is to allow you to Install the software at the location other than default location. In Case, when the User wish to change the Path then he/she can do so by Clicking On the Change Directory Button. To Continue setup Press the Computer Icon / Setup button displayed on the top-left corner of the screen to proceed.

Specify Installation Directory

8.  Then Following screen will appear to allow you to select the Program Group under which the shortcut is to be created or create new program group. Press Continue For Further Installation.

Quicksoft Program Group

9. Click “Yes” button whenever you are asked to confirm “Do you want to keep the File?” or similar message as shown in below given screen.

Version Conflict - Keep File

On some PC’s, you will be asked to confirm for about 8-10 times.

9. At any stage of Installation, if you see any message like problems registering file with the computer (for e.g. MSADO21.TLB), as shown below then just Ignore them to continue the Installation. On Clicking Abort Button Installation Will be aborted, Retry Button if Clicked, will Again try to register the same file again, and if it fails again, the same message will Appear On The Screen Again, Therefore it is suggested to Click On Ignore to Proceed Further.

Ignore the Error

10. At the end the software will display the message “Installation Completed Successfully!” if the installation is completely successful.

Reports: –

Steps to install Reports

Step 1: – Copy the Reports.zip file to the ArtRM Folder.

The folder where you have installed the software

E.g. By default Path: – “C:\Program Files\ArtRm”

Then extract the file as shown below:

Extract Reports

Extracting by Clicking on Extract to here will extract all the “.rpt” (report) files into the Reports Folder. Which means it will first create the Reports folder and then extract all the “.rpt” files in the Reports folder.

After copying the Report files only, you will be able to view Reports.

Please note that we frequently update the Software for incorporating the new updates and new features.

Users are advised to regularly visit the www.quicksoftservices.com/download page and check for availability of new updates. The download page displayed the date of update as shown below:

Software Update

To Update the software to newer version, all you need to do is just download the Software by downloading the Software (ArtRMPP.zip) 3.77MB as shown above.

After downloading the ArtRMPP.zip (software), extract the ArtRM.exe file and  just Replace it with the existing version in C:\Program Files\ArtRM folder.

Before downloading the updated version of the software from the website, always make sure, you rename the existing version of the software in use to some different name than ArtRM.exe. This is very important because, in the event of partial file download or download fails due to crc check-error or any other reason, if by chance you overwrite the new version with corrupted copy then you will loose the working copy, therefore it is always advised to first rename the working copy or move it to the safe place to restore it back in the event of download copy not usable.

As such, we make sure that the uploaded copy is free of bug, but if by chance the new copy is having bug and you overwrite by mistake then you need to continue working with previous version and therefore it is always advisable to have last working copy in safe place.

Installation creates the Short-cut of the Software in Programs Menu

Click on Start->Programs->Quicksoft->ArtRMPP to start the software

or

Start Software by Clicking on the ArtRM.exe in C:\Program Files\ArtRM folder.

Create Short-cut on Desktop

Locate the ArtRM.exe in C:\Program Files\ArtRM Folder, right-click on the ArtRM.exe and Send to Desktop to create the shortcut of the ArtRM application on your desktop.

The Default username and password is as follows:

username: admin

password: sa       (case sensitive, small letters)

You may change the default password “sa” by clicking on the “Change Password” in Administration Menu.

BACKUP

It is strongly recommended to take back-up of the existing working software version before replacing the downloaded version, because it is quite possible that after replacing the new version, if due to download error or CRC error writing the file or due to any reason if the new version does not work then you can always continue working by restoring back the last working copy of software version (which is possible only if you have taken the back-up)

If disk space is not a constraint then it is strongly advised to set back-option to Advanced in the Administration->Configuration Screen so as to take back-up of every session. With Advanced Back-up option, software takes back-up of every session with date and time stamp added in the  file name. The Back-up file is created in the Backup->Year->Month->Date (Date folder inside the Month folder inside the year folder). The Advantage of advanced backup option is allowing user to create different restore points and also UNDO the last bulk invoice generation, deletion or data-entry in the given session by restoring the database of particular restore point.

In fact, we strongly recommend to take back-up of entire ArtRM folder on CD, every month and Back-up of Database on daily basis to Pen-Drive or CD-Drive.

Downloading Reports:

Similarly, you can also download the Reports.zip for new updated reports. Again make sure you take back-up of your reports folder, because it may be possible that we might change reports to suit your requirement, or our engineer might have done some changes to reports on-site at your office and if you download the reports from the net it may so happen that those changes which were done specifically for you may get overwritten with the download, therefore it is strongly recommended to take back-up of Reports folder also.

Tax Invoice for Lube/Oil Sale

25/09/2010

At many petrol-pump outlets the Oil/Lube is sold in bulk or wholesale unlike the retail sale of oil. In such case it is required to issue Tax Invoice.

Quicksoft ArtRMPP now takes care of Tax Invoice generation. To be able to generate tax invoice and not disturb regular invoice as most users do not need tax invoice, we have provided this feature in
Administration->Configuration Screen->Invoice Tab.

You simply need to enable Tax Invoice by checking on the “Allow me to generate Tax Invoice by selecting Invoice type in Slip Entry” check-box. By Checking on the Check-box when you goto slip entry through credit slip or credit slip cum invoice option, it will now display the Invoice type frame above the save button for every transaction with default set to “Regular Invoice”, if you want the invoice being generated to be “Tax Invoice” then you need to select the Tax Invoice Radio Button. So when you print the invoice it will use the Tax Invoice file name specified in the Configuration Screen.

23/09/2010

Now you don’t need to goto Invoice form to edit/delete the “Slip Cum Invoice”, you simply need to click on “Slip Details” tab and select the Invoice you wish to edit/delete. Earlier version did not display the invoice generated in slip details. Please note that this feature is available only for Slip Cum Invoice i.e. Invoice generated for the slip right through slip entry form or invoice generated for the slip on the same day unlike Invoice generated for slips through invoice form.

Also lease note that Credit Slip Entry form will still not show the invoice generated as they are supposed to be edited/deleted through Invoice form. Slip Details tab will show only the slips for which the invoice is not generated. The slips get locked for which the invoices have been generated.

Department-wise billing: Now you can also generate Multiple Invoice for different departments for the same account/customer/party. All you need to do is while defining the vehicles for the customer you have to specify the department code/name for the vehicle for which it belongs to and also specify “Department-wise billing” as “Yes” in the customer master so as to generate different bills for the same account as the same customer would be making payment for all the departments.

Vehicle-wise Subtotal: If there are multiple vehicles for the customer and if customer wishes the single invoice to be generated for the multiple-vehicles but wants the subtotal to be printed for different vehicles then you just have to specify “Vehicle-wise Subtotal” as “Yes”. Otherwise it will print the Slip-Date/Slip No wise printing and not the vehicle-wise.