How to create a customer in Spire.
<Video Tutorial>
Close more Sales with Spire.
One of the most effective tools found in Spire is the power of filters. If you aren’t using these yet, now is the time to start. Using Filters and User Defined Fields, you can create your own modified Sales Pipeline, giving you the opportunity to stay on top of your upcoming sales opportunities.
How to create a Sales Pipeline using Filters:
- Open Sales Orders
- Add a new User Defined tab to the Sales Orders with the following:
- (see instructions here)
- Once you are back into the Sales Module, click <Filters>
- Choose “Type” = Quote
- Next, select columns you wish to see: (right click on a column header to choose)
- Order No
- Customer No
- Customer Name
- Customer Phone number
- Order Date
- Required Date (this can act as your projected closing date)
- Total Ordered
- User Defined file – Notes
- User Defined File – Last Contacted
- Click the down arrow beside <Filters> and then <Save Preset as…> and whether you want it to be just for yourself or for everyone in the company. Call it “Sales Pipeline” and check <Show in module list> and <Save column state>
Sort your column by required date, and see what sales are coming close to your projected sales date. By highlighting these customers and clicking Mail Merge you can remind them about your upcoming promotion that is about to end.
Export your filtered list to Excel and calculate how much you are expecting and when (remember we used the required date as a projection closing date).
There are endless ways of using the filters in Spire; this is just one!
Here are few more ideas to get you started:
- Inventory requires ordering – Filter = ‘Suggested Qty” is not equal to 0
- Inventory not sold in 2 years – _Filter = _“This Years Units” is 0 + “Last Years Units” is 0. Then set the “Match if” to All
- AR over 120 days – Filter = “Over 120” is not 0
- Sales Order with margin less than X – Filter = “GP %(Average) is less than X
- Purchase orders received in full – _Filter – _ “Remaining Amount” is 0
For more information on Filters, contact us at support@tri-tech.com and we’ll be happy to help!
How to create email templates in Spire.
One of my favourite features of Spire is the ability to create email templates for various modules within Spire. The ease of creating something as simple as an email signature, or by creating a template that automatically adds the invoice number and contact name, is something that we definitely need during this time of contactless delivery and social distancing.
Watch this video, on how to create email templates in Spire and see how you can make your job more efficient by taking this simple step today.
If you still need some help, send us an email to support@tri-tech.com and we can help you get this setup right away!
Spire: Year End
What does a Year End look like in Spire?
Spire carries three open years at any given time:
- Last Year
- This Year
- Next Year
It is recommended to work within the “This Year” period, so that you have the ability to back date and post date transactions one year back or one year forward. Once you have completed all of your transactions within a given year, you can close that year.
TIP: If you wait until close to the end of “Next Year” to close “Last Year”, it will give the easiest access to past years transactions. Once the end of “Next Year” comes, you will not be able to post until you perform the year end procedure on “Last Year” period.
When a year end is performed, it will move all GL transactions to the historical GL tables and will move the year forward; it will also reset the sales and purchase history year-to-date amounts in customers, vendors and inventory.
How to do a Year End in Spire:
- Backup database
- Make sure all journal entries necessary to close the year are completed.
- Examples: amortizations, dividends etc.
- Verify that the retained earnings account in company setup is configured correctly.
- Run year end reports including trial balances, income statements and balance sheets.
- User must have permission to run a year end.
- Log into the last day of “Last Year”. If you use the wrong date, you will get an error message.
- A pop-up will come up asking you to verify that you have completed steps 1-5.
- Then click “Proceed”.
- TIP: if this button is grayed out, it means you have not ticked all boxes in step 7.
- All done!
Still need some help? No problem! Just email support@tri-tech.com and we would be happy to help!
Protecting your small business from fraud
For many small business owners, fraud has become an increasingly important issue, from both a risk management and legal perspective. By failing to take the right steps to secure your business from both internal and external threats, small business owners could be exposing themselves to both financial and legal risk.
Internal Threats
Although it can be hard to imagine, there are plenty of ways that your own employees can commit fraud without you even realizing it. One of the most popular ways is by padding employee expense reports. A lack of receipts accompanying an expense report could be a red flag that costs have been artificially inflated, with employees pocketing the difference between the real costs and the reported costs. As a result, be sure to put into place a way to monitor employee expense reports.
The same logic applies to vendor invoices. Business fraud experts warn that some employees may collude with vendors to submit falsified invoices in the hopes of splitting any profits from paid invoices. And some employees might take this type of fraud a step further by completely making up a “false vendor” and making sure that any vendor payments go to bank accounts that they control.
It is important to set apart your employee’s duties. As an example, the person responsible for collecting cash, should not also be responsible for reconciling the receipts. As a business owner, your accounting software should make it easy for you to spot check your accounting processes. Spire allows you to do this by running a quick report, or by instantly viewing your entire GL at a glance.
External Threats
With the fastest-growing type of external threat being ransomware, it is important to secure your IT infrastructure. In the classic ransomware attack, an email sent to employees at your business will encourage them to open up an attachment or click on a malicious link. Once the link is opened, malware will get installed on the computer and spread to the network and the company will receive a ransom letter demanding that a payment be made or the data will be deleted forever.
Many of the most common fraud threats can be avoided with these steps:
- To prevent phishing attacks, employees should be told to check the source of incoming emails to make sure they are legitimate. That’s because many hackers try to “spoof” the name or identity of a legitimate business in order to get people to open their emails.
- Make sure all of your computers are up to date with the latest version of the operating software.
- Use reliable antivirus products
- Make sure all passwords are at least 15 characters using numbers, upper and lower case letters and symbols.
- Clear internet temp files on a regular basis.
- If you are connecting through an RDP connection, make sure it is through a gateway.
Despite all precautions, nothing is guaranteed. It is best to be prepared by having automated backup in place so that you can essentially “reboot” your system from data stored in a third-party location.
If you have been an unfortunate victim of fraud, it needs to be reported. To find out how, please visit the Canadian Office of Consumer Affairs. For help in recovering your data, the Tri Tech service department can do their best to assist you.
Are you still running your business with spreadsheets?
For small businesses, it’s only natural that the way you start out tracking your financial activity is with spreadsheets. But at a certain point, spreadsheets no longer work the way you need them to. If you recognize any of these four signs below, it could be time to ditch your spreadsheets for real accounting software.
You start to notice errors in your spreadsheets
The fundamental problem with using spreadsheets is that all information must be entered manually. And that raises the very real risk of human error. Sooner or later, a few items are going to be keyed in incorrectly, and that has the potential to throw a real wrench into your ongoing operations. With Spire, however, you can seamlessly integrate data from various sources without the need for manual entry.
You are not able to produce the reports that you need
As your company grows, so does its overall complexity. You need to file more and more reports, and as a result, it becomes more and more difficult to file everything on time. Even worse, some events – such as an unexpected audit or other compliance issue – might grind your business to a halt as it results in an “all hands on deck” mentality. But you won’t have these same problems with Spire, because not only does it come with a multitude of reports, but also has the ability to create custom reports to suit your needs.
You are starting to notice a loss of productivity in your finance team
Spreadsheets are easy at first, but can soon become very time-consuming. That means they can start to chew away at your finance team’s time. In the best of all worlds, you want your finance team working on high-level strategic projects, not on assembling a bunch of numbers. If you’re looking to streamline your operations and save time, then getting the right accounting software can make a big difference.
You have no easy way for teams to share data
One of the best parts about accounting software is that it allows several different teams to work with the same data. You have seamless integration between all of your teams. For example, it takes seconds for Spire to track a specific lot number from production through to distribution, at any point in time.
Growth is a good thing for any business, but it also brings its own share of issues, such as scalability. If you are looking for greater clarity and precision in your decision-making process visit www.tri-tech.com or call 604-637-6418 for more information
