System Administration Tools

Off-the-shelf business management software can’t meet 100% of your needs–but SouthWare can. One of the most valuable benefits you get with SouthWare is the ability to tailor the features of your system to meet the special needs of your business while remaining compatible with current and future versions.

Our powerful administration tools are flexible enough that you can easily change screens, customize forms, add new data fields, design reports, and build in your own custom business rules and processes that make you unique.

SwiftMate

ReportMate

ImportMate II

Extended Data

Southware Forms

WorkFlow Controller

SwiftMate - A System Environment You Customize To Your Needs

When you buy a computerized business system you’re also buying the environment that your people will be working in every hour of every day. You need it to be easy to learn so that everyone feels good about the new system. But you also need it to be sophisticated enough for your special security, communication, and other company-wide and personal needs.

SwiftMate™ is the system environment for SouthWare’s Excellence Series business software. You get a friendly user interface that’s easy to learn and fun to use. Your people get an environment that can be custom-fitted to the tasks they perform. And your entire system is made more valuable through the special functions and benefits provided by SwiftMate™.

• Get your system up and running quickly and smoothly
• Control which functions each operator may access and use
• Adapt the menus for each user to show only the functions available
• Know and monitor who’s using the system and what they are doing
• Send and receive electronic mail between operators at any time
• See instant on-screen help explanations about the function you’re using and control the amount of help given per operator
• Interrupt any task to do another function, then return and resume where you left off
• Have a common menu environment for all your software, even your non-SouthWare products
• Configure your system to match the terminals, printers, and other computer hardware that you use
• Customize your user interface with SouthWare Style options, including variable graphical menus, pull-down menus, and button bars
• "Program" new features into your SouthWare products with Objects, Field-Level Objects, and Field Filters
• Create Zoom Views to provide unique summaries of your data with "road maps" to further information

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ReportMate - Custom Reporting From SouthWare Excellence Series™ Business Software

The value of the data in your business system is directly related to your ability to get to it. Your standard reporting needs are well addressed with reports provided within the SouthWare Excellence Series™. But what about those special reports for your unique needs?

With SouthWare’s ReportMate™ you’ve got the answer to your custom reporting needs. You can access the data in any major file in your SouthWare Excellence Series™ business system and produce a report or a reporting file. It’s very simple to use so you don’t have to be a programmer - you'll be creating reports in minutes. And you can lay out the data on the report the way you want to see it!

• Create a report that shows information the way you want to see it
• Combine information from several files on one report
• Know which files can be combined with any particular file
• Perform calculations on your data
• Show special reporting statistics such as record counts, averages, and running totals
• Select the records to appear on a report using several flexible criteria
• Create special files from your business data for use with spreadsheets, word processors, and other software products
• Create a table view for spreadsheet-like review or editing (Windows only)
• Put your customized reports on the menu to give them the same appearance as the standard system reports
• Make sure data on sensitive reports is available only to authorized persons

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ImportMate II - Add Files Created By Other Software Products

With SouthWare's ImportMate II™ you’ve got the ability to take data files created by other software products and add new records or update existing records in your SouthWare Excellence Series™ business system. It’s very simple to use so you don’t have to be a programmer. And it’s very flexible so you can use it in many different ways.

ImportMate II™ is an add-on module you can use to automatically input data into selected Excellence Series files. You simply specify how each field in a file is to be affected by an imported file. ImportMate II™ prompts you for all the information it needs and checks to make sure that the data you are bringing in is valid. You get the ease and speed of automated updates with the same verifications you would get if you keyed the data directly into your system.

• Create Excellence Series files with data from your old system to help you in converting to the Excellence Series
• Access data created by most software products via commonly-used data formats
• Create valid new records even if your incoming data file doesn’t contain all the necessary fields
• Update selected fields in existing records while leaving other fields unchanged
• Test incoming data files before importing to make sure there are no surprises
• Streamline common updates for such situations as electronic time clocks and vendor-supplied price files
• Use ReportMate™ to output Excellence Series data to be changed, then use ImportMate II to change it
• Use SouthWare's DocTransfer™ module to streamline the process of importing data from
• EDI products or other trading partner document files

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Extended Data Lets You Add New Data Fields To Your Standard Excellence Series Files

With Extended Data™ you’ve got the ability to add new and specialized information to your SouthWare Excellence Series™ business system. It’s very simple to use so you don’t have to be a programmer. And best of all you won’t affect your ability to add future updates to your system.

Extended Data™ is an add-on module that lets you add new data fields to your standard Excellence Series files. These new fields can become part of the normal entry and reporting for your system. Extended Data makes all your other modules more valuable by blending your unique information needs into the standard system information. You can also use Extended Data™ to create simple stand-alone databases. For example, if you need a database of the locations of all your office equipment you can set up a custom database file in Extended Data™.

• Add information your business needs to the major master files in your system
• Add extra data fields to the major transactions you process - you can even print selected fields on invoices, POs, picking tickets, and service orders
• Smoothly integrate custom fields so they appear to be part of the standard system
• Define your own sales period history that is automatically maintained as you process invoices
• Create your own prompts and defaults for your custom data
• Add new ways to search through your master files
• Create your own custom databases

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SouthWare Forms Lets You Create Alternate Formats For The Standard Forms Available From SouthWare

Your business forms are a very important part of your business. You rely on forms to communicate with your employees, your customers, and your suppliers. If your forms aren't right, your communication isn’t right either. Using standard forms gives you the lowest cost, but what do you do if the standard forms don’t meet your needs?

Get SouthWare Forms™, an optional adapter for the SouthWare Excellence Series™ that lets you create alternate formats for the standard forms available from SouthWare™ products. You can add data, change data, move data, or remove data from the standard forms to create multiple alternate formats for each form. You may then define the situations when an alternate format should be used. Best of all, these changes don’t require source code changes and will be compatible with the future revisions you get from SouthWare.

• Get the "excellence look" you want from your business forms
• Adapt forms printing to match your nonstandard forms -- add additional data to your forms, change the positioning of data on your forms and omit standard fields from forms
• Have alternate form formats for different situations, such as a different invoice format for each location
• Get custom changes that stay compatible with future revisions

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WorkFlow Controller Technology Gives You The Ability To "Insert" New Functions At Many Different Points In A Process

One of the major strengths of the SouthWare Excellence Series™ is that its processes and built-in business rules/procedures have been proven successful by thousands of businesses over many years. But what do you do when “standard” functions aren’t enough to handle your needs or desires in a particular area?

Certainly one option is to make custom programming changes. This makes your system non-standard and not readily upgradeable, but it does give you the functions you need. But wouldn’t it be great if you could add the functions and keep your system standard?

That’s where SouthWare WorkFlow™ comes in. With its unique WorkFlow™ Controller technology you have the ability to "insert" new functions at many different points in a process. In many cases these functions, called FlowMods, will eliminate the need for any custom programming. Or if custom programming is still required you may be able to use a FlowMod to call the custom program at the right time and still keep your system standard!

Review the Information Flow: SouthWare WorkFlow™ includes a database with information about processes, programs, and flow points within programs. With the WorkFlow™ Controller you can zoom between these levels of information to see how the pieces fit together. Each record can contain comments that explain its use and other information such as options that affect its use. By reviewing a process, program, or field with the WorkFlow Controller you can learn more about its function in your system.

Add FlowMods to Customize the Flow: With SouthWare WorkFlow™ you can add one or more FlowMods to a particular work flow point (field, question, or other processing point in a program). When the related program gets to that particular point, it calls WorkFlow™ to perform whatever FlowMod step(s) you have specified.

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