Using Context-Sensitive Help

As you use the Advantage software, you may find that you have a question about what to enter in a particular field or what will happen if you click on a certain button. To assist you, we have built context-sensitive help into many of the forms, fields, and buttons in Advantage. Context-sensitive help allows you to view information about a specific form, field, or button, without having to search through the entire Advantage Online Help system.

To access context-sensitive help, open the form you want to learn about just as you would during normal Advantage operations.

•	To view a general description of the form, click on the [image] button on the Advantage toolbar, and then click anywhere on the background of the form.

•	To view information about a particular field or button, click on the [image] button on the Advantage toolbar, and then click in the field you want to learn about or on the button you want to learn about.

You can also view context-sensitive help by clicking in the field you want to learn about, or right-clicking on the button you want to learn about, and then pressing F1 on your keyboard. (You must use this method to view context-sensitive help in the Timekeeper and Expensekeeper applications.)

•	To print the context-sensitive help topic, press the Print button on the topic window, if one is available. If there is no Print button in the topic window, right-click on the topic, and then click Print Topic.

Example


Context-Sensitive Help Example

To learn about the Project Table Maintenance form:

1.	Select Tables, Projects from the Advantage main menu to display the Project Table Maintenance form.

2.	Click on the [image] button, and then click on the background of the form to display a general help topic about Project Table Maintenance.

3.	Click on the [image] button, and then click in any field or on any button on the form to display a description of the field or button.

4.	To print the description, click the Print button on the topic window, or right-click on the topic and click Print Topic.


Using the Advantage Lookup Windows

In Advantage, many fields in the database are directly related to table maintenance and/or system setup routines. To access a lookup of values in these types of fields, you must double-click in the specific field or press the <F3> key on your keyboard. When you do this, Advantage displays a lookup box where you can select the desired value for the field.

Once you access this lookup, you can either select the appropriate value from the list, or specify information that will help limit/sort the values displayed in the lookup. The following types of lookup windows are available:

Project lookups

Employee lookups

Client lookups

Account lookups

Labor code lookups

Vendor lookups

Unit lookups


Using the Project Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Using the Employee Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Using the Client Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Using the Account Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Using the Labor Code Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Using the Vendor Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Using the Unit Lookup List

Click on the area of the form that you want to learn more about:

 Notes


Specifying a Date Using the Calendar Lookup

In Advantage, for all date fields, a calendar lookup is provided. To access the calendar lookup, simply double-click in the Date field. Advantage displays a calendar from which you may select the desired date.

You can change the month and year of the calendar by clicking on the drop-down arrows in those fields. The calendar then adjusts to the month and year specified. Date lookups are great to use for accrual date changes.


Sort by criteria options

Select the order by which to sort data in the lookup list. If you have the Retrieve Automatically option selected, Advantage automatically updates the lookup list when you click on the new sort method. If this option is not selected, you must click on the Retrieve button to update the lookup list.


Search field

Enter the partial/full value by which to sort the values appearing in the lookup list. If the Retrieve Automatically option is selected, the cursor highlights the first value in the list that matches the criteria entered. If the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected, enter the partial value and click on the Retrieve button to return a list of values that meet the criteria entered.

If you are sorting the list by Number, you must enter a valid number in this field.


Retrieve button

Click on this button to produce the list, to match any partial entry in the Search field, or to manually retrieve a list after changing the sort (for example, from Name to Number).

This button only appears when the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected. Once you click on the Retrieve button, it becomes disabled until the criteria for the lookup list changes.


Find next button

Click on this button to find the next value in the lookup list that meets the criteria entered on this form.


Active Employees Only option

Select this option to view only employees with a status of Active.


Active Projects Only option

Select this option to view only projects with a status of a Active.


Retrieve Automatically option

Select this option if you want the system to retrieve the entire list automatically each time the lookup is opened. The system also automatically updates the list each time you change the lookup sort and when you select or deselect the Active Employees Only option.

If you have a large employee list that takes a long time to open, you should not use this option.


Retrieve Automatically option

Select this option if you want the system to retrieve the entire list automatically each time the lookup is opened. The system also automatically updates the list each time you change the lookup sort and when you select or deselect the Active Projects Only option.

If you have a large project list that takes a long time to open, you should not use this option.


Retrieve Automatically option

Select this option if you want the system to retrieve the entire list automatically each time the lookup is opened. The system also automatically updates the list each time you change the lookup sort and when you select or deselect the Active Vendors Only option.

If you have a large vendor list that takes a long time to open, you should not use this option.


Retrieve Automatically option

Select this option if you want the system to retrieve the entire list automatically each time the lookup is opened. The system also automatically updates the list each time you change the lookup sort.

If you have large lists that take a long time to open, you should not use this option.


Project type lookup option

Use this option to limit the number of projects in a lookup by choosing a specific type of project to display: all projects, regular projects only, overhead projects only, or promotional projects only.


Employees with unpaid expense reports option

This option appears only in Employee Lookups. This option is especially useful in Employee Advance/Expense Processing. This option lets you limit the employees in a lookup to only those with unpaid expense reports (from Expensekeeper or Employee Expenses Data Entry).


Vendors with unpaid vouchers only option

This option appears only in Vendor lookups. This option is especially useful in A/P Payment Processing. This option lets you limit the vendors in a lookup to only those with unpaid vouchers.


Rows

This field appears in the bottom right corner of all lookup lists. It displays the number of values in the lookup list based on the selection criteria specified.


Lookup List

This section of the lookup form displays all the items retrieved from your Advantage database that match the selection criteria you entered. The lookup list is sorted based on the sort by specification you selected, using the buttons in the top right corner of the lookup list form.


OK button

This button appears on all lookup forms. Click on this button when you want to select an item from the list and exit the lookup form.


OK button

Click on this button when you want to exit the lookup and enter the selected labor code value on the form you currently have open.


Cancel button

This button appears on all lookup forms. Click on this button when you want to exit the lookup form without selecting an item from the list.


Cancel button

Click on this button when you want to exit the lookup without entering a labor code value on the form you currently have open.


Account type lookup option

Use this option to limit the number of accounts in a lookup by choosing a specific type of account to display: all accounts, assets only, liabilities only, net worth only, revenue only, reimbursable only, direct only, indirect only, or other charges only.


Labor code level selection window

From this window, you can select each level of the labor code based on the type of worked performed on a project.


Completed labor code

Displays all the levels of the labor code currently selected along with a description based on the individual level descriptions.


Unit table

Displays the name of the unit table for the selected unit.


Navigation Buttons

The navigation buttons appear on most forms in Advantage. These buttons let you move from one record to another. Records are sorted by number or by name.

Option	Description
	Brings you to the first record in the table.
	Brings you to the previous record in the table.
	Brings you to the next record in the table.
	Brings you to the last record in the table.


Active Vendors Only option

Select this option to view only vendors with a status of Active.


Notes about Using the Project Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Project field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of projects, double-click or press the F3 key in the Project field. In Project Table Maintenance and Billing Terms Table Maintenance, you can also click on the Lookup button.

•	If the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected, a Retrieve button appears next to the Find Next button. In addition, if this option is not selected, the navigation buttons are not available for scrolling from project to project on the Project Table Maintenance or Billing Terms Table Maintenance forms.


Notes about Using the Employee Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Employee, Principal, or Project Manager field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of employees, double-click or press the F3 key in the Employee, Principal, or Project Manager field. In Employee Table Maintenance, you can also click on the Lookup button.

•	If the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected, a Retrieve button appears next to the Find Next button.


Notes about Using the Client Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Client field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of clients, double-click or press the F3 key in the Client field. In Client Table Maintenance, you can also click on the Lookup button.

•	If the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected, a Retrieve button appears next to the Find Next button.


Notes about Using the Account Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Account field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of accounts, double-click or press the F3 key in the Account field. In Account Table Maintenance, you can also click on the Lookup button.

•	If the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected, a Retrieve button appears next to the Find Next button.


Notes about Using the Labor Code Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Labor Code field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of labor codes, double-click or press the F3 key in the Labor Code field.


Notes about Using the Vendor Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Vendor field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of vendors, double-click or press the F3 key in the Vendor field. In Vendor Table Maintenance, you can also click on the Lookup button.

•	If the Retrieve Automatically option is not selected, a Retrieve button appears next to the Find Next button.


Notes about Using the Unit Lookup List

•	You can access this type of lookup from the Unit field on all forms.

•	To access a lookup of units, double-click or press the F3 key in the Unit field. In Unit Table Maintenance, you can also click on the Lookup button.