This page briefly explains all the fields available on the Job / Project Details Page.
N.B. The name Job / Project is a variable that you can set yourself in the Administration >> Settings >> System Settings area. From this point forward, we will refer to them as Projects
There are a few different classifications for Projects, so here are the different definitions you will see below.
Continue readingIf you currently use AbtracOnline, this article can be ignored. This is for the few users still using the old desktop system that haven’t upgraded since the new version came out in 2014.
Due to Microsoft software updates increasingly affecting Abtrac V5, we are unable to guarantee the old desktop version of Abtrac will continue to function. To save any frustration for yourself and your staff members, from March 31st 2023, we will no longer be supporting the Version 5 instance of Abtrac and the accompanying Abtrac V3 browser.
Between now and then, you can upgrade for free to our cloud instance of Abtrac Online, which has been available since 2014. For more details, contact us at support@abtrac.com or call Pamela to discuss options and book a time for an upgrade. Read more about the process of an upgrade here, or take a look at AbtracOnline and our pricing structure here.
As you will see on our website, Abtrac is Xero accredited. Through our API, we are able to do things with Xero that their affiliated products cannot. We are also MYOB certified developers and link to MYOB Essentials, MYOB Business and MYOB AccountRight. Abtrac is a Microsoft Developer Partner being the only product of our type on the Microsoft Marketplace down under.
As a valued customer, we hope you do move to AbtracOnline. Abtrac is a mature product, fully cloud-based, with thousands of people logging into it every day across New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Canada and elsewhere.
This page briefly explains all the fields available on the Client People Page.
Every client can have many persons of interest. In Abtrac, these are managed in the Client People screen.
You can search people from Clients, Contacts & Jobs >> Search People.
Most of the fields here should be self-explanatory but below are some further explanations.
First Name: The First name of the person
Last Name: The Last name of the person
Title: Such as Mr, Dr, Miss etc
Role: The person’s role in the organisation
Phone: The person’s phone number
Mobile: The person’s mobile number
Email: The person’s email address
Address: This is the address description for where the people belong to
Current: Indicates if this person is a person of interest. E.g. Do they still work at the organisation
Main Contact: The person who is the main contact for the client. The main contact will be the person shown in the Job template report.
Mail Merge: Ticking the mail merge allows a user to be added to the list of people in the Contact Group Management screen. This screen is designed to get lists of people for emailing in groups. From Clients, Contacts & Jobs >> Contact Group Management.
Accounts Contact: Is this the person who is the accounts contact for the client
Comments: Any comments associated with the person. I.e. “This person replaced Brian when Brian was on leave”.
Contact Groups: What contact groups does this person belong to? This can be used for exporting groups of people from different organisations. An example of use for this would be for Christmas Cards
Abtrac KB# 2177
This page briefly explains all the fields available on the Client Address Page.
Every client can potentially have many addresses for site addresses, deliveries, invoicing etc. In Abtrac, these are managed in the Client Addresses screen.
You can search addresses from Clients, Contacts & Jobs >> Search People.
Most of the fields here should be self-explanatory but below are some further explanations.
Address Description: The Address description is a way to differentiate between addresses. Abtrac users typically put in things like “Normal Billing Address” or “North End Branch Address” if a client has more than one branch in town. Another example is the difference between the “Site Address” and the “Office Address”.
This field is handy when selecting address quickly for the Client Invoice Defaults, Job Billing Details, and Invoicing.
Current: This indicates whether the address is a place of interest no longer used.
Main Address: This indicates the address most frequently used by the client when there are multiple addresses.
Copy Delivery To Postal: The Copy Delivery to Postal option lets you enter the delivery address, then clicking Copy Delivery to Postal, copies it to the Postal Address, saving double entry.
Address lines 1-5 and Post Code: Since Abtrac is used globally, there are different formats of address terms, such as the states, provinces, city, town etc., for different countries.
We have allowed you to use whatever fields you like in your invoice, account rendered, receipt and other templates.
Abtrac KB# 2178
For more complicated fields, there will be links provided to supporting articles.
What are Client Invoice Defaults:
Invoice Defaults are used to populate the Client Details of an invoice when generating an invoice for this client.
Should you use Client Invoice Defaults or Job/Project Billing Details?
When there is one set of criteria for invoices, regardless of how many Jobs/Projects there are created for this Client, you can use the Client Invoice Defaults.
However, in most cases, Job Billing Details are used for this information as there are more options available. For people using only basic invoicing features, then Client Invoice Defaults is a good alternative.
What if I have entered information into both?
The rule of thumb is that if conflicting Job Billing Details are entered, the Job Billing Details will take precedence over the invoice defaults.
If there are no Job Billing Details, then Invoice Defaults will be used.
Invoice Alternate Name: Used if the invoice name is different from the client name
Invoice Recipient: This selection box will automatically populate all the recipient details if you have entered information in the Client People Screen.
Invoice Recipient Role: The role of the person who receives the invoice.
Invoice Recipient Email: Email address used for who will be sent the invoice. You can add multiple people by separating them with a semicolon (the same as Outlook or Gmail).
Client GST/ABN: The client’s own GST/ABN number if they require you to show it on the invoice.
Invoice Default Address: This selection box will automatically populate all the address details if you have entered information in the Client Address Screen.
Postal Line 1: Postal Address to show on the invoice.
Postal Line 2: Postal Address to show on the invoice.
Postal Line 3: Postal Address to show on the invoice.
Postal Line 4: Postal Address to show on the invoice.
Postal Line 5: Postal Address to show on the invoice.
Post Code: Postal Code to show on the invoice.
Client Tax Number: Enter/edit the tax number for the client here. It is also editable from Invoice And Other Office Settings or when creating an invoice.
Purchase Order Required: Indicates whether a purchase order is required when creating a Job/Project.
Default Purchase Order: The default purchase order when creating a Job.
Never Add GST: If ticked, the invoice won’t add GST unless you specifically change the option on the invoice.
Invoice Terms: This allows the terms to be specific to the client rather than the system default invoice terms.
Due Date Calculation: This allows the due date to be specific to the client rather than the invoice system settings’ default due date.
Day/s: This allows the day’s calculation to be specific to the client rather than the invoice system settings’ default invoice days calculation.
Abtrac KB# 2179
For more complicated fields, there will be links provided to supporting articles.
Name: This is the Client name, Contact name, or Sub-Consultant name you want to manage through Abtrac.
Abbreviation: A short form of text for the Client Name used in the timesheet screen for faster entry for the user. The abbreviation is also used in some reports where space is at a premium.
System Code: The System Code is an alphanumeric field that is mandatory.
The default number is set from the Administration >> Settings >> Invoice and other office settings section in Abtrac.
In this screen, you can set an initial client number for one office under the option you have marked as the “Default Invoice Setting” or set specific numbers for each “invoice and other office setting”. The place to set the default is controlled under the “Next Client Number”.
If you prefer an alphanumeric code, you will need to make them up and manage them yourself each time you enter a client.
The system code is there because many Abtrac businesses link their Abtrac data and invoices with their accounting system. The system code is one way of providing a unique link, so the two systems always match up. It also enables Abtrac to manage the differences between two clients who have the same name.
If you aren’t sure what to enter as a system code, leave it alone, and Abtrac will automatically give it a number. Later on, you can change this data if needed.
Creation Date: The date the client was created, defaulting to the date the entry was added.
Current: This represents if the client is someone you are currently working with. It is recommended to mark all clients you no longer work with as non-current to minimise the amount of data Abtrac and your staff need to go through when searching, entering time, and generating reports.
Billable: States whether this is a billable client or a non-billable contact.
You are recommended to set yourself us as a non-billable contact so you can record time against yourself.
This client is used for admin time, sick leave, annual leave, training, etc. These are all set up as individual jobs/projects for yourself.
Synchronised: Indicates if the client has been synchronised with your accounting package during an invoice upload process or by clicking the synchronise button.
Learn more about your accounting packages here
Is a sub-consultant: You can use sub-consultants in Abtrac if you outsource work to third parties and need to manage them over the duration of one or more projects.
Read more about sub-consultants here.
Work This Sub-Consultant Does: Work This Subconsultant records the sub-consultants type of work. Bu classifying this here, you can subsequently query all sub-consultants who do the same type of work.
Client Owner: Is an employee that takes responsibility for this client. Client Owner is a displayed name that you can set to something that means something to you. An example of a reason to change this is to change it to ‘Principal’ or ‘Director.’
The screen to set who can be a client owner is found in Administration >> Employees Owners.
The area to set the displayed client owner name is under Administration >> Settings >> System Settings. Make sure you are in the Clients and Jobs/Projects tab on the left, then down the page in the section For Display on Forms and Reports.
Client Owner 2: This is the same as Client Owner 1 but a second option.
Client Type: Client type allows you to create a list of client types so they can be allocated to each client. This will allow you to see what clientele you are attracting to your business.
To maintain your list of client types, go to Administration >> Maintenance >> Client Rating.
Client Rating: Client Rating will allow you to set up a rating scale for your clients.
To maintain your client ratings, go to Administration >> Maintenance >> Client Type
Office: Shows what office this client belongs to. This can be left blank, so you can leave this unless you manage multiple offices and want to know differences during reporting or restrict employees by their office.
Is Master Client: If you tick a client as a master client, this tells Abtrac that this client can become a parent company for other clients. You then use the selection box to associate other clients with them by selecting their names from the drop-down list.
Is Master Client: Indicates if this client is a master client with ‘child client’ associated with it.
Master Client: This shows the client associated with this master client.
Comments: Whatever comments you want to associate with a client. E.g. “formerly called XZY Limited but changed their name in 20XX”, or “These guys are really bad payers, so contact Jo if you have any queries from them or requests for more work”.
Abtrac KB# 2180
The roadmap for Abtrac is here. We would like to say a big thank you to all our clients who have helped us formulate this plan with your good ideas and suggestions on improvements and new features you want to see in Abtrac.
Without dragging this out, here are our plans for the future development of the software.
Continue readingPassword Managers are fantastic things when they do their job., They help you so you don’t have to remember hundreds of passwords. However when they try to be smarter than you have asked them to be it becomes very frustrating!
In Abtrac we have found more and more people are using LastPass (we use this also) but it has started to become a nuisance for people when it tries to fill information in the Grid search bars and also on some forms. Here is how to turn that feature off for Abtrac (and other sites if you wish).
Continue readingWhen using Abtrac two factor authentication, a code will be sent to the user’s email address which is required to be entered before gaining access to Abtrac. This will confirm the device they are working on is a trusted device.
Each user can opt to remember this device for 30 days or they can get a new code every time they login in.
Continue readingA Job/Project Task is the bit of the job you are working on – and can budget against. Sometimes they are called Stages or Phases.
When you set up Abtrac we recommend you create a non-billable client for your own company, and within that client you can setup some template jobs and assign the tasks which are structured with the details of the most common types of jobs you undertake.
Once you have template job and tasks created, each time you create a new client job you can choose to Copy Tasks from the template job to the new job.
If you find that you work on the same types of jobs/projects and some of the information is the replicated from one job to another, then you can use the Clone Job/Project feature in AbtracOnline. This will simply duplicate the job and selected details and save the job to the existing jobs client.
You can setup template jobs/projects for the different types of work you do and then clone these jobs when you have a real job of the same type.
If you find that you work on the same clients and projects from one week to the next you can use a previous timesheet as a template and save some data entry time.
The clone feature will copy across the client, job, task, and activity but it will not copy the units or the comment.
Here’s how to clone all the clients, projects, and tasks from one week to the next.
Abtrac Job/Project Templates aka Proposals, Fee Estimates, and Mail Merge Documents allow you to create templates that contain information from Abtrac such as client, job/project and task details that can be intertwined with other information, such as your proposals or mail merge type documents.
How it works is you create the different report types that you use i.e. proposal, letter of engagement etc., and within those reports, you add different sections with the required information.
With the latest release in AbtracOnline, on some pages the whole screen width is now available so for people with bigger monitors you can see more information without having to scroll across the page or in some cases forgetting to scroll to see more information.
With a few simple steps, you can set yourself up so you can see what information you want to see on the device you commonly use the most.
As part of our ongoing improvements to Abtrac, the login page and other screens within Abtrac will be changing.
The main reason for the change is to enable more users to access Abtrac from a range of devices, such as your widescreen monitors and phones.
Here is an example of the new login screen on a computer monitor.
And a Mobile Phone.
Abtrac | Knowledge Base 