The roadmap for Abtrac 23/24 is here. We would like to say a big thank you to all our clients who have helped us formulate our product planning, especially those who offer up their time and input. We’re always happy to receive suggestions on improvements and for new features you want to see in Abtrac.
This isn’t a definitive list, more an update on some of the key features we’re working on. We thought it was a good time to share what’s been happening behind the scenes.
Continue readingYour Abtrac trial includes a quick set up module on the homepage, near the footer menu.
Here, you can choose the naming convention for your jobs/projects and their components and also choose how you want your timesheets to appear.
To add a Job/Project to your Abtrac trial, you need to add a client or contact first.
Adding a Client or Contact
From Clients, Contacts & Jobs >> select Add Client or Contact.
You can choose to add just the contact name & save, and add the other details later.
The ‘System Code’ and ‘Creation Date’ are auto generated.
Fill in any other required fields and click on the ‘Save Contact Details’ button to save the contact.
Adding a Job to a Client
Jobs and Projects must belong to a Client(Contact) in Abtrac. From the ‘Contact Details’ page >> click on the Jobs tab >> then click on the ‘Add Job for this Contact’ button.
This takes you to the ‘Job Details’ page.
The Job Code is auto-generated based on rules determined from system settings.
Enter a Job Description and Click on the ‘Save Job Details’ button to save.
The ‘Job Details’ page will be updated with the Job description as above.
You can fill in the other details as and when required.
Abtrac KB# 2172
When evaluating a trial, it is good to include other members of the team.
You can add people to your trial from Administration >> Employees >> Employee Details.
Click on the ‘+’ (add) button to add a new employee.
The below screen will open.
Enter data into the mandatory fields (with asterisks beside them) and any other fields as required.
Save the record by clicking on the ‘Update’ button as indicated.
Once the employee is added, they will need their own unique credentials to log into Abtrac.
From Administration >> Employees >> Login Management, click on the ‘+’ (add) sign to open a screen to add the new record.
Every field is mandatory. Choose the employee name from the drop down selector.
Enter their email address and assign them to a ‘User Group’, ‘Admin’ in this case.
See more on User Groups here.
Choose their default timesheet view and create a password for them.
Save the record by clicking on the ‘Save’ button at the top right of the above screenshot as indicated. Now you have successfully added a new employee into Abtrac.
You can also add/edit the individual employee login by clicking on the pencil edit button near the employee name.
We recommend that you log out and test if the new user can successfully log into Abtrac trial as expected.
See the article Adding a New Employee and Creating a Login
You can also watch Abtrac Quick Tutorial:- Adding Employees and a Login
Abtrac KB# 2171
From the entire Abtrac team we’d like to say thank you for your support this year, we look forward to working with you again in 2023.
Whilst our support team takes a short break you can still access all our help files and videos here on the knowledgebase.
Our latest newsletter has answers to the most common queries we get at this time of the year: https://www.abtrac.com/newsletter/issue-4
Looking to reset your job numbers for 2023?
Changing Employee charge rates?
Updating cost rates on projects?
Getting an error message when you login from a shortcut?
In Abtrac, you can set up lists/groups of your contacts from the ‘Contact Group Management’ screen or from the ‘Search’ screen. This would be useful for creating different mailing lists for your business purposes.
Set up Lists of Contacts using Contact Group Management
From Clients, Contacts & Jobs >> select Contact Group Management
Add a contact group and save.
Select and add contacts to the group.
Click on the ‘Produce Email List’ button to get the required email addresses in the pop up box or use the ‘Export Options’ button to export the contact name and details to Excel or CSV.
Set up Lists of Contacts using the Search screen
Go to Clients, Contacts & Jobs >> Search People
Export the details on the page using the ‘Export’ button and then use the data in CSV for further filtering if required, to create your list.
Abtrac KB# 2170
The names you use for the person responsible for a client and/or job(project) can be set up from the Administration menu.
Companies may have client owner/s and job owner/s who are responsible for a particular client or job.
These may or may not be the same person and depending on your company naming system, you might call them Directors, Team Leaders, Principals, Project Managers, etc.
The default names in Abtrac are Client Owner, Client Owner 2, Job Owner, Job Owner 2. Client Owner and Job Owner are used extensively in reporting to filter, group and sort data by who is responsible for the work.
Continue readingThe Invoices by Client Report gives a list of clients and their invoices between selected dates. In this report, the value of time & cost is shown based on charge rate.
This report is a useful one for managers to compare the invoiced amount and the value of time & cost for the invoice.
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.
The New Job Listings Between Dates report gives a list of new jobs created/confirmed within a selected date range.
The Chart of Invoice Listing Report gives two views of revenue earned.
A chart of the total amount invoiced per month, as well as a chart of cumulative amount invoiced. Both include a comparison to the previous calendar year/years.
These charts are useful as a visual representation of the performance of a company with regards to income earned, and to compare monthly and yearly performances.
The filter options allow you to view and compare revenue by office. You can also view performance by a selected client or job.
The Repeat Clients report gives a list of clients within a selected date range. Repeat Clients are those who have more than one associated job in the system.
This report may be used to show the relationship a job owner is cultivating with clients and any repeat work that is coming in from a client.
It can also be used to help assign job owners to a job by reviewing any history they have with a client.
Current Proposals Outstanding dashboard widget is a tool to manage your active proposals.
In Abtrac, you can restrict non-admin users from entering time for specific tasks if your business needs to do so.
Continue reading
Abtrac | Knowledge Base 