Quick Start Tutorials > 6. Working with transactions in ManagePLUS

In this topic:

ManagePLUS neither creates nor alters QuickBooks transactions, but it needs a copy of them to prepare reports. Actually it doesn't need all of your transactions, just the ones for the active accounting period. ManagePLUS refreshes (updates) its copy of transactions from QuickBooks whenever you tell it to, something you will do whenever you think some transactions may have been changed in QuickBooks.

This tutorial tells how to open the Transactions window, refresh transactions, and find and fix quantity errors in your transactions.

Opening the Transactions window

To open the Transactions window or to select it if the window is already open:

•	Click the Trans' (Transactions) button in the toolbar, or choose Lists > Transactions from the main menu.

The window will open in a new tab. Or if it is already open, its tab will be selected.

If you added a new accounting period in lesson 2, ManagePLUS may have notified you that it had no transactions for the new period and asked to refresh them from QuickBooks. If you answered "No" at that time, the Transactions window may be empty when you open it. If so, Refresh transactions as described next.

Refreshing transactions

ManagePLUS refreshes transactions from QuickBooks in one-month "chunks". To save time, ManagePLUS lets you choose which months' transactions to refresh. Often you will only need to refresh transactions for the most recent month or so, to get a new copy of transactions which may have changed.

Here's how refresh works:

1.	Click the Refresh button.

The Transactions to Refresh dialog will open.

2.	Choose the transaction months to refresh. If only recent transactions have changed, you may want to refresh only those months.

3.	Click OK. ManagePLUS will connect with QuickBooks, refresh transactions for the months you selected, and update the Transactions window.

Viewing transactions with quantity errors

Quantity errors only occur if you are using ManagePLUS' advanced quantity handling features. If you haven't enabled advanced quantity handling, ManagePLUS won't try to extract quantity information from your transactions.

The prior lesson showed how to enter extra quantity information in the Memo/Description field of QuickBooks transactions. Unfortunately, all transaction entry happens in QuickBooks, where ManagePLUS has no control over the process and cannot check for errors as you enter transactions. ManagePLUS only gets to "see" your transactions when it refreshes them from QuickBooks. When ManagePLUS cannot figure out how to extract the extra quantity information from a transaction it will flag the transaction as having a quantity error. This section tells how to know when ManagePLUS has found quantity errors, and how to view them.

Skip to the next lesson if you did not enable advanced quantity handling in lesson 3.

You have quantity errors when...

An Errors button appears on the Transaction window's toolbar if one or more transactions is flagged as having a quantity error.

Viewing quantity errors

To view transactions with quantity errors:

•	Click on the Errors button (shown above) in the Transactions window.

The window will switch to showing only transactions which have quantity errors.

•	The Memo field is highlighted in yellow.

•	A description below each transaction row gives clues about what may have caused the error.

Fixing quantity errors

Once you see the transactions that have quantity errors, figuring out what's wrong in each case is usually simple. Reviewing the rules for entering Memo/Description field quantities, provided in the prior lesson, will usually provide the clues you need. Here are explanations of the problems with the transaction examples above:

300# clover seed

The error message tells us will we need to know: the "#" symbol is an unknown math operator (ManagePLUS does not understand what it means).
Solution: There needs to be a space between the quantity "300" and the"#" symbol.

25calf tags

The error message for this one is a bit misleading, but it's easy to see what is wrong: ManagePLUS cannot understand "25calf" as a quantity.
Solution: There needs to be a space between the quantity "25" and the word "calf"

2x4s

This memo wasn't meant to be a quantity at all; just as a description of the transaction. (In case the term is unfamiliar to you, "2x4" describes a common lumber dimension.) Because it began with the numeral "2", ManagePLUS thought this description was intended as a mathematical formula. But since the letter "s" has no place in a mathematical formula, ManagePLUS is complaining about it.
Solution: Type a space ahead of the phrase "2x4s" to keep ManagePLUS from considering it as quantity information.

To fix the errors...

1.	In QuickBooks, locate one of the transactions which needs to be changed.

2.	Edit the transaction, making the necessary changes.

3.	Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each transaction which has quantity errors.

4.	Refresh transactions in ManagePLUS.

5.	Check for errors again.

If the Errors button is present in the Transactions window, some transactions still have quantity errors, so repeat the process of viewing transactions with errors, figuring out the errors, and fixing them.

What if I don't want to fix quantity errors in all my transactions?

No problem. When ManagePLUS creates reports it will simply assume quantities are 0 (zero) in those transactions. But it follows then, that at least some of the quantity-related information on those reports may not be accurate.