DMS Help and User Guide v17

1. Overview

Sicon DMS allows you to scan and attach documents, e-mails, orders and transactions in Sage. Unlike other document management tools there is no need to re-index the document after scanning.  By scanning documents as you work in Sage the relevant attributes are applied to each scan or attachment automatically as you save each ledger, order or transaction etc.

Page Size Warning:  when scanning directly into Sage, a warning will appear if the size will be greater than set here, but the document will still be scanned in.   Our advice would be that an A4 page scan should be between 35 and 75 Kbytes and if there are scanned images that are much larger than this check the scanner settings.

Black and White or Colour:  there is generally no need to scan images in full colour and HMRC are happy to see a black and white copy of the original.  However, with modern scanners and image compression software the colour scan and black and white scans should not be too dissimilar in size.

Drag and Drop:  drag and drop a file from a location e.g. an email attachment.  E-mail is Outlook only, not web based email clients likes Gmail.  You can also drag and drop from Windows Explorer.

Scanner Recommendations:  we would recommend the Fujitsu 7160 as a fast, reliable and robust scanner for use as a personal desktop scanner.  We believe this is the most efficient way to work for high volume users; low volume users can use a shared scanner/network copier to scan images and attach via the file attachment method.

2. HM Revenue & Customs – Document Storage

The HMRC guidelines state that you must be able to guarantee the authenticity and the integrity of the content of your source documents throughout the storage period by either electronic or procedural means.  Store all the data related to your invoices, including such evidence as is required to demonstrate that authenticity and integrity has been ensured, be able to recreate the invoice data as at the time of its original transmission or receipt and present the invoice data in a readable format.  You must keep history files so that you can find the appropriate details from any particular time in the past if one of HMRC’s visiting officers asks you to do so.  The same rules apply to the storage of electronic invoices as to paper invoices.  You must normally keep copies of all the invoices you issue and all the invoices you receive for six years.

Sicon DMS can assist you in complying with these regulations with regards to the storage of documents.  Please ensure you adhere to the HMRC guidelines when using this product.

Source – Electronic invoicing, HMRC Reference: Notice 700/63 (22nd May 2015).

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-70063-electronic-invoicing/vat-notice-70063-electronic-invoicing#conditions-for-electronic-storage

For further HMRC Document Retentions Guidelines, please refer to:

https://lgw.cnsonline.net/web/content/helpdesk/hmrcbestpracticeguides.jsp

3. Adding a Document

When entering a transaction or using transaction/order enquiry functionality within Sage and Sicon Addon modules (as defined in the DMS Settings), the option will be available to ‘Add Documents’.

For example, entering a Purchase Invoice within the Purchase Ledger:

Either drag and drop a file directly onto the ‘Add Documents’ button; i.e. a PDF from an email or click ‘Add Documents’ to open the main indexing screen.  This will allow you to either:

• Scan/Scan with Options: this will scan a document directly from a Desktop Scanner (must have Twain drivers).
• Attach File: add a document from a file source.
• Drag and Drop: drag and drop a file from a location e.g. an email attachment.

Once the document has been added, the options are:

Select Save and Close

Or

Add Security options, Save and Close to specify which roles can view this document as per the User’s licence (see Settings – Licence).

Or

Add New to add an additional document to this transaction/enquiry.

If a document is added by dropping directly onto the ‘Add Documents’ button, the number of attachments will be displayed.

4. Viewing a Document

Once a transaction has a document indexed against it, select ‘View Documents’.

From here the document can be opened (a PDF could then be printed) and if required, can be emailed out.

If multiple documents are added against a single transaction/enquiry, they are displayed in either a list, as icons or in card form:

The Next and Previous buttons can be used to move between documents.

5. Enquiries – view transactions with no documents attached

Select ‘Enquiries’ and then ‘PL Transactions with No Documents’ from the side Sicon DMS menu.

It is possible here to select a particular supplier, transaction type (i.e. invoice or credit note) and date range to bring up all transactions where no document has been attached.

6. Searching for Documents

Select ‘Document Search’ from the side Sicon DMS menu.

Select the Entity and if applicable, the Document Type from the drop down list.  It is possible to search either against a particular Attribute, e.g. Supplier Account code, or change to Text search and then start typing, e.g. a supplier name.  Clicking Find without entering a value against an entity will return all documents indexed; this could result in a long search time once many documents have been added onto the system.

7. Re-indexing a Document

If a user has permission they will be able to re-index a document already attached; for example if there is a description that needs to be entered when the document is indexed but this was not done, a user can re-index, enter the description and Save and Close.  The majority of the fields cannot be edited as these are System fields and therefore read only.

8. Deleting a Document

If a user has permission, they will be able to delete documents attached in the system.  When Viewing a document, the Delete button will be visible.

9. Settings

9.1. Licence Tab

A license string will be supplied in accordance with how many Index/View and View only licenses have been purchased.  This will need to be updated on a yearly basis or if the number of licences has changed.

9.2. Sage Users Tab

Once the DMS Licence has been applied, allocate View/Index and View only licences to the Sage users as required.

Clicking ‘Update Users’ will add in any users from Sage System Admin that have access to the applicable Sage Company.

Can Index:  whether the user is able to add documents into Sage; either by scanning, dragging and dropping or browsing.

Can Re-Index:  whether the user will be able to re-index a document once added.

Can Delete:  whether the user is able to delete documents added into Sage.

Delete on Indexing:  selecting this option will delete documents from their location once uploaded; this is useful if documents are being scanned in using a network scanner and then uploaded into Sage from this folder.  This is dependent on Windows users file permissions.

View Rights:  determine whether the user is able to view all indexed documents, only those they have indexed themselves or documents that have been indexed by other users in their Sage Role.

Default Indexing Option:  if particular option is specified, the default option will be performed as soon as the screen is opened.  This can be set as No Default, scan, scan with options or attach.

Default Attachment Path:  enter a file path if documents will always be added from a specific location – this will remove the need for the user to always browse to a particular location.

9.3. Web Users and Web Service Tabs

These tabs are for Business Partners working with Sicon on DMS integration.

9.4. Settings Tab

Scanning Options

Scanned file type: when scanning in documents to either scan as a PDF or Tiff file.

Default Scan Resolution: sets the default DPI; increasing this will mean the document size will be greater when stored.

Page Size Warning:  when scanning directly into Sage, a warning will appear if the size will be greater than set here, but the document will still be scanned it.

Test Scan Source:  select from the drop down list the scanner to run the test scan on.

Functionality

Enable Add and View button context menus:  by default this will be on and will allow the user to right click on the Add Document button and add a different Document type; i.e. when adding a document against a Sales Order, the below option by default will be visible:

Enable Document Count Columns:  by default this is enabled and will show a count of documents added, e.g. see below Transaction Enquiry against a PL Supplier.  Documents can be added or viewed against an invoice here too by clicking the Add Document or View Document buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Enable Document Count column in Cashbook Transaction Enquiry:  if the document count column should not be visible in the cashbook transaction enquiry, remove the permission here.

Convert Tiff files to PDF when opened:  this is a work around for a limitation of Windows photo viewer which does not have an option to print a single page of a multi-page file.  By converting to PDF, all of the features of the PDF viewer can be used, including printing specific pages.

Logging Options

These options relate to error logging.

Current User Settings

• Clear Company and Roles Cache: if a user’s company access or role permission (as set in Sage System Administration) has not changed the user’s Sage interface, clear the cache here to pull through the new permissions.
• Reset Tips: this will reset so users will see any new tips for new features and hot fix enhancements along with any previously selected to not show.

Modules:  Sage and Sicon Addon modules where DMS can be used to index and view documents. The System modules cannot be edited but additional modules can be added as required.

Entities:  these are a list of entities against which document types can be stored.  System entities cannot be edited but additional entities can be added if required.

Document Types:  the classification of documents when added to Sage via DMS against a particular entity.  System document types cannot be edited but new document types can be added if required; there is a wizard for adding new document types.

Attributes: these are used to automatically reference the documents added to Sage via DMS.  System attributes cannot be deleted or edited (apart from the Description attribute which can be marked as mandatory if required) but additional attributes can be added if required.

Using the wizard to add a new document type:  for example; to add the ability to add a Certificate against a Sales Order.  Click Document Type and then click the link to the new Document Type wizard.

Select the Module required:

Select the Entity to associate the new Document Type with:

Select an existing Document type to copy attributes from:

Enter a Document Type name and a Document Type friendly name and select any additional attributes required (if a document type was selected at the previous stage to copy attributes from, these will be pre-selected).

Click through to Finish the Wizard and Save the DMS Settings.  The new Document Type will now be visible against the chosen Entity when right clicking on Add Document.

Advanced Settings: please do not select any of these options; these are to be used only by a Business Partner working with Sicon during the implementation of the DMS module.

View Indexing Information Hierarchy:  this can be used to show how Modules, Entities, Document Types and Attributes are linked together and what attributes are available under a particular document type etc.

9.5. Required Documents Tab

It is possible to configure certain transaction types to require a document to be attached; for example, Purchase Invoices can be configured to require an attachment while a Purchase Credit can warn if no document has been attached but can be saved without.

Various pop up messages will show to the user depending on the required option if no document has been attached.

Warning prompt but the user is able to continue saving the transaction without adding a document.

Warning prompt and the user is not able to save without attaching a document.

9.6. Storage Tab

This tab will show a breakdown of total documents in the DMS file stored on the server by clicking on the Calculate DMS Folder Size button.

Documents are stored in the attachments folder per company as assigned against the company within the Sage 200 System Administrator.

9.7. Metrics

This tab can be used to show the number of documents added per Module, Entity and Document Type to ascertain where documents are mainly being added to the Sage module.  N.B. as this feature requires .net Framework 4.0 or above, this functionality is only available for Sage 200 2015 and above.

9.8. Warning when Saving Settings

When saving the DMS settings, the below message may appear as a warning.  This is stating that there are multiple Companies configured in Sage System Admin to use the same Attachments folder.  It is advised that all Companies in Sage System Admin are configured to store documents in individual folders but it is possible to OK and then save through this message.

9.9. DMS Locations

DMS documents can be added or viewed (permissions dependant) in the below locations.

Cash Book

• Bank Account
• Bank Statement
• Bank Payment
• Bank Receipt

Fixed Assets

• No specific screens yet as not developed – on road map to be added in

Job Costing

• No specific screens yet as not developed – on road map to be added in

Nominal Ledger

• Bank Payment
• Bank Receipt
• Nominal Transaction

Purchase Ledger

• Purchase Invoice
• Purchase Credit
• Purchase Payment
• Purchase Receipt
• Supplier Account
• Purchase Batch Invoice
• Purchase Batch Credit

Purchase Order Processing

• Supplier Account
• Purchase Order
• Purchase Return
• POP Received note
• POP Returned Note

Sales Ledger

• Sales Invoice
• Sales Credit
• Sales Receipt
• Sales Payment
• Customer Account
• Sales Batch Invoice
• Sales Batch Credit

Sales Order Processing

• Customer Account
• Sales Order
• Sales Quote
• Sales Proforma
• Sales Return
• SOP Despatched Note
• SOP Returned Note

Service

• Sicon Service Case
• Sicon Service Equipment
• Stock
• Stock Item

Works Order Processing

• Works Order

10. Enable Module

This module will automatically be enabled for a 30-day trial period from the date of installation.  After this period, a new module enable string must be entered for continued use of the module.

To enter a new enable string open the Settings screen from the Sage DMS menu.

Select the Licence tab and enter (paste) the module enable string provided by Sicon Customer Services, then click the Save button.

11. Release Notes

The release notes page shows which release of the system includes new features or issues resolved.

At the release of Sicon v21 we announced that going forward, we will only be supporting Sage 200c and as such we are able to drop the year from our version numbers. We moved from 201.201.0.0 to 210.0.0.

New features detailed in the Release Notes relating to Pre-Release versions will not be detailed in the current Help and User Guide until the end of development phase.

12. Downloads

13. New Features & Important Information

13.1. Sicon v21.1

13.2. Sicon v21

13.3. Sicon v20.1

13.4. Sicon v20

13.5. Sicon v19.2

13.6. Sicon v19.1

13.7. Sicon v19

13.8. Sicon v18

New Features

• Added ‘Justification’ Document Type against the Purchase Order Entity for use with WAP Justification Value Bands
• DMS will now keep track of Temporary files it creates and delete these when Sage shuts down.
• Added a multi select mode to the multiple document viewer screen. Its now possible to email, open and delete multiple documents in one go.
• Added the ability to edit the roles assigned to a document during the re-index document process
• Moved the indexing information to a new tab on settings and moved the buttons to create new types onto this tab
• Stock Item Details forms are now supported by DMS
• Added a new Setting to specify where the attach document window opens by default
• Added the ability to add documents to SOP Tax only invoices and credits
• Added the ability to add documents to nominal ledger Accruals and Prepayments
• Added the ability to view goods received notes from the order / return lists, and order details forms
• Added a new form to show all POP transactions without any documents attached
• Added a new form to show all receipts without any documents attached
• Documents can now be added from the Sales Order Trade Entry screen
• Documents can now be added from the Sales Order Rapid Entry screen
• Added support for the new Sage 200 Invoicing Module
• Added the ability to search by range on the DMS search screen
• Added a form to set permissions on all migrated documents (accessed via advanced settings)
• Added Integration with Sicon Construction Applications and Valuations (Sage 2015+)
• Added the ability to Add Works Order Completion Documents to Works Orders
• Added the ability to Import / Export settings from DMS
• Implemented Document Functionality on the Rapid Invoice Entry Form
• Added an info message that appears when trying to view goods received note documents against archived orders to advise to use the search screen
• Scripted the Purchase ledger amend suggested payments screen
• Added the Sicon Logo to the Form Banner
• Added the ability to Add Documents to Contracts and Contract Lines
• Added integration to Job Costing Self billing Invoices
• Replaced all Add document buttons with Badge buttons to show the number of documents added before invoicing. (Badge shown on screens when entering a new transaction only)
• Added an additional check during drag and drop to ask the user whether they would like to replace the current attachment or add a new document if there is already an attachment present
• Added DMS Integration to the Amend Purchase Transactions Form
• Added DMS Integration to the Amend Sales Transactions Form
• Added an additional check when viewing documents for documents that may exist but a user does not have access to them, a better warning is displayed
• Changed the wording on the DMS Error form that appears
• Added DMS integration to Enter New, Amend and View Fixed asset
• Added a new form within settings to list Scanner Capabilities (aids in diagnosing scanner problems)
• Added the ability to add and view documents on Job Costing Enquiry
• Added the ability to add and view documents on the Enter New / Amend Job forms
• Added the ability to add and view documents on the Sicon Employee Entity

Important Information

• Updated all feature and target GUID’s to new GUID’s so both legacy and new DMS can be installed at the same time. This design change was a tough decision to make as it will require features assigning to users again on an upgrade. However, this means that the new version of DMS can be installed alongside legacy DMS and enabled or disabled individually either for migration, or evaluation while legacy DMS is still installed. We thought it was best to make this change sooner rather than later to minimize the number of sites that would need a small amount of additional work when upgrading to this, or a later version of new DMS. [v17.0.24]
• The package GUID has been updated to work around an issue in Sage 200 System Administrator where add-on package SQL script version numbers are limited to a maximum of 255. The SQL script version number is per GUID so changing to a new GUID is the only way to continue database updates after the 255th change. Please install the new packages prior to removing the old package in order to maintain feature allocations. [v17.0.43]

[Last Important Information applied May 8, 2017. V17.0.43]