Relativity. User s Guide. Contents are the exclusive property of Municipal Software, Inc. Copyright All Rights Reserved.

Transcription

1 Relativity User s Guide Contents are the exclusive property of Municipal Software, Inc. Copyright All Rights Reserved. Municipal Software, Inc W. Winchester, Ste 209 Libertyville, IL Ph. (847) Fax (847)

2 What is Relativity? A powerful tool that provides direct access to your data. The technology that unlocks MSI data files. Creates a bridge that combines MSI data with Windows applications. Allows you to use popular Windows word processors, spreadsheets or database programs with MSI. Provides unlimited report writing without modifications. Utilizes Microsoft s ODBC32 technology A Word About ODBC Open Data Base Connectivity ODBC is a popular database protocol standard used by Microsoft. Links databases in different programs enabling data to pass seamlessly between Windows applications. Relativity is 100% ODBC compliant. Provides the bridge between MSI data and Windows applications 2

3 Query Only The following steps are used to perform report writing functions using Relativity and Microsoft Excel. You must first log onto Excel by double clicking an icon that may be set up on your desktop or by clicking on your start button from your desktop, click on programs option and then click on Excel. Note: You must have an Excel Worksheet open. To start a Relativity query through Excel: From your Excel application, click on Data From the drop down menu, click on Get External Data Next, click on Create New Query The Choose Data Source window will appear. Select the MSI application that you will be retrieving data from. Highlight the application then click OK. Note: A log on box will appear that will be asking for a log on ID and Password, these are not required. Simply click OK to continue with your query. 3

4 A database screen will open as well as an Add Tables box. You must then select the tables to be used in your query. To select a table, highlight the table and click Add or double click on the desired table. You may select more than one table. If you do not know which tables contain the fields that you are looking for, please consult the MSI Relativity Tables Cross Reference Guide. Once tables have been selected, click the Close button on the Add Tables box. You may now select fields from your selected tables by double clicking on the desired fields. You will notice that as you select each field, Microsoft Query will link back to your MSI data through Relativity and display all records for the selected field. Note: If you double click the within any table, all fields [within that table] will be selected. When all desired fields have been selected you may return this data to your Excel spreadsheet by clicking the File menu, then selecting Return Data to Microsoft Excel. 4

5 The Returning External Data to Microsoft Excel window will appear indicating the intended cell location of the query to be placed. Click OK and your Excel spreadsheet will be populated with your query. 5

6 Query With Sorting The following steps are used to perform report writing functions using Relativity and Microsoft Excel. Note: You must have an Excel Worksheet open. You must first log onto Excel by double clicking an icon that may be set up on your desktop or by clicking on your Start button from your desktop. Click on Programs option and then click on Excel. To start a Relativity query through Excel: From your Excel application, click on Data From the drop down menu, click on Get External Data Next, click on Create New Query The Choose Data Source window will appear. Select the MSI application that you will be retrieving data from. Highlight the application then click OK. Note: A logon box will appear asking for an ID and Password, these are not required. Simply click OK to continue with your query. 6

7 A database screen will open as well as an Add Tables box. You must then select the tables to be used in your query. To select a table, highlight the table and click Add or double click on the desired table. You may select more than one table. If you do not know which tables contain the fields that you are looking for, please consult the MSI Relativity Tables Cross Reference Guide. Once tables have been selected, click the Close button on the Add Tables box. You may now select fields from your selected tables by double clicking on the desired fields. You will notice that as you select each field, Microsoft Query will link back to your MSI data through Relativity and display all records for the selected field. Note: If you double click the within any table, all fields [within that table] will be selected. Once your fields are selected you can sort this information by performing these options: #1) To sort a column, highlight any cell within the column or by clicking the field name within the column heading. Select your sort option from the buttons beneath the tool bar options. You may sort in ascending or descending order. 7

8 #2) To sort multiple columns, highlight any cell within the primary sort column (or by clicking the field name within the column heading). Click on the Records menu then select Sort and the Sort window will appear allowing you to specify if the column you selected will be sorted in Ascending or Descending order. You then may select additional columns to sort from by selecting from the Column drop down menu, then select whether you want them in ascending or descending order. Option #1 Option #2 When all your required fields have been selected and sorted, you may return this data to your Excel spread sheet by clicking your File tab set and selecting Return Data to Microsoft Excel 8

9 Query with Criteria The following steps are used to perform report writing functions using Relativity and Microsoft Excel. Note: You must have an Excel Worksheet open. You must first log onto Excel by double clicking an icon that may be set up on your desktop or by clicking on your Start button from your desktop. Click on Programs option and then click on Excel. To start a Relativity query through Excel: From your Excel application, click on Data From the drop down menu, click on Get External Data Next, click on Create New Query The Choose Data Source window will appear. Select the MSI application that you will be retrieving data from. Highlight the application then click OK. Note: A logon box will appear asking for an ID and Password, these are not required. Simply click OK to continue with your query. 9

10 A database screen will open as well as an Add Tables box. You must then select the tables to be used in your query. To select a table, highlight the table and click Add or double click on the desired table. You may select more than one table. If you do not know which tables contain the fields that you are looking for, please consult the MSI Relativity Tables Cross Reference Guide. Once tables have been selected, click the Close button on the Add Tables box. You may now select fields from your selected tables by double clicking on the desired fields. You will notice that as you select each field, Microsoft Query will link back to your MSI data through Relativity and display all records for the selected field. Note: If you double click the within any table, all fields [within that table] will be selected. Once your fields are selected you can add criteria to narrow down your search for information by performing these options: To add criteria to your selected data, highlight any cell within the column or by clicking the field name within the column heading. Click on the Criteria drop down menu, then click on Add. The Add Criteria window will appear. You must select all of the following properties. 10

11 Field The column you want to add criteria to. Operator How the data will be filtered. (equal to, greater than, less than, contains, is null, etc.) Value The equivalent the criteria will look for when filtering. Note: When entering a Value for an Operator that requires multiple entries (i.e Is One Of, Is Between) in the Value field, separate the Values with a comma. For instance, if you re adding criteria to display only GL accounts from Fiscal Year 2004 and 2005, then you d select the Operator Is One Of and use the Value of 4,5 (no need to put a space after the comma). After you have completed entering the criteria, click on Close on the Add Criteria window. Also notice that the added criteria properties will appear in the middle of the screen below. Note: One additional item in your criteria selection is the And / Or option. This is used if you need to filter by more than one criteria. In our example we added criteria to select records with an A account type AND a fiscal year of 01. This will display all asset accounts in the fiscal year 2001 chart of accounts. The OR option would be used if you wanted to display asset accounts or revenue accounts (account types A or R ). 11

12 If your criteria has caused invalid fields to display or the query is now blank, it simply means the wrong criteria was selected or there was no information to retrieve from the criteria entered. In order to remove all criteria, click on the Criteria pull down menu and select Remove All Criteria. To remove specific criteria (not all), simply click and highlight the unwanted criteria column in the criteria properties section in the middle of your screen (between your tables and query results) and hit the Delete key on your keyboard. You can change the criteria that was selected by highlighting the value field within your criteria properties section (in the middle of your screen) and manually typing in the new criteria value. Manually adjusted criteria 12

13 Refreshing / Editing A Saved Query Once your Excel spreadsheet is saved, you may refresh the query data at any time. If you have made changes in your MSI applications and need to have your Excel spreadsheet reflect the changes, use the following procedures. Open the saved Excel spreadsheet. Note that the first two cash account records contain descriptions for Cash Oakbrook General and Cash Oakbrook Investment. Below, the descriptions are changed for the two cash accounts. 13

14 In the saved Excel spreadsheet, click on the Red Exclamation Point to refresh the data or click on the Data pull down menu, then select Refresh Data. Notice that the data will be refreshed and the information will be changed in your Excel document. 14

15 Mail Merges through Word You must first log onto Word by double clicking an icon that may be set up on your desktop or by clicking on your start button from your desktop, click on programs option and then click on Word. Note: You must have a Word Document open. Click on the Tools pull down menu then select Mail Merge. The Mail Merge Helper window will appear. Select the type of mail merge that you want to use, such as Form Letter. Once your selection is made you will be asked are you merging into an active window or a new main document. Click on Active Window. The Mail Merge Helper window will appear again, but this time the Get Data button will be highlighted. Click on Get Data. You receive another drop down menu with the options on how to select your data. Select Create Data Source. When the Create Data Source window appears, click on MS Query. 15

16 (Mail Merges through Word cont.) Microsoft Query will open at this point. From here, follow your Create Query procedures above. Once your query is completed click on File from the pull down menu, then Return Data to Microsoft Word. Note: A logon box will appear asking for an ID and Password, these are not required. Simply click OK to continue with your mail merge. The Microsoft Word window will now appear requesting you to modify your Word document. Click on the Edit Main Document button. 16

17 (Mail Merges through Word cont.) Begin typing your letter and add in your merge fields by clicking on the Insert Merge Field pull down menu button. Click on the desired fields to place them into your Word document. Notice that these fields will be placed where the cursor is located in your document. These fields also can be cut, copied and pasted anywhere in your document. Once your letter is completed, click on the Tools pull down menu, then select Mail Merge. Once again, your Mail Merge Helper window will appear. Click on the [now highlighted] Merge button, then select the Merge button in the Merge window that appears. 17

18 (Mail Merges through Word cont.) A new Word document will now be created that includes a page for every record that was brought into your query. 18

19 Query With Multiple Tables The following steps are used to perform report writing functions using Relativity and Microsoft Excel. Note: You must have an Excel Worksheet open. To start a Relativity query through Excel: From your Excel application, click on Data From the drop down menu, click on Get External Data Next, click on Create New Query The Choose Data Source window will appear. Select the MSI application that you will be retrieving data from. Highlight the application then click OK. Note: Click OK to continue when the logon box appears. A database screen will open as well as an Add Tables box. You must then select the tables to be used in your query. In this example, notice that the Department and Class descriptions are not available in the EmployeeMasterS1 table. Description fields for user defined codes are stored in their own respective tables; (much like the separate options in a File Maintenance Menu in the MSI applications). To apply additional tables to your query, click on Table, then Add Tables. Add Tables 19

20 (Query with Multiple Tables Cont.) The Add Tables box will appear once again. You then may select as many additional tables as needed. (The additional tables also can be added initially when you first begin your query.) Once you have selected your additional tables, click the Close button on the Add Tables box. Note: Most tables will automatically link together via Join lines that associate the key fields in all open tables, thus synchronizing the data records across all open tables. Any table that does not have any Join line(s) attached to it must be linked manually via drag & drop of similar key fields between the tables. You now may apply additional fields to your query. 20

21 When all desired fields have been selected you may return this data to your Excel spreadsheet by clicking the File menu, then selecting Return Data to Microsoft Excel. Query With Multiple Tables, Criteria & Sorting The following steps are used to perform report writing functions using Relativity and Microsoft Excel. Note: You must have an Excel Worksheet open. To start a Relativity query through Excel: From your Excel application, click on Data From the drop down menu, click on Get External Data Next, click on Create New Query 21

22 The Choose Data Source window will appear. Select the MSI application that you will be retrieving data from. Highlight the application then click OK. Note: Click OK to continue when the logon box appears. In this example, we will create a spreadsheet that displays a list of payroll employees from the Payroll Job Classes of Day Camp 1 and Day Camp 2, list their current Pay Level, then provide a chart to determine the Pay Rate. Add the EmployeeMasterS1 and ClassCodes tables from the Add Tables window, then click on the Close button to continue to your query screen. Select the appropriate fields. Narrow down your query to just the employees in the Class of DAY CAMP 1 and DAY CAMP 2 by highlighting the ClassDesc column, selecting the Criteria pull down menu, then selecting Add Criteria. The field ClassCodes.ClassDesc should already be in the Field box. (This is because we highlighted the column first. If we did not highlight the column, we could use the Field box pull down to scroll to the ClassCodes.ClassDesc field.) Note: When selecting fields from pull down menus in a query with multiple tables, notice that the table name will appear, followed by a period, then followed by the field name. ie: ClassCodes.ClassDesc = Class Codes table, Class Description field. 22

23 Next, select the Values button in the Add Criteria window. This will provide you with all possible occurrences within the selected field. Highlight Day Camp 1 and Day Camp 2, then click on the OK button. The query will now filter out all employees that do not have the ClassDesc equal to either Day Camp 1 or Day Camp 2. If you scroll to the last record, notice that the employee list has now been filtered down to 15 employees. Now if we want to sort our 15 employees by their Classes, then by Pay Levels, we can highlight the first field we would like to sort by, click on the Records pull down menu, then click on Sort. 23

24 Click on the Add button to put an ascending sort for the ClassCd field into your query, then from the Column pull down menu in the Sort window, select EmployeeMasterS1.PayLevel then click on the Close button. 24

25 Exit Query and return the data back to Excel by clicking on the File pull down menu, then clicking on Return Data To Microsoft Excel. When prompted to select the cell location to place your data in, click on the OK button. When prompted for a logon and password, click on the OK button. Your data will then populate the blank Excel worksheet. 25

26 To create a more presentable document, you can use Sheet 2 in Excel and the Paste Special feature to create a link between Sheet 1 and Sheet 2. This allows you refresh the data in sheet 1 without having Excel override and headings, formulas or formated in sheet 2. Since a Paste Special was used, any data refreshed in sheet 1 will also refresh the associated fields linked in sheet 2. Note: The link between sheets 1 & 2 is created by copying a block of data from sheet 1, then selecting [in sheet 2] Edit, Click Edit, Paste Special. Click Paste Link, not on OK 26

27 Once you ve performed a Paste Special, Paste Link on all of you copy blocks from sheet 1, you will notice that the cells in sheet 2 paste linked to cells in sheet 1 now display the link formula as the cell value in the Formula bar at the top of your screen. Paste Linked cells in Sheet 2 will hold a formula to link to the appropriate cell in Sheet 1, ie: Cell A3 in Sheet 2 equals cell A2 in Sheet 1. This association will remain even if rows or columns are added to Sheet 2. 27