|
|
|
|
In addition to the standard navigational and view elements that exist on many of BigTime screens, there are a number of elements that will help you speed up data entry. Most of these controls are intuitive, but a quick review of the controls that are specialized and unique to BigTime will let you and your staff take advantage of them.
Smart Lookup Fields |
|
|
Smart lookups work just like a select list (e.g. - click the down arrow button to see a list of selections and then click on an item to select it), but they have some additional features which make data entry easier. Smart Lookups Support Partial Entries Type in the first few letters of the item you're looking for in the input box and then hit the TAB key. The smart lookup will limit its popup list to show only the selections that match your entry. That "search" feature accepts percent signs ("%") as wild-cards. Type in "%all" to find all of the items with the value "all" anywhere in the name field. For items (like projects or labor codes) that have a code, the smart lookup finds items by code, not just by name. Type "ALL-001," for example, and the system will know that you're entering in a unique project code. Finally, staff pick lists are specially designed to lookup first/last name combinations (or partial name entry). Entering "j smith" will match "Joe Smith", "Joseph Smith", "Jim Smith", etc.
|
Search/Find Fields |
|
|
Several of BigTime's Information Boxes have search or find fields. Those fields work just like smart lookups. Enter in the first few letters of an item's name, and the search/find will find matches for you. These fields will recognize the percent sign ("%") wildcard character, too (e.g. - use "%all" to find all of the items with "all" anywhere in their name). There is a project "find" box built into the Management menu. Use it to locate a specific project without going first to the project list screen.
|
Save/Cancel Buttons |
|
|
Most of BigTime's data entry forms have a set of save/cancel buttons which allow you to save your changes. You'll need to click the SAVE button in order to make sure that any updates you make on screen aren't lost when you switch to another screen. On many screens, the system will remind you that you've made changes to the data if you try to leave without clicking save. The CANCEL button will reset the controls on screen to their original values. Refreshing the screen (either with the REFRESH button in your browser window or by hitting F5) has the same effect.
|
List/Lookup Values |
|
|
Various screens in BigTime make use of the standard selection list (like the one you see here). Most of those selection values are pre-populated with information based on your industry. In each case, you can edit the values that are contained in that selection list from within the Tools...System Settings menu. If you aren't sure where a particular list/lookup pulls its item list from, then browse through the Tools...System Settings...Lists/Lookups screen. Most of these values are edited either here or in the System Settings...Status Codes screen.
|
Calendar Popup |
|
|
For most date entry fields, the field label acts as a link that will popup a calendar selection. Just point your mouse at the date field's label and you'll see it convert to a link that you can CLICK to popup a calendar control like the one shown here. Date fields accept date entry in any format. |
|
See Also |
