Financial management systems contain mountains of information and the key to their success is getting access to that information and presenting it in a form that allows you to make the right decisions at the right time. Within Opera II there are a number of comprehensive standard reports and also the ability to write you’re own ad hoc reports through the Reporter. These in turn can then be added to your own menu for ease of access.
But Opera II goes much further...
The intuitive Pegasus XRL allows Microsoft Excel access to live data at the click of a mouse, so you don’t have to copy and paste, re-key or work out formulas. For years, accounting system users have had to struggle with complicated and inflexible reporting tools that are supposed to make things easier. In fact, they make extracting data into Excel a real trial.
XRL brings such struggles to an end. XRL is our eXcel Reporting Layer and Business Intelligent system which seamlessly integrates your financial information into Microsoft Excel in a couple of simple steps.
While Pegasus Instant Messenger (PIM) helps release the business-critical information held within your system via pro-active alerts. PIM is Opera II’s unique real-time reporting, scheduling and instant messaging tool, designed to address the challenges organisations face when attempting to manage and distribute business information.
In today's age, nobody can afford to wait for monthly or weekly management reports to determine the health of their business; PIM automatically distributes real-time business critical information in the form of a discreet pop-up instant message, as and when you need it.
Add to this EC VAT for EU trading and you can see how Opera II allows you to report on any aspect of your business in the form that suits both your business and your staff. If you trade within the European Union there are complex VAT rules you have to comply with regarding the importing and exporting of goods. These rules can be hard to follow and failure to comply can result in financial penalties. To help you, these complex rules are automatically built into Opera II EC VAT to make it easier for you to trade in Europe.
Reporting: Features at a glance
Reporter
Report Manager
Allows users to easily create their own reports, to supplement those already provided. Select the report basis (table), field order and sequence and define relational and logical operators
Batch Reporting
Allows a batch of reports to be run in a single process
Security
Apply security access to newly created reports
Append to Report Menu
Allows reports to be appended to the associated module report menu
Report Output
Includes output to screen, printer and file. Reports can also be exported in various formats for further data manipulation
E-mail
Allows reports to be e-mailed to remote offices or colleagues
Context Sensitive Help
Comprehensive and easy to use Help facilities
eXcel Reporting Layer (XRL)
Seamless Integration with Microsoft Excel
Access XRL features within Microsoft Excel
Summary or Detailed Reports
Reports are easily created using the XRL Report Wizard
Powerful Designer
The XRL Report Designer allows reports to be designed and styled to your exact requirements
Transaction Drilldown
Not only can XRL produce reports rapidly, but it also provides multi-level drilldown to the underlying transactions
Report Library
Keep useful reports in a central repository for immediate access at any time
Dynamic Links
Cells in Excel can be dynamically linked to Opera II, ensuring the latest information is always displayed
Cube Analysis
Allows data to be manipulated in many ways. Cube analysis allows data to be:
Sliced (eg breakdown company turnover by customer)
Diced (see which products customers buy)
Drilled (see details of every invoice for that customer and product)
Charted (provides a concise and clear visual representation of the data)
Distributed (results can be saved as an Excel spreadsheet or in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format
Pivot Table Creation
Simply tick a box to produce an XRL report as an Excel Pivot Table for further data manipulation
Data Send
Allows Nominal Budgets, Price Lists and Stock Adjustments to be easily uploaded from XRL to Opera II
Macro Manager
Allows non-technical users to automate their Excel Workbooks
Security
Access to data is fully controlled by the Opera II Security Manager
Operations II
In addition to Opera II, XRL can also be used with Operations II, our manufacturing solution
Pegasus Instant Messenger (PIM)
Schedule and Distribute Reports
Instruct the system to run specific reports at a scheduled time and day
Configure Reports
Reports are easy to create using simple or advanced wizards.
Report Archive
Easily display a list of reports you (or another user) have received historically using the Message Manager
Instant Messaging
Avoid e-mail spam and clutter by using Instant Messaging to distribute reports. Popups appear on users screens using a colour coded message to announce the priority and availability of new reports
Instant Notes
Record a time and date stamped note for a colleague and use the PIM framework to send it to them
PIM Chat
Use the PIM Instant Messenger framework to contact and collaborate with other users
E-mail Reports
For remote offices or contacts select to distribute reports by e-mail
Widely Available
PIM is available to all users on the network
Operations II
In addition to Opera II, PIM can also be used with Operations II, our manufacturing solution
Context Sensitive Help
Comprehensive and easy to use Help facilities
EC VAT
Countries
Create Country codes for those countries your company trades with
Transport Modes
Create Transport Mode codes, to be shown on the Supplementary Declaration
Transaction Nature
Create Nature of Transaction (NoTC) codes for reporting purposes
Commodity Codes
Create Commodity Codes to classify goods for reporting purposes
Delivery Terms
Create codes that define the terms of delivery, to be shown on the Supplementary Declaration
ESL Report
The EC Sales List report can generate an XML upload file for transmission to HMRC via their website.
Comprehensive Reports
Comprehensive ESL, SD and VAT reports and audit trail reports are all available
Context Sensitive Help
Comprehensive and easy to use Help facilities
Accessing Accounts Data Within MS Excel
Welcome to the power of XRL
For years, accounting system users have had to struggle with complicated and inflexible reporting tools that are supposed to make things easier. In fact, they make extracting data into Excel a real trial.
XRL brings such struggles to an end. XRL is our eXcel Reporting Layer and Business Intelligent system which seamlessly integrates your financial information into Microsoft Excel in a couple of simple steps.
From now on there’ll be no more re-keying, no more copy and pasting and no more data dropping down the gap. It’ll just be fast, accurate and secure reporting and analysis.
Seamless integration means less frustration
With XRL, extracting data from your accounts system is astonishingly easy. You simply select what you need from the drop down menus and click.
Everything you’ve selected is immediately imported into an Excel spreadsheet for you. And if you change your mind about the data you’ve selected or want to look at things differently, a few more clicks is all it takes.
Time is money, so spend it wisely
No one can afford to spend days producing simple management reports anymore. XRL dynamically links effective and accurate reports to an Excel spreadsheet so they only take a matter of minutes to produce – so you can concentrate on getting a solid grip of your company’s financial performance.
The XRL link is live, so you’ll always be working with up-to-date information. No matter how long you spend on your analysis, your results will always be valid.
Accessing accounts data within Microsoft® Excel
XRL is an intuitive addition to the capabilities of Microsoft Excel. It provides powerful and adaptable access to the financial and distribution modules within your accounts package.
With its flexibility, ease of use and advanced drilldown capabilities, XRL delivers fast and accurate information to provide enhanced analytical power.
Ease of Use
XRL really is easy to use. The XRL Wizard will help you import data into Excel. Simply select the Company for which you want to get data, identify the area of the system you are interested in and then choose the fields you want to import. Plus, it's all written in English so you don't have to work with technical jargon. Getting your company's data into Excel will now take seconds!
Accuracy and Security
The first step to using XRL is to log on to the software. This is important as it allows the system to check your user rights and thus ensure sensitive data is only accessible to the relevant personnel. Once this has been done, you can use XRL to display financial data in no time at all. What's more, it's accurate too. XRL data is extracted straight out of the finance system, therefore eliminating the input errors common in manual spreadsheet use.
Reporting Power
Now that you don't have to fiddle about entering information into a spreadsheet, you can spend more time producing valuable and detailed analysis using XRL’s powerful reporting tools.
With XRL, you can create a link between the data and a specific field in a spreadsheet so that you can design Management Reports (P & L, Balance Sheet etc.) in Excel and link the data fields 'live' into the latest accounting information. Existing XRL users report that producing Management Reports now takes hours rather than days. Further reporting power is provided by multi-dimensional analysis tools such as Cube Analysis and Pivot Tables.
Drill down to individual transactions
Not only can you export data into Excel, you can also interrogate those fields and drill down to the transactions behind them.
For example, a Turnover Value for a customer can be expanded by invoice number and then expanded again so that you can see the stock items which make up that invoice. The real power of this becomes obvious the moment you’re asked to explain a value on a spreadsheet; using drilldown to investigate the transactions behind the field, you’ll have an immediate answer without having to refer back to the accounts system.
Writeback
The easy to use Data Send facility in XRL allows you to take information which has been prepared in Excel and load it directly into the accounts system. Information such as Nominal Budgets, Price Lists and Stock Adjustments can all be entered into the Accounts System with a minimum of effort. This functionality is only available for Pegasus Opera II users. Not only does this feature save a great deal of time, it also eliminates the need to undertake mundane repetition of manual input and therefore proves most popular!
Data Cubes
Data Cubes provide multi-dimensional views of data for use in business analysis. An example of this would be where insight is needed into sales of stock items by region, sales representative, type and so on, and in any combination – this would be the sort of information that exists within the finance system, but would not be so readily available and with this degree of manipulation.
The key to Data Cubes is that information can be manipulated in many ways for a quick and effective view of trading conditions. Furthermore, the data in one of these virtual cubes can be:
Sliced (eg breakdown company turnover by customer)
Diced (see which products those customers buy)
Drilled (see details of every invoice for that customer and product)
Charted (instant chart will provide a concise and clear visual representation of selected data – ideal for spotting problems and errors)
Distributed (Cube Analysis results can be saved as an Excel Spreadsheet or PDF and quickly dispatched to people)
The Cube Analysis feature within XRL provides an efficient and easy way of working with Data Cubes so that data analysis can be undertaken rapidly and with the minimum of fuss. The result is that many finance departments can conduct interesting and thorough investigation into performance data, spotting trends, problems and opportunities and therefore providing a value added service for the organisation.
Excel users who already have experience with Pivot Tables will particularly enjoy working with Cube Analysis. Indeed they may well find it even easier to select and import data into a Pivot Table when using XRL.
Benefits
XRL has proven to be a popular and cost effective tool for customers operating Pegasus accounting software. These benefits include:
Significant time savings over manual entry
Accurate data transfers ensuring accurate results
Powerful analytical tools for better and quicker results
The dynamic link between your accounts system and Excel can provide instant management information enabling timely decision making
Powerful reporting tools can present data in easy-to-understand graphical form
Use XRL’s powerful reporting tools to analyse your data and spot looming issues and opportunities, in order to get the very best value from your company’s information
XRL technology is currently used by over 17,000 companies worldwide
Pegasus Instant Messenger
Opera II has many innovative features to help businesses; a primary example being Opera II’s instant messaging capability – Pegasus Instant Messenger (PIM). PIM is Opera II’s unique real-time reporting, scheduling and instant messaging tool, designed to address the challenges organisations face when attempting to manage and distribute business information.
In today's age, nobody can afford to wait for monthly or weekly management reports to determine the health of their business; PIM automatically distributes real-time business critical information in the form of a discreet pop-up instant message, as and when you need it.
Increase Productivity
Where many other real-time reporting systems are flawed due to a singular reliance upon e-mail to distribute and carry information to recipients, PIM combines business management and instant messaging capabilities. This provides customers with a completely new business tool; one which increases productivity. Evidence suggests that when exposed to instant messaging there is a drop of 15% - 25% in the number of e-mail communications, and a corresponding drop in the number of telephone calls. (Corante Research)
The addition of PIM to an organisation delivers a valuable but low cost resource, one which is on constant alert, running reports to a user-defined schedule and alerting management whenever a business rule is broken or certain event criteria fulfilled. Additionally, PIM provides a live, peer to peer, presence aware system for real-time interpersonal communication.
PIM has many business critical uses, such as escalating overdue invoices to the Credit Control Manager, monitoring stock levels and warning when stock has dropped below its minimum level, and notifying budget holders of information which is outside budgetary control thresholds.
The content of each message is dynamically generated, using real-time data within Opera II, and is completely up to date. PIM can be easily configured, via a user-friendly wizard and messages can be defined in a variety of ways: by business rules, criteria or timed events.
Confidential and Secure
Uniquely, there is no need for a permanent web connection or e-mail, as is the case with most other instant messenger type products. PIM is entirely LAN-based (Local Area Network) and does not support communication outside the firewall. This means that communication through PIM is completely confidential and secure, as well as free of viruses, spam and junk mail.
The Benefits
PIM does not depend on large scale or costly hardware systems and offers:
Ease of Use - no need to invest in expensive training or consultancy; easy to configure and use.
Data Security - independent of Opera II; safe to deploy confidential information to a variety of personnel.
Independent Delivery - LAN-based and linked with internal and back-office systems; no need for a permanent web connection.
Pegasus Instant Messenger for your Business
There are two editions of PIM: Desktop Edition and Enterprise Edition. The Desktop Edition provides entry level functionality, with 5 pre-defined Tasks and a Simple Wizard utility. The Desktop Edition comes as standard with every copy of Opera II.
The Enterprise Edition caters for more advanced business needs. The Advanced Wizard enables the creation of user-definable tasks and timed events, and HTML capabilities enhance the presentation of the information being delivered. The Enterprise Edition is a chargeable upgrade.
Advanced Features
Pegasus Instant Messenger (PIM) is a very powerful, but easy to use, business communication framework, which optimises the effectiveness of communications across organisations. PIM produces instant pop-up alerts, which are user defined and relevant to individual business needs.
Instant Notes (Enterprise Edition)
Brand new functionality for this release, Instant Notes provides PIM users with the ability to send ad-hoc messages to other PIM users. Instant Notes contain fields for name, company and telephone, as well as up to 10 customisable tick boxes and a message area for free text. Instant Notes are an ideal replacement for paper based notes, including ‘while you were out’ messages.
Presence Awareness (Enterprise Edition)
A user is now able to control how their PIM status is displayed to other PIM users. Where the status is not manually selected and no activity is detected for a user defined number of minutes, the user’s status is automatically set to Away. Subsequent activity resets the user’s status back to Online. Chat requests are only possible with users that are shown as Online.
Out of Office (Enterprise Edition)
When Out of Office is activated, PIM pop-ups are automatically forwarded to a recipient of the user’s choosing. Pop-ups are stored for the original user to view upon signing back into PIM, at which time Out of Office is deactivated and the forwarding of pop-ups ceases.
Message Priority (Enterprise Edition)
Three different levels of priority are now available: low, normal and high. The background colour of pop-ups is altered according to the priority (low: green, normal: yellow, high: red), together with the sound played when the pop-up appears and the priority flag on PIM E-mails.
Appearance of Pop-ups (Enterprise Edition)
Users are now able to choose how a pop-up appears on their screen, with a choice of slide, fade or none. In addition, the user is now able to select where on their screen pop-ups are displayed. Options allow for positioning on the 4 corners of the screen, as well as the direction in which additional pop-ups are added.
Advanced Task Wizard (Enterprise Edition)
The Advanced Task Wizard has been enhanced to allow file attachments to accompany the results in PIM E-mails and pop-ups. E-mail messages contain a file attachment in the conventional manner and pop-ups display a paperclip icon informing the user that there is an attachment. The user can click on the icon, or a new Attachment item on the pop-up menu, to open the file. Published output does not contain attached or linked files.
The Advanced Wizard now also allows dynamic recipient selection to be applied to pop-ups, as well as E-mail messages. This new functionality allows a data field to be chosen as the dynamic address and allows a user to be selected to receive error or warning messages.
Message Archiving
Where expired PIM messages were previously deleted from the system, messages are now moved to an archive database. This still allows the user to view, re-send and delete expired messages, and it is only when messages are deleted from the Archive that they are removed from the system permanently.
PIM Message Manager Visual Update
In line with PIM’s new look and feel, using Windows XP style icons, the command buttons on the PIM Message Manager have been replaced with menus and a toolbar. A user is now able to view messages by type (E-mail, pop-up, history, all) and by status (sent, archive).
PIM User Manager
Enhancements in this release provide the PIM Administrator with the facility to Monitor Users. A further new function allows the Administrator to sign out other PIM users and send ad-hoc messages to a logged in user. Permissions can now be defined for each user, enabling the Administrator to restrict the modules a user can report on.
VAT
If you trade within the European Union there are complex VAT rules you have to comply with regarding the importing and exporting of goods. These rules can be hard to follow and failure to comply can result in financial penalties. To help you, these complex rules are automatically built into Opera II EC VAT to make it easier for you to trade in Europe.
You can define and maintain the information to produce the EC Sales List (ESL) and Supplementary Declarations (SD), including country codes, modes of transport, terms of delivery, commodity codes and nature of transaction codes for Intrastat purposes. The EC Sales List can also generate an XML upload file for submission via the HMRC website.
If you are using foreign currency accounts, appropriate VAT rate codes for EC sales and purchases can also be set up. This module will then collect the information needed to produce the returns for trading with EU member countries.
