Invoice Template - new fields

[inkmei]

I am using Peachtree Complete 2004. When creating a sales order or an invoice I would like to have a field where I can enter a vehicle vin number and another field where I can enter the year of the vehicle. There are plenty of places where I can add custom fields but I can find no way to use those fields in the invoice or sales order forms. Is it possible? Will buying Crystal Reports help? The invoice form isn't a report. Thanks.

[cowvets]

Serialized inventory tracking started in Premium 2005 (if I remember right), so upgrading may help you with some of this.

Otherwise, if you just want the VIN to show up, just type it in the description when entering the invoice. It should show up on the invoice you print in the description area.

[inkmei]

Cowvets, thanks for the response but it didn't answer the question. At least to my limited knowledge. I want to be able to create a custom field, then add that field to my Sales order form and my Invoice form. Thanks.

[cowvet]

Where do you want the custom field? If it is attached to a customer, there are fields in the customer maintain window that are custom setup. There are similar setups for inventory items and vendors.
On a sales order or invoice, you can go to the design view and add in the custom customer fields. You can put them in the body of the group of lines or you could add them individually.
If you want to add a custom field attached to the inventory item, I do not know how to do that. Perhaps if this is not what you are looking for, you should explain more fully what you are attempting to do.
Chris

[steveeb]

PT for the most part is a great program, however, for some businesses, it's a stretch to get it to work and do what you want.

There's actually three fields you can use:

1. Customer PO - (THIS IS THE BEST ONE) if you don't normally have PO's given to you by your customers, this is a great place to put anything you want. This field can be printed on your invoice header BUT one MAJOR drawback is that you can not search on this field. I have called, emailed, and left enhancement requests, but so far I still don't think they've added this feature.

2. Sales Rep - In this case, I needed yet another field on the invoice where I could store a Location Number. Fortunately, since there was only a short list of locations, I was able to use the "Sales Rep" field on the invoice to act as my "Locations". I was then able to print the locations on my invoice. The drawback here is that you have to set up a "Sales Rep" record for each possible option you want.

3. Invoice Note - This field you can enter anything you want, but it's unsearchable, and mostly unaccessible. It's good for putting notes to your customers (it prints in the detail area of the invoice), but not much else.

I'm using all three of these fields but I still need one more myself.

Hope this helps,
Steve.

[inkmei]

Thanks for the answers. But they still don't quite address my initial question. Maybe it's because I don't know how to properly ask the question. I can change the report that prints when I do a sales order or a sales/invoice. What I want to change is the template that shows while I am creating the template. I want to be able to add fields that are valid fields in Peachtree but which aren't represented in the sales order template. There seems to be no way to create my own template. If there is no way to change the template, is there an add on program, like Crystal Reports, that will allow me to create my own template and add the fields I wish to add? Or am I expecting too much for a $600 program?

[steveeb]

When you customize a Sales/Invoice template, PT allows you to show and hide the fields they have determined can go on the invoice. At least in PTA 2004, there is no way to add any custom field to the template. Because of this, I simply use the fields I can and make them work for my business.

[steveeb]

I've used PT for years and I've just learned to live with it's shortcomings (and believe me, there's quite a few when it comes to my business). Although it can be frustrating at first, one can normally find "work-arounds."

As for Peachtree's value; $600 is relatively inexpensive. Just think if you had to hire a programmer to write a custom program - it would cost you thousands.

Good luck,
Steve.

[Lisa_p]

Sorry, there's just not much you can do with the entry screen customization.

QuickBooks actually does a better job of screen customization.

[Rtaylor100]

Have you tried using the "Ship To Addresses" There is plenty of blank fields there.

[bullfrog]

Inkmei, I am using PT Accounting 2006. I understand your question because I am experiencing the same problem. Report customization in PT is limited. I've worked around this issue by creating "description only" Inventory items called "VEHICLE", "VIN", and "MILEAGE" (we are an automotive transmission shop). This does make it slightly easier to locate a repair order, but as you've indicated, it is a work-around and doesn't allow search/sort capability. I would like to customize a report to include this information, but more importantly, have the capability of searching for vehicle history. It seems like PT isn't geared toward use in the automotive industry. The general repair facility next to us uses Quickbooks - his repair orders include year, make, model, vin, tag, engine size, mileage in and mileage out in the customer description area. One of our parts suppliers has provided us Total Shop Manager S/W developed by StarSystem. It includes a customer management database which stores service history for each customer and their vehicle(s)[sounds great for our fleet customers], offers follow-up and maintenance service options, tracks employee productivity, AR/AP, payroll, vendor database, inventory, lead referrals, etc. I haven't used the application yet, but may begin in 2007 as our business is growing and it is becoming more difficult to locate our fleet and wholesale customer's history quickly using PT. If anyone can offer a solution (not another work-around please) using PT, I would appreciate it. I really prefer not making a S/W switch. The Wolf has usually been able to solve any problem I've addressed in this forum, but I think the remedy for this one might be in a future version. Thanks, Bullfrog

[richard kehl]

bullfrog

You might have better luck if you don't use "description only" Inventory items.
Try using "Stock Item", for "description only" since it gives you many more fields to work with and you can search some of them.

Here's how you do it. Create an GL account (1300) and name it "This account is allways zero".
When you sale an item use "Stock Item" and set accounts to:
GL Sales "4120" Parts Sales
GL Inv. "1300" This----zero
GL CoS "1300" This----zero
By doing this the inventory part of PT stays at zero.

When you Buy an item use "Stock Item" and set accounts to:
GL Sales "1300" This----zero
GL Inv. "5080" Gaskets
GL CoS "1300" This----zero
By doing this the inventory part of PT stays at zero.

If you use "Stock Item" for an enhanced "description only" Inventory Items,
do not try to buy and sell with the same "Item ID". Check (1300) "This account is allways zero" often when you first start (it must be zero).

richard

[beckyb]

I hope you have found your answer. There are so many replies, I can't read them all, but what I skimmed didn't seem to tell you what I think you want to know. Since I always have an opinion and love to share....here you go.
You have a couple options. Or what i would do is...

First, go to your default info for customers. I use PT 2007 so not sure if the tabs are the same. Mine is: Maintain...Default Info...Customers.. and then click on the Custom Fields tab. Put in what you want for field titles. I use VIN for the 1st one, Make/Model/Year for the second one/ Unit # is third and Plate # is fourth. If you are only concerned about the VIN just use the first one. Make sure the box is checked by whichever fields you use.

THEN...
Go to MAINTAIN...CUSTOMERS...and enter the customer ID you want to start with. Click on the Custom Fields tab and enter the VIN for that customer. (My personal struggle with this is if that customer has more than one vehicle this won't work and you might as well stop reading now. I'm still trying to find the best answer-but if they only have one, this is the best way.). And then save. YOu will need to do this obviously for each customer's VIN

Now go to
REPORTS...ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE...INVOICES/PKG SLIPS (again these are terms from 2007 and i'm not sure if they were the same in 2004. some things have changed from 2006 to 2007 so just see what makes sense).
for my example, pick INVOICES but just high light it and then click on the DESIGN button at top. You should see a bunch of x's. Pick a field that you don't use. for my example double click on the words "CUSTOMER PO" and when the window opens, change the words to VIN and click ok. Then double click on the x's int he box under what now says VIN. click on the arrow for the drop down under "data field name". Scroll down to "CUSTOMER CUSTOM FIELD 1". Select it and click ok. You will be asked to save and you will have to have a new name like AWESOME NEW INVOICES or INVOICES TO USE. :)

Now do like you were creating an invoice for that customer you entered the VIN for. when you print (make sure you change your form to the new one you edited), it should show in that box on the invoice. I'm not sure if it will show while you are typing the invoice but it should when it prints. Good luck. and let me know if it works for you. This thread is a little old so maybe you have already figured it out. Hope to hear back from you
Becky