Sage Contact 2016 Practice Manager User manual

Practice
Manager Contact 2016
13/09/2016
Important Notice!
Every effort has been made to ensure that this User Manual is accurate at the time of
printing; however there may be some inaccuracies due to the continuous improvements
made to the module.
An updated User Manual may be available for download from HandiSoft’s Internet site
http://www.sage.com/au/support-services/software-support/handisoft-knowledgebase/usermanuals.
The following Licence Agreement will appear as a splash screen prior to the installation of the Software.
Licence Agreement
Important - Read Carefully: Permission to use this Software is conditional upon you, the customer, agreeing to the terms set out
below. By passing beyond the splash screen, installing, copying, downloading, accessing or otherwise using the Software, you
agree to be bound by the following terms. If you do not agree to the terms, do not pass beyond the screen, install, copy, download,
access or otherwise use the Software but promptly return this Software and any accompanying materials to Sage or its Authorised
Distributor with proof of payment, and any Licence Fee you have paid will be refunded to you.
This licence agreement may be amended or replaced in its entirety at any time to facilitate changed operating conditions. In the
event this occurs, the then current licence agreement will be the prevailing version. A copy of the operating licence agreement may
be accessed from within the Licences tab in any Sage module.
Copyright
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd 2016. All rights reserved.
Copyright in the Software and in the Documentation is owned by Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd . ("Sage"). No part of the
Software or the Documentation may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems) without the prior written permission of Sage
Software Australia Pty Ltd .
The copyright in the Software and the Documentation is protected by Australian national copyright laws (including the Copyright
Act 1968 (Cth)) and by international copyright treaties.
1. Words with defined meanings
1.1
Unless defined elsewhere in this Agreement, a word or expression starting with a capital letter has the meaning given to
that word or expression set out in clause 15 of this Agreement.
2. Disclaimer
2.1
You acknowledge that you have sought independent professional advice in relation to the Software and Documentation,
and that you are not relying on the advice or judgment of Sage. To the extent permitted by law, the Software and the
Documentation are provided on the basis that:
(a)
Sage, its officers, employees, contractors, agents and Authorised Distributors are not responsible for the results of
any actions taken by you in reliance on information in the Software or Documentation, nor for any error or omission
in the Software or Documentation;
(b)
Sage, its officers, employees, contractors, agents and Authorised Distributors are not engaged in and do not
represent by providing the Software and Documentation that they are providing any legal, accounting, professional
or other advice or services; and
(c)
2.2
Sage, its officers, employees, contractors, agents and Authorised Distributors are not responsible for the results of
any actions taken by you in reliance on information contained in any third party software or data, embedded in or
provided in conjunction with the Software or Documentation, nor for any error or omission in such third party
software or data.
Connected Services
In order to provide a more comprehensive offering of Sage Software, Sage discloses that there may be Third Party
Software Products or Services which are embedded into this module that may link to sources operated by other external
parties (Connected Services). Notwithstanding that the Third Party may be affiliated with Sage, Sage has no control over
these externally linked sources, all of which have their own separate terms and conditions including privacy and data
collection practices. You will be responsible for all fees and charges associated with the Connected Services and must do
anything (including executing a document) that the external party reasonably requires giving full effect to the Connected
Services and the transactions it contemplates.
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
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Licence agreement
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3. Grant of rights
3.1
Subject to your payment of the Licence Fee, Sage grants to you a non-exclusive licence ("Licence") during the Term to use
the Software and Documentation at the Site, for your own internal purposes only, on the terms and conditions set out in
this Agreement.
3.2
The Licence entitles a single accounting practice to install and operate the Software for one site of access only,
notwithstanding it may be connected with other associated branches, affiliates and subsidiaries through a central server
and/or a hosting environment, and is limited to the number of concurrent network Users specified on the Invoice and the
Software for that particular Site. You must purchase the Software for each location and site of access. In the avoidance of
doubt, the Licence is Site- specific and individual accounting practice must have its own individual Licences.
If there is a limit to the number of Users of the Software, number of networks, or other restriction specified on the Invoice
and in the Software, or otherwise imposed upon the Licence under this Agreement, the Licence to use the Software will be
restricted accordingly. You may only increase the limits specified in the Invoice or Licence by paying such fees as are
applicable to the increased limits. No reduction of Licence Fees will be provided in the event any limits are reduced during
the Term.
3.3
3.4
If your accounting practice shares offices with another unrelated accounting practice, both accounting practices must
purchase the Software in their own right, even if the parties share a common computer system.
4. Duration of agreement
4.1
This Agreement commences on the date of its acceptance by you and will continue in effect until the expiry of the current
financial year on 30 June ("Term"), unless extended in accordance with clause 4.2, or terminated in accordance with
clauses 4.3, 4.4 or 12.
4.2
Subject to clauses 4.3 and 4.4, you may extend the Term for further one year periods by paying the then current Annual
Renewal Fee for the extended period in accordance with clause 8.
The current Annual Renewal Fee must be paid, or arrangements for payment acceptable to Sage made, by the due date
specified by Sage for the Term to be extended.
4.3
4.4
Without limiting any other right to terminate this Agreement under clause 12, Sage may terminate this Agreement upon
expiry of any financial year, by giving you written notice on or before expiry of the then current financial year. Sage will not
unreasonably terminate this Agreement.
5. Your obligations
5.1
You are not permitted to purchase the Software with an additional tax agent reference number for use by another tax agent
without Sage’s written consent.
5.2
Subject to this Agreement, and to any non-excludable provisions at law (including the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)), you must
not, and must not allow or cause any other person to:
(i)
print, copy or reproduce the Software or Documentation by any means or in any form other than to make one copy
of the Software for back-up and security purposes;
(ii)
give, lease, rent, lend, assign (other than as expressly permitted under this Agreement), licence, sub-licence,
transfer, distribute, disclose, disseminate, or publish the Software in any form to any other person or attempt to do
any of these acts;
(iii)
modify, adapt, alter, reverse engineer or decompile the Software; or modify or change the database other than
through use of the Software;
(iv)
create or recreate, or attempt to create or recreate, the source programs, object programs or any other aspect of
the Software in whole or in part.
(v)
access, install or use the Software other than at the Site in accordance with this Agreement;
(vi)
5.3
use the Software for sublicensing, timesharing, rental, facility management, service bureau usage, or third party
training purpose.
You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified Sage, its officers, employees, contractors, agents and Authorised
Distributors against any loss or damage incurred by them as a result of use of the Software or Documentation by you, your
employees, contractors or agents that is not in accordance with this Agreement.
6. Configuration and installation
6.1
The Software may only be installed on a computer at the Site.
6.2
The Index File provided with the Software is specific to you, the Licensee. Any change will require a new Index File. You
must not circumvent the Index File system needed to operate the Software, or use an index file which has not been
provided to you by Sage.
7. Use of software and documentation
7.1
7.2
7.3
4
Subject to your payment of the Licence Fee, applicable taxes and any other fees specified in the Invoice in full, upon
installation of the Software pursuant to clause 6, you may use the Software and Documentation in accordance with the
terms of this Agreement.
You must, upon receiving a written request from Sage, allow Sage to access the Site, during ordinary business hours, as
reasonably necessary to audit your compliance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement and the restrictions in
clauses 3 and 5.
If the Term of this Agreement is not extended in accordance with clause 4.2, the Licence will automatically terminate on the
expiry of the then current Term, and you acknowledge and agree that no further notice is required to you from Sage to
effect such termination.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Licence agreement
8. Fees
8.1
You must pay the Licence Fee, applicable taxes and any other fees listed in the Invoice in full.
8.2
You acknowledge that a Deposit, if taken, is non-refundable in the event that you do not pay the Balance or proceed with
installation of the Software in accordance with clause 6.
8.3
The Annual Renewal Fee is invoiced annually in advance for each financial year commencing 1 July in the relevant year
and ending 30 June in the subsequent year. Each year, on or before 1 July, Sage may increase the Annual Renewal Fee.
You must pay the Annual Renewal Fee on or before 1 July of each year of the Term.
Without limiting any other right or remedy of Sage or its Authorised Distributors, interest on overdue amounts is payable by
you at the rate of 15% per annum, from the date the amount became overdue until it is paid in full, inclusive of interest.
Interest accrues daily.
8.4
9. Intellectual property rights
9.1
9.2
9.3
All Intellectual Property Rights relating to or subsisting in the Software and Documentation, including all enhancements,
modifications, alterations, customisations or adaptations to the Software (whether created by Sage or any other person),
remain the property of Sage. The Licence granted under clause 3 does not make you the owner of the Software or
Documentation nor does it cause any transfer of Intellectual Property Rights relating to or subsisting in the Software or
Documentation.
You must not alter, change, remove, obscure or otherwise effect any modification to any notice or other indication of
Sage’s ownership of the Software and its Documentation or of its Intellectual Property Rights relating to or subsisting in the
Software and Documentation.
You must ensure that each copy of the Software and Documentation in your possession bears such notices relating to
Sage’s ownership of the Software and Documentation and of its Intellectual Property Rights relating to or subsisting in the
Software and Documentation as Sage may direct. In the absence of any specific direction by Sage, you must ensure that
all notices appearing on the Software and Documentation are reproduced and maintained in their entirety on all copies
made by you.
10. Updates, software maintenance and support, and third party software and data
10.1
You acknowledge that Sage has no obligation to develop Updates. During the Term you may receive Updates (if any) for
the Software, including instructions and/or Documentation that Sage considers reasonably necessary to assist in a smooth
transition for use of any Update. Updates may include revisions to Documentation. Unless you have subscribed to the
optional CD update services, you must have internet and email access for Updates to be supplied to you.
10.2
If Sage provides you with an Update:
(i)
ii)
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7
10.8
10.9
10.10
the terms of this Agreement will continue to apply in all respects to the Update which will be deemed to be the
Software or Documentation for the purposes of this Agreement;
if requested by Sage, you must return the Software and Documentation (and all copies) that was used prior to the
Update to Sage, or otherwise deal with it in accordance with Sage’s reasonable directions.
Sage may, in its absolute discretion, withhold or refuse to provide support and maintenance if you have failed to install,
within a reasonable time, all available Updates provided in respect of the Software.
Technical support and Updates will only be supplied so long as the Software is used under conditions and on operating
environments for which the Software is designed.
The technical support provided under this Agreement is limited to telephone and email support of the Software by Sage
during normal business hours. There may be times when you allow our Support Consultant to connect to your computer
remotely. The remote access is purely for the Support Consultant to quickly demonstrate tasks that would otherwise take
too long to explain. Remote access is not generally used to have a Support Consultant complete processes. Whilst all
reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure a secure environment, Sage offer no guarantee and provide no warranty
(express or implied) that the remote access to your computer will be secure or private. Sage accepts no liability for any and
all security incidents, including any loss or damage suffered by you arising out of any failure to protect your data, network,
systems, software or equipment.
If you require any additional technical support not covered under this Agreement, including telephone, onsite or online
support, Sage may, in its absolute discretion, provide that additional technical support to you at its then current rates for
such services.
Any supplemental software code provided to you as part of the support services shall be considered part of the Software
and subject to the terms of this Agreement.
You must provide Sage with reasonable assistance as requested by Sage for the purpose of providing you with
maintenance and support.
If, in the course of obtaining maintenance and support services from Sage, you provide any personal information about an
individual, including, personal information about any officer or employee, then you warrant that in providing such personal
information you have complied with your legal obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth.), including the National Privacy
Principles in Schedule 3 of that Act.
You consent to Sage using any technical or confidential information which you provide to it:
(i)
to enable Sage to perform maintenance and support services; and
(ii)
for its business purposes, including for the purpose of product support and development.
Sage agrees not to use such technical information in a form that personally identifies you, or where such information is
comprised of information identified by you as ‘confidential’ or subject to privacy laws, prior to consent being provided by
you.
10.11
Sage is not required to support any third party software or data, whether or not the third party software or data is provided
by Sage in connection with your use of the Software.
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10.12
If Sage provides you with any third party software or data, then your use of that third party software or data is subject to
such terms as may be imposed by the relevant third party and must only be used for the purposes for which it is provided.
10.13
You agree that Sage is not liable or otherwise responsible if a third party changes the terms (including as to payment) on
which it licences any software or data. Without limiting the foregoing, it is your responsibility to pay any fees associated
with your use of such third party software or data.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, you agree to indemnify and keep indemnified Sage, its officers,
employees, contractors, agents and Authorised Distributors against any third party claim or action (including but not limited
to reimbursement of legal costs), loss, damage, or expense incurred by them as a result of a failure by you, your
employees, contractors or agents to comply with this clause 10.
10.14
11. Warranties and limitation of liability
11.1
Sage warrants that:
(i)
it has the full right, power and authority to enter into and perform this Agreement; and
(ii)
11.2
to the best of its knowledge, the use by you of the Software or Documentation in accordance with this Agreement,
will not infringe the Intellectual Property Rights or moral rights of any person, and Sage indemnifies and agrees to
keep you indemnified from and against any loss, damages and expenses, including but not limited to, reasonable
legal fees which you may suffer and incur as a result of any claim, action or proceeding arising directly from any
breach of the warranty contained within this clause, provided that Sage is not liable for any indirect, consequential
or economic loss or damage suffered by you in connection with this Agreement.
You acknowledge that:
(i)
the Software was developed without consideration of your objectives and needs; and
(ii)
11.3
11.4
11.5
software in general is not error-free, and agree that the existence of errors in the Software will not constitute a
breach of this Agreement by Sage.
Sage provides the Software and Documentation "as is".
Except as expressly provided in this Agreement, no warranties are made with respect to the Software or Documentation by
any person, including but not limited to Sage, any of its officers, employees, contractors, agents and Authorised
Distributors.
In the event any third party software or data is provided with or embedded in the Software, notwithstanding anything to the
contrary, no warranties are made by Sage, its officers, employees, contractors, agents, or Authorised Distributors, with
regard to such third party software or data, including but not limited to its accuracy or reliability.
11.6
To the extent permitted by law, Sage or any of its officers, employees, contractors, agents or Authorised Distributors will
not be liable to you for any loss, costs, expenses or damages incurred by you as a result of using the Software and
Documentation.
11.7
Notwithstanding any other term in this Agreement, to the extent that consumers have the benefit of certain rights or
remedies under the Trade Practices Act and similar state and territory laws in Australia, in respect of which liability may not
be excluded, then to the maximum extent permitted by law, such liability is limited, at Sage’s option, to:
(i)
in the case of the Software, Documentation or other goods supplied under this Agreement:
A. replacement of the goods; or
B. correction of defects in the goods; or
(ii)
11.8
11.9
11.10
C. the cost of having defects in the goods corrected; or
in the case of services provided under this Agreement, replacement of the services.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, Sage or any of its current or former officers, employees, contractors, agents or
Authorised Distributors (Those Indemnified) will not be liable for any direct, indirect, general, special, incidental or
consequential damages arising out of or in any way related to the provision of any goods or services by Sage or Those
Indemnified, pursuant to this Agreement and including your use of or inability to use the Software or Documentation, even
if Sage or any of Those Indemnified have been advised of the possibility of such consequence.
You acknowledge that any times quoted for delivery and installation of the Software and/or performance of maintenance
and support services are estimates only, and that Sage accepts no liability whatsoever for failure to meet those estimated
times.
You acknowledge that you are responsible for ensuring that your operation of the Software does not breach any laws, or
obligation of confidentiality or privacy owed to any person, and for maintaining the security of any databases which are
accessed, used or managed by the operation of the Software. You indemnify and keep indemnified Sage against any
action, proceeding, claim, loss, injury or expense arising out of any failure by you to comply with your obligations in this
clause
12. Termination
12.1
12.2
6
This Agreement may be terminated immediately by written notice from Sage in any of the following circumstances:
(i)
if you are in breach of any term of this Agreement;
(ii)
if you, being a corporation, become the subject of insolvency proceedings;
(iii)
if you, being a firm or partnership, are dissolved;
(iv)
if the Software is otherwise outside your effective control; or
(v)
if there is a change in ownership which effectively alters control of you.
You may terminate this Agreement by notice in writing to Sage in the event that Sage has breached a material term of this
Agreement and failed to rectify such breach within 30 days of a notice requesting Sage to do so.
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
12.3
12.4
Licence agreement
Upon termination of this Agreement:
(i)
the Licence is revoked; and
(ii)
you must immediately pay all fees, charges or other payments owing under this Agreement; and
(iii)
you must either destroy or return any remaining copies of the Software and Documentation, in the manner directed
by Sage; and
(iv)
you hereby grant Sage a licence to enter upon the Site(s) at which copies of the Software and Documentation may
be situated and remove same in the event of non-compliance with the above subclause, and you must render all
reasonable assistance to facilitate this action.
Termination of this Agreement will be in addition to any other remedies which either party may have under this Agreement
or otherwise and does not affect any rights or obligations that had accrued at the time of termination.
13. Governing law and jurisdiction
13.1
This Agreement and the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are governed by the law in force in Western
Australia.
13.2
Each party irrevocably and unconditionally submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Western Australia and
courts of appeal from them.
14. General
14.1
14.2
14.3
14.4
If you purchase any additional modules of the Software from Sage, increase the limits under clause 3.3 of this Agreement,
or if Sage otherwise agrees to alter the configuration of the Software, then the terms of this Agreement will continue to
apply to your use of the Software as reconfigured.
You acknowledge that in entering into this Agreement you have not relied on any representations or warranties about its
subject matter except as expressly provided by this Agreement.
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement of the parties about its subject matter and supersedes all previous
agreements, understandings and negotiations on that subject matter.
You may assign your rights and obligations under this Agreement with the prior written consent of Sage, provided that the
assignee executes a deed of novation pursuant to which it agrees to be bound by the terms of this Agreement..
14.5
A party may exercise a right, power or remedy at its discretion, and separately or concurrently with another right, power or
remedy. A single or partial exercise of a right, power or remedy by a party does not prevent a further exercise of that right,
power or remedy or an exercise of any other right, power or remedy. Failure by a party to exercise or delay in exercising a
right, power or remedy does not prevent its exercise. A party is not liable for any loss caused by the exercise or attempted
exercise of, failure to exercise, or delay in exercising the right, power or remedy.
14.6
A provision of, or a right created under this Agreement may not be waived or varied except in writing, signed by the party or
parties to be bound.
14.7
The rights, powers and remedies provided in this Agreement are cumulative with and not exclusive of the rights, powers or
remedies provided by law independently of this Agreement.
14.8
Neither party is liable for any breach of its obligations under this Agreement (other than an obligation to pay any moneys or
to indemnify) if the breach resulted from a cause beyond its reasonable control.
14.9
If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, this Agreement will remain
otherwise in full force apart from such provision which will be deleted.
14.10
Each indemnity in this Agreement is a continuing obligation, separate and independent from the other obligations of the
parties and survive the termination of this Agreement.
14.11
Clauses 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and any other clause which by its nature is intended to continue, shall survive the
termination of this Agreement for any reason.
15. Definitions and interpretation
15.1
The following words have these meanings in this Agreement unless the contrary intention appears.
Agreement means this Agreement as it may be amended from time to time by written agreement between the parties.
Annual Renewal Fee means the fee designated as such in the Invoice, as amended by Sage from time to time in
accordance with clause 8.3.
Authorised Distributor means an entity appointed by Sage to maintain and support the Software and Documentation.
Balance means the residue of the Licence Fees payable after the deduction of the Deposit.
Deposit means the agreed amount of the Licence Fees initially payable in accordance with the Invoice..
Documentation means all manuals, handbooks, and other material, whether in hard copy or electronic form, in relation to
the Software and its use, and provided by Sage under this Agreement.
Licence Fees means the total fees specified in the Invoice.
Sage means Sage Software Australia Pty Limited ABN 40 071 007 326.
Intellectual Property Rights means all intellectual property rights of whatever nature including all rights conferred under
statute, common law or equity, including, without limitation, all copyrights, patent rights, trade mark rights, design rights,
trade secrets, and all other intellectual property as defined in Article 2 of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual
Property Organisation of July 1967.
Licence Fee means the fee designated as such in the Invoice.
Index File is an unlock key which allows access to the nominated Software modules and specified number of concurrent
network Users to access the Software.
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Invoice means Sage’s or the Authorised Distributor’s standard form invoice as sent to you in relation to your ordering of
the Software or Updates.
Site means the geographical location of access address specified in the Invoice.
Software means the object code version of the suite of computer programs known as the ‘Sage Software’, as detailed in
the Invoice and includes any Updates provided to you under this Agreement.
Updates means an executable file that modifies the Software by correcting bugs or errors, or by making minor
improvements to the functionality of the Software, and includes new versions of the Software which Sage generally makes
available to licencees of the Software that have entered into an agreement with Sage and paid the relevant Annual
Renewal Fee. Updates do not include any new products, including new products based on the Software, which are
licensed separately, and for which an additional charge, separate to the Annual Renewal Fee, is payable.
User means a person accessing any part or all of the Software at any given point in time. For the avoidance of doubt, any
background tasks created or spawned by an individual user is not to be treated as a separate user. If, however, a
background task or process created by a particular individual user is still running then that individual user is deemed to be
accessing the Software at that point in time.
15.2
15.3
In this Agreement unless the contrary intention appears:
(i)
(ii)
the singular includes the plural and vice versa;
a reference to a statute, ordinance, code or other law includes regulations and other instruments under it and
consolidations, amendments, re-enactments or replacements of any of them; and
(iii)
a reference to "you" is a reference to the customer specified in the Invoice.
Any marginal notes or headings are included for convenience and do not affect the interpretation of this Agreement.
Information regarding additional agents
To protect your interests we wish to clarify several situations where you need to exercise care:

The licence entitles a single accounting practice to install and operate the Software for one site of access. At that one
site of access, you may operate the Software at the same time subject to the limits of the total number of concurrent
network user licences you have purchased for use during the Term. To clarify:

You must purchase the nominated Software for each site of access. For example, if you had two branches (Sydney
and Melbourne) and the software was installed only at Sydney, and the Melbourne branch remotely accesses the
Sydney installation, then you must purchase the nominated Software twice.

If your practice shares offices with another accounting practice, and the practices are not in partnership, both
accounting practices must purchase the nominated Software in their own right. This is the case, even where you
share a common computer system.

Where a client purchases an additional tax agent reference number, this is not an additional licence. It is simply an
addition to your program to lodge tax returns under another tax agent name and number. It in no way allows you, the
licence holder, to give a copy of the Software to the additional tax agent. You are not permitted to purchase the
Software with an additional tax agent reference number for use by another tax agent without Sage's written consent.
Connected Services Terms of Use
By accessing or using Sage’s Connected Services, you acknowledge and accept the following Terms of Use.
Sage may at any time amend this Terms of Use and the Licence Agreement without notice.
Disclaimer
8

Sage does not represent or warrant that the above Connected Service (herafter “Service”) or the Customer's use
thereof will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the Service or the server that makes it
available are free of viruses or other harmful components.

Sage does not warrant or represent that the use or the results of the use of the Service or the materials made
available, as part of the Service will be correct, accurate, timely, or otherwise reliable.

Sage shall not be responsible for unauthorised access to or alteration of transmissions or data, any material or data
sent or received or not sent or received, or any transactions or agreements entered into through the use of the
Service.

The Customer specifically agrees that Sage is not responsible for any content or data sent using and/or included in
the Service.

Sage and/or its suppliers, shareholders, directors and employees make no representations about the suitability,
reliability, availability, timeliness, security and accuracy of the Service for any purpose. The Service is provided "as is"
and without warranty of any kind. Sage hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the Service,
including all implied warranties, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.

In no event shall Sage and/or its suppliers, shareholders, directors and employees be liable for any direct, indirect,
punitive, incidental, special, consequential damages or any damages whatsoever including, without limitation,
damages for loss of use, data or profits, arising out of or in any way connected with the use or performance of the
Service, with the delay or inability to use the Service, the provision of or failure to provide the Service, whether based
on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability or otherwise, even if Sage has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. The Customer's sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Service
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Licence agreement
ELS-SBR Embedded Client Software
You acknowledge and agree that ELS- SBR Embedded Client software is not a proprietary software belonging to Sage Software
Australia and that you agree to comply with the following:
ELS-SBR Embedded Client end user licence
This financial and accounting software includes ELS-SBR Embedded Client software (Software) sourced from the ATO. Subject to
the following, you may:

use the Software (in unmodified form) solely as part of this financial and accounting software, and

make copies of the Software for back-up purposes only.
All other rights in the Software are reserved. In particular, you may not (under this end user licence):

sub-licence or distribute the Software in whole or in part,

decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or reproduce the source code for the Software, or

modify the Software in any way (including by removing any copyright or notice files).
Requests for other uses of the Software can be sent by e-mail to [email protected].
This end user licence terminates automatically if you fail to comply with any of these end user licence provisions. The laws in force
in the Australian Capital Territory apply to this end user licence.
Software product information
The ATO:

provides the Software “as is” and without charge;

gives no express or implied warranties (and to the full extent permitted by law excludes all statutory warranties) in
relation to the Software (including as to its performance or fitness for a particular purpose); and

will not be liable in any way for any loss or damage (including special, indirect or consequential) arising from or in
connection with the Software or its use or performance.
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
9
Contents
Licence Agreement
3
History of changes
15
Changes made ................................................................................................................. 15
Chapter 1.
Introduction to Practice Manager
17
Introducing Practice Manager - Contact 2016 .................................................................. 17
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 features ....................................................................... 17
Chapter 2.
Installing and configuring Contact 2016
21
System requirements ........................................................................................................ 21
Installing Practice Manager - Contact 2016 ..................................................................... 21
Running Practice Manager - Contact 2016 ...................................................................... 21
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 program information ................................................... 21
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016 ................................................................. 21
Document and Jobflow Manager options ......................................................................... 31
Chapter 3.
Getting started
33
Creating clients ................................................................................................................. 33
Using Client Centric .......................................................................................................... 34
Creating prospective clients ............................................................................................. 35
Recording events .............................................................................................................. 36
Synchronising with Microsoft Outlook™ ........................................................................... 36
The Document Manager ................................................................................................... 36
The Jobflow Manager ....................................................................................................... 37
Chapter 4.
Working with Users and Groups
39
Understanding users ........................................................................................................ 39
Understanding groups ...................................................................................................... 45
Chapter 5.
Operating the Client database
47
Opening the Client database ............................................................................................ 47
Operating the "Clients" window ........................................................................................ 47
Client Centric features ...................................................................................................... 51
Adding a new client .......................................................................................................... 59
Recording extra details ..................................................................................................... 60
Defining client relationships .............................................................................................. 65
Viewing client summary information ................................................................................. 67
Tagging clients ................................................................................................................. 68
Batch updating clients ...................................................................................................... 70
Recording a client note ..................................................................................................... 70
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Contents
Chapter 6.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Working with prospective clients
75
Creating a prospective client ............................................................................................ 75
Recording extra details ..................................................................................................... 76
Moving a prospective client to a current client .................................................................. 77
Attaching documents to prospective clients ..................................................................... 78
Tagging prospective clients .............................................................................................. 78
Printing mailing labels ....................................................................................................... 80
Chapter 7.
Client groups
81
Viewing client groups ........................................................................................................ 81
Creating and editing client groups .................................................................................... 82
Adding clients to group ..................................................................................................... 83
Viewing relationships in a client group ............................................................................. 86
Chapter 8.
Using address books
89
Creating an address book entry........................................................................................ 89
Recording an event against the address book ................................................................. 92
Chapter 9.
Operating the diary
95
Configuring the diary ......................................................................................................... 95
Filtering on event type ...................................................................................................... 95
Operating the Daily Planner .............................................................................................. 96
Operating the Daily Group Planner................................................................................... 98
Operating the Weekly Planner ........................................................................................ 100
Operating the Five Day Planner ..................................................................................... 100
Specifying columns to be displayed ............................................................................... 101
Operating the Monthly Planner ....................................................................................... 103
Generating diary reports ................................................................................................. 103
Operating diary events .................................................................................................... 104
Moving items between the diary and To Do List ............................................................. 105
Viewing and modifying other users' diaries .................................................................... 106
Leave Planner ................................................................................................................. 107
Chapter 10. Working with events
111
Understanding event types ............................................................................................. 111
Recording an event ......................................................................................................... 113
Completing an event’s details ......................................................................................... 117
Sending SMS messages to contacts .............................................................................. 120
Inviting users to events ................................................................................................... 121
Managing meeting rooms ............................................................................................... 125
Modifying an event .......................................................................................................... 127
Using recurring events .................................................................................................... 131
Handling alerts ................................................................................................................ 135
Batch deleting events ..................................................................................................... 136
Chapter 11. Using To Do lists
139
Creating To Do lists ........................................................................................................ 139
Creating To Do items ...................................................................................................... 141
Print a To Do List report .................................................................................................. 143
Access someone else’s To Do List ................................................................................. 143
Chapter 12. Creating documents and mailing labels
145
Mailing labels .................................................................................................................. 145
Mail out events mailing labels ......................................................................................... 146
Expressions and matching conditions ............................................................................ 147
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Chapter 13. Operating the standard reports
Contents
149
The internal workings ..................................................................................................... 149
Standard reports ............................................................................................................. 149
Operating the “Report Preview” window ......................................................................... 153
Saving a report and its data............................................................................................ 153
Report filters ................................................................................................................... 153
Chapter 14. Writing your own reports
157
Components of a report .................................................................................................. 157
Operating the "Report Writer" window ............................................................................ 157
Tutorial – beginners ........................................................................................................ 158
Tutorial – intermediate .................................................................................................... 158
Changing fonts and page set-ups .................................................................................. 159
Chapter 15. Maintaining your data
161
Resolving data corruption ............................................................................................... 161
Exporting Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data .......................................................... 164
Chapter 16. Interaction with Microsoft Outlook™
171
Setting up Microsoft Outlook™ and Practice Manager - Contact 2016 ......................... 171
Chapter 17. Additional tools
177
Increasing your data entry speed ................................................................................... 177
Set date to today ............................................................................................................ 178
Keyboard macros ........................................................................................................... 178
Sage HandiSoft scripts ................................................................................................... 179
SMS messaging ............................................................................................................. 179
Glossary of Terms
181
Index
183
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
13
History of changes
The Practice Manager - Contact 2016 user manual has been updated since the initial version
was printed. The following list details the changes that have been made.
Changes made
The following changes have been made since this manual was last printed:
Changes included in version: 18/07/2016

Updated Diary Options to include hiding events for resigned users.
Changes included in version: 10/06/2016

First release of 2016 version.
Changes included in version: 18/11/2015

Added information on formatting Events reports.
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
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Chapter 1.
Manager
Introduction to Practice
This chapter contains a summary of the features in Practice Manager – Contact 2016, which
will be referred to as Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016, Jobflow Manager and Security 2016 are the modules that
make up the Sage HandiSoft Practice Manager program. For more information on Security
2016, see the PracticeManager – Security 2016 User manual.
Introducing Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
tools, integrated with diary and time tracking facilities, individual "To Do" lists, and call logging
and correspondence tracking.
You can operate Practice Manager - Contact 2016 as either a (a) freestanding program, or (b)
module in the Sage HandiSoft Software Suite.
The Sage HandiSoft Software Suite shares client information between programs. For example,
if a client changes their address, you record the new address in only one program – all other
programs update instantly.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 features
This section contains a brief summary of some of the features in Practice Manager - Contact
2016.
Client Centric
Client Centric is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) feature that enables you to
highlight a client in Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to view information relevant to that client in
your installed Sage HandiSoft programs. You can also launch any application and multiple
instances of your Sage HandiSoft programs from within Practice Manager - Contact 2016, with
the highlighted client, relevant form and year automatically selected.
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Chapter 1. Introduction to Practice Manager
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Contacts
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 maintains a separate database for the following contacts:

Clients

Prospective clients

Address book (for example, photocopier repairs, stationary supplier etc). Two address
books exist – a personal one for each user, and one for the entire firm.
You are able to transfer client and prospective client information between Practice Manager Contact 2016 and Microsoft Outlook.
Client database
The Client database used by Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is shared with the entire suite of
Sage HandiSoft programs. Consequently any changes are automatically reflected in all Sage
HandiSoft programs.
Clients may be linked together using Relationships. For example, you are able to link together
Husband/Wife, Trust/Beneficiary etc. You are able to define Relationships to suit your
practice’s needs.
Prospective clients
Using Practice Manager - Contact 2016, you are able to record details of your firm's prospective
clients. This information can then be used when mailing out newsletters, advertising fliers etc.
You are also able to record the details of correspondence you may have with these clients,
whether it is via e-mail, post, fax or telephone. You are able to create as many classes of
correspondence as your firm requires.
Address book (suppliers)
You can record information relating to businesses that provide services to your firm. For
example, you may add the name, address and telephone details of the photocopier repair firm,
and then record details of any interaction you have with that business.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides two Address Books – a personal one for each
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 user, and a firm address book, which may be accessed by all
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 users.
Diary
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides you with a flexible diary system for which you can
specify the time intervals to be used. For example, you may wish to have a time interval that
corresponds to the units used when preparing timesheets.
Each user has their own diary into which meetings, appointments, reminders, private items etc
may be recorded.
Users are able to look at and add to the diary of another user member. Privacy is maintained,
as only the user who owns that item may view private diary items. If another user alters your
diary, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can notify you.
The Diary and To Do List interact. Items can be dragged and dropped between the To Do List
and the diary.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can be set to alert you of events, by popping up a window with
relevant details.
You can create events and invite other users to participate. Those invited are able to accept or
decline, giving reasons for declining. Accept invitations are automatically entered into the users’
diaries.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 features
The diary includes an Annual Leave Planner that provides a spreadsheet showing the times that
staff members are taking annual leave and other related events.
You can transfer diary information between Practice Manager - Contact 2016 and Microsoft
Outlook.
To Do Lists
The features of the To Do Lists are summarised below:

Each user is able to create as many To Do Lists as they require.

Users are able to view each other’s To Do List.

Users are able to modify another's To Do List (Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can notify
you if someone has added to your To Do List).

You may record To Do Lists as being private. This means other users are unable to view
the list items.

Items in a To Do List can be easily dragged to another list, or moved into the diary.
Dragging a To Do list item into the Diary creates a Practice Manager Event.

Tasks set up in Jobflow Manager can be automatically entered in the relevant users’ To Do
lists.
Document Manager
The Document Manager, which is purchased separately, provides an electronic filing system for
your documents. It includes filing cabinets, drawers, folders and sub-folders in which you can
store document files.
For more information on the Document Manager, see the Document Manager User Manual, or
you can access the on-line help when you run the Document Manager.
Jobflow Manager
The Jobflow Manager is a project management tool specifically designed for an accountancy
practice. It allows you to create and manage jobs, which are broken down into tasks.
Events you create in Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can be linked to Jobflow Manager tasks.
If you have the Time+Billing program installed, you can import those events into timesheets, or
you can link Jobflow Manager jobs directly to Time+Billing jobs.
For more information on the Jobflow Manager, see the Jobflow Manager User Manual or you
can access the on-line help when you run the Jobflow Manager.
Interaction with Microsoft Outlook™
You can synchronise Practice Manager - Contact 2016 with Microsoft Outlook to provide a
flexible solution to your contact and event management needs. You can enter all your event and
contact details into Practice Manager - Contact 2016, and then transfer them to Microsoft
Outlook. If you have Microsoft Outlook linked to a notebook computer or PDA, you can then use
it out of the office to access and enter event and contact information. When you return to the
office, all you have to do is synchronise Microsoft Outlook with Practice Manager - Contact
2016. Any information you have entered into Outlook will be transferred to Practice Manager Contact 2016.Information, like appointments that other staff members have entered into
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 while you were away, will be transferred to Microsoft Outlook.
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring
Contact 2016
Before you begin operating Practice Manager - Contact 2016, you should install the program
and then complete the initial settings. This chapter steps you through the process.
System requirements
Please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual for the recommended minimum
requirements for the operation of your Sage HandiSoft products. The speed and performance
of your computer is likely to be improved if your computer exceeds the minimum requirements.
Installing Practice Manager - Contact 2016
For information in installing Practice Manager - Contact 2016, please refer to the installation
instructions that are supplied with the Sage HandiSoft installation CD.
Running Practice Manager - Contact 2016
To run the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 program, double-click on the desktop icon. The
"Starting Practice Manager - Practice Manager - Contact 2016" window will open for you to log
in as a user.
Enter your user name and, if applicable, your password.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 program information
The "About Practice Manager - Practice Manager - Contact 2016" window displays license and
version information about the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 program you have installed. You
can, for example, use it to check whether you are running the latest version.

From the Help menu, click About. The "About Practice Manager - Practice Manager Contact 2016" window will open.

Click the About tab to view version and location information.

Click the Licences tab to view the number of users licensed to run all your Sage HandiSoft
programs.
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Before you begin to enter data, we recommend that you complete the following Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 settings:
Tip: The following settings are user specific. Each person who uses Practice Manager Contact 2016 can complete these items differently.
Tip: For information on the different options windows, press F1 to display the online help.
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Toolbar buttons
The toolbar contains buttons for quickly accessing some menu items. You can configure the
toolbar to have only the buttons that you require.
1. From the Options window, click Toolbar Icons. The “Toolbar Icons” window will open.
Figure 1: The "Toolbar Icons” window
2. To display particular toolbar buttons, select their associated check boxes.
3. Click OK.
General options
Use the General Options settings to customise the appearance and Address Book references
of Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
1. From the Options menu, click General.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Figure 2: The "General Options" window
2. Complete the "General Options" window and then click OK.
Data entry options
The "Data Entry Options" window allows you to specify how data you enter is capitalised. You
can also set the Enter key behaviour to suit your requirements.
1. From the Options menu, click Data Entry.
Figure 3: The "Data Entry Options" window
2. Complete the "Data Entry Options" window and then click OK.
Diary options
The "Diary Options" window allows you to specify the appearance of the Practice Manager Contact 2016 diary.
1. From the Options menu, click Diary.
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Figure 4: The "Diary Options" window
2. Complete the "Diary Options" window, and then click OK.
Tip: You can speed up the diary by hiding events for users who have resigned, and by limiting
the months after which multi-day events are no longer displayed.
Leave options
The Practice Manager - Contact 2016 leave planner is a useful tool for planning annual leave
for your staff. In addition to displaying Annual Leave events, it can also show other events that
effect the times that can be allocated for annual leave.
The "Leave Options" window lets you select the types of events to be included on the leave
planner.
1. From the Options menu, click Leave.
Figure 5: The "Leave Options" window
2. Use the arrows in the centre to move selected event types between the Available and
Selected columns. Those in the Selected column will be included in the leave planner.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Alert options
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can remind you of appointments and tasks that require
completion. In the “Alert Options” window, you can indicate if alerts are required, how they
appear, and the sound made by the alert.
To customise the alerts:
1. From the Options menu, click Alerts.
Figure 6: The "Alert Options" window
2. Complete the "Alert options" window as required and then click OK.
Client Centric options
The Client Centric feature enables you to launch Sage HandiSoft and other programs from
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 by clicking the relevant icon or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+ a
shortcut key. The following keys are assigned as defaults, but you can change them if
necessary.
HandiTax
Ctrl+Alt+T
Document Manager
Ctrl+Alt+D
Jobflow Manager
Ctrl+Alt+J
HandiAsset
Ctrl+Alt+A
HandiLedger
Ctrl+Alt+L
Time+Billing
Ctrl+Alt+M
HandiRegister
Ctrl+Alt+R
HandiTrust
Ctrl+Alt+U
PM Security
Ctrl+Alt+S
Setting the Client Centric Options
The "Client Centric Options" window enables you to set the order in which programs are
displayed on the Access Panel, and to assign shortcut keys for launching the programs.
You can also use the “Client Centric Options” window to add programs that can be launched
from the Access Panel.
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
1. From the Options menu, click Client Centric to open the "Client Centric Options" window.
Figure 7: The "Client Centric Options" window

To change the position of a program icon button on the Access Panel, highlight the
program and use the arrow buttons to move it up or down.

To show or hide the program icons on the Access Panel, select or clear the associated
check boxes in the Show column.

To assign a new shortcut key to a program, in the Hot Key column, type in the new key.

To add or change the settings for programs, click New or Edit to open the “Add new
application” or “Edit Existing Application” window.
Figure 8: The "Edit Existing Application" window
Note: The Path field is used for entering a path for files accessed by the application.
For HandiTax 2000, this must be ‘...\hsoft\bin’.

If you want to revert to the supplied settings, click Defaults.
2. Click OK to save your changes and close the "Client Centric Options" window.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Extra field property options
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 offers additional fields in which you may record client
information. These fields are completely customisable to meet your firm's needs.
Note: If you have Practice Manager - Contact 2016 installed, you can access the extra fields
from any of your Sage HandiSoft programs.
Tip: Clicking Client / View / Extra accesses the Client Extra Detail fields
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to assign names to these additional fields.
1. From the Options menu, click Extra Field Properties.
2. Complete the "Clients and Prospective Clients Extra Field Properties" fields as required and
then click Save and then Close.
Figure 9: The "Clients and Prospective Clients Extra Field Properties" window
For more information, refer to Chapter 5, Operating the Client database.
Clients and Prospective Clients options
The "Clients and Prospective Clients Options" window lets you specify how the clients and
prospective clients are listed in their respective windows.
1. From the Options menu, click Clients and Prospective Clients.
Figure 10: The "Clients and Prospective Clients Options" window
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
2. Complete the "Clients and Prospective Clients Options" window as required and then click
OK.
Understanding reference codes
Each client record in the database is allocated a unique reference code, which Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 displays in the Reference column of the "Clients view" and the
"Prospective Clients" window. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 caters for different styles of
reference codes.
Tip: We recommend the use of Standard reference codes.
Automatic client reference codes
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can automatically create client reference codes when you
create a new client. These reference codes take the form of four alpha characters followed by a
unique four-digit number. To have Practice Manager - Contact 2016 assign the reference code,
when you are creating a new client, leave the “Clients Detail” window Ref field blank and
complete all other required fields.
Example: If you create a new client, Mr Joe Smith, using standard reference codes, Joe would
be assigned a reference code of SMIT0001.
You use the “Clients and Prospective Clients Options” window Ref Start field to control the fifth
digit assigned by Practice Manager - Contact 2016 when an automatic client reference code is
generated. This feature could be used where:

Each user in the practice is to use their own style of client reference codes; or

Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has been installed on two stand-alone computers (that is,
the computers do not share a common client database). To prevent the same reference
code being assigned to two different clients, each computer will use a different client
referencing style.
Example: If the digit 9 was typed into the “Clients and Prospective Clients Options” window
Ref Start field, and you then created a new client, Joe Smith, Joe would be assigned a
reference code of SMIT9001.
User defined client reference codes
Where your practice does not want to use the format provided by Automatic Client Reference
Codes, you can specify your own client reference codes. Simply type the required client
reference code into the “Clients Detail” window Ref field when you complete a new client’s
details.
Example: ABC Accounting wants to assign client reference codes as the first four letters of the
surname, followed by the client’s initials. When creating a new client, Joe Smith, they would
type "SMITJ” into the Ref field.
Establish passwords
All Sage HandiSoft Software products can be set up in such a way that passwords restrict
access to them. . From the Options menu, click Passwords.
If Practice Manager – Security is installed and enabled, each user of the Sage HandiSoft
programs, including Practice Manager - Contact 2016, is assigned a unique user name by an
administrator. Each user name requires a password to run the programs. The administrator also
allocates users to groups that can have restricted access to the programs and the client data.
If Practice Manager – Security is not installed and enabled, the Sage HandiSoft programs can
have passwords set up for an Operator and a Supervisor user. Supervisor access is
unrestricted – a person running the program using Supervisor access is able to use every menu
option. A person who runs the program using Operator access will only be able to use certain
menu options.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016
If you do not want to restrict access to the Sage HandiSoft Software products, then the Options
/ Passwords area should be left blank.
For information on passwords and security, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016"
manual.
Colour options
Individual users can customise the appearance of Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to suit their
requirements. Since these settings are user-specific, they have to be configured by the relevant
user.
For information on screen colour settings, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016"
manual.
Firm holidays
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 automatically takes into account any holidays that your firm
might have. It is supplied with the following pre-set holidays:

ANZAC Day

Australia Day

Christmas Day

Boxing Day

New Years Day
You can change, delete or add to these as required. If you delete all of them, they will be reset
the next time you run Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
To view and edit firm holidays
1. From the View menu, click Firm Holidays. The "Firm Holidays" window will open, listing the
holidays.
Figure 11: The "Firm Holidays" window
2. If necessary, use the arrow buttons or your mouse to highlight any holiday you want to edit
or delete.
3. Click New if you want to add a new holiday.
4. Click Save to save any changes, and Close to exit the "Firm Holidays" window.
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Offices
If you are running your business from more than one office, you can enter the offices in Practice
Manager - Contact 2016. When you add or edit clients in the “Clients Detail” window, you can
allocate them to the appropriate office. When you open the “Clients View” and “Client Details”
window, you can then select to view and edit only those clients attached to a selected office.
1. From the View menu, click Offices to open the “Offices” window.
Figure 12: The "Offices" window
2. Use the New, Edit and Delete buttons to set up your offices as required.
The offices listed will be available for selection in the Office field in the “Clients Detail”
window.
3. Click Save and then Close to exit the “Offices” window.
Meeting rooms
When you create events, like appointments, you can select the venue in which it is to take
place. In order to do this you have to set up a list of meeting rooms for selection.
1. From the View menu, click Meeting Rooms to open the “Meeting Rooms” window.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Document and Jobflow Manager options
Figure 13: The "Meeting Rooms" window
2. Click New to enter the Name and Location of each meeting room.
3. Click Save and then Close.
Tip: You can click Report to generate a report showing the meeting room usage for the
current week.
Document and Jobflow Manager options
In addition to Practice Manager - Contact 2016, Practice Manager has the Jobflow Manager.
If you have purchased and installed the optional Document Manager, it will replace the
document editing and printing functions accessed via the Documents menu, and provides
additional advanced storage capabilities. You can choose not to use the Document Manager
and to stay with the editing and printing facilities in the Documents menu. The "Document
Manager" window allows you to select whether the Document Manager is to be used.
Note: This setting affects all the Sage HandiSoft programs you have installed, and not only
Practice Manager – Contact.
The "Document Manager" window also enables you to change the physical location of the
document folders and files to suit your installation environment.
Setting the Document Manager option
1. From the Options menu, click Document Manager. The "Document Manager" window will
open.
Figure 14: The "Document Manager" window
2. Under Document Manager, select the Use Document Manager check box if you want to
replace the Documents menu options with access to the Document Manager. This affects
all the Sage HandiSoft programs you have installed.
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Chapter 2. Installing and configuring Contact 2016
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Changing the folder location
By default, the Document Manager folders and files are stored in the Hsoft/Doc/DocBase
directory on a local drive in the computer where Practice Manager is installed. This may not be
suitable for your computer environment. For example, you may prefer to store your document
files on a network server.
The following procedure describes how you would move your document files and folders to
another location.
1. Use Windows Explorer to copy the DocBase directory, under Hsoft/Doc, and all its contents
to the new location.
2. Delete or rename the old DocBase directory.
3. Start Practice Manager.
4. From the Options menu, click Document Manager.
5. On the "Document Manager" window, under Select folder location for DocBase, select
Other Location.
6. Click Browse and select the DocBase directory in the new location.
Note: the directory must be named 'DocBase'.
7. Click OK.
The Document Manager will now access the documents and folders at the new location.
32
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Chapter 3.
Getting started
This chapter shows how to do basic data entry. The remaining chapters provide information
and introduce some advanced functions of Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
Creating clients
If you already use other Sage HandiSoft programs, you will find that many of your clients
already exist in the Client database. If you are a new Sage HandiSoft user, you will need to add
your firm's clients as follows:
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Press F3; or

Click the

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
Figure 15: The Clients view
2. Click Client, and then New. The "Clients Detail" window will open.
3. Complete the "Clients Detail" window, click Save and then Close.
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Chapter 3. Getting started
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Figure 16: The "Clients Detail" window
For more on the client database, please refer to Chapter 5, "Operating the Client database".
Tip: If you have clients that are related and share the same address, you can save time and
effort by using the Related Client facility. Refer to Chapter 5, “Operating the Client database”.
Tip: You can also transfer new contact information from Microsoft Outlook™. Refer to
Chapter 15, Interaction with Microsoft Outlook™.
Using Client Centric
The upper pane of the "Clients View" window lists all your clients, while the lower pane has
buttons for each of your installed Sage HandiSoft programs. You can click the relevant button
to view information about the client in that Sage HandiSoft program.
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. On the upper part of the "Clients" window, highlight the required client.
3. On the lower part of the window, click the the required Sage HandiSoft program to display
information on the selected client.
Client Centric also enables you to launch any of your installed Sage HandiSoft programs with a
specific client already selected.
The Access Panel on the left side of the window has a button for each installed Sage HandiSoft
program, and you can add buttons for any other programs. To run a specific program, simply
click its button. If it is a Sage HandiSoft program, it will open with the highlighted client already
selected.
Tip: You can start any of your installed Sage HandiSoft programs by clicking the relevant
button on the Access Panel or by pressing the hotkey for the program.
For information on setting the program hotkeys, please refer to Chapter 2, "Installing and
configuring Contact 2016".
For more on Client Centric, see Chapter 5, “Operating the Client database”.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Creating prospective clients
Creating prospective clients
You can maintain a database of your practice's prospective clients. This enables you to record
all communication between your practice and its prospective clients using the Events menu.
When completing the details of the event, be sure to indicate that the Contact is a Prospective
Client.
It is likely some of your prospective clients will become clients of your firm. In that instance, you
can transfer the Prospective Client to your Clients database.
Input prospective client
1. From the View menu, click Prospective Clients. The "Prospective Clients" window will
open.
Figure 17: The "Prospective Clients" window
2. Click New. The "Prospective Clients Detail" window will open.
Figure 18: The "Prospective Clients Detail" window
3. Complete the "Prospective Clients Detail" window and then click OK.
For more on prospective clients, please refer to Chapter 6, "Working with Prospective Clients".
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Chapter 3. Getting started
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Recording events
The interactions between your firm and its clients are called events. An example of a client
event would be a client telephoning your office or a diary event, such as an appointment.
For more on events, please refer to Chapter 9, “Working with events”.
Event contacts
You can record events may be against any of the following:

Client

Prospective Client

Firm Address Book

Your Address Book or

Against no contact – in which case the event is recorded only in your Diary.
Note: You can use the Organiser field to record the event organiser, who need not be the
event contact.
Interaction with Time+Billing
If you have the Sage HandiSoft Time+Billing program installed, you can link events to
Time+Billing activities and costs. This enables the events to be imported into timesheets to
create invoices.
Synchronising with Microsoft Outlook™
You can synchronise Practice Manager - Contact 2016 with Microsoft Outlook™ to transfer
contact (client and prospective client) and event information in either or both directions.
For more on this feature, please refer to Chapter 15, "Interaction with Microsoft Outlook".
The Document Manager
The optional Sage HandiSoft Document Manager module provides a document storage and
retrieval facility.
The Document Manager allows you to store documents in a common location on a network
computer system. This makes backing up easier and more reliable. It provides an audit trail of
changes made to any document. You are also able to store copies of emails in the Document
Manager in the same way as you would any other document.
Enabling the Document Manager
If you have the optional Document Manager installed, before you can access it, you need to
enable it from within Practice Manager – Contact.
To enable the Document Manager:
1. From the Practice Manager – Contact Options menu, click Document Manager. The
"Document Manager" window will open.
2. Under Document Manager, select the Use Document Manager check box.
3. Click OK to accept the enabling and to close the "Document Manager" window.
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The Jobflow Manager
Opening the Document Manager
Once you have enabled the Document Manager in Practice Manager – Contact, you can access
it from any of your Sage HandiSoft programs.
To open the Document Manager from Practice Manager – Contact, do any of the following:

Press F10.

Click the Document Manager button on the Access Panel.

From the Documents menu, click Document Manager.

Press F3 to open the "Clients" window. On the "Clients" window, click Document.

From the View menu, click Prospective Clients. On the "Prospective Clients" window, click
Document Manager.
The Jobflow Manager
The Jobflow Manager is part of the Practice Manager suite and is accessed via Practice
Manager – Contact.
The Jobflow Manager is an administration tool for managing jobs. It enables you to define a
workflow for each job by breaking it down into a series of tasks. Each task has a number of
properties that specify when it should commence, the duration of the task, who is responsible
etc.
Tasks can be set to run concurrently or sequentially within the job.
You can link Practice Manager - Contact 2016 events with jobs and tasks created in Jobflow
manager.
Opening the Jobflow Manager:
1. Start Practice Manager – Contact.
2. Any of the following actions will open the Jobflow Manager.

Press Ctrl F9.

Click the Jobflow Manager button on the Access Panel.

From the Documents menu, click Jobflow Manager.

On the "Clients" window, click Client, and then Jobflow.

Click the Jobflow Manager button on the Access Panel.
This will open the "Jobflow Manager" window.
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Chapter 4.
Groups
Working with Users and
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is driven by user names. When each member of your firm
initially runs the program, they will need to specify their user name. They will then be assigned
a personal To Do List, Diary and Address Book.
Understanding users
Within Practice Manager - Contact 2016, you can open a listing of user names, telephone
numbers and user status.
Opening the "Select a User" window
To open the "Select a User" window:

Press F9;

From the View menu, click Users; or

Click the
button.
Figure 19: The "Select a User" window
To view more details of a user, highlight the user and click View to open the “View User”
window.
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Chapter 4. Working with Users and Groups
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Figure 20: The "View User" window
Tip: For information on the "Select a User" and “View User” windows, press F1 to display the
online help.
Adding users
To add a new user, do the following:
1. Do any of the following to open the “Select a User” window:

Press F9;

From the View menu, click Users; or

Click the
button.
2. Click New to open the “New User” window.
Figure 21: The "New User" window
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Understanding users
3. In the Reference field, enter a unique reference ID for the new user.
4. Complete the remaining fields with details of the new user.
5. If the the new user is a partner or manager, select either or both the Partner and Manager
check boxes.
6. Click Save and Close.
Partners and managers
When you enter or edit clients in the “Clients Detail” window, you can allocate them to users
who are designated to be managers or partners. When you open the “Clients” and Clients
Detail” windows, you can then elect to view only those clients who have been allocated to a
specified manager or partner.
To set a user to be a partner or manager
1. Press F9 or, from the View menu, click Users to open the "Select a User" window.
2. Highlight the user to be designated a partner or manager, and click Edit to open the “Edit
User” window.
Figure 22: The "Edit User" window
3. Select either or both the Partner and Manager check boxes.
4. Click Save and Close.
The selected user names will be available for selection as Partner or Manager under ID on the
“Clients Detail” window.
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Chapter 4. Working with Users and Groups
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Using Connected Services
If you have installed the optional Sage HandiSoft Connect module, you can enable users to
access your client information remotely using mobile devices. For more information, refer to the
Sage HandiSoft Advanced Features manual.
Changing a user reference
You may have a requirement to change a user reference in all of your Sage HandiSoft
programs. For example, a user might have resigned from your firm, and you need to transfer all
references to that user, including partner and manager allocations, to another user.
1. To open the "Users" window, press F9 or, from the View menu, click Users.
2. Highlight the user from whom the references are to be transferred.
3. Click Change.
4. On the “Attention” window, click OK.
Figure 23: The "Change User Reference" window
5. On the “Change User Reference” window, select the user to whom the references are to be
transferred. If the references are to be transferred to a new user, type the name of the new
user.
6. Click OK.
If you selected an existing user as the New User Reference, an “Attention” window will
open, asking if you want to merge the user details from the Original User Reference.
7. Click OK to merge the user references.
The user references, including partner and manager allocations, in all your Sage HandiSoft
programs will be transferred from the original user to the new user. If the new user already
exists, the references will be merged. If necessary, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will
automatically designate the new user as a partner or manager.
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Understanding users
Deleting users
You can click the Delete button on the "Select a User" window to remove a user reference from
all your Sage HandiSoft programs. This also deletes any client data that refers to that user. If
such data exists, it may be preferable to resign the user instead.
To resign a user
1. Press F9 or, from the View menu, click Users to open the "Select a User" window.
2. Highlight the user who has resigned, and click Edit to open the “Edit User” window.
3. In the Resigned field, enter the date that the user resigned.
4. Click Save and then Close.
The 'me' button
The Practice Manager - Contact 2016 toolbar has a button with your user name on it. Click this
button if you want to quickly return to your own user information after viewing that of other
users.
The user status
Each user can be allocated with a user status, which indicates their availability. For example, it
can display:

The user is in a meeting and is unavailable.

The user is at lunch and will be back in half an hour.

The user has left the office for the day.
Every time you start Practice Manager - Contact 2016, your status is automatically set to "In".
You can then change it as required.
When you exit Practice Manager - Contact 2016 while having a status of "In", your status is
automatically changed to "PM Is Off". If you have a status other than "In" when you exit,
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will ask you if you want your status changed to "PM Is Off".
If you click No, your status will remain as set, and will go to "In" when you next run Practice
Manager - Contact 2016. For example, you would do this if you were going away for a few days,
so that other users are aware of your absence.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is supplied to you with a number of status options. In
addition, you are able to create your own different statuses.
To create a status
1. From the View menu, click User Status Types. This will open the "User Status Types"
window.
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Figure 24: The "User Status Types" window
2. Click New to create a new status type.
3. Under Type, enter a description of the status.
4. Under Back In Reminder, enter a 'Y' if users are to be prompted for a status change. This
will cause the "PM Reminder" window to be displayed at regular intervals for users who
select this status.
5. Click Save, and then Close.
Note: There are nine default Sage HandiSoft statuses, and you can create an additional 21
user-defined statuses.
To modify your status
1. To open the "User Status for" window:

Click the Status button at the top of your window, or

From the View menu, click Your User Status.
Figure 25: The "User Status for" window
2. On the "User Status for" window, click the button for your new status. You can also type in a
status in the Status field.
If you type in a status instead of clicking a button, the Back In Reminder check box will
become visible. Select this check box if you want Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to
prompt you at regular intervals to change your status.
Tip: If you find that you are typing in the same status many times, you may want to
create a button for that status via the "User Status Types" window.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Understanding groups
3. If you typed in your new status, click OK to accept it and close the "User Status for" window.
Your new status will be displayed at the bottom right of the Practice Manager - Contact
2016 window.
Tip: You can use the In->Out button at the top right of the Practice Manager - Contact 2016
window, or press Alt I, to quickly change your status from "In" to "Out", and vice versa.
Viewing and changing the status of other users
You can view and change the status of other users via the "Select a User" window.
1. To open the "Select a User" window, press F9 or, from the View menu, click Users.
The "Select a User" window lists details of the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 users in
your firm, including their current status.
2. If necessary, you can set the status for a user by highlighting the user and clicking Status.
The “User Status for” window will open for you to select or type the status.
3. Click Save and then Close to save any changes and exit the "Select a User" window.
Understanding groups
When an event is created in Practice Manager - Contact 2016, it may relate to more than one
user. Instead of creating an event for each user, you can create groups of users. When an
event is then recorded against a group, the diaries of the group members will be updated. This
is particularly useful for events such as staff meetings.
Tip: You can invite multiple users and groups to participate in an event. See Chapter 9,
“Working with events”.
Creating a group
Create a new group
1. Open the "Groups" window:

Press Ctrl+F6; or

Click the Group button at the top of the window; or

From the View menu, click User Groups.
Figure 26: The "Groups" window
2. Click New to create a new group. The "Group Detail" window will open.
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Chapter 4. Working with Users and Groups
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Figure 27: The "Group Detail" window
3. Under Group Details, in the Ref and Name fields, enter a reference and a name for the
new group. The reference cannot be more than 20 characters long.
4. Under Group Members, add users to be members of the group.
5. Click Save, and then Close.
Tip: For information on the "Groups" and "Group Detail" windows, press F1 to display the
online help.
Create a group for an event
You are also able to create groups while adding an event.
For example, you may have the "New Event" window open and you need to create a new group
for the event.
1. On the "New Event" window, under User, select Group.
2. Click the
button next to the field. The "Groups" window will open.
3. On the "Groups" window, click New.
4. Create your new group and click Save.
5. Highlight your new group from within the "Groups" window and click Select.
This should return you the "New Event" window, where your new group will be displayed in
the lower part of the window.
6. Once you have completed the "New Event" window correctly, click Save.
Recording a group event
To record a group event:
1. From the Events menu, click the required event type.
2. Complete the "New Event" window as usual. However, under User, select the Group
option.
3. Click on the
button and select the group against which the event will be assigned.
Tip: You can also click the Invite button on the “New Event” window to invite multiple users to
participate in an event. See Chapter 9, “Working with events”.
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Chapter 5.
database
Operating the Client
The Client database, which is shared by all your Sage HandiSoft programs, records details of
your firm's clients. If a client changes their address, you need to record that change in only one
Sage HandiSoft program, and all your Sage HandiSoft programs automatically update to reflect
the change.
Opening the Client database
The Client database is located in the "Clients" window. To open the window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
The "Clients" window displays summary information on the Client database. The "Clients
Detail" window (accessed from within the "Clients" window) displays detailed information on a
specific client.
Operating the "Clients" window
In Practice Manager - Contact 2016, the Client database is displayed in the upper half of the
Clients view.
By default the "Clients" window displays a summary view of the Client database, with each
client on a single line. To see more details on a specific client, highlight the client and then click
View.
Figure 28: The "Clients" window
Selecting Groups in the View Type field, changes the “Clients” window to display a client
group on each line.
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Chapter 5. Operating the Client database
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To see more details on a specific client group, highlight the group and then click View.
Figure 29: The "Clients" (Groups view) window
Tip: For information on the "Clients" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Selecting the displayed information
You are able to specify the client information that is displayed in the last four columns in the
upper part of the "Clients" window. To do this:
1. From the Options menu, click Clients and Prospective Clients to open the "Clients and
Prospective Clients Options" window.
2. Under Client Browser's Last Four Columns, select the values for the Fourth Last, Third
Last, Second Last and Last columns.
Click Defaults if you want to revert to the default settings of Office, Partner and TFN.
3. Click OK to save the settings.
Listing selected clients
When you enter or edit clients in the "Clients Detail" window, you can allocate them to a specific
partner, manager, staff member and office. You can also indicate whether the client is current or
not.
When you display the clients in the “Clients” and “Clients Detail” windows, you can use the
Client Type field to display only those clients who are current or those who are not. You can
use the ID Type and ID Member fields to display only those clients that have been allocated to
a specific partner, manager staff member or office.
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Operating the "Clients" window
Note: Selecting Current or Non-current in the Client Type field also determines the clients that
are available for selection when you create events, For example, if you select Current, only the
current clients will be listed when you select a client as a contact in an event.
Tip: In the ID Member field, you can select No Member, which will list clients that are not
allocated to the selected ID Type. For example, if you want to list those clients that do not
have a manager assigned to them, in the ID Type field, select Manager, and in the ID
Member field, select No member.
Finding and ordering clients
You can go directly to a client in the "Clients" window by clicking the Find button. This will open
the "Find/Order" window. You can also use the window to change the order in which the clients
are listed in the "Clients" window.
Figure 30: The "Find/Order" window
To find a client
1. On the "Clients" window, click the Find button to open the "Find/Order" window.
2. On the upper part of the window, select the client area on which you want to search. You
can use your up and down arrow keys to move through the selection.
3. In the Find field, type in the search text. As you type in the initial characters, Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 will highlight the first client matching the search text.
Tip: While you are typing in the search text, you can change the order or what you are
searching for by pressing the up and down arrow keys.
4. Click OK to close the "Find/Order" window when you have completed the search.
To order the clients
1. On the "Clients" window, click the Find button to open the "Find/Order" window.
2. On the upper part of the window, select the client area on which you want the clients
ordered in the "Clients" window. You can use your up and down arrow keys to move
through the selection.
3. Click OK to close the "Find/Order" window.
Sending SMS messages to clients
If you have purchased the optional Sage HandiSoft Notify SMS module, you can send SMS
messages to clients with a recorded mobile telephone number.
1. On the main “Clients” window, highlight the client to be the recipient of the SMS message.
Tip: If you want to send an SMS message to more than one client, tag the recipients and
highlight one of them.
2. Click View to open the “Clients Detail” window.
3. Under Phone Numbers, highlight the required mobile number and click SMS.
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Chapter 5. Operating the Client database
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4. Complete the “SMS Message” window fields as required and click Send to send the SMS
message.
For more information on SMS messaging, refer to the “Sage HandiSoft Advanced Features
2016” manual.
Changing a client’s type
Clients in the database can have their Type set to Current or Non-current. To change a
client’s Type, do the following:
1. If necessary, press F3 to open the main “Clients” window.
2. Highlight the required client and click Edit to open the “Clients Detail” window.
3. Under ID, in the Type field, select Current or Non-current. If you set the client to Noncurrent, today’s date will be automatically inserted into the Non-Current Date field. If you
change the client from Non-current to Current, the Non-Current Date field will be cleared.

Alternatively, you can enter a date in or clear the Non-Current Date field. You will be asked
if the client’s type is to be changed accordingly.

Click OK to change the client’s Type.
Batch changing client type
On the “Clients Detail” window, you can set the type of individual clients to Current or Noncurrent.
It is also possible to change the type of all or a group of clients simultaneously.
1. If you want to change the type of group of clients, tag the required clients.
2. From the Tools menu, click Change Client Type. The “Change Client Type” window will
open.
Figure 31: The "Change Client Type" window
3. Under Clients, select the client group for which the type is to be changed.
Tip: If you select Tagged Clients, you can click Tagged to view a list of the tagged
clients.
4. Under Make Client Type, select the type to which the clients are to be changed. Click OK.
5. On the “Confirm” window, click Yes to proceed with status change.
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Client Centric features
Accessing the Client Portal
The Client Portal provides a secure and convenient way of transferring documents between you
and your clients.
To manage a client’s access to the Client Portal, on the “Clients Detail” window, in the Client
Portal field click
to open the “Client Portal Configuration for” window.
For more information on the Client Portal, see the Document Manager User Manual.
Client Centric features
The Client Centric features make Practice Manager - Contact 2016 a powerful CRM tool. You
can highlight a specific client or client group and view pertinent information, such as tax forms
and general ledger information from your installed Sage HandiSoft programs. You can also
launch Sage HandiSoft programs with the highlighted client already selected.
Additional features allow you to delete client records or change a client reference code without
having to first run all your Sage HandiSoft programs to check that it is safe to do so.
The upper pane of the "Clients View" window lists all your clients or client groups (depending on
the View Type selection), while the lower pane has buttons for each of your installed Sage
HandiSoft programs. You can click the relevant button to view information about the client or
client group in that Sage HandiSoft program.
The Access Panel on the left side of the window has a button for each installed Sage HandiSoft
program, and you can add buttons for any other programs. To run a specific program, simply
click its button. If it is a Sage HandiSoft program, it will open with the highlighted client already
selected.
Tip: You can configure Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to show or hide Access Panel
buttons. From the Options menu, click Client Centric to open the “Client Centric Optionsw.
Instead of clicking an Access Panel button, you can press hotkeys to run the programs. You can
also change the hotkeys to suit your requirements. For information on the Client Centric
hotkeys, refer to Chapter 2. "Installing and configuring Contact 2016".
You need to have only Practice Manager - Contact 2016 running on your computer desktop.
When you need to perform an action for a client, like edit a tax return, you highlight the required
client, and Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will automatically start the relevant Sage HandiSoft
program. For example, HandiTax 2016 would open for you to edit a tax return. If you need to
view general ledger information at the same time, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will start
HandiLedger 2016.
While you are performing an action for one client, you can highlight another client and launch a
Sage HandiSoft program without having to first close down the program you are currently
running. You can have multiple instances of Sage HandiSoft programs running with different
clients selected.
Tip: For information on the "Client Centric" features, press F1 to display the online help.
Using Client Centric
The Client Centric features in Practice Manager - Contact 2016 enable you to launch any of
your installed Sage HandiSoft programs with a specific client already selected.
To do this:
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
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Chapter 5. Operating the Client database
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2. On the upper part of the "Clients" window, in the View Type field, select Clients or Groups
to list either the clients or client groups.
3. Highlight the required client or client group.
4. On the lower part of the window, click the relevant Sage HandiSoft program.
Client Events
The Client Events page lists the events that are
applicable to the highlighted client or client group.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will highlight the
event that is closest to the current date.
Notes
The Notes page lists the notes that are attached
to the highlighted client or client group. You can
right-click on any note to flag it as Read or
Unread.
Documents
The Documents page lists the documents in the
Document Manager that are attached to the
highlighted client or client group.
Jobflow
The Jobflow page lists jobs in the Jobflow
manager that are associated with the highlighted
client or client group.
Contacts
The Contacts page provides phone, email and
address information for the highlighted client or
Head Client of the highlighted client group..
Tax Forms
The Tax Forms page lists all the tax forms
associated with the highlighted client or client
group. You can open a form for viewing or editing
by double-clicking on it.
Time+Billing
The Time+Billing page displays statistical
information on the Debtors and WIP Ledger
details for the highlighted client or client group.
Register
The Register page lists ASIC forms that have
been created in HandiRegister for the highlighted
client or client group.
Ledger
The Ledger page lists summary information for
each financial year for the highlighted client or
client group. If you click on an entry, HandiLedger
will open with the highlighted client and the
financial year selected.
Asset
The Asset page lists summary information for
each financial year for the highlighted client or
client group. If you click on an entry, HandiAsset
will open with the highlighted client and the
financial year selected.
Trust
The Trust page lists the trust card balances for
the highlight client or client group.
Extra
The Extra page displays Extra Detail fields which
have been set up with a Label via the “Clients and
Prospective Clients Extra Field Properties”
window. The columns displayed can be modified
via the “General Options” window.
Tip: You can start any of your installed Sage HandiSoft programs by clicking the relevant
button on the Access Panel or by pressing the hotkey for the program.
For information on setting the program hotkeys, please refer to Chapter 2, "Installing and
configuring Contact 2016".
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Client Centric features
Viewing documents
Clicking the Documents tab lists the documents that are attached to the client or client group in
the Document Manager.
Figure 32: The "Clients" window Document tab
As with the Document Manager, the documents are listed under the client's or client group’s
folders and subfolders. Click on the relevant folder to list the documents under it. If necessary,
you can expand the folders to reveal any subfolders contained within them.
Tip: If you do not want to list documents contained in subfolders of the highlighted drawer or
folder, on the “General Options” (Options/General) window, under Document View, clear the
Show all documents under Client/Folders check box..
Right-clicking on a folder opens the following menu:
New
Add a new folder or sub folder.
Edit Folder /
SubFolder
Edit the Name and Description of the highlighted folder or
subfolder.
Delete Folder /
SubFolder
Delete the highlighted folder or subfolder.
Remove Folder for
all Clients
Remove the highlighted folder from all the clients’ drawers.
Add File(s) to
Folder
Select document files to store in the highlighted folder or subfolder
Cut, Copy, Paste,
Cut, copy and paste folders with their contents via the clipboard
Synchronise
Synchronise the stored folders and document files with what is
displayed.
Caution: This will delete all documents and subfolders under the
folder.
Right-clicking on a document opens the following menu:
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Chapter 5. Operating the Client database
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Open
Open the highlighted document.
Delete
Delete the highlighted document.
Details
View and edit details of the highlighted document.
History
View the history of actions performed on the highlighted document..
Print
Print the highlighted document.
Email
Attach the highlighted document to an email to the client.
New
Create a new document to store in the open folder.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Cut, copy and paste documents via the clipboard
Share
Share this document in other clients’ folders.
Collate Selected
Document
Add the highlighted document to a collated document
Collated
Documents
View and edit the list of collated documents
Export
Export the highlighted document to another location.
Import
Overwrite the highlighted document with another document that has
the same name and type.
Flags
Append a coloured flag to the highlighted document
Importance
Assign a n importance level of High, Medium or Low to the
highlighted document.
Filtering documents
You can filter the documents listed in the Documents pane by specifying the following criteria:

The document types to be included or excluded

The date range of either the documents’ creation dates or last opened dates.

The author of the documents
1. On the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 menu bar, click the Set Document Filters
button to open the “Select Document Types” window.
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Client Centric features
Figure 33: The "Select Document Types" window
2. Select the Turn on Document Filtering check box to enable the fields.
3. Enter the filtering information as required.
4. Click Apply to apply the filter.
Viewing the Watch Folder
You can view the Document Manager Watch folder from Practice Manager - Contact 2016;
1. On the menu bar, click the Open Document Watch folder
“Document found in Watch Directory” window.
button to open the
Figure 34: The "Document found in Watch Directory" window
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2. Under View Document, select the documents to be viewed and saved.
3. Click the Details, Location, Flags and Categories tabs to specify the document details.
4. Enter the filtering information as required.
5. Click Save to save the documents to the Document Manager.
Viewing Client Portal documents
If your client has access to the Client Portal, you can view the documents uploaded to the Client
Portal, by opening the Client Portal folder and clicking on the required client login name.
For more information on the Client Portal, see the Document Manager User Manual.
Figure 35: The "Clients" window Document (Client Portal) tab
Right-clicking on a document in the Client Portal opens the following menu:
56
Open
Open the highlighted document for viewing and editing.
Delete
Remove the highlighted document from the Client Portal.
Details
Open the “Portal Document Details” window to view and edit details
of the highlighted document and request a signature
History
View the history of actions performed on the highlighted document.
Set Follow Up
Open the “Follow Up Portal Document” window to set a reminder to
check the progress of the document at a specified time.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Cut, copy and paste documents via the clipboard
New
Create a new document to store in the open folder.
Share
Share this document in other clients’ folders.
Collate Selected
Document
Add the highlighted document to a collated document
Collated
Documents
View and edit the list of collated documents
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Import
Client Centric features
Overwrite the highlighted document with another document that has
the same name and type.
Changing a client reference code
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 lets you change a client reference code without having to run
the individual Sage HandiSoft programs.
1. Ensure that no other users are running Sage HandiSoft programs.
Tip: If you have Practice Manager – Security installed, you can use the Activity Monitor
to do this.
2. On the upper part of the "Clients" window, highlight the required client.
3. On the upper row of buttons, click Change.
4. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will ask you to confirm that you want to change the client
reference in all the Sage HandiSoft programs.
5. Click OK to continue.
6. On the "Change Client Reference" window, type the new reference for the highlighted client
and click OK.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will attempt to change the client reference code in the Sage
HandiSoft programs. If it encounters a problem, it will undo the change and advise you of the
problem so that you can rectify it.
Deleting a client
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 makes it very easy to remove client data completely from all
or selected Sage HandiSoft programs.
1. Ensure that no other users are running Sage HandiSoft programs.
2. On the upper part of the "Clients" window, highlight the client to be deleted.
3. On the upper row of buttons, click Delete.
4. On the "Attention" window, click OK to confirm the deletion.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will check each Sage HandiSoft program in turn for client
data, and ask if it is to be deleted.
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5. Click OK to delete the client data in that program. Click Cancel if you want retain the client
data in that program.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will delete the data from the programs where you clicked
OK. It will display an information window listing those programs where the client data was
not deleted.
6. Click OK to close the "Information" window.
Adding non - Sage HandiSoft programs
You can add other programs to the Sage HandiSoft programs that you can launch from the
Access Panel. This enables you to run everything you normally do from Practice Manager Contact 2016.
1. From the Options menu, click Client Centric to open the “Client Centric Options” window.
Figure 36: The "Client Centric Options" window
2. Click New. The “Add new application” window will open.
Figure 37: The "Add new application" window
3. Click Browse or Installed to locate the executable file to run the required program.
4. Complete the other fields and click OK.
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Adding a new client
The added program button will now be displayed on the Access Panel. To run the program,
click its button or use the hotkey.
Operating the "Clients Detail" window
The "Clients Detail" window displays detailed information on a specific client.
To access the "Clients Detail" window:
1. Open the "Clients" window.
2. Highlight the required client and then click View.
Tip: The View button toggles between the "Clients" and the "Clients Detail" window. For
example, if you click View from within the "Clients Detail" window, the "Clients" window will
open.
Figure 38: The "Clients Detail" window
Note: If the client is deceased, you can enter the date this occurred under Details in the
Deceased field. You will then be asked if the client Type is to be set to Non-current.
Tip: For information on the "Clients Detail" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Adding a new client
To add a client into the Client database:
1. Press F3 or, from the Client menu, click View to open the “Clients" window.
2. Click New.
3. Complete the "Clients Detail" window and then click Save.
Tip: If you have related clients who share the same address, you can use the Related Clients
facility. Refer to “Defining client relationships” on page 65.
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Copy details from another client
If you are adding a client that has the same address, phone number and email information as
an existing client, you can use the Copy details button to speed up your data input.
1. On the “Clients Detail” window, complete the Details fields.
2. Click Copy details, and then OK on the “Attention” window.
3. On the “Client selection” window, highlight the client from which the details are to be copied.
4. Click Select.
On the “Clients Detail” window, the Addresses, Phone Numbers and Email Addresses fields
will be automatically filled.
Recording extra details
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 offers additional customisable fields for recording client
information. A few examples of the information you can record are listed below.

Occupation of the client (for example, Doctor, Dentist, Primary Producer).

Mailing list that the client is to be attached to (for example, Christmas card list, Newsletter
list).

Source of the client (for example, word of mouth, yellow pages, and advertising).
The Extra Client Details field may be used when generating reports and documents within
Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
Tip: If you have Practice Manager – Practice Manager - Contact 2016 installed, you can
access the Client Extra Detail fields from all your Sage HandiSoft programs.
Customising the "Client Extra Detail" window
Before you begin to record any Client Extra Details information, you should:
1. Decide what information you will record.
2. Customise the "Client Extra Detail" window so that each field is labelled with a description of
the information you will record.
3. Mark any necessary fields with a Prompt value of “M” to make entry mandatory, or “P” to
prompt for entry.
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Recording extra details
Opening the "Client Extra Detail" window
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. To open the "Client Extra Detail" window, click Extra.
Figure 39: The "Client Extra Detail" window
3. The “Client Extra Detail window has four tabs for accessing the information fields:

Click Text to access fields for entering textual information.

Click General to access fields for entering numerical information.

Click Categories to access check box fields for entering yes/no information.

Click Selections to access fields where you can select information from a list.
Tip: For information on the "Client Extra Detail" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Labelling the Extra Client Detail fields
1. On the "Clients" or “Clients Detail” window, click Extra to open the "Client Extra Detail"
window.
2. Click Labels. The "Clients and Prospective Clients Extra Field Properties" window will
open.
3. Click the Text/Selections tab to enter the required labels on the Text and Selections fields.
4. Click the General tab to enter the required labels on the General fields.
5. Click the Categories tab to enter the required labels on the check box Categories fields.
6. Mark any necessary fields with a Prompt to make entry mandatory, or to prompt for entry.
7. Click Save and then Close.
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Figure 40: The "Clients and Prospective Clients Extra Labels" window
Tip: For information on the "Clients and Prospective Clients Extra Labels" window, press F1
to display the online help.
Using the Selections fields
The Selections page of the “Client Extra Detail” window has fields where you can select the
information instead of typing it in. This is useful where you have a number of clients with the
same information. For example, you can set up a selection field that contains the client’s
occupation. If a number of clients have the same occupation, you can select it from a list.
Transferring existing text fields
If you already have labels allocated to text fields for your clients, you can transfer them to
selection fields. Information already entered in the text fields will be also be transferred and
made available for selection for other clients.
1. On the "Clients" window, click Extra to open the "Client Extra Detail" window.
2. Click the Selections tab to display the Selections page.
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Recording extra details
Figure 41: The "Client Extra Details" window, Selections page.
3. Click Transfer Text to Selections.
4. On the “Attention” window, click Yes.
This will copy any information in the Text fields to the corresponding Selection fields. It will
also make the information available for selection.
5. On the next “Attention” window, to transfer only the Text field information, but not the label
names, click No. To transfer the Text field labels to the Selection fields, click Yes on the
next “Attention” window.
Caution: If you click Yes, any existing Selections labels will be overwritten by those
transferred from the Text fields.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will indicate that values have been updated.
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Adding and editing selection values
The Selection fields contain information values that can be selected for each client. You can
either transfer these values from the text fields or you can edit them as follows:
1. On the "Clients" window, click Extra to open the "Client Extra Detail" window.
2. Click the Selections tab to display the Selections page.
3. Click Values to open the “Client Extra Values for Selections” window.
Figure 42: The “Clients Extra Values for Selections" window
4. At the top of the window, click the tab for the Selection field where the values are to be
added or edited.
5. To add a new value, click New and type the new value.
6. To edit or delete an existing value, highlight the value and click Edit or Delete.
Note: If any clients have the value selected, it will be deleted or changed.
7. Click Save and then Close.
Entering Extra Client Details information
1. On the "Clients" window, click Extra to open the "Client Extra Detail" window.
2. Complete the "Client Extra Detail" window, click Save and then Close.
Example: ABC Accounting is mailing a letter to all clients that are in the business of Primary
Production. ABC has used Category 1 to indicate primary production clients. When they print
off the letter, they will specify that it is to be printed only for clients that have Category 1
selected.
Batch updating Extra Client Details values
You can update the values in Client Extra Details fields for all or specified clients or prospective
clients.
1. On the "Clients" window, click Extra to open the "Client Extra Detail" window.
2. Click the required tab to open the page with the field to be updated.
3. Click Batch to open the “Batch Update” window for that page.
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Defining client relationships
Figure 43: The "Batch Update" window
4. Under Client Range, Selection and Limit To, select the group of clients or prospective
clients to have the values updated.
5. Under Change Values, in the Field Name field, select the field for which the value is being
updated. The Label field will display the selected field’s label.
6. In the New Value field, select or type the new value to be inserted into the field.
7. If you want only the fields containing a specified value to be updated, select or type that
value in the Old Value field.
To update all fields, regardless of their current value, excluding those that do not have a
value, select the Replace Regardless of Old Value check box.
To update all fields, including those with no value, select the Additionally update blank
records check box.
8. Click Update to start the replacements.
9. Click Yes to proceed with the update.
10. Click Close to exit the “Batch Update” window.
Defining client relationships
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to link your clients together using 'Client
Relationships'.
Once you have Client Relationships established in your Client database, it is easy to jump from
one related client to another. For example, you may have a couple in your Client database and
you can only remember the name of one of the partners. To locate the other partner, you would
locate the one you know, and then use Related / GoTo to jump directly to the partner's record
in the Client database.
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If you are entering details of two clients who share the same address, you can enter the
address of one client in the “Clients Detail” window, click Related and select the related client.
You can then indicate that the related client has the same address. Refer to “Define client
relationships” on page 67.
Tip: You can also create client groups, where member clients can have their addresses
synchronised to that of a Head Client. Time+ Billing invoices for jobs for the group can also be
directed to the Head Client.
Define relationship pairs
Relationship pairs are two words (or phrases) that define a relationship between two clients.
For example, the Company--Director relationship consists of the pair of words "Company" and
"Director".
You only record a relationship pair in one direction. If you have the Company--Director pair
recorded, then you will not be permitted to record the Director--Company pair. Every
relationship pair recorded is automatically offered in both directions when you are maintaining
client relationships.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is supplied with the following default client relationship pairs.
You can delete, modify and add to these as required. If you delete all the relationship pairs,
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will reinstate the default pairs when you next run it.

Beneficiary—Trust

Child—Parent

Company—Director

Company—Public Officer

Company—Secretary

Company—Shareholder

Husband—Wife

Member—Superannuation Fund

Partner—Partnership

Trust—Trustee
To define relationship pairs
1. From the View menu, click Client Relationship Pairs. The "Client Relationship Pairs"
window will open, listing the existing relationship pairs.
Figure 44: The "Client Relationship Pairs" window
2. Create, edit or delete the relationship pairs as required.
Tip: You cannot delete or edit a relationship pair that is being used.
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Viewing client summary information
3. Click Save to save your changes, and Close to exit the window.
Tip: For information on the "Client Relationship Pairs" window, press F1 to display the online
help.
Define client relationships
To establish a Client Relationship:
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. Highlight the required client and then click Related. You should now be in the "Client
Relationships" window.
Figure 45: The "Client Relationships" window
3. In the Related Client column, select the client reference code of the related client. Now
define the relationship between these two clients.
Tip: If you want the related client to have the same address as the highlighted client, type
‘Y’ in the Same Address column. This is not possible if the related client is a member of a
client group, and their address has been synchronised with that of the Head Client.
4. After completing the "Client Relationships" window, click Save and then Close.
Viewing client summary information
If you have the Sage HandiSoft Time+Billing program installed, Practice Manager - Contact
2016 can provide statistical information on the Debtors and WIP Ledger details for your clients.
This statistical information is gathered in Time+Billing for viewing from either Time+Billing or
Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
From within Practice Manager - Contact 2016, access the information as follows:
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. In the View Type field, select Clients or Groups to show individual clients or client groups.
3. Highlight the required client or client group and then click the Time &Billing tab.
The lower part of the "Clients" window will display statistical details on the highlighted client or
client group.
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Figure 46: Time+Billing summary information
Recalculating the summaries
The Time+Billing summary information may be recalculated from a date that you specify. To
recalculate the Client Summary information:
1. Start the Time+Billing program. You can click the button on the Practice Manager - Contact
2016 Access Panel or use the designated hotkey.
2. In Time+Billing, from the Tools menu, click Recalculate Client Summaries.
Please see the Time+Billing online help for further information.
Tagging clients
It is likely that you will need to perform a specific task on a group of clients. To define a group
of clients, you would tag them.
You can create events for multiple clients by tagging them before creating the event.
Tag a client or client group
To tag a client:
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. In the View Type field select Clients or Groups to list the clients or client groups.
3. Highlight the required client or client group.
4. Click Tag.
Tip: The Tag button will also untag the highlighted client or client group.
View and tagging multiple clients
To view all the tagged clients:
1. From the Client menu, click Tag/Untag batches of clients. The "Tagged Clients" window
will open.
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Tagging clients
Figure 47: The "Tagged Clients" window
Tip: You can click the
client to the next.
buttons on the “Clients” window to move from one tagged
2. Under Tag clients by, click the relevant button to add clients to the tagged list.
Reference:
Select the reference number of the client to be tagged
TFN
Select the Tax File Number of the client to be tagged
ABN
Select the Australian Business Number of the client to be tagged
Conditions
Specify a filter for selecting the tagged clients from the client database
Network
Tag clients associated a specified user
Group
Tag the client members of a specified client group
Untagging clients
Untag a single client - method one
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. Highlight the client that is to be untagged.
3. Click Tag.
Untag a single client - method two
1. From the Client menu, click Tagged.
2. Highlight the client that is to be untagged.
3. Click Untag.
Untag all clients
To untag all clients:
1. From the Client menu, click Tagged.
2. Click Clear.
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Batch updating clients
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 enables you to update the Partner Manager, Staff Member
and Office information for a number of clients in a batch. For example, if a Partner leaves your
firm, you can re-allocate all affected clients to a new partner.
To change the Partner, Manager, Staff Member or Office for a number of clients
If you do not intend updating all the clients or only the currently selected client, tag the clients
that are to be updated. For information on tagging clients, see “Tagging clients” on page 68.
1. From the Client menu, click Update to open the “Batch Update Clients” window.
Figure 48: The "Batch Update Clients" window
2. Under Details, select the old and new partner, manager, staff member and office. Leave the
fields blank where there is no change.
3. Under Change, select the group of clients to be updated:

Selected client – if you are viewing Clients on the main “Clients” window, this option
will update the currently selected client only

Selected Client Group – if you are viewing Groups on the main “Clients” window, this
option will update all clients in the currently selected client group only

All clients – update all the clients in the Client Database.

Tagged clients – update ail the clients you have tagged
4. Click Ok to update the clients.
Recording a client note
Within the Client database, you are able to attach notes to specific clients. You can include any
type of information in a client note. For example, you may want to record the date you received
financial information from a client, or information relating to the client’s proposed business
venture.
Notes that you attach to clients will be listed under the Notes tab on the lower part of the main
“Clients” window.
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Recording a client note
Enter a client note
To add a client note:
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. Highlight the required client.
3. On the lower part of the window, click the Notes tab.
Figure 49: The Clients View Notes tab
Tip: The Notes tab will show the number of unread notes attached to the client.
4. Click New to open the “Client Note” window.
Figure 50: The "Client Note" window
5. Enter details of the note, and then click Save and Close.
Tip:When you enter a note, you assign a specific Note Type. This makes it easier to
search for notes.
An ‘N’ in the first column of the “Clients” window indicates that there are notes attached to the
client.
Adding and editing client note types
When you create a client note, you can assign a note type to it. This enables you to filter notes
by their note type.
The following default note types are available:

Invoicing

JobFlow

Superannuation

Tax

General

Consulting

Debtors
In addition to the default types, you can also create, edit and delete you r own custom note
types.
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1. From the Options menu, click Client Note Types to open the “Client Note Types” window.
Figure 51: The "Client Note Types" window
2. To add a new note type, click Add. On the “Add Note Type” window, enter a name for the
new note type.
3. To edit or delete an unused custom note type, highlight the note type, and click Edit or
Delete.
4. If required, you can change the order in which the note types are listed by highlighting a
note type and clicking the blue arrows to move it up or down.
The Client Notes report
You can generate a report that lists that lists notes attached to all or specified clients.
1. From the Reports menu, point to clients and then click Client Notes Report to open the
“Client Notes Report” window.
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Recording a client note
Figure 52: The "Client Notes Report" window
2. Complete the fields to specify the client notes to be included.
3. Click Query to run the report.
Attaching documents to clients
The optional Document Manager is a repository for all your document files. It automatically
creates a 'Clients' filing cabinet with a drawer for each client in your database. You can attach
documents to selected clients by inserting documents or links to documents into folders or subfolders in the client's drawers in the Document Manager.
To attach documents to clients
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. Highlight the client to whom you want to attach the documents, and press F10 or click the
Document Manager button on the Access Panel.
Tip: If the Document Manager button is not available, you need to enable the Document
Manager via Options / Documents & Jobflow.
The "Document Manager" window will open with the selected client's filing cabinet drawer
already highlighted.
3. Highlight the folder or sub-folder into which the documents are to be inserted.
4. Use any of the following methods to insert documents into the folder or sub-folder.

From the File menu, click Add File(s) to Folder to move, copy or link to documents
from outside the Document Manager.

From the Edit menu, click Copy and Paste to copy documents from other areas in the
Document Manager or other programs.
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
From the Edit menu, click Cut and Paste to move documents from other areas in the
Document Manager or other programs.

Use your mouse to drag documents from other areas in the Document Manager or from
other programs. For example, you can drag a document file from Windows Explorer into
a Document Manager folder.

From the File menu, point to New Document and click the required document type to
create a new document.
5. Click the Close Document Manager button to exit the Document Manager and return to
the "Clients" window.
To create a new attached document
You can create a new document, which is automatically attached to the client.
1. Open the "Clients" window:

Click the

Press F3; or

From the Client menu, click View.
button; or
2. Highlight the client to whom you want to attach the document, and click Documents. The
lower pane will list the documents currently attached to the client.
3. Right click in the lower pane, point to New, and then select the document type.
4. On the “New File” window, type the name of the new document.
5. Click OK. The editor for the document type will open. For example, if you selected ‘Word’,
Microsoft Word will open.
6. Edit the document as required. When you save it, it will be stored in the Document Manager
in the client’s default folder.
7. Exit from the editor when the document is ready.
The document will be added to the list of attached documents.
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Chapter 6.
clients
Working with prospective
In Practice Manager - Contact 2016, you can maintain a database of all prospective clients,
including any communication that you have with them. You are able to:

Mail merge information into letters.

Print mailing labels

Send SMS messages if you have the optional Sage HandiSoft Notify SMS module.

Record any interaction you have with a prospective client, such as a telephone call or a fax.

Transfer the Prospect into the Client database once the Prospect becomes a client of your
firm.
Creating a prospective client
1. Click
or, from the View menu, click Prospective Clients. The "Prospective Clients"
window will open.
Figure 53: The "Prospective Clients" window
2. Click New. The "Prospective Clients Detail" window will open.
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Figure 54: The "Prospective Clients Detail" window
3. Complete the "Prospective Clients Detail" window, click Save and then click Close.
Tip: For information on the "Prospective Clients" and "Prospective Clients Detail" windows,
press F1 to display the online help.
Sending SMS messages to prospective clients
If you have purchased the optional Sage HandiSoft Notify SMS module, you can send SMS
messages to prospective clients for which you have recorded a mobile telephone number.
1. Click
or, from the View menu, click Prospective Clients to open the "Prospective
Clients" window.
2. Highlight the prospective client to be the recipient of the SMS message.
Tip: If you want to send an SMS message to more than one prospective client, tag the
recipients and highlight one of them.
3. Click View to open the “Prospective Clients Detail” window.
4. Under Phone Numbers, highlight the required mobile number and click SMS.
5. Complete the “SMS Message” window fields as required and click Send to send the SMS
message.
For more information on SMS messaging, refer to the “Sage HandiSoft Advanced Features
2016” manual.
Recording extra details
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 offers additional customisable fields in which you can record
prospective client information. A few examples of the information you can record are listed
below.

Occupation of the prospective client (for example, Doctor, Dentist, Primary Producer).

Mailing list that the prospective client is to be attached to (for example, Christmas card list,
Newsletter list).

Source of the client (for example, word of mouth, yellow pages, and advertising).
You can use the Prospective Client Extra Detail fields for generating reports and documents
within Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
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Moving a prospective client to a current client
Opening the "Prospective Client Extra Detail" window
The "Prospective Client Extra Detail" window provides fields for recording extra information on
the prospective clients. These fields can be customised to suit your requirements.
1. Click
or, from the View menu, click Prospective Clients to open the "Prospective
Clients" window.
2. On the "Prospective Clients" window, click Extra to open the "Prospective Client Extra
Detail" window.
Figure 55: The "Prospective Client Extra Detail" window
Tip: For information on the "Client Extra Detail" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Customising the Prospective Client Extra Detail fields
You can label the fields in the "Prospective Client Extra Detail" window to suit your
requirements.
Please see Chapter 5, "Operating the Client Database".
Moving a prospective client to a current client
When a prospective client becomes an actual client of your firm, you should transfer the
prospective client record from the Prospective Client database into the Client database. The
transfer process will bring across all of the information attached to the client, so you will not lose
your history of events that have been recorded against the client.
To transfer a client from the Prospective Client database to the Client database:
1. Click
or, from the View menu, click Prospective Clients. The "Prospective Clients"
window will open.
2. Highlight the required prospective client and click Transfer.
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Figure 56: The "Transfer Prospective Client" window
3. In the Client Reference field, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will suggest a client
reference code to be used in the Clients database. You can alter this, if required.
4. Click OK.
Attaching documents to prospective clients
The optional Document Manager is a repository for all your documents. It automatically creates
a 'Prospective Clients' filing cabinet with a drawer for each prospective client in your database.
You can attach documents to selected prospective clients by inserting documents or links to
documents into folders or sub-folders in the prospective client's drawers in the Document
Manager.
You can view documents attached to a prospective client by highlighting the prospective client
and clicking the Documents tab.
To attach documents to prospective clients
1. Click
or, from the View menu, click Prospective Clients to open the "Prospective
Clients" window.
2. Highlight the prospective client to whom you want to attach the documents, and click
Document Manager.
3. The "Document Manager" window will open with the selected prospective client's filing
cabinet drawer already highlighted.
4. Highlight the folder or sub-folder into which the documents are to be inserted.
5. Use one of the following methods to insert documents into the folder or sub-folder.

From the File menu, click Add File(s) to Folder to move, copy or link to documents
from outside the Document Manager.

From the Edit menu, click Copy and Paste to copy documents from other areas in the
Document Manager.

From the Edit menu, click Cut and Paste to move documents from other areas in the
Document Manager.

Use your mouse to drag documents from other areas of the Document Manager and
from other programs.

From the File menu, point to New Document and click the required document type to
create a new document.
6. Click the Close Document Manager button to exit the Document Manager and return to
the "Prospective Clients" window.
Tagging prospective clients
It is likely that you will need to perform a specific task on a group of prospective clients. To
define a group of prospective clients, you would tag them just as you would clients.
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Tagging prospective clients
Tag a prospective client
To tag a prospective client:
1. Click
or, from the View menu, click Prospective Clients to open the "Prospective
Clients" window.
2. Highlighted the required prospective client.
3. Click Tag.
4. An asterisk will appear to the left of the prospective client record, indicating that it has been
tagged.
Tip: The Tag button will also untag the highlighted prospective client.
View tagged prospective clients
To view all the tagged prospective clients: On the "Prospective Clients" window, click
Tag/Untag. The "Tagged Prospective Clients" window will open.
Figure 57: The "Tagged Prospective Clients" window
Untagging prospective clients
Untag a single prospective client – method one
1. Open the "Prospective Clients" window. From the View menu, click Prospective Clients.
2. Highlight the prospective client that is to be untagged.
3. Click Tag.
Untag a single prospective client – method two
1. On the "Prospective Clients" window, click Tag/Untag.
2. Highlight the prospective client that is to be untagged.
3. Click Untag.
Untag all prospective clients
To untag all prospective clients:
1. On the "Prospective Clients" window, click Tag/Untag.
2. Click Untag All.
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Printing mailing labels
You can print mailing labels for selected or all prospective clients.
1. Open the "Prospective Clients" window. Click
Prospective Clients.
or, from the View menu, click
2. If necessary, use the Tag button to mark the prospective clients for which mailing labels are
to be printed.
3. Click Print Mailing Labels.
Figure 58: The "Mailing label reports" window
4. On the “Print mailing label reports” window, highlight the required layout and click Run.
Figure 59: The "Mailing label options" window
5. Complete the “Mailing label options” window, and click OK to print the mailing labels.
Tip: For information on the "Mailing label reports" and “Mailing label options” windows, press
F1 to display the online help.
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Chapter 7.
Client groups
It is possible to group clients that are related in some way into a client group under a designated
Head Client.
This provides the following functions:

You can run reports on the client groups

Clients that are members of a group can have their addresses synchronised to that of the
Head Client.

Time+Billing invoices for member client jobs can be directed to the Head Client.

On the Jobflow Manager Report builder, you can create reports on jobs for members of
client groups
Viewing client groups
The main “Clients” window defaults to listing individual clients. However, you can set it to list
client groups instead . This enables you to perform actions on the group.
On the “Clients” window, in the View Type field, select Groups to show the client groups.
Figure 60: The "Clients" (Groups view) window
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Creating and editing client groups
Adding a client group
Before you can assign clients to a group, you need to create the group.
Tip: If a group to which you want to assign a client does not exist, it is possible to create one
‘on the fly’. See Adding clients via the “Clients Detail” window on page 85.
1. Do either of the following to open the “Client Groups” window:

From the Client menu, click Client Groups.

On the main “Clients” window in the View Type field, select Groups, and then click
New.
Figure 61: The "Client Groups" window
2. On the upper row of buttons, click New to open the “New Group Details” window.
Figure 62: The "New Group Details" window
3. In the Name field, enter a name for the new group.
4. In the Group Ref field, either enter a reference number for the group or leave it blank for
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to enter one.
5. If you have the Time+Billing 2016 program from which invoices to the group are to be
directed to the Head Client, select the Direct Invoices to Head Client check box.
6. Click Save to create the new group and return to the “Client Groups” window.
The new group will be added to the list under Groups. If you selected the Direct Invoices to
Head Client check box, a ‘Y’ will be displayed in the Inv Head Client column.
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Adding clients to group
Editing a client group
If required, you can change the name and invoice information of an existing group.
1. From the Client menu, click Client Groups to open the “Client Groups” window.
2. Under Groups, highlight the group to be edited and click Edit to open the “Edit Group
Details” window.
Figure 63: The "Edit Group Details" window
3. Change the information on the Name field and the Direct Invoices to Head Client check
box as required.
4. Click Save to save your changes and return to the “Client Groups” window.
Adding clients to group
Once a client group has been created, you can add member clients to it.
You can add multiple clients via the “Client Groups” window or you can add individual clients via
the “Clients Detail” window.
Adding clients via the “Client Groups” window
The “Client Groups” allows you to add multiple clients to groups. You can also select the Head
Client of each group and synchronise the addresses of the member clients to that of the Head
Client.
1. From the Client menu, click Client Groups to open the “Client Groups” window.
2. Under Groups, highlight the group to which members are to be added.
3. On the bottom row of buttons, click Add to open the “Add Client To Group” window.
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Figure 64: The "Add Client To Group" window
4. Click Find, Tagged or Filter to select the clients to add to the list.
Find
Opens the “Client selection” window for you to select a single client.
Figure 65: The "Client Selection" window
Tagged
Opens the “Tagged Clients” window for you to select tagged clients.
Figure 66: The "Tagged Clients" window
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Filter
Adding clients to group
Opens the “Client Filters” window for you to specify a filter for selecting
clients.
Figure 67: The "Client Filters" window
5. When you have assembled the list of clients to be added to the group, click OK to return to
the “Client Groups” window.
6. To set a Head Client for the group, highlight the required client and click Set Head Client. A
‘Y’ will be displayed in the Head Client column.
7. To synchronise member client addresses with that of the Head Client, highlight the required
clients and click Sync Address. A ‘Y’ will be displayed in the Sync Address column.
8. Click Close to exit the “Client Groups” window.
Adding clients via the “Clients Detail” window
You can assign a client to a group when you are entering their details on the “Clients Detail”
window..
1. On the main “Client” window, click New, Edit or View to open the “Clients Detail” window.
2. Under Related, in the Group Ref field, press F2 or click
Group” window.
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to open the “Select a Client
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Figure 68: The "Select a Client Group" window
3. The “Select a Client Group” window lists the groups available for selection. You can do any
of the following:

Highlight a group and click Select to assign it to the client and to return to the “Clients
Detail” window.

If the desired group does not exist, click New to open the “New Group Details” window
to create a new group.

If required, you can highlight a group and click Edit to open the “Edit Group Details”
window to make changes to it.

To add more members to a group, highlight the group and click View to open the “Client
Groups” window.
4. If necessary, you can click Find to search for a group by Group Ref or Group Name.
Viewing relationships in a client group
It is possible to create relationships of client group members with other clients via the “Client
Relationships For” window.
You can view a list of client group members that shows any such relationships that have been
set up.
1. Do either of the following to open the “Client Groups” window:

From the Client menu, click Client Groups.

On the main “Clients” window in the View Type field, select Groups, and then click
View.
2. On the top part of the “Client Groups” window, highlight the required client group and click
Group Related to open the “Group Related” window.
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Viewing relationships in a client group
Figure 69: The "Group Related" window
3. To view any relationships with client group members, click the + sign next to the member
client to expand the list.
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Chapter 8.
Using address books
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 enables you to record details of people and business that are
not your firm's Clients or Prospective Clients. These could be:

Suppliers (for example, the business that supplies stationery)

Repairers (for example, the photocopy repair person)

Associates
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides to you with the following Address Books to record
telephone, address and event details against these people:

Firm Address Book – all users may access entries in the Firm Address Book.

Personal Address Book – only the specific user that created entries in their personal
address book may access those entries.
Creating an address book entry
You can easily create an entry in either Your Address Book or the Firm Address Book.
Opening the required address book
1. Open the required address book.

To open your personal address book, click
Address Book.

To open your firm’s address book, click
Address Book.
or, from the View menu, click Your
or, from the View menu, click Firm
Figure 70: The "Address Book for Firm" window
Tip: For information on the "Address Book for Firm" window, press F1 to display the online
help.
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Finding and ordering address book entries
You can go directly to an address book entry by clicking the Find button. This will open the
"Find/Order" window. You can also use the window to change the order in which the entries are
listed in the address book.
Figure 71: The "Find/Order" window
To find an address book entry
1. On the "Address Book for…" window, click the Find button to open the "Find/Order"
window.
2. On the upper part of the window, select the field on which you want to search. You can use
your up and down arrow keys to move through the selection.
3. In the Find field, type in the search text. As you type in the initial characters, Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 will highlight the first client matching the search text.
Tip: While you are typing in the search text, you can change the order or what you are
searching for by pressing the up and down arrow keys.
4. Click OK to close the "Find/Order" window when you have completed the search.
To order the address book entries
1. On the "Address Book for…" window, click the Find button to open the "Find/Order"
window.
2. On the upper part of the window, select the field on which you want the address book
entries ordered in the window. You can use your up and down arrow keys to move through
the selection.
3. Click OK to close the "Find/Order" window.
Adding a new entry
1. Open the required address book. For more information, refer to "Opening the required
address book" on page 89.
2. Click New. The "Address Book Detail" window will open.
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Creating an address book entry
Figure 72: The "Address Book Detail" window
3. Complete the "Address Book Detail" window as required, click Save and then click Close.
Tip: For information on the "Address Book Detail" window, press F1 to display the online
help.
Printing mailing labels
You can print mailing labels for address book entries.
1. Open the required address book. For more information, refer to "Opening the required
address book" on page 89.
2. If necessary, use the Tag button to select the entries for which mailing labels are to be
printed.
3. Click Print Mailing Labels.
Figure 73: The "Mailing label reports" window
4. On the “Print mailing label reports” window, highlight the required layout and click Run.
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Figure 74: The "Mailing label options" window
5. Complete the “Mailing label options” window, and click OK to print the mailing labels.
Tip: For information on the "Mailing label reports" and “Mailing label options” windows, press
F1 to display the online help.
Recording an event against the address book
You can attach an event (for example, appointment, reminder, and telephone call in) to an entry
in either Your Address Book or the Firm Address Book. To attach an event to the Address
Book:
1. Do any of the following to open the "New Event" window:

From the Events menu, click on the required event type (for example Appointment).

Click one of the event buttons:

Reminder
Mail out
Appointment
Email in
Phone call in
Email out
Phone call out
Fax in
Mail in
Fax out
From within the "Address Book For" window, click Events, New, and then select the
required event type.
2. On the "New Event" window, under Contact, complete the details of the event:
92

Firstly, indicate the Address Book to which the event will be attached. You will need to
specify either Firm or Your.

Secondly, you must indicate who is to have the event attached to them. Click the
button to open either the "Select from Your Address Book" or the "Select from Firm
Address Book" window.
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Recording an event against the address book
Figure 75: The "Select from Firm Address Book" window
Tip: You can create a new address book entry or modify an existing one while you are
entering an event. On the "Select from Address Book" window, click New or Edit.
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Chapter 9.
Operating the diary
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has a flexible diary system in which each user has their own
diary for recording meetings, appointments, reminders, and private items. You may customise
the time intervals within Practice Manager - Contact 2016's diary (for example, you may wish to
have a time interval that corresponds to your timesheet units).
Users may view and edit other users' diaries. Privacy is maintained because only the user who
owns that item may view private diary items. Where another user alters your diary, Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 can warn you of the change.
The diary and To Do List interact. Items from the To Do List can be dragged and dropped into
the diary and vice versa.
You are able to set up alerts (reminders) in Practice Manager - Contact 2016. The program can
pop up a window with details of a diary event ensuring that you do not miss any important
meetings. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will alert you of the items you specify and at a time
you specify.
You can display the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 Diary in any of the following views. Each
view provides a different level of detail.

Daily Planner

Weekly Planner

Five Day Planner

Monthly Calendar
Configuring the diary
There are certain options that you can alter to affect the appearance and operation of the diary.
For detailed information, see Chapter 2, "Installing and configuring Practice Manager - Contact
2016".
Filtering on event type
You can specify that only events of a selected type are displayed on the following Diary
windows:

Daily Planner

Daily Group Planner

Five Day Planner

Weekly Planner

Monthly Calendar
On the Toolbar, select the event type to be displayed. To display all events, select All Events.
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Operating the Daily Planner
To access the Daily Planner:

Click the

Press F6, or

From the View menu, click Daily Planner.
button; or
Figure 76: The "Daily Planner" window
The Daily Planner displays a To Do List on the right side of the window, and the diary for a
single day on the left side. The Daily Planner is broken into the following five different panes:

Day - events for the relevant day are displayed on the left-hand side of the window.

Sometime On This Day - displays events to be completed today. These Events have not
had a time allocated to them, and consequently do not appear within the Day section of the
window.
You can move Sometime On This Day items from a previous day to the current day by
right-clicking on them and selecting Move to current day.
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Operating the Daily Planner
Tip: To be prompted to move Sometime On This Day items from previous days to the
current day, select the ‘Sometime On This Day’ prompt check box on the “Diary Options”
(Options/Diary) window.

Displayed To Do List - the To Do List that is highlighted in the ‘Available To Do Lists’
section is displayed in full on the right hand side of the window.

Available To Do Lists - lists the To Do Lists that have been created for this user.

Month - At the base of the window, the days of the current month and the previous and next
seven days are displayed. You can view the days of the previous and following months by
clicking on their respective buttons. You can select a specific day from this area by clicking
on the required date.
Tip: The current day and date are displayed in a red box.
Items may be 'dragged and dropped' between the To Do List and Diary as required.
Changing the day
There are a number of ways that you can change the day that is displayed with the diaries.
1. Use the strip at the base of the window and click on the day that you wish to display.
Note: You can change the month displayed at the base of the window by clicking on the
buttons for the previous or following months.
Tip: The days printed in blue have events assigned to them.
2. On the Toolbar, click Today to go to the current date.
3. On the Toolbar, in the Date field, click
to open the calendar to select the day.
4. On the Toolbar, in the Date field, type the date in DDMMYY format.
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Press the Tab key to go to the date.
5. From the View menu, click Today or Go to Date.
Operating the Daily Group Planner
The Daily Group Planner provides a graphical view of daily events for the individual members of
the currently selected group. From here you can add edit and delete events.
1. To open the Daily Group Planner, do any of the following:

Press Ctrl F6.

From the View menu, click Daily Group Planner.

On the Daily Planner, click the Daily Group Planner
button.
Figure 77: The "Daily Group Planner
2.
To view details of an event (as shown), hover over it with your mouse.
3. To add, edit or delete an event, right-click on the required time and select from the menu
that appears.
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Operating the Daily Group Planner
Searching for events
From the Daily Planner and Daily Group Planner windows, you can search for events that are
related to specified clients and/or contain certain text in their descriptions.
To search for an event:
1. Click in the Daily Planner window, or in the required user’s column in the Daily Group
Planner window.
2. Press Ctrl+F.
Alternatively, right-click and select Find from the menu that appears.
Figure 78: The "Search Diary Events" window
3. To search for an event related to a specific client; on the “Search Diary Events” window,
click the Advanced tab. In the Client: field, press F2 or click
to select the required client.
4. Click the Quick Search tab to enter search text and a date range for the required event.
You can leave the Quick Search fields blank if you select a client under Advanced.
5. Click Find to start the search. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will highlight the first event
that matches your criteria.
Tip: To skip over the first matching event, click Find Next.
6. To find further matching events, press Ctrl+N or right-click and select Find Next from the
menu that appears.
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Operating the Weekly Planner
To access the Weekly Planner:

Click the

Press F7; or

From the View menu, click Weekly Planner.
button; or
Figure 79: The "Weekly Planner" window
The Weekly Planner displays a seven-day week on your screen. The information displayed in
the window is not as detailed as in the Daily Planner; however 'double clicking' on an item will
display the full information.

To add edit and delete events, right-click on an event or day and select the desired action
from the menu that appears.
At the base of the window, the days of current month and the seven previous and following days
are displayed. You are able to move between months using the buttons for the previous and
next months.
Tip: The current day and date are displayed in a red box.
Event items may be 'dragged and dropped' between different days within the Weekly Planner
and the month display (at the base of the window).
Changing the week
The week displayed within the Weekly Planner is determined by the currently selected day.
Use the strip at the base of the window and click on the day you wish to display – the week that
is viewed will alter accordingly.
Please note that you can change the month displayed at the base of the window by clicking on
the button for the previous or following month.
Tip: You can use the Toolbar and View menu items to select the required date. See Changing
the day on page 97.
Operating the Five Day Planner
To access the Five Day Planner:

100
Click the
button; or
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Specifying columns to be displayed

Press Ctrl+F5; or

From the View menu, click Five Day Planner.
Figure 80: The "Five Day Planner" window
The Five Day Planner displays five weekdays on your screen.

Double-click on events to view and change details.

To add edit and delete events, right-click on an event or day, and select the desired action
from the menu that appears.
At the base of the window, the days of current month and the seven previous and following days
are displayed. You are able to move between months using the buttons for the previous and
next months.
Event items may be 'dragged and dropped' between different days within the weekly planner
and the month display (at the base of the window).
Changing the days
The five weekdays displayed are determined by the currently selected day. Use the strip at the
base of the window and click on the day you wish to display – the week that is viewed will alter
accordingly.
You can change the month displayed at the base of the window by clicking on the button for the
previous or following month.
Tip: You can use the Toolbar and View menu items to select the required date. See
Changing the day on page 97.
Specifying columns to be displayed
You can specify the columns to be displayed in the Events area of the following Diary windows.

Daily Planner

5-Day Planner

Weekly Planner

Monthly Planner
1. Right-click on the Events section Title bars.
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2. On the list that appears, select the columns to be displayed.
You can also change the order in which the columns are displayed..
1. From the Options menu, click Diary to open the “Diary Options” window.
Figure 81: The "Diary Options" window
2. Under Columns to Show, highlight a column and use the blue arrow buttons to move it up
or down.
Tip: You can return to the default column order by clicking Default.
3. Click Ok to accept your changes and close the “Diary Options” window.
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Operating the Monthly Planner
Operating the Monthly Planner
To access the Monthly Planner:

Click the

Press F8; or

From the View menu, click Monthly Calendar.
button; or
Figure 82: The "Monthly Planner" window
The Monthly Planner displays all the days in a selected month, with their respective events.

Double-click on the events to view and change details.

To add edit and delete events, right-click on an event or day, and select the desired action
from the menu that appears.
To change the month that is displayed within this window, click on the required month at the
base of the window.
Changing the year
To view a month in a different calendar year use the
and
correct year, then click on the required month to be displayed.
buttons to scroll to the
Tip: You can use the Toolbar and View menu items to select the required date. See
Changing the day on page 97.
Generating diary reports
You can generate reports from any of the planner windows.
1. Open the Daily, Weekly, Five Day Planner or Monthly Planner.
2. Right-click on the area of interest, and select Print report from the menu that appears.
Alternatively, highlight the area and press Ctrl+R.
3. Depending on the planner and the highlighted area, the “Daily Report” “5 Day Report”
“Weekly Report”or “Monthly Report” window will open.
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Figure 83: The "Daily "Report" window
4. Under Layout, select whether the report is to be generated in a Graphical or text based
(Normal) format.
5. Under Show, select the report to be generated.
6. If you selected Graphical, under Sometime on this day events, select the Show All
Events check box if the report is to include ‘Sometime on this day’ events.
7. If, under Show, you selected 1 Month, under Weekend Events, select the Show
Weekends check box if the report is to include weekends.
8. Click OK to generate the report, which will be displayed in the “Report Preview” window.
Operating diary events
Recording an event
You can use any of the following methods to add a new Event:

From the Events menu, click the required event type (for example, Appointment).

Click one of the event buttons:
Reminder
Mail out
Appointment
Email in
Phone call in
Email out
Phone call out
Fax in
Mail in
Fax out

From within the Diary, double-click or right-click within the required time-slot

From within the Diary, click on the required beginning time slot and drag the mouse to the
end time slot. The event will then have the correct duration.

From within the Diary, click on the required beginning time slot and, while holding down the
Shift key, click on the end time slot. The event will then have the correct duration.
If you have set up Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to synchronise with Microsoft Outlook, and
the event is an appointment, you will be prompted to add the event to Outlook.
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Moving items between the diary and To Do List
Moving an event
You can easily move an event to any of the areas listed below by 'dragging and dropping' it:

Another timeslot on the current day

The 'Sometime on this Day' section

The To Do List

Another day. Use the month displayed at the base of the window to do this.
You can also move an event by changing its Time or Date.
Editing an event
Use any of the following methods to edit an existing event:

Highlight the event using the arrow keys, and press ENTER

Highlight the event using the arrow keys and then from the Edit menu, click Edit

'Double click' on the required event

'Right click' in the required time slot and select Edit.
Tip: A small blue paper clip displayed next the event indicates that the event has documents
attached.
Deleting an event
Use any of the following methods to delete an existing Event:

Highlight the event using the arrow keys and then press delete;

Highlight the event using the arrow keys and click Edit / Delete from the main menu.

'Double click' on the required event and then click Delete;

'Right click' on the required event and then click Delete.
Moving items between the diary and To Do List
Items in the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 To Do List are easily moved into the Diary area
by 'dragging and dropping' the item. The To Do Item may be 'dragged and dropped' into any of
the following locations:

A time slot of the Daily Planner.

The 'Sometime on This Day' section.

Into another day (using the month display at the base of the Daily Planner).
Once a To Do Item is dropped into any of the above locations, Practice Manager - Contact 2016
changes the item into an event. As a result, the "New Event" window will open. Enter the
required information into this window.
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Viewing and modifying other users' diaries
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to view and modify another person's diary.
To view and modify another user's diary
1. Click the
button. This will open the "Select a User" window.
Figure 84: The "Select a User" window
2. Select the required user from those listed.
Notice how the name at the top of your screen has changed. You are now looking at that
person's Diary and To Do lists.
3. You may now alter and add to the Diary and To Do lists in the normal manner.
If you alter the Diary/To Do List of another user, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 creates an
Alert to notify that user of the change you have made.
Tip: To quickly return to your own diary, click the button with your user name on it.
To view and modify a group's diary
You can also edit the diaries for all members of a group.
1. Click the
button. This will open the "Groups" window.
Figure 85: The "Groups" window
2. Select the required group from those listed.
Notice how the name at the top of your screen has changed. You are now looking at that
group's Diary and To Do lists.
3. You may now alter and add to the Diary and To Do lists in the normal manner.
If you alter the Diary/To Do List of a group, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 creates an Alert to
notify the group members of the change you have made.
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Leave Planner
Maintaining your privacy
You may not want other users to see Events in your diary. Where you have diary events of a
personal nature, select the Private check box under Other in the "New Event" window.
The Private Diary Event is visible in the Diary. This is necessary, as the diary time-slot must be
displayed as being occupied. However, the actual detail and content of the Private Event
cannot be viewed or modified by another user.
Leave Planner
The Leave Planner provides a simple and effective way of organising annual leave and other
selected events for staff under your control. You can easily view the events over a period, and
identify any conflicts or problem areas.
If you have the Time+Biiling 2016 program, you can opt to have timesheets skipped for the
leave days.
You can use the “Leave Options” window to specify the event types that can be managed via
the Leave Planner.
To open the “Leave Options” window:

From the Options menu, click Leave.
Operating the Leave Planner
1. Press Ctrl F8 or, from the View menu, click Leave Planner.
2. If you have not selected a group on the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 main window, the
"Groups" window will open for you to select the group for whom you want to view the event
times. Highlight the required group and click Select.
The Leave Planner will open, showing the days that members of the selected group have
the selected events.
3. To view the event times for a whole month, click
at the top left.
Figure 86: The Annual Leave Planner (month view)

You can select the month by clicking the required button.
4. To view the event times for a period of seven to twelve days, click
at the top left. The
number of days displayed depends on the width to which you have set the Leave Planner
window.
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Figure 87: The Annual Leave Planner (day view)

At the foot of the window, click the required day. The planner will display the events on
that day and the following six to eleven days.
5. To include or exclude weekend days, click the
included when the check box on the button is selected.
button. The weekends are
6. You can add, edit and delete the events as required.
Tip: Use your left and right arrow keys to move from day to day. If you are on the first or last
day displayed, pressing the arrow keys will move you to the next or previous day.
Adding an event
The Leave Planner provides a simple method of adding selected events:
1. Press Ctrl F8 or, from the View menu, click Leave Planner.

If you have not selected a group on the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 main window,
the "Groups" window will open for you to select the group for whom you want to view
the event times. Highlight the required group and click Select.
2. On the Leave Planner, click in the square for the starting day of the event for the staff
member.
3. If the event is to be for more than a single day, hold the mouse button down and drag the
cursor the required numbers of days.
Tip: To exclude weekend days, click the
button before selecting the days.
The check box on the button will be cleared to indicate that weekends are excluded.
For a single day, do one of the following:
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
Double click on the day.

Press your Insert key.

Right-click on the day and then click New.
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Leave Planner
Figure 88: The "New Event" window
4. On the "New Event: " window, select the event type. The event types available for selection
will have been previously specified in the “Leave Options” window.
5. Click OK to open the applicable new event window.
Figure 89: The "New Event: Annual Leave" window
6. Edit the fields where necessary.
7. Click Save to confirm the event.
If you have the Time+Billing 2016 program, you will be asked if timesheets for the leave
days are to be skipped.
8. Click Yes to mark the timesheet days as skipped.
The new event will be represented by a bar on the Leave Planner. The colour of the bar will
indicate the event type.
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Editing and deleting annual leave
You can use the Leave Planner to edit and delete events as follows:
1. Press Ctrl F8 or, from the View menu, click Leave Planner.

If you have not selected a group on the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 main window,
the "Groups" window will open for you to select the group for whom you want to view
the annual leave times. Highlight the required group and click Select.
2. On the Leave Planner do one of the following:

Click on the required event and press your Enter key to edit it or your Delete key to
delete it.

Right-click on the required event and then click either Edit or Delete.

Double-click on the required event to edit it.
3. On the "Event Detail" window, edit the event as required.
Generating a leave event report
You can use the Leave Planner to generate an event report:
1. Press Ctrl F8 or, from the View menu, click Leave Planner.

If you have not selected a group on the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 main window,
the "Groups" window will open for you to select the group for whom you want to view
the event times. Highlight the required group and click Select.
2. On the Leave Planner, press Ctrl R or right-click on a day and click Print Report.
Figure 90: The "Annual Leave Report Options" window
3. On the “Annual Leave Report Options” window, specify the layout and contents of the
report.
4. Click OK to generate the report.
An alternative method of generating a leave event report is:

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From the Reports menu, point to Events, and then click Events For Annual Leave.
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Chapter 10. Working with events
Events are:

Items attached to a client (for example, client appointment, telephone call in, mail out etc);
and

Items attached to the Diary (for example, client appointment, staff meeting, reminder, etc).
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has a number of standard event types that you can customise
to suit your firm's requirements.
Understanding event types
Understand the standard event types
The following are standard event types that you can customise from the View menu by clicking
Event Types.
Description
Form Style Priority
Has
Done
Alert
Contact
Reminder
No Duration
Low
-
-
Y
Appointment
Duration
Low
Y
-
-
Phone Call In
Timed
Low
Y
Y
-
Mail In
No Duration
Low
Y
Y
-
Email In
No Duration
Low
Y
Y
-
FAX In
No Duration
Low
Y
Y
-
Phone Call Out
Timed
Low
Y
Y
-
Mail Out
No Duration
Low
Y
Y
-
Email Out
No Duration
Low
Y
Y
-
FAX Out
No Duration
Low
Y
Y
-
Annual Leave
Duration
Low
-
-
-
Professional
Development
Duration
Low
-
-
-
Travelling
Duration
Low
-
-
-
Create new event types
Any event types that you create will be added to the Events menu if you set the value in the
Show column to 'Y'. Create a new event type as follows
1. From the View menu, click Event Types. The "Event Types" window will open.
2. Click the New button and complete the "Event Types" window.
3. Click Save.
4. If necessary, highlight the new event type and use the arrows on the right hand side of the
“Event Types” window to move it to the desired place in the list.
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Tip: The order of the event types in this list determines the order that they appear under
the Events menu. It also specifies the order of the selection list when creating events.
Figure 91: The "Event Types" window
Note: The T+B column enables you to select how the Time+Billing program processes the
event. You can select None, Timesheet, Disbursement or Both.
5. Click Close to exit the “Event Types” window.
Tip: For information on the "Event Types" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Setting purge times for event types
The Purge column on the "Event Types" window enables you to set a time after which events of
that type will be removed. You can select either 'Never' or a period from one to five years. For
example, if you want all appointments that are more than two years old today to be removed,
select 2 years in the Purge column for Appointment.

When you close the "Event Types" window, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will ask if you
want the old events for all users to be deleted.
If you click Yes, the old events for all users, except those marked Private will be deleted.
Caution: You will not be able to recover purged events.

When you start Practice Manager - Contact 2016 it will search for events older than your set
age and ask if you want them removed. If you click Yes, it will remove your personal events,
including those marked Private.
Interfacing with Time+Billing
If you have the Sage HandiSoft Time+Billing program installed, you can link events to
Time+Billing activities and costs. This enables the events to be imported into timesheets and
disbursements to create invoices. . To facilitate this, the “New Event:” window has the Activity
Code and Cost Code fields where you can enter the relevant Time+Billing codes.
The Activity and Cost columns on the “Event Types” window enable you to create event types
that have the Activity Code and Cost Code fields pre-filled.
The T+B column enables you to select how the events are to be processed by Time+Billing – as
timesheet items, disbursements or both.
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Recording an event
Recording an event
You record Diary and Client events in the same manner. To record an event:
1. From the Events menu, click the Event Type to be recorded.
2. On the "New Event" window, complete the event's details as required. The components of
an Event are discussed below.
3. You can link the event to a task created in Jobflow Manager.
Tip: You can record an event directly from the "Daily Planner" and "Leave Planner" windows.
Refer to "Operating diary events" in Chapter 8, "Operating the Diary".
Recording a "Telephone In" event
You would record a "Telephone In" event as follows:
1. Either click the
button, or from the Events menu click Phone Call In. This will open the
"New Event: Phone Call In" window.
Figure 92: The "New Event: Phone Call In" window
2. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will record the length of the telephone call. Click Start
and Stop to start and stop the timer.
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
If you click Stop, and then, within one minute, Start again, the Session Time will
continue without resetting to zero.

If, after clicking Stop you wait longer than one minute to click Start, Practice Manager Contact 2016 will create a new event.

You can reset the timer to zero by clicking Reset.
The “New Event” window has a Total Time: field that displays the total times between
clicking Start and Stop without resetting to zero.
3. Complete the rest of the "Event: Phone Call In" window as required.
4. After completing the required information, click Save.
Enter an appointment
If you have a meeting with a client at 10:00am on Monday morning, you record the appointment
as follows:
1. Open the "New Event: Appointment" window:

Click the

From the Events menu, click Appointment; or

On then clients view window, highlight the client, select Client Events, and then click
New.
button; or
2. Complete the Date/Time section of the window as follows:
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
All Day – this is selected where the appointment spans the entire working day. For this
example, leave the check box cleared.

Start Date, End Date – enter the start and end dates.

Start Time, End Time – select the start and end times
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Recording an event
Figure 93: The "New Event: Appointment" window
3. Under Other, complete the fields as follows:

Priority – as the meeting is with a client, set the priority to High.

Alert – Select this option if you want Contact 2016 to remind you about the appointment.

Alert Before – type in 10. Contact 2016 will then alert you of the meeting 10 minutes
before it is due to commence.

Private – leave this option cleared if you want all users to be able to see details of this
appointment.

Done – leave this option cleared. Once the meeting has been completed, you would
come back and mark it as being Done.
4. Under Jobflow, you can select a Jobflow Manager task to which this event is to be linked. If
necessary, you can create a new Jobflow Manager job with associated tasks.
5. Under Contact, select Client. This is necessary as your appointment is with an existing
client of your firm. You must also specify the Client Reference Code.
6. If you want to select more than one client, select the Tagged check box. This will select all
the tagged clients.
7. In the Contact Name field, either enter the contact’s name or select it from previous events
for that contact. If necessary, enter the contact’s Phone number and Contact Email
address.
You can also click Recent to open the “Event Contact Details” window, from which you can
edit and select previously entered contact details.
8. If you have purchased the Sage HandiSoft Notify module, you can click SMS to send an
SMS message to the client. The “SMS Message” window will open.
9. To send an email to the contact’s email address, click Send.
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Note: If you click the
button to select the client reference, the clients available for
selection on the “Select a Client Reference” window are determined by what is selected on
the “Clients” window in the Client Type field. For example, if you have selected Current as
the Client Type, only those clients that are current will be listed for selection as the event
Contact.
10. If you have the Time+Billing program installed, you can link the event to it for billing
purposes. These details can be entered here or left blank and completed via the Timesheet
Entry window if preferred.
11. Under Description, enter the details of the appointment: for example, “Preparation of Tax
Return”.
12. The User section is used to update other users’ diaries with this appointment. If only you
will be attending the appointment, select the User option and ensure that your reference
code is displayed.
Tip: Use the Group option where one or more members of your firm are to attend the
meeting. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will update the diary for all members of the
group.
13. In the Organiser field, enter the name of the creator of the event. This can be same as the
User.

Priority – as the meeting is with a client, set the priority to High.

Alert – select this option if you want Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to remind you
about the appointment.

Alert Before – type in 10. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will then alert you of the
meeting 10 minutes before it is due to commence.

Private – leave this option cleared if you want all users to be able to see details of this
appointment.

Done – leave this option cleared. Once the meeting has been completed, you would
come back and mark it as being Done.

Click Save to save the information and exit from the window. The appointment will now
appear in your diary.
14. If you want to invite a number of users to the event (for example, a meeting), click Invite.
15. Click Save to save the information and exit from the window. The appointment will now
appear in your diary.
Tip: For information on the event windows, press F1 to display the online help.
Recording two events simultaneously
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to record two events simultaneously.
1. Create an event using any of the methods.
2. With the “New Event” window open, create another event. A new “New Event” window will
open.
3. You can now enter information for both events. Use your mouse or press Tab to switch
between the two “New Event” windows.
4. When you have completed entering your events, click Save on the event windows to save
the event information.
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Completing an event’s details
Recording two timed events
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to record two timed events simultaneously. For
example, you may be busy on an incoming telephone call, when you receive another call. You
can time both events.
1. When you receive the first call, either click the
button, or from the Events menu click
Phone Call In to open the "New Event: Phone Call In" window.
2. Under Session Time, click Start to time the first call.
3. When you receive the second call, either click the
button, or from the Events menu click
Phone Call In to open another “New Event: Phone Call In" window.
You should now have two "New Event: Phone Call In" windows open.
4. On the second window, click Start to time the second call. If necessary, you can click STOP
on the first call to stop the timer.
5. You can now alternate your time between the two calls by clicking Start on the relevant
"New Event: Phone Call In" window.
6. When the calls are complete, click Save on the event windows to save the event
information.
Completing an event’s details
The majority of fields within a "New Event" window are self-explanatory. The more complex
items are discussed below.
Start and End times
You can manually type the starting or ending time. When you enter a time, Practice Manager Contact 2016 assumes that it is (unless you enter it as a 24-hour-clock time).
Tip: You can quickly enter a pm time. Simply type a “p” after the time to designate “pm”. For
example, enter “230p” instead of “2:30 pm” or “14:30”.
Alert
Select his option if you want Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to warn you of the event. When
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 warns you of an event, it will beep and a window containing
the Event's details will open.
Where you wish Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to remind you of an event, the Before (Min)
field should be completed.
Private
Selecting this option will stop other users from seeing the recorded event.
Done
Where an event has been completed, you can select the Done check box. This will affect how
the event is displayed within the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 Diary.
When at event is marked as being done, the event will:

Appear in the diary with a line crossing the event out; or

Will be invisible within the diary.
You can control the appearance of Done items within the Diary as follows:
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1. From the Options menu, click Diary.
2. Select or clear the Show Done checkbox.
Time+Billing
If the event is to be imported into the Time+Billing program as a timesheet entry, you can select
the applicable Time+Billing Activity Code, Cost Code and Charge Rate, and enter the number
of Units.
You can also click the Std Par button to select a Time+Billing standard paragraph to be a
description of the event. This will help standardise timesheet entries in Time+Billing.
If you have linked the event to a Jobflow Manager task, this information will be prefilled with that
from the Jobflow Manager task.
Jobflow
To link the event to a Jobflow Manager task, in the Linked Task field, click
from the “Select Existing Jobflow Task” window.
to select the task
Figure 94: The "Select Existing Jobflow Task" window
Contact
When recording the Contact details, you must specify a reference code of the required contact
person/business. You can record an event against any of the following Contact groupings.

None – no contact is specified.

Client – a specific client in the Client database.

Prospect – a Prospective Client of your firm.

Firm – a person/business in the Firm Address book.
Example:
In your diary you record an appointment with the Air Conditioner Repair Person. As this
person is not a client or a prospective client of your firm, they are recorded in the Firm
Address Book.

Your – a person/business in Your Address book. For example, you may record a lunch
date with a relative or friend.
The Contact Name, Phone and Contact Email fields enable you to enter contact details. If you
have previously entered these details for the contact, you can either select them from the
Contact Name drop-down list, or you can click Recent to open the “Event Contact Details”
window, from where you can edit and select previously entered information.
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Figure 95: The "Event Contact Details" window
Client and prospective client selection windows
If you select Client or Prospective Client as the contact, and then click the
button in the
Contact field, the "Select a Client Reference" or "Select a Prospective Client Reference"
window will open. The window enables you to select from a list of all the clients or prospective
clients.
To select the client or prospective client:

On the selection window, highlight the required client or prospective client and either press
Enter or click Select.
Note: The clients available for selection on the “Select a Client Reference” window are
determined by what is selected on the “Clients” window in the Client Type field. For
example, if you have selected Current as the Client Type, only those clients that are
current will be listed for selection as the event Contact.
Or

On the selection window, double-click the required client or prospective client.
You can also search for the required client or prospective client by clicking Find. The "Find
Order" window will open for you to select a search field and enter search text.
Tip: You can use the Edit and New buttons on the "Select a Client Reference" and "Select a
Prospective Client Reference" windows to edit or create a new client or prospective client. This
enables you to change or add new contact details while entering an event.
Address book selection windows
If you select Firm or Your as the contact group, and then click the
button in the Contact
field, the "Select from Your Address Book" or "Select from Firm Address Book" window will
open. The window enables you to select an address book entry.
To select the address book entry:

On the selection window, highlight the entry and either press Enter or click Select.
Or

On the selection window, double-click the required entry.
You can also search for the required address book entry by clicking Find. The "Find Order"
window will open for you to select a search field and enter search text.
Tip: You can use the Edit and New buttons on the "Select for Address Book" windows to edit
or create a new address book entry. This enables you to change or add contact details while
entering an event.
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Creating events for tagged clients
The Tagged check box enables you to batch create events for multiple clients. You can do this
for all except phone event types.
To do this:
1. Press F3 or, from the Client menu, click View to open the “Clients View” window.
2. Highlight each client for whom the event is being created and click Tag. An asterisk will
indicate the tagged clients.
3. Press the event type button or, from the Events menu, click the required event type.
4. On the “New Event” window, under Contact select Client and the Tagged check box.
User
You can record an event against a number of people within your firm, or against a single
person.

User – To record the event against a single person in your firm, choose the User option and
then specify the user's reference code.

Group – To record an event against a group of people within your firm, choose the Group
option. You must then specify the reference code of the group against which the
appointment is to be recorded. Please see Chapter 4 "Working with users and groups" for
further information.

Invite – To invite a number of users to an event, click Invite. This will open the “Invite
Users” window. See “Inviting users to events” on page 121.
Sending SMS messages to contacts
If you have purchased the Sage HandiSoft Notify SMS module, you can send reminder SMS
messages to clients, prospective clients, address book entries and staff members.
1. Open the “New Event: Appointment” window, and complete the fields as required.
2. Under Contact and User, enter details of the relevant contact and staff member or group.
3. Click SMS to open the “SMS Message” window.
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Figure 96: The "SMS Message" window
4. Complete the fields as required, and click Send to send the SMS message.
For more information on SMS messaging, refer to the “Sage HandiSoft Advanced Features
2016” manual.
Inviting users to events
When you create an event, such as a meeting, you can invite other users to participate. Those
invited can accept or decline, giving reasons for declining.
When inviting users, you can also quickly check for clashes, and view individuals’ diaries.
Selecting the users to invite
To invite users, you first have to create the event.
1. From the Events menu, click the Event Type to be recorded.
2. On the "New Event" window, complete the event's details as required.
3. Click Invite to open the “Invite Users” window.
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Figure 97: The "Invite Users" window
4. Under Date/Time, check that the dates and times are correct, and amend if necessary.
5. Under Check Users to invite, select the check boxes of the users you want to invite.

To select all the users, click Check All. The button will change to Uncheck All for you
to deselect all the users.

To select members of a group, click Add Group Members. The “Groups” window will
open for you to select a group.
6. Click Check Clashing Times to see if any of the selected users have another appointment
that clashes with this event. If there are clashing events, the following window will be
displayed.
7. To view a user’s diary for the day of the event, highlight the user and click View Users
Schedule. The “Events for User” window will open.
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Inviting users to events
Figure 98: The "Events for User" window
Tip: You can view up to four users’ schedules simultaneously by highlighting each user in
turn and clicking View Users Schedule.
8. Click Close to exit the “Events for User” windows.
9. When you have selected the invited users, click Select to return to the “New Event” window.
A small person figure next to the “New Event” window Invite button will now indicate that
users have been invited to the event.
10. Click Save to save the event. A message window will display the number of people invited.
11. Click OK.
The event will be created and an invitation will be sent to the invited users.
Viewing and acknowledging your invitations
The “Meeting Requests for” window lists events to which you have been invited. This pops up
automatically when you are invited to an event. You can also open it as follows:

Press Ctrl+F4; or

From the View menu, click Your Meeting Requests.
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Figure 99: The "Meeting Requests for” window
The invitations will remain listed until the originators delete them. Alternatively, the Delete
button will become available once the date of the event has passed.
1. To acknowledge a new request, click the Not Responded tab, highlight the request and
click on the following:
Accept: This creates an appointment in your diary and marks your status as Accepted.
Tentative: This does not create an appointment, but enables you to go back to the meeting
request later. Your status is marked as Tentative.
Decline: This does not create an appointment, and it marks your status as Declined. .
2. If you click Decline, you must enter a reason in the Reason for Declining field which
appears, and then click Post Decline Notice.
3. To view details of an event and change your status, highlight the event and click View. This
will open the “You are requested to attend a meeting” window.
Figure 100: The “You are requested to attend a meeting” window
4. Under Acknowledge, you can select a new status. If you select Remind me in, no
appointment is created, and your status will be Remind Later.
5. Click OK to close the window.
Viewing and changing invitations to an event
You can view the list of users invited to an event, and their statuses. You can invite more users
and, if you are the originator of the event, you can remove users from the list.
1. Open the “Event Detail” window by highlighting an event on the “Clients” or Planner
windows.
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2. At the bottom of the window, the Guests button will have a small person figure next to it if
users have been invited to the event.
Note: If users have been invited to the event, and you are not the originator, the “Event
Detail” fields will be disabled because only the originator is allowed to change these.
3. Click Guests to open the “Invited Guests” window.
Figure 101: The “Invited Guests” window
4. If you want to invite more users, click Invite More to open the “Invite Users” window.
5. If you are the originator of the event, the Delete button will be available for you to remove
users from the list.
6. Click Close to return to the “Event Detail” window.
Managing meeting rooms
When you create duration or timed event, you can select a venue on the “New Event” window
by clicking the
button next to the Meeting Room field. This enables you to record and
manage the usage of your meeting rooms.
The meeting rooms available for reservation and selection will have previously been set up via
the “Meeting Rooms” window. See “Meeting rooms” in Chapter 2, Installing and configuring
Contact 2016.
Reserving and selecting a meeting room
The following procedure describes how you can reserve and select a meeting room when
creating an event.
1. On the “New event” window, click the
Reservations” window will open.
button next to the Meeting Room field. The “Room
Note: The Meeting Room field is only available when entering duration and timed events.
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Figure 102: The "Room Reservations" window
The “Room Reservations” window lists all your meeting rooms. The Selected Date and
Start Time fields are pre-filled from what was entered on the “New Event” window.
Tip: If you need to add a room to the list, click Rooms to open the “Meeting Rooms”
window.
2. To see what rooms can be reserved, select the Available Rooms Only check box.

If no rooms have been reserved for that day, all the rooms will be displayed without any
reservation details.

If you clear the Available Rooms Only check box, all room reservations for the day will
be shown.
3. Highlight the required room and click Select. Your reservation information will be inserted
against the room.
Note: Only the user who originally reserved a room can change it. If you subsequently
change your event times, you will either have to request the person who reserved the room
to change it or you will have to select a new reservation.
4. In the Details column, type any reservation information.
5.
Click Close to exit from the “Room Reservations” window.
Generating a room reservation report
You can generate a report that shows your meeting room usage for the current week.
Method 1:
1. From the View menu, click Meeting Rooms to open the “Meeting Rooms” window.
2. Click Report.
Method 2:

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When you are creating an event and reservation a room, on the “Room Reservations”
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Modifying an event
Modifying an event
Once you have recorded an event, you can modify it via the "Event Detail" window. You can
also attach documents to the event via the Document Manager.
Opening the "Event Detail" window
You can open the "Event Detail" window via the following windows:

The "Clients" window

The "Prospective Clients" window

"Daily Planner" or "Weekly Planner" window

The “Leave Planner” window
Tip: For information on the "Event Detail" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Via the "Clients" window
1. Use one of the following methods to open the "Clients" window:

Press F3.

Click the View Clients

From the Client menu, click View.
button.
2. On the "Clients" window, highlight the client and click the Client Events tab.
3. Double-click the event or, on the lower buttons, click Edit or View.
The "Event Detail" window will open.
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Figure 103: The "Event Detail" window
Note: If a small person figure is displayed next to the Guests button, users have been
invited to participate in the event. If you are not the originator of the event, you will not be
able to change any details.
4. When you have made your changes, click Close to close the "Event Detail" window.
Tip: You can use the blue arrows
at the bottom of the window to scroll through your
events without having to go back to the selection window.
Via the "Prospective Clients" window
1. From the View menu, click Prospective Clients to open the "Prospective Clients" window.
2. On the "Prospective Clients" window, highlight the prospective client and the event.
3. Double-click the event or, on the lower buttons, click Edit or View.
The "Event Detail" window will open.
4. When you have made your changes, click Close to close the "Event Detail" window.
Via the Daily or Weekly Planner window
1. Use one of the following methods to open the Daily Planner or Weekly Planner window:
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
Press F6 for the Daily Planner, or F7 for the Weekly Planner.

Click the View Daily Planner

From the View menu, click Daily Planner or Weekly Planner.
or View Weekly Planner
button.
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Modifying an event
2. On the Daily or Weekly Planner, double click on the event to be edited. Alternatively,
highlight the event and, from the Edit menu, click Edit.
The "Event Detail" window will open.
3. Modify the "Event Detail" window fields as required, and click Close to close the window.
Attaching documents to an event
If you have the optional Document Manager installed, you can attach relevant documents to
events. For example, you may have an appointment with a client where you will need to refer to
certain documents. You can attach those documents to the appointments event. You can then
access the documents from the "Clients" and "Event Detail" windows.
To attach the documents
1. Open the "Event Detail" window via the "Clients", "Prospective Clients", "Daily Planner" or
"Weekly Planner" window.
2. On the "Event Detail" window, click Document.
The "Attached Documents" window will open, listing any documents that are already
attached to the event.
Figure 104: The "Attached Documents" window
3. To attach additional documents, click Add. The "Document Manager" window will open.
4. On the "Document Manager" window, highlight the documents you want to attach and, from
the File menu, click Attach Document(s).
Tip: You can highlight more than one document by holding down your Ctrl or Shift key
while clicking the documents. The Ctrl key adds the current document to those already
highlighted, while the Shift key highlights all the documents between the last highlighted
and the one currently being clicked.
5. Repeat the previous step if you want to attach more documents.
6. Click the Close Document Manager
window.
button to return to the "Attached Documents"
The "Attached Documents" window will show the newly attached documents on the list.
7. Click Close to exit from the "Attached Documents" window.
The "Event Detail" window will display a small blue paper clip next to the Document button,
indicating that the event has documents attached.
To remove attached documents
You can remove selected documents from attachment lists.
1. Open the "Event Detail" window.
2. Click Document to open the "Attached Documents" window.
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3. On the "Attached Documents" window, highlight the documents to be removed and click
Delete.
Tip: You can use the Ctrl or Shift key to highlight multiple documents.
4. On the "Attention" window that appears, click Yes to confirm the removal.
The documents will be removed from the attachment list.
To open attached documents
You can open documents attached to events for viewing or editing.
1. Open the "Event Detail" window.
2. Click Document to open the "Attached Documents" window.
3. On the "Attached Documents" window, highlight the document to be viewed or edited, and
click Open.
The program for that type of document will open with the document already loaded.
4. View, edit and print the document as required.
5. When you have finished, exit from the document program to return to the "Attached
Documents" window.
6. Click Close to exit the "Attached Documents" window.
The documents will be removed from the attachment list.
To order attached documents
You can specify the order in which the attached documents are listed in the “Attached
Documents” window by clicking the relevant column heading.
For example, if you want to list the attached documents in ascending order of Author name,
click the Author column heading. An arrowhead pointing up will indicate ascending order. If you
click the Author column heading again, the order will be reversed and the arrowhead will point
down.
To merge attached documents
You can create mail merged documents from attached documents that have merge fields.
1. Open the "Event Detail" window.
2. Click Document to open the "Attached Documents" window.
3. On the "Attached Documents" window, highlight the document with merge fields, and click
Merge.
Figure 105: The "Confirm Document Merge" window
4. On the "Confirm Document Merge" window, complete the file name, linking and event fields,
and click OK.
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5. On the "Print Documents for" window, select the order and client group for which the
merged documents are to be created. Click OK.
Microsoft Word will create the merged documents
6. Click Close to exit the "Attached Documents" window.
The documents will be removed from the attachment list.
Printing events
If you click Print on the "New Event" or "Event Detail" window, Practice Manager - Contact 2016
will display the event information in the "Report Preview" window. From there you can print the
event or save it in the following formats:

Excel

Microsoft Word

PDF

HTML
Linking events to Time+Billing
If you have the Sage HandiSoft Time+Billing 2016 program installed, events you enter in
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 can be linked to enable you to manage your time and to
invoice clients.
The jobs in Time+Billing are identified by the combination of the Client Reference Code and an
Activity Code.
When you enter or edit an event in the "New Event" and "Event Detail" windows, you can select
an applicable Activity Code and Cost Code in the Timesheets section.
You can also override the defaulted Charge Rate and Units value if required.

To allocate an event to a specific job in Time+Billing, click the
applicable Activity Code and Cost Code.

Click the Std Par button to select a Time+Billing standard paragraph to be a description for
the event. You can use this to standardise the timesheet entries for events imported into
Time+Billing.
buttons to select the
Using recurring events
You may find that some events within your diary are recurrent, for example your lunch break or
a staff meeting. Instead of recording every one of these entries individually, you can record a
single recurring event, and Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will do the rest for you.
Create a recurring event
1. From the View menu, click Recurring Events.
If no recurring events currently exist; the "New Recurring Event" window will open
immediately.
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Figure 106: The "New Recurring Event" window
If recurring events already exist, the "Recurring Events For" window will open. Click New to
open the "New Recurring Event" window.
Figure 107: The "Recurring Events For" window
2. Complete the "New Recurring Event" window and then click Save.
An “Attention” window will display the number of individual events to be created.
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3. Click Yes to continue creating the events.
4. If you want to add the events to the relevant users’ Microsoft Outlook calendars, click Yes
on the “Attention” window.
The "Recurring Events" window will open, displaying all existing recurring events. From this
window, you are able to modify or remove recurring events.
Tip: For information on the "New Recurring Event" and "Recurring Events For" windows,
press F1 to display the online help.
Modify an existing recurring event
Once a recurring event has been recorded, you are able to modify and/or delete the individual
events as follows:
1. From the View menu, click Recurring Events to open the "Recurring Events For" window.
2. In the upper half of the window, highlight the recurring event.
3. In the Events section (the lower half) of the window, highlight the individual event to be
modified.
Tip: To modify all the individual events, highlight the first event.
4. In the Events section of the window, click Edit. The "Event Detail" window will open.
5. Modify the event as required, click Save and then Close.
6. Click Yes on the “Attention” window if you want all the future individual events to be
modified as well.
The events will be modified accordingly.
Delete a recurring event
Once a recurring event has been recorded, you are able to delete all or individual events
associated with the recurring event. You can either delete the events for all relevant users or
only your events.
1. From the View menu, click Recurring Events to open the "Recurring Events For" window.
2. In the upper half of the window, highlight the recurring event to be removed.
3. To remove all the events:

On the upper row of buttons, click Recur and then Delete.

On the message window that appears, click Yes to delete the recurring events for all
relevant users. Click No to delete only your recurring events.
4. To delete an individual event:
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
On the lower half of the window, highlight the individual event to be removed.

Click Events and then Delete on the lower row of buttons.

On the “Attention” window, click OK to confirm the deletion.
5. Click OK.
Attaching documents to recurring events
If you have the optional Document Manager installed, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows
you to attach documents to all the instances of a recurring event simultaneously or to each
instance separately.
To attach documents to all instances of a recurring event
1. From the View menu, click Recurring Events to open the "Recurring Events For" window.
2. On the upper part of the window, highlight the recurring event to which you want to attach
documents.
The Events pane below will list the individual instances of the highlighted recurring event.
3. On the upper row of buttons, click Document.
The "Attached Documents" window will open, listing any documents that are already
attached to all the instances of the recurring event.
4. To attach additional documents, click Add. The "Document Manager" window will open.
5. On the "Document Manager" window, highlight the documents you want to attach and, from
the File menu, click Attach Document(s).
Tip: You can highlight more than one document by holding down your Ctrl or Shift key
while clicking the documents. The Ctrl key adds the current document to those already
highlighted, while the Shift key highlights all the documents between the last highlighted
and the one currently being clicked.
6. Repeat the previous step if you want to attach more documents.
7. Click the Close Document Manager
window.
button to return to the "Attached Documents"
The "Attached Documents" window will show the newly attached documents on the list.
8. Click Close to exit from the "Attached Documents" window.
The documents will now be attached to all the instances of the recurring event.
A small blue paper clip next to the top and bottom row of buttons indicates that all instances of
the highlighted recurring event have documents attached.
To attach documents to a single instance of a recurring event
1. From the View menu, click Recurring Events to open the "Recurring Events For" window:
2. On the upper part of the window, highlight the recurring event to which you want to attach
documents.
The Events pane below will list the individual instances of the highlighted recurring event.
3. On the Events pane, highlight the event instance to which you want to attach documents.
4. On the lower row of buttons, click Document.
The "Attached Documents" window will open, listing any documents that are already
attached to that instance of the recurring event.
5. To attach additional documents, click Add. The "Document Manager" window will open.
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6. On the "Document Manager" window, highlight the documents you want to attach and, from
the File menu, click Attach Document(s).
Tip: You can highlight more than one document by holding down your Ctrl or Shift key
while clicking the documents. The Ctrl key adds the current document to those already
highlighted, while the Shift key highlights all the documents between the last highlighted
and the one currently being clicked.
7. Repeat the previous step if you want to attach more documents.
8. Click the Close Document Manager
window.
button to return to the "Attached Documents"
The "Attached Documents" window will show the newly attached documents on the list.
9. Click Close to exit from the "Attached Documents" window.
The documents will now be attached to only that instance of the recurring event.
A small blue paper clip next to bottom row of buttons indicates that the highlighted recurring
event instance has documents attached.
Handling alerts
When you enter events, you can specify that alerts be generated to remind the affected users.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display these alerts in the "Appointment for" window to the
users after a specified time before the event. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will continue to
display them at specified intervals until the users either mark them as done or disable them.
Figure 108: The "Appointment for" window
Viewing your alerts
You are able to view any active alerts you may have that are still outstanding.
1. Do one of the following:

Click the View your Alerts

Press F4.

From the View menu, click Your Alerts.
button.
The "Alerts for..." window will open.
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Figure 109: The "Alerts for..." window
The "Alerts for…" window lists all your outstanding alerts. These are for events for which the
alerts option has been set, and the specified time before the event has passed.
2. Click Close to exit the "Alerts for…"window.
Batch deleting events
You can delete a number of events, which match specified selection criteria, as a batch.
To do this:
1. From the Tools menu, click Delete Events. The “Find Events” window will open for you to
specify criteria to select the events for deletion.
Figure 110: The "Find Events" window
2. Complete the Select Criteria fields, and click OK.
Tip: Once events have been transferred to a Time+Billing timesheet, they are probably no
longer required in Practice Manager - Contact 2016. You can delete all such events by
selecting the Time and Billing check box.
The “Confirm Deleting Events” window will open, listing all the events that match the
selection criteria.
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Batch deleting events
Figure 111: The "Confirm Deleting Events" window
3. Either select the individual check boxes for the events to be deleted or select the Select All
check box to select all the events,
4. Click Delete.
5. On the “Attention” window, click Yes.
Caution: Deleted events can only be recovered from a backup file.
The selected events will be deleted.
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Chapter 11. Using To Do lists
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides multiple To Do lists for each user.
You can create the To Do lists in a hierarchical tree type structure, where a To Do List can
contain subordinate lists. You can then expand and collapse the To Do List tree by clicking the
arrows next to the branches.
Figure 112: To Do List tree structure
The To Do List of one user may be viewed and/or modified by a different user. This allows your
manager to add items into your To Do List and to monitor your workload.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 also allows you to create private To Do lists. Only the user
who creates the private To Do list is able to see that list.
Creating To Do lists
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides each user with two default To Do Lists as follows:

Business

Done
You are able to create additional To Do Lists, or alter the names of these default lists if required.
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Create a To Do List
Create a new To Do List as follows:
1. Open the Daily Planner. :

Click the

Press F6; or

From the View menu, click Daily Planner.
button; or
Figure 113: The Daily Planner
2. Open the "New To Do List" window:

Press the TAB key until the Available To Do Lists heading is highlighted. Press the
Insert key or, from the Edit menu, click New

Use the mouse and right-click in the Available To Do Lists section. A menu will open.
Click New.
Figure 114: The "New To Do List" window
3. Enter details of the new To Do list and then click Save.
Tip: For information on the "New To Do List" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Edit a To Do List’s name
You can alter the name of a To Do List as follows:
1. Press F6 to open the Daily Planner.
2. In the Available To Do List section of the window, click on the required To Do List.
3. Press Enter or, from the Edit menu, click Edit. The "Edit To Do List" window will open.
Tip: You can also right-click on the required To Do List and then click Edit.
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Creating To Do items
Figure 115: The "Edit To Do List" window
4. Alter the "Edit To Do List" window as required and then click Save.
Jobflow Manager To Do List
You can configure the Jobflow Manager to create a To Do List called Jobflow Mgr, and then
add your current tasks to it as To Do List items, showing relevant client IDs.
You can then drag the Jobflow Manager To Do List items into the day planner to create events
that are linked to respective Jobflow Manager tasks..
For more information, see the Jobflow Manager 2016 User Manual.
Creating To Do items
Once the required To Do Lists have been created, you are ready to add individual items into
each list. For example, in the Business To Do List, you could add the item "August
Reconciliation of HandiLedger module – due 5/9/2016".
Each To Do List is likely to contain multiple items. You can sort these items into any order that
you require, and ‘drag and drop' them to a different To Do List or into the Diary.
Add a To Do item
Add an item into a To Do List as follows:
1. Press F6 to open the Daily Planner.
2. On the Available To Do Lists pane, highlight the required To Do List.
To Do items associated with the highlighted To Do list will be displayed in the To Do pane
above.
3. Highlight an item in the To Do pane. If no items exist, click anywhere in the pane.
4. From Edit menu click either:

New – will add a To Do Item above the one that you clicked.

New Below – will add the To Do Item below the one, which you have clicked.
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5. Enter a description of the To Do Item (for example, "August Reconciliation of Time+Billing
module – due 5/9/2016").
6. After typing in the information, press the TAB key. This will automatically save the
information and move the cursor out of the item.
Tip: You can also use the mouse to add a To Do item. Simply right click in the "To Do"
section, and a menu will open.
Ordering To Do items
You may want to alter the order of items within a To Do List. For example, you may wish to put
the more urgent items at the top. you can order To Do items as follows:
1. Using the left mouse button, click on the item to be moved - continue holding down the
mouse button.
2. Then drag the item to the correct location.
Move a To Do item between lists
You can move To Do Items between your various To Do Lists. Do this as follows:
1. Click on the item to be moved.
2. Hold the mouse button down and drag the item to the "Available To Do Lists" section.
3. Place the mouse pointer over the required To Do List, and then release the mouse button.
You can also order items by first 'cutting' the item, and then 'pasting' to the desired location.
Move a To Do item to the diary
You can move To Do items from the To Do List into your Diary. Do this is as follows:
1. Ensure the correct diary page is displayed in the left of the window.
To change the diary page that is displayed, use the month strip at the base of the window.
2. Using the left mouse button, click on the item to be moved - continue holding down the left
mouse button.
3. Drag the item to the correct location within the Diary. You can schedule the item into a
particular timeslot in the diary, or place it in the "Sometime On This Day" section.
4. Dragging a To Do List item to the diary automatically creates an event. The “New Event”
window will open for you to enter details of the event.
You can also move items by first 'cutting' the items, and then 'pasting' them to the desired
location.
Search for a To Do item
You can search for To Do items containing specified text in their descriptions:
1. Click on a To Do list or a To Do List item.
2. Press Ctrl+F or right-click and click Find from the menu that appears.
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Figure 116: The "Search To Do Items" window
3. Complete the fields on the “Search To Do Items” window.
4. To go to the first matching item, click Find.
5. To find the next matching item, press Ctrl+N or right-click and click Find Next from the
menu that appears.
Print a To Do List report
You can view and print a report on any of your To Do lists that contain items.
1. Press F6 to open the Daily Planner
2. On the Available To Do Lists pane do one of the following:

Highlight the required To Do List and press Ctrl+R.

Right-click the required To Do List and click Print Report on the menu that appears.
Note that the Print Report menu command will not be available if the To Do list does
not contain any items.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the “Report Preview” window.
Note: The report will only contain information on your To Do lists, and not those of other users.
Access someone else’s To Do List
You can view another user's To Do List as follows:
1. Press F6 to open the Daily Planner .
2. Click the
button. This will open the "Select a User" window with a listing of your firm's
network users.
3. Highlight the user you wish to view.
4. Click OK.
5. Notice that the name next to the
button has now changed. The Diary and To Do
Lists that you now see are for that person. You may add to or alter the information
displayed.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 warns you when another user has changed your Diary or To
Do Lists.
Tip: To quickly return to your own To Do List, click the button with your user name on it.
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Chapter 12. Creating documents and
mailing labels
The Document menu in Practice Manager - Contact 2016 enables you to generate documents
and mailing labels.
The menu options that are available from the Documents menu depend on how your Sage
HandiSoft programs have been set up. The Practice Manager program includes the Document
Manager module, which provides a comprehensive document management facility for your
practice. In Practice Manager – Contact, you can either enable or disable the Document
Manager. This affects the Documents menu:

Where Practice Manager – Document Manager is disabled, the Documents menu in
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to create documents using the following two
methods.
Method 1 – Sage HandiSoft Document Editor
The Sage HandiSoft Document Editor is a simple text editor for creating basic letters and
documents. This Document Editor allows you to insert information from the Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 data files into the document, allowing a 'Mail Merge'.
Method 2 – Microsoft Word™
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is able to interface with Microsoft Word™. This facility
provides access to all the features of Microsoft Word™, such as tables and graphics, while
still giving you the ability to insert fields from the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data files
into the documents, allowing a 'Mail Merge'.

Where your practice has enabled Document Manager, the Documents menu in Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 allows you to create documents using the Practice Manager –
Document Manager program module.
For information on printing documents, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
Mailing labels
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 enables you to print mailing labels for clients, prospective
clients and address book entries. You can print mailing labels for:

All clients (or all prospective clients

The selected client (or prospective client)

Tagged clients (or tagged prospective clients)

Clients (or prospective clients) that match specified conditions

Address Book entries
Tip: To print mailing labels for address book contacts, click the Mailing Labels button on the
“Address Book For” window.
For information on mailing labels, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
For information on customisable mailing labels, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016"
manual.
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Mail out events mailing labels
You can print mailing labels for all of a selected user’s mail out events not marked as ‘Done’
that meet specified criteria.
1. From the Documents menu, click Print Client ‘Mail Out’ Mailing Labels. The “Print
Clients “Mail Out” Mailing labels” window will open.
Figure 117: The “Print Clients “Mail Out” Mailing labels” window
2. In the User field, type or press
to select the user for the mail out events.
3. Select the date and time range and the order of the mailing labels to be printed.
4. If required, select the Mark events as Done and Change Date and Time to Current check
boxes.
Tip: Clear the Print Mailing Labels check box if you do not want to print mailing labels for
the mail out events, but you do want mark them as ‘Done’ or change their dates and times
to the current date and time.
5. Click OK to do the required actions.
If you selected the Print Mailing Labels check box, the “Select the Starting label” window
will open for you to select the position of the first label on the printed sheet.
Figure 118: The “Select the Starting label” window
6. Select the position of the first label, and then click OK to print the labels.
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Expressions and matching conditions
Expressions and matching conditions
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides you with the ability to perform a function, such as
printing a document, for clients or prospective clients that meet a certain criteria. Some
examples are:

Clients assigned to a specific partner in your firm.

Individuals with date of birth above a specified date.

Clients who have 'Flag 1' (a user defined field in the Client database) selected. This may be
used in a situation where some clients receive a newsletter. All clients who are to receive
the newsletter would have Flag 1 selected in the Client database. The newsletter would
then be printed out only for those clients with Flag 1 selected.
For more information on client expressions, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016"
manual.
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Chapter 13. Operating the standard
reports
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 provides a number of standard reports that you can display or
print immediately. In addition to these standard reports, you are able to create your own.
The internal workings
The Practice Manager - Contact 2016 default reports are stored in the HctReports.dat file. You
can never alter the reports in this file. When Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is initially
installed, the contents of the HctReports.dat file are copied into ReportFile.dat, thereby
establishing your initial reports, filters and scripts.
When you alter or create new reports, report layouts and filters, ReportFile.dat is updated. The
HctReports.dat file will not store any of these changes.
Each time the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 module is started after a new upgrade, the
HctReports.dat and ReportsFile.dat files are compared and:

Where any of the HctReports.dat records are found not to exist in ReportFile.dat, then that
record will be copied into ReportFile.dat.

Where you have altered any of Practice Manager - Contact 2016's default reports, layouts
or filters, the ReportFile.dat is marked as having changed. Practice Manager - Contact
2016 will never overwrite these changed records.
Standard reports
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is supplied with the following standard reports, which should
meet most of your requirements.
When you run the standard reports, you can generally specify the range of entries to be
included and a filter. There are a number of filters included with Practice Manager - Contact
2016, but you can also create your own.
If necessary, you can also create your own reports to meet any special needs. It is also possible
to create copies of the standard reports and modify them.
Address Book reports
There are two Address Book reports:
Report
Description
Firm Address Book List
This report lists entries in your Firm Address
Book.
Your Address Book List
This report lists the entries in your personal
Address Book.
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To run an Address Book report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Address Book, and the click either Firm Address Book
List or Your Address Book List.
2. On the "Report: Address Book" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the
fields blank to include all the Address Book entries in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Clients reports
There are the following standard Clients reports:
Report
Description
Client Relationships
This report lists your client relationships
information.
Clients List Abbreviated
This reports lists the client reference numbers,
names and tax file numbers of all or selected
clients in your database.
Clients List Detailed
This report lists detailed information, including
addresses and phone numbers, of all or selected
clients in your database.
Clients List Extra Detailed
In addition to the detailed information, this report
lists information entered in the "Client Extra
Detail" window pertaining to all or selected
clients.
Clients List Archived
This report lists non-current clients that match
specifies criteria.
Client Notes Report
This report lists notes that are attached to clients.
To run a Clients report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Clients, and then click the required report.
2. On the "Report: Clients" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the fields
blank to include all the client records in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
4. On the "Sort Order" window, select the field on which the report is to be sorted, and click
OK.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
5. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Events reports
There are the following standard Events reports:
Report
Description
150
Events By Date
This report lists all the events within a
specified period.
Events For Address Book
(Firm)
This report lists all events within a specified
period where the contact is in the Firm
Address Book.
Events For Address Book
(Your)
This report lists all events within a specified
period where the contact is in your personal
Address Book.
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Standard reports
Events For Annual leave
This report lists all annual leave events within
a specified period. You can also run this
report from the Leave Planner. For
information on the Leave Planner, please
refer to Chapter 8, "Operating the diary".
Events For Client
This report lists all events within a specified
period where the contact is a client. It can
also list the relevant clients’ phone numbers
and addresses.
Events For Prospective Client
This report lists all events within a specified
period where the contact is a prospective
client. It can also list the relevant prospective
clients’ phone numbers and addresses.
Events For User
This report lists all events within a specified
period for specified users.
Your Events
This report lists all events within a specified
period where you are the user.
To run an Events report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Events, and then click the required report.
2. On the "Report: Events" window, enter the selection criteria for the report.
Note: The selection fields will vary dependant on the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
To set formatting defaults for Events reports
You following events reports enable you to set the how the client and contact information is
displayed:

Events by Date

Events for User

Your Events
You can configure the default settings for these reports as follows:
1. From the Options menu, click the General to open the “General Options” window.
2. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
3. Under Reports, select the check boxes as required.
4. Click OK.
Note: You can change these settings when running the reports.
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Prospective Clients reports
There are the following standard Prospective Clients reports:
Report
Description
Prospective Clients Abbreviated This report lists the reference numbers and
names of all or selected prospective clients in
your database.
Prospective Clients Detailed
This report lists detailed information, including
addresses and phone numbers, of all or
selected prospective clients in your database.
It also includes any information entered in the
"Prospective Client Extra Detail" window.
To run a Prospective Clients report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Prospective Clients, and then click the required report.
2. On the "Report: Prospective Clients" window, enter the selection criteria for the report.
Leave the fields blank to include all the prospective client records in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
To Do List report
The To Do List report lists the details of selected users' To Do Lists.
To run the To Do List report
1. From the Reports menu, point to To Do Lists, and then click To Do Lists.
2. On the "Report: To Do Lists" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the
fields blank to include all the To Do List entries in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Note: The right-clicking and selecting Print Report in the Daily Planner will produce a report
only for the selected user.
Users report
The Users report lists information on selected Practice Manager - Contact 2016 users.
To run the Users List report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Users, and then click Users List.
2. On the "Report: Users List" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the
fields blank to include all the users in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
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Operating the “Report Preview” window
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Operating the “Report Preview” window
Reports that you generate in Practice Manager - Contact 2016 are displayed in the “Report
Preview” window. From this window, you can perform a number of tasks, including:

Export the report to Microsoft Word™, Microsoft Excel™ or PDF (Portable Document
Format).

Open report as PDF.

Email the report as an HTML or PDF attachment.

Print the report in either a graphical or an ASCII format.

Perform a Find and Replace of text.

View the report in graphical, or ASCII formats.
For more information on the "Report Preview" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Saving a report and its data
Once you have viewed a report in the “Report Preview” window, you can save it within Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 for later use.
A useful feature of all Sage HandiSoft programs is that they also allow you to save a report as a
PDF (Portable Document Format) file.
For information on saving and retrieving reports, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016"
manual.
Report filters
When you run a Practice Manager - Contact 2016 report, the report conditions allow you to
select a report filter to restrict the number of records to be included in the report:
The types of filters you can select depend on the database tables accessed by the report. For
example, if a report accesses the 'Client' database table, you will be able to access the 'Client'
filter type.
The following is a list of all the filter types:
Client
Prospective client
Event
User
Firm Address Book
Your Address Book
To Do List
To Do List item
Using report filters
Filters are used in conjunction with Report Conditions, which specify the area of the database
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is to consider. The filter is then used to specify which of these
records will be included in the report.
Example:
A Report Condition is used to specify that only clients with a reference code of AAAA0000 to
AZZZ9999 will be considered for inclusion in the report.
Out of the above reference codes, ABC Accounting wants to print only those associated with a
specific partner, Mr Grace. In order for the report to include only Mr Grace's clients, the
following filter is used PARTNER = "GRACE".
When the report is prepared, Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will search all clients with a
reference code between AAAA0000 and AZZZ9999. Any of those clients who have been
assigned the partner reference of GRACE will be included in the report.
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Creating filters
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is supplied with a number of ready-made filters. If these do
not suit your specific requirements, then you can create your own. You can either create filters
from scratch, or copy an existing filter and modify it as necessary.
Open the "Filters" window

From the Reports menu, click Filters. The "Filters" window will open.
Figure 119: The Filters" window
The "Filters" window lists all the reports that are available for selection. Those with a 'Y' in
the first column are Sage HandiSoft filters supplied with Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
Tip: For information on the "Filters" window, press F1 to display the online help.
To copy a filter
The easiest way to create a new filter is to copy an existing one that is similar, and then to
modify it.
1. On the "Filters" window, highlight the filter to be copied, and click Copy. The "Copy
Expression" window will open.
2. Type in the name of the new filter and click OK.
The new filter will be included in list of filters in the "Filters" window.
To edit a filter
1. On the "Filters" window, highlight the filter to be edited and click Edit. The "Filters" (detailed)
window will open.
Figure 120: The "Filters" (detailed) window
2. If necessary, you can change the name of the filter in the Name field.
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Report filters
3. In the Type field, select the filter type. You would probably not select another filter type
because this would render the code in the Expression field incorrect.
4. In the Expression field, edit the filter code so that it evaluates the records to be included in
the report to be true, and those to be excluded to be false. For example, if you wanted your
report to include only events with a priority of 'Urgent', you would use the following
expression in an 'Event' type filter.
(Priority@Events = UrgentPriority)
5. Click Save to save any changes, and Close to exit the "Filters" (detailed) window.
To create a new filter
1. On the "Filters" window, click New. The "Filters" (detailed) window will open.
2. In the Name field, type in the name of your filter. The name should describe the purpose of
the filter. For example, "My new filter" is not very helpful, but "Current clients only" does
mean something.
3. In the Type field, select the filter type. This depends on the database table that the report
will access.
4. In the Expression field, edit the filter code so that it evaluates the records to be included in
the report to be True, and those to be excluded to be False. For example, if you wanted
your report to include only clients born after 1952, you would use the following expression in
a 'Client' type filter.
(DOB@Clients>'31/12/1952')
5. Click Save to save any changes, and Close to exit the "Filters" (detailed) window.
Your new filter will be included in the list of filters on the "Filters" window.
Fields and functions
The filter expressions can contain fields and functions. Both return a value that can be
evaluated against another value.
A field is written as 'field@', where field is a field in the database table. This will return the value
contained in that field in that database table. There is no need to specify the table because it is
derived from the filter type. For example, in a Client type filter, 'current@' will return either a Y or
N depending on whether that client is current or not.
A function is written as 'function(arg1,arg2…)'. An example of a function is
'IsUserInGroup(UserRef,GroupRef)', which returns the True if the user is a member of the
group..

To display the list of Practice Manager - Contact 2016 functions, from the Help menu, point
to Practice Manager - Contact and click Functions.

To display the list of Practice Manager - Contact 2016 fields, from the Help menu, point to
Practice Manager - Contact and click Fields.
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Chapter 14. Writing your own reports
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has the Sage HandiSoft Report Writer, which enables you to
create your own custom-designed reports. You are able to

Copy and then modify existing reports (See "Tutorial – beginners” on page 158).

Create your own reports from scratch (See “Tutorial – intermediate” on page 158).
To get the most out of the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 Report Writer, we recommend that
you work through the Beginner and Intermediate Tutorials in that order.
The tutorials are described in the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
Components of a report
Before you can create a meaningful report, you must understand how a Practice Manager Contact 2016 report works and where each piece of information comes from.
For information on report components, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
Operating the "Report Writer" window
The Practice Manager - Contact 2016 reports are managed from the "Report Writer" (summary)
window, which lists all the reports available for selection. From this window, you can edit, delete
and add new reports.

From the Reports menu, click Edit Reports.
The "Report Writer" (summary) window will open.
Figure 121: The "Report Writer" (summary) window
Tip: For information on the "Report Writer" (summary) window, press F1 to display the online
help.
Operating the "Report Writer" (detailed) window
The "Report Writer" (detailed) window displays details of a selected report, and enables you to
add, edit and delete reports.
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To access the "Report Writer" (detailed) window:

From the "Report Writer" (summary) window, double-click on the required report, or

Highlight the required report and then click Edit or View.
The "Report Writer" (detailed) window will open.
Figure 122: The "Report Writer" (detailed) window
Tip: For information on the "Report Writer" (detailed) window, press F1 to display the online
help.
Tutorial – beginners
The easiest way to create your own report is to alter an existing Practice Manager - Contact
2016 report so that it meets your firm’s requirements. The procedure is as follows:
1. Determine which of the existing reports is closest to the report that you wish to create.
2. Copy the existing report to a new report name.
3. Modify your newly named report to achieve the desired report.
4. Run the new report.
For this tutorial, you will modify the report “Client List Abbreviated” so that TFN is displayed
before the Client Reference. You will also increase the width of the Client Reference column.
For a description of the tutorial, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
Running the new report
Once a new report has been created, it can be run from the main menu as follows:

From the Reports menu, point to Clients and then click Tutorial - Clients List
Abbreviated.
Tutorial – intermediate
The best way to obtain an understanding of how reports work is to create a report from scratch.
To get you started, this section will walk you step by step through the creation of a Client
Telephone List.
For a description of the tutorial, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
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Changing fonts and page set-ups
Changing fonts and page set-ups
Fonts
The Fonts option lets you to create or edit "Styles" which you can use in reports. These Styles
nominate the font type, size and effect to be used in a particular section of the report; for
example, Arial, 14 Point, Bold. Accordingly, a style has four components:

The name of the style.

The font type, for example, Arial, Times New Roman, etc.

The font size (nominated in points).

The font effect, for example, bold, italic or underline
A number of default styles are supplied for use with your reports. You are also able to
customise the existing styles as required, additional styles may also be created.
Using font styles in reports
If you wish to adjust the fonts used by various Practice Manager - Contact 2016 reports, you
need to edit the report. This is done as follows:
1. From the Reports menu, click Edit Reports.
2. On the "Report Writer" window, highlight the report to modify.
3. Click Design.
4. Use the mouse to 'double click' in the cell to be modified.
5. In the "Cell Details" window, under Font, select the required Font Style.
6. Click OK, and then, from the Report menu, click Exit.
Standard report layouts cannot be modified. However, you can copy the layout to a new name
and then edit the newly created layout. This is done as follows:
7. From the Reports menu, click Reports.
8. Open the "Report Writer" window, highlight the layout to copy.
9. Click Copy.
10. Specify the new report name.
11. Click OK.
12. Modify the new report as required.
Page setup
The Options / Page Setup menu item is used to ensure the correct printing of your reports and
mailing labels. The settings in this are user specific. This means that each Practice Manager Contact 2016 user can have the options set up differently.
In the "Page Setup" window, you are able to specify the printer, paper size, paper orientation
and margins.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is supplied to you with the following standard page setups.
These may be modified as required. You are also able to create your own page setups using
New.

Standard

Wide

Large

Label
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Linking a page setup to a report
If you create your own Page Setup, you will need to attach it to the required reports. This is
achieved as follows.
1. From the Reports menu, click Edit Reports.
2. On the "Report Writer" window, highlight the required report.
3. Click Design.
4. In the "Report Designer" window, from the Report menu, click Edit.
5. Modify the page setup as required.
6. Click OK.
7. From the Report menu, click Exit.
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Chapter 15. Maintaining your data
In this chapter, you will learn about possible ways to fix corrupted data. In addition, you will
learn how to extract data out of Practice Manager - Contact 2016 so that it may be used in a
different program.
Resolving data corruption
If you suspect that the data on your computer is corrupted, it may be possible to recover it by
doing the following
1. Rebuilding the databases
2. Validating the data
If these two routines do not resolve the problem, it is likely that you will need to restore the data
from a backup. When in doubt, contact the Sage HandiSoft Software Support Section for
further advice.
Note: For information on possible causes of data corruption, refer to the "Advanced Features
2016” manual.
Rebuild the databases
The Tools / Rebuild the Databases menu option attempts to restore integrity to corrupted
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data files. There are two types of rebuilds available: 
Reindex – Performs a reindex on your existing data files. This is significantly faster than a
rebuild, but is not as thorough.

Rebuild – Reads all the data in your existing data files, validates each data field, and then
writes the data to new data files. This option is slower, but is more thorough than the
Reindex option.
If any error messages result when doing the reindex/rebuild, please write down the exact
content of the message and contact our software support section for advice and assistance.
Note:
The time that a rebuild takes depends on many factors.
Where data files are damaged to the extent of preventing data from being read, then performing
a rebuild cannot restore this data. In such cases restoring from a backup is your best option.
To rebuild the database files
1. From the Tools menu, click Rebuild the Databases. The "Rebuild the Database Files"
window will open.
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Figure 123: The "Rebuild the Database Files" window
2. Under Files, select the check boxes for the files to be rebuilt. Click Select All if you want to
rebuild all the files.
3. Click Reindex or Rebuild to start the process.
Database files
The following table lists the database areas relevant to the files you can select for reindexing or
rebuilding:
Files
Database areas
Clients (Clients.07)
Clients
Client notes
Client tags
Client phone numbers
Client addresses
Practice Manager – Contact Extra Client Details
Clients (HctClients.Dat)
Extra Prospective Client Details
Extra Client Labels
Client Relationships
Client Relationship Pairs
Address Book Contacts
Address Book Phone Numbers
Address Book Addresses
162
Time+Billing Clients
(HmClients.Dat)
Time+Billing Extra Details (Balances)
Time+Billing Jobs
Prospective Clients
(HctProspects.Dat)
Prospective Clients
Prospective Client tags
Prospective Client notes
Prospective Client phone numbers
Prospective Client addresses
Main Data (HctMain.Dat)
Events
Event Types
Holidays
Groups
Group Members
To Do Lists
To Do List Items
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Files
Resolving data corruption
Database areas
Recurring Events
Users (UserInfo.Dat)
Users
User status types
Reports (ReportFile.04 and
HctSavedReports.Dat)
Reports
Report settings
Filter expressions
Scripts
Saved reports (if not saved to the
Document Manager)
Export Scripts (Exports.Dat)
Export scripts
Options and Macros
(Options.Dat and
Macros.Dat)
Options
Macros
Document Manager
Database
Filing cabinets
Drawers
Folders
Sub-folders
Documents
Jobflow Manager Database
Jobs
Tasks
Client Centric Tax Returns
database
HandiTax tax form information
Client Extra
Client extra information
Validate data
Caution: Before you validate your Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data, perform a complete
backup of the Hsoft directory. For further information on backups, refer to the "Advanced
Features 2016” manual.
The Validate Data function performs a thorough check on the integrity of all Practice Manager Contact 2016 data.
To validate the data
1. Ensure that no other users are running Practice Manager – Contact.
Tip: If you have Practice Manager – Security installed, you can use the Activity Monitor
to check what users are running the Sage HandiSoft programs.
2. Back up all the files and directories in the hsoft directory.
3. From the Tools menu, click Validate Data. The "Validate Data" window will open.
Figure 124: The "Validate Data" window
4. Select the Automatically Create Contacts check box if you want a new contact to be
created whenever the validation finds a contact reference code that does not exist in
Practice Manager - Contact 2016. A contact may be a client, prospective client, or address
book contact.
For example, if an event has client SMIT0001 as the contact, and SMIT0001 does not
represent a client in the client database then, if you select the checkbox, a new dummy
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client will be added. The client reference will be SMIT0001, and the last name will be '***
HandiContact Validate ***'. The last name is set like this, so that you can easily find all
clients that the Contact 2016 validation creates.
5. Click OK to start the validation process
After Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has performed the Validate Data, it will generate a report
listing each of the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 databases, and the success or otherwise of
the validation for each of these activities.
If any errors appear on the Validate Data report, please contact the Sage HandiSoft Software
Support section for advice and assistance.
Exporting Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data
The Tools / Export Data To File menu option is used to extract Practice Manager - Contact
2016 information for use in other programs, such as Microsoft Excel.
It is recommended that you work through the example "Exporting the Client database into
Excel" on page 165.
The Export Designer
The "Export Designer" window is used to create new exporting reports or to edit an existing one.
Exports can be designed as:
1. Single table - records from only one table are exported
2. Multi-table - records from several tables can be exported. When designing a multi-table
export report, you must specify a link field between the master and each detail table.
The window has two pages that you access by clicking on the relevant tab:

The "Design Properties" page contains general attributes of the export

The "Export Fields" page is used to specify export fields and relationships between master
and detail tables.
Tip: For information on the "Export Designer" window, refer to the "Advanced Features 2016"
manual or press F1 to display the online help.
Viewing the export script
The "Export Designer" creates a text export script that you can view via the "Script Viewer"
window.
To open the "Script Viewer" window:
1. From the Tools menu, click Export Data To File to open the "Export Reports" window.
2. On the "Export Reports" window, highlight the export script to be viewed and click Script.
The "Script Viewer" window will open.
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Exporting Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data
Figure 125: The "Script Viewer" window
3. When you have viewed the script, click Close to exit the "Script Viewer" window.
Exporting the Client database into Excel
The following instructions illustrate a method that you can use to export data to Excel. For the
purpose of this example, you will export some of the client database to a text file, and that file
will then be imported into Excel. Please note that these instructions may vary slightly between
different versions of Excel.
Example - Export to Excel
1. From the Tools menu, click Export Data To File. The "Export Reports" window will open.
Figure 126: The " Export Reports" window
2. To create a new export report, click New. The "Export Designer" window will open.
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Figure 127: The "Export Designer" window
3. Complete the Design Properties tab of the “Export Designer” window as follows:
Export design name
Test Export to Excel
Fields delimitated by
Comma
Fields enclosed by
Double quote
First line shows field names
Select the check box
Export linked fields
Clear the check box
Output new line after detail
Clear the check box
Expressions
Leave this area blank
Destination file
Export to Excel.txt
Note: This will cause the export file
to be saved in \Hsoft\apps\Export to
Excel.txt.
Append to end
Clear this check box
4. Click the Export Fields tab.
On the "Export Fields" page, you must specify the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 fields to
export. For this example, the first field that you will export is the client reference code. To
specify the field:

Set the Table to “Clients”.

Set the Field to “Ref”.

Click Add.
The field should be displayed as illustrated.
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Exporting Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data
5. Repeat the process and add the following fields:

LastName

FirstName

BizName

Title

TFN

ACN

SFN

Sex

DOB

Contact

Casual

ABN
6. If required, you can change the order of the fields in the “Export Designer” window. Simply
‘drag and drop’ the field to the correct location.
7. Imagine that you only want to export clients if their reference code begins with an ‘A’. (The
client reference code must be equal to, or fall between AAAA0000 and AZZZ9999). You
must create an expression so that only the relevant clients are exported. To create the
expression:

Click the Design Properties tab.
In the Expressions field, the table “Clients” is displayed. This is because all of the
fields you are exporting are located in the Clients table.

Click the
button to open the "Expression Editor" window.
Press F1 to obtain detailed information on this window.
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Figure 128: The "Expression Editor" window

Complete the fields as follows and then click Add.
Table
Clients
Field
Ref
Operator
>=
AAAAAA01
Value

The first section of the expression (Ref@Clients >= “AAAA0000”) has been created.
You need to add a second section to the expression.
To add the second section, click And, complete the following information and then click
Add.
Table
Clients
Field
Ref
Operator
<=
AZZZ9999
Value

The expression is now complete. It should be (REF@Clients >= "AAAA0000") And
(Ref@Clients <= "AZZZ9999").
Click Done to save the expression and return to the "Export Designer" window.
8. In the “Export Designer” window, click Save
Your newly created Export File is displayed in the "Export Reports" window.
9. To export the data, highlight the export report name and then click Run.
Importing into Excel
Once your data is extracted from Practice Manager - Contact 2016, as outlined above, you can
import it into Excel:
1. In Microsoft Excel™, from the File menu, click Open. Open the export file, which is located
in /Hsoft/Apps/Export to Excel.txt.
2. When the export file has opened, Excel will start its Text Import Wizard. Please complete
the windows as follows:
168

Original Data Type = "Delimited".

Start Import at Row = "1"

File Origin = "Windows (ANSI)"

Click Next

Delimiters = "Comma".
You choose this because your
Export File was delimited with
commas.
Please ensure that only the
Comma delimiter is selected
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016

Treat Consecutive Delimiters As
One = cleared.

Text Qualifier = ".

Data Preview – in this section
you are able to move, add or
delete any column breaks.

Click Next

In Step 3 of the Text Import
Wizard, each column of data in
the Data Preview area should be
highlighted and then the Column
Data Format for the information is
specified.

Click Finish
Exporting Practice Manager - Contact 2016 data
Leaving this cleared will
ensure any blank fields from
your export file are treated
correctly
When creating your Export
File you indicated that your
fields were to be encased in
Double Quotes.
Modification to this area
should not be required.
Please refer to Excel's help
for further information. For
this example you will leave
everything in the General
format.
All of your data should now be displayed in the Excel spreadsheet. Using Excel, you can format
and use this data as required by your firm.
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Chapter 16. Interaction with Microsoft
Outlook™
You can synchronise Practice Manager - Contact 2016 with Microsoft Outlook™ to provide a
flexible solution to your contact and event management needs. You can enter all your event and
contact details into Practice Manager - Contact 2016, and then transfer them to Microsoft
Outlook. For example, you can then link Outlook to a notebook computer or PDA to use out of
the office to access and enter event and contact information. When you return to the office, all
you have to do is synchronise Microsoft Outlook with Practice Manager - Contact 2016. Any
information you have entered into Outlook will be transferred to Practice Manager - Contact
2016. Information, such as appointments that other staff members have entered into Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 while you were away, will be transferred to Microsoft Outlook.
Setting up Microsoft Outlook™ and Practice Manager Contact 2016
Data that can be transferred
When you synchronise Practice Manager - Contact 2016 with Microsoft Outlook™ you can
transfer the following Client, Prospective Client and Events data in both directions.
Data type
Fields transferred
Clients and Prospective
Clients
Company Name or First and Last Name
The Email Address you set as default in the "Clients
Detail" or the "Prospective Clients Detail" window.
The Phone Number. This must be set in the "Clients
Detail" or the "Prospective Clients Detail" window as
type H, M B F or O (not 'A').
Meetings and Alerts
Indication if it is an 'All day' event
Start Date and End Date
Start Time and End Time
Event Description or Notes
Meeting Room
Whether the event has an Alert, and the time before
the event for the alert.
Note: All events transferred from Outlook to Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 will be saved in Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 as Appointments.
Configuring Microsoft Outlook™
Information transferred from Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to Outlook is automatically given
a category of HandiSoft or HandiSoft Prospective.
The descriptions that follow show how you would set these categories in Microsoft Outlook.
The procedure may vary for different versions of Outlook, so you are advised to refer to the
Microsoft Outlook™ online help.
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To set the category for clients and prospective clients
1. On the Outlook Navigation Pane, click Contacts to display the list of contacts.
2. Right-click on the contacts to be transferred to Practice Manager - Contact 2016, and then
point to Categorize and click All Categories to open the "Categories" window.
Figure 129: The Microsoft Outlook "Categories" window
3. If HandiSoft or HandiSoft Prospective is not listed, click New to open the "Add New
Category" window.
Figure 130: The Microsoft Outlook "Add New Category " window
4. In the Name field, type 'HandiSoft' or 'HandiSoft Prospective' and click OK.
5. On the”Categories” window, select the checkbox next to HandiSoft for clients and
HandiSoft Prospective for prospective clients.
6. Click OK to close the "Categories" window.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
To set the category for events
When you enter a new event into Microsoft Outlook™, you must set the category to HandiSoft
if you want it to be transferred to Practice Manager - Contact 2016 when you synchronise. To
do this:
1. On the Outlook Navigation Pane, click Calendar to display the list of events.
2. Right-click on the eventss to be transferred to Practice Manager - Contact 2016, and then
point to Categorize and click All Categories to open the "Categories" window.
3. If HandiSoft or HandiSoft Prospective is not listed, click New to open the "Add New
Category" window.
4. In the Name field, type 'HandiSoft' or 'HandiSoft Prospective' and click OK.
5. On the”Categories” window, select the checkbox next to HandiSoft for clients and
HandiSoft Prospective for prospective clients.
6. Click OK to close the "Categories" window.
Configuring Practice Manager - Contact 2016
You can manually synchronise at any time while you are running Practice Manager - Contact
2016, and you can configure Practice Manager - Contact 2016 to automatically synchronise at
certain times. You can also specify what information is to be transferred.
To set the default synchronisation options
1. From the Options menu, click Outlook Synchronisation to open the "Outlook
Synchronisation Options" window.
Figure 131: The "Outlook Synchronisation Options" window
2. Under Synchronise Clients, select the check box if you want Microsoft Outlook to be
updated when you add or change a client record. Click Setup to choose whether all or only
specified client records are synchronised.
3. Under Synchronise Prospective Clients, select the check box if you want Microsoft
Outlook to be updated when you add or change a prospective client record. Click Setup to
choose whether all or only specified prospective client records are synchronised.
When you click Setup the "Outlook Synchronise Setup - Clients" or "Outlook Synchronise
Setup- Prospective Clients" window will open.
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Figure 132: The "Outlook Synchronise Setup" window

To synchronise all client or prospective clients in the database, select Synchronise all
clients.

To synchronous only those clients or prospective clients that are current, select
Synchronise current clients only.

To synchronise specific client or prospective client records only, select Synchronise
the following clients only, and complete the list of clients or prospective clients.
4. Click OK to close the "Outlook Synchronise Setup" window.
5. Under Synchronise Meetings & Alerts, select the check box to update Microsoft Outlook
when an appointment is added or changed. Click Setup to select the event types to be
synchronised.
When you click Setup, the "Outlook Synchronise Setup – Meetings & Alerts" window will
open.
Figure 133: The "Outlook Synchronise Setup – Meetings & Alerts" window

Select the check boxes for the event types to be synchronised.

You can click Default to select the Reminder and Apointment event types.
6. Click Save and Close to close the "Outlook Synchronise Setup" window.
7. Click OK to close the "Outlook Synchronisation Options" window.
Synchronising manually
You can synchronise at any time while running Practice Manager - Contact 2016. You can
either synchronise Microsoft Outlook with the data from Practice Manager - Contact 2016, or
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Setting up Microsoft Outlook™ and Practice Manager - Contact 2016
you can synchronise Practice Manager - Contact 2016 with data imported from Microsoft
Outlook.
To synchronise Outlook with Practice Manager
1. From the Tools menu, point to Synchronise Outlook with Practice Manager, and then
click Clients, Prospective Clients or Meetings &Alerts, depending on what you want to
synchronise.
2. Depending on how Outlook has been set up on your computer, you may get a warning
message.
This warning message is displayed to prevent a possible virus maliciously accessing your
email address book. You can set a time that access is allowed so that Practice Manager Contact 2016 can write to the Outlook mail address book.

Select the Allow access for check box, and then set the time to 1 minute. This should
be long enough to complete the synchronisation. If Practice Manager - Contact 2016
displays an error message, you might have to set the time to be longer.

Click Yes.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will open the "Synch. Completed" window, displaying the
synchronisation results.
Figure 134: The "Synch. Completed" window
3. Click Details to display a log of the synchronisation.
4. Click Close to exit the "Synch. Completed" window.
To synchronise Practice Manager with Outlook
1. From the Tools menu, point to Import Outlook details into Practice Manager, and then
click Clients, Prospective Clients or Meetings &Alerts, depending on what you want to
synchronise.
2. If Outlook displays a warning message, select the Allow access for check box, and then
set the time to 1 minute. Click Yes.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 will open the "Synch. Completed" window displaying the
synchronisation results.
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Figure 135: The "Synch. Completed" window
3. Click Details to display a log of the synchronisation.
4. Click Close to exit the "Synch. Completed" window.
Synchronisation mismatches
If Practice Manager - Contact 2016 detects that Microsoft Outlook has a possible conflict with
the synchronised data, it will display the "Synchronise Action" window.
Figure 136: The "Synchronise Action" window
You can choose one of the following options:

Do nothing – Skip over this record and continue with the next one.

Outlook data take precedence – If you are synchronising from Outlook to Practice
Manager - Contact 2016, overwrite the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 record with that
from Microsoft Outlook.

Practice Manager data take precedence – If you are synchronising from Practice
Manager - Contact 2016 to Outlook, overwrite the Microsoft Outlook record with that from
Practice Manager - Contact 2016.
Select the Don't ask this any more check box to automatically overwrite the data with that
being imported.
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Chapter 17. Additional tools
This chapter provides detailed information on Practice Manager - Contact 2016 tools that were
not included elsewhere in this manual.
For information on tools that are common to all Sage HandiSoft programs, please refer to the
"Advanced Features 2016" manual.
Increasing your data entry speed
The following table lists keyboard shortcuts and buttons that can increase your data entry
speed.
Key
Button Function
ESC
-
Pressing the ESC key exits you from the active
window and discards any changes that were
made.
ENTER
-
Pressing the ENTER key saves all the fields in
the active window, and then exits from the active
window. To move to the next field within a
window, press the TAB key. Note: The numeric
keypad’s ENTER key may be set up to operate
in the same manner as the TAB key (see below).
TAB
-
Pressing the TAB key moves you on to the next
field in the active window.
SHIFT+TAB
-
Holding down the SHIFT key and pressing the
TAB key at the same time will move the cursor
to the previous field in the active window.
Open the “Address Book for Firm” window.
Open the “Personal Address Book” window.
Send an SMS message. The “SMS Message”
window will open. This is only available if you
have purchased the Sage HandiSoft Notify
module.
F1
-
Open the online help.
F2
Open a selection window.
F3
Open the "Clients" window.
Open the “Prospective Clients" window.
F4
Open the "Alerts" window.
CTRL+F4
F5
CTRL+F5
F6
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Open the "Meeting Requests For" window.
-
To quickly return Practice Manager - Contact
2016 to the current date, press F5.
Open the "Five Day Planner" window.
Open the "Daily Planner" window.
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Key
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Button
Function
CTRL+F6
Open the “Groups” window.
CTRL+F7
Open the “Calculator” window.
F7
Open the "Weekly Planner" window.
F8
Open the "Monthly Planner" window.
F9
-
CTRL+F8
Open the "Select a User" window, which displays
a list of Practice Manager - Contact 2016 users,
their internal telephone extension and status (for
example, “Out To Lunch”).
Open the "Leave Planner" window.
CTRL+F9
-
Open the Jobflow Manager.
F10
-
Open the Document Manager.
Note: The Document Manager must first be
enabled via the Documents & Jobflow item in
the Options menu.
F11
-
Open the "History" window from within a data
entry window. From the "History" window you
can select recently entered information, thereby
reducing the amount of typing that you need to
do.
F12
-
Open the "Macros" window. Refer to “Keyboard
macros” on page 178 for information on using
macros.
CTRL+F
-
Open a search window. This is only available
when a diary item is highlighted.
CTRL+R
-
Print a report on the highlighted diary item.
CTRL+ALT+<K
EY NO>
Run the macro with the corresponding Key
number. For example, to run a macro with a key
number 2, press Ctrl+Alt+2.
Open the “Select Document Types” window to
filter the documents displayed under the
Documents tab.
Open the Document Manager Watch folder to
view and save documents.
Set date to today
When using the Diary within Practice Manager - Contact 2016, you may change the date
forwards or backwards as required. Practice Manager - Contact 2016 makes it easy for you to
return quickly to the current date. This is achieved by any of the following:

From the Tools menu, click Set Date to Today

Press the F5 key

Click the
button at the top of the Practice Manager - Contact 2016 window.
Keyboard macros
Macros are used to pre-record tasks that you perform frequently. Macros can be operated
using a very small number of keystrokes, and thus reduce the number of keystrokes required to
perform a certain task.
For information on keyboard macros, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2016" manual.
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
Sage HandiSoft scripts
Sage HandiSoft scripts
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 has a script editor that enables you to edit and run scripts.
You can, for example, have a script that runs a report with specific selection criteria.
The scripts are listed in the "Scripts" window, from where you can create, edit and run them.
Practice Manager - Contact 2016 is suppled with example scripts, which you are not able to edit
or delete. You can, however, create copies of them and then edit the copies.
Opening the "Scripts" window
1. From the Tools menu, click Scripts. The "Scripts" window will open.
Figure 137: The "Scripts" window
2. To view or edit the script code, highlight the required script and click View or Edit. The
"Scripts" (detailed) window will open.
Note: The Edit button will not be available for Sage HandiSoft supplied scripts.
Figure 138: The "Scripts" (detailed) window
Tip: For information on the "Scripts" windows, press F1 to display the online help.
SMS messaging
If you have purchased the Sage HandiSoft Notify module, you can send SMS messages to your
clients.

To send an SMS message, click
or, from the Tools menu, point to SMS Message and
click Send SMS Message. The “SMS Message” window will open.
For more information, see the “Sage HandiSoft 2016 Advanced Features” manual.
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Glossary of Terms
ABN
Australian Business Number
ACN
Australian Companies Number
BAS
Business Activity Statement for GST reporting
BIOS
Built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a
disk.
database
A file system that stores information in the form of records.
Document Manager
An optional Sage HandiSoft module that is a repository for storing documents in electronic form
that is based on a conventional filing cabinet system.
drag
While holding the left mouse button down, you can move or copy files and folders from one
location to another.
event
A means of recording activities in which you and other members of your firm are involved.
expression
A set of conditions that you can specify for selecting specific records.
groups
You can define groups of users to enable events to be recorded against them all.
IAS
Instalment Activity Statement
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Glossary of Terms
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
instances
With recurring events, these are the individual events that occur.
IRQ
Hardware lines in a computer over which devices can send interrupt signals to the
microprocessor.
Jobflow Manager
A project management tool specifically designed for an accountancy practice.
RAID
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks; minimises the possiblity of data loss if a disk drive fails.
recurring events
Events that will re-occur at regular intervals; for example, weekly meetings.
relationships
A means of linking clients to one another on the basis of an association they might have.
SFN
Superannuation Fund Number
Startup User
The logged in user running your current Contact session. This would normally be you.
tag
Select groups of clients in order to perform an action with them.
TFN
Tax File Number
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is the unique address for a file that is accessible on the
Internet. A common way to get to a Web site is to enter the URL of its home page file in your
Web browser's address line.
Users
Members of your firm who are registered as users of Practice Manager – Contact.
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Index
A
adding programs to Access Panel 58
address books
creating 89
firm 89
generating reports 149
opening 89
printing mailing labels 145
recording an event 92
alerts
configuring 25
setting for events 117
viewing your alerts 135
annual leave planning 107
appointments 114
attaching to users 120
B
batch updating clients 70
C
changing client type 50
client centric
adding programs 58
changing reference code 57
deleting clients 57
features 51
setting options 25
viewing and filtering documents 53
client database
configuring 27
creating clients 33, 59
defining relationships 66
deleting clients 57
extra details 60–64
generating reports 150
opening 47
operating 47, 59
related clients 65–67
tagging clients 68–69
tagging prospective clients 78
client expressions 147
client groups
adding 82
adding clients 83
editing 83
head client 83
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viewing relationships 86
client notes
client notes report 72
Client Portal
viewing from Client window 56
client reference, changing 57
clients
attaching notes 70
batch changing type 50
batch updating 70
changing type 50
copying from another client 60
deceased clients 59
summary information 67
completed events 111, 117
configuring Practice Manager - Contact 21
copying client details 60
D
daily group planner, operating 98
data corruption, resolving 161
data entry
configuring 23
improving speed 177
deceased clients 59
deleting clients 57
deleting multiple events 136
diary
configuring 23
daily planner 95–103
filtering on event type 95
five day planner 100
group planner 98
introduction 18
leave planner 107
monthly planner 103
operating events 104
specifying columns 101
weekly planner 100
Document Editor
overview 145
Document Manager
attaching to clients 73
attaching to events 129
attaching to prospective clients 78
changing the folder location 32
enabling the Document Manager 31, 36
opening the Document Manager 37
overview 145
recurring events 134
documents
merging attached documents 131
overview 145
viewing and filtering 53
E
enabling the Document Manager 36
events
annual leave 107
183
Index
batch deleting events 136
completed 111, 117
day events 96–104
ensuring privacy 107
event types 95, 111
generating reports 150
inviting users 121
Jobflow 118
linking to Time+Billing 131
printing 131
priority 111
privacy 117
purging old events 112
recording 92, 104, 113
recording two events simultaneously 116
saving as PDF 131
searching for events 99
tagged clients 120
Time+Billing 118
timing two events 117
types 111
export script, viewing 164
exporting data 165
expressions 147
F
filters 147
firm holidays 29
fonts 159
G
groups
concepts 45
creating 45
daily planner 98
modifying diaries 106
recording events 46, 120
H
head client 83
holidays, setting for your firm 29
I
installation
getting started 33
system requirements 21
inviting users to events 121
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
operating 107
selecting event types 24
M
mailing labels
address book contacts 91, 145
printing for mail out events 146
prospective clients 80
manager or partner, changing 70
matching conditions 147
meeting rooms
booking 125
setting up 30
usage report 126
meetings, inviting users 121
merging documents
merging attached documents 131
Microsoft Outlook, synchronising with 171
Microsoft Word
overview 145
moving an event 105
N
notes
adding and editing note types 71
attaching to clients 70
O
offices, setting locations 30, 70
P
page setups 159
partners and managers 41
passwords 28
PDF
saving and emailing events 131
printing
mailing labels for mail out events 146
priority
standard events 111
prospective clients
creating 35–36, 75
generating reports 152
mailing labels 80
recording extra details 76
transferring to current 77
purging
events 112
J
Jobflow Manager
opening the Jobflow Manager 37
To Do List items 141
L
leave planner
184
R
recording two events simultaneously 116
relationships, client 66
reports
address book reports 149
annual leave 110
clients reports 150
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Practice Manager - Contact 2016
creating 157
daily reports 103
emailing as PDF 153
event reports 150
filters 153
five day reports 103
fonts 159
monthly reports 103
prospective clients reports 152
saving as PDF 153
standard reports 149
to do list reports 152
users reports 152
weekly reports 103
S
scripts, viewing and editing 179
searching for events 99
searching for to do items 143
security 28
selections fields 62
SMS messaging
sending from Practice Manager 115, 120
sending messages 49, 179
summary client information 67
system requirements 21
T
tagged clients, creating events for 120
tagging clients 68–69
tagging prospective clients 78
Time+Billing
linking events 131
pre-filling activity and cost codes 112
timing two events 117
to do lists
creating 139
creating items 141
generating reports 152
Jobflow Manager task items 141
private lists 139
searching for items 143
toolbar, selecting buttons 22
U
user references, changing 42
users
adding a user 40
generating reports 152
opening diaries 106–7
setting as partner or manager 41
viewing details 39
V
validating data 163
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
Index
W
windows
5 Day Report 103
About Practice Manager - Contact 21
Add Client To Group 83
Add new application 58
Address Book Detail 91
Address Book for Firm 89
Alert Options 25
Alerts for… 136
Annual Leave Planner 107
Annual Leave Report Options 110
Batch Update Clients 70
Book a Meeting Room 125
Change Client Type 50
Change User Reference 42
Client Centric Options 26
Client Extra Detail 60
Client Groups 82, 86
Client Note 71
Client Note Types 71
Client Notes Report 72
Client Relationship Pairs 66
Client Relationships 67
Clients 33, 47
Clients and Prospective Clients Extra Field
Properties 61
Clients and Prospective Clients Options 28
Clients Detail 33, 47, 59
Clients Extra Values for Selections 64
Confirm Deleting Events 136
Confirm Document Merge 130
Daily Group Planner 98
Daily Planner 96, 140
Daily Report 103
Data Entry Options 23
Design Properties 167
Diary Options 24
Document & Jobflow Manager 31, 36
Document found in Watch Directory 55
Document Manager 73
Edit Group Details 83
Edit To Do List 140
Edit User 41
Event Detail 127
Event Types 111
Events for User 122
Export Designer 165
Export Fields 166
Export Reports 165, 168
Find Events 136
Find/Order 49
Firm Holidays 29
Five Day Planner 100
General Options 23
Group Detail 45
Group Related 86
Groups 45, 106
History 178
Invite Users 121
185
Index
Invited Guests 125
Jobflow Manager 37
Leave Options 24
Leave Planner 107
Meeting Requests for 123
Meeting Rooms 30
Monthly PLanner 103
Monthly Report 103
New Event 46, 105, 113, 114
New Event: Appointment 114
New Event: Phone Call In 117
New Group Details 82
New Keyword 1
Group Related 86
New Recurring Event 131
New To Do List 140
New User 40
Offices 30
Outlook Synchronisation Options 173
Outlook Synchronise Setup 175
Page Setup 160
Print Clients “Mail Out” Mailing labels 146
Prospective Client Extra Detail 77
Prospective Clients 28, 35, 75, 76
Prospective Clients Detail 75
Rebuild the Database Files 161
Recurring Events 133
Recurring Events For 132
Report 150
Report Preview 150, 153
Report Writer (summary) 157
Reports (detailed) 158
Sage HandiSoft Client Summary 67
Save a Report 153
Script Viewer 164
Scripts 179
Scripts (detailed) 179
Search Diary Events 99
Search To Do Items 143
Select a Client Group 85
Select a Client Reference 119
Select a Prospective Client Reference 119
Select a User 39, 106, 143
Select Document Types 54
Select from Firm Address Book 119
Select from Your Address Book 119
Sort Order 150
Starting Practice Manager - Contact 21
Tagged Clients 68
Tagged Prospective Clients 79
Toolbar Icon 22
Transfer Prospective Client 77
User Status for 44
User Status Types 43
Validate Data 163
View User 39
Weekly Planner 100
Weekly Report 103
You are requested to attend a meeting 124
word processing
186
Practice Manager - Contact 2016
printing 80, 91
© Sage Software Australia Pty Ltd
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