Selecting Criteria for Enquiries
Enquiries are used to search in IRIS Financials on using specific criteria or to search for all documents, nominals, ledgers, accounts, etc.
Enquiries are typically used for the following reasons:
- Viewing documents and transactions recorded by your establishment/organisation using a Detail Enquiry or Document Enquiry, from which documents can be cancelled, edited, or have attachments and comments added. For more information, please see Detail Enquiry Functions or Document Enquiry Functions.
- Producing lists of ledgers, accounts, nominals, etc.
- Creating reports manually, if a specific report is required that does not exist in the Reporting Suite module.
All the enquiries available are selected from the Enquiries menu.
The following enquiries are available:
Detail Enquiry - produces a list of the selection criteria but does not generate any detail lines. For more information, please see Detail Enquiry Functions.
Document Enquiry - produces a list of the selection criteria with detail line information. For more information, please see Document Enquiry Functions.
Ledger List - produces a list of account, nominal, or ledger details. For more information, please see Producing a Ledger List.
Trial Balance - produces a Trial Balance based on the criteria selected. For more information, please see Running a Trial Balance.
Summary Enquiry - allows you to group information by Nominal, Account, Nominal and Account, Account Analysis, Account Indices, Nominal Analysis, Detail Analysis, Period or a combination of everything.
Summary Balance Enquiry - produces a summary of transactions on your nominals grouped by Nominal Analysis field or Indices.
You can also access enquiries that have been saved as Favourites and or load a previously run enquiry from History.
When an enquiry is selected, an Enquiry Criteria dialog is displayed. You can set criteria by selecting various options from each of the tabs available for the enquiry.
The tabs available vary depending on the type of enquiry selected, but the functionality detailed in this topic for selecting criteria remain the same.
Select the required criteria for the enquiry you want to run, then select OK to display the results in an enquiry window.
For certain reports and processes you need to select specific criteria for the enquiry. Where this is required, instructions on which options to select are detailed within the process topic.
The enquiry window is displayed with the results of the criteria selected in the Enquiry Criteria dialog. Functions available in the enquiry window depend on the type of enquiry you have selected.
For certain processes you need to use specific functions in the enquiry window. Where this is required, instructions on which functions to select are detailed within the process topic.
The following functions are available on all enquiry windows:
REFRESH - refreshes the data in the results, where any new data that meets the criteria and has been added since you ran the enquiry are displayed.
CRITERIA - displays the Enquiry Criteria dialog, where you can update the criteria for the enquiry.
FAVOURITE - displays the Add Favourite dialog, where you can save the enquiry to run again in future rather than having to select the criteria each time.
SETTINGS - displays a drop-down menu from which you can save or rename column selections to personalise the enquiry window, or you can reset the columns and layout to default settings. For more information, please see Personalising an Enquiry Window.
PRINT - displays the Print Preview dialog, where you can print a copy of the enquiry results.
EXPORT - displays the Save As dialog, where you can save a copy of the enquiry results as a Microsoft Excel format document.
EXPAND ALL - where detail information is provided for the enquiry results, select EXPAND ALL to display detail lines for all items listed.
COLLAPSE ALL - where detail information is provided for the enquiry results, select COLLAPSE ALL to hide detail lines for all items listed.
Personalising an Enquiry Window
If you frequently enquiries for certain criteria that is displayed in fields that are not displayed in the default settings for the enquiry window, you can select the columns then save the settings to display them automatically when you run a future detail enquiry.
The following options are available for personalising an enquiry:
Selecting and Saving Columns as Default
Resetting Default Columns or Layout
Selecting and Saving Columns as Default
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On the enquiry window, right-select on the column headings to display the column pop-up menu. Select to select the columns you want displayed or to remove a selected column from the display, then when you have all the columns you want displayed, select SETTINGS, then select SAVE AS DEFAULT COLUMNS.
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The Save As Default Columns message is displayed. Select OK to return to the enquiry window.
Renaming Columns
If you want to rename a column to something more appropriate, for example one of the user fields that holds an accounts email address, you can rename the column heading in the enquiry.
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On the enquiry window, select SETTINGS, then select RENAME COLUMNS.
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The Rename Columns dialog is displayed. Select the column you want to rename, then overwrite in the Display Title column the name you want displayed in the column heading on the enquiry window, for example, Accounts Email, then select OK.
Resetting Default Columns or Layout
If you have removed or added columns to the enquiry that you no longer want displayed, you can reset the columns in the enquiry and the layout (which removes the column headings).
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On the enquiry window, select SETTINGS, then select RESET DEFAULT COLUMNS.
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The Reset Default Columns confirmation message is displayed. Select Yes to confirm the reset.
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The Reset Default Columns success message is displayed. Select OK to return to the enquiry window.