Pastel Evolution delivers an entirely new dimension in business management software taking your business way beyond the traditional realms of accounting software. With business opportunity management functionality interwoven into the core of the accounting application, Pastel Evolution brings all aspects of your operations together, providing you with an integrated, holistic view of your business. The comprehensive range of features and functionality, complemented with a number of add-on modules, provides a scalable, flexible and robust management tool for your growing business.

Framework

Developed within the Evolution Framework™, (Softline’s* latest technology standard) all components and modules in the Evolution range are fully integrated and share a common interface providing a consistent user experience. In addition the utilisation of the MS-SQL® database ensures data integrity and maintains all your data in one central database.

In the past, accounting systems stored a wealth of information related to customers, suppliers, inventory and so on – however this information was often limited to accounting data i.e. the numbers. Pastel Evolution takes accounting to the next level by allowing you to not only capture numbers, but what we refer to as business activities. This data is then integrated and presented together with the numbers providing a holistic view of your business instead of a numbers only view. Thus providing you with the ability to control your financial situation as well as relationships with customers, suppliers and employees.

Pastel EVOLUTION ACCOUNTING INCLUDES:

– General Ledger

– Cash Book

– Accounts Receivable

– Accounts Payable

– Inventory Control

– Invoicing

– Import Cost Allocations

– Project Tracking

– Sales and Purchase Order Entry

– Resolve

– Report Writer & Stationery

The above features and modules are referred to as the core Pastel Evolution system in the brochure.

ADD-ON MODULES:

– Fixed Assets

– Payroll

– Serial number tracking

– Job Costing

– Bill of Materials

– Multi - Warehousing

– Point-of-Sale

– Pricing Matrix

– Customisation

– Customer Account Consolidation

– Customer Credit Risk Management

– Annuity Billing

– eBusiness & eBilling Module

THE SYSTEM MANAGER

The System Manager is the control centre for the entire Evolution application. It is the system’s user interface. Featuring a System Tree, it controls the system environment and setup, on-line help, multi-level password security and displays all the modules included in Evolution.

With all of these features and much more, Evolution delivers enhanced efficiency, productivity and security to any business, including:

– A consistent user interface no matter which module you are currently using, i.e. Fixed Assets, Payroll, Accounting all share the same common interface and all appear as options on a single System Tree.

– Navigation tools such as menus, a hierarchical system tree, toolbars, and favourites.

– Powerful tools for maintaining, sorting, searching and grouping your lists of data.

– The ability to customise the interface (per user) to suit each user’s requirements.

DATABASE SYSTEM

Pastel Evolution takes advantage of the latest database technologies utilising MS-SQL® Server 2000 or Microsoft’s Database Engine (MSDE®). And while MS-SQL® provides Evolution with the ability to scale support to an unlimited number of concurrent users, data integrity is ensured through the use of SQL’s transaction roll-back feature. Pastel Evolution includes MSDE® for 1 – 10 user sites. Larger sites will purchase MS-SQL® Server on a per user basis.

STORE DATA INDEFINITELY

The General Ledger stores 3 years of data and requires no month or year-end procedures. Accounting periods can, however be blocked, preventing transaction processing to those periods that have been closed. The Subsidiary Ledgers (Inventory, Receivables, Payables etc.) store information indefinitely.

TRANSACTION ROLLBACK

Data protection and integrity is significantly improved. This feature optimises data integrity by ensuring that users will never have incomplete entries or corrupt files, even if they suffer a power failure while a transaction is in process.

SUPPORTS MULTIPLE COMPANIES

The system can maintain multiple sets of books, each with its own chart of accounts. Access to companies and their related functions are password protected. Data can also be copied from one company to another, simplifying the company setup procedure.

TRANSACTION DRILL DOWNS

Drill down functionality allows you to find exactly what you’re looking for, quickly. From summarised information, to detailed transactions, right down to source documents - just by clicking your mouse.

RESOLVE

Traditionally termed ‘CRM’ or ‘Contact Management’, this unique module is the core feature of Evolution. Evolution has taken the concept of traditional Contact Management much further by weaving it into the very fabric of the Evolution

Accounting System.

Resolve is a tool that lets you manage the interaction between your business and your customers, potential customers, suppliers and even your fellow company members. Any issue that takes place in a business, and is important enough to be tracked, is recorded as an Incident. Resolve will track these Incidents to their conclusion – or until they are closed off. Evolution still stores Incidents even after they have been closed, allowing you to track a history of events as they occurred, as far back as you wish.

Therefore you can track all contact with your customers and suppliers, having access to information about the history of their Incidents as well as monitoring any other pending activities within your business. Using this information, you can track all the sales and support activities associated with a customer who initiated these activities, and the agent or agent group who dealt with the customer.

ESCALATIONS

One of the most compelling reasons to use Contact Management is its ability to ensure that Incidents are dealt with in acceptable timeframes. Taking too long to respond to a customer complaint, incident, or opportunity, could be damaging to your company. Escalations allow you to design a flow of responsibility for various Incident types that is automatically triggered after a specified time.

CALENDAR

The calendar organises your company time management. Incidents can be prioritized by date. The calendar also allows you to integrate Incident priorities with employees’ availability.

KNOWLEDGE BASE

The knowledge base lets employees create topics. In these topics, they can share information about support, sales, or any other issues. In addition, employees can link documents from the document list into knowledge base articles. The articles can also be linked to Incidents and, if you e-mail Incidents, you can optionally include the knowledge base articles in the e-mail, either in the text or as an attachment.

INCIDENT GRAPHS

View Incidents graphically (bar charts) per user, per Incident type, per Incident status and so on. Graphical representations of Incident information gives a birds-eye view of your business activities – perfect for management. You can even drill-down by clicking on a particular area of the chart to see the underlying detail making up the chart.

GENERAL LEDGER

The General Ledger is the heart of the financial function of your company. All processing you do eventually reflects in the General Ledger. No tedious month or year-ends, the system is date-driven, allowing you to post transactions to any period at any time providing peace of mind and flexibility. The General Ledger stores 3 years of data. Accounting periods can, however, be ‘blocked’, preventing transaction processing to those periods which have been ‘closed’. Sub accounts can be used to create a reporting hierarchy. Reporting is considerably simplified while, retaining the level of detail you require. With unlimited branches and departments, your business can grow with the security of knowing Pastel Evolution is scalable, flexible and robust.

RECEIVABLES AND PAYABLES

Have instant access to customer and supplier balances, overdue totals and sales/purchases history. Enjoy quick and easy confirmation of delivery requirements, selling prices, discounts and available customer credit. Drill-down features and reports are available when you need a more detailed analysis of customer/supplier transactions. Maintain unlimited addresses for each customer/supplier record.

INVENTORY CONTROL

Evolution’s powerful Inventory Control gives you unlimited control over your stock. The system provides both summary management reports as well as detailed operational reports, all customisable per user. You can extend Pastel Evolutions’ power by combining the Inventory Control module with other related add-on modules:

– With Multi-Warehousing, you can create multiple warehouses or stores, and move items between these stores.

– Serial Number Tracking serialises individual inventory items and keeps track of them by their history. The system follows their purchase, internal movement in the company, sale and possible return for repair or refund.

– Bill of Materials allows you to manufacture or assemble items from components. The system takes the component materials out of stock and creates finished items ready for you to sell.

– All these add-on modules work together. For example, you can manufacture serialised items into warehouses.

IMPORT COST ALLOCATIONS

When you import goods, there are frequently additional costs that do not originate from the supplier. For example, you may be liable for shipping costs and/or import duties. This feature allows you to process these additional costs at the same time as the goods received voucher. The system will then calculate the cost of the items correctly. This feature avoids the inconvenience of having to process these additional costs later and then adjusting your costs manually.

PROJECT TRACKING

This module allows you to ‘tag’ transactions (either income or expense) to particular projects. Reports can then be filtered showing those items specifically related to the project you are wanting to control, extending so far as to reflect a profit or loss report by project.

SALES AND PURCHASE ORDER ENTRY

Maintain and control outstanding orders, processed orders and back orders. This module is fully integrated into Evolutions’ Inventory, Receivables and Payables modules.

– Print and process purchase and sales orders, and then fill these orders in part or in whole, keeping track of outstanding orders.

– Reserve stock quantities for customers when they place an order.

– Print picking slips and delivery notes.

– Capture purchase orders in the supplier’s currency and the system converts the values into your currency at the exchange rate you specify.

– Create purchase orders automatically, using the re-order fields on the inventory records.

– Create quotes and convert into sales orders once confirmed.

– Powerful reports help you manage outstanding and overdue orders.

ADVANCED SECURITY

Confidential accounting data, as well as controlling access to information is vital to any business. Pastel Evolution enables you to configure multi-level, menu-driven passwords and securities per individual user. You can also establish ‘user groups’, allowing the quick addition of new users into the system, with security access rules defined at the user group level. Once you assign a user to the group, the user takes on the access rules of that group.

EVOLUTION REPORT WRITER & STATIONERY CUSTOMISATION

The Report Writer module allows you to customise standard reports per user as well as stationery layouts per user. It integrates into every module in the Evolution system. You can change layouts, add and remove fields, and perform additional calculations or subtotals. You can even write your own SQL script for advanced functionality. The system includes a tutorial package that will guide you through the process of report writing.

EVOLUTION FIXED ASSETS

With features like an unlimited number of assets and multiple forms of depreciation, Evolution Fixed Assets helps you to control your fixed assets easily, affordably and reliably. The different methods of depreciation include straight line, reducing balance, immediate write off, units of usage, plant & machinery and equal allowance. Other key features include:

– Track unlimited number of Fixed Assets by cost centres or departments

– Multiple Asset Types

– Capex Budgets and Orders

Pastel Evolution Fixed Assets can be used in conjunction with the core Pastel Evolution system or can be purchased as a stand-alone product.

EVOLUTION SERIAL NUMBER TRACKING

Integrating with Pastel Evolutions’ Inventory module, Serial Number Tracking keeps detailed information on specific inventory items. From purchase to sale, to returns, each item is tracked uniquely providing absolute control over serialised inventory items. Sometimes you may need to track items individually. For example, if you sell items that have warranties, you need to know when you sold the item, and to whom you sold the item, so you know whether it is under warranty. A Serial Number Listing report shows the current location of serial numbered items. For each serial number, the report shows the item code and description, the date of its last movement, the current general location in stock, the customer it was sold to, and so on. A Serial Number Transactions report shows all transactions for a serial number. Reflecting one transaction per line, each line shows the serial number, item code and description, transaction date and reference, the customer/supplier account code and its originating module.

EVOLUTION JOB COSTING

Allocate costs and measure the profitability of short-to-medium-term jobs. Enjoy an unlimited number of job cards and the ability to archive these for future estimates. Track labour costs from payroll time sheets in Pastel Evolution Payroll and calculate transactions on a rate, lump sum or percentage basis.

EVOLUTION BILL OF MATERIALS

Designed for the manufacturing and assembly environment, this module allows you to create assembly sheets (or Bills as they are commonly known) detailing each component making up the completed item. Completed items can be manufactured before they are sold or you can simply invoice the completed item and Pastel Evolution will manufacture the item on-the-fly whereupon the sub-components will be drawn from stock. Additional features include the ability to update inventory files during the manufacturing process and forward planning with the Material Requirements feature.

EVOLUTION MULTI-WAREHOUSING

The Multi-Warehouse add-on module allows you to split your inventory items into discrete areas, or warehouses. You can use warehouses for many types of situations:

– Physical warehouses in different geographic areas.

– Keep raw materials and/or internal parts separate from items you sell.

– Keep track of consignment stock / samples in a separate warehouse.

– Separate obsolete items into a separate warehouse.

– Track demo stock allocated to sales representatives.

EVOLUTION POINT-OF-SALE

This module integrates with Inventory as well as Receivables, perfectly addressing the practical issues within the retail or Point-of-Sale environment. Functionality includes security parameters, tender types (cash, voucher, credit card or cheque), flexible pricing and discounting. This module supports peripheral devices such as pole customer display units, cash drawers, slip printers and bar code scanners. Pastel Evolution Point-of-Sale offers flexibility by allowing for per till configuration and has powerful reporting features.

EVOLUTION PRICING MATRIX

This module adds great flexibility to Pastel Evolution’s standard pricing feature. Establish volume based or time based price breaks and much more. unlimited discount variations, such as multiple discounts per customer per stock item,discounts per stock group and the ability to override discounts on processing invoices.

EVOLUTION CUSTOMER ACCOUNT CONSOLIDATIONS

Integrating with Receivables, this module allows for the separate invoicing of branches, but with the added functionality of printing one customer statement at a consolidated head-office level. This is particularly useful when you wish to keep track of a ‘group customer with head office’ situation where you need to capture sales made to the individual branches, but then present a consolidated statement to your customer’s head office.

EVOLUTION CUSTOMER CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT

Integrating with Receivables, Customer Credit Risk Management helps you manage your customer credit risk through a step-by-step process. A credit application is completed to assess a potential customer’s credit-worthiness before the granting of credit. This module generates credit applications and runs the data through a scoring system. A passing score will see a new account opened. A failing score will request guarantees or security against granting credit. The module will also generate standard legal documentation based on the type of business you are running. The following documentation, amongst others, is included:

– Terms and conditions of sale.

– Credit application forms.

– Both ‘soft’ and ‘final’ demand letters.

– Power of attorney forms.

EVOLUTION ANNUITY BILLING

Integrating to both Receivables and Inventory, this module provides for repetitive or recurring invoices on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Specify contract periods, design recurring invoice templates or simply setup base amounts to be charged to customers periodically. Annuity Billing is another flexible module that provides you with the ability to customise the application to fit the specific requirements of your business.

eBUSINESS

The Internet has fast become a de facto standard of normal business practice and the most effective and efficient delivery mechanism available. Evolution’s eBusiness module enables you to quickly and easily open an online web store. Set up seamless integration between your online store and Pastel – for example you can draw product and price information for the online store and orders can be automatically downloaded into Pastel and processed. Fully integrated with Pastel Evolution, eBusiness provides:

– Full eBusiness integration – seamlessly draw customer, product, pricing information from Pastel Evolution directly into your website enabling you to merchandise and sell products online.

– Full order integration – orders automatically flow back from your eBusiness web store into Pastel Evolution.

– Offline set-up; no IT knowledge required

eBilling

View detailed customer statements, with a drill down into source transactions over the Internet. The benefits include:

– Get paid faster

– Customer self service

– Customer account access 24/7/365

– Uniform electronic remittance advice

– Mobile sales representatives with up to date information

– Detailed account research