Total Office Manager Archives

Aptora Automated Recurring Billing

Aptora’s payment gateway, authorize.net, is capable of automatically charging your customers for you. When utilizing it, you must also let Total Office Manager know that these payments are going into your bank account so that your books are correct within Total Office Manager. You can do this utilizing memorized transactions within Total Office Manager. This is useful for alarm companies that charge monthly, but it’s also useful for other industries such as HVAC, Lawn Care, Pest Control, and more that charge monthly for their service agreement contracts.

I started with an estimate. I created an alarm monthly line item and it is set for $50/month. I plan on turning this estimate into a sale, so I set the estimate status to awarded, to flag it as such.

I used the prior estimate to generate a “sale”, not an invoice, by right-clicking the estimate, and choosing “sale”. It then pulled the line item from the estimate and put it into the above sale form. A sale means we will receive the money right away without having to log in to the Total Office Manager system to then choose “receive payment” or “batch e-pay” as you do with an invoice or a memorized invoice. Invoices are typically used when you plan on receiving the money at a later date. Like a net 30-day invoice pay me within 30 days. To be clear, since I plan on having authorize.net charge the customer for me, without me having to do anything, I want these to be “sales” not “invoices”.

Above, when generating the memorized sale, I set the reminder to “automatically enter”. It’s important to do this step. I checked the top as completed because I wanted to show you, that it populates a date completed record. This is useful for situations, where a customer might pay early for some reason, so even if they were supposed to pay on 5/1/23, but paid today on 4/20/23, I would see it as such, especially useful if your policy is that they pay for the first month upfront or maybe even pay for the last month upfront as well.

This is the memorized transaction master list. It can be used to show the alarm monthly’s for every customer I have in the database. There could be hundreds if not thousands of records here I can view showing me all the customers we charge on a periodic basis. When I double-click the record, it opens the memorized transaction again so that I can always edit it in the future if need be.

On the first of the month, or whenever I am able, I can go into Total Office Manager, and click the add deposits button, and I will receive an alert, saying I have undeposited funds to verify as accurate. It suggests clicking the payments tab, so I do that and show it in the next screenshot.

On any date after May 1st, this is going to show up as an undeposited fund. It’s money we have already received in our bank account, I want to let Total Office Manager know,
that it’s correct. When I do the check box, I’m letting it know its correct.

The above is an example of what you might see on the Authorize.net web portal and how you verify the money was paid per customer. They can also email you an Excel report on a scheduled basis for you to look over too. You also get a second excel report showing you any credit cards that were declined. You would want this open on your second monitor and you would verify that there is indeed a 5/1/2023 for Jonathan’s Coffee Shop.

(to better view this image, right-click it, and click open in a new window) Keep in mind, the history is all still there for the estimate I generated earlier, so for instance, when in the customer’s history screen, I can see in their estimate tab, that the estimate there was set as rewarded. If I were to view their sales tab, I would see the sale I just created too.

(to better view this image, right-click it, and click open in a new window) When 5/1/2023 occurs, notice how the $50 sale is there in the customer history screen. Another $50 sale should show up every month without you having to do anything else within Total Office Manager.

(to better view this image, right-click it, and click open in a new window) Also, please keep in mind that you can now view the history of the item, to see every sale, estimate, etc. that has occurred for this item. You can filter by quarter, last year, this year, etc. as well to view how successful you are selling this item this year vs last year. Are we growing this side of the business or are we shrinking?

Automated Recurring Billing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1lbPAH2MhM

Authorize.net – Automated Recurring Billing, Part 1
https://youtu.be/5QepP3fsIC8

Authorize.net – Automated Recurring Billing, Part 2
https://youtu.be/wq1-hVQZoJs

Flexible Automatic Payment Options
https://www.authorize.net/en-anz/resources/our-features/recurring-payments.html

– Jonathan Fayard

Company File Information

Using the Company File Information Form

The Company File Information window provides detailed information about your company file. A “company file” is simply the database file where Total Office Manager stores all of your company data.

Form Access

From the main menu, click File | Company File Information.

How to Read and Understand The Information

File Properties

The File Properties area displays general information about the database.

Database Name – The name of your company file.
Database Type – This is they type of database that Total Office Manager uses.
File Size – This is the size of your database.
Database Path – This is the full path or location of your database.
SQL Server Version – This is the version information for the installed Microsoft SQL Server. If you are an on premise configuration, you can verify this by typing Select @@Version in SQL Server Management Studios.
Creation Date – This is the date that your database was first created.
Database Version – This is the version of the Total Office Manager database.
First Transaction – The date of the very first financial related transaction in Total Office Manager. This is displayed because occasionally a user will enter an incorrect, old, date. This can cause certain aspects of Total Office Manager to operate slowly.
QB Conversion – This indicates if the Company File was converted from a QuickBooks® file. If yes, you can hold “Shift + Ctrl and Click” on this label for detailed information on the conversion.
PR Splits Last Rebuilt – Indicates if a user has rebuilt payroll splits. This can also be done through a Total Office Manager update. It is mainly used by technical support personal.
Last Compact Repair – The last time the database (Company File) was compacted and Repaired using the Total Office Manager Database Utility.
Balances Last Rebuilt – Indicates if a user has recalculated the database (company file). This can also be done through a Total Office Manager update. It is mainly used by technical support personal.
GJ Balanced – Indicates if the General Journal is in balance. If it is not, the label will display “No“.
Pending GJ Rebuild – A “Yes” indicates that Total Office Manager has suggested a GJ Rebuild but a user did not allow it. You will need to rebuild the GJ as soon as possible.
GJ Last Rebuilt – If the GJ has been rebuilt, the date of that event will be shown here. The audit trail will also record this event.
Item Register Last Rebuilt – Indicates if a user has rebuilt the item register table. This can also be done through a Total Office Manager update. It is mainly used by technical support personal.

Users Logged In

This tab includes general information about who is logged into the Total Office Manager database.

Computer Name – These are the computer names of the computers used by the users who are logged into Total Office Manager.
System Name – This is the Windows or operating system user name. This is not the name assigned in Total Office Manager but the name assigned in Windows.
User Name – This is user name of the Total Office Manager user. This is the name assigned in Total Office Manager.
Time Logged In – This is the time the user logged into Total Office Manager. This time comes from the user’s computer clock and not the clock on the computer where the database is located.

Record Counts

This tab includes general information about the number of records that the Total Office Manager database contains. The field names are self-explanatory and note defined here. Feel free to contact technical support with questions. Please note that Total Office Manager allows user to inactivate certain records (like customers) so this form displays both values.

Database Stats

This tab includes general information about the health of your SQL Server instance and database. It is important to ensure your database is maintained for optimal performance.

Tips

Use the “Refresh” button to update the window. If changes are made to the company file (maybe by another user), the form will not refresh automatically.
Use this form to see how much work is performed in Total Office Manager. You can take a screen shot of the record counts tab on one day and do the same several days later. This will allow you to quickly see how many customer, invoices, etc., were added.

Resetting Your RDS Password

Introduction

For data security purposes, Microsoft requires users to occasionally reset their Remote Desktop Services password. This help topic will show you when you need to reset your password and how to do it.

When your password expires

When your password expires, you will get an error message that reads “The logon attempt failed” when attempting to log in.

To reset your password

Navigate to https://rds.aptora.com and attempt to log in with your current password
You will receive a message advising you that the password has expired. Click the indicated hyperlink to reset your password.
You will be redirected to a page where you will need to enter your expired password and enter your new password twice (password cannot be the same as a previous password, cannot contain your name, and must have eight characters including one uppercase letter; one lowercase letter; one special character; one number).
Once you have reset your password, the site will advise you that you have successfully reset your password.
From there you can log in as usual.

Gateway Settings for Bambora (Canada Only)

Activate the New System

Click Edit > Preferences > Customer Payment > Company Preferences. Check the “Use Gateway Payment Profiles” checkbox.

Do not click the Batch Convert button at this point. This will be covered later.

Create a Bambora Merchant Account

Bambora

If needed, create a new account by logging into https://bambora.com
You will need the following information from your account.
Merchant ID
Payment API Access Passcode
Profile API Access Passcode

Copy Merchant ID and Admin API Access Passcode

In the upper right of the page you will see your Merchant ID. Make a note of it. You will need it.
Navigate to: Configuration > Payment Profile Configuration. Under Security Settings, locate API Access Passcode. If there is no code, click the Generate New Code button. Copy the API access passcode.
Obtain Payment Profile API Access Passcode
From the upper right of Bambora’s web page, click Administration > Account Settings > Order Settings.
Under Payment Gateway > Security/Authentication, locate the “API Access Passcode” field.
If there is no number, click the Generate New Code button.
Copy that code.

Create Gateway in Total Office Manager

You will need to create a new Gateway. Go to Customer > Electronic Transaction > Electronic Transaction List
Click Add New
In the Name field, enter a name for your Gateway. Example: Bambora Gateway
Enter the Merchant ID into Merchant ID field.
In the User Name and Passwords fields, enter your Bambora website user name and password.
Enter the Admin API Access Passcode into the Profile Passcode field.
Enter the Payment Profile API Access Passcode into the API Access Passcode field. Tester’s Note: The field might be called Payment Passcode when you test this. We are renaming it to API Access Passcode” for clarity.
Click Save. The form will close.

Tip: Bambora’s website can be confusing regarding terminology. Be extra careful when copying and entering the API passcodes. There are two different API passcodes that have the same field name but different locations.

Add a Payment Profile

Locate the customer you wish to use and open the Customer:Job form to edit.

Click the Manage Credit Card Profiles button.

Select a Gateway and click the OK button. The New Customer Profile form will open.

Enter a credit card number and other information as needed. We recommend that all fields be filled out including the CVC number. Remember, this number and the rest of the credit card information will not be saved. It will be converted into safe and secure token.

Processing a Credit Card Using a Profile

From the Receive Payments form, click the E Pay button.

448534XXXXXX1891 Visa

Please Note: The Batch Token Conversion ignores expired credit cards.

Chart of Accounts Numbering Convention

How to Number Your Chart of Accounts

A standard chart of accounts (or COA) is organized according to a numerical system. The Chart of Accounts numbering convention states that each major category will begin with a certain number, and then the sub-categories within that major category will all begin with the same number.

If assets are classified by numbers starting with the digit 1, then cash accounts might be labeled 101, accounts receivable might be labeled 105, inventory might be labeled 112, and so on. Whereas, if liabilities accounts are classified by numbers starting with the digit 2, then accounts payable might be labeled 201, short-term debt might be labeled 202, and so on.

Chart of Accounts – Numbering Convention Example

Starting #	Account Type*	Comments
1000	Bank
1100	Accounts Receivable
1200	Other Current Asset	This would contain your Inventory account
1300	Fixed Asset
1400	Other Asset
2000	Accounts Payable
2100	Credit Card
2200	Other Current Liability
2300	Long Term Liability
2500	Equity
4000	Income
5000	Cost of Goods Sold
6000	Expense	AKA: Overhead. Contains fixed and variable.
9000	Other Income
9500	Other Expense

Tips

These are the fifteen different account types found in Total Office Manager. Within each type, you would enter your own specific account. An example would be “Rent” or “Utilities”.

When entering your accounts, please be sure to separate each account by at least ten numbers (such as 1010, 1020, 1030, etc).

AR Aging Report Not Matching Balance Sheet

Top Reasons Your AR Aging Report Does Not Match Your Balance Sheet

There are several reasons the AR Aging report is not matching the Balance Sheet. Generally, it is a date timing issue. The Balance Sheet strictly looks at the transaction date while the AR Aging reports look at the transaction debit date, the transaction credit date, and the date the credit was applied to the debit transaction.

Here are the most common reasons the AR Aging Report does not match your Balance Sheet Report.

The AR Aging reports were not run with the same date parameters as the Balance Sheet.
Transactions affecting Accounts Receivable are out of balance in the General Journal.
Transactions affecting Accounts Receivable are missing from the General Journal.
Credit application dates are not in sync with General Journal transaction dates.
Accounts Receivable account is improperly being used in Invoice Item setup.
Accounts Receivable account is improperly selected on transactions.

AR Aging Not Matching Balance Sheet – Report Date Verification

When running the Balance Sheet and A/R Aging reports, please verify the dates on the two reports are the same. If you find the report dates to be different, re-run the reports with the same date parameters.

Out of Balance Transactions

Occasionally a transaction may become out of balance if it was not properly saved to the General Journal. Many factors can contribute to this behavior. There may have been a network disconnect in the middle of the save procedure, incomplete data, a power surge, etc. Total Office Manager has built in utilities to scan for these types of transactions. The Database Checkup utility is located under Tools | Utilities | Database Checkup. Run the scan for Out of Balance Transactions.

AR Aging Report Not Matching Balance Sheet Check — Checking the AR Aging Report

Locate any Invoices, Credits, or Payments and double click to open. Once in the transaction, right click and choose the option Find In GJ. A review of the General Journal entry may indicate why this transaction is out of balance. Typically, typing a space on the Internal Memo and resaving the transaction will update the General Journal entry. Once you have reviewed and resaved all located out of balance transactions, rerun the scan again to validate you have in fact corrected these entries.

Missing GJ Entries

For the same reasons as the out of balance scan, entries may also be missing from the General Journal. Running the scan for Missing GJ Entries will locate any records that are missing from the General Journal that impact accounting.

Locate any Invoices, Credits, or Payments and double click to open. Review each transaction and resave by typing a space on the Internal Memo to input into the General Journal. Once you have reviewed and resaved all located missing entries, rerun the scan again to validate you have in fact corrected these entries.

Incorrect Payment Applications

Many times the number one culprit of the reports not matching is improper payment application dates. There are many ways to review these entries. Review the A/R Payment Applications Review CDV will help to identify where payment application dates may cause discrepancies between the reports. Custom Data Views (CDV) are located under Reports | Custom Data Views. To access this Custom Data View, please navigate to Reports | Custom Data Views. Under the Data Views menu, select A/R Payment Applications Review. If you do not see A/R Payment Applications Review listed, please select Download/Update Views. Check the box next to A/R Payment Applications Review and click the Update Selected Views button. Once confirmation of download has been displayed, close the Custom Data View Download form and choose A/R Payment Applications Review from the Data Views menu.

Custom Report for A/R Aging Report Not Matching Balance Sheet — Custom Data View for Fixing the A/R Aging Report Not Matching Balance Sheet

When reviewing the transactions in the list, compare the Debit Date and Credit Date against the Date Applied. The Date Applied is to be the greater of the Debit and Credit dates. If you find a Date Applied that is incorrect, double click on the entry to open the Customer:Job record. Right click within the Customer:Job and choose the History option. Locate the Invoice or Sale on Sales tab, right click, and choose the option Adjust. Check the box next to the credit transaction and click the Delete and Close button.

Click on the Payments tab, right click and choose New. Locate the debit transaction and click on the line entry. There is no need to check the box. Click the Set Credit button in the lower left corner of the payments form. Ensure the Date Applied is the greater of the two dates. Click Save & Close on the credits form. Close out of the payment form. There is no need to save the payment. The credit application is saved when the credits form is saved and closed.

Item Account Setup

If Smart Account Selection Filtering turned off, it is possible to select an inappropriate account when setting up items. This could also lead to A/R Agint to not match the Balance Sheet

Open your Invoice Item List. Be sure that you have the Income Acct, COGS Acct, and the Asset Acct columns included in your list view.

Go through your list of items to be sure that the correct chart of account has been selected. You should only see “Income” type of accounts in the Income Acct column. You should only see Cost of Goods Sold accounts in the COGS Acct column. Don’t just rely on the name to indicate the COA type. If you are not sure, look at your Chart of Accounts list to double check names against COA types.

You may also review the Invoice Item Setup in the Custom Data Viewer.

Invoice Item Setup - Locate AR Aging Report Information — Locate AR Aging Report Information with the Custom Data Viewer

Improper Account Usage

We have commonly seen Accounts Receivable selected as the Discount Account on payment entries. We have commonly seen Bad Debt setup using an Accounts Receivable chart of account. Neither should be setup this way.

When using an Accounts Receivable type as type as a discount, no customer is associated with this record. Typically discount transactions affect an expense account type. Total Office Manager no longer allows for the selection of an Accounts Receivable account in the discount account selection on a payment. If the intent was to move the balance to a bad debt receivable account, it is customary to create an invoice item for bad debt which is tied to an expense account and use this item as outlined in the Help Topic: Bad Debt – Dealing with Collection Agencies.

Is it also possible that, at one time, certain items could have had an incorrect COA and have since been corrected. If the user did not click “Yes” to the “Update Historical” option, old transactions using these items would still be causing problems. Currently, there is no easy way to locate transactions that may have been created using items with an incorrect Chart of Account selection. If you believe that this may describe your problem, please contact technical support for more information.

A/R Aging Not Matching Balance Sheet – Additional Troubleshooting

If all the above have been reviewed, verified, and corrected, the next step would be to compare the A/R Aging customer balances to the Balance Sheet customer balances. The Register Accounts Receivable CDV can assist in summing the customer entries in the General Journal and allow for easier comparison to the AR Aging reports. Locate the Customer:Jobs that are different from one report to the next. Determine why the source of the discrepancy and correct as outlined in the Incorrect Payment Applications section.

This is an easy fix; however it is a very time consuming fix. Other than taking the time to analyze the records as outlined above, there is no “easy” button to correct this. Please remember that patience is a virtue and patience is the key.

Please note: The same steps would be taken for Accounts Payable if the amounts on the AP Aging Report did not match the Executive Summary or the Balance Sheet. You would just need to replace AR forms and functions with AP forms and functions and continue to follow the steps as outlined.

Accounting Review

If you are unable to locate the differences, or would like assistance in troubleshooting the reports and balances, our Accounting Review service may be the way to go. Many times we are asked, “But isn’t that why we have a support plan?” Our technical support is more for the software functionality than for dissecting the numbers. When there is question with where a number is coming from and it requires digging through financials that we are not familiar with, we do refer to the Accounting Review service for two reasons:

Our Accounting Review team is very thorough. Not only do they look for data anomalies, they document discrepancies, offer resolutions, explain a particular process or procedure that will prevent the reason for the accounting review referral.
Our Accounting Review team validates that the software is functioning as the software is intended to where accounting aspects are concerned. If a bug is determined to be the cause of the issue, they fully acknowledge as such and you do receive a credit of $150.00 per bug determined to be applied towards to review fees.

If you are interested in our Accounting Review service, please contact our Help Desk via phone (913-322-4666) or by email (helpdesk@aptora.com) for further direction.

Set up a Loan or Line of Credit

Introduction

A small business may choose to use a line of credit to cover short term cash shortages. Lines of credit can take many forms. Generally, a company makes a request to borrow money against its line of credit via fax or email. The money is then electronically deposited into the company’s bank account. The business may pay interest only or a combination of interest and principle monthly. These payments are typically made electronically by the bank per the company’s request, and no checks are sent or received. When this happens, a company will need to set up a loan or a line of credit within Total Office Manager.

To set up a line of credit to show interest expenses and principle payments, follow the steps below that best suit your needs:

Note: The accounts used here are for illustrative purposes only. Please consult your accounting professional for the exact accounts to use.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Banking | Chart of Accounts List. Right-click anywhere in the list and select New Account from the fly-out menu.

Field & Button Definitions

Create a long-term liability account to track what you owe:

Type – Choose Long Term Liability as the account type.
Number – This number can be auto-generated by Total Office Manager, or you can choose to input your own reference number for this account.
Name – Enter an appropriate name (“Line of Credit” for example) for this account to track the liability.
Subaccount of – This is not a subaccount, so leave this field blank.
Note – Enter any appropriate notes regarding the chart of account.
Description – Enter any description you feel necessary to describe this account and its purpose.
Inactive – This checkbox should remain unmarked as long as this account is active.

Once all fields have been filled out, click the Next button to set up the next account.

Create an account to track interest payments (expenses):

Chart of Account - Expense — Chart of Account – Expense

Type – Select Expense from the drop-down menu.
Number – This number can be auto-generated by Total Office Manager, or you can choose to input your own reference number for this account.
Name – Enter an appropriate name (“Line of Credit – Interest” for example) for this account.
Subaccount of – This is not a subaccount, so leave this field blank.
Bank Acct. No. – Enter the number of the bank account, if applicable.
Opening Balance – Leave this field blank.
As of – Leave this field blank.
This Account is Used for Inventory Purposes Only – Leave this checkbox unmarked.
Description – Enter any description you feel necessary to describe this account and its purpose.
Inactive – This checkbox should remain unmarked as long as this account is active.

Once all fields have been filled out, click the OK button to close the window.

Depositing money from your line of credit:

To deposit the money that has been borrowed against your line of credit into the company’s bank account, follow these instructions:

From the main menu, select Banking | Make Deposits, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + D to open the Add Deposit form.

Deposit to – Select the bank account into which your bank will transfer the money.
Date – Enter the date of the actual transfer.
Entry # – Enter some type of code in this field that relates to the transaction. One recommended option is to enter the letters “ACH” followed by a transaction number. This can be the current date, your loan request number, a number assigned by the bank, or an internal number.
Memo – Enter notes in this field explaining the source of the loan and any other pertinent information necessary.
Received From – Select your Bank from the drop-down menu. Your bank should already be set up as a vendor. If your bank is not set up as a vendor, use the <Add New> option, to create an account for your bank.
From Account – Select your new account “Line of Credit”.
Memo – Enter any notes you feel are necessary in this area.
Check # – If the funds were received in the form of a check, enter the number of the check in this field. Otherwise, you can leave blank or enter another number/code for internal purposes.
Pmt Meth. – Select the appropriate payment method type from the drop-down menu. If the transaction is paperless, it is recommended to use “ACH”. These letters indicate that this was an electronic transaction.
Amount – Enter the amount of the loan in this field.
Dept. – Enter the department that will receive the funds, if applicable. Otherwise, leave blank.

Double check your work, and then click OK.

Once these steps have been completed, the money borrowed from the line of credit will appear in the company’s bank account, and the transaction will be set up as a Long Term Liability.

Make an interest or loan payment:

When scheduling the repayment of a Line of Credit against which your company has borrowed, it must first be determined whether the payments will be interest payments or payments against the principle (the money borrowed). Typically, banks will automatically withdraw money from a company’s bank account each month to cover interest charges. This section explains how to record that event:

From the main menu, select Banking | Write Checks or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl +W to access the Write Checks form.

Bank – Select the account from which the payment will come.
Pay to the order of – Select the institution that holds the company’s Line of Credit and to which the payment will be sent.
No. – Enter an internal code for the ACH transaction. One recommended option is to enter the letters “ACH” followed by a transaction number. This can be the current date, your loan request number, a number assigned by the bank, or an internal number.
Date – Enter the date of the actual transfer.
Memo – Enter a memo explaining the payment, etc.

On the Expenses tab:

Write Check - Expense Tab — Write Check – Expense Tab

Account – Select “Line of Credit – Interest” account. When making a payment against the principle (the loan amount), select the Line of Credit account.
Amount – Enter the amount of the interest paid. The interest amount will be shown on the company’s bank statement or recorded as a transaction on the bank’s website. When making a payment against the principle (the loan amount), enter the principle payment amount.

Double check your work, and then click Save & Close.

The above actions (less the last two steps) will increase the interest expenses on the company’s Income Statement. If the payment was for the principle, the Line of Credit amount (on the Balance Sheet) will be lowered.

Tips

Smart Account Filtering is a safety feature in Total Office Manager. When Smart Account Filtering is enabled, only proper account types appear as options, which eliminates the mistake of selecting improper account types for a given transaction. This preference may need to be disabled (turned off) in order to see the “Line of Credit” account in the Make Deposit form and the Write Check form. This option is found on the Chart of Accounts tab of the Preferences form (Edit | Preferences).
If, after receiving the company’s bank statement, it is found that the interest paid differs from the interest due, the check can always be edited to reflect the correct amount. Adjustments can also be made as Journal Entries, but Adjusting Journal Entries are typically not recommended

Email Addresses for Sending Text Messages

Introduction

In Total Office Manager, you can send text message alerts to mobile devices by email using email-to-SMS addresses. An email-to-SMS address typically consists of a 10-digit mobile phone number and the mobile carrier’s domain name, in the following format: 1234567890@carrierdomainname.com. When you send an “email” to these addresses, they arrive as plain text messages.

List of Carriers

Carrier	SMS	MMS
Alltel	number@message.alltel.com
AT&T	number@txt.att.net	number@mms.att.net
AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular)	number@cingularme.com	number@mobile.mycingular.com
Bell Canada	number@txt.bellmobility.com	None
Boost Mobile	number@sms.myboostmobile.com	number@myboostmobile.com
Cellular South	number@text.scsouth1.com	None
Centennial Wireless	number@cwemail.com	None
Consumer Cellular	number@mailmymobile.net	None
Cricket	number@sms.cricketwireless.net	number@mms.cricketwireless.net
C-Spire	number@cspire1.com	None
Google Fi (Project Fi)	number@msg.fi.google.com
Metro PCS	number@mymetropcs.com
Nextel	number@page.nextel.com	number@messaging.nextel.com
Page Plus	number@vtext.com	None
Qwest	number@qwestmp.com	None
Republic Wireless	number@text.republicwireless.com	None
Rogers	number@pcs.rogers.com
Sasktel	number@sms.sasktel.com	None
S. Cellular	number@email.uscc.net	number@mms.uscc.net
Sprint	number@messaging.sprintpcs.com	number@pm.sprint.com
Suncom	number@tms.suncom.com	None
Ting	number@msg.telus.com	None
Telus	number@message.ting.com	None
T-Mobile	number@tmomail.net
Tracfone	number@mmst5.tracfone.com
XFinity Mobile, Straight Talk	number@vtext.com	number@mypixmessages.com
Verizon	number@vtext.com	number@vzwpix.com
Virgin Mobile	number@vmobl.com	number@vmpix.com

Please Note: There are various other carriers which may use their own carrier specific addresses, As these addresses are carrier controlled, you may need to contact the specific carrier to verify these addresses.

Caller ID – Troubleshooting

Introduction

This help topic covers trouble-shooting your Caller Identifier hardware. This is an optional device that connects to your telephone system. This hardware works in conjunction with our Caller ID Server.

Please note, at this time, the Caller ID functionality exists for our on premise customers only.

Warning

This is an advanced topic designed for a network administrator, not a novice computer technician.

Usage

The Caller Identifier connects to your incoming telephone lines. It sends a signal via a serial cable to a computer that is running our Caller ID Server. The Caller ID Server sends information to each instance of Total Office Manager that may be running. This allows Total Office Manager users to see who is calling and quickly access that caller’s records – if they are on file.

Troubleshooting

Power on Procedure

Plug the supplied AC Wall Transformer (12VAC Output) into a 110 VAC outlet and the Power Connector into the back of the Identifier connector labeled ‘POWER’.
When power is supplied to the Identifier a Red LED, located between the DB-9 “OUT” connector and the Line 1 RJ-12 jack, will illuminate. After about 1 second the LED will flash 5 times. Then if the Identifier is properly connected to a serial port and the serial port’s CTS signal is active , the LED will turn off. If the LED remains on either the cable is not properly connected or the device (computer or serial printer) is not driving the serial port’s CTS signal. When connected to a computer serial port, software must be controlling the serial port to make the CTS signal active. Most communications software which connects to a CommPortwill automatically set CTS active. If the LED continues flashing the internal diagnostics has found a failure, and the unit may need to be returned for repair.
If the LED remains illuminated when you have the cable connected properly and you have software running which is currently accessing the CommPort, check the following:
Make sure the software is connected to the same CommPortthe Identifier is connected to.
Make sure the cable is properly connected. Use the supplied cable.
Power the Identifier down and up again. Make sure the LED flashes 5 times after about 1 second. If not the unit is defective.
Remove the cable from the computer and loop the cable between the “OUT” port and the “IN” port. If the LED goes out, the computer or software is the problem. If not, either the Identifier or the cable may be defective.
Once communications is established the Identifier sends a power-on initialization string such as;
1. +0,1,”YES MLM-8X 04/22/94,1.10
This can be viewed by using a terminal program such as Procomm or HyperTerminal (which comes with Windows)

Using Hyper Terminal to View the Identifier’s Output

These instructions are compatible with Windows 98 and Higher. Some of these instructions are meant to be performed by advanced computer technicians and may be inappropriate for those not comfortable with such procedure.

Go to START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, HYPER TERMINAL
In the Hyper Terminal group window double click the HYPERTRM.EXE icon. This will bring up the CONNECTION DESCRIPTION dialog box.
Enter a name such as CALLERID, click OK.
In the PHONE NUMBER dialog box change the CONNECT USING to “Direct to ComX” (where X is the commport to which the Identifier is connected).
Click OK.
The COM PROPERTIES must be:
Bit per Second: 4800
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Hardware
Click Ok

You should now be connected to the Identifier. Unplug and power up the Identifier. Watch the Red LED on the rear of the Identifier. It will blink about 5 times then go out. If it does not blink power was not applied or the unit is defective. If it stays on (after blinking) you have not connected to the correct com port or the serial cable is not connected properly. The instant the LED stops blinking, on the Hyper Terminal screen you should see something like:

1.    +0,1,"YES MLM-8X",05/27/95,1.27

Type in ATSNthen press the Enter key . You will not see anything as you type, but after you press Enter you should get the serial number that looks something like: +3,2,8480912

This confirms the Identifier is correctly installed. If you have phone lines connected to the Identifier at this point you should see additional events depending on phone line activity. You can view examples of what you might see by clicking on “Output Examples” in the menu bar at the top of this page. You can also type in commands as described in the technical manual. You can view this manual by clicking on “Technical Manual” in the menu bar at the top of this page.

W-2 Processing

Introduction

Each year the Federal government requires that the employer send a W-2 Form to each employee that received wages for the previous year. Total Office Manager allows you generate W-2 Forms quickly and easily. It also gives you the ability to add any special items that Total Office Manager does not automatically include.

Who must file Form W-2?

Employers must file Form W-2 for wages paid to each employee from whom income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld or income tax would have been withheld if the employee had claimed no more than one withholding allowance or had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4.

Also, every employer engaged in a trade or business who pays remuneration for services performed by an employee, including non-cash payments, must furnish a Form W-2 to each employee even if the employee is related to the employer.

Please note that if you are required to file 250 or more W-2 forms, you must file them electronically unless you got a waiver from the IRS.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Employee | W2 and W3 (Wage and Tax Statement).

Step-By-Step

Select a year from the drop down menu and click Calculate to create new W2 forms. You will be prompted for an optional control number. The Control Number field appears on the IRS W2 form. Total Office Manager does not require this number. Most businesses will not need to enter a control number. It does not matter if you enter one or not.
Select a year from the menu and click View to see the W2 forms. If there is no data for the year selected, it is automatically generated. The W2 window then opens.
The user can then edit any field (with a white background) on the form. When finished, they can choose ‘Recalculate’ from the W2 Processing form (shown above).

Tips

W2 processing (and W2) is very important and accuracy is essential. Please see your accountant if you need specific help for your business.

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Create a long-term liability account to track what you owe:

Create an account to track interest payments (expenses):

Depositing money from your line of credit:

Make an interest or loan payment:

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