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Archiving Tax Forms
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Although I have mentioned the
FormSprint archiver data base system in past newsletters, some of our
users may not be aware of this feature in FormSprint. But we are
coming up on tax time so I want to remind those who may have known
about it but have forgotten it and inform those who weren't aware of
it.
It is a fact of life that W2s and 1099s
will sometimes go astray and will have to be reprinted. Reprinting
is a real chore with preprinted forms, but pretty easy with
FormSprint. All you have to do is figure out which page or pages you
need to reprint, enter the page range in the spool file attributes
and reprocess the spool file through FormSprint again.
But
FormSprint's archive data base system is even easier because you
don't have to hunt down the original spool file and search through it
to determine the pages you need to reprint. With the archiver, you
just search on, say, the social security number for W2s and vendor
number for 1099s. When the file is retrieved, one keystroke prints
it. If you have the optional modules, you can also convert it to a
PDF file or automatically email or fax it.
If you are the one that has to reprint
the tax forms, you will find the archiver to be a real time-saver.
If you aren't, you can be a real hero to that person by getting it
set up for them. It isn't too late to add archiving to your W2 and
1099 processing. Set up is simple and we can help with it if you
give us a call.
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Happy Holidays to all of our readers! We thought that this month we'd offer some ideas of ways in which FormSprint might save some money, some time, some work, and maybe even some trees! Read on about duplexing, using macros to streamline forms and archiving, all features that have proven successful for many of our clients. Hopefully, you will find an idea that will make your job in 2009 just a bit easier.
Our pictures this month were taken on a wonderful family holiday on Sao Miguel in the Azores. Not especially well known, the Azores are an enchanting group of islands pretty much in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Claimed by Portugal, the Azores have a charm all their own. And even in this fairly isolated place, FormSprint is
successfully running and helping businesses every day! Enjoy the pictures!
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Working With Macros
Let's talk about form macros. Normally when you think of defining a form in
FormSprint, you might think of a form page, page 1 for instance, or multiple pages
such as page 1, 2, 3 and so on. We'll use a simple purchase order as an example.
Say we've got three pages: vendor copy, office copy and warehouse copy. So, you
define page one, then copy it to page two and three and simply change the label
on each page. Nothing wrong with that approach. It works. But there is an
alternative approach.
Instead of creating three of the same thing, which is what you have in the above
example, you could create a macro that is the same definition as our page example
above and use it three times. So what does that do for you? Well, suppose the
macro contained everything that was the same for each page of our PO. Each page
definition could then consist of that macro and anything that is different about
that particular page. In our example, each form page would consist of the same macro
and a label such as vendor, office or warehouse that was appropriate to that page.
Admittedly in our example you haven't saved much time in defining your form flash
but you have made the form simpler to maintain. Suppose something changes, new
text needs to be added, a box needs to be re-sized and or moved, or any other change
to the layout of the form common to all three pages. You change it once in the macro
and you are done. In the first example, you have to change all three pages.
Macros can also be used to maintain consistency across multiple forms. For instance,
you could format your logo along with address, phone, Web site and other appropriate
information, then copy that macro to new forms as they are created to give all your forms
a common look.
Here's a tip when creating macros: use zero-based positioning. In other words, if
your form starts at four millimeters from the left side of the page, start your
macro at 0, then position it on the page at 4 millimeters from the left. Where
the elements such as boxes, text, lines, etc. appear on the printed page is the sum
of its positioning in the macro and the positioning of the macro on the page.For instance ,
if you start a box in your macro at 10mm from the left and 10mm from the top, then
position the macro on the page at 10mm and 10mm, the box will print at 20mm and 20mm.
Zero-based positioning is easier because you don't have to keep track of the
positioning in the macro as you position it on the form page.
There is more to using macros in your forms. They can be used conditionally to print or not
print based on variable data. This makes macros a powerful tool, but that's a topic
for another day.
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More On Saving The Forests
In our July newsletter I talked about emailing and archiving as ways to not only save time but to also cut down on the number of pages printed. Duplex printing is another option you have to reduce the amount of paper used in producing your critical documents. By using both sides of the paper, assuming you have a duplex printer, paper usage can be reduced 30-40% in most cases. Invariably there are odd pages so you won't get to 50%.
In duplex printing it can sometimes be a challenge to avoid getting, say, a page of an invoice belonging to one customer on the back of one belonging to another customer. There are several ways to handle this so contact ICS if you run into it. We'll be happy to share the solutions with you so you don't have to work them out for yourself.
While on the subject of reducing printed pages, some of our users are implementing imaging or COLD storage as a replacement for filed hard copies. In the July newsletter I talked about the archive data base system built in to FormSprint. But some users want to include reports and what have you that don't go through FormSprint so they turn to the other solutions. Often these solutions need a PDF or TIFF file with a bar-coded index number. FormSprint handles the bar code easily and, with the optional modules, will also create the PDF or TIFF file.
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We look forward to sharing more information about FormSprint with you next year. We want to make sure you get the most out of your investment. Take care and Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Betsy Andrews
Integrated Custom Software, Inc.  |
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