A/U System Overview

The purpose of the AutoPilot module is to give you the ability to select a program (or more often, a group of programs) that you wish the computer to run on its own. The intent is to allow the programs to execute automatically, unattended by an operator, without any operator intervention. Therefore, in addition to selecting the order in which you wish the computer to execute the individual programs, you will also answer the normal questions (prompts) that the program would ask, as if you were using the program at that moment.

After selecting a series of programs and answering the prompts associated with them, you will have the opportunity to save your configuration and answers. Then, in the future, you will be able to execute this batch again as it exists, or with alterations in the selection of programs, the order in which they are executed, or the answers to individual prompts within the programs.

The AutoPilot module may be used to execute a batch of programs at any time. The most useful and effective way to take advantage of the AutoPilot is to set up batches to be run when the computer would not normally be in use, for example while operators are on breaks, lunch hours, or in the evening. Thus you may achieve more efficiency in completing your administrative tasks by having your computer continue to work for you (without an operator) conceivably at all times.

There are many situations for which you may create batches of programs to complete normal processing. For instance, you may print a great deal of reports at month-end, along with postings and zeroing. The Autopilot can combine all these tasks for you in order to complete your month-end procedures more quickly.

In another example, many Sales Managers print a great deal of reports at month-end which they use to evaluate the month's events and plan for the upcoming month's activities. Depending on the number of offices, salesmen and the volume of activity, these reports can be very lengthy and thus take a great deal of time to print. With the use of AutoPilot, you may create a batch selecting these month-end reports and have them print overnight in order to be prepared for sales meetings the following day.

After having used the various modules for a period of time, our customers develop their own systems and time frames for processing and printing reports. The AutoPilot can be applied by creating batches for various informational needs for each module, for given times in the month or individual days of the week. For instance, in conjunction with the General Ledger module, a batch may be created and used periodically to print a Chart Of Accounts report, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and detail transaction reports on the G/L Reports Menu.

To maintain consistency with the security created in all the systems, the AutoPilot uses the built-in Security System. This is so that you may assign access to various options to individual operators and maintain the security that you have set-up for operators in the normal use of Team Software programs. Therefore, an operator will not be able to create batches with the AutoPilot module which include programs for which he/she does not have security to use in the system.

It is important to realize that we have attempted to make the AutoPilot module as flexible as possible. But due to various constraints, not all programs can be included in a batch. Obviously a maintenance program, such as Vendor Maintenance on the A/P Master File Maintenance Menu in the Accounts Payable module cannot be executed without considerable operator intervention to input data. As a general rule of thumb, programs in which operator data input is required and also those which need forms other than paper (i.e. checks, labels or 1099's) cannot be included as part of an AutoPilot batch.

Other than the restrictions mentioned above, your use of the AutoPilot module is limited to the scope of your imagination in creating batches. As always, we strive to provide our users with high-quality, user-friendly, efficient software systems. We hope you will feel, as we do, that this new innovation in processing will bring a considerable savings of time in your administrative processing and further streamline your automated processing.

The AutoPilot module integrates with all Team Software modules.