Two powerful features facilitate data exchange between systems, record creation, maintenance, and reporting. These features are XML integration and advanced Excel integration.

XML is mainly used to upload data at the start of an implementation, or to automatically load data, such as exchange rates, that must be imported on a regular basis.

XML integration is very flexible and easy to manage. Refer to User Guide: QAD System Administration.

Several menus allow for two-way Excel integration. This facilitates the setup, but also batch changes.

Advanced integration with Excel is available as a menu activity for the following business components:

You do not have to exit the QAD application before working in Excel. For minor maintenance, it is more convenient to run the applications simultaneously, and to switch back to your QAD application to import the saved data.

You can also use Excel integration when maintaining budgets. In the Budget module, the integration is maintained in real-time and is referred to as a hotlink. This feature is discussed in more detail in the Advanced Financials class.

To export data for maintenance, choose the Excel integration activity for one of the supported record types, such as GL Account. Select a dump location. In the Excel worksheet, make changes or add data, and save. Then return to the application and import the modified data. The system validates any data before importing it. For example, if a mandatory field is missing, the record cannot be imported.

The Excel integration function is described in full detail in the Advanced Financials class.

Browse results can also be easily exported to Excel. To export data directly into an Excel spreadsheet, right-click the results screen, and choose Export to Excel from the Actions menu.

The browse results are displayed in a new Excel window. The formatting of the original grid is preserved in the new spreadsheet.

The Search options in Financials activities let you filter search results in a number of ways, and to save customized search settings for reuse. Whenever you view, modify, or delete a record created in a financial activity, you begin by launching a browse.

Browses provide many convenient features that let you to manage search criteria and results in an efficient way. These features are described in the following pages.

You can change the column order by clicking the column header in the browse screen and dragging it to another position in the results list. A red arrow indicates the place where that column will be dropped when you release the mouse button.

You can also adjust the column size by clicking on the border of the column header and dragging the border to the left or the right.

You can make additional adjustments to column settings by right-clicking on any column header and choosing the Columns option.

Use the right-click Group option to group data by column type. The grid now displays a summary of the column data, with the different elements sorted into groups. Each group in the list can be expanded using the plus sign next to the group.

The Summary option lets you display summary information, depending on the column header in which you have clicked: count, sum, average, minimum, or maximum.

Conveniently, browse results can be exported, printed and automatically refreshed by clicking on the buttons on the menu toolbar.

You can also save a browse with specific search criteria to your Favorites.

Using the browse Chart Designer feature, you can quickly generate graphical representations of browse data. You can toggle between the standard browse display (called the grid view) and the new chart view. Using the Chart View editor, you can select data in a browse and display it as a pie chart or bar graph.

Logon to QAD Enterprise Application with the credentials given by your instructor.