This "Configuration Guide" teaches you how to remove the default demo data that comes with the Bookkeeping Template, make demo data-less copy of your Template for future reference, and then do the custom configuration work required to prepare the template for your own data.
!! READ THIS ENTIRE HOME PAGE FIRST, THEN DO THE WORK!!
This page contains:
Menus on this Website
Configuration Process Overview
FAQ: Why isn't there a DemoData-Less download option?
5:15 - Welcome Video
1) Menus on this Website:
Extended Intro - The Extended Intro is the first link on the main menu to the right of the HOME. It provides written information about the Config Process you will engage in by worksheet. For those that like to read about what they are going to do before being lead to doing it with videos, go to the Extended Intro link before starting with the Config Process menu items.
New File Configuration Survey - This menu item leads to a 3 page document that helps you gather all the information needed to configure a new file. If you try to find data as you need it instead of in advance with this document , the configuration process will take longer.
Configuration Process - The Configuration Process menu item leads to 5 submenu items that help you complete the Config Process one step at a time. The Config process is best completed in multiple passes through the File Template, starting on the worksheet tabs on the far left and moving to the right with each pass. The full process with multiple passes through the Worksheets with one pause to make a file copy can be completed in under 10 minutes for most scenarios, and it is summarized like this...
More > Docs Shortcut - On each of the Config Process pages, a document with written instructions is provided in addition to videos. All documents found on this website can be found in list form at this menu item.
2) Configuration Process Overview
The configuration process is best executed via 4 passes through the file. By passes, we mean start with the worksheets on the far left of the file and work from left to right. With each pass you will work on the progressively more complex aspects of the setup on each worksheet. This system of passess for configuration allows you to get the easy items out of the way and it leaves the harder more time consuming work for subsquent passes. This is just a suggested method for doing this. As long as everything gets done you can do this in any manner you'd like.
Pass 1 - Clear the Demo Data from the Template on about 7 worksheets
Create a "_blank" copy of the file
Pass 2 - Do the EZ Stuff on about 8 worksheets
Pass 3 - Do the complex work needed on 2 types of worksheets ( the rawTxns Worksheets and Balance Sheet )
Pass 4 - Major Customization (if applicable) - If there are more than 2 Asset or 2 Liability Accounts that need Dedicated Journals, go through an entire setup process for each additional. If there is other custom configuration required, do that during this pass too.
The fourth pass, if needed, is a good review of everything you touched prior.
For some "End Users", this may seem like "a lot".
Take this one step at a time.
It has been designed for all level audiences.
The education you can get from learning how to do this configuration process is invaluable. You can pay others to help you with it or pay them to do it for you, but you will miss out on valuable training and it may take you longer to come up to speed for use.
For those seeking to gain a Marketable Skill that can be used to generate part time or full time income, mastering the tasks in all of these support subdomains provides you with a skills that will be worth money for the rest of your life. No matter how much information we publish, there will be a portion of the population that needs help or will refuse to learn to do this for themselves.
Furthermore, you will be primed with skills that enable you to dive deeper into our other Template Offerings.
All of those also provide the opportunity to earn money in a setup and/or support role as well.
3) FAQ: Why isn't there a DemoData-Less download option?
Quality Control - First and foremost, the Demo Data acts as quality control during programming changes. There are known values that should show up for the Income Statement and Balance Sheet with Demo Data in it. If those are ever not as expected, the developer knows a recent change has problems. If we were to offer a file without Demo Data, some obvious errors may not be caught with each update.
Forced Learning with no effort - Having a file with Demo Data in it greatly speeds up the process for learning how to use the file. With a 30 second download process an entire class can have a working file for demonstration and education. Having to remove it proves to be an exceptional learning exercise that can not be skipped.
Limited Resources and inefficiency - Providing a file with demo data and another without it is not a good use of Developer Time or financial resources. Furthermore, errors could be introduced when removing the demo data that would not be detected until an unknown number of copies was downloaded.
Automation is an option that has been omitted - A script can be written to automatically remove the Demo Data. That defeats the educational benefits of forcing the user to manually remove it. Also, any script like that is overhead that needs to be updated and maintained and errors could lead to unnecessary confusion.
Do The Work
On the menu on the top of this website, work your way from left to right. When the menu item has subitems, like the Config Menu, work down that list in the order presented.