Catégories

Configuration

Configuration
The basic setup of the Collabox is easy as there are a lot of items you can do yourself.

If you have the role of Super-user in your organization you can also configure the accounts of your colleagues in addition to your own.

If you need help, please do not hesitate to contact us.

418 907-9274 or info@collabox.com

Invoice approval

By Billing, Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Employees

Do you have several project managers preparing invoices? Others need to consult them, but should not modify them? Simply ask Collabox for an invoice approval to stay in control.

Access to billing

First, you decide who has the right to create and view your company’s invoices. Then, go to the employee record to give or remove access to the billing.

Select “Configuration” at the top of the page, then “Employees” in the left menu.

Image showing the main menu of Collabox. The cursor points to the "Configuration" tab.
Image showing part of the left menu under the Configuration tab. The cursor points to the "Employees" link

Choose an employee whose access is to be modified, then click on the “Menus” tab.

Example of a customer file where the cursor points to the "Menus" tab.

Scroll down the page until you see the “Billing and Accounting” module. Check the Billing box if you want to give access, or uncheck it to remove it. Save your work.

Image of the Menus page of the employee record. The cursor points to the billing checkbox to give the employee access.

Now, still in the employee’s file, select the “Advanced configuration” tab.

Menu of the employee's file. The cursor points to the Advanced Configuration tab.

Scroll down to the Accounting Module. There are several access options available to you. You can approve invoices for which you are responsible, or the entire company’s invoices. You can view the invoices in edit or view only the invoices for which you are the account manager. The choice is yours.

Image of the Advanced Configuration page of the employee's record. Red boxes indicate where the checkboxes are to give an employee invoice approval, consultation only or full restriction.

Invoice approval

When you are the approver of invoices, you have an action to take before you can send them to the customer.

First, open a new invoice and check the information. Make changes as needed. Then, at the bottom of the page, click on the “Approve Invoice” button.

Series of clickable buttons at the bottom of the invoice. The cursor points to the "Approve invoice" button.

In the list of invoices for the current month, a green check mark appears next to the approved invoices.

Examples of approved invoices where you can see the green brackets next to the invoice number.

When they are pending approval, a red alert message is visible at the top of the invoice and no check mark is visible.

Example of an invoice that has not yet been approved. A red message appears at the top of the page "This invoice is not approved".

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120

Budget items in the Collabox

By Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Disbursed

The“budget items” in the Collabox refer to revenues and expenses (income and expenses).

In order to record these operations correctly, it is necessary to configure your Chart of Accounts. Make a list with the names and numbers of all the revenue (income) and expense (cost) accounts you need, based on your business activities. Your accountant can advise you on this.

The budget items will therefore have a number and a proper name in order to correctly identify the nature of the operation. This numbering system is used to produce the profit and loss statement and will help you easily find the accounts in the Collabox.

The income statement is the financial statement that summarizes a company’s revenues and expenses over a given period of time (monthly or annually). The income statement contains the two most important pieces of information about a company – its profit or loss.

Create the list of budget items

  • Click on the Accounting icon
  • Go to the menu on the left and click on budget items
  • Click on Add a budget item
  • Enter your bill of material
  • Record each new budget item added
  • Organize budget items by category
The budget item in the Collabox

Here is the form to add a budget item in the Collabox for the first time

Create the list of budget items

How do I create lists of budget item categories?

There are two ways to access the link that will take you to the category configuration area:
a) From an existing budget item
b) From the space for creating a new budget item (link : Adding a budget item )

Here is the procedure:

Once on the line item form, look for the heading called Category and locate the clickable link :

Updating job categories (This is where you can create your lists).

Budget item categories 1
Budget item categories 2

The link: Add a budget item category Will allow you to enter the name and order for visual display.

Add a budget item category

Create a disbursement

Each “budget item” requires the creation of a“disbursement“. A disbursement is the word used in Collabox terminology for disbursements.

Each disbursement must be associated with a supplier. You must therefore make sure that the supplier exists on your list of suppliers. However, if this supplier does not exist at the time of the recording of the operation, you will have the possibility of creating it in parallel and quickly.

The access to the list of disbursements is possible in the left menu, as it appears in the picture below. Remember that you can use the different options to search according to the criteria that may suit you best.

Image: get access to the different disbursements seized
Image: get access to the different disbursements seized

You can see the complete procedure for entering a disbursement here

Employee Configuration Report

By Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Employees

The employee configuration report

In this article, we introduce you to a little-known feature of Collabox: the Employee Configuration Report. It allows the Collabox super-user or administrators in your organization to display in table formats all the access and rights of each of your users in your company.

It makes your life easier when it comes to knowing, for example, if Ginette has the right to modify invoices or to see if Luc has access to the list of contacts in the CRM module. This is also useful when you welcome a new colleague and you need to check if they have access to the right Collabox modules and functions .

Here is how to access this report:

1- In the top menu, choose the CONFIGURATION function the famous wheel that is only accessible to super-users or administrators of the Collabox in your organization. If you don’t see it, you don’t have those rights.

2- In the left menu of your Collabox you will see the section: Employee configuration.

3- Click on the word: Employees. The list of all your users-employees will appear.

4- At the top of this list you will see : Employee configuration report.

staff configuration report
employee configuration report

5- Click on the link: Employee configuration report. You will have different types of tables that will allow you to display specific information.

report-configuration-employees-2

a- Info general information found in the employee’s file

INFO-report employee configuration

b- Menu : the menus to which employees have access

MENU-Setup-Report-Employees

c- Preferences all preferences that employees use

d- Advanced configuration Customized options granted to certain employees upon request

d- Services Services that are assigned to employees, especially time sheet management

SERVICES-report-configuration-employees

e- Project Projects that are assigned to employees, for their timesheet, access to reports, project sheets and others.

PROJECTS-report-configuration-employees

f- Schedules : Settings related to schedules

Make the most of it!

Setting up your balance sheet

By Accounting, Configuration

You have decided to use only one system for your company’s accounting and would like to have all your accounting operations consolidated at Collabox? So you need to configure your balance sheet in Collabox.

Preliminary step

Before preparing your balance sheet, make sure your transactional accounts, budget items and payment methods are set up properly. Don’t hesitate to ask your accountant or the Collabox team members for help if you need it.

Setting up your balance sheet

Each company’s balance sheet is customized according to its operations and needs.

First go to the main menu “Accounting”.

Select the “Balance sheet configuration” option in the left-hand menu.

You will see the general template of a balance sheet. It includes current assets, fixed assets, current liabilities, long-term debt and equity. Using an example of a past balance sheet as a starting point is a winning solution for setting up your Collabox balance sheet.

Add a new item to the balance sheet by giving it a balance sheet section, a number and a name. Then, select the associated transactional account and choose the desired balance type.

Often, tax transaction accounts are a combination of transaction accounts (M), while accounts payable are an account balance (A).

Finally, head to your final assessment. Select the desired end date of your assessment and observe your results!

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120

Custom forms

By Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Forms

With Collabox, you can create customized forms so that only the sections you need appear. Your employees will no longer wonder what information they need to enter and your pages will be faster to consult and without superfluous information.

How to create custom forms

First, go to the Preferences tab in the left-hand menu and select Organization. Remember that only administrators have access to this setting, although it is applied to all employees.

Left menu, tab Preferences

Then go to the Custom Forms tab at the end of the list.

Page update of the organization, tab Info

Then choose a form to customize with the drop-down menu. Modify one of the following five forms: agenda, purchase order, customers, suppliers and projects.

Example of the supplier form

First, the boxes on the right side of the form are used to determine which sections will be visible on your custom form .

Check the box to make the corresponding section appear in your form or uncheck it to make it disappear.

In the red boxed sections in the example, the very first box allows you to remove the entire section.

Supplier Form
Page Organization update , tab Custom Forms

A pictogram representing people is present on the left of each box. Click on it to see the names of your employees. Choose the employees for whom you want to customize the form by checking or unchecking their names. By default, all boxes are checked.

Checkboxes for each employee
Personalized supplier form

Finally, when your customization is complete, don’t forget to click on the Save button at the bottom of the page. Your form will now be adapted to your needs!

Example of custom form
Page Adding a supplier

Proceed in the same way to create the other custom forms. It’s very simple! If you want to add fields inside the forms, see the text on custom fields .

Watch several video tutorials on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

My shortcuts

By Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Shortcuts

Have you ever noticed the section My shortcuts in the left menu of your Collabox? We’ve created it so you can customize it the way you want and add the pages you use most often. Want to give it a try?

Click on My shortcuts under the tab Preferences from the left menu.

Left menu in Collabox

Check the items you want to appear in your quick list, then click Save.
To
remove items from your shortcuts, simply uncheck them in the same list.

Page My shortcuts

You will immediately see the elements that you have added in your shortcuts to the left menu.
Note: This menu remains visible at all times on all Collabox pages.

Page My shortcuts after updating the shortcuts

When you click on one of the listed pages, you will be directed directly to it. If we take the example of the production calendar, the link will take you precisely to your calendar which displays the project deadlines.

Example of production schedule

This way, you will have one-click access to the modules you use the most! When we talk about saving time, that makes quite a difference!

Watch several video tutorials on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Choose the language of your Collabox

By Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Language, Preferences

Collabox allows you to choose the language of your software. Originally designed for use in French, it has been translated into English so that you can use it in the language of your choice. Each of your employees can select the language that suits them.

Choose the language of your Collabox

To change the language, nothing could be simpler! First, go to the Preferences section, in the Collabox vertical menu.

Collabox vertical menu, Preferences section

You will arrive in your preferences under the tab Info . Choose the language which you prefer to use using the drop-down menu and click on Record .

Page My preferences , tab Info

Contacts and suppliers

In the CRM Module’s Contacts cards and in the Suppliers cards, you have the option to choose the desired language of communication.

We are constantly updating the software in both languages to provide you with the best possible service. The vocabulary can even be adapted for a particular business, on demand. Do not hesitate to discuss it with us!

Watch several video tutorials on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Families (categories)

By Configuration, Configure your Collabox, Families

In Collabox, you can use color codes called families (or categories) to help you find your projects, appointments and tasks. It is up to you to associate a color with a family description.

Configure families (categories)

First go to your main menu and select “Calendar”.

Then click on “Categories (Families)” in the left menu.

You will arrive on the page Configuration of calendar categories (Families). Category colors are determined by default. However, if you want to change them, you can click on the white boxes under the section Color . Next, name the categories and then determine if these are billable hours or not. Push the button Record at the bottom of the page to finalize the changes.

Note: The box Non-billable is mainly used to view, in the tab Listing of the calendar, the total of the hours billed and those that are not billed.

Page Configuring calendar categories (Families)

Use of families

Your families, once created, will be found in the following three forms: projects, appointments and tasks. If, for example, you create a project and assign it the category In progress , green in color, your project will be displayed in green in the calendar. The same goes for appointments and tasks.

Project form

The project will appear in your calendar as follows:

Calendar of projects

With families, you will find more quickly what you are looking for and better visualize your different occupations. They will become a particularly pleasant tool to use.

Watch several video tutorials on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Vacation Project

By Configuration, Employees, Reports, Sick vacation, Timesheet, Timesheet report

To help you better manage your employees’ vacations, Collabox is there for you. Just create a project called “Holidays”. Employees will be able to use it from their timesheet or agenda to request time off.

Initial configuration

First, click on the “Organization” menu in the left sidebar.

Preference menu and selection of the organization option

Then click on the “Projects” tab to access the project customization features.

Selecting the Project tab in the organization update to set up a vacation project

You must then update the project types by clicking on the link of the same name. This page shows you all the types of projects in your organization. Make sure you find a “Holiday” type...

Create a vacation project

Now create a project normally. Go to the list of projects and add one.

Give the name “Holiday” to the new project and don’t forget to select the project type of the same name.

There are other options in this “Project” tab, if needed. It is recommended to create a vacation project every year.

Configure time banks

Configure the time banks of your employees via the Employee File under the main menu “Configuration”. They will be very useful for vacation management. You can add the hours accumulated in the assignment by employee on the project Vacation. This way, you’ll see if an employee exceeds their accrued vacation time!

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Documentary Blog to continue using the Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you. info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274 ext. 120