FLEXIBLE SECURITY OPTIONS: Software permissions are set by the application manager and controlled by an integrated security module.  Permissions can be granted by application, individual function, and/or processing mode.  This internal security system is in addition to the IBM i server operating system security, which prevents unauthorized users and groups from viewing even the existence of secured portions.

MENU AND SESSION TAILORING: The security officer or application manager can set up and tailor the menus.  Each user code is assigned an initial menu and company.  Menu hierarchies can be created specifically for departments or individuals.  Executive inquiry menus can contain options from several different applications.

MULTIPLE COMPANY DATA BASE: Company-specific data and corporate data (shared amongst multiple companies) co-exist in the same physical database, so new companies can be added to an existing environment easily without services of a database admin.  Vendors and customers can be shared across companies or isolated to a company group.  Users can be authorized for inquiry or data entry in specific groups of companies.  Financial statements can retrieve data from company groups as authorized.

CONCURRENTLY OPEN ACCOUNTING PERIODS: There are no midnight cut-offs for closes in Financial Portrait.  Up to 17 accounting periods can be open for transaction posting.  This enables the prior year to remain open for year end audit adjustments in General Ledger while daily operations in Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable remain current.

PRELIMINARY ACCOUNTING PERIOD CLOSES: Users can simulate the period close in order to perform preliminary review of period and year-end results.

AUTOMATED EXTERNAL INTERFACES WITH DYNAMIC FEATURE SELECTION: Each Financial Portrait application supports posting of entries generated by other business application systems.  Extensive "guard code" is included in the posting procedures to ensure integrity of the incoming data and its compatibility with the existing information already in the database.  New categories can be set up as needed, in order to differentiate transaction source, type, edit functions and in some cases, even the data elements involved.

ON-LINE ENTRY WITH REVIEW PRIOR TO POSTING: Financial Portrait provides current views of all data, including accounting transactions pending by other users.  The posting process, which flags the transactions as permanent, is indicated in a process separate from the entry process.  This results in cleaner transaction sets the first time with less correcting and adjusting entries.

HISTORICAL DATA ACCESS: Summarized balance data may be retained for comparison reporting for an unlimited number of years.  Transaction detail is always available for the current year and can be kept longer if desired.

master data AUDIT TRAILS: Optional audit trails of master file information can be automatically generated and saved.  This information can then be accessed for reporting purposes.  The audit trail data includes the user profile, the Financial Portrait user code, workstation ID, time, date, and whether the processing function is add, change, update or delete.

USER TUTORIALS: Provided to assist new users in understanding the system, the tutorials are self-paced learning documents that lead the new users through their first experience with FPS.

USER REFERENCE MANUALS: We provide a complete and comprehensive user-oriented reference manual for each application.  All forms within the product are included in the documentation along with detailed explanatory text for each form.  In addition, a major focus of the manual is how to use the application systems to satisfy your company's unique business requirements.

CONTEXT SENSITIVE USER ERROR MESSAGE DIAGNOSTICS: In addition to the standard error message text that appears when an error is detected during an online session, more extensive diagnostic information is available at the next level of detail.  This information is context sensitive and is directly related to the error message condition.  Often times the user is given additional reasons for the error and/or other options for correction based on specific situations.

PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS: New releases of the product become available on a regular basis and are provided with semi-automated installation procedures for companies subscribing to the Financial Portrait Maintenance Plan.