Roger Lum

rogerlum@gmail.com

Michael T. Edwardes

mte@users.sourceforge.net

2009-07-21 1.0 Schedules maintain information about transactions that occur one or more times over a specified period of time. Sometimes called a recurring transaction, a schedule provides a means to record information about a transaction that happen on a regular basis. A common schedule is your salary. Once a month, or maybe weekly, the company you work for pays you for services rendered. This payment can happen in many different ways, but each month or week you will receive a payment that needs to be recorded. Because you know these payments are regularly made to you, you can create a Schedule to record information about the payment and even create the transaction for you when pay day arrives. Other types of schedules can also be recorded to reflect money coming in and out of your accounts. Common expenses, such as utility bills or money transfers, can be recorded with schedules, along with loan repayments. Scheduling a payment can also provide a useful reminder that you need to make a payment. A schedule consists of two main parts: the scheduling data and the transaction data. The scheduling data records the occurrence of the schedule, i.e., when the transaction is to be entered into the ledger and how. The transaction data records the normal details about the transaction, and will be entered in to the ledger as-is. There are four different types of schedules in the current version of &kappname;: Bills Deposits Loans Transfers A Bill Schedule is used for money going out of your account, such as a Gym membership or a utility bill. A Deposit Schedule is for money coming into your account, such as a pay check. A Loan Schedule is a special type of schedule and is created when dealing with Loan accounts. A Transfer Schedule is used for money coming out of one account and going into another, such as making a credit card payment from your checking account. Open the schedule view by clicking on the Schedule icon in the view selector. Schedule View The schedule view consists of a view area with two tabs along with a New Schedule button above it. The first tab List View shows all schedules, grouped by type. The second tab Calendar View is described in its own section below. To create a new schedule click on the button. For Bill, Deposit, and Transfer schedules, &kappname; will display the new schedule dialog. Loan schedules are handled differently, and are described in the section on Loans. New Schedule A new dialog window is now shown, prompting for the schedule and transaction data. The requested data includes the following: Schedule Name Next due date Frequency Payment method Amount Other transaction details Schedule options Enter the name and the date of the next occurrence of this schedule into their respective fields. The name is how the schedule will be shown in the list view. Specify how often the schedule should occur, using the Frequency field and drop down list. For example "every 6 weeks" or "every 3 months". If the amount varies transaction to transaction make sure to check the Estimate check box and you will be prompted for the correct amount when it is entered into the ledger. Fill in all the transaction fields as you would normally with the ledger view. At the bottom of the dialog are some optional fields that can modify how the schedule behaves. If the schedule occurs on a weekend you can choose whether to enter the transaction on the weekend day, the previous Friday, or the next Monday. Typically this option is used to replicate some real world operation such as a bank transaction. To let &kappname; automatically enter the transaction for you when needed, make sure that the check box labeled Enter this schedule into the ledger automatically when it is due is checked. Otherwise, when the transaction is due to be entered, &kappname; will open a dialog box asking you to confirm that you want it to be entered. This behavior is configurable, and more information can be found in the Settings section. If you know how many transactions are left or when they are due to finish, this information can be entered so the transactions are not entered indefinitely. Check the appropriate check box and enter the appropriate information. Only the date or the number of transactions remaining is needed because the other can be calculated. When you have entered all the necessary information click on OK to continue. To edit a schedule simply select the entry in the list and right click to bring up the context menu and select Edit. This will bring up a dialog similar to the New Schedule dialog, where you can alter the necessary data. To delete a schedule simply select the entry in the list and right click to bring up the context menu and select Delete. The calendar tab presents the schedules in a calendar format so it is easier to see when they occur. To switch to the calendar view click on the Calendar View tab. Calendar View The calendar type can be changed using the Select Style button. Currently only two types exist: Week and Month. The monthly view is the default, and is usually the most useful. Navigate through the dates using the controls as you would with the date input control. On any day with scheduled transactions, the number of transactions scheduled for that day is displayed on the calendar. To view the schedule(s) that fall on that day, move the mouse cursor over the highlight and a popup window will be displayed allowing you to view the schedule summary. If more than one schedule falls on that day you can cycle through them using the arrow buttons in the upper corners of the popup window. If you find that the display is cluttered with schedules and you only want to view one type of schedule, then this is possible from the Select Schedules dropdown. After clicking on this button the different schedule types are listed and are checked by default To remove a type from the calendar view simply uncheck it in the list. Entering a scheduled transaction means actually entering a transaction into the appropriate ledger, using the details specified in the schedule. Scheduled transactions can be entered in one of four different ways: Manually by right clicking on the list entry Manually via the popup window in the calendar view &kappname; can enter them with or without your interaction upon startup &kappname; can enter them with your interaction during online banking or import of an electronic bank statement You can enter a scheduled transaction manually by right clicking on the list entry and selecting Enter from the popup menu or by clicking on the Enter button on the popup window in the calendar view. After selecting either method the Enter Scheduled Transaction dialog window is shown prompting you with the required information that was entered when you created the schedule. This information can be changed, and the changes can be applied to just this one instance of the schedule or to all subsequent transactions. After checking that all the data is correct clicking on OK will add the transaction to the ledger and update the next due date of the schedule to the next occurence. If you have changed any of the transaction data a further confirmation of what you changed will be displayed, giving you a final chance to accept or reject the changes. Select what you want to do with the information presented and click OK or Cancel. Alternatively, &kappname; can check which schedules are due upon startup and enter them for you if the appropriate option was checked when setting up the schedule. If the option was not checked then &kappname; will open the previously mentioned dialog and you can follow the steps mentioned there. &kappname; will also open the dialog if the amount is an estimate so you can enter the real amount. You can also opt to have &kappname; not check which transactions are scheduled on startup by deselecting the option in the Settings dialog and any overdue transaction or transactions due 'today' will be shown in the Home view for you to enter manually.