Introduction

Welcome to SPECTRA. Explore the many features of this versatile and user-friendly program. You will benefit if you do certain things to ensure that your SPECTRA installation and setup go smoothly:

Follow the Plan for Success

This plan was designed to guide you through all the necessary steps in setting up your system. The key to your successful implementation is your following all the steps in the Plan for Success sequentially.

Online Tutorials

SPECTRA has help articles for each module and provides a videos for many common processes. These Help file and videos are available to you 24 hours a day. When you watch the tutorials, you will see the display screen and hear a trainer's voice instructing you in each procedure. You may watch each video as often as you wish, to understand each procedure.

Suggestions

Important decisions need to be made at the beginning. Take the time now to determine how you want your system to be set up. These are decisions that you may have to live with, as a change of heart may mean starting over, which is a costly and time-consuming process. Start with one or two buildings and follow through the setup procedure until complete. We have found that clients find it easier and less confusing to deal with one building at a time rather than several buildings. This allows you to become familiar with the setup process, learn where menu items are located and see how all the pieces fit together. Once you are familiar with the setup procedure, you will be more confident in setting up the rest of your buildings. The setup of each subsequent building will be quicker than the previous one. SPECTRA includes sample data files that you may wish to install, as they can be very useful. These are fully functional files with different types of buildings and transactions already entered. If you are curious or nervous or just want to try something out, you can use these files to look around in, play with, enter your own transactions or even setup a sample building! The Demo files are accessed from the Windows Start button - Programs - Spectra - Spectra Demo. Be aware that you will go through an Attach Tables process where the program is attaching to the demo files. Once you have finished with the demo files and are ready to go to back to SPECTRA it will once again go through the attach tables process when you double click on your SPECTRA icon.

Note: The attaching tables process should never be interrupted, as you will be partially attached to your regular data files and partially to the demo files. If the Attach Tables process is interrupted you will need to re-install SPECTRA. When the system is attaching tables, no other user should be logged into SPECTRA.

Important Recommendations

1. Take lots of backups of your data files!! Backups are the cheapest form of insurance you can buy. Keep several sets of backups. If you have processed several charges in error, rather than manually reversing them, restoring to a backup will be quicker and more efficient.

2. Review the Support Guidelines and follow the Customer Care Checklist

3. Our experience clearly demonstrates that clients who follow this Guide to Setup and Implementation and Plan for Success sequentially, step by step, have the most success setting up the system in the least amount of time.

Accounting Considerations

Before you can start collecting data and entering it into the system there are some decisions that must be made:

Will you be using the supplied Chart of Accounts?

The first thing you must decide on is a General Ledger Chart of Accounts. SPECTRA is supplied with sample charts of accounts. You may modify the samples or create your own chart of accounts. In SPECTRA each property or building has its own Chart of Accounts.

If you charge your tenants tax, whether it be federal, state/provincial or city, the GL account number should be the same for all buildings where tenants are charged tax.

Control Codes

The chart of accounts and control codes work together. The receivables system in SPECTRA is based on accounting codes. Each time you enter a tenant transaction you will be asked for an accounting code. There are regular charge codes, payment codes, vacancy codes, recovery codes etc. Each code is linked to an account number, e.g. If you have a regular charge code called "Residential Rent" and the code is linked or tied to account 3000, each time you use this charge code the system knows to credit account 3000 in the General Ledger of your accounting system. SPECTRA already has some common control codes set up and linked to the sample chart of accounts that were supplied. If you use a different chart of accounts, you must modify the account number of these codes.

What accounting method will you use - Cash or Accrual?

Cash accounting records rental income when cash is received and expenses when cash is disbursed. Accrual accounting records rental income when the tenant is charged or supplier invoices are posted. If you are unsure of which method you should use, ask your accountant. This question will be asked when you are in the Property Wizard setting up your properties. This can only be changed after the fact as a billable service through Spectra Support.

Are your current records up to date and accurate?

If whatever accounting system you currently use (manual books or accounting software) is your source for information required for SPECTRA, the more current and accurate your records, the better organized you will be for starting SPECTRA .

What will be your starting date?

You may want to consult with your accountant as to what starting date to use for the SPECTRA implementation. For instance, if your starting date will be September 1st, you will need:

• List of Tenant Receivables by tenant as of August 31st

• List of Tenant Security Deposits plus interest by tenant as of August 31st

• List of Supplier Payables as of August 31st

Will you be using Trust Accounting?

For our system, Trust Accounting means using one bank account to handle the banking for more than one building. If each building has its own bank account, then the following discussion about Trust Accounting does not apply.

Most regulatory agencies require that the bank balance for each building be clearly distinguishable. SPECTRA’s fully integrated accounting system handles this requirement very well with the use of Due to/from accounts.

If one bank account is used for multiple buildings, set the bank up once in the Property Setup Wizard and specify the account to be used for the Due to/from account. This account number is stored on the Bank file. When you select that bank when setting up other buildings, the system will automatically create the required Due to/from accounts.

Financial Statement Requirements

Your system comes with an extensive Chart of Accounts and corresponding detailed and summarized Income Statements and a Balance Sheet. If you require other financial statements or changes to these standard statements, please contact Spectra Support at (866) 718-2345.