External System Interfaces (ESI) are the routines that the system uses to "export" data so that the data can be used in other programs, such as Microsoft Excel, Access, or Word. The ESI orders and ESI invoices can be exported to DBF, ASCII, XML, and CSV file formats, all other ESI files are DBF and ASCII
Note: To view the ESI menu options, a user must have the ESI menu option set to Y (Y=yes) in Customize Menu – Net Yield options.
The ESI routines work in a similar fashion, which is described below. Refer to each individual ESI section for details about that specific routine.
To run an ESI menu option:
1. Select the option from the menu.
2. Select the data criteria for the export according to the selection windows and fields that appear. The details for these are shown in each of the specific ESI sections for reference. They let you create searches and subsets of the data desired, and allow you to select and/or filter data – for a date range, period, and year or certain customers or items, for example.
3. Once you have set up the selection criteria for the data you want, you will be able to select the format of the export file. This option is only available in ESI Orders and ESI Invoices.
4. A new window will then allow you to define the naming convention of the export file. You have the choice to include Period, Date, or Date/Time in the names. This option is only available in ESI Orders and ESI Invoices.
5. You are then presented with an option to print the report. If you wish to view the output file as a report, select yes to "Print Report?" prompt. If yes is selected, command options will appear, allowing you to print or choose from a set of other print options.
6. The resulting export files are created and are placed in the Shared Data \Company Name \ESI Outbox folder on your server. The naming convention of the files can be found under each ESI menu topic.
The following is a list of the ESI files that can be generated.