There are a number of settings that you should choose before you start working with your Pearl system.

Step 1 : Read the training packs

Pearl is a large and powerful system, and like any system you can only get useful information out if you put useful information in. We have documentation available in the support area of our website. Please read all the relevant pages before you start. We cannot emphasise this too much. It is really important to spend some time setting your system up so that it performs well for you and your staff, and so that it fits in well with your business work flow.

Set up your contacts & staff

Your new copy of Pearl has been set up with two basic contacts; one for your company information and one for Pearl staff to log in and help you with support queries.

To enter your company information
Click Setup > Company defaults and click the link in the "Company Info" tab. Enter some information and click "save".

To change the password and details for your personal log in

1. Type your name in the contact quick search box at the top of your page
2. Click the contact shown to edit
3. Enter your name, email address and your company information
4. Click the "password" tab and enter your old in the old password box
5. Enter a new password twice below
6. Click "Save"
7. Log out

You can now log in using the email address and password you just entered.

To create new staff members

1. Visit Contacts > Create new from the main menu.
2. Enter their details.
3. To give the newly created contact access to the admin area you need to tick the "admin" box when creating or editing the contact.
4. Save the contact.
5. Open the contact for edit again, then tick the box in the password tab to create a new password. This will be emailed automatically to the default email address.

You will then need to go to Setup > Licences and permissions to assign any spare licences to the member of staff.

To set up further permissions within the licence structure, click on "permissions" link on the licences screen.

Set up your company defaults

1. Click Setup > Company defaults from the main menu
2. In the first tab, click the blue link to edit your company details
3. Enter company name, address etc
4. Save

Set up your departments

1. Click Setup > Departments from the main menu
2. Add or edit departments to suit your business

Departments are typically used for creating separate sales areas. If you were a high street retailer, for example, with two floors and two till points, it would make sense to create a department for each till point. When you reconcile sales at the end of each day, you will reconcile for each department set up.

Set up your contact structure (CRM users)

It's a good idea to define a clear structure for your contact groups and statuses so that as your company gains more contacts they are easy to find and manage.

1. Click Setup > Contact groups from the main menu
2. Edit/create groups as required. You can have groups within groups
3. Click Setup > Contact statuses from the main menu
4. Edit/create statuses as required

Enter supplier information

Create a contact for each of your regular suppliers to enable you to place Purchase Orders and enter invoices:

1. Click Contacts > Create new from the main menu
2. Enter the supplier details and tick the "supplier" box on the contact info tab
3. Enter a default nominal code for this supplier on the financial info tab to speed up invoice entry
4. Save

Set up your product categories

1. Click Products > Categories from the main menu
2. Create/edit categories as required
3. Categories should contain products or subcategories, not a combination of the two

Setup Sales & Purchase Order statuses

Pearl can be configured with a set of statuses for your sales and purchases. This will allow you to track their progress through your system. It is important to spend some time thinking about the statuses that your company will use.

Click Sales > Edit statuses from the main menu to update the statuses that your quotes/sales/orders and purchases will go through. Choose colours if required.

When a sale order is posted to accounts, you can get Pearl to update the status automatically. Choose this status in the Company Defaults "Orders" tab.

Similarly, when you receive stock for a Purchase Order, or receive a supplier invoice for a Purchase Order, Pearl can automatically update the status of the order. Choose these statuses in the Company Defaults "Orders" tab.

Email order update notifications

Each order contains a maximum of 3 email addresses (customer, billing and delivery). Each time you update an order, you can choose whether to send an automatic email notification or not (see the Status History tab when in the order edit screen). The default settings for these tickboxes can be found in the Setup->Company defaults "other" tab. 

Create products

Pearl is supplied as default with two products; "Misc item" and "Misc item without VAT". Read the whole of the help category on products before you start creating your products.

Edit your document templates

Have a browse around the document templates provided, and make any changes as required. You can upload your own logo, and set up your default emails so that they are branded with your company details. Please also see the documentation regarding template setup and design.

Events, jobs and tasks

There are a number of default settings that you can choose for events ... see the Setup->Company defaults screen.

Follow the steps below before you start using Pearl for the first time. 

Set up your website

Please read the relevant help topics to set up a website or online shop. Since setting up a website involves many steps, we thoroughly recommend you opt for training to get you started on the right track.