Mincom Ellipse 6

Training Manual

E XPLORING THE
E LLIPSE D ESKTOP
&
S CREENS
Ellipse 6.3 Training Guide – “Exploring the Ellipse Desktop & Screens”
Version – 1.0 December 2007
Copyright © 2010 TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd
All rights reserved.
All trademarks acknowledged. E&OE.

No part of this document may be copied without written permission from TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd unless
produced under the terms of a courseware site license agreement with TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd.

All reasonable precautions have been taken in the preparation of this document, including both technical and
non-technical proofing. TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd and all staff assume no responsibility for any errors or
omissions. No warranties are made, expressed or implied with regard to these notes. TW Consulting Group Pty
Ltd shall not be responsible for any direct, incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of any
material contained in this document. If you find any errors in these training modules, please inform TW
Consulting Group Pty Ltd. Whilst every effort is made to eradicate typing or technical mistakes, we apologise for
any errors you may detect. All courses are updated on a regular basis, so your feedback is both valued by us and
will help us to maintain the highest possible standards.

For current license information

This document may only be used under the terms of the license agreement from TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd.
TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd reserves the right to alter the licensing conditions at any time, without prior notice.

TW Consulting Group Pty Ltd T/a The Document Shop

Ph: 1300 445 188
www.thedocumentshop.com.au
Exploring Ellipse Contents

What is Ellipse? ............................................................................................................................ 1

Ellipse Applications ............................................................................................................................. 1
Ellipse Security................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Types of Security .................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Changing your security access ............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Login to Ellipse ................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Logging into Ellipse .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The Ellipse Desktop ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Parts of the Ellipse Desktop ................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Title bar .............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Pin button..........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Close (X) button .................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Go button ..........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Main menu ........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Command line /Quick Launcher ........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Ellipse Menu ......................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Web browser .....................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Status bar ..........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Favourites and History panel ............................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
User Data Panels ...............................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Exploring the Main Menu .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
File menu ...........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Applications menu.............................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Tools menu ........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Windows menu .................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Help Menu .........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Customising the Ellipse Desktop ................................................................................................... 3
Changing the location of menu panels ............................................................................................... 3
Customising the Favourites menu ...................................................................................................... 4
Creating sub-folders ........................................................................................................................ 4
Adding applications to sub-folders ................................................................................................. 4
Managing Favourites ...................................................................................................................... 5

T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP i|Page

 Contents Exploring Ellipse

Accessing Ellipse Screens .............................................................................................................. 7

Opening from the Quick Launcher ...................................................................................................... 7
Opening a screen from the Ellipse Menu............................................................................................ 7
Opening from the History and Favourites menu ................................................................................ 8
Search and Detail Windows ................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Common Menus in Search and Detail Windows ................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Search window ..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Detail windows..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Pop up menus from the Results Grid ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Select, list and information windows .................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
List windows......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Information windows ........................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Select windows .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Using Action Codes ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Action Codes ........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Displaying Action Codes ....................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Working With Grids ........................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary Grids..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Viewing details of results ..................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Manipulating the grid .......................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Sorting the grid results ......................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Index ........................................................................................................................................... 9

ii | P a g e T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP

Exploring Ellipse What is Ellipse?

Ellipse is a fully integrated software program that is used to control the day to day
operations of capital-intensive organisations. It consists of four streams including:

 Operations and Maintenance Management

 Materials Management (Supply)
 Financial Management
 Human Resources Management (includes Payroll Training)

This workbook provides an overview of the structure of the Ellipse system and an
understanding of the features and functionality that is global to the program.
Ellipse Applications
Ellipse consists of numerous small applications organised within business areas,
and although there are numerous applications, as an Ellipse user, you really only
need to learn how to use those applications specific to your work.
If you are new to Ellipse, you will quickly feel at home when navigating an Ellipse
application. Standard commands are consistently used across the applications and
are consistently in the same location on a window or tab. For example, all search
windows have a Search button and a results grid; all main detail windows have
standard toolbar commands and menus. This consistency in design is one of the key
reasons why people find Ellipse intuitive and easy to use.
Ellipse applications are easy to use and easy to access. All applications can be
accessed from the Ellipse Desktop. The Ellipse Desktop window looks similar to
Windows Explorer and provides customisation options.

T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP 1|Page

Exploring Ellipse Customising The Ellipse Desktop

One of the great features in Ellipse 6.3 is the ability to customise the Ellipse Desktop
to suit your personal preferences. This includes the ability to hide from view Module
menus that you don‟t require access to, creating Favourites for applications that you
use on a regular basis and positioning the menu panels anywhere on the Ellipse
Desktop that suits you. You can then save your preferred Desktop Layout as the
default layout whenever you login to Ellipse.
Changing the location of menu panels
Within the Ellipse Desktop, you are able to change the position of the Ellipse Menu
and the Favourites and History panels. You can choose to have each panel
displayed at the top, left, right or bottom of the screen.
Changing the position of a desktop panel is done by click and dragging the title bar
of the panel across the desktop. When the panel is in the new position, release the
mouse button. The panel will now stay displayed in the new position.

Use the mouse cursor to click

and drag the panel

The panels can be dragged to the

top, left, right or bottom of the
Ellipse Desktop

T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP 3|Page

 Customising The Ellipse Desktop Exploring Ellipse

Customising the Favourites menu

The Ellipse Favourites menu is similar to the Microsoft Internet Explorer Favourites
menu – it allows you to add links to favourite Ellipse applications for quick and easy
access.

Creating sub-folders
1. To create a folder structure within the Favourites menu, a hierarchy of sub-
folders needs to be created.
2. With the Favourites folder in the History and Favourites menu open, right
mouse click on the Favourites folder, select New and then select the Folder
option.

3. Rename the “New Folder” to an appropriate name.

4. Press the Enter key to create the sub-folder.

Adding applications to sub-folders

Once the sub-folder structure is created, you need to add your favourite applications
to the folder.
1. Find the required application in the Mincom Ellipse Menu and click on it
once to select it.
2. Using the mouse, click and drag the application over to the correct folder in
the Favourites folder. The folder will be highlight in blue – at this point you
can release the mouse button.

4|Page T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP

Exploring Ellipse Customising The Ellipse Desktop

3. Continue until all of the sub-folders and applications required are saved in the
Favourites menu.

Managing Favourites
A variety of options to manage your favourites are available via the right mouse click
menu.
 To open any of the files or applications saved in the Favourites folder double-
click on the required file / application.
 Applications can only be saved into the Favourites folder via the Mincom
Ellipse Menu.
 Create your favourites to suit your needs.

T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP 5|Page

Exploring Ellipse Accessing Ellipse Screens

Once you have logged into Ellipse and are viewing the Ellipse Desktop, you are now
ready to open an Ellipse screen and begin working within Ellipse.
As mentioned in the previous section, Ellipse screens can be accessed and opened
in three ways:
 By using the Quick Launcher,
 By using the Ellipse Menu, or
 By using the Favourites & History panel.
This chapter will explain in greater detail how you can open Ellipse screens using
these different methods.
Opening from the Quick Launcher
The Ellipse Quick Launcher (also referred to as the command line in previous
versions of Ellipse and MIMS), provides a shortcut for opening Ellipse screens. To
use this method, you need to know the identifying number of the screen you wish to
open.
Every Ellipse screen has a unique identifying number. The screen number for each
standard screen listed in the Ellipse Desktop is displayed in square brackets. Once
you have the required number, you can proceed to open your screen using the
Ellipse Quick Launcher.
1. Type the screen code in the Quick Launcher.
2. Either press Enter on the keyboard or click on the Green arrow or Go button
to open the screen.

Opening a screen from the Ellipse Menu

Within the Ellipse Menu, clicking on a module name, for example, Materials,
displays a hierarchical or tree structure consisting of yellow folder symbols. Clicking
the „+ „symbol on the folders displays a list of screens that you are able to access.
When a folder is expanded, the plus symbol changes to a „-„ symbol. Click the minus
symbol to hide the list of screens.
To open a screen, expand the folder structure until you locate one or more items
that display an icon. An icon indicates that the item is a screen and the type of icon
can vary, depending on the task the screen is used for. Double click on the icon or
the item to open the screen and display the correct Ellipse screen.

T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP 7|Page

 Accessing Ellipse Screens Exploring Ellipse

Click the + symbol to

display the list of
applications

An icon indicates that this

is an application

Opening from the History and Favourites menu

The History and Favourites menu holds two (2) folders – History and Favourites.
The History folder contains shortcuts to the last twenty (20) screens used. The
Favourites also display shortcuts to screens that have been identified as a
“favourite” by yourself. This folder can be structured to suit your personal
preferences.
 Open the History folder from the History and Favourites menu.
 Click once to open the required screen.
Or
 Open the Favourites folder from the History and Favourites menu.
 Double click to open the required screen.

8|Page T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP

Exploring Ellipse Index

A M
Action Codes, 25, 26
Main menu, 8, 10
Applications menu, 11

C N
New mode, 20
Change Credentials, 11
Clear Cache, 10
Close (X) button, 8 P
Command line, 8, 9, See Quick Launcher
Password, 3, 5, 10
Pin button, 8
D popup menu, 21
Position, 5
Detail windows, 19, 20
Preferences, 11
Diary messages, 9
District, 5
Q
E Quick Launcher, 8, 9, 17
Ellipse Client Configuration Manager, 12
Ellipse Desktop, 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19 R
Ellipse Menu, 8, 9, 10, 17
Exit, 11 Refresh Menu, 10
Requisitions, 9
Results Grid, 21
F Review mode, 20
Favourites, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18
S
G Search window, 19
Select windows, 24
Go button, 8, 9, 17
Status bar, 9
Grids, 27

H T
Title bar, 7
Help Menu, 12
Tools menu, 11
History, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18

I U
Update mode, 20
Information windows, 23
User Data Panels, 9, 12
User Id, 3, 5
L
List windows, 23 W
Load Default Layout, 11
Web browser, 9
Windows menu, 8, 12
Work Orders, 9

T HE DOCUM ENT SHOP 9|Page