DPF

DPF will revolutionise your workflow

Digital Paper Flow (DPF) integrated with Eclipse is a true digital end-to-end production accounting system. 

e-Signature solution for signing documents, orders, invoices, employee expenses and timecards right within your accounting system. You can also drag and drop or email an invoice to have it automatically entered into the system via our onboard OCR capabilities.

DPF

Key features:

  • Digital Document Signing

  • Digital Document Signing

    Paper contracts and forms can now be fully digitised, signed using an e-Signature, and stored for easy access within the one platform. Tags and validation rules can be added to facilitate customised reporting and budgeting. Custom approver groups can be created to indicate who has to approve and sign documents, and in which order.

    Creating a new contract is simple. Select a pack, fill in the required fields and send for approval. Once the crew member digitally signs their forms it is then returned to the next approver on the production to check and approve.

    This will continue as many times as you’ve created in the group until it is fully approved. The fully approved crew member is sent a fully signed copy of their contract. These digitised contracts and forms are then organised into digital packs representing your normal paper flow and stored digitally.

  • e-Signature Solution

  • e-Signature Solution

    An electronic signature is often referred to as an e-Signature, and is as legal and ironclad as putting pen to paper. It is something someone uses to express his or her agreement to the terms of a particular document.

    Federally protected by the ESIGN Act of 2000, electronic signatures are as legal as their paper equivalent. They can dramatically improve workflows by eliminating the time required to get the physical signature.

    This means faster turnaround times, enhanced security, lower costs, and eliminates paper waste and storage. It’s all digital for easy sharing.

  • Streamlined Onboarding

  • Streamlined Onboarding

    We were approached by one of our customers to come up with a digital payroll onboarding solution for freelancers on their productions. After researching and doing our homework, we quickly realised how much this would improve the speed and experience of onboarding new personnel. 

    Usually, the new employee onboarding process centres around paperwork – and lots of it. By using a custom onboarding tool like Digital Forms in DPF, it will streamline the tedious data collection process. 

    Onboarding is now quicker and easier, and can be easily documented and updated as necessary.

  • Automated Digital Forms

  • Automated Digital Forms

    Paperwork is tedious, difficult to secure, adds hours to your work day, and can build up. With DPF you can turn your forms and paper packs into digital forms. These can then be stored in digital packs for cases where there’s more than one form to completed.

    Automatic repetitive field completion assists at the data entry stage. After you fill in your information such as address or date of birth the first time, it will fill it in automatically on all the other forms, saving time for unnecessary repetitive data entry.

    Digital Forms is not only automated, it integrates with Freelance Portal and TPH Payroll helping you to keep your working day as productive as it can be.

  • Document Storage

  • Document Storage

    TPH Global is dedicated to making the life of production accountants easier, and one of the best ways to do that is to eliminate unnecessary paperwork and filing. With DPF and Digital Forms, paperwork that is created digitally can be signed and returned.

    To supplement this digital paper flow, these documents can then be stored within the system and accessed at any time. Our data storage offers enhanced security and daily backups, and you can download to a digital device such as an external hard drive at any time should you wish to keep a record off site.

    This not only applies to all of your contracts and digital documents, but invoices and receipts as well. Once the PDF has been dropped or emailed to the system, it converts it into a digital version of that document. This eliminates the need to keep mountains of folders filled with paper, just in case you need to refer back to it.

  • Custom Approval Workflows

  • Custom Approval Workflows

    Every production or television series has its own nuances regarding approvals and workflows. A key feature of DPF is your ability to customise the workflows in order to reflect who has first, middle, and final approval.

    Depending on the approval chain, this could go to your manager first for pre-approval and once approved goes to the crew member. They will receive an email with a link to complete their information at which point they can digitally sign their contract. The crew member will enter the SMS pin sent to the phone number setup for their pack as an extra layer of security.

    Custom approval and signing workflows can be created to suit your specific situation, and the sky is the limit. 

  • Invoice Entry Using OCR

  • Invoice Entry Using OCR

    Entering invoices into DPF has never been easier. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, key information from your invoice will be automatically extracted and entered into DPF with a copy of the invoice.

    You have the choice of either dragging and dropping your invoices into DPF or forward your invoices to DPF via email. Once the OCR has detected the relevant elements from your invoice such as company name, due date, amount etc, you can then directly enter the tracking codes required, or do a search for the ones you want. 

    DPF will allow you to match it up to the purchase order, and once you checked what you need to, it’s ready for the next step. The digitised invoice can then be launched into the automated custom approval process.

  • Digital Timecards

  • Digital Timecards

    DPF is fully integrated with our digital timecard system, Freelance Portal. By using Freelance Portal to handle your timecards digitally, your crew can submit their times wherever they have internet access. It could be on mobile, tablet, or laptop, at home or away – geography and timezones no longer matter.

    Once your crew have submitted their timecards, they are then sent to be approved by their department head, accounts and production automatically. If you are also using TPH Payroll you can access additional features. As a means of customising your workflow and integration with TPH Payroll, timecard and payslip approval is also available.

Digital Document Signing

Paper contracts and forms can now be fully digitised, signed using an e-Signature, and stored for easy access within the one platform. Tags and validation rules can be added to facilitate customised reporting and budgeting. Custom approver groups can be created to indicate who has to approve and sign documents, and in which order.

Creating a new contract is simple. Select a pack, fill in the required fields and send for approval. Once the crew member digitally signs their forms it is then returned to the next approver on the production to check and approve.

This will continue as many times as you’ve created in the group until it is fully approved. The fully approved crew member is sent a fully signed copy of their contract. These digitised contracts and forms are then organised into digital packs representing your normal paper flow and stored digitally.

e-Signature Solution

An electronic signature is often referred to as an e-Signature, and is as legal and ironclad as putting pen to paper. It is something someone uses to express his or her agreement to the terms of a particular document.

Federally protected by the ESIGN Act of 2000, electronic signatures are as legal as their paper equivalent. They can dramatically improve workflows by eliminating the time required to get the physical signature.

This means faster turnaround times, enhanced security, lower costs, and eliminates paper waste and storage. It’s all digital for easy sharing.

Streamlined Onboarding

We were approached by one of our customers to come up with a digital payroll onboarding solution for freelancers on their productions. After researching and doing our homework, we quickly realised how much this would improve the speed and experience of onboarding new personnel. 

Usually, the new employee onboarding process centres around paperwork – and lots of it. By using a custom onboarding tool like Digital Forms in DPF, it will streamline the tedious data collection process. 

Onboarding is now quicker and easier, and can be easily documented and updated as necessary.

Automated Digital Forms

Paperwork is tedious, difficult to secure, adds hours to your work day, and can build up. With DPF you can turn your forms and paper packs into digital forms. These can then be stored in digital packs for cases where there’s more than one form to completed.

Automatic repetitive field completion assists at the data entry stage. After you fill in your information such as address or date of birth the first time, it will fill it in automatically on all the other forms, saving time for unnecessary repetitive data entry.

Digital Forms is not only automated, it integrates with Freelance Portal and TPH Payroll helping you to keep your working day as productive as it can be.

Document Storage

TPH Global is dedicated to making the life of production accountants easier, and one of the best ways to do that is to eliminate unnecessary paperwork and filing. With DPF and Digital Forms, paperwork that is created digitally can be signed and returned.

To supplement this digital paper flow, these documents can then be stored within the system and accessed at any time. Our data storage offers enhanced security and daily backups, and you can download to a digital device such as an external hard drive at any time should you wish to keep a record off site.

This not only applies to all of your contracts and digital documents, but invoices and receipts as well. Once the PDF has been dropped or emailed to the system, it converts it into a digital version of that document. This eliminates the need to keep mountains of folders filled with paper, just in case you need to refer back to it.

Custom Approval Workflows

Every production or television series has its own nuances regarding approvals and workflows. A key feature of DPF is your ability to customise the workflows in order to reflect who has first, middle, and final approval.

Depending on the approval chain, this could go to your manager first for pre-approval and once approved goes to the crew member. They will receive an email with a link to complete their information at which point they can digitally sign their contract. The crew member will enter the SMS pin sent to the phone number setup for their pack as an extra layer of security.

Custom approval and signing workflows can be created to suit your specific situation, and the sky is the limit. 

Invoice Entry Using OCR

Entering invoices into DPF has never been easier. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, key information from your invoice will be automatically extracted and entered into DPF with a copy of the invoice.

You have the choice of either dragging and dropping your invoices into DPF or forward your invoices to DPF via email. Once the OCR has detected the relevant elements from your invoice such as company name, due date, amount etc, you can then directly enter the tracking codes required, or do a search for the ones you want. 

DPF will allow you to match it up to the purchase order, and once you checked what you need to, it’s ready for the next step. The digitised invoice can then be launched into the automated custom approval process.

Digital Timecards

DPF is fully integrated with our digital timecard system, Freelance Portal. By using Freelance Portal to handle your timecards digitally, your crew can submit their times wherever they have internet access. It could be on mobile, tablet, or laptop, at home or away – geography and timezones no longer matter.

Once your crew have submitted their timecards, they are then sent to be approved by their department head, accounts and production automatically. If you are also using TPH Payroll you can access additional features. As a means of customising your workflow and integration with TPH Payroll, timecard and payslip approval is also available.

DPF (Digital Paper Flow) Pricing

Basic rate (includes 1 user)

Additional Accounting Users

$10,000

$1,500 per user
Basic rate (includes 1 user)
$5,000
Additional Users
$1,500 per user

Includes 12 months of prep and shoot and a further 24 months for post, audit, rebates and archive. If prep/ shoot period goes over 12 months then a further full license fee is payable. If access is needed past 3 years then it is an additional $1500 per year/ per user (read-write), or $1000 per year/ per user (read only). Currently free for productions using Eclipse and TPH Payroll where their budget is under US$20m (or US$2m eps) before rebates.

All prices excluding GST

TESTIMONIALS

What Our Customers Have To Say

“I absolutely love TPH's reliable, clever software and experienced human resources whether it be in payroll or general accounting!”

Kristin KrugerProduction Accountant
"The developers at TPH share my passion for efficiency and accuracy. They are all actively working in the industry which they serve, which allows unequalled insight into the challenges being faced and enables them to find unique solutions to any obstacle."

Gina HallasProduction Accountant
"I have been using Eclipse software for over 10 years, the program is excellent and has clearly been designed by a team who know and understand the needs of the film industry."

Julie StewartProduction Accountant
"TPH have always provided me with a high level of service over the past ten years. In the roles of Assistant/Payroll and Production Accountant I have used all aspects of Eclipse, EzyPO and their Payroll Service and found them exceptional."

Rebecca HowcroftProduction Accountant
"The team at TPH are a pleasure to deal with & always professional. The support is always above & beyond & the relationship really feels like an extended part of our production finance team. Couldn’t recommend highly enough…"

James ScottSupervising Production Accountant, Shine Australia

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. From the Navigation Bar select Invoices.
  2. Select the group of the Invoices you would like to search for. These include Draft, Approve, Hold, Pending, Declined, Approved or All.
  3. Use the search bar and type in the supplier name and press enter. A list of results will be returned.
  1. From the Navigation Bar select Orders.
  2. Select the +Newbutton.
  3. The New Draft POPreview will appear. Select Edit, a new window will appear. 
  4. The Currencywill be set to the default. The currency of the PO can be selected from the Currency drop-list. If a required currency is missing, contact your Accounting Department so it can be setup. 

In the Supplier field, enter in the first few letters of the supplier’s name. Click on the vendor. If the vendor choice does not exist, then it must be entered, see Adding a new Supplier.

The date is also set to default and cannot be changed.

  1. Fill in the Import Quoteand Delivery Instructions/ Special Conditionsif applicable. 
  2. Scroll down to the Order Details.
  3. Fill in the Order Description.
  4. You can fill in a transaction manually by filling in the details on each transaction line or use the Pencil icon to bring up the assistance tools. When filling in a transaction manually enter in the Description, Chart Code, Insurance, Free Field, Tax, Set, QAPE and Amount (excluding GST). You can type in a few letters of the chart code to find the correct code. To add further transaction lines, select the Plus + icon.
  5. When entering a transaction with assistance use the Pencil icon. Click the pencil a new pop window will appear. Click on the Chart Code and use the search tool bar to find the correct account code. The Chart Codes can be searched by either name or number. Use the tracking codes field to select the appropriate codes required. Enter in a item description. Select the PO type, Service is the default PO. Refer to advanced PO drafting for Inventory, Rental/ Hire, Car and distribution types. Enter an Internal SKU and the discount if applicable. Enter in the amount (excluding GST). Click the Save icon once you have finished.
  6. Scroll down to select the Approval Group and verify the Total Amount.
  7. Add attachments by clicking on the Cloud and select the file destination in the pop-up window. You may also drag and drop attachments to this area. Attachments allows you to add pdf, excel, doc and pictures files. Uploading images of assets is recommended so approvers can see the item referred to in the PO.
  8. Once the PO has been completed, scroll back to the top and click on the Save icon.
  9. You will then be directed back to the Purchase Orders screen. To send the PO for approval click on the Send icon. Your order will be sent for approval to the signature line established by your Accounting Department.

Approve PO:

  1. From the Navigation Bar select Orders.
  2. Go to the Approvetab.
  3. Select the PO you would like to approve. Click theApprove icon. The PO will be moved to the Approved tab.

 

Approve Expenses:

  1. From the Navigation Bar select Expenses.
  2. Go to the Approvetab.
  3. Select the expense you would like to approve. Click the Approve icon. The Expense will be moved to the Approved tab.

 

Approve Invoices:

  1. From the Navigation Bar select Invoices.
  2. Go to the Approve tab.
  3. Select the invoice you would like to approve. Click the Approveicon. The invoice will be moved to the Approved section if you are the only approver, and to the Pending section if there are multiple approvers.

The article below explains the process of creating an invoice in Eclipse, sending it to Digital Paper Flow for the approval group selection and finally sending it to the approver. The article then explains how an approver can choose to approve the invoice via email or by logging into Digital Paper Flow.

https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1790705710/Process+Of+Creating+Sending+and+Approving+Invoice+-+Eclipse+to+Digital+Paper+Flow

If you would like to use Freelance Portal for timecards, and then approve them in DPF, please raise a support ticket requesting this set up. We’ll need your Production Name, an example of the timecard format you would like (as an attachment), the week ending day, and the email address for timecard approvals.

If your administrator has set you up to view Purchase Orders, Invoices or Expenses that you did not draft – such as POs from a certain department, or all POs that have been approved – follow this guide.

  1. Login to DPF
  2. From the Navigation Bar select Orders, Invoices or Expenses.
  3. Click on the View Team Ordersicon in the top left of the page
  4. Once you Have completed, Click the View Team Orders icon once more to hide other team members orders. If you do not Click the icon all orders will remain in the look up.
  5. You can then view PO’s from other members in all PO sections. These include Draft, Pending, Declined, Approved, All. This functionality also works for Invoices and Expenses.

For more details, check out our support article https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1701020658/View+Team+Orders+DPF

The Digital Paper Flow Mobile App is available on Apple iOS and Android Devices from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store by searching for Digital Paper Flow Mobile. The download links are also listed below:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tph.digital_paper_flow&pli=1

https://apps.apple.com/app/id1576617760

The mobile app allows you to Draft, Approve and view all Purchase Orders.

If your production is setup for it, the mobile app also allows you to View and Approve Invoices (but not Draft an Invoice).

  1. From the Navigation Bar select Orders.
  2. Select the group of the PO you would like to search for. These include Draft, Approve, Hold, Pending, Declined, Approved, All.
  3. Use the search bar and type in the supplier name and press enter. You will be returned with results.

This procedure is just a temporary solution to acquire digital signatures until the full release of Digital Paper Flow.

Invoices

  1. Open Accounts Payable > Invoice Entry and insert a new batch, or open an existing batch.  
  2. Click insert to add a new invoice.  
  3. Once in the Invoice Entry screen, click the Attachments tab.  Then click the Select Files button to add the PDF attachment of the invoice.
  4. Find and select the pdf on your computer and click the Attach button.  Remember in Eclipse, your computer’s C: Drive is listed as the M: Drive.  
  5. The Invoice pdf will now appear in the viewer window, confirming it has been successfully attached.
  6. Click on the Invoice Details tab and continue entering the Invoice as usual, drawing-down any necessary purchase orders.  Click the OK button once complete.
  7. You will then be directed back to the Unposted Invoice List window.   Highlight the invoice (s), then right-click and select Send to DPF.  Then click the Start button.  

Note if you receive an error message at this stage it means you have not been enabled to use this feature, contact support@helpdesk.tphglobal.com

  1. The invoice has now disappeared from the original batch and has been moved to a new batch called DPF Draft Invoices. Once it has been sent for approval in DPF, it will move to the DPF Pending Invoices Batch.  Then once fully approved it will move to the DPF Approved Invoices Batch, where it can be posted.
  2. Now login to the DPF website using your EzyPO login details: Digital Paper Flow
  3.  Click on the Draft Invoices section where you can find the invoice you just sent from Eclipse.
  4.  From here you can click the Edit button to change any details of the invoice, including the approval group.
  5.  Once you are ready to send the invoice for approval, click the Send button. Once sent, the approval will receive an email to login to DPF to approve.
  6.  The Invoice has now moved to the Pending section.  You can see that the Invoice is sitting with the first approver TLannister.  
  7.  Once the Approver logs into DPF they can click the Approve Invoices section to view all invoices awaiting their approval.

For more details, check out our support article https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1700955017/DPF+Eclipse+Integration

Once the defaults are set up in Eclipse, when the transaction is sent to DPF for approval, you will only need to edit the approval group if a change is required.

Invoices

If the Invoice does not have a purchase order attached then it will use the Default Approver Group in the System Defaults as specified in the instructions below.

In Eclipse go to Control Table → System Defaults → Digital Approve and fill in the settings for:

  • Default Location Code
  • Default Approver Group.

By default, the Invoice will use the same Approval group as the Purchase Order that was attached into it. However, if no PO is attached it will use the default setup in system defaults. We recommend doing this so that it decreases the manual work of selecting the approver group in DPF.
This is why every Purchase Order group in DPF needs to have an Invoice approval chain setup inside of it as mentioned in the start of this article: https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1731067923/Approval+Group+Setup#DPF-Approval-Group-Setup

Petty Cash

To setup Petty cash vendors with their default approval group, you need to go into Accounts Payable → Vendor Master Maintenance → Open the Petty Cash Vendor → Navigate to the Digital Paper Flow tab.

If you do not do this you will need to select the approver group after sending the PC to DPF for approval, which will slow down the workflow.

  • Right click inside this tab and select Add.
  • Set the Seq number to 1
  • Set AppLogin to the default Approval Group name.

 

For more details, check out our support article https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1833533441/Set+Up+Default+Approval+Groups

Book in for a demonstration with one of our DPF experts

There’s no need to wonder how this can possibly be as good as we say it is. See it first hand yourself – no hard sales pitch, completely obligation free. It’s just a good opportunity to ask questions and see it first hand.
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