FAQ

As practice shows, users often install the “Client version” of the program, regardless of how the program will be used, which is not always correct.
There are two installation methods:

“Server version” — Installed for branch (location) operations on a single PC with its own independent database, separate from other branches.

“Client version” — Installed to work with a database connected to the “Server version.”

Often, the “Client version” is used for operating a second cash register at a branch, with a connection via a local network.

To create a database backup, go to the “Application” section — “Database Backup” and click the “+” button.
Additionally, we strongly recommend setting up automatic database backups to a cloud service!

If irreversible changes were made to the database (DB), or for any reason the database was corrupted, it can always be restored from a backup (provided that backups are being made).
You can check the backup settings in the “Application” menu — “Database Backup.” This section shows the path to the backup folder and settings for automatic backup requests.

(It is strongly recommended to perform “database backups” once a day).
To restore the database from a backup, follow these steps:

Select the archive of the most recent backup in the list of backups.

Click “Restore” and wait for the process to complete.

To enable automatic client verification against the list, you need to:

1. Download the list in .XLSX format from your personal account on the “Financial Monitoring” website.
2. Go to the “Application” menu, select “Settings – Basic,” and choose the “Financial Monitoring” tab.
3. Set the download type to “Offline.”
4. Select the name of the financial monitoring list you plan to upload.
5. Click the “Update Now” button and choose the file containing the list of organizations and individuals associated with extremist activities or terrorism.

The automatic verification occurs when a contract with a client from the list is concluded by clicking the “Save” button (simply adding the client to the directory will not trigger the check).

How the verification function works:

1. Open a new contract, click “Select Client,” open the “Terrorist List,” and copy the full name and date of birth from the list.
2. Then, add this client’s card to the directory and save the contract.
3. The program will display a message upon saving and will record the data in the “Financial Monitoring” report.

To generate a client list — for example, with phone numbers, addresses, or other statistical information — use the “Export to Excel” feature in the client directory.

To do this, on the main screen of the program, click the “Clients” button, then go to the “Service” section and select “Export client list to Excel.”
For more details about the “Export to Excel” feature, refer to the section Help \ Reference \ Exporting Data to Excel.

This message may appear in two cases:

• PawnShop cannot access the database file.
  This may happen if the path to the database file has changed — for example, the system drive name was changed, or the folder containing the program was renamed or moved.
  To resolve this, you need to specify the correct path to the database file.
  Click “OK” on the error message, and the “Settings — Database” window will open. In the “Path” field, click the folder icon and, using the file explorer, select the database file with the *.fdb extension (by default, the file is named lombard2.fdb and is located in the DB folder inside the PawnShop installation directory).
• If the database path is correct but the message still appears, most likely the Firebird Server service did not start automatically.
  To start the service manually in Windows, click “Start,” type “Services” in the search bar, and open the matching result. In the list of services, find Firebird Server PawnShop-3057, right-click it, and select “Start” from the context menu.

If you need a separate copy of the program with a clean database for employee training, you can install a second instance.

To install a second instance of the program, run the program’s installation file and specify an installation path that is different from the main instance (for example: D:\PawnShop-Test).

In the main form of the program, there is a “Search” option. Select the “Contract status” option — “Debtors” and click “Search.” If you want to view contracts with a specific number of overdue days (for example, to filter pledges for realization), specify the number of days in the “Overdue days” field.

There is a tutorial video available on how to use the search function and work with the contract list in the main form of the program.

To do this, you need to find the contracts on the main form of the program using the search function, making sure to check the flag – ‘Do not reset search.’ Then, go to the menu ‘Service – Export to Excel the list of pledge items

This option is available only for users in the ‘Administrator‘ group.

To edit the transaction, you need to select the contract and click the ‘Edit transaction (F8)’ button.

• In the transaction form, modify the data and click ‘Save.’

Additionally, if necessary, you can delete the transaction by selecting the corresponding action

The duration of the contract is not strictly limited—if interest payments are made within the specified period, the contract is automatically extended.

Example, Contract Terms:

• Contract date: 1.mm

• Term: 10 days

• Interest rate per day: 1%

• Loan amount: 100 units

The client comes on 10.mm to pay the interest on the contract. Interest accrued: 10 units. If only a partial payment of the interest is made (for example, 5 units), the contract will be extended for an additional 5 days until 15.mm.

If the full interest payment (10 units) is made, the contract will be extended for 10 more days until 20.mm. The terms of the contract remain unchanged

This option is available only for users in the ‘Administrator‘ group.

To edit a closed contract, you need to find the contract in the program, then go to the section ‘Contracts’ – ‘Force Open.’

• Open the contract and delete the ‘Contract Closure’ operation.
• Select the current contract and click ‘View Contract.’
• Make the necessary edits to the contract and save the changes

To view the accruals for a contract, use the report ‘Accrual Calculation by Contract.’ It is generated for a specific period and shows all accruals for the selected contract.

You can also view accruals for a specific date by selecting the desired date in the ‘Data as of Date’ field on the main form of the program

In pawnshop practice, situations may arise where a client requests a review of the current lending conditions due to force majeure circumstances. A client-oriented pawnshop is ready to make concessions and reduce the accruals on the contract to settle the debt.

In the PawnShop program, there is an option to change the tariff plan for a contract. This type of operation is designed to modify the accrual conditions during any period of the contract’s validity.

1. Creating a Tariff with Promotional Conditions for the “Change of Tariff” Operation

In the program section “Application” > “Settings” > “Main” > “Accrual Calculation,” you need to add a tariff plan, such as a “Discount” tariff with promotional conditions for interest and penalties.

2. Linking the Tariff Plan to the “Change of Tariff” Operation

Go to “Application” > “Settings” > “Main” > “Accrual Calculation” – click on “Change of Tariff” (button). Choose the main tariff and link the “Discount” tariff. The “Tariff Start Date” parameter works as follows:

• “Current operation”: The amount of accruals will not change on the current date; the new tariff plan will take effect from the next day after the tariff change operation is performed.
• “Previous operation”: The outstanding balance for the accruals will be recalculated according to the new conditions for the entire period from the last operation date (or from the contract’s start date if there have been no prior operations).

3. Performing the “Change of Tariff” Operation on the Contract

Select the active contract and click “Operation”. Choose the “Change of Tariff” type and in the dropdown list of tariffs, select the “Discount” tariff, then save the operation.

During the “Change of Tariff” operation, it is possible to manually adjust the conditions of the new tariff. To do this:

• In the operation form, select “Manual” from the list of available tariffs.
• Choose the “Start Date” parameter (description of the parameter is mentioned above).
• Click “Edit”.
• Set the accrual parameters for the “New Tariff”.
• Save the operation.

You can redeem a pledge by performing the “Reopen Contract” operation. Let’s look at an example:

A pledge contract was concluded with two items pledged for a loan amount of 1000 (for example, 500 + 500). On the day of the loan repayment, the client wants not only to extend the contract but also to redeem one of the pledged items.

The actions in the program are as follows:

• Perform the Reopen Contract operation, making sure that the accrued interest is fully repaid.
• Add the loan amount for one of the pledged items (500) to the accrued interest.
• Enter the repayment amount for the operation (Step 1) — Accrued interest + loan for one pledged item.
• In the editing window (Step 3) of the new contract, you will see that the remaining 500 of the loan balance has been redistributed between both pledged items.
• Remove the pledged item.

As a result, you will have a new contract based on the old one, but with only one pledged item for a loan amount of 500.

For more detailed information about the “Reopen Contract” operation, you can refer to Help > Table of Contents > Working with Contracts > Reopen Contract.

You can edit a contract after performing an operation in two ways:

• With Administrator rights, open the contract for viewing. In the contract viewing window, in the upper-right corner, there will be a small square button with a star. If you click on it, a warning will appear: “You are about to modify data for a contract that has operations. If you save changes, the operation data will be recalculated. Continue? Yes, No.” When you click Yes, the contract terms editing form will open.
• The second method is to delete the operation(s), edit the contract, and then perform the operations with the same dates and amounts.

If a pawnshop client cannot repay the loan on time, PawnShop allows you to create an extension request.

The extension request is made to give the client an opportunity to delay the contract from being transferred for the sale of pledged items. To create an extension request, select the contract in the “Debtors” status. Then, go to the Contract menu and select the “Extension Request” option.

A tutorial video on using the search function and working with the contract list on the main program screen is available.

If an item of collateral is confiscated by law enforcement or stolen, the pawnshop may need to close the contract without any cash transactions. This can be done using the “Forced Contract Closure” operation.

To forcibly close a contract, select the contract on the main screen, go to the Contract menu, and select the “Forced Close” operation.

Over a long period of operation, a pawnshop accumulates a large number of closed and sold contracts. Typically, contracts from previous periods are no longer needed for display in the search on the main program screen. To hide them, there is the “Send to Archive” function.

To send contracts to the archive, select the list of contracts from the past period (e.g., last year) on the main screen, go to the Contract menu, and choose the “Send to Archive” option.

Go to the “Directories” section and open the “Types of Precious Metals” directory. Click the + button to add a new entry.

Go to the “Directories” section and select the “Precious Metals Price Directory”.

In this directory, you can modify existing prices or add new entries for precious metals.

To enter the organization’s details in the program, go to the “Directories” section and select “Enterprise Information”. Enter the information about the company and its branches if the program is used to manage multiple branches.

To add a new type of identity document, go to the “Directories” section and select the “Identity Document” directory.

In the Identity Document directory, click the + button to add a new entry.

Statuses are intended for grouping clients, such as pensioners, students, or VIPs. To add a client status, open the “Directories” section and select the “Client Statuses” directory.

In the “Client Statuses” directory window, click the + button to add a new entry. To assign a tariff plan to a client status, click the “Assign Tariff Plans” button.

In the “Tariff Plans for Client Status” window, select the required status and, in the “Tariff Plans” block, check the active tariff plans that correspond to the added status in the “Available” column.

To add a new cash receipt template, for example, for accounting rental payments, employee salaries, etc., you need to:

1. Select the “Directories” section and go to the “Cash Receipt Templates (Plan of Accounts)” directory.
2. Click the + button to add a new entry, then fill in the following columns:

• “Description” (e.g., office rent payment)
• “Received from (Issued by)” (e.g., director)
• “Corresponding account, sub-account” (enter the number of the corresponding account)
• “Order type” (income or expense)

PawnShop allows adding custom fields to the pledge or client card. You can add unique fields such as “Stone,” “Cut,” etc.

To add an additional field:

1. Open the “Directories” menu and select “Custom Fields”.
2. In the “Custom Fields” directory, select the object: “Clients” or “Pledged Items”.

• Add a new entry by clicking the + button, then fill in the “Field Name” and “Document Code” columns.
• To display the specific value of the custom field by default, fill in the “Default Value” column.

To display the custom field value in a document template, copy the data from the “Document Code” field and insert it into the template of the desired document.

In the Clients directory, you can use the “Merge Client” button to combine two client records that have been duplicated. Upon clicking the button, a form appears showing the duplicate client entries. The entry that will be deleted is displayed at the top. At the bottom, under the “Client (Result)” group, is the entry that will remain.

To deposit money into PawnShop, you need to create an income order with the appropriate amount. On the main screen of the program, click the “Cash Register” button.

In the “Cash Register” section, click the “Add (+)” button.

PawnShop allows you to work with multiple accounts. This is useful for pawnshops that accept debt payments either in cash or through a bank terminal (account).

To add an account, go to the “Application” — “Settings” — “General” section. In the main settings, switch to the “Departments and Accounts” tab. In the “Accounts” window, there are two buttons to add cash accounts.

1. To add a cash account, click the “Cash Account Directory”, then click the + button to add a cash register and click “OK”. After this, in the “Accounts” window, click the + button (to add an account) and select “Cash Account”.
2. To add a non-cash account, in the “Accounts” window, click the “Bank Account Directory”, fill in the account details, and click “OK”. After that, in the “Accounts” window, click the + button (to add an account) and select “Bank Account”.

Find the required contract on the main screen of the program. Click the “Set for Realization” button and specify the pledge’s sale price.

Among the contracts set for realization, find the one you need to realize. Click the “Realize” button and specify the realization amount. If you want to reflect the operation in the cash register, check the box “Account for Realization in Cash Register”, then save the operation.

To set multiple contracts for realization, you need to create a “Realization Act”.

To create an act, click the “Service” button and select “Acts”, then click the + button and choose “Realization Act”. In the realization act, select “Branch”, “Pledge Type”, click “Create”, then choose the “Warehouse Destination” and click the + button to add contracts to the act.

For more information on working with acts, refer to the help section: “Acts for Realization”.

To realize multiple contracts, you need to create a “Shipment for Realization”. Shipments for realization are used to realize pledged items listed in the act. To create a shipment, click the “Service” button and select “Shipments for Realization”.

For more information on working with shipments, refer to the help section: “Shipment for Realization”.

To send a list of contracts to the central office, the data synchronization between the branch and the central office must be set up. Then, when creating the realization act, choose the “Central Office” as the warehouse destination. After saving the act, in the list of realization acts, click the “Allow Sending to Central Office” button.

To automatically set overdue contracts for realization, perform the following steps:

• You need to set up the task schedule for auto-setting contracts for realization. Go to the main settings of PawnShop, then the “Calculating Charges” tab. In the “Automatic Contract Realization” block, click the “Schedule” button and check the “Active” flag.
• In the tariff plan, activate the setting “Set for Realization after the Expiration of the Overdue Days” in the “Additional Settings” tab.

To conduct an inventory in the pawnshop, use the “Inventory” report. This report can be generated in the “Reports” — “Warehouse” — “Inventory” section. To generate the inventory sheet, set the report parameters.

To generate accruals for a contract for a period, you need to find the required contract on the main screen of the program and open the “Reports” menu — “Contracts” — “Accrual Calculation for Contract”.

In the “Accrual Calculation for Contract” form, activate the “Detailed Calculation” option, set the calculation period, and click the “Calculate” button. The data will be generated. To export the report to Excel, click “Print”.

To get information about the movement of cash in the pawnshop’s cash register, broken down by corresponding accounts, use the report “Analytical Statement of Cash Flow”. The report can be generated either for specific orders by transactions or as summary information for a time period.

To generate the report, go to the “Reports” — “Management” menu and select the “Analytical Statement of Cash Flow” report. Set the desired period and choose the report type “Summarization” (document, by days, month, or quarter).

The pawnshop’s credit portfolio is the total outstanding debt on active pledge contracts.

To obtain information about the debt on issued loans and calculate the outstanding amounts, generate the “General Report”. Select this report from the “Reports” — “Management” menu and specify the parameters for its generation (e.g., period or branch of the pawnshop).

Do you want to assign special tariff conditions to a customer but can’t see their statistics? Or do you want to identify the most loyal customers?

If you need to view the statistics for a specific customer, click the “Clients” button on the main screen of the program, select the customer, and click the “Customer Statistical Data” button to display their statistical data.

If you want to get statistics for the entire customer base, select the “Customer Statistics Module” report. This report allows you to analyze customer data and statistics. For example, by the number of visits, you can identify the most active customers, and by the total interest paid, you can offer the most profitable customers special lending conditions, etc.

To generate this report, open the “Reports” — “Statistics” menu and select “Customer Statistics Module”. The settings for displaying customer data are called the configuration. To generate the statistics, click the “Create” button, add the necessary statistics parameters for the customer in the “Display” column, and if sorting by data is required, fill in the “Sorting” list. To display the statistical data, click “Generate”.

The “Employee Statistics” report is designed to generate performance indicators for pawnshop employees. The report provides the following data:

• Number of contracts concluded
• Amount of loans issued, amount of paid loans
• Amount of interest paid on contracts
• Amount of penalties paid on contracts
• Profit from realizations

Employee data is grouped by branch for the selected period.

The “Logging” report is intended for tracking all user actions within the PawnShop program and helps resolve issues related to theft in the pawnshop. The report displays the user’s name, the time, and the action they performed.

The report allows for displaying records for many objects in the program, such as pledge contracts, customer cards, etc. The most popular query is to generate a list of user actions for a specific contract. To generate the report, open the “Reports” menu and select “Logging”. Choose the object in the report settings form for which you want to display the action list.

The text and appearance of the contract template (pledge ticket) and other types of documents can be modified in the program’s “Application” — “Settings” — “Documents” section. Select the desired template and click “Edit” — “Edit Document Template”. In the template, you can use variables that will be replaced with data from the program.

A video course on configuring document templates in PawnShop is also available.

In the “Application” — “Settings” — “Documents” section, select the desired document template. Click “Edit” — “Edit Document Template”, and the contract template will open in a text editor. Then, go to “Help” — “Documentation” — “Document System” — “Document Parameters”. Copy the variable and paste it into the document template. Save the document.

A video course on setting up document templates in PawnShop is also available.

To add a new user to the program, you need to log in as an “Administrator”. You can use the default account, with the login “master”.
After logging into the program with administrator rights, follow these steps:

• Go to the “Application” > “Settings” > “General” menu.
• Switch to the “Users and Rights” tab.
• In the “Users” tab, click the “+” icon (to add a user).
• In the “Add User” window, under the “Account Details” tab, select a role (Administrator or Operator), fill in the “Full Name”, “Login”, “Password”, and “Confirm Password” fields.
• If necessary, fill in the other fields, such as “Power of Attorney”, “Cashier Number”, “Tax ID”, “Notes”.
• Under the “Departments and Accounts” tab, assign the department and cash account to the new user.

Training video: “Creating an Account and Setting User Rights”.

If you forget the user’s password, it can only be restored by a user with “Administrator” group rights. Log in with an account that has full rights and follow these steps:

• Go to the “Application” > “Settings” > “General” menu.
• Switch to the “Users and Rights” tab.
• Select the required user from the list and click the “pencil” icon (to edit).
• In the “Edit User” window, enter the new password in the “Password” and “Confirm Password” fields, then click “OK”. The password will be changed.

  If you forget the Administrator account password, contact the support department to restore access.

To change existing tariff plans and create a custom accrual system, go to “Application” — “Settings” — “General” — “Accrual Calculation” tab. A detailed description of how to work with this section is available in the “Help” — “Accruals” section.

A video course on configuring tariff plans is also available.

The numbering and template configuration for pledge tickets (contracts) are set in the “Application” — “Settings” — “General” — “Document Numbering” tab. In this section, you can also set numbering for incoming and outgoing cash receipts and other document types.

To connect a barcode scanner, go to “Application” — “Settings” — “Barcode Scanner” tab. Check the “Activate Barcode Scanner” box, select the connection type, and save the changes. The scanner will be connected to work with the program.
Barcode numbers can be generated in the “Service” — “Barcode Generation” section.

To generate an export file, go to the “Service” — “Task Manager” section. Choose the “Offline” mode and click “Synchronize” — “Export Data”. Select the branch, data export period, and client database, then click “Export”. The program will create an encrypted file with the data package, which should be sent to the central office for import to load the data into the central system.

The program allows adding multiple branches and restricting user access to these branches.
To configure branches and cash accounts, follow these steps:

• Open the main settings of the program — “Application” > “Settings” > “General”, and select the “Departments and Accounts” tab.
• On the left side of the “Departments” form, click the “+” icon (to add a branch), specify the serial number and name. The serial number of the branch must be unique.

On the right side of the “Accounts” form, you can add a cash or non-cash account by:

• Clicking the “Cash Account Directory” button, then click “+” to add a cash account, specify the name and parameters of the cash account.
• For a non-cash account, click “Bank Account Directory”, and fill in the directory data (name, company code, bank code, account number).

To assign a cash account to a specific branch:

• On the left side of the “Departments” form, select the branch, then on the right side of the “Accounts” form, click the “+” button, choose the account type (cash or bank), and in the account directory, select the appropriate cash account.

To configure user access:

• Open the main settings of the program — “Application” > “Settings” > “General”, and select the “Users and Rights” tab.
• In the “Users” tab, select the required user and click the “pencil” icon (to edit the user).
• Go to the “Departments and Accounts” tab.
• Select the branches to which the user should have access, mark the “Default” branch, and specify the available cash accounts for the user.

To set up reference information for multiple branches in the program, go to the “References” menu and select “Company Information”.
In the “Company Information” directory, click on the drop-down list in the “Branch” field, select the branch, and fill in the registration data for each branch separately.

PawnShop allows for automatically updating the prices of precious metals in the pawnshop branches, adjusting them from the central office.

By using a unified list of grades and prices in the central office, we can automatically import these into each branch, so the appraiser does not need to manually adjust prices.

To do this, in the “Central Office” program, you need to set up the precious metal types and prices directories:

• Open the “References” menu and select “Precious Metal Types”.
• Click the “+” button to add entries for types of precious metals, such as: gold-1st grade, gold-2nd grade, silver, platinum, etc.
• Open the “References” menu and select “Precious Metal Prices”.
• Click the “+” button to add a new record. Specify the type of precious metal, its grade, price per gram, and delivery per gram.

For automatic import of reference data to branches, synchronization between the “Central Office” and branches must be configured. In the branch synchronization settings, the “Automatic Import of Directories” flag should be enabled.

The program allows making a payment for a contract at any branch of the pawnshop network, providing convenience for clients who cannot regularly visit a specific branch. For this function to work, synchronization between the branches and “Central Office” must be set up.

Once synchronization is configured, payments can be made at any branch via the “Contract” menu by selecting the “Online Operation” option.

To perform an online operation:

• In the “Online Operations — Contract Search” window, enter the contract number for the search.
• Choose the type of operation (repayment or loan increase), enter the operation amount, and click “Add”.

The program implements data export for importing into accounting software.

The upload module for accounting programs is located in the PawnShop folder under the Utils directory. This folder contains modules with default settings, not tied to any specific country.

The folder includes a description of the module’s settings, the module itself (PawnShopImport.epf), and the configuration file (PawnShop.ini).