Contents Page
Contents

Getting Acquainted

Main Screen

Other Informational Screens

Entering & Editing Events

Handling Projects

Setting up Categories

Reports / Hunting for Information / Bills / Invoices

General Ledger

Creating and Editing Bill Formats, Custom Reports, and Check Formats

Using Plans

Message Center & Sign-Out Board

InfoBases

Configuration

Preserving Your Data

Installation (Including Network Setup)


Getting Acquainted

This Getting Acquainted section is guided by the philosophy that you will learn a subject more thoroughly by thinking your way through problems than by being led by the hand.  A guided tour is fine, but it is not as effective a teaching vehicle as hands-on training.  Here, you will be pointed toward some of the program's most commonly used features.  Experimenting with each will result in experience that will help you with others.  After spending a short period visiting the sections of the program recommended by this tutorial, you will have an overall appreciation for the software and will be well-poised to learn and use any of its features.

To display this tutorial at any time, use the   Help | Getting Acquainted   menu option at the Main Screen.  If you would prefer to print this topic right now, select   File | Print   above.

- General Overview -

The initial Main Screen will be either a Calendar or a Log view of the current month.  The large lettering near the top of the screen will inform you of which view is being displayed.  By the way, the Calendar module is designed to hold your schedule of upcoming events, while the Log module is intended as a repository of events that have actually occurred, such as services performed, money spent or received, or notations of other happenings.

Among the menu options at the very top of the screen will be choices that will move you to the other modules of the program or perform various other chores.  Try not to become confused by the fact that this program offers several different ways to accomplish most of its main functions.  For example, among the shortcuts to move to the Log view is to press Ctrl-L (or to select the   Log   menu item).  To move to the Calendar view, you may press Ctrl-C (or select the   Calendar   menu item).

- Projects (clients, jobs, files, etc.) -

The program can keep a database of information (name, address, etc.) for each project or client that you wish to track.  Incidentally, "project" is just the term used by this program for what you might call a "client", "job", "file", etc.  Use the   Project   menu item to set up a few projects.  To do so, click on the lighted bulb icon at the top of the small sub-screen that appears when you select the Main Screen's   Project   menu item.  If you are just familiarizing yourself with the program, you don't need to fill in every field on a project's data entry screen.  The Project ID, name, and address should suffice at the beginning.  You may always edit a project later to add more information.

To familiarize yourself with this aspect of the program, it is suggested that you enter two or three practice projects, each containing different information.  If you're using a version of the software that handles billing, don't alter the program's default information for any of the fields near the bottom of the screen (those that follow the eight miscellaneous fields) until you have become comfortable with the general feel of the program.  Save that experimentation for your next session with the program, perhaps tomorrow.  The one exception to this rule is the Date Opened field on the bottom line.  The date reflected there should be prior to the earliest date for which you expect to enter any practice services, disbursements or receipts for the project.

Please note that, in some versions of the software, the project database will also appear as the Main Screen's phonebook.  In the more elaborate professional versions, the project database will be entirely separate from the phonebook.

- Events -

Now, let's make a new event entry.  To do so, you may either click on the lighted bulb icon at the top of the Main Screen, or you may simply press "M (for "make").  When you do, you'll be presented with an event entry screen.  Most of the fields are self-explanatory, but if you have a question about the specific field in which the cursor is flashing, you may press the F1 key for an explanation.  By the way, please delay experimenting with making recurring events (an option at the bottom of the Event data entry screen) until later in this tutorial.

When you've finished entering all the information about this event, press the Save button at the top.

- Main Screen Options -

Practice entering several types of events for different dates and for different projects, checking the Main Screen after each one.  While at the Main Screen, you may sample the various screen displays offered by the first several icons at the top of the screen.  Whichever of these is selected when you leave the program will be what is displayed when you next enter the program.

- Bills -

If you have a version of the software that handles bills, you may now practice preparing them.  To do so, you may either click on the Prepare Bills icon, or you may simply press "B" (or "I" for invoices).  When you do, you'll be presented with the "Project Reports / Hunt Through Projects" setup screen.  This is the same screen that may be used for any of the project reports you decide to prepare, but note that the "Type of Report" item at the upper right has already been set to "Bills" (or "Invoices").  If you change that item, some of the fields on the screen will change appropriately.  For the purposes of your familiarization, however, leave the item set to "Bills".

Don't trouble yourself yet with trying to figure out the effects of altering the information on the screen.  Let's just do some bills!

Before starting the billing process, note first that the "Report Destination" is, by default, set to "Screen".  That means that the bills you're about to prepare will appear on the screen.  Also note, in the "Billing Parameters" block, that the type of bill to be prepared is an "Pre-Bill", one that is meant for use in your office only.

Now, press the Start button at the top of the screen.  When you do, a bill for each of the projects you had entered into the system will be sent to the screen.  You will undoubtedly want to alter the bill's format, but that can be done later (at the Main Screen's   Edit | Bill Format   menu item).  The purpose of the present exercise is merely to demonstrate how easy it is to prepare bills.

After an Pre-Bill for each of your projects has been sent to the screen, you will be returned to the "Project Reports / Hunt Through Projects"  setup screen.  The reason that ALL your projects were billed is that you did not specify that only a particular project be billed.  To do so, go to the "Project ID" field, and fill in the ID of just one of your projects.  Now, change the Report Destination to "Printer", and change from an Pre-Bill to a New Bill (one that is intended to actually go to the client).  Press the Start button and watch as the New Bill for that single project is printed.  You'll then be returned to the setup screen.

The fields in the shaded area are the ones most commonly used to define the project(s) to be billed (or otherwise reported).  They offer wonderful flexibility, but don't get bogged down by them yet.  After you've familiarized yourself with other aspects of the program, you may come back to this screen to experiment to your heart's content.  Just bear in mind that the more of those fields you fill in, the more discriminating the program's hunt through its project database will be.

Before leaving this screen, remember that you may place your cursor on any of the fields on the right side of the screen and press F1 for an explanation of that field.  The same goes for most of the other (non-obvious) fields on the screen.

- Preparing Event Reports -

You're going to love all the different ways that the program can show you what's in its database.  At the Main Screen, select the magnifying glass icon, or press "H" (for "hunt").  The "Reports / Hunting for Information" setup screen will then appear.  The shaded portion of the screen contains the most important information used by the program in preparing its reports.  At first, just play around with changing the dates and seeing what the results are when you press the "Start Report" button.  Then, try sending the reports to the printer (selected in the "Report Destination" box at the upper right).  Next, have the program prepare a different type of report (the "Type of Report" pull-down list is in the shaded area).  You could spend literally hours practicing with report preparation, so do some experimentation with each type of report offered by the program before returning to the Main Screen.

- More Main Screen Options -

Check the week-view and day-view icons, as well as the to-do icon.  To-do's, by the way, are simply deadlines set for today or any date in the future.  So you'll not see any "to-do's" unless you have already entered some deadlines for the coming days or weeks.

The dim-light icon is for editing events for whatever date is highlighted.  You can also edit an individual event by dragging it from the right side of the split-calendar screen to the dim-light icon.  Or you may simply double-click on that event, without dragging it.  The garbage-can icon is similar to the dim-light icon, except that it is for tagging events for deletion (in this program, events are first tagged for deletion, but they aren't actually deleted from the database until you run through the Main Screen's  File | Delete  menu item).  Highlighting an event on the right side of the screen and pressing the Del key has the same effect as dragging it to the garbage can.  If you accidentally tag an event for deletion, you may "un-tag" it by highlighting the date on which it fell and then clicking either the dim-light or garbage-can icon.  Practice tagging and un-tagging an event or two.

If you need to change an event's date, you may either edit that event, or you may drag it from one day to another.  If you have several events that you would like to move simultaneously, you may highlight them (mouse click when the Ctrl key is depressed) and then use the   Edit | Move Selected Events   menu option to actually move them.  Of course, you may also edit each individual event to change its date.

If you'd like the Main Screen to display only one project's events, select the   View | One Person/Project   menu item.  This same menu item may be used if you wish to display only those events that apply to one or more specified people in your organization.

- Phonebook -

The Phonebook at the bottom of the split-screen Main Screen will display the names in its database.  You may click into the Phonebook and begin typing a name.  Doing so will take you to the general area where you will find the person you seek.  When you click on any particular name in the listing, a phone number and address will appear to its right.  Double-clicking on a name in the Phonebook's listing will cause that person's data entry screen to appear.  When viewing the data to the right of a person's name, you may double-click on any line containing a phone number, resulting in that number's being dialed, assuming that you have your dialing parameters entered correctly into the program (Tools | Change Dialing Parameters).

There's also a handy keyword box at the upper right of the Phonebook's section of the screen.  Type a word into this box and press the Enter Key.  Doing so will cause the Phonebook's listing to be shortened to contain only those people whose records contain that word.  The keyword box is very handy in quickly finding a Phonebook entry, even if you can't recall the name, as long as you know some word contained within the entry.

- Recurring Events -

Now that you're used to making regular one-time events, you may practice entering a recurring event or two.  Start by going to the Calendar (not the Log) and filling in the event entry screen as you might for a regular event.  Then, click the check box entitled, "Make this item a *Recurring Event*"  When you do, the screen's date box(es) will be re-titled, "Earliest Date", and "Latest Date".  These indicate the earliest and latest dates you want this recurring event to be shown on the program's various displays and reports.

The items within the Recurring Event group box at the lower right portion of the screen designate exactly how often you want this event to be displayed.  If you have a question about any of the items, simply click into that item and press F1.

Once a recurring event has been created, it may be modified as a recurring event only by selecting   Edit | Recurring Events   at the Main Screen's menu.  Doing so will result in a listing of all the program's recurring events, from which you may select the one to modify.

If you wish to make a one-time exception to a recurring event (but not modify the recurring event, itself), you may do so by moving to the date for which you wish to make the exception, and then selecting that event for editing.

- Explore On Your Own -

The surface has really only been scratched, but you should now have a solid feel for the program.  You are urged to try each of the options available in the program's pull-down menus.   For instance, if you intend to use the program to produce Income-Expense reports, you will need to set up your list of income and expense categories (Edit | Categories).  If the program will be handling trust accounts or any other type of account, you'll want to visit   Edit | GenLedger Accounts.  Billing formats may be created or modified with   Edit | Bill Format.  Remember that, once you have selected any of these (or other) items, detailed instructions may be obtained by pressing F1.

This is a big, robust program.  You already have a working knowledge of its essentials.  You may even think that you know all you need to get what you want from the software.  But you are urged to continue exploring.  Doing so will undoubtedly yield new insight into useful aspects of the program that, at this point, you don't realize exist.

Let Integra Computing know if you have any ideas about how to improve this Getting Acquainted section or any other aspect of the program or it's on-line help.  Good luck.


Main Screen

- OVERVIEW -

The top of the Main Screen contains pull-down menus that are described in detail below.  Below the pull-down menus are several speed buttons that will quickly access the program's most commonly used features.  Among the speed buttons are:  the Day View button, which will give you the complete detail for the highlighted date (as opposed to the limited detail shown on the right side of the Main Screen); the Make New Event button, which will allow you to enter a new event; the Edit Event button, which will allow you to choose an existing event for editing; the Hunt/Report button, which will take you to the Report/Hunt routine, where you can look for information and prepare printouts and other reports; and the Tag for Deletion button, which will allow you to tag an event for future deletion.  There is also a button that will open or close a perpetual Memo pad and an Allocated Time / Event List button that acts as a toggle to determine whether the right side of the screen displays an abbreviated listing of the highlighted day's events or an account of each person's allocated time for the highlighted day.  The Check To-Do's button will give you a listing of upcoming Deadlines.  The StopWatch button will start or stop the StopWatch .  The other speed buttons are generally self-explanatory and may be fully understood by simply trying them.

There are several shortcut keys that accomplish much the same as certain options on the pull-down menus.  These keys are listed next to their associated options on the menus.  The number keys also have special meanings to the program.  They will cause the program to display information for only one person at a time (see the discussion under View | One Person/Project ).

If you are presented with a split-screen display, the left side of the Main Screen is a month's calendar, while the right contains a brief listing of the first several events on the highlighted date.

You also have the option of displaying a PhoneBook on the Main Screen (through the use of one of the icons at the top of the screen).  You may enter the PhoneBook either by using the mouse or by pressing Ctrl-B.  Once inside the PhoneBook, you may begin typing a name.  When you do so, the PhoneBook will scroll to the closest match.  The window at the upper-right of the phonebook section is the place where you may wish to enter a keyword.  The keyword is a great tool in finding information within the phonebook.  Normally, you will want the keyword window to be blank, so that all your phonebook entries will be displayed.  But if you elect to enter a keyword, the phonebook entries displayed will be only those containing that keyword in one or more of their data fields.

To see a day's complete detail, you may either click the Day View button at the top of the screen or simply press the Enter key.  Displayed items are always sorted into chronological order, with those items not assigned times appearing LAST.  If you use priorities when entering Deadlines and Gotta-Do's, events will be displayed first by priority and then by time.

As you add events to your schedule, you will notice that each day on the left side of this screen may contain an asterisk (*) in the upper-left corner.  The asterisk indicates that there is something scheduled on that day.  A day may also contain time blocks that represent the time scheduled on that day.  Each day covers a couple of time periods, as explained by the key at the bottom of the calendar.  Other information shown for a day may be a smiley face (representing a holiday), an infinity symbol (representing a religious holy day) or a number representing that day's Julian date, depending upon how you have configured the program.  By the way, there are also Alternate Monthly Views.

As with all Windows programs, you may use the pull-down menus to access various program features.  But the most frequently used ones may be visited by pressing single keys (most of which are listed to the right of their associated functions in the pull-down menus) or by using the speed buttons at the top of the screen.

You may point and click or use the arrow keys to change the date.  To quickly go to a date more than a couple of months away, click the Go button near the top, or just press "G".  You may add/subtract days to/from the Main Screen's highlighted date by pressing the "+" or "-" key.

To make a new event, you have several choices: double-clicking on the appropriate date (remember, single-clicking merely changes the date); clicking the Make button at the top of the screen; pressing the "M" key; pressing the space bar; double-clicking on a specific time on the right side of the screen; or pressing the "A" key.  Experiment with each, because each has its own appeal.  For instance, if you want maximum simplicity, simply press the space bar and begin typing an appointment's description.  If you double-click a specific time, you'll be taken to the description field (just as if you pressed the space bar), but your times will also be automatically filled in for you.  Pressing "M" will instead take you to the "Type" field within the Make/Edit routine, from which you may quickly tab through the other fields.  If you simply want to quickly set an alarm for today press "A" (instead of "M" or the space bar).  When you do, you will be taken directly to the "Alarm" field for an event to be set for today.

To find a date with enough free time for an event, press "F".  Using the Allocated Time / Event List speed button might be more useful if you are looking for which of several persons might have free time on whichever date(s) you highlight.

Bear in mind that you may enter an event for ANY date, even though you may be sitting on any OTHER date on the Main Screen.  In other words, you dont have to move to a date on the Main Screen before creating a new event for that date.

By default, the Main Screen shows events for everybody whose names and initials have been entered in the configuration routine (select Edit | Program Configuration at the menu) and for all projects.  If you prefer to see only one person's or one project's items, simply press "O" (or select View | One at the menu) and designate the appropriate information.  You may change to another person even more quickly by pressing one of the number keys (1..9).  Pressing "1", for instance, will show you the events for the first person whose name and initials are listed in the configuration routine.  Pressing "0" (zero) will bring the screen back to its default of showing everyone's events.

The StopWatch may be turned on and off by left-clicking its button at the top of the screen.  Once the StopWatch is running, you may temporarily pause its timing by right-clicking the button.  Timing will be paused until the button is clicked again.  One handy use of the StopWatch is to have the program automatically dump its time into the Event Times items when you're entering a Service record.

- PULL-DOWN MENUS -

- File | Make:  Make a new event record.  Same as clicking the Make speed button or pressing "M".

- File | Edit:  Edit an event record.  Same as clicking the Edit speed button or pressing "E".

- File | Clone:  Make a new event record based upon one that already exists.  When you choose this option, you will be shown a listing of the events scheduled for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Simply choose one and modify it as needed.  The modifications you make will not affect the original event; instead, a new event will be created, based upon the modified original. Incidentally, a quick way to clone an event is to point to it on the Main Screen and then right-click your mouse.

-File | Template:  See File | Plan below.

-File | Plan:  Available only in certain professional versions of this program.  A plan is a sequence of events, each separated from a predecessor by a set number of days or months.  Once a plan is set up, you can fill in a single event's date on the plan, and all related events' dates will be calculated automatically.  Anytime you revisit the plan and change any date, related dates will again be recalculated.  It takes time to set up a plan, and that's where templates come in.  If you expect to have many projects that require the same basic type of plan, it makes sense to set up a generic template for that plan type.  A template is basically a plan that has no actual dates filled in.  Once you have prepared a template for a type of plan, you may copy it into an actual new plan.  Assume, for instance, that you have a template consisting of the sequence of events you expect to follow for a typical real estate closing.  When Mr. Smith walks into your office with a request that you handle his home purchase, you would open up a new project for Mr. Smith and then copy your real estate closing template into a plan for that project.  Then, fill in the first date in the plan, and all subsequent dates would be placed automatically into the calendar.

- File | Zip:  Same as pressing "Z'.  Occasionally, you may wish to move a scheduled event almost verbatim from the Calendar to the Log , changing perhaps a little wording.  If so, use this option.  When you choose it, you'll be taken to the Zip screen, where you will be shown a listing of the events scheduled for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  There will be a "Modify Before Zipping" box to the upper right that you can select or de-select, depending upon whether you want to modify the events you choose before they are zipped to the log.  When you choose an event to zip, it will be copied to the log as a Service performed, and then it will be tagged for deletion in the calendar (see File | Delete below).  Incidentally, a quick way to zip a single event is to simply point to it on the Main Screen and then right-click your mouse.  But please note that, even if you choose this quick method, there may be the intermediate step of modifying the event (just before it is zipped to the log), depending upon how the "Modify Before Zipping" box at the Zip screen is set.

- File | Archive:  Similar to the Zip routine described above, the Archive routine moves items from the Calendar to the Log .  Its purpose is to clear old items from the calendar, which will result in a smaller calendar database (and perhaps better performance).  The log's performance will not be affected much by the addition of archived items.  Each item moved from the calendar to the Log in this routine will be typed as an "Archive".

- File | Delete:  Deletion of projects and events is usually a two step process with this program.  First, an item is tagged for deletion , resulting in its disappearing from all displays and reports (except the Edit and Tag screens).  A tagged project or event may be un-tagged at any time before you actually go through this Delete routine, which you will probably want to do periodically.  The two-step process prevents the accidental deletion of items, for it allows you to change your mind about an item before it's irrevocably removed from the database.  This Delete routine will remove not only past and future events tagged for deletion, but also ALL events (tagged or not) that fall before a cut-off date that you can specify.  Using a cut-off date allows for the mass deletion of old items without having to individually tag each one.  If this program is installed on a network, it is recommended that only the Main User be allowed to use this Delete routine and that he do so only early in the morning (before everyone else arrives) or in the evening (after everyone else departs).

- File | Reindex:  The database consists of primary data files and index data files.  Strange things sometimes happen with computers, and data can be lost.  When that occurs, your best option is to restore from a backup tape or disks.  If that fails, cross your fingers and pray that your only problem is mis-indexed data.  Using this routine will re-index your calendar, as well as the past five-years'-worth of log entries.  If re-indexing can't repair the problem, your last desperate hope is that re-building the database will work (see File | Rebuild below).

- File | Rebuild:  If re-indexing (see File | Reindex above) can't seem to fix your corrupted data problems, this Rebuild routine may.  It is designed to slowly work its way through whatever data you may have in the database (assuming that one exists at all), and recover whatever information can be salvaged.  Use this routine ONLY if you cannot restore from a backup and if re-indexing doesn't cure your problem.

-File | Import/Export Data:  Here, you may elect to import or export data, making it easy to exchange data among non-networked users or with other software.  The data will be imported from, or exported to, a file whose format conforms with that described for the Calendar/Log ASCII Export report type or the Project/Phonebook ASCII Export report type.

If you elect to import data, you will be asked to select a file whose data will be drawn into the program.  Please note that the only events that will be imported into the program's log module will be disbursements and receipts for some specified amount of money, or services that took some specified amount of time to perform.

If you elect to export data, you will be taken to a report set-up screen that will afford you the opportunity to specify exactly which data is to be exported and the name of the file you wish to create.  If you wish to create a line-delimited text file, the file name you choose should end in ".TXT".  To export to a CSV-formatted file (for direct use by database and spreadsheet software), the file name should end in ".CSV".

- File | Print Month:  This item will cause the month being displayed to be printed.  This process, which basically prints what is seen on the screen, will be time-consuming, so be patient.

- File | Print Half Year:  This item will cause a calendar of the half year to print.  The half year printed will depend upon the date highlighted on the screen.  This process will be time-consuming, since the program will need to display each month on the screen and then copy it to the printer.  Be patient.

- File | Print Year:  This item will cause a calendar of the year to print.  The year printed will depend upon the date highlighted on the screen.  This process will be time-consuming, since the program will need to display each month on the screen and then copy it to the printer.  Be patient.

- File | Numerous Other Reports: In addition to the limited printouts discussed immediately above, this program offers many more reports, some of which you will find extremely useful. Selecting this item is  comparable to selecting the Search | Report menu option.

- File | Print Checks:  Accessible only if you have the BillPower software and are in the GenLedger module.  Allows the program to print checks, based upon transactions entered into the GenLedger.  When this item is selected, you will be shown a listing of all transactions involving checks written for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Only transactions with check numbers and payees will be displayed.  When you select the transactions whose checks you want printed, the program will send the checks to your printer.  The program can print a check in almost any format , so you are free to use whatever blank checks are suitable for your printer.  By default, your default printer will be used for check printing, but you may use another.  To do so, you will need to modify the Properties for this program (select   File | Properties   at the Windows Program Manager when this program's icon is highlighted).  When the Program Item Properties box appears, add to the "Target" field a space, followed by

  /CP=X

where X is the position occupied by the desired printer in your list of printers (which is obtained whenever you attempt to modify the Printer Setup in any Windows program).  Note that this program may maintain the printers list in reverse order, so that the last printer shown may actually be the first in the list.

- Edit | Event:  Edit an Event.  Same as clicking the Edit speed button or pressing "E".

- Edit | Recurring Event:  The program offers a wide variety of recurring event scheduling.  This option will result in a display of all recurring events from which you may pick the one you wish to edit.  Whenever you wish to edit an event that has a recurring nature, this is the option you will most often wish to use.  Most often, but not always.  You see, the program allows you to enter one-time exceptions to recurring events.  For instance, you may have a meeting scheduled every Monday at 10:00 for the next year.  But next week, and next week only, you want the meeting to be held at 11:00.  You don't want to make a permanent change to the recurring event record (since all meetings EXCEPT next Monday's are to be held at 10:00.  Therefore, you would not want to use this option (Edit | Recurring Event).  Instead, you would use one of the regular editing options (e.g., Edit | Event ) to make the one-time change.  Remember, whenever you want to make a permanent change to a recurring event, you should use this option (Edit | Recurring Event);  one-time exceptions to recurring events should be edited with one of the regular editing options.

- Edit | Plan:  See File | Plan above.

- Edit | Template:  See File | Template above.

- Edit | Income / Expense Categories:  Enter the income/expense categories used for Disbursements and Receipts in the Log  mode.  On a network, only the Main User  will be able to use this option.

- Edit | GenLedger Accounts:  Available only if you have the BillPower software, this option allows you to modify your chart of accounts .  On a network, only the Main User will see this item.

- Edit | Bill/Invoice Format:  Available only if you have the BillPower software, this option allows you to create or edit a billing/invoicing format .

- Edit | Project Report:  Available only if you have the BillPower software, this option allows you to create or edit a project report format .

- Edit | Calendar Report: This option allows you to create or edit a custom calendar report format .

- Edit | Log Report: This option allows you to create or edit a custom log report format .

- Edit | Check Format:  Available only if you have the BillPower software, this option allows you to edit the check-printing format .

- Edit | Program Configuration:  Alter the program's setup configuration .

- Edit | Tag:  Same as pressing "T".  Tag an event for Deletion. This option will result in a listing of events for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Select the one you wish to tag for future deletion and press the Enter key (or double-click on that event).  When you do so, "Del" will appear on that line under the "Typ" heading.  If you make a mistake, you may "un-tag" the event at any time in the same fashion.  A tagged event will continue to be maintained by the database until you run through an actual deletion process (see File | Delete above), but it will no longer appear on reports and MOST displays.  The two displays that will continue to list it are this (Edit | Tag) and the Edit (Edit | Event ) screens.  By the way, you may also tag an event for deletion by highlighting it on the screen and pressing the Del key (this works at the Main Screen, the Daily Detail screen, the Edit screen, and the Tag screen).

- Search | Report:  Same as pressing "H" (for Hunt) or clicking the Hunt/Report speed button.  Hunt for information in the database and/or produce a report.  This is one of the most useful options within the program.  See Reports/Hunting for Information.

- Search | Locate:  Same a pressing "L".  Quickly locate all the events that contain the word that you specify.  The non-chronological report obtained here can also be obtained in the Search | Report routine above, but not as quickly.  Note that recurring events will not be included on this report.

- Search | Go to Date:  Same as clicking the Go button or pressing "G".  Quickly go to any date.  If you need to go to a date within a month or two of the date currently highlighted on the Main Screen, you can do it just as quickly by using the arrow keys or up/down arrows at the Main Screen.  But, since the Main Screen must repaint each time it comes to a new month, it may take more time than you can tolerate to move to a date several months away.  That's where this option comes in.

- Search | Find Free Time:  Same as pressing "F".  This option displays a graphical display of the time available for each day in the next several weeks for any person recognized by the program.  When you select a date on the display, you will be afforded the opportunity to enter a new event for that date.

- Search | Add:  Adds a specified number of days to the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Simply pressing the "+" key is the fastest way to access this option.

- Search | Subtract:  Subtracts a specified number of days from the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Simply pressing the "-" key is the fastest way to access this option.

- View | Day:   Same as clicking the Day View speed button or pressing the Enter key.  View a date's complete detail.  While here, you may do some common functions without having to return to the Main Screen.  Press "M" to Make an item, "H" to Hunt through the database and produce a report, "P" to access a Project.  You may also double-click on an event to edit it, or you may highlight an event and press the Del key to tag it for deletion.

- View | Alternate Month View:  The program offers two monthly views between which you may toggle by using this option.  One view is a split-screen calendar that consists of a monthly overview on the left and an abbreviated daily overview on the right.  The other is a full-screen calendar display.  The split-screen view displays time blocks in each of the monthly overview's daily squares.  The full-screen calendar, on the other hand, displays text in each daily square.  Because the daily squares are small, only four short lines of text will fit into each.  To conserve space, the program may allocate only up to two lines for each event scheduled for each day, and the lines will be split in the middle of a word, rather than between words.  A down arrow in the lower right corner of a daily square indicates that there are more events for that day than are displayed.  Because of its space limitations, the full-screen calendar is of only limited use if you have a busy schedule.

- View | To-Do's:  Same as pressing "D".  Displays a listing of the upcoming deadlines for the next month.  A "To-do", as something that needs to be done, is nothing more than what this program understands a deadline to be.  One of this program's strengths is that it will drag deadlines from past dates forward to the current date until you tag them for deletion.  That way, the program will keep nagging you to complete your deadlines until you specifically tell the program to get rid of them.

- View | World Times:  Choose this option if you wish to find the local time in any of the world's main cities.  The accuracy of the times displayed depends upon the accuracy of your computer's clock and upon your having given the program your correct time zone data in the Configuration routine (see Edit | Program Configuration ).

- View | One Person / Project:  Same as pressing "O", and similar to pressing one of the number keys.  Causes the program to display information pertaining to only one or more specified persons or to only one project.  By default, the program will display data for every person and every project being tracked in the database.  Choose this option if you wish to narrow the scope of the information shown.  Incidentally, pressing the number keys will more quickly display information for a particular person: "1" will display the data for the person who is listed first in the Configuration routine's list of persons; "2" for the second person listed, and so, on.  Pressing zero will return you to a display for everyone.

- Log / Calendar / GenLedger:  Takes you to the program's log , calendar, or general ledger module.  Depending upon which version of this program you have, it may include both a calendar and a near-mirror-image log.  The difference between the two is that the calendar should be used to schedule future events, while the log is designed to be a repository of work done, money spent, or money received.  The menu options available in the Log are similar to those in the Calendar.  If you have the BillPower software, you will also be offered the GenLedger option, where you may enter transactions into your general ledger accounts.

- Project | Make:  Enter the Project ID, name, address, etc., for a new project.  Incidentally, "project" is just the term used by this program for what you might call a "client", "job", "file", etc.

- Project | Edit:  Edit information for a project already in the database.  When you select this item, a special Edit window will appear, where you are expected to enter the ID of the project you wish to edit.  If you do not know the ID, but do know the client's name, enter a string of characters in the name and then press the List button immediately below the ID entry box.  That will cause a listing of all projects whose name fields contain the string you entered.  You may then select the one you want from that list.  By the way, if you begin your entry with an ampersand (&), you will get a listing of all projects that include the string in any of their text fields.

- Project | Report / Bill:  Available only if you have the Client Tracks or BillPower software, this option allows you to hunt for specific projects, prepare reports of the results and handle your client billing and invoicing.

- Project | Tag:  Tag/Untag a project for deletion.  As with events, project deletion is a two-step process.  See the discussion under Edit | Tag above.

- Databases | Phone Book:  Available only if you have the BillPower or Client Tracks software.  Keeps a listing of people's names, addresses, phone numbers, and miscellaneous data.  Use of this database is similar to that in the Project module.  By default, the database used for the phonebook in Client Tracks will be different from the Project database, but you may force the program to use the Project database as the Phonebook database if you use the  /PP parameter.

- Databases | Payees:  Available only if you have the BillPower software.  Keeps a listing of  names, addresses, phone numbers, and miscellaneous data of regular payees.  This information is useful if you want the program to print checks for you.  Use of this database is similar to that in the Project module.

- Databases | Message Center: Available only if  the program has been properly set up for use on a network  and only if all users of the program have been entered into the person list found on the Configuration screen.  This facility is intended to be used for "while you were out" messages.   Here, you may create messages to be sent to other users on the network, and you may read messages that have been sent to you.

- Databases | Sign Out Board: Available only if the program has been properly set up for use on a network  and only if all users of the program have been entered into the person list found on the Configuration screen.  Here, you may enter information about where you may be found when you leave the office and when you expect to return.

- Tools | Tabulator:  You may calculate numerical sums with this option.  When you enter the Tabulator, you will find yourself at the bottom of a "tape".  Here, use your numerical keypad to enter the operations you wish to perform.  If you make a mistake, it is simple to correct it, even if the mistake is in an earlier operation noted on the tape.  When you edit a line on the tape, all lines following it will be automatically re-calculated.   The Tabulator's  File | Print  routine will cause the tape's contents to be printed, from the line where the cursor is sitting (or, if the cursor is on the last line, from the beginning of the tape) to the end.  Pressing the Exit button (or the ESC key) will cause the Tabulator to save its tape and then disappear.  Pressing Ctrl-T acts like pressing the ESC key, except that the Tabulator's bottom sum will be transferred to the Windows clipboard just before the Tabulator disappears.

- Tools | Calculate Date Intervals:  Calculate the number of days (as well as work days) between any two dates.

- Tools | Change Password:  Change your password, assuming that you have configured the program to request a password when it is loaded.

- Tools | Change Colors:  Alter the colors of the screen display.  Most options in the sub-menu are self-explanatory.  One that isn't is "Odd and Ends", which covers such things as the happy face that appears for holidays and the infinity symbol that appears for religious events.  "Day Highlight" is the color of the square band that identifies the day highlighted on the calendar.  By the way, the reason you may set different colors for the "Calendar Grid", "Log Grid", and the "GenLedger Grid" is that you may find it useful to have a visual cue that suggests which of the three modules you are using at any given time.

- Tools | Change Time Zone:  In order to properly display the times of cities around the world (View | World Times at the Main Screen's menu), the program needs to know your time zone.  Also make sure that your computer's clock is accurate.  Select this item and choose a city in your time zone by double-clicking on the line containing its name. On a network, only the Main User can use this function.

- Tools | Change Dialing Parameters:  This option allows you to specify certain information that is required if you wish to use the program for dialing telephone numbers.  Here, you may designate the COM port to which your dialing modem is attached and whether your phone service accepts pulse or tone dialing.  Be sure that you are accurate.  If you need to precede all telephone calls with a certain string of numbers, enter them into the Prefix item.  To dial a phone number when viewing a project's record on the screen, just double-click on the phone number field.  The number dialed will be the first one appearing in the field, as long as it contains at least five digits.  That number will be considered to end with any character other than a digit, comma, or dash.  Double-clicking in the Fax field or any of the Miscellaneous fields will also cause the program to dial the first number found in the field.

- Tools | Edit Configuration:  See Edit | Configuration above.

- Tools | Options:  Allows you to select or deselect various performance switches:

Batch Entry Mode:  When checked, forces the program into its "batch entry" mode whenever you begin making event entries.  Normally, you will be returned to the Main Screen each time you complete entering an event.  The batch entry mode, however, causes the program to automatically take you to another blank event entry screen, instead.  That way, you will be able to more easily make a batch of entries, one after the other.

- Resume:  Available only if you have a professional version of this software and only if you have suspended timing of at least one service record.  Selecting this item will result in a listing of up to nine Service records whose StopWatches have been suspended.  When you select from among the list, you will be taken directly to that service record, and the stopwatch for that record will automatically resume timing at the point at which it had been suspended.


Other Screens
Other Informational Screens

There are several informational screens:	Detailed Daily Overview

Weekly View

Event Editing

Event Deletion Tagging

Free Time / Date Selection

Deadlines (To-Do's)

Zip Events from Calendar to Log

Project Editing

Cloning an Event

Each of these screens will be discussed below.

- Detailed Daily Overview Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing the Enter key at the Main Screen (Monthly View) or by clicking the Day View speed button.

This screen gives you complete detail for all events scheduled during the date selected.  The far left column of each line displays the first letter of the event type being shown on that line.  An "A", for instance, means that the event shown on that line is an Appointment.  If an asterisk follows the letter, the event is one of a recurring, rather than a one-time nature.

You may use your left and right arrows (as well as PgUp and PgDn) to change dates.  To bounce back up to the Monthly View (the Main Screen), click on the button in the upper right or just press the Esc key.

Note that the Enter key can serve two functions.  If no item is selected, pressing the Enter key will return you to the Monthly View.  But if an event is selected at the time you press Enter, the program will act as if you had double-clicked on the selected event, and you will be taken to that event's edit screen.

Pressing the Esc key will always return you to the Monthly View, landing on the date that had been highlighted at the time you had bounced down to this Detailed Daily Overview, even if you had changed dates when at the Detailed Daily Overview.  Pressing Enter or clicking the button in the upper right, on the other hand, will return you to the Monthly View, but will highlight the date that had been last displayed at the Detailed Daily Overview.

- Weekly View Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing  "W" or by selecting  View | Week at the Main Screen's pull-down menu.

Available only with certain professional versions of this program, this screen offers several weekly views that may be selected with a "View" pull-down menu.  The information shown here will be consistent with what is shown on the Main Screen.  There's a limit to how much information may be displayed on this screen, but you may find it helpful for some purposes.

The "Description" view attempts to display the first line of each event's description within the appropriate weekday's block.

Perhaps the most useful view is the "Allocated Time, by Person" view.  It displays a single line for each person being tracked by the program.  That line will graphically display the time that has already been allocated for that person for each day of the week.  By default the time spanned will be 8:00AM to 6:00PM, but you may select the "20-hr View" check box if you would prefer 4:00AM to midnight.

The "Event Type, by Person" view will display a single letter for each event's type (e.g., "A" for appointment, "D" for deadline, etc.) under the appropriate date for each person being tracked by the program.

The "First Character, by Person" view will display the first character of each event's description under the appropriate date for each person being tracked by the program.  This view may be useful if you would like a weekly overview of what each person is doing, not by event type, but by some other category.  Your office might standardize upon the practice of always beginning each event description with a single character whose category meaning everyone knows.

- Event Editing Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "E" at the Main Screen or by clicking on the Edit speed button.

This screen lists the events falling on a given date.  When you select one of the events, you'll be taken to the screen that allows you to make changes to that event.

You may use your left and right arrows (as well as PgUp and PgDn) to change dates.  To bounce back up to the Main Screen, click on the Exit button.  The Select button will take you to an edit screen for whichever event is highlighted when it is pressed.  Double-clicking on an event serves the same function, except that it allows you to specify the specific field you wish to edit.  For instance, if you double-click on a time, the field to which you will first be taken will be the a time field; double-clicking on a project will take you to the project field.

Pressing the Esc key will always return you to the Monthly View, landing on the date that had been highlighted at the time you had entered this Event Editing screen.

- Event Deletion Tagging Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "T".  This screen allows you to quickly tag events for deletion.  To do so, double-click an event.  Alternatively, you may select an event by single-clicking it and then pressing Enter or the Del key.

Bear in mind that all you're doing here is tagging an event for deletion, not actually deleting it.   Tagging an event for deletion will result in that event's disappearing from all screens and reports, except this screen and the Event Edit screen discussed above.  The tagged events will still be taking up space in the database, but you won't see them for most purposes.  If you discover that you have inadvertently tagged the wrong event, you may un-tag it at this screen  just as easily as you tagged it.  To actually delete all events tagged for deletion (as well as all events, tagged or not, falling before a certain date in the past), select  File | Delete at the Main Screen's menu.  Doing so will irreversibly remove tagged events from the database.

- Free Time / Date Selection Screen -

This screen appears when you use the Free Time Finding routine, which can be accessed by pressing the "F" key.  Each line on the screen represents one day's time.  The time that is already being used is marked with a dark color.  If the Show 24 Hours per Day box at the top is checked, the time spanned on each line will be 24 hours, but the printing will be smaller.

 Once you find a day with enough time for the event you wish to enter, select that day by double-clicking on its line (or by highlighting that line and clicking the Select button).  When you do, you'll be automatically taken to an event entry screen with the date item already filled in.

- Deadlines (To-Do's) Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "D".  This screen displays upcoming deadlines (or To-Do's, things to be done) for the next month, or so.

- Zip Events from Calendar to Log Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "Z" at the Main Screen.  This screen displays events in a given day's calendar and allows you to select those that you want to copy into the Log (which is intended as a repository of events that have actually taken place).  An event is selected by highlighting it and clicking the Select button, or by double-clicking on the event.

By default, you will be afforded the opportunity to edit a selected event before sending it to the log.  If you prefer, you may de-select the Modify Before Zipping box at the top-right, so that selected events will be sent directly to the Log without the intermediate editing step.

Events sent to the Log will be typed as Services, regardless of whether they had been typed in the Calendar as Appointments, Deadlines, or anything else.  Once an event is zipped to the Log, it will be tagged for deletion in the Calendar.  See the discussion of Event Deletion Tagging above.

- Project Editing Screen -

This screen presents you with a listing of the projects tracked by the program.  When you select a project to edit, you'll be taken to a screen that shows you the complete detail for that project and allows you to edit it.

You may select a project in several ways.  One way is to type its ID into the box at the top of the screen.  Another is to click once on the line containing the project's ID and name and then to click on the Select button.  And yet another is to double click on the line containing the project's ID and name.

If you do not know the ID of the project you are seeking, but you do know some text in that project's record, type into the box at the top of the screen an ampersand (&), followed immediately by the known text.  When you press the Select button, you will be taken to the first record containing that text.  Pressing the PgDn key will then take you to the next matching record.  If, instead of being taken from one matching record to another, you would prefer to see a listing of records containing that text, type the ampersand and text as described immediately above, and then press Alt-L (instead of pressing the Select button).

- Cloning an Event Screen -

Cloning is the process of copying an event.  It saves you the time of entering the same information twice.  At this screen, select the event you wish to clone.  You may change the date whose events are displayed by using the left and right arrows (or by using the PgUp or PgDn keys).  Once you select an event, it will be copied exactly, and you'll be taken to an editing screen where you may alter the information in the copy.  If you have any small changes, such as the Project ID or date, make them and click the Save button.  Don't worry, you won't be changing the original.

- Recurring Events Screen -

This screen alphabetically lists the recurring events that are currently maintained by the software.  Here, you may either make a new event or edit one that already exists.  Entering a recurring event is very similar to entering any other type of event, except that the bottom of the data entry screen will contain fields pertaining to the specific pattern of recurrence you wish to use.


Entering & Editing Events

This is the Event Editing screen.  You arrived here by selecting Make or Edit at the Main Screen.  If you wish to enter an event for the future, you should ensure that you are in the Calendar module of the program before selecting Make or Edit at the Main Screen.  If you want to log a service, disbursement or receipt as having taken place, you should ensure that you are in the Log module.  If the transaction you wish to enter involves an account, you probably want to be in the GenLedger  module.

- THE MAIN CHOICES -

Simply tab among the various fields in the top three-quarters of the screen.  Filling them in is generally self-explanatory.  See the special section below for a discussion of Recurring Events .

- Dates -

When filling in a date, you may use the DD MON YR format (e.g., 25 OCT 99), the MO/DD/YY format (e.g., 10/25/99), or the DD.MO.YY format (e.g., 25.10.99, but this format works only if you have selected Int'l as the Date/Time format in the Configuration routine).  Of course, you may also use the small calendar that appears when you enter a date field.

- Times -

When filling in a time, you don't need to use colons, AM, or PM.  For instance, 12:00PM may be entered as "1200" or even as "12".  Unless you append an "AM" or "PM" (or an "A" or a "P"), the program will automatically assume that anything between 7 and 1159 is AM and that everything else is PM.  For example, if you enter "700" (or just "7"), the program will assume 7:00AM, but if you enter "659", it will assume 6:59PM.  If you intend a time to be 8:00PM, you should enter "8P", because if you enter just "8", AM will be assumed. Of course, you may also set times in the time line box that appears when you enter a time field.  To use the time line box, point to the time at which you wish to begin this event, drag the mouse across the time line to the end time, and then release the mouse.

If you set an alarm for any time in the future, no matter what other program you may be using at the instant that the alarm is set to sound, an alarm message will appear on your screen.  When it does, simply press the Esc key to clear it from the screen, or select one of the "snooze-alarm" buttons at the bottom.  To return to the program you were using before being interrupted by the alarm, press the Alt-Tab key combination.  Of course, when the date and time for an alarm occur, this program must already be in memory for the alarm to sound.  If this program is not in memory, there will be no way for it to detect the alarm.

If you're filling in a Service record (see Event Type ), there will be a StopWatch at the top of this screen.  It may be used to time the work you're entering into this record.  Left-clicking the mouse on the StopWatch will turn it on or off, while right-clicking will pause its timing.

Note that, when the StopWatch is running, a Suspend button will be visible.  It is intended for those times when your work on a project is interrupted by something else.  When an interruption occurs, press the Suspend button.  When you do so, the timing will be paused, the record will be saved, and it will be placed into a cue that will allow you to quickly resume working with it.  Then, you will be taken back to the Main Screen, from which you may begin other work with the program.  When you're ready to resume work on the project whose Service record was suspended, select the Main Screen's Resume  menu item.  There may be up to nine suspended Service records pending in the Main Screen's Resume cue.  If you forget to resume work on a suspended record, don't worry; part of the suspension process saves the record, just as if you had pressed the Save button.

Note that the Total Hours item may not seem consistent with the Begin and End Times if you have at any point suspended the StopWatch (in which case the Total Hours figure will match the total time that the StopWatch was on and not suspended).  Assuming that the StopWatch is still on and that its timing has not been paused, as each additional minute elapses, the End Time and Total Hours will be adjusted, unless you manually enter something into one of those items (indicating to the program that you are re-taking control of those items).

Now here's a feature you may find handy from time to time.  If you are filling in a Service record and you wish to time your work by using the Main Screen StopWatch as the beginning basis for the timing, press the Ins key at the Begin Time or End Time field.  When you do, the Main Screen StopWatch's time will be copied to this individual record's StopWatch, and this record's Begin Time will be adjusted back to the point in time at which use of the MainScreen's StopWatch was initiated.  Of course, the Main Screen StopWatch has to be running for this feature to work.

- Total Hours -

Visible only if you have the BillPower program and only when entering a Service, this item is the difference between the End Time and the Begin Time .  It will be calculated automatically, but you may manually override the calculation.

- Event Type -

While at this item on the event entry screen, you may most quickly make an entry by typing the first character of a valid event type, most of which are discussed below.  For instance, to make this event a Deadline, just press "D".  Or you may use your mouse to make a selection from the drop-down list.

An Appointment is merely an event scheduled for a particular time and day.  A lunch date, for instance, would be entered as an Appointment. A Deadline is an event for which someone is responsible.  Its character is such that failing to meet it may get someone into trouble.  A deadline that's crucial (sometimes called a "to-do") might be entered as a Gotta-Do.  Training or testing can be entered as an Exercise.  The Miscellaneous type is a catch-all.  Example: if another office is supposed to answer a letter by 2 May, you would enter that event as Miscellaneous event, since you aren't responsible for it.  But if YOU are supposed to answer a complaint by 20 May, you would enter it as a Deadline or Gotta-Do.

Miscellaneous, Trip, Vacation, or Exercise events are all potentially multi-day events that have both begin and end dates.  The interval between the begin and end times in a Miscellaneous event will be assumed to apply to each day of the scheduled event.  That same interval for any of the other multi-day events, however, will be assumed to be a continuous time span from the first date to the last.

 If you're in the Log (as opposed to the Calendar), you have a more limited choice of  Event Types.  A Service is something that has taken place or has been observed, such as a task completed, an event attended, or another event worthy of being noted.  It may span several days, if you wish.  A Disbursement is money that has been spent (this is an expense, money out of your pocket), while a Receipt is income (income, money into your pocket).  An Adjustment is a charge or a credit to the amount a client owes you for a project you're handling for him.  A charge to the client would be entered as a positive adjustment, while a credit would be entered as a negative adjustment (since you intend to decrease the amount he owes you).  A Note is a memorandum of something that has occurred, other than a service as described above (a memo of a phone conversation is an example of something you might enter as a note).

- Project -

The Project field may contain the ID of the project, job, client, etc., to which this event applies.  You may enter a new project right here at this screen, as well as by using the Main Screen's menu.  To enter a new project, or to edit an existing one, enter a project ID and then double-click inside the project field.  To enter the same project ID that was last entered at a similar field anywhere else in the program, simply type "S" and the hit the Tab key.  Incidentally, this use of "S" (for "same") may be used in most of the other fields on this screen and elsewhere in the program.

If you have the BillPower program, after you leave the Project field, its box will grow slightly to allow the displaying of additional information about the selected project.  By default, the information displayed will be the client's name.  If you would prefer to see the project's balance, click once on the additional information line.  If you would prefer to see the client's RE: information, click again.

- Person -

The Person field is for the person, employee, co-worker, etc., who is involved in this event.  You may either type in the initials of that person or use the mouse to select one or more from the drop-down list.  You may schedule an event for up to fifteen people.  Just separate each person's initials with a comma.  When you use the mouse to select a person from the drop-down list, his initials will be added to those already showing.

If this event is for no specific person, just leave the Person field empty, which will tell the program that this event is for EVERYBODY.

- Amount and Category -

The Amount item, visible only when entering something into the Log, requires no comment.

The Category item allows you to enter the abbreviation of a calendar event category (if you're using the program's Calendar) or an income/expense/service category (if you're using the Log).  The category you enter here should be one of those already listed in the categories file .  Regular use of this item is essential when logging disbursement or receipt entries if you wish to use the program for Income-Expense reporting (see Reports / Hunting for Information ).  It is also useful, however, if you wish to use the program to produce reports that contain information pertaining to only one or more event categories.  Note that, whenever you enter a category's abbreviation here, the category's description will be placed into the Description field at the right of the screen (as long as the Description is blank at the time you make the category entry).

- Hourly Rate -

Visible only if you have the BillPower program and only when entering a Service, this item holds the hourly rate at which this service is being charged.  This item will be filled in automatically when you enter the Project item (assuming that, when setting up the project, you designated an hourly rate at which work on its behalf would be charged), but you may manually override whatever is filled in.  The hourly rate is used to automatically calculate the Amount item, based upon the figure found in the Total Hours  item.

- Charge Client -  If you have the BillPower software, this item determines whether or not the client will be charged for this service or disbursement.  If you select No, the bill you prepare for the client will list this service or disbursement, but "No Charge" will be substituted for the amount.

- Payee -

This item acts as a record of who was paid.  Just enter a name here if you don't expect the program to print a check for this transaction, or if you don't want the program to utilize the Payees Database to find the name and address that will be printed on the check.  But if this payee is in Payees Database, and if you want the program to pick his name and address from that database when it prints this transaction's check, you should enter the ID (not his name) reflected in his record in the Payees Database.  This ID will tell the program, during check printing, that you want it to refer to that payee's record for the name and address that will be printed on the check.

If you have used the  /CP  parameter to indicate to the program that you will be printing checks (see  File | Print Checks at the Main Screen's menu), this Payee item will have a drop-down listing of all the payees currently in the Payees Database.

- Check # -

This item records the number of the check (if any) used to pay the Amount shown.  If you have the BillPower program, you may press "N" (for "next") to have the program fill in this item with the next check number following the one you had last entered for the account showing in the "Affected GL" account item, discussed below.  If making a GenLedger entry in the BillPower program, you may enter "W" (for withdrawal) or "D" (for Deposit) if no check has been drafted.

- Affected GL / BalancingGL -

Visible only if you have the BillPower program and only when entering a Disbursement or Receipt, these items tell the program which General Ledger account(s) is (are) affected by the record being entered.  The Affected GL is the account, if any, primarily affected by the entry you are making.  The BalancingGL is the account, if any, that should be adjusted to keep your books balanced in a double-entry bookkeeping system.  The account(s) you enter here will be automatically adjusted when you save this record.

If you wish to subtract the Amount of this transaction from a General Ledger account, begin your entry into the Affected GL field with a minus sign.  If you wish to add to the account, begin with a plus sign.  Likewise, whether you use a plus or minus sign with the BalancingGL item depends upon whether you wish to add the amount of the transaction to, or subtract it from, the account.

These items are optional.  They are totally unnecessary for keeping up with your income and expenses.  They should be used only if you want the program to keep track of your accounts automatically as you enter Receipts and Disbursements.  And the BalancingGL item should be used only if you want the program to handle double-entry bookkeeping for you.

- Account ID / BalancingAcct -

Visible only if you have the BillPower program and only when making a GenLedger entry, these items tell the program which General Ledger account(s) is (are) affected by the record being entered.  The Account ID is the account primarily affected by the entry you are making.  The BalancingAcct is the account, if any, that should be adjusted to keep your books balanced in a double-entry bookkeeping system.  The account(s) you enter here will be automatically adjusted when you save this record.

If you enter a check number or "Withdrawal" in the Check # item on the screen, the amount in the Amount item will be subtracted from the account identified in the Account ID item.  If, on the other hand, you enter "Deposit" in the Check # item, the amount will be added to that account.

Whether the Amount will be added to or subtracted from the BalancingAcct depends upon whether that account is a Credit or Debit account, as identified in the General Ledger grid (see the Chart of Accounts section).  The program will automatically take whatever action is needed to keep your books balanced for double-entry purposes.

The BalancingAcct item is optional.  It should be used only if you want the program to handle double-entry bookkeeping for you.

- Advance

Visible only if you have the BillPower program and only when entering a receipt involving a project, this item reflects how much of the receipt being entered is to be applied toward paying off unpaid advances made in behalf of the client involved with the project.  An advance is money lent to a client.  Whenever you spend money (i.e., enter a disbursement) in behalf of a client, the program will consider it to be an advance.  Whenever you receive money (i.e., enter a receipt) from a client, that money will be by default applied first to reducing the client's unpaid advances.  A note at the bottom of this item's box reflects how much the client currently owe you for advances you have made in his behalf.

- Description

Here, describe the event you are entering.  You may use up to 17 lines.  If you wish to use an abbreviation from the list categories, type the abbreviation and then press the Ins key.  When you do, the abbreviation will be replaced by the category description.  Note that this abbreviation substitution works only on the first 6 lines of text.

- Suppress on Bills

Visible only if you have the BillPower software and are entering a Service, Disbursement or Receipt into the Log, this item allows you to keep this transaction from appearing on the client's bill.  If this item is selected the service, disbursement or receipt being entered will not appear on bills.  But this transaction's amount will be included in the bill's calculations.  This item is useful only if you need to maintain complete records of all that you do, but prefer that your bills not include all the detail.  If that's the case, you must be sure to enter a "phantom" item for this client before producing a bill.  The phantom item must be for an amount of zero, and should contain a description that summarizes what you've done for him during the period being billed.  Otherwise, the client will wonder why he's being charged something when no transactions appear on his bill.

This item is useful to suppress an entire transaction's appearance on bills.  But if you want only a portion of the description to be suppressed, place a left curly bracket, {, at the beginning position of the first line containing that portion of  the description that you want to keep confidential.  When the client's bill is being printed, everything up to the curly bracket will be included, but neither it nor anything following it will.

- Color

Certain of this programs screens display event time blocks.  The default color for all these time blocks is normally set at the Tools | Change Colors option.  But this default can be overridden for individual calendar-type events.  One way to do so is to assign to the event a category that is associated with a color (see the discussion of colors in the Setting Up Categories section of this documentation).  Another way is to simply press Ctrl-C at the event entry screen.  Doing so toggles you through a circular cue of sixteen colors.  Any non-default color associated with an event will be shown at the event entry screens Description box.

- RECURRING EVENTS AND OTHER OPTIONS -

The bottom quarter of the event entry screen consists of  less frequently used options.

- Remind Date:  The date, if any, on which you wish to be first notified that this event is coming up.  The date you enter cannot be earlier than 254 days before this event's Begin Date (if you need it to be earlier than that, enter it as another separate event).

- Drag Forward:  Determines how this event will be handled after the date for which it is set.  If Drag Forward is selected, this event will be dragged to each subsequent day until you take some action on it.  By default, Deadlines and Gotta-Do's will have this item selected automatically, while the other event types will have it de-selected.  But you may override the default by manually clicking this item.

- Priority:  Visible only if  this is a Deadline or Gotta-Do.  Allows you to set this event's priority.  Enter a number or letter.  '1' has the highest priority, while 'Z' has the lowest.  If priorities are used, events with the highest priorities will be listed before those with lower ones on the split-calendar Main Screen, the Daily Overview screen and the Standard Listing report, though the priority designation, itself, will appear only on the Daily Overview screen and the Standard Listing report.  Please note that these screens and reports are always sorted first by time; priority-order sorting occurs among those items with either no begin time or the same begin time.

- Highlight:  If selected, will tell the program that whenever this event appears on a printed weekly or  monthly calendar, it will be highlighted with bold type and (if your printer is in its gray-scale mode) by a shaded background.

- Picture:  Tells the program which picture, if any, to display on printed monthly and weekly calendars next to this event.  If you select a picture, it will also be displayed on-screen in the monthly view, possibly covering a portion of  this date's time blocks (see  Alternate Monthly View ).  The picture (.BMP) files are found in the PICTURES subdirectory (e.g., C:\INTEGRA\PICTURES).  Only a few are supplied with the program, but a huge assortment are widely available.  If you can find a good collection, copy them into the PICTURES subdirectory, so that they will be available to the program.  Since the program will print only a small rendition of a picture, it is best to use simple black-&-white drawings, not elaborate pictures.

- Private:  Visible only when the program is installed for use on a network.  Determines whether or not this event can be viewed from other workstations.  If selected, only the workstation being used by the person for whom this event is scheduled  will be able to display it.

- Tagged for Deletion:  Determines whether this event will be deleted when you next run the Delete routine (File | Delete at the Main Screen's menu).  During that process, items tagged for deletion, as well as all events falling before a designated date, will be eliminated from the database.  Another affect of  tagging an item for deletion is that that item will no longer be shown on the Main Screen, the Daily Detail screen, or any normal reports.  The only way you will be able to find a tagged event will be to either the Edit or the Tag routine ("E" or "T" at the Main Screen) or to produce a report for which you have specified that items tagged for deletion should be included.

- Make This Item a Recurring Event -

If you would like this item to be one that occurs over and over, select this item.  When you do, the program will immediately set an Earliest Date of 1 Jan 1985 and a Latest Date of 31 Dec 2070.  If you prefer a different span of time, just change the dates accordingly.  Then, return to the Recurring Event box at the bottom of the screen.

If this event is to fall on the same day of the month, every month, fill in the Day item.  If it is to fall on that day, but only within a specific month, fill in the Month item (with the month's number, not name) as well.  If, instead, you want it to occur only every second, third, fourth, or sixth month, starting with the month during which the Earliest Date entered above falls, fill in the Skip __ Months  item (instead of the Month item).  Note that the Day item, if used in conjunction with the Day of Week item (discussed below), will have a special interpretation.

Select the Skip Weekends item if you wish to avoid the event's falling on a weekend.  A recurring event that would otherwise happen to fall on a Saturday, will be moved to Friday, while one that would fall on a Sunday will be moved to Monday.

If you wish, you may have the event occur every several days.  To do so, fill in the Every __ Days item, and make sure that the Month and Day items are left blank.  The event's first date will be the Earliest Date you have specified, and subsequent occurrences will be at the daily interval so designated.

By default, a recurring event will be scheduled for only one day at a time.  If you prefer that this event last more than one day, fill in the number of days at the Length in Days item.  You'll also have to make sure that the Event Type you selected near the top of the screen is a multi-day type (e.g., Trip, Vacation, Exercise, Miscellaneous).

If this event is to be considered a holiday, select the Holiday item.  That will cause this event to be marked on the Main Screen with a happy face in the appropriate day, and it will cause the program's weekend and holiday conflict checking to consider it.

The Day of Week item is very handy.  If you want an event to fall on the first Monday of each month, place a "1" under "M".  The second Wednesday would be designated by placing a "2" beneath "W".  The LAST Friday (which could be either the 4th or 5th) would be specified by putting a "6" underneath  the "F'.  If you want an event to fall a certain number of days before or after a particular day of the week, fill in the Day item (discussed above) with that number of days.  For instance, if you want the event to fall 5 days after the first Wednesday of the month, place a "1" beneath "W", and place a "5" into the Day item.  "-5" in the Day item would result in the event's falling the 5th day before the first Wednesday.

Still other options are available.  If you want to cause the event to fall on each and every Tuesday, place a "0" under "T".  If  you want it to fall on the first working day of each month, place a "7" under the "M".  The last working day would be designated by an "8" beneath the "M".  If you want the event to fall on the very last day of the month, enter "32" under the Day item.

Once an event has been entered as a recurring event, it should normally be edited by selecting Edit | Recurring Event at the Main Screen's menu.  If you edit it in the normal Edit mode (e.g., by double-clicking on that event), the program will assume that you just wish to make a one-time exception to the recurring event.  That's fine, as long as you understand what's happening.  Just remember: to make a permanent modification to a recurring event, select Edit | Recurring Event at the Main Screen's menu;  but to make a one-time exception to the recurring event, use one of the normal means of editing.


Entering & Editing Projects
Handling Projects (and Payees)

This screen allows you to enter specific information about a project/client/job, payee, or person.  Most of the fields are self-explanatory.  Those that may not be are discussed below.

- ID:  Here, enter a name, number, or anything else that quickly and easily identifies this  project or person.  It is recommended that you develop a standardized scheme for selecting IDs.  Perhaps the first three letters of a client's last name, followed by the first three letters of his first would work (e.g., Thomas Jones might have the Project ID, "JON THO").  If you follow your scheme consistently, you will rarely find yourself at a loss to remember any particular project's ID.

- Last, First (Client Name):  This item is split into two parts.  The first is for the last name, and the second is for the first name and initial.  If a person's name includes "Jr.", enter it as part of the last name.  For example, John P. Smith, Jr. would be entered as "Smith, Jr." in the first part, and "John P." in the second.

- Address:  Three lines are allowed.  The third line has a special field at the end reserved for the zip or postal code.

- Plan Button:  Available only in certain professional versions of this software.  Takes you directly to a plan for this project, where you can set up a sequence of events that you expect this project to follow.

- Cloning a Project:  If, while entering a new project, you wish to duplicate the basic information from the last project viewed on the screen, press the F10 key.

THE REMAINDER OF THIS DISCUSSION PERTAINS TO ITEMS FOUND ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE Client Tracks OR BillPower SOFTWARE.

- Master Project ID:  If you wish to subordinate this project to another, enter the other's Project ID here.  When you initially enter this screen, you will notice that the Master Project ID is the same as the Project ID, indicating that this project is its own master.  Most, if not all, your projects will probably be their own masters, meaning that they are not subordinate to any other projects.  If, however, you wish to ensure that all projects handled for a single client are billed together and then totaled, you will want all the projects to be subordinate to a single project.  In this case, you would first open a project for the client.  This will be the master project, since you do not intend to use that project for any real work.  Enter only general information into it, such as name, address, and billing format.  Then open a project for each actual job you intend to do for that client.  These projects will be the subordinates (each referring to the master in its Master Project ID field), and they will be what you actually use for real work.  When you subsequently go through the billing process, all these related projects will be billed as a group, and a billing summary sheet for them all will be produced.  Note: If you intend this project to be used only as a master project for several subordinates, and do not want this master project to be billed when its subordinates are being billed, begin the RE  item with an asterisk (*).

- Current Balance:  The up-to-the-minute balance owed by the client for this project.  Negative numbers represent your indebtedness to your client.

- Billed, Not Paid:  This item represents the portion of the last bill that is still unpaid (current receivable).

- 30-Day Unpaid:  This item represents the portion of what was owed 30 days ago which is still unpaid (30-day receivable).

- 60-Day Unpaid:  This item represents the portion of what was owed 60 days ago which is still unpaid (60-day receivable).

- 90-Day Unpaid:  This item represents the portion of what was owed 90 days ago which is still unpaid (90-day receivable).

- Last Bill Date:  The date on which the most recent bill for this project was prepared.

- Last Pay Date:  The date on which money was most recently received from your client for this project.

- Salutation:  Here, enter the salutation (e.g., "Dear Mr. Smith") you wish to use for bills and letters prepared by the program for this project.

- RE:  This item is for the portion of a letter or bill (normally just above the salutation) that contains a reference to the document's matter, such as the title by which you and the client refer to the project, the style of a legal matter, etc. (e.g., "RE: Smith v. Jones").  If you intend this project to be used only as a Master Project for several subordinate projects, and do not want this master project to be billed when its subordinates are being billed, begin this RE item with an asterisk (*).

- Responsible Person:  Enter the initials of the person primarily responsible for this project.

- Originating Person:  Enter the initials of the person who should be credited with bringing this project to the firm.

- Misc:  Eight fields are reserved for entries of a miscellaneous nature.  Once you have decided how you wish to use them, you may assign an individual title to each field to assist you in consistently using it from project to project.  To do so, go to the Configuration routine's Term Substitutions field.  Double-clicking in any of the Misc fields will result in the program's looking for a phone number within the field and then attempting to dial it (see Tools | Change Dialing Parameters ).

- Bill Format:  If you intend to bill this project, enter the number of the billing format you wish to use.  The number you enter must correspond to an actual billing format whose file exists.  Format #1 is supplied with the program (its file is BILFMT1.DAB), as are Format #2, Format #20, the Pre-Bill format (BILFMT0.DAB), and the client billing summary sheet format (BILFMT99.DAB), but you may create your own .

- Invoice Format:  Here, enter the number of the invoicing format you wish to use.  The number you enter must correspond to an actual invoicing format whose file exists.  Format #1 is supplied with the program (its file is INVFMT1.DAB), but you may create your own .  An invoice merely recaps all the services, disbursements, etc., involving this project for whatever period of time you desire.  A bill, on the other hand, adds a balance brought forward and informs your client of the total amount due on the project, as of the billing date.

- Bill Interval:  Enter the minimum number of days you wish to elapse between bills sent out for this project.  If, for instance, your client will be irritated at receiving bills more frequently than every quarter, enter "90" here.  That way, when you go through your monthly billing process, the program will assume that you wish to skip billing this project if 90 days have not elapsed since its last bill was prepared.  Note that you may override that assumption for this project at billing time, if you wish.

- APR on Unpaid Balance:  Available only if you have the BillPower software, this item tells the program the rate of interest you will charge this client on the unpaid balance of any bill you send him.  Interest begins accruing after the Interest-Free Interval defined in the Configuration routine.  The figure you enter here, if any at all, should be a percentage.  For example, if the APR is meant to be 8%, you should enter "8", not ".08".  Note that, in deciding how much interest to charge a client on a current bill, the program will divide the APR by 365 and multiply the result by the number of days elapsing from the date the last bill was prepared, plus the Interest-Free Interval, to the date that the current bill is being prepared.  That result will, in turn, be multiplied by that portion of the last bill's balance which has not yet been paid.  You should use a modest APR, if any at all, since the purpose of charging the client interest is not to make yourself more money, but simply to let the client know that it will cost him more if he does not pay his bills on time.

- Rate Level:  In the configuration routine, you entered various billing rates for each person whose work you wish to track with the program.  At this Rate Level item, you should fill in the level (1 to 5) you wish to use for billing this project.  If, for instance, you enter "1", each service performed in this project's behalf will by default be charged at the #1 billing rate for the person doing the work.  Note that this will be only an assumption -- an assumption which you may override at the time the service is entered into the program.

Please see the discussion in the following section if you need to set special rates (different from the rate level scheme) for the people who work on this project

- Flat Rate:  If, instead of using your workers' various billing rates, you wish to charge this project on the basis of a flat hourly rate (no matter who does the work), enter that rate here.

On rare occasion, you may need to set a different flat hourly rate for each person who works on this project.  These special rates would be different from the Flat Rate you might have otherwise specified (or, alternately, from those provided by the Rate Level you may have selected).  In this instance, you may use any of the eight Misc  fields to set the special rate for each person.  To do so, use this format:

($xxx=yy.yy$)

Substitute the initials of the person for  xxx,  and at  yy.yy  substitute his special rate for this project.  For instance, if this project were to be charged at the rate of $75.50 if Allen Bradley does work on it, you might enter into one of the Misc fields this notation:

($AB=75.50$)

- Max Fee:  If your agreement with your client is that you will charge no more than a specified amount, no matter how much work you handle for him, enter that amount here.  Once that amount is met, the program will default to the assumption that each new service entered into the system will NOT be charged to the client (but you may override this assumption at the time the service is entered).

- Max Rate:  If your agreement with the client is that you will charge no more than a certain hourly rate, you should enter that amount here.  That way, no matter who does the work, even if it's your most experienced and expensive worker, the program will assume that the Max Rate is the most that can be charged for services rendered. Note that this will be only an assumption, which you may override at the time the service is entered into the program.

- Fixed Fee:  If this project is to be charged an agreed-upon fixed fee, enter that fee here.  If a Fixed Fee is being used, the program will assume that services will NOT be charged to the project.  You should, of course, enter them into the program, so that you and your client will know all that you have done for this project.  But each individual service will have no amount to be charged (unless you override the no-charge assumption at the time the service is entered into the program).  Until the project has been completed, any bills you send out will contain a complete listing of all that has been done, but no charges.  Once the project is finished, you would then enter a final service containing an amount charged corresponding to the Fixed Fee, and then produce a final bill.

-  Contingent Percentage: If this project is to be charged on the basis of an agreed-upon contingency fee, enter that fee here.  If a Contingent Percentage is being used, the program will assume that services will NOT be charged to the project.  You should, of course, enter them into the program, so that you and your client will know all that you have done for this project.  But each individual service will have no amount to be charged (unless you override the no-charge assumption at the time the service is entered into the program).  Until the project has been completed, any bills you send out will contain a complete listing of all that has been done, but no charges.  Once the project is finished, you would then enter a final service containing an amount charged corresponding to the Contingent Percentage, and then produce a final bill.

-  Retainer:  If the client is retaining your services in exchange for a regular monthly Retainer fee, enter that fee here.  Note that this is a MONTHLY payment that you receive for whatever work you do (or don't do).  This is the fee you charge him every month for the retention of your services.  The amount you enter here will be automatically added to bills prepared for this project (each such automatic entry occurring on the last day of each month covered by a bill), unless you precede this amount with a minus sign when you enter it onto this screen.  Note that if a Retainer is being used for this project, the program will assume that NO services will be charged to the project.  You should, of course, enter services performed for the project into the program, so that you and your client will know all that you have done.  But each individual service will have an amount charged of zero (unless you override the no-charge assumption at the time the service is entered into the program).

- Charge Disbursements:  By default, the program will assume that disbursements you make on behalf of this project are to be charged to the client.  If you wish, however, you may de-select this item to force the opposite assumption.  Note that this will be only an assumption, which you may override at the time a service is entered into the program.

- Related Account:  If this project has a related GL account, enter its ID here.  Each project for which you maintain funds held in trust should have an individual GL account associated with it.  The GL account will probably be given the same ID as the project.  If you enter that account ID here at the Related Account item, bills prepared for this project will contain information pertaining to activity within that trust account during the period being billed.

- Project Closed:  If the project has been completed, but you don't wish to remove it from your database, you should select this item to close it.  That way, the program will ignore it for most reports and will not attempt to prepare bills for it.  But it will still be here, in case you need to look it up in the coming years.

- Date Opened:  This is the date that you begin work on the project.  By default, the program will assume that the date the project is entered in to the software is the Date Opened.  But you may alter it here at this field.  Bear in mind that the program will not allow you to enter an event or prepare a bill for a date earlier than this Date Opened, since you cannot logically do work for a project prior to its having been established.  So pay attention to the date you enter here.

- Notes Section (or Notes Button):  With BillPower, the Notes button opens and closes a notes screen into which you may enter up to 32,000 characters of information relating to this project.  With Client Tracks, the Notes section is already visible, but may be expanded, or reduced to its original size, by double-clicking inside it.

- Private: Visible only if making an entry into the Phone Book while on a network, this item allows you to designate whether the data being entered or viewed is to be visible on all workstations or private to this one.


Income and Expense Categories
Setting up Categories

When you select Edit | Categories  from the Main Screen's pull-down menus, you will be allowed to enter or edit the program's calendar, income, expense and -- if you have the BillPower program -- service categories.  You should give considerable thought to how you wish to organize these categories before actually entering them into the program, because the Income-Expense Report prepared by the program will track that organization.

The Abbreviation field may contain up to twelve characters, and the Description may hold thirty-five.  If you begin a Description with ">", the category being described will be considered a sub-category of the first category preceding it which does not begin with a ">".  This distinction is important, because sub-categories will be indented on the Income-Expense Report prepared by the program.  And beginning a Description with ">>" or ">>>" will cause sub-categorization by two or three levels, respectively.  If you want a blank line to appear at a certain point on the Income-Expense Report, enter "<>" for the Description.

You must also indicate each category's Type, except for those categories that have sub-categories.  Enter "I" for income, "E" for expense, "S" for service, or "C" for calendar event.  This information will be used by the program to prevent you from using an income category while filling in a disbursement screen or from using an expense category when filling in a receipt screen.  All income categories should appear first in this file, followed by all expense categories, then all service categories, and, finally, all calendar event categories.  By the way, categories that have sub-categories have their places on the Income-Expense Report (where they will display their sub-categories totals), but they should not be used when filling out disbursement or receipt screens.  In other words, when filling out a disbursement or receipt record, the category you enter should be one that does not, itself, have any sub-categories.

The sample file accompanying the program provides a good example.  Note the scheme by which abbreviations are assigned.  Prefixes are used extensively to identify income and expense categories that fall into the same general areas.  These prefixes are useful in running reports.  If, for instance, you wanted a report showing all activity in the area of business expenses (but not personal expenses), you would ask the program to show all transactions involving category "E-B-" (since all your business expense category abbreviations begin with "E-B-").  The resulting report would include transactions whose category abbreviations contained "E-B-", but exclude all others, such as those that begin with "E-P-".  Of course, you could also be even more specific in setting up your report.  For example, if you wanted to see only those transactions involving business phone expenses, you would fill in the report category criteria with "E-B-PHO".

If you have the BillPower program, five more optional columns will be displayed.

The Affected Acct item tells the program which General Ledger account, if any, should be automatically adjusted whenever a receipt or disbursement using the category described is actually entered into the system.  If you intend to use this item, enter the GL account ID here.  Precede your entry with a plus sign if you want to add to the account, or precede it with a minus sign to subtract from the account.  For example, if you want the program to automatically subtract from the CHECK account the amount of any transaction involving this category, you should enter, "-CHECK".  Note that, for this item to have any effect at all, the AutoUpdate GL item in the configuration routine must be selected.

If you're using BillPower to handle double-entry bookkeeping, you may wish to use the Balancing Acct item.  It tells the program which account will need to be adjusted in order to offset the adjustment resulting from your entry into the Affected Acct item.  If you're not using the program for double-entry bookkeeping , or if you have not made an entry into the Affected Acct item, skip this item.  If you do use this item, begin your entry with a plus or minus sign.  Note that, for this item to have any effect at all, you must make sure that the Double-Entry item in the configuration routine is selected.

If you're filling in a line with a service category, you may have use for the final three columns.  The Tax Rate item, useful in only specialized versions of this software, is the rate (expressed as a percentage) at which the service being described must be taxed, if at all.  You need not make an entry here if you will be taxing all services at the same rate as designated at the configuration routine's Tax  item.  The Charge item tells the program how much to charge whenever a service of this type is being entered into the database.  If it is to be an absolute fee, regardless of how much time is spent performing the service, enter "$" into the final Type column (which is for the charge type, not the category type).  But if you intend the charge to be calculated at an hourly rate, enter "H" into that final column.  Whatever you enter into the final two columns will override any other charging assumptions the program may have when you actually enter a service of this type into the system as having been performed.  By the way, this Charge item may be used not only for a Service category, but also for an Expense category that is paid on a per-item basis.  For instance, if you charge your clients for your mileage expenses or for copies, the charge Type would be "I" (for "item-by-item" charge), and the Charge would be the mileage rate or the per-copy rate.  If you wish to charge one amount for the first item and a different amount for subsequent ones, place the first-item charge into the Charge field and place the charge for additional items at the end of the Description field, using the following format:

($xx.xx yyyyyy)

where xx.xx is the amount to be charged and yyyyyy is an optional short note you wish to include.

There's one more thing that you can do with a Calendar-type category: assign it a color that will appear at certain places in the program where time blocks are displayed on the screen.  If you wish to assign a color to a Calendar-type category, use the final charge Type column to specify the color.  Place into that column a single-letter code for the color you desire.  The following code letters apply: A=aqua, B=black, C=blue, D=fuchsia, E=gray, F=green, G=lime, H=maroon, I=olive, J=navy, K=purple, L=red, M=silver, N=teal, O=white, P=yellow.

One final note:  on a network, only the Main User can modify Categories.


Reports & Hunting for Information
Reports / Hunting for Information / Bills / Invoices

You may conduct a Hunt for information in the Calendar, Log, or Project database.  Calendar and Log hunts and reports are set up by pressing the "H" key or using the pull-down menu (Search | Hunt) while in the appropriate module (either Calendar or Log).  The project hunts/reports, accessible only if you have the Client Tracks or BillPower software, may be started by using the pull-down menu (Project | Report).  Bills and invoices, which are just specialized Project reports, may also be accessed by selecting  Project | Report  at the menu or by simply pressing "B" (for bills) or "I" (for invoices).  Bills and invoices, of course, can be produced only if you have the BillPower program.

Discussions of Calendar/Log and Project Hunts are contained in the sections that follow.

Calendar and Log Hunts and Reports

Here, you will be presented with a Hunt Screen that contains fields allowing you to designate exactly what you wish to find/report.

The more fields you fill in, the more limited the scope of your hunt through the database becomes.  For instance to find information relating to all projects, leave the Project field blank.  If you prefer to display only that data relating to a specific project, however, place that project's ID into the Project field.  Or, if you're conducting a hunt in the Log module and you want to find only those events whose Amounts are between $100 and $500, fill in the Low Amount and High Amount items accordingly.

-Begin/End Date:  Ensure that the Begin Date and End Date fields reflect the period of time that you want the program to search for this report.

- Person:  Here, fill in the initials of the person whose events you want to appear on the report.  If you want everyone's events to appear on the report, leave this field blank.

- Project:  If you place nothing into this field, the report will contain events for all projects.  But if you fill in this field, the report will contain only events involving the particular project you designate.  If, instead of reporting only events for the single exact project you designate, you would prefer that the program display events for all projects whose IDs contain a certain sequence of characters, start your entry with an ampersand.  For instance, if you entered   &SMITH   into this field, the report might find all events for projects SMITH, SMITHY, ANSMITH, SMITH-1.  If, on the other hand, you simply entered   SMITH,   the only events reported would be for the SMITH project.

- Word to Find:  Here, you may type in a word or short phrase common to the Description fields of all records you want reported.  This program can conduct logical AND and OR hunts of the Description fields.  You may enter up to four keywords, each separated by either ^ or |.  Use the ^ character to designate AND, and use the | character to designate OR.  For instance, to find records whose Descriptions contain both "dog" and "cat", you would enter  dog^cat.  To find records whose Descriptions contain any of "dog", "cat", or "cow", you would enter dog|cat|cow.   Bear in mind that you may not mix AND and OR hunts; for instance, you may not enter dog^cat|cow.

- Category:  Leave this item blank if you want the report to include transactions involving all categories.  If you want only certain categories to appear on the report, however, fill in this item with a string of characters found in the category(ies) that you want included.  If you used prefixes when setting up your income-expense categories, you may include several exclusive categories on the report at one time by filling this item with only the prefix common to the categories you want included.  If you would like the program to exclude events whose categories fall within a certain range, enter the highest category to be excluded, two periods, and then the lowest category.  For example, to exclude all events whose categories fall between AUTOMAINT and OFFICEMAINT, you would enter the following into this Category item:

OFFICEMAINT..AUTOMAINT

In this example, OFFICEMAINT is assumed to be a higher category than AUTOMAINT.  In other words, OFFICEMAINT follows AUTOMAINT in the categories file  maintained by the program

- Affected Acct:  Available only if you have the BillPower software.  If you want only certain accounts to appear on the report, fill in this item with a string of characters found in the account(s) whose transactions you want included.  If you used prefixes when setting up your accounts, you may include several exclusive accounts on the report at one time.

- Report Destination:  Here, choose where you want the report or bill to be sent.  If you select a File, you should take note of the name of the file that will be created or appended, so that you can subsequently print, view, or modify it with your word processor.  Its format will be ASCII text.

- Report Title:  Normally, the program's printed reports contain generic headings of one or two lines.  If you're printing the report and want it to have an overall title, fill in the Report Title item with the text you desire.  After doing so, the program's reports will contain two or three lines, beginning with the Report Title you have designated, and followed by the generic heading the program would otherwise have produced.  If you dont want the generic lines to appear at all, end the Report Title with "//2", "//3", or "//2//3" (which will cause the second, third, or second AND third lines of the heading to be skipped).

- To Be Included on Report:  This series of check boxes allows you to specify the types of events you want to include on the report.  In the Log module, one other item will be to include a Report Summary, which will display totals for various figures contained within the report.

- Hunt Method:  Here, you may specify the method by which the database is searched in producing your report.  The Normal method just reads straight through the database one time.  The Person-By-Person method reads the database one time per person and produces a series of reports, one for each person.  The Project-By-Project method reads the database one time per project and produces a series of reports, one for each project.   Note that one or more methods may not be available for certain types of reports.

- Type of Report -

Pretty is nice, but useful is better.  One of this program's goals is to provide as much information as possible on its reports.  One side-effect of this effort is that, if you have a page printer (such as a laser printer), it will probably need at least 2 megabytes of memory or the ability to do raster printing.  If your printer does not have enough memory and does not support raster printing, it may issue an Out-of-Memory message when trying to print data-intensive reports.  You really owe it to yourself to sample each of these reports on a fine printer with enough memory.  By the way, line printers (such as ink-jets and dot-matrix printers) have no such memory limitation.

 	- Standard Listing:  You will probably most frequently use the Standard Listing or Short Listing as the format in which you want information displayed.  The difference between the two is that the Standard Listing will give you complete detail of each event, while the Short Listing will display only one line of information for each event.   The Quick Non-Chron Listing is designed for just finding something quickly in the database without having the program sort its events into chronological order.  If the period of time reflected in the Begin Date and End Date fields is great, the Quick Non-Chron Listing will be prepared more quickly than a Standard or Short Listing, since the latter two will have to be placed into chronological order.

Most of the items on the Standard listing are self-explanatory.  If you have the BillPower software, you may see an asterisk on some lines just after the time item.  The asterisk indicates that this item has been billed.

In the summary section at the end of a report, you may see reference to advances.  An advance is money lent to a client.  Whenever you spend money (i.e., enter a disbursement) in behalf of a client, the program will consider it to be an advance.  Whenever you receive money (i.e., enter a receipt) from a client, that money will be applied first to reducing the client's unpaid advances.

- Short Listing:  See Standard Listing above.

- Week Calendar:  Provides a week's-worth of information on each page printed.  The first week printed will be the one containing the specified Begin Date, and the last week printed will be the one containing the End Date.

- Month Calendar:  Provides a month's-worth of information on each page printed.  The first month printed will be the one containing the specified Begin Date, and the last month printed will be the one containing the End Date.  You have a choice of landscape or portrait printout, normal or small type.  Try them all to see which you find best for your needs.

- Six-Week Printout:  Provides six-weeks per printed page, starting with the week containing the specified Begin Date, and ending with a convenient week (either the one containing the End Date or a later one).

- Six-Month Calendar:  Six months at a glance.  This calendar must actually be prepared at the Main Screen (See File | Print Half Year ).

- One-Year Calendar:  One year at a glance.  This calendar must actually be prepared at the Main Screen (see File | Print Year ).

- Four-Year Calendar:  Four years at a glance.

- Allocated Time Chart:  Provides a graphical display of the time already scheduled for each day.  If printed in landscape orientation, 24 hours will be displayed for each day.

- Event Chart:  The top-to-bottom axis lists events, while the left-to-right axis displays the dates on which they fall.  Note that the screen and portrait printout will display a maximum of nine months' information, while the landscape printout will display up to 22 months'.

- Dual Current Schedule:  Printed in portrait orientation, combines a list of upcoming events (starting with today) and an Allocated Time Chart (see above).

- Tri-Fold Current Schedule:  Printed in landscape orientation, combines a list of upcoming events (starting with today), an Allocated Time Chart (see above), upcoming deadlines (to-do's), and six-month's-worth of small calendars.  This report may be folded into thirds and stuffed into a shirt pocket, but it will also be appreciated in its unfolded state.

- Current / Month Combo:  Combines a Dual Current Schedule (see above) with the current month's calendar.

- Multi-Person Daily:  Provides, on one sheet, the daily schedules of two, three, four ,five, or six persons.  You must designate the persons whose schedules you wish to be included in the report.  One sheet will be printed for each day between the Begin and End Dates you select.

- Time/Expense Log:  A convenient printout that provides a format for the entry of work performed or money spent on a daily basis.

- Qwik Non-Chron Listing:  See Standard Listing above.  Note that this report does not include recurring events.

- Income-Expense Report:  A compilation that displays category-by-category  totals for all disbursements and receipts entered into the Log  during the period requested.

- Chart of Accounts: A listing of your GenLedger accounts and their balances.  Available only if you have the BillPower software.

- Productivity Report: Available only if you have the BillPower software, this report displays how much total work has been performed and charged to your clients by each person in your firm over any period of time you desire.

- Weekly Exercise Schedule:  Not necessarily for physical exercise, this report is designed to give a weekly overview of once-a-day activity, such as scheduled work times.  If, for instance,  you want to use the program to schedule employee work, you should go to Term Substitutions in the configuration routine and substitute "Work" for "Exercise".  When you do, this report will automatically be re-titled "Weekly Work Schedule".  Whenever you want to schedule an employee for work, you would enter that time into the Calendar as a Work item.  This report will then be useful to provide a week-by-week overview of the work scheduled for your entire work force.

- ASCII Export:  Produces a disk file containing 35 lines of information per event reported.  The content of each line is as follows:

1:    Date being reported	2:  Event's beginning date

3:    Event's ending date	4:  Event type

5:    Event category	6:  Project to which this event pertains

7:    Person involved with the event	8-23:  Event description

24:  Begin time	25:  End time

26:  Alarm time	27:  Amount spent or received

28:  Tax charged	29:  Hourly rate of charge

30:  Tax rate	31:  Total Hours spent on this event

32:  Check number	33:  Payee

34:  Affected account #1	35:  Affected account #2

Note that you may optionally prepare a file containing a single line for each event reported, in which case the line will be in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format and will contain the 35 fields noted above.

- CUSTOM:  Produces a report patterned after the format contained in a disk file, which in this case is named CUSTOM.DAS or CUSTOM.DAL.  You may have any number of specialized custom reports, each with a different name and each based upon a different disk file.  Custom Report disk files may be created or edited by selecting   Edit | Calendar Report   or   Edit | Log Report   at the pull-down menu.  See the Creating and Editing Bill Formats, Custom Reports, & Check Formats section.

Project Hunts, Reports, and Bills/Invoices

Here, you will be presented with a Hunt Screen that contains fields allowing you to designate exactly what you wish to find/report.

The more fields you fill in, the more limited the scope of your hunt through the database becomes.  For instance, to find information relating to all projects, leave the Project field blank.  If you prefer to display only a specific project, however, place that project's ID into the Project field.  If you wish to find all projects whose phone numbers contain a particular sequence of  numbers, place that sequence into the Phone field.  To find all projects with a particular zip code, place that zip code into the Address field.  And so, on...

Following are descriptions of the fields that may not be self-explanatory.

- Project ID:  If you place nothing into this field, the report will contain information for all projects.  But if you fill in this field, the report will contain only data involving the particular project you designate.  If, instead of reporting only information for the single exact project you designate, you would prefer that the program display data for all projects whose IDs contain a certain sequence of characters, start your entry with an ampersand.  For instance, if you entered   &SMITH   into this field, the report might include SMITH, SMITHY, ANSMITH, and SMITH-1.  If, on the other hand, you simply entered   SMITH,   the only project reported would be SMITH.

- Master ID:  If you place anything into this field,  it will cause the program to find data for only those projects that are subordinate to the Master project identified here.  As in the case of the Project ID field discussed above, you may use the ampersand here to find data for all subordinate projects falling under several Masters.

- No Payments Made Since:  Available only with the BillPower software.  This field  allows you to narrow your search to include only those projects on which no payments have been made since a certain date.

- Balance:  Available only with the BillPower software.   These two fields allow you to narrow your search to include only those projects whose total balances due fall between two values.  If these fields are blank, then BillPower will assume that a project's balance due is not a criterion for the search.

- Unpaid:  Available only with the BillPower software.  These two fields allow you to narrow your search to include only those projects whose last bills' unpaid balances fall between two values.  A project's last bill's unpaid balance may differ from a project's overall balance due, since, while a project may have been billed recently, its balance due continues to be adjusted each time you enter a service for it.  If these Unpaid fields are left blank, then BillPower will assume that a project's last bill's unpaid balance is not a criterion for the search.

- Responsible/Originating Person:  Here, fill in the initials of the person whose projects you want to appear on the report.  If you want everyone's projects to appear on the report, leave this field blank.

- Misc items:  If you fill in something here, the program will report to you on those projects whose associated Misc field(s) contain the string of characters you have entered.  If you are unsure which Misc field contains a string of characters, fill in the first Misc item on this Hunt screen and begin your entry with an ampersand (&).  For instance, if you wish to find each project in which one of the Misc fields contains the word, "street", you would enter into the first Misc field, "&street".  If you place two ampersands at the beginning of the first Misc field, the program will also search each project's Notes field and other text fields (ID, name, address, phone) if a match is not found in any of its Misc fields.

This program can conduct logical AND and OR hunts of the Misc fields.  You may enter up to four keywords, each separated by either ^ or |.  Use the ^ character to designate AND, and use the | character to designate OR.  For instance, to find records whose Misc fields contain both "dog" and "cat", you would enter  dog^cat.  To find records whose Misc fields contain any of "dog", "cat", or "cow", you would enter dog|cat|cow.  If you want the program to search ALL the text fields of a record (Misc fields, name, address, etc.), begin your entry with && (e.g., &&dog^cat).  Bear in mind that you may not mix AND and OR hunts; for instance, you may not enter dog^cat|cow.

- Project Sort Order:  Not only will the program find and report the projects you want, it will also place them into the order you specify.  You may sort by any or all of the parameters listed here.  Simply assign a number to each sorting parameter.  The parameter assigned number 1 will be the most important, and sorting will take place on it first.  Then, sorting will take place on whatever parameters may be assigned priorities 2, 3, 4, etc.  In most cases, Master ID should be the first (and possibly the only) priority used for billing/invoicing.  That will ensure that a summary sheet is produced for multiple projects assigned to each Master ID.

- Report Destination:  Here, choose where you want the report or bill to be sent.  If you select a File, you should take note of the name of the file that will be created or appended.  The file's format will be ASCII text, and it can be imported as such into any word processor, where you can make any modifications you  wish.

- Pre-List Projects:  This item appears only if you have the BillPower software and have elected to prepare bills/invoices or a customized report.  If this item is not selected, bill/invoice or report preparation will begin immediately upon your pressing the Start button.  If, on the other hand, this item is selected, a listing of projects meeting the parameters specified on this screen will appear before the bills/invoices or reports are actually prepared.  When this listing appears, you may perform a final selection of the exact projects to be included in the bill/invoice or report generation by ensuring that each desired project is flagged with an asterisk (*).  To flag/un-flag a project, highlight the project on the screen and press the asterisk key.

- Billing Parameters   or   Invoicing Parameters   (only with BillPower software):

- Bill/Invoice Type:  A New Bill (or New Invoice) is one that you intend to send to the client.  The period covered by a New Bill (or Pre-Bill) for each project will begin the day after that project's last bill ended, and it will end on the Bill Through date designated below. An Pre-Bill is designed for in-house review only.  It will cover the same period that would be covered by a New Bill.  If you elect to produce an Old Bill (or Old Invoice), you will be presented with a Prior Bill (or Prior Inv) box into which you should place a number (between 1 and 10) designating which old bill/invoice is to be reproduced.  The most recent Old Bill/Invoice is #1; the second-most-recent, #2, etc.  The period covered by an Old Bill/Invoice will begin on the date the original old bill/invoice began and, unless changed in the Bill Through (or Invoice Through) item (described below), will end on the date the original bill/invoice ended.  A New Bill's or Old Bill's format for any particular project will depend upon the bill format you selected when you set up that project. Likewise, a New Invoice's or Old Invoice's format will depend upon the invoice format you selected when you set up that project.

Note that as soon as a New Bill is produced today, it becomes Old Bill #1 (displacing the old Old Bill #1, which will become Old Bill #2).  But it also retains its identity as a New Bill until tomorrow.  If you need to re-do a bill originally printed earlier today, you may select either New Bill or Old Bill #1.  But if you need to re-do a bill printed yesterday or earlier, selecting Old Bill #1, #2, etc., would be the appropriate choice. This same logic applies to New and Old Invoices.

Also note that the main difference between an Pre-Bill and a New Bill is that producing the Pre-Bill will not alter the database.  Producing a New Bill, on the other hand, will result in new balance-brought-forward data being written to the database, as of the Bill Through date (which is last date whose transactions can be included on the bill).  A New Bill also flags the events appearing on it as having been billed, so that they don't appear on subsequent bills.

- Statement Date: This is the date you wish to appear on the bills produced.

- Bill Through (or  Invoice Through):  This is the date through which whose transactions you want to appear on the bills/invoices being produced.  If you're doing New Bills/Invoices, this item will be filled in with today's date, but you may change it if you wish.  If you're doing Old Bills/Invoices, you may leave this item blank (if you want the bills/invoices to cover only their original beginning and end dates) or fill in a new date through which you want the old bills/invoices to include transactions.  Be aware that if you're doing Old Bills/Invoices, and you enter a new date here, the new date you enter will henceforth become the Old Bill's (or Old Invoices') ending date.

Assume, for instance, that today is 30 April, that Old Bill #1's ending date was 31 March, Old Bill #2's was 28 February, and Old Bill #3's was 31 January.  If you were to produce a New Bill now, its starting date would be 1 April (the day after Old Bill #1 ended).  But let's assume, instead, that you elect to print Old Bill #3 (the one that originally ended on 31 January) with a new Bill Through date of 15 April.  The new Old Bill that is produced will cover the original period of the 31 January bill, plus the period between 1 February and 15 April.  Additionally, you will no longer have old bills whose ending dates are 31 January, 28 February, and 31 March, since the one just produced will have covered a period whose ending date is later than all those others.  Your #1 old bill will now be one whose ending date is 15 April, and the next New Bill you produce will have a starting date of 16 April.

- Transaction Sort Order: By default, the transactions listed on each bill/invoice will be placed into chronological order.  But if you want them to be sorted in another fashion, place a 1 into the appropriate box.  If you also want secondary sorting to occur by date or by one of the other listed parameters, place a 2 into the appropriate box.  Third- and forth-level sorting can also be accomplished by placing 3 and 4 into the boxes.

- Type of Report:

- Bills - Produces a bill for each project/client you specify.  When you start the billing process, the first thing that happens (if, and only if, the Project Pre-List item is selected) is that you will be presented with a list of the projects that meet the criteria specified at the Hunt Screen.  Just before each project's name will be an asterisk, which indicates that that project is to be billed when you press the Start button at the top of the screen.  If you don't want a project to be billed, highlight it and press the asterisk key.  When you do, the asterisk on that line will disappear, indicating that that project will be skipped during the billing process.  If the Project Pre-List item is not selected, billing will begin immediately without the intermediate project-listing step.

Once you have the projects you want billed identified with asterisks, press the Start button.  Each project's bill will be prepared in the format specified at that project's set-up screen (see Entering and Editing Projects ).  If the bills are being sent to the screen, the program will pause as each bill is displayed, waiting for you to press the Next button at the top of the screen.  If the bills are being sent to the printer or to a disk file, no pausing will take place.

- Project Listing - Produces a simple list of your projects, sorted in the order you specified at the Hunt Screen.

- Receivables -  Prints a listing of each project's receivables.  A receivable is an amount billed, but unpaid (either in part or in whole).  It does not include anything that has not been billed.  A project's receivables are affected by only two events: producing a Bill for the client, and entering a Receipt record for money received from the client (Adjustments do not affect a project's receivables).

- Invoices - Produces an invoice for each project/client you specify.  When you start the invoicing process, the first thing that happens (if the Project Pre-List item is selected) is that you will be presented with a list of the projects that meet the criteria specified at the Hunt Screen.  Just before each project's name will be an asterisk, which indicates that that project is to be invoiced when you press the Start button at the top of the screen.  If you don't want a project to be invoiced, highlight it and press the asterisk key.  When you do, the asterisk on that line will disappear, indicating that that project will be skipped during the invoicing process.  If the Project Pre-List item is not selected, invoicing will begin immediately without the intermediate project-listing step.

Once you have the projects you want invoiced identified with asterisks, press the Start button.  Each project's invoice will be prepared in the format specified at that project's set-up screen (see Entering and Editing Projects ).  If the invoices are being sent to the screen, the program will pause as each invoice is displayed, waiting for you to press the Next button at the top of the screen.  If the invoices are being sent to the printer or to a disk file, no pausing will take place.

- ASCII Export:  By default, produces a disk file containing 31 lines of information per project reported.  The content of each line is as follows:

1:    Project ID	2:    Master ID

3:    Client Name (last)	4:    Client Name (first)

5:    Client Address (1st line)	6:    Client Address (2d line)

7:    Client Address (3d line)	8:    Client Address (zip code)

9:    Client Phone	10:   Client Fax

11:   Company	12:   Salutation

13:   RE:	14:   Associated GenLedger account

15:   Responsible person	16:   Date this project was opened

17:   Last payment date	18-25:  Miscellaneous fields

26:   Balance owed	27:   Monthly retainer amount

28:   Contingent fee	29:   Fixed fee

30:   Interest rate	31:   Hourly charge rate

Note that you may optionally prepare a file containing a single line for each project reported, in which case the line will be in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format and will contain the 31 fields noted above.  To invoke the CSV format, simply ensure that the last three characters in the "Text File" name field (in the Report Destination box) are CSV (instead of TXT).

- VIEWING THE REPORT -

Here, you may double-click on any item to obtain a full-screen view of the associated project.

If you are previewing a list of projects to be included on bills or customized reports, you will notice that all the items have an asterisk (*) preceding the Name column.  Each item's asterisk indicates that that project will be among those for which a bill or customized report will be prepared.  If you wish to exclude a project, highlight it and press the asterisk key.

- PRODUCING A BILL OR INVOICE -

Producing a bill or invoice requires that you come to this screen (by pressing "B" or "I" at the Main Screen or by selecting   Project | Report/Bill  at the pull-down menu) and filling in the items discussed immediately above.  But before you do, there must be information that can be included on a bill or invoice.  Specifically, you must have created a project (Project | Make) and entered at least one Service, Disbursement, or Receipt for that project in the Log module.

Each time you create a new project, the program assumes that you will want to use billing format #1 whenever you bill that project (and invoicing format #1 when you invoice it).  You may, of course, change the program's assumption when you reach that item on the project entry screen.  Format 1, as supplied with the program, provides a great deal of detail, but you may wish to modify it or to create alternate formats (See Creating and Editing Bill Formats & Project ) that will satisfy the needs of your various clients.  But take a look at a bill produced with format 1 before deciding which elements you want to include in your bills.


BillsProjectReports
 Creating and Editing Bill Formats, Custom Reports, and Check Formats

This program allows you to produce custom reports, as well as (if you have the BillPower software) bills and checks.  The program also affords you the ability to create new formats, based upon older ones.  You can create a wide variety of bill formats and custom reports to provide almost any type of output you desire, from simple form letters to comma-delimited merge-print files.

Choose  Edit | Bill Format  ,  Edit | Calendar Report  ,  Edit | Log Report  ,  Edit | Project Report    or  Edit | Check Format   at the Main Screen's menu.  When you do, you'll be presented with a file dialog box requesting the name of the file you wish to edit.  Always choose one of the files that already exists.  Each bill format file name must begin with "BILFMT" and end with ".DAB", and the number of the format shall be sandwiched between (e.g., billing format #1 is contained in a file named BILFMT1.DAB). A custom report in the Calendar module may be called anything, as long as it ends with ".DAS".  A custom report in the Log module must end with ".DAL".  A custom report in the Project module must end with ".DAR".  The check-printing format must be called CHECK.DAK.

Even if you wish to create a new format or report, start with one of the files that already exists, copy it to the clipboard, and close the file.  Then, open a new file, paste from the clipboard, modify the file, and save it with a new name.  For instance, to create billing format #9, you might select BILFMT1.DAB, copy it to the clipboard, and close it.  Then, you could open a new file called "BILFMT9.DAB", paste into the new file what you had copied to the clipboard from BILFMT1.DAB, modify it, and save the new file.

Formatting Codes

Whatever appears in a billing format or custom report file will appear on the bill or report that is produced from it, except for any coding that may be present.  Wherever a Phrase Code appears in the format file, a word, phrase, date, or figure will be substituted for it in the bill or report that is prepared.  For instance, if you want the client's name to appear at a certain place on the bill or report, place  ~D at that place in the file.  Bill format and custom report files may also contain Special Instruction Codes, which will be discussed after the Phrase Codes immediately below.

Phrase Codes:

Project codes:

The following codes substitute information from a project's record or from billing/custom report calculations.  Please note that certain items require a minimum amount of space on the printed bill or report.  So if a number appears in parentheses below, it represents the minimum number of spaces that you must provide to accommodate the item.  That is, no other item may follow it on the same line, unless that minimum number of spaces separates the two items.

~A = Project ID (or Payee ID, for check-printing format)

~B = Client Salutation

~C = RE: (reference line)

~D = Client Name        (or Payee name, for check-printing format)

~d = Client Name        (last name, comma, first name)

~E = Company Name   (use ~e to maintain line spacing even if this item is blank)

~F = Address, line 1     (use ~f to maintain line spacing even if this item is blank)

~G = Address, line 2    (use ~g to maintain line spacing even if this item is blank)

~H = Address, line 3, including zip code   (use ~h to maintain line spacing if this item blank)

~I = Client Phone (30)

~i = Client Fax (20)

~j = Client Email address (60)

~J = Balance owed by client (or, if preparing a trust account section, the account balance)

~K = Date money last received from client

~M = Today's date

~N = Date of this bill

~O = Date last bill was sent to client

~P = Amount still owed of the amount last billed

~Q..~X = Miscellaneous fields on project's record

~Y = Date this billing period begins

~Z = Date this billing period ends

~z = Individual person whose work is reflected in this report (custom reports only)

~1 = Page number

~2 = Balance forwarded from last bill

~3 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total services (or, if doing a trust account section, total

transactions)

~4 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total disbursements

~5 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total receipts

~6 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total adjustments

~+=  Amount of this bill's total tax on services

~= =  Amount of this bill's total services, plus the total tax on services

~7 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total services+disbursements-receipts+adjustments

~_ = Amount of this bill's total services+disbursements-receipts+adjustments+tax

~8 = Amount owed for this bill

(total services+disbursements-receipts+adjustments+tax+balanceForwarded)

~9 = Total time spent working in client's behalf during period reported/billed (6)

~! = Project's contingency percentage, if any (5)

~@ = Project's fixed fee, if any (10)

~# = Project's monthly retainer, if any (8)

~$ = Project's hourly rate, if any (8)

~% = Project's hourly rate level, if any (2)

~^ = Project's maximum hourly rate, if any (8)

~( = Nominal hourly rate at which Project is to be charged for work done (8)

~& = Project's maximum fee, if any (10)

~* = Project's interest APR, if any (5)

~/ = This bill's invoice number, automatically determined by program sequentially (6)

~. = Job Number for work order being printed

~~ = Form Feed

Transaction Codes:

The following Phrase Codes may be used in a bill/invoice/custom report's |TRANS| section.  Please note that certain items require a minimum amount of space on the printed bill or report.  So if a number appears in parentheses below, it represents the minimum number of spaces that you must provide to accommodate the item.  That is, no other item may follow it on the same line, unless that minimum number of spaces separates the two items.

~a: Transaction/event description, with preferred automatic formatting (No minimum length;

use a  single ~ to define the end of this field)

~A: Transaction /event description, formatted exactly as entered into transaction record (No 	minimum length; use a single ~ to define the end of this field)

~1: Transaction/event description drawn from only the description's first line (No minimum 	length; use a single ~ to define the end of this field)

~b: Transaction/event begin date, formatted as DD MMM YY (9)

~B: Transaction/event begin date, formatted as MM/DD/YY (8)

~2: Transaction/event begin date, formatted as DD/MM/YY (8)

~&: Transaction/event begin date's weekday name (10)

~#: Transaction/event begin date's weekday name, abbreviated (3)

~(: Project to which this transaction/event is linked (12)

~c: Initials of the Person, if any, responsible for transaction/event (3)

~d: Transaction/event beginning time, if any (6)

~D: Transaction/event beginning time, if any, formatted as HH:MM in 24-hour time (5)

~e: Transaction/event ending time, if any (6)

~E: Transaction/event ending time, if any, formatted as HH:MM in 24-hour time (5)

~): Event alarm time, if any (6)

~^: Event alarm time, if any, formatted as HH:MM in 24-hour time (5)

~f: Logged transaction/event total time (end time, minus begin time), if any (5)

~g: Transaction/event hourly charge, if any (6)

~h: Transaction amount (11)

(or, if doing an interest section, ~h is the amount of interest billed)

(or, if doing an uplift section, ~h is the amount of uplift on contingent project services)

See ~k, ~l and ~m below for tax on this amount, if any

~i: Transaction/event category abbreviation (12)

~I: Transaction/event category title or name, if doing a bill's category totals section (35)

~j: Transaction/event type (service, disbursement, receipt, etc.) (13)

~k: Transaction tax rate (except when printing checks) (5), or

Transaction check number (for check format only) (6)

~l:  Tax on transaction amount (except when printing checks) (6), or

Transaction date's day and month (for check format only) (6)

~m: Transaction amount + tax on amount (except when printing checks) (11)

Transaction date's year (for check format only)  (2)

~n..~p: Second..fourth line of transaction description, if needed (for check format only) (38)

~q: Spelled transaction amount (for check format only)

~r: Project ID for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (12)

~s: Project reference line (RE:) for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (30)

~t: Total services for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (11)

~u: Total disbursements for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (11)

~v: Total receipts for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (11)

~w: Total adjustments for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (11)

~x: Total hours worked for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (6)

~y: Total tax for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (6)

~z: Amount due for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (11)

~=: Number of items paid by this item (if a disbursement) (5)

~_: Transaction priority (2)

~/ : Number of invoice, if any, on which this transaction appeared (6)

~>: Line feed (move down one line)

Special Instruction Codes:

Special Instruction Codes, most of which begin and end with a vertical line (that's the character above the backslash on most keyboards), are used to issue commands to the program concerning how a bill or custom report will be prepared.  For instance, you may wish to tell the program to use a particular header or footer on each page.  The most important such code, however, is the one that defines how each transaction appearing on a bill or report should appear.

A Special Instruction Code must begin at the first position on a line, and it must be the only thing appearing on that line.  Certain codes (such as the  |TRANS|  code) require you to fill in the line or two following the code with formatting instructions.  Neither the line containing the code, nor the lines containing the formatting instructions will appear on actual bills, but their effects will be seen in the bill.

 |TRANS=X|	This code must be followed by a single line of Phrase Codes.  Together, these two lines describe the section of the bill that will contain all the transactions of the type(s) specified by letter(s) substituted for X.  To include services in this section, substitute S for the X.  To include Disbursements, substitute D.  Likewise, substitute R for Receipts and/or A for Adjustments.  Use G if the section being formatted is for transactions involving a GenLedger trust account you are maintaining for the client. Use C if you are formatting a category summary section.  Use T if you are setting up a bill summary sheet (BILFMT99.DAB), so that totals for each of the client's separate matters can be included.

Each transaction will be formatted in accordance with the codes on the line that follows.  For example, look at these two lines:

|TRANS=SD|

   ~b         ~a                                                            ~c                                       ~f                ~g             ~h

The first line above tells the program to begin a transaction section of a bill and to include in it all the Services and Disbursements.  The second line tells the program to show each transaction in the format defined by the codes.  Remember, neither of these lines will actually appear on a bill.  By the way, if the second line were blank, the program would print nothing about each event, but it would include each event's amount charged in the total amount owed during the period billed (see description of the ~8 phrase code, above).

Take a look at the BILFMT0.DAB, BILFMT1.DAB, and BILFMT99.DAB files that accompany this software to see how the transaction section fits into an actual bill format.

|CAT-SUMMARY|	In case you have clients who want their bills to include a section that summarizes their expenditures by service, disbursement, and receipt category, this code informs the program that it should keep a running total for each category as it prepares the bill.  These totals are then used in the category summary section that you may include near the end of the bill (see BILFMT20.DAB for an example).  Note that this code must be placed near the top of the bill format, before the actual body of the bill.

|IF-XXXXX|	Defines the beginning of an IF section.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDIF|.  This section will be printed only if the condition described by XXXXX is true;  otherwise, the section will be skipped.  XXXXX may be any of the following:

ACCOUNT-EXISTS	Print this section if the project has a related GL account

TRANS=XXXX	Print this section if there have been any transactions of the type(s)

  indicated during the time being reported.  Substitute for the X's one

  or more of the following types: S for services; D for disbursements;

  R for Receipts; A for Adjustments.

INTEREST-CHARGED 	Print this section if the client is to be charged interest

CONTINGENCY-FEE	Print this section if the client is charged a contingency fee

FIXED-FEE	Print this section if the client is charged a fixed fee

TAX-CHARGED	Print this section if the Configuration routine's Tax item is filled in

UPLIFT-CHARGED	Print this section if the client is to be charged an uplift on services

  performed for contingency projects

TOTAL>0	Print this section if the bill's total is greater than zero

TOTAL<=0	Print this section if the bill's total is less than or equal to zero

RESP-PERSON=XXX	Print this section if the project's responsible person is the one whose 	  initials are XXX

See BILFMT1.DAB for examples of how the IF section is implemented.

|ENDIF| 	Defines the end of an IF section, described above.

|HEADER1|	Defines the beginning of the header section for page 1.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDHEADER1|.  Everything between these two lines will be included on at the top of the first page only.  This section is useful if you need to skip some extra lines at the top of the first page in order to make room for letterhead printing, in which case there would be just blank lines in this section.  This section does not recognize the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|HEADER2|	Defines the beginning of the subsequent page header section.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDHEADER2|. Everything between these two lines will be included in each page's header, starting with page 2.  This section recognizes the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill, but after any adjustments for font, line height, or margins, which are discussed below.    See BILFMT1.DAB for an example.

|FOOTER|	Defines the beginning of the page footer section.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDFOOTER|. Everything between these two lines will be included in each page's footer.  This section recognizes the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill, but after any adjustments for font, line height, or margins, which are discussed below.  See BILFMT1.DAB for an example.

|NEWDAY|	Defines the beginning of an optional section that will be inserted before each new date on a chronological listing of events.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDNEWDAY|. Everything between these two lines will be included in the one or more lines that will be inserted before each new date's events are displayed.  This section recognizes the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill, but after any adjustments for font, line height, or margins, which are discussed below.

|LETTERHEAD ("TEXT",FONTNAME,FONTSIZE,HORIZ,VERT)|	Defines the text of letterhead that you want printed on the first page.  Within the parentheses, there must be exactly five parameters, each separated from the others by a comma.  "TEXT" is the text that you want printed.  Ensure that you enclose it inside quotes.  FONTNAME is the name of the font in which you want the text printed.  Ensure that you use a legitimate name recognized by your Windows setup and printer and that you spell it correctly.  If you want the font to be bold, add  [B]  to the end of the font name you enter.  FONTSIZE is the point size of the font to be used.  HORIZ and VERT are the horizontal and vertical coordinates at which the top left corner of the text is to appear.  These coordinates are measured in pixels, which are very small.  You may have as many of these LETTERHEAD statements as you need to obtain the appearance you desire.  See BILFMT2.DAB for an example of how this statement is used.

.FF X	Forces the program to issue a form feed (page eject) command to the printer if there are fewer than X lines remaining on the page currently being printed.  This is useful if there is a section of the bill or report that you do not want split between pages.  See BILFMT2.DAB for an example of how this is used to ensure that the last couple of lines and signature block all occur on the same page.

|TOP=X|	Defines the format's top margin.  X is an integer that represents the number of pixels of blank space that will be at the top of every page printed.  The default value is 217.  A pixel is very small, so you may have to do rough adjustments in increments of 50 before fine-tuning your report.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|LEFT=X|	Defines the format's left margin.  X is an integer that represents the number of pixels of blank space that will be to the left of every line printed.  The default value is 170.  A pixel is very small, so you may have to do rough adjustments in increments of 50 before fine-tuning your report.  If this code is used, it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|LINES=X|	Defines the format's page length.  XXX is an integer that represents the number lines printed on each page.  The default value is 60.  Be careful, for if you select a number that is too large, Windows will simply "throw away" what ever it can't actually print on a page.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|LINEHEIGHT=X|	Defines the height of each line printed.  X is the height in pixels.  The default value is 46. If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|FONTNAME="X"|	Defines the Font, where X is the name of the font in quotes.  Make sure that the name you use is spelled correctly and that the font to which it belongs has actually been installed for use with Windows and your printer.  If the name you enter is not legitimate, your results will be unpredictable.  The default is "Courier New".  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill. .  If you wish to change to another font within the body of the report or bill, remove the vertical lines from either side of the code and begin it with a period, as in

.FONTNAME="X"

|FONTSIZE=X|	Defines the font's size.  X is the size of the font in points.  The default is 10.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.  Note that you may have to use a size quite larger or smaller than you might expect. .  If you wish to change to another font size within the body of the report or bill, remove the vertical lines from either side of the code and begin it with a period, as in

.FONTSIZE=X

|SORT-BY-CAT|	Tells the program that, despite how your other bills may be sorted during this billing cycle, you want this one to be sorted by category first.

|NOFF|	Normally, a form feed (page eject) will be issued at the end of each report or bill printed.  If you prefer that no form feed be issued, use this code.

|NOPB|	Normally, a form feed (page eject) will be issued when the page currently being printed can hold no more lines.  If you prefer that no form feed be issued at this point, use this code.

|LPRF|	Most project codes, such as ~A (for a project's ID) or ~J (for a project's balance), are printed on bills and project reports without any padding.  The result may be that, because of the uncertain length of a project's field represented by the code, information appearing on a line after the code will be will be mis-aligned.  This problem may be corrected if you place this |LPRF| code near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

Use of this code causes the program, when printing the report, to always allocate the maximum number of spaces to the field represented by the code.  Note, for instance, that when you fill in the Project ID field on a project screen, you are allowed a maximum of twelve spaces (confirm this for yourself).  Well, if you use the ~A code on a report format, combined with the use of |LPRF| at the top of the format, the program will always allocate a full twelve spaces to the ~A code (since that is the maximum number of spaces that the program will allow for that field on any project's screen).  Therefore, do not follow ~A (in the report format) by any other code, unless there are at least twelve spaces separating the two codes.  Most currency amounts, by the way, are padded to ten spaces.


Using Plans

Certain versions of this software allow you to create and manipulate plans.  A plan is a sequence of events, each event separated from another by a specified number of days or months.  Whenever you enter or change an event's date in a plan, all events deriving from that event will have their dates calculated automatically.  And everything appearing in a plan will also appear in the other displays and reports generated by the program.

Each plan is related to a project and should, in fact, be given the same name as its project.

A plan may be entered "from scratch", or it may be based upon a template.  A template contains everything found in a plan, except for specific dates.  You may wish to build several templates to handle the various types of plans that you expect to be using.

When you elect to create a new plan, you will first be asked to designate its associated project.  If there is not yet such a project, just type in a project ID, and the project entry screen will appear.  Finish  entering the project's information to set up the project, and you will be ready for the next step, actually creating a plan for the new project.

You will be afforded the opportunity to copy a template into the new plan.  Using a template will save you considerable time.  Of course, setting up the template also took time, but the template may be used over and over when you need to create new plans.

It is recommended that you experiment with a "Test" project and plan before you begin using templates and plans for actual work.  After you've finished with the "Test" project, you may tag it for deletion (Project | Tag at the Main Screen's menu), and then actually delete the project (File | Delete), so that your data base will be rid of the test information.  Deleting a project will always delete all plans associated with it.  But if you ever want to delete just a plan, and not the project to which it is associated, you may use the Tagged for Deletion item on this Plan screen.  Doing so will result in the plan's removal from the database when you run the program's File | Delete routine, but the associated project will remain intact.

- THE PLAN / TEMPLATE SCREEN -

- Primary Fields -

Each line is numbered.  Though you do not have to use all the available lines, you may have no blank lines between any two containing events.

Fill in an Event Description and the initials of the person (if any) primarily responsible for the event.  Please note the the Event Description field should contain no more than 36 characters; characters beyond that number will not appear on reports.

The Event Type field should contain the first letter of a recognized event type (e.g., "A" for Appointment, "D" for Deadline, "M" for Miscellaneous, etc.).

Prime Intvl is the number of days (or months) between this event and the related event immediately preceding it in time (see Refrnc Line below).  You may use a negative number to designate that this event occurs BEFORE the related event.

Intvl Type designates the type of interval between this event and the related one.  Most commonly, you will enter "D" (for days).  But if you want the program to calculate only Workdays (which exclude weekends and holidays), enter "W".  If you want the interval to be calculated in months, enter "M".

The Refrnc Line field should contain the line number of the event from which this event's date will be calculated.  You may leave this item blank, indicating that this item stands by itself or is the first in a sub-sequence, and that it has no antecedent.

The Begin Date field may be filled in only if you are in a plan (remember, a template can have no actual dates).  If you're doing a plan, you need fill in only that date, or those dates, from which others will be calculated.

- Secondary Fields-

The foregoing fields, all of which are displayed when you enter the plan screen, are all you may need to use.  The rest of the fields, accessed by using the right arrow key or the left-right scroll bar, are optional.

The # of Days field is this event's length in days.  Be sure that if you enter 2 or more, you have also designated a multi-day type of event at the Event Type field.

The Rmndr Intvl is the number of days between a reminder and the Begin Date shown on this line.  If you want a reminder to be set for this event, enter the appropriate number of days before the Begin Date.

The Begin Time, End Time, and Alarm Time items are self-explanatory.

The Notes field is essentially a second line for the Event Description field.  Use it only if you just can't adequately describe the event with 36 or fewer characters in the Event Description field.  Please note the the Notes field should contain no more than 36 characters; characters beyond that number will not appear on reports.

One other use of this Notes field is to pass the program a "SkipTo" command, forcing it to erase all Begin Date fields between two given lines.  The effect of the "SkipTo" command is similar to your manually erasing the Prime Intvl and Begin Date fields on each of the lines you want skipped, which causes the information on each line to be excluded from the program's main calendar (since an event must have a date in order to appear on the main calendar).  If, for instance, you want the program to fill in no Begin Dates (or erase whatever dates may already be there) from line 6 to line 9, you could place into the Notes field on line 6 this command:

SkipTo 10

Note that "SkipTo" is one word.  This command tells the program to skip to line 10 without calculating any dates on lines 6, 7, 8, or 9.  By the way, "SkipTo End" will cause the program to skip to the very end of the plan, erasing any Begin Dates that may have been present on the intervening lines.

- USING A PLAN -

Once you have a plan's sequence of events filled in (whether "from scratch" or from a template), merely fill in an actual date at the first item's Begin Date field and press the Save button.  The program will then calculate all related dates and return you to the Main Screen.


General Ledger

This item is available only if you have the BillPower software.

Setting up a Chart of Accounts

To set up your chart of accounts, select  Edit | GenLedger  at the Main Screen's menu.  You will be presented with a grid, each line of which will contain information about an account.  If you wish to use double-entry accounting, organize your chart of accounts so that all debit accounts appear first, before your credit accounts.

Editorial: Double-entry is an ancient time-consuming means of double-checking the accuracy of the arithmetic used in keeping a business's books.  In the age of computers, which don't make arithmetic errors, tradition is not a good enough reason to stick with an outmoded system.  If you have old double-entry habits that die hard, or if your banker or accountant requires you to keep your books in this manner, BillPower will accommodate you.  But you shouldn't try double-entry bookkeeping unless you have both a clear need for it and a clear understanding of its underlying principles.

Enter only accounts into this grid.  The term "account" implies a body of money.  A bank account is an example, as is your account with a stockbroker.  Don't enter information regarding income and expense categories, since they have a grid of their own (see Entering and Editing Categories).  An Income/expense category is not an actual body of money (account); rather, it represents only the type of transaction that occurs within or among accounts.  With BillPower, you don't even need a chart of accounts to track your income and expense transactions, since the list of those categories is kept separate from the list of accounts.

- Account ID:  A short name for the account.  You may use up to twelve characters, but try to limit yourself to eight, since some reports, in the interest of saving space, will display only the first eight characters of an account's ID.

The sample chart of accounts accompanying the program provides a good example.  Note the scheme by which Account IDs are assigned.  Prefixes are used to identify accounts that are related in some fashion.  The three trust accounts, for example, all have IDs beginning with "T-".  That's because, though you may be charting each of these accounts separately, your bank (where the money is really kept) might actually be keeping all these funds in a single account.  By giving them a common prefix, you can subsequently produce a report that includes all transactions involving all related accounts, but no others.  For example, to prepare a report showing transactions involving all trust accounts, and trust accounts only, you would go the GenLedger Report routine and fill in the "Affected Acct" item with "T-", since all your trust accounts contain that common sequence.  The resulting report would include only those transactions affecting accounts whose IDs contained "T-".  Of course, you could be more specific on the report if you specified "T-SMIJOH", instead of "T-".  That would result in a report showing only transactions involving the John Smith Trust Account.

- Account Name:  The full name of the account, including any bank number associated with it.

- Type:  If you're using this program as a double-entry bookkeeping system, you should enter here the character of this account.  Use "C" for credit, or "D" for debit.  Note that, contrary to your intuition, you use a debit account for Assets, and a credit account for liabilities (remember, the same people who dreamed up double-entry accounting gave us this apparent paradox).  If you don't care about double-entry bookkeeping, just leave this item blank.

- Enter Account Balances:  Normally, you should not alter account balances manually, because the program will handle that for you automatically as you make entries into the system.  But on rare occasions, you may need to have access to a manual method.  If you absolutely need to enter an account's balance manually, check this box.  When you do, a Balance column will open up.  The only times you should need to use this option are when you are initially setting up your accounts and when you have deleted an account and need to re-establish it.


Message Center and Sign Out
Message Center & Sign-Out Board

The Message Center and Sign-Out Board modules are available if  the program has been properly set up for use on a network  and only if all users of the program have been entered into the person list found on the Configuration screen.

- Message Center -

The Message Center, intended for "while you were out" messages, is where you may create messages to be sent to other users on the network, and where you may read messages that have been sent to you.  A shortcut for accessing this facility is to press Ctrl-M at the Main Screen.  When you enter the Message Center, you will be presented with a screen that lists your messages.  Pressing the envelope icon at the top of the screen (or pressing Ctrl-M again) will take you immediately to a new Message Detail screen.  If  you prefer to view one of the messages on the Message Center screen, you may do so by double-clicking on the line containing its brief description.

The items on the Message Detail screen (the screen at which you enter a new message or read the detail of an old one) are generally self-explanatory.  The Subject field is the source of the brief description that appears on the Message Center screen after the message has been sent.  If you don't fill in the Subject field, the program will automatically assume that you want a portion of the Message field's first line to be used as the subject.

After you read a message, it will by default be tagged as having been read, and it will be date- and time-stamped, so that the sender will know when you read it.  All messages tagged as having been read by you will be moved to the bottom of your Message Center screen, clearing space at the top for new (unread) messages sent to you.  Also appearing at the bottom of the screen will be messages you have sent to others.  You may move messages you've received from the top to the bottom of the screen by dragging them with your mouse.  Note that this dragging facility works only for messages sent to you; it does not work for messages you send to others, which will always appear at the bottom of the screen.

Any message you send through the Message Center will appear at its recipient's computer screen within a minute of your sending it, assuming that the recipient is running this program either in the foreground (visible on his screen) or in the background (minimized).

In order to conserve disk space and to minimize file access times, a message will be automatically deleted from the system twenty days after being written.  But, if you don't want to wait that long, you may delete a message from your Message Center screen by pressing the Del key when its one-line description is highlighted or by dragging the message to the trash icon at the top of the screen.  You may also call the full message to the screen (by double-clicking it) and then selecting the "Delete message" check box.  Note that deleting an item sent to you will result in its disappearing from your Message Center screen, but it will not disappear from the sender's screen until it is actually deleted there.

If disk space and message access time are not concerns, you may increase the automatic deletion interval from twenty days to whatever you wish.  To do so, use the  /EM=XX   parameter  (see Setting Other Configuration Parameters at Start-up).

- Sign-Out Board -

The Sign-Out Board allows you to enter information about where you may be found when you leave the office and when you expect to return.  A shortcut for accessing this facility is to press Ctrl-S at the Main Screen.  When you enter the Sign Out Board, you will be presented with a listing that shows all the people who have signed out and when each will return.  Clicking the door icon at the top of the Sign-Out Board (or pressing Ctrl-S again) will automatically sign you in if you had been signed out; if you have not signed out, clicking the door icon (or pressing Ctrl-S) will tell the program that you wish to do so, and you will be taken to a Sign-Out Detail screen.  Double-clicking your line on the Sign-Out Board is another way to sign yourself in or out.

Double-clicking on someone else's line will allow you to sign him out.  If he's already signed out, double-clicking on his line will take you to his Sign-Out Detail screen, where you can read the complete detail that he entered when he signed out.

Note that anybody in the office may sign anybody else in or out.  To do so, simply double-click on that person's line on the Sign Out Board.  Alternately, you my sign someone in or out by dragging that person's line to the door icon at the top of the screen.  Whenever you sign someone else out, the program will automatically display that fact on the detailed Sign-Out Detail screen for that other person.

Each morning, all people tracked by this program will initially be listed on the Sign-Out Board as "not signed in".  If it weren't for this notice, you wouldn't know whether someone who has nothing by his name hasn't shown up today or whether he has shown up, but hasn't signed out.  When a person shows up for work in the morning, he should sign himself in by either clicking the door icon or double-clicking his line on the Sign-Out Board.  Since his line will then have neither "not signed in" nor any other sign-out information, anyone glancing at the Sign-Out Board will then know that he is somewhere in the office.


InfoBases

Some versions of this software include an InfoBase module.  Here, you may create simple databases of information you may wish to track.  Client, calendar, log, or phone book information is best maintained in the section of the program specifically intended for it, not here.  But if you need to track such things as catalogs of books, professional organization rosters, etc., the InfoBase module may suit you very well.

As you enter this module, you will be asked to designate the infobase you wish to access.  If you designate one that does not exist, you'll be asked whether you want to create it.  When you answer, "yes", you'll be brought to the module's main screen, which displays a single line of information from each record in the infobase.  If this is a new infobase, the display will be blank, and you'll want to enter a few records.  To do so, click the lighted bulb icon at the top of the screen, or simply press the "M" (for "make new record") key.

Before entering any actual records into the infobase, you'll first be taken to a screen where you will give a name to each field to be used in the infobase.  If you don't want to use a particular field, simply remove its name entirely.

After completing the field headings set-up screen, you'll be taken to the infobase's first blank record, where you can fill in some actual data.  Note that an infobase may hold only text.  Each of a record's ten short fields may contain up to 65 characters, and the note field may hold up to 18 lines.  If you enter a date or a number into a field, the program will not know it as such, because the program sees only text.  So, if you think that you might ever want to sort on a field intended to hold a date, make sure that the dates you enter into all records conform to a format that can be sorted alphanumerically.  For instance, you might enter June 12, 1999 as "99/06/12" (or just "990612"), which places the year first, month second, and day third -- perfect for sorting!  Enter times in 24 hour format.  For example, 3:20PM would be entered as "1530", while 3:20AM would be entered as "0320" (not just "320" ).  With a little ingenuity, you will be able to design a text-based format for nearly any kind of data that may need to be entered.   And if you would like the program to provide an input "mask", see Text Masks, below.

When you return to the main infobase screen, you'll find that the record just entered is summarized on a single line.  But the field widths may not be what you want.  To change a field's width, click just inside the right boundary of the field name at the top of the screen, and drag the boundary to the left or right.  If you're on a standalone computer, a field's width will become a permanent part of this infobase as soon as you finish dragging it left or right.  If you're on a network, however, it will be only temporary, unless you use the  View | Save Field Widths  menu option (but the only ones who may use this option are the program's "main user" and the person who originally created the infobase).

You may sort the infobase on any of its fields.  To do so, simply click the field name at the top of the screen.  Tagging records for future deletion is also simple; just highlight the record and press the Del key .  To "un-tag" an event for deletion, you must first select the  View | All Records menu option, since the program normally displays only those records not tagged for deletion.  Then, highlight the record to be un-tagged and press the Del key again.

If you select the  File | Print Selected Records menu option at the top of the main InfoBase screen, one of two things will happen.  If just one record is highlighted, that record's complete detail will print.  But if more than one record are highlighted, the printout will consist of only the information that is contained on the main InfoBase screen.

- Text Masks -

For each of the first ten fields in an InfoBase record, you may use a "mask" to restrict the characters that can be entered and to force the field into a certain format.  If you attempt to enter an invalid character (one not allowed by the mask), the field will not accept it.

To designate a field's mask (and assuming that you're not already at the field heading edit screen), select  Edit | Field Headings  from the main InfoBase screen's menu.  At the edit screen, place a field's mask within {} (squiggly brackets) at the end of your input for the field's heading.  For example, if the first field's heading is to be "Date" and you want to force a certain format for the entry of a date, you might make this entry for the first field:

Date{00/00/00}

A zero (0) in a mask forces the user to enter a numeric character into the field at that position.  A zip code might be

Zip Code{00000-9999}

A nine (9) in a mask permits, but does not force, a numeric character (remember, a zero forces a numeric character).  Here are some other useful field names and masks:

Phone Number{(000) 000-0000}

Time{00:00}

Date and Time{00/00/00, 00:00}

Social Security Number{000-00-0000}

To force the entry of an alphabetic character into a field's mask, use L. To permit, but not force, the entry of an alphabetic character into a field's mask, use l (lowercase L).  To force the entry of either a number or an alphabetic character, use A.  To merely permit such a character, use a.


Program Configuration

- Persons -

Here, fill in the initials and names of the people you will be tracking with the program.  You may also designate identifying initials for resources, such as rooms, autos, etc.  If you have the BillPower program, you will also be able to enter up to five hourly billing rates for each person whose work you intend to track.  That way, when you set up a project, you may tell the program which billing rate (Rate 1, Rate 2, etc.) should be used for the work done in its behalf.

- Groups -

If you often find yourself entering events for the same set of people, you may benefit from pre-defining them as a group.  That way, when you are entering an event for the group, you may substitute the group's initials for the listing of its constituents.

To define a group in the program configuration routine , simply enter some convenient identifying initials for that group.  Then enter the initials of each group member (up to fifteen), using commas to separate them.

- First Day of the Week -

Select whether you want Sunday or Monday to appear at the left of any calendars displayed by the program.

- AutoUpdate GL -

Available only if you have the BillPower software, this option allows you to automatically update an account in the general ledger whenever you enter a disbursement or receipt into the program.  For instance, if you want to update the balance in your checking account when you spend money, you have two options: 1) make a disbursement entry and then make a separate entry to update your checking account's balance in the general ledger; or 2) make a single disbursement entry that will automatically update the checking account.

If you select this item, the program will display a GL account item on its receipt and disbursement screens.  Thus, whenever you make a disbursement or receipt, you will have the option on the screen of filling in the GL account that is affected by the entry you are making.  Note that the program will even suggest the account to update if you have set up your categories accordingly, filling in each category's "Affected Acct" item.

- Double-Entry -

Available only if you have the BillPower software, this option tells the program to allow you to adjust a second GL account whenever you adjust any other.  Most people don't really need double-entry bookkeeping , but if you do, select this item.

- Time / Date Format -

Your choice here determines whether the program displays time in 12- or 24-hour format and whether it accepts dates entered in the MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY format.

- Special Daily Info -

You may have the program display religious holy days.  If you choose Muslim or Jewish, the program will display the Muslim or Jewish date in addition to holy days.  If you select Sunrise/Sunset, be ready to enter your local coordinates; without them, the program can't calculate this information, so refer to an atlas for accurate figures.  The format for your entry is "X:DDD:MM:SS", where X is either "W" or "E" (depending upon your location's direction from Greenwich, England) or "N" or "S" (north or south of the equator).  "DDD" is the number of full degrees, while MM and SS are minutes and seconds.  If used on a network, only the Main User may alter the latitude and longitude items.

By default, the program will display this information only on the screen.  If you want any of this information to appear on reports, select the bottom item, Also Include on Reports.

-  Active Day -

Here, enter the begin and end times of your work day.  What you enter here will determine the portion of the day that the program scans for free time (during the Find Free Time routine), as well as how much total time is spanned in the program's displays of daily partitions (should you elect to use them).

If you elect daily partitions, you must specify how many minutes are to be in each partition.  If your day is most conveniently divided into half-hour chunks, enter "30".  That will result in the program's dividing each screen listing of daily events into 30-minute blocks.

- Prompt For -

If you intend to use the program to sound alarms, select Event Alarms.  Fill in the number of Alarm Beeps you want the program to produce when an alarm falls due.  If you have a favorite multimedia sound or other file that you would like to substitute for beeps when an alarm falls due, just enter its complete path and file name (e.g., c:\windows\chimes.wav), instead of the number of beeps.  Of course, your computer must be properly equipped for the type of multimedia you select.

If you want the program to suggest an alarm time whenever an event is entered, fill in the Pre-Interval you wish the program to use.  For instance, if you want the program to suggest alarm times that fall twenty minutes before the begin times, fill in "20".

Sometimes, you may not be near enough to your desk to hear the alarm when it sounds.  In that case, you may want the alarm to re-arm itself immediately after it sounds so that it may attempt attracting your attention a few minutes later.  If that's the case, fill in the Re-Alarm Interval (in minutes) you wish to use.

- Reminders -

A reminder is a warning that is set days, weeks, or months, in advance of an event.   It is not an alarm (which will audibly notify you of an event at a predetermined time); rather it is just a note on your calendar that a certain event will occur on a certain date in the future.  Any time you create or modify an event in this program, you may set that event's reminder date, but only if the event's actual date of occurrence is two or more days beyond today's date.  If this Reminders item is checked, the program will allow you to use the Tab key to land upon the Reminder Date field in the event entry screen.  If this item is not checked, the only way to enter the Reminder Date field in the event entry screen will be to use your mouse.

- Daily Event Dragging -

Let's say you have a Deadline set for today, but that you haven't taken care of it.  When you load the program tomorrow morning, wouldn't it be nice if were to be automatically dragged forward to today's schedule?  That way, you'll never have to worry about forgetting something that's overdue.  Things that are overdue would just be added to each new day's schedule.  That would provide you an automated "To-Do" list that's completely integrated into the schedule.  One screen display or printout is all you need each day to see what you have to do (whereas, with other programs, you'd have to produce at least two displays/printouts: a schedule and a to-do list).

If you like the idea of event dragging, select the Drag Events item.  Note that the only events that will be dragged forward from day to day are those whose "Drag Forward" items were selected at the times those events were entered into the database (by default, a Deadline or Gotta-Do has its "Drag Forward" item selected automatically, and you may de-select it if you wish).

If you also want reminders to be dragged forward, select the Drag Reminders item.  A reminder, by the way, is a warning that is set days, weeks, or months, in advance of an event.  A reminder date is selected at the time you enter an event into the system.

If you also want each of your plans' deadlines to be dragged forward, select the Drag Plan Deadlines item.  But don't do so until you're familiar with templates and plans .  Briefly, a plan is a sequence of related events, each separated from another by a specific number of days or months.  A plan may be based upon a generic template, or it may be specially set up on its own

By default, events and their reminders will be dragged forward automatically each morning.  If you prefer that the program display each deadline/reminder to you and request a confirmation before dragging it forward, select Confirm All Dragging.

- Display Day of Year -

If this item is selected, each day on the Main Screen's calendar will contain that day's Julian date (the number of days from January 1 to that day).

- Display Week of Year -

If this item is selected, the first day of each week on the Main Screen's calendar will contain that week's number in the year.

- Tax -

Available only if you have the BillPower software, this item specifies the tax rate at which you will be charging your clients for services performed.  The figure you enter should be a percentage (e.g., 7.5 percent should be entered as 7.5, not .075).  If you make an entry here, it will be the presumptive rate at which the program will tax services, unless a particular service's category has its own individual tax rate (see Category Tax Rate).  Only if you make an entry here will the program display a Tax Rate and a Tax field on the service entry screen.

-Interest-Free Intvl -

Available only if you have the BillPower software, this item is used in conjunction with each project's APR item.  The APR item tells the program the annual rate of interest to charge a client for his outstanding debt.  That amount is calculated from the date a bill is prepared, plus an interest-free interval (allowing time for the bill to arrive at your client's office, be processed, and paid).  Here, fill in the number of days following a bill's preparation that you want to elapse before interest begins to accrue.

-Minimum Time Charged -

These items affect how much a client will be charged whenever you do work for him.  The entries you make here, if any, should be in hours, not minutes (e.g., 15 minutes would be entered as 0.25).

The first item tells the program to charge the client as if at least the specified amount of time had been spent on his behalf whenever a service is performed.  If you enter 0.25, for instance, the client will be charged as if at least one-quarter hour had been worked whenever you perform a service for him, even if you actually  spend only one minute.

The second item tells the program to charge for blocks of time, rather than for minutes.  Normally, the program charges in intervals of one minute, but you may increase that interval by making an entry into the second item here.  If, for instance, you entered 0.1 (one-tenth of an hour, the equivalent of  six minutes), the program would know that it is to charge a client for an entire six-minute block whenever the amount of time you spend working for him is equal to, or greater than, the threshold of  that six-minute block.  For instance, if you spent 27 minutes on a client's behalf, he would be charged for half an hour, since 27 minutes lies within the 25-30 minute block of time.

Note that neither of these items affects the actual amount of time reflected on the record you are entering.  The only effect will be upon the automatic calculation of the amount charged for the work reflected on that record.

- Request Password -

If this item is selected, the program will request a password whenever it is loaded into memory.  You may change the password at any time by selecting Tools | Password at the Main Screen's menu.

- Fill in Month's Daily Squares -

When the Main Screen is displayed, the left side consists of a calendar.  By default, each day contains a graphical representation of what is scheduled that day (either time blocks or pictures ).  But it takes time to display each day's information, since the entire database must be scoured for the events falling on that day.  To save time, you may wish to de-select this item, which will result in the calendar's being displayed much more quickly, since it will not be displaying daily time blocks.

- Term Substitutions -

The program offers the option of re-naming several of its terms.  Don't actually make any changes until you've gained some experience with the program.  The "Misc 1".. "Misc 8" items are for the headings of the eight customizable miscellaneous fields  on each Project's information screen (for users of  BillPower or Client Tracks).  Bear in mind that a name change does not affect the behavior of the item being renamed.  For instance, a Gotta-Do will remain a one-day deadline-type event, even if it has been renamed "Gotcha".

- Setting Other Configuration Parameters at Start-up -

There are some less commonly used configuration parameters that are not set at the Configuration screen.  Instead, they are set at the program's start-up by the program properties you designate for Windows to load the program.  To modify the program properties, do the following:

A)  Point to the shortcut icon.

B) Right-click on the shortcut icon and then select the Properties item in the menu that appears.

C) The "Properties" box will then open.  After "ULTIMATE.EXE" at the Target item, add a space and any of the following commands, each separated from the others by a space:

/CP=X	Sets the check-writing printer for BillPower.  X is the position occupied by the desired printer in your list of printers (which is obtained whenever you attempt to modify the Printer Setup in any Windows program).

/PU	Prevents unauthorized users on a network from modifying events already entered.  Normally, any user may modify any event.  If you use this /PU switch, the only users who will be able to modify an event are the one who originally entered the event and the one for whom the event was entered.

/NA	In a network environment, whenever you make changes to another user's schedule, the program will automatically refresh that other person's screen within one minute, allowing him to keep abreast of the changes.  But nobody else's screen will be refreshed, since the changes did not involve anyone else.  If you would like everybody's screens to be refreshed whenever you make a change to anybody's schedule, use this /NA parameter.

/NU	In a network environment, whenever you make changes to another user's schedule, the program will automatically refresh that other person's screen within one minute, allowing him to keep abreast of the changes.  But you might not be satisified with a simple screen refresh, which the other person may not notice.  If you would like the program to also present that other person with a pop-up notification of the change you have made, use this /NU parameter

/AU	Forces the program, upon initial entry, to display a calendar or log for ALL users on a network, instead of just the local user.

/WN	Prevents the program from displaying more than the first line of description for each event shown on the Weekly Calendar printout.  This option allows more events to display within each daily block.

/DV	Forces the program, upon initial entry, to default to the Detailed daily view, instead of the default Monthly view.

/CD	Prevents the program from automatically copying whatever category you select, while filling in an event entry screen, into the description field.  By default, this copying will take place.

/AD	Assuming that the program is set to copy the category to the description field (see /CD above), this item will cause the program to copy the category abbreviation, instead.

/CU	Tells the program that projects to be charged on a contingent basis are to have uplifts automatically added to their bills for all services performed.  When this parameter is used, each project screen will have an extra field, "Uplift Percentage", where you can fill in the percentage by which uplifts for services are to be calculated on bills prepared for the project.

/EM=XX	Tells the program to change the automatic message deletion interval from its default of 20 days to the number of days specified by XX.  This function is available if the software has been properly set up on a network.  Ensure that only the program's main user includes this parameter in his shortcut.

/OT	Normally, the SignOut board displays the time that a person expects to return to the office, but not the time that he signed himself out.  This  /OT  parameter tells the program to show the time that a person signs himself out.

/AM	Enables the Message Center's archive file.  Normally, messages that are deleted from the Message Center are lost forever.  But if you have sufficient disk space, you may elect to have a message saved to an archive file just before it is deleted from the primary message file.  To disable an archive that was previously enabled, substitute /DA for /AM.  These functions are available only if the software has been properly set up on a network.  Ensure that only the program's main user includes this parameter in his shortcut.

/SL+	Tells the program to write a permanent log entry every time someone is signed in or out through the SignOut board.  If this parameter is used, there will be a separate log file created for each user.  The name  of the file will be INOUTxxx.DAF (where the user's initials are substituted for xxx).  This file will be in standard ASCII text format, so it will be readable by almost any text reader, editor, or word processor.  The file will contain a chronological listing of every instance in which the user was signed in or out by anyone in the office.  This /SL+ parameter needs to be used just once by any user; after this single use, the logging function will be permanently invoked for all users, until someone uses the /SL- parameter (again, just once) to turn it off permanently for all users.  By the way, if you prefer that a single log file be kept for all users, instead of one for each user, you may use /SLO+ (or /SLO- to turn it off); doing so will cause a file named INOUT.DAF to be amended each time anyone signs in or out.

/LE	Normally, the sign-out board will display everyone's status, whether he has signed out or not.  If you would prefer a display of only those people who have signed out, use this  /LE parameter.  Doing so will cause the program to default to such a display.  By the way, regardless of whether you enter the program with the /LE parameter, once the sign-out board is displayed, you may toggle between the two views (everyone, or only those who have signed out) by pressing Ctrl-A.

/SI-	By default, the program will automatically place a not signed in notation next to each persons name on the SignOut board at the beginning of each day.  This notation will be added just after midnight if a computer is kept on overnight; otherwise, it will be added when the first person in the office  enters the program in the morning.  If you would prefer that this notation not be added, just add the /SL- parameter to the shortcut on one of the workstations.  If you subsequently want to reinstate the notation, replace /SL- with /SL+.  Note that this /SL- parameter may be useful if you have a network whose workstations cannot be time-synched.  On such a network, it is possible that some users computers will maintain an incorrect date.  That will cause the program to flush the SignOut board with not signed in notations when one of these people enters the program with an incorrect date.  Then, when someone with the correct date enters the program, the SignOut board would flush again.  This flushing process could occur many times per day on networks whose workstations clocks are not accurate.

/BA	Useful only if you have the BillPower software.  During a mass billing, a bill normally will be prepared for only those projects whose current balances fall between low and high figures that you specify just before you begin the billing process.  But perhaps you also want to bill projects for which there was some activity since their last bills, despite whether or not their balances lie between the low and high figures you set.  That way, you will be properly acknowledging the activity, such as the payment of an outstanding bill that brings the balance down to zero.   If, during a mass billing, in addition to billing all projects whose current balances fall between the low and high figures you specify, you also want to bill every project which has had activity since the last bill for it was prepared (despite what its current balance might be), use this  /BA  parameter.

/ET=xx	Allows the program to automatically suggest an end time whenever you enter a begin time at the event entry screen.  The suggested end time will always be xx minutes after the begin time, and  you may, of course, override the suggestion at the time you enter the event.

/SQ	Allows the program to print time partitions on its "Standard Listing" and "Week Calendar" reports if a partition interval is specified at the program's Configuration screen.

/AC	Normally, the program displays time blocks for all event types in the same color (on the left side of the split-screen Main Screen).  If this  /AC  parameter is used, you will be offered the option to set a different color for each event type when you select the  Tools | Change Colors  menu option at the top of the Main Screen.

/EC	Similar to the use of the /AC parameter described above, except that this /EC parameter tells the program to display a different color for each of the first eight people listed in the program's Configuration routine .  If this  /EC  parameter is used, you will be offered the option to set a different color for each person when you select the  Tools | Change Colors  menu option at the top of the Main Screen.

/SC	Using this option will cause the program to automatically add a client's name, address and phone number to an event's description field whenever you enter a new  calendar event that involves a project.

/PP	By default, the Client Tracks software maintains a Phonebook database that is separate from the Project (or client) database.  Though you may directly copy an individual record's data from the project database to the phonebook database (using the Duplicate menu option at the top of the Project edit screen), you may find it more convenient to simply use the same database for both you Phonebook entries and your Projects.  To do so, use this  /PP  parameter.

- Adding Location and Return Time drop-down lists to the Sign-Out Detail Screen -

At the program's Sign-Out Detail screen, you may find it useful to use two optional drop-down lists, one for return time and one for location.  The program will automatically display these listings if you will create the two appropriate data files.  Use the Windows Notepad program to create the files in the same folder that contains the program's data (the one to which the  /md=  parameter points in the program's shortcut).

For a Location drop-down list, create a file named PLACE.DAF.  Each line of the file should contain a potential sign-out destination.  For a Return Time drop-down list, create a file named RETURNTM.DAF, and place a different return time on each line.


Preserving Your Data

The importance of backing up your data on a regular basis cannot be overemphasized.  Someday, your hard disk will fail, or your data will otherwise be scrambled or lost, and you had better be prepared.

Each and every day, you should faithfully back up all crucial data to either floppy disks or a tape.  Don't use the same disks or tape every day.  Instead, rotate among several sets of disks or tapes, using a different one each day.  That way, when you need to restore and one or two disks or tapes are faulty, you will still have others that will probably be intact.  One tape or set of disks should be set aside for each day of the week.  On Monday, use the Monday set; on Tuesday, the Tuesday set; and so, on.  Also maintain a set for the end of the last month.

Ideally, you should back up your entire hard disk every day.  But, if you find that to be a rather onerous task, you should at least back up this program's data files.  Assuming that the program's data is kept on drive C, the database files you need to back up are designated as:

C:\INTEGRA\*.DA*

C:\INTEGRA\PROJNOTE\*.DA*

C:\INTEGRA\PROJPLAN\*.DA*

C:\INTEGRA\BULLETIN\*.DA*


Installation (Including Network Setup)

- Basic Installation -

If you have already executed the SETUP.EXE routine, this software has already been installed, so please skip to the Network Installation section below.

If you have not executed  SETUP.EXE, you will probably want to set up a Windows icon for the program.  To do so, read on.

- Shortcut (Icon) Creation -

The program's files should be located in an INTEGRA directory (folder) on your hard disk.  Now, to complete the basic setup:

       1) Point to the Start button on the Task Bar.  When you  RIGHT-click the mouse, a menu will appear.  Select "Open" on the menu.

       2) A "Start Menu" box will appear.  Double-click on the "Programs" folder.

       3) A "Programs" box will appear, showing the sub-folders currently included within the Programs folder.  Double-click on the folder in which you wish to include this program.

       4) A box showing the programs contained within the folder will appear.  Select   File | New   at the box's pull-down menu.  Then, select "Shortcut" at the sub-menu that appears.

       5) A "Create Shortcut" box will appear.  Into the "Target" item, type

C:\INTEGRA\ULTIMATE.EXE

       6) Then, you'll be asked to select a name or title for this program or shortcut.  Type in anything that is meaningful to you.

       7) The new program will then be added to the folder.  Point to it and RIGHT-Click.  In the menu that appears, select "Properties".

       8) A "Properties" box will appear.  Select the "Shortcut" tab and then press the "Change Icon" button.  When the "Change Icon" box appears, type

C:\INTEGRA\ULTIMATE.ICO

and press the OK button.

       9) Back at the Properties box, press the "Apply" button and then the OK button.

- Network Installation -

Running the program on a network requires only minor modifications to the shortcut creation described above.   But first, you need to synchronize the date and time across your network, hopefully with a permanent automated process provided by your network (if no such process is provided, you should check each workstation individually).  Then, add to the programs shortcut a few items of information that let the program know 1) where to locate the data files, 2) who the MAIN user is, and 3) who THIS user is.  You do so by adding some parameters to the shortcut's "properties".

First , we shall set up the Main User's machine.  Decide who will be primarily responsible for this program within your office and designate him as the Main User.  Then, go to his computer and do the following:

A) Point to the program's shortcut.

B) Right-click on the shortcut icon and then select the Properties item in the menu that appears.

C) The "Properties" box will then open.  After "ULTIMATE.EXE" at the Target item, add a space and then the following three items (each separated from the others by a space):

 /MD=x:\xxxxxx   is the parameter defining the Main Directory where the program's data files

are to be found (x:\xxxxxx being the drive and directory (folder)

designations).  All workstations must have this parameter in their 	shortcuts.

 /MU=xxx             is the parameter defining the Main User (xxx being his initials).  The

main user is the one who is responsible for the program.  He is the

only one who will be able to use a couple of the program's

customization and file clean-up options.  All workstations must have	this parameter in their shortcuts

 /TU=xxx             is the parameter defining This User (xxx being his initials).  All workstations 	must have this parameter in their shortcuts.

For example, you would enter at the "Target" field:

                  F:\INTEGRA\ULTIMATE.EXE    /MD=F:\INTEGRA    /MU=ABC    /TU=XYZ

if you wished to locate the data files in the INTEGRA directory (folder) on drive F, the Main User's initials were ABC, and This User's initials were XYZ. .  Note that the "Target" field on each and every workstation must have all three parameters ( /MD=  ,   /MU=  , and   /TU= ).  Note that this example assumes that the program (ULTIMATE.EXE), itself, is located on the server, in the same directory used for the data (F:\INTEGRA).  But the program may actually be placed anywhere, on any drive.  It is most convenient to keep only one copy of the program on the network, since updating to future releases will in that case involve replacing only one copy.  But if your network is slow, the program may perform more quickly if you install a separate copy onto each user's computer (e.g.,  C:\INTEGRA).

After saving the modified properties, be sure that you subsequently use this shortcut to enter the program.  No other shortcut that you may find in the Windows environment will have these properties.  Do not assume that just selecting this program's name from some list in Windows will cause this shortcut to be executed.  Take note of where this shortcut is being stored or displayed; use it, and it alone.

After saving the modified properties, you may have a couple of other minor things to do.  One is to give everybody ALL network rights in the shared directory.  With Novell, for example, these rights are called "supervisor" rights.  And if youre going to be using the program on a Novell network, be sure to use the FLAG routine to make all the program's files as "sharable" immediately after installation onto the server.

Some networks, such as LANtastic, may, by default, be using a program called SHARE, which might prevent more than one person from using the program at the same time.  If you find that only one person is able to use the program at any given time, try removing SHARE from the environment on each computer in the office, as well as from the network's environment.

As suggested near the beginning of this section, because this program is designed to maintain accurately timed information, it is essential that all computers on the network maintain a common date and time.  So, you should attempt to SYNCHRONIZE TIME ACROSS THE NETWORK.  Failure to do so may cause the SignOut board to behave erratically in its attempt to reconcile different workstations dates/times.  Note, however, that you may avoid the erratic behavior if you use the /SI- parameter in your shortcut.

Once the Main User's machine has been set up, you are ready to handle each of the other workstations in the office.  Go to each workstation and follow the Basic Installation.  The shortcuts properties on each workstation will be almost identical to those found on the Main User's system as described above.  Assuming that all workstations refer to the server as the same drive (e.g., "F:"), the only differences among the various computers' shortcut properties will be the  /TU  item, since the local user (This User) will differ from machine to machine.

As an aside, please note that when the program is properly set up for use on a network, the Main Screen will by default initially display events for only the local user (the one whose initials accompany the  /TU=  parameter).  But you may quickly switch to a view of any other person's (or persons') events by pressing the letter "O" (or by selecting  View | One  at the menu) and designating the appropriate information.  You may change to another person even more quickly by pressing one of the number keys (1..9).  Pressing "1", for instance, will show you the events for the first person whose name and initials are listed in the configuration routine.  Pressing "0" (zero) will instantly cause the program to display everyone's events.  No other program provides easier access to the schedule of each individual (or combination of individuals) in your group.  And, by the way, if you prefer that the program always default to an initial view of all users' events, simply add the   /AU   parameter to the shortcut's "Target" field.

- Exchanging Data Among Computers -

If you take your computer on trips, you will probably want to take your schedule with you.  Ideally, you would have access to the main office's database anytime you wish by simply logging into the office network.  But if you don't always have access to the network, it might be useful to keep a separate copy of the schedule on your computer and work with it for a day or two, making whatever new entries may be needed.  Then, whenever it's convenient, you could log into the main office's network, merge your new entries into its database, and then copy its updated files back to your computer.  This merging process will ensure that the main office's schedule reflects your new entries, and it will result in your having a fresh duplicate of that schedule -- which might include new entries exported by other remote users -- on your computer.

Please note that, with few exceptions, the only items merged from your computer to the main office's will be new projects and events.  In this instance, the term new applies to any project or event created on your machine since the last time you merged data to the main machine or copied the main machine's database to yours.  Events and projects that are already on the main office's computer, but simply modified on yours, should not as a rule be merged from your computer to the main office's.  Why?  Because it is impossible to manage all the possible things that can happen to divergent databases located on different machines in different places.  For instance, imagine that you change an event on your computer, while someone else in another location makes a different change to that same event and yet another person actually eliminates it from the main office's database.  Despite claims or implications to the contrary, no program in the world will provide a merge that can satisfy everyone's expectations in this case.

In addition to all new events and projects, this program will attempt to merge altered calendar (but not log) events to the main computer.  But there are a couple of things to bear in mind.  First, if two or more remote users alter the same event, the last of them to merge his records will be the one whose altered event overwrites all others.  Second, if at the time a merge takes place, an event altered remotely has already been eliminated from the main office database, the altered event merged from the remote will be appended to the main office database as if it were a new event.

Please also note these additional limitations:  1) while any new calendar event will be merged into the main office's database, the program will merge only those new log events that you have entered for today or a date within last 20 days; 2) entries into a project's Notes field will not be merged (project notes will remain private to the remote computer).

Now, let's discuss how to set up a remote computer so that it can merge data with the main office's database.  If done properly, the merging process will occur automatically whenever the program, as it is starting, detects that it is on the main office's network.  In order to achieve this seamless process, you must set up your remote computer's shortcut as if the program were always on a network (even though it might not actually be).  Follow the instructions in the preceding section to designate   /MD=     /MU=    and    /TU=    parameters on the shortcut's "Target" field:

 /MD=x:\xxxxxx   is the parameter defining the Main Directory on the main office's server 	where the program's data files are to be found.  For instance, if this 	remote computer referred to the main office's server as drive F, then 	this parameter might be  /MD=F:\INTEGRA.

 /MU=xxx             is the parameter defining the Main User (xxx being his initials).  The

main user is the one who is responsible for the program, and he 	probably works at the main office.  He is the only one who will be able 	to use a couple of the program's file clean-up options.

 /TU=xxx             is the parameter defining This User (xxx being his initials).

To these three parameters, add two others:

 /RD=x:\xxxxxx   is the parameter defining the Remote Data directory; in other words, the 	place on this remote computer where its copy of the database will be 	maintained.  An example:   /RD=C:\INTEGRA.

/EX	tells the program that it is to automatically merge your new events and projects 	with the main office's database whenever a link to the main office 	is detected as the program is started.

Here is what the "Target" field might look like on a typical remote laptop:

c:\integra\ultimate.exe    /md=f:\integra    /mu=abc    /tu=xyz    /rd=c:\integra    /ex

This Target  tells Windows that the program is found on drive C in the INTEGRA directory (folder).  It also tells the program to look first for its data in   F:\INTEGRA   on the network server.  If it can't find data there (in other words, if there's no link between this computer and the main office's network), it should then look to the remote data directory  (C:\INTEGRA)  on this remote computer.  Since this Target contains the  /EX  parameter, the program will automatically merge new events and projects from  C:\INTEGRA   to  F:\INTEGRA   if, as the program is starting, it detects that a link actually exists between this remote computer and the network.  Any work done in a session during which a network link exists will be saved to the network's server at the main office, not to your local hard disk; otherwise, if no network link has been established, work will be saved in the   C:\INTEGRA   directory on this remote machine.

Whether or not you are hooked to the main office's network, you should always use the same shortcut to enter the program.  The shortcut's Target parameters tell the program how to behave when there's a network link and when there's no such link.  Just remember that if no network link exists when the program is started, work will be saved to your local hard disk (designated by the  /RD=  parameter).  If, on the other hand, a network link does exist when the program is started, new events and projects will be merged to the main office's machine, and all work done during that session will be saved directly to the main office database.  For that reason, you should always remember to copy the main computer's database back to your local drive as you exit the program.  If you always use the  File | Exit  menu item to exit the program, the program will never let you forget to copy the main office's database.

If you fail to copy the main database to your machine, you may be surprised to find that, when you next enter the program without a network link, some of the items you entered during the previous session will seem to have disappeared.  Of course, they'll be on the main office's machine, but you won't see them, since you're not linked to it, and since you had failed to copy the data to your remote when you were last on the network.  In order to prevent such an occurrence, you may want the program to automatically (without prompting you) copy the main office's database to your machine whenever you exit the program.  To do so, simply add the  /CM  parameter to the shortcut's "Target" field.

- Automatically Running the Program -

If you want the program to be run automatically whenever you enter Windows, copy the new icon to the Startup group.  If you don't already have a Startup group,

       A) Go to the Program Manager and select   File | New   at the menu bar.

       B) At the New Program Object box, select "Program Group" and press OK.  A "Program Group Properties" box will then open. Enter the following:

                Description:           STARTUP

                Group File:            (leave Group File blank)

       C) Press OK.

After you have a Startup group, youre ready to copy the new icon into it.  To do so, highlight the new icon.  Then select   File | Copy   at the menu bar.  A "Copy Program Item" box will open.  At the "To Group" box, enter "STARTUP", and then press OK.  That's it.  When you next enter Windows, this program will run automatically.