Software of the Month Club (Business) 1997 November

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********************************************************************** -> This file introduces BANK-PLAN, explains how to get started etc. It should be read by all first-time users. -> The file has been supplied as an integral part of the shareware version of BANK-PLAN, a cashflow planner for small businesses, specially developed for use on a 'try-before-you-buy' basis by Invest-Tech Limited. For contact details, see end of this file. -> To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT" at the DOS prompt. ********************************************************************** CONTENTS ======== This file (README.TXT) covers the following topics in separate sections below: 1. WELCOME 2. SUPPLIED FILES 3. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3.1 System requirements & set up 3.2 Features - BANK-PLAN 3.3 Features - CASH-PLAN 3.4 Help system 3.5 System requirements 3.6 Registration 3.7 Invest-Tech 4. HOW TO RUN BANK-PLAN 5. WHAT IS SHAREWARE ? 6. USER LICENCE AGREEMENT 7. SOFTWARE REVISIONS ********************************************************************** The supplied file VENDINFO.DIZ also contains important information. It can be accessed by entering READ_ME.BAT at the DOS prompt. ********************************************************************** 1. WELCOME =========== BANK-PLAN is an easy-to-use software package for preparing monthly cashflow forecasts and projections of bank balances for a small or medium-sized business for a year ahead. It helps a manager to project cash inflows & outflows; to plan and control the business's net cashflows; and to determine its likely cash position/requirements over the coming twelve months. This version of BANK-PLAN is shareware and has been developed for use on a 'try-before-you-buy' basis. If found useful, users may register to acquire the complete version of BANK-PLAN or one of our other packages for preparing financial projections. BANK-PLAN is NOT free software. If you continue using it after a 30-day trial period, you must register with the author, Invest-Tech. In return for registering, you will receive a copy of the latest release of BANK-PLAN with its printing and file options fully enabled, a spiral-bound 90-page manual incorporating tutorial exercises etc. and access to full support. Registration only costs 30 pounds (sterling or Irish) plus VAT, or US$45. Further details are contained in the REGISTER.TXT file. BANK-PLAN is fully protected by copyright. However, the shareware version may be copied in its entirety and without modification for FREE distribution to friends and, subject to the conditions set out in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, by shareware libraries, BBSs etc. BANK-PLAN was developed by Invest-Tech in association with the Small Business Development Programme of the Irish Management Institute (IMI) in Dublin, Ireland. Good luck with BANK-PLAN. Brian Flanagan, Invest-Tech Limited ********************************************************************** 2. SUPPLIED FILES ================== See VENDINFO.DIZ. ********************************************************************** 3. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ======================== BANK-PLAN is a powerful and easy-to-use software package specifically developed by Invest-Tech Limited to help small and medium-sized businesses to forecast their short-term funding requirements on the basis of cashflow projections, prepared on a monthly basis, for up to a year ahead. It can handle the wide range of variables and functions normally encountered during the preparation of cashflow forecasts and bank projections. BANK-PLAN can also be used by professional advisers, consultants, training organisations and financial institutions. It is suitable for businesses engaged in manufacturing, distribution or services. Based on your forecasts and assumptions, BANK-PLAN compiles detailed cashflow projections for twelve months ahead. It also produces reports detailing all the underlying assumptions. BANK-PLAN incorporates facilities for graphing key results; for undertaking 'what-if' analysis; and for 'rolling-forward' assumptions and projections one month at a time. BANK-PLAN is very suitable for users with limited or no prior experience of computers or financial planning as well as for more experienced users who do not wish to go to the very considerable trouble, or waste valuable time, developing their own planning system on a spreadsheet. Bear in mind that BANK-PLAN involved many hundreds of hours of development and years of "know-how". While BANK-PLAN is aimed at smaller businesses (typically with annual sales in the range of 50,000 to 2,000,000 pounds/dollars), a more powerful version, CASH-PLAN, is available for small- to medium-sized businesses and subsidiaries of larger companies. Instead of registering BANK-PLAN, a user can opt to register for CASH-PLAN. Neither BANK-PLAN nor CASH-PLAN are suitable for producing business plans, compiling financial projections beyond one year or for preparing comprehensive financial plans. Instead, a user should enquire about our EASI-PLAN range of fully-integrated 3-year planners which can produce P&Ls, balance sheets, ratios and cashflows on a monthly basis for the first year and quarterly for the full three years. 3.1 System Requirements and Set Up ----------------------------------- To run either BANK-PLAN or CASH-PLAN you need the following system: * Industry-standard PC with DOS 3.30 or higher and a hard disk. * Conventional memory of 640k. * VGA, GCA, mono, Hercules or LCD display (or equivalent). Please check the VENDINFO.DIZ file for latest information. A printer (dot-matrix, ink-jet or laser) is desirable. If you wish, you can run BANK-PLAN as a DOS program within Windows (an icon, BANKPLAN.ICO has been supplied). BANK-PLAN needs 500k, or more, of 'free' conventional memory. This should not present any problem as it is well within the capacity of most PCs with 640k of RAM. If, for any reason, BANK-PLAN runs short of memory, it will use any expanded memory which might be available or it will create some 'virtual' memory on the hard disk. If you are using a PC with a Hercules display, you will not be able to view BANK-PLAN's graphs unless you run the supplied utility, MSHERC.COM, before you run BANK-PLAN. If you are running BANK-PLAN on a portable PC with a LCD display, you will probably need to change BANK-PLAN's video setting once it has loaded in order to clearly distinguish the rectangular cursor which appears when you are viewing reports on the screen. To do this, press I (for Initialise) at the Main Menu, V (for Video) and L (for LCD/B&W). The Manual accompanying the full version of BANK-PLAN explains how to make these changes permanent. If a laser printer is being used, BANK-PLAN must be set up to allow its monthly reports to be printed correctly. To do this, access the S (for Strings) option within the I (for Initialise) menu and enter the appropriate printer string. If the correct string is not available and the printer can be set to emulate a HP LaserJet printer, use the following string for 16 cpi, 8 lines per inch and landscape: \027&l1o8D\027(s16.66H This string must be entered exactly as indicated ("0" is the digit zero, "l" is the lower case letter L, "1" is the digit one and "o" is the lower case letter O as in oh!). In addition, the page length should be reduced to 58 lines per page by selecting the P (for Page) option. As an alternative to entering a string, erase any existing string and use the printer controls to print using condensed pitch and landscape orientation. Printer set up is explained in greater detail in Section 4.3 the Manual (MANUAL.TXT) and in the "online" help (press F1). If, when using BANK-PLAN, the £ pound symbol fails to print, i.e (000) appears instead of (L£000), or is replaced by another character e.g. #, you can make it appear simply by changing the character or symbol set being used by your printer to an IBM Extended Character Set. If the pound sign is missing, you may notice that some rows get slightly knocked out of vertical alignment. If using a HP LaserJet or compatible laser printer, the default symbol set (e.g. HP Roman-8) may not print the pound sign. Check the printer manual and use the control panel to switch to another symbol set, for example, HP IBM-US or PCMultilingual. If using a dot-matrix printer, check the manual for guidance and use the control panel or dip switches to alter the character set being used. If you change the symbol or character set you may be able to keep the new settings as your permanent or default settings without upsetting any of your other software. 3.2 Features - BANK-PLAN -------------------------- BANK-PLAN can handle a very wide variety of variables and financial functions. These include the following: - Sales forecasts for six product/market groups defined by the user - Purchases of materials or goods can be entered as absolute amounts or as percentages of sales for up to four months ahead - Direct labour inputs and several other user-definable categories of direct expense payments - Numerous categories of overhead expense payments which can be defined by the user - Purchases of fixed assets, lease/HP payments and asset disposals - Variable VAT rates for sales and facilities for specifying varying rates for inputs; accounting for VAT on a cash received or invoice basis; and flexible VAT payment dates - Variable interest rates for cash deposits and overdraft - Facilities for increasing long-term debt and making loan repayments - Share issues, dividends, corporation tax and grants/subsidies - Phasing-out opening debtor and creditor balances - Facilities for handling current-year materials/goods creditors and trade debtors with the distribution of payment terms extending up to four months. The descriptions of many variables can be readily altered by the user to suit their business. BANK-PLAN incorporates a facility for preparing "rolling" monthly cashflow forecasts which simplifies the task of preparing and updating cashflow projections on a regular basis. 3.3 Features - CASH-PLAN ------------------------- CASH-PLAN is a more powerful version of BANK-PLAN, suitable for larger businesses. Its menus etc. are almost identical to those in BANK-PLAN. However, it handles about double the number of variables with more extensive features including the following: - Three user-definable sales groups for each of which separate VAT rates, debtor terms etc. can specified. Each group breaks down into three sub-groups defined by the user. - Facility to forecast materials/goods purchases on the basis of target raw material and finished goods stock levels for each of the three main sales groups. VAT can be paid at point-of-entry - Handles accrued interest more comprehensively and includes provision for a category of long-term debt where interest is calculated separately from capital repayments. CASH-PLAN's additional facilities include the following: - Special software for printing graphs - Weekly cashflow projections for the first month - Many calculated values contain "drill-down" facilities to enable a user to quickly inspect their underlying assumptions - All reports can be exported as a Lotus 1-2-3 compatible WK1 file. A user who outgrows BANK-PLAN can upgrade to CASH-PLAN at a discount to the normal price. 3.4 Help system ---------------- BANK-PLAN is entirely menu-driven and incorporates very comprehensive context-sensitive help facilities. These include extensive menu prompts, error trapping, on-line Help Pages, pop-up Hint & Guidance Windows and annotated variable descriptions. 3.5 Specification ------------------ ================================================================= Number of reports 9 (10)* Number of graphed variables 21 (21)* Approximate maximum number of user assumptions 800 (1,300)* Approximate total number of built-in formulae 1,700 (3,600)* ================================================================== * Numbers for CASH-PLAN given in parenthesis 3.6 Registration ----------------- BANK-PLAN is not FREE software. If you decide that you would like to retain and continue to use BANK-PLAN after a 30-day trial period, you must register with Invest-Tech, the author and copyright holder. Invest-Tech Limited is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. In return for registering, you will automatically receive the latest fully-operational version of BANK-PLAN with its 100-page spiral-bound printed manual (incorporating tutorial exercises etc.) and gain access to full support. If you prefer, you can remotely upgrade the supplied version of BANK-PLAN. Press U (for Upgrade) from BANK-PLAN's Main Menu for details. See the table below and REGISTER.TXT for further details about registration. =========================================================== Fee (IRL) Fee (stg) Fee (US$) Pounds Pounds See See Notes See Notes Notes ---------------------------------------------------------- BANK-PLAN 30 30 45 CASH-PLAN 50 50 80 ---------------------------------------------------------- Note 1 Plus VAT at 21% for Irish customers and for purchasers in other EU States who are NOT registered for VAT. Note 2 No VAT applies to customers in other EU States who are registered for VAT and who quote their VAT number at time of ordering. Note 3 No VAT applies to purchasers outside the EU. Note 4 Users outside the UK and Ireland should add 10% to cover additional post and packing. Note 5 You can register BANK-PLAN (but not CASH-PLAN) through "PsL" (Public software Library) or CompuServe (see REGISTER.TXT for full details). =============================================================== You can also upgrade and register directly with Invest-Tech via our World Wide Web (WWW) site on the Internet using a credit card and its special built-in forms. See bottom of file for details of its location. Our Web site, called PlanWare, contains downloadable versions of *ALL* our financial planners for businesses and the home. It also offers useful advice in the form of text files on such topics as business planning, cashflow forecasting etc. as well as lots of other interesting stuff. 3.7 Invest-Tech Limited ------------------------ We are management consultants specialising in financial and business planning software. Formed in 1983, Invest-Tech is a Registered Practice within the Institute of Management Consultants in Ireland and the UK. Our banker is Bank of Ireland, Dublin and our auditors are Deloitte & Touche, Dublin. In addition to BANK-PLAN and CASH-PLAN, our range of financial planning software includes the following commercial products: PERS-PLAN: A personal or household cashflow and financial planner which can be used to plan 12 months ahead. It accommodates a very wide range of income and expenditure variables and can handle income tax, interest, credit card calculations etc. Supplied with a 90-page manual. Price: 20 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$30). Available as shareware in a file called PERSP*.ZIP. YOUR-PLAN: Shareware version of PERS-PLAN available from good libraries in the UK, US etc. Only covers a six month period and handles fewer variables than PERS-PLAN. Look for a file called YOURP*.ZIP. EASI-PLAN: Range of comprehensive and fully-integrated financial planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets, ratios etc.) covering 12-months plus 8 quarters. To our best knowledge, no other package even remotely offers the same range of features or facilities for business and financial planning. Runs 'stand-alone' with similar general structure to BANK-PLAN. A "MICRO" version for new and very small businesses (with annual sales of up to 250,000 pounds). Price: 30 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (or US$45). A "LITE" version for new and small businesses (with annual sales of up to 2 million pounds). Price: 45 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (or US$70). A "PRO" version for larger businesses and/or professional advisers. Price: 60 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (or US$95). Note: These are shareware versions of EASI-PLAN Micro, Lite and Pro. Look for files called EASI*.ZIP. FIN-PLAN: Wide range of comprehensive and fully-integrated financial planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets, ratios etc.) covering 12-months plus 8/16 quarters. Versions are available to run on Lotus 1-2-3 (any release for DOS or Windows). Easily expanded by user. Price: 50 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (or US$80). Comprehensive descriptions, specifications and 'demos' are available for each of the foregoing products. ********************************************************************** 4. HOW TO RUN BANK-PLAN ======================== BANK-PLAN can be installed via Windows (recommended) or DOS. Via Windows: ----------- a) Unzip the supplied archive file "BANK*.ZIP" (most probably you have already done this if you are reading this message). b) Move all the extracted files into a new sub-directory (BANK is the recommended name). c) Use Program or File Manager ("File | Run") to run "Bankplan.exe". This installation program will extract files, create a new Program Group, and set up icons for BANK-PLAN and its text files within this Group. d) Switch to the BANK-PLAN Program Group, click on the "Try Bank-Plan" icon and away you go.. Note: If you register your copy of BANK-PLAN, refer to Section 3 below about running the registered version of BANK-PLAN through Windows. Via DOS: ------- a) Unzip the supplied archive file "BANK*.ZIP" (most probably you have already done this if you are reading this message). b) Move all the extracted files into a new sub-directory (BANK is the recommended name). c) Unzip a further file called "BANKPLAN.EXE" which will be located within the BANK sub-directory. Note that this is another archive file and is NOT an executable - if you try to run it directly from DOS as an executable you will get an error message. d) Run an introductory program called GO.BAT by typing "GO". This will lead you into BANK-PLAN. If your PC uses a very old display, do not select this option - choose e) below. *or* e) Type "BP MASTER" to load BANK-PLAN along with a set of specimen assumptions in a file called MASTER.ASS. If you register your copy of BANK-PLAN and wish to continue running it through DOS, you should type "BP X". Press RETURN to ignore the 'File does not exist' message and then use the cursor keys and RETURN to select the desired *.ASS file in response to the instruction "Enter Data File Name" which appears at the top of the screen. If more than five such data files exist, press the F3 Function Key to display them all within a larger window. Things to know before exploring BANK-PLAN ----------------------------------------- Before exploring BANK-PLAN, you need to know that: All commands are executable from a Main Menu, sub-menus or function key menus. At any stage, the Main Menu can be retrieved by pressing the F10 function key once. You can access context-sensitive Help Pages by pressing F1 at any time. Whenever a report is being displayed on the screen, you can use certain function keys to perform the actions explained in the menu strip displayed at the bottom of the screen. Additional function key commands can be used to call up special facilities for entering data etc. These can be accessed by holding down the ALT key on the keyboard while tapping one of the indicated function keys (press ALT+F1 for help). If you get lost at any stage, try pressing the function key F10 to return to the Main Menu. If a system error is encountered, press the RETURN key (or CTRL+BREAK) and then F10. If a 'secured cell' message is encountered, press RETURN to clear it. Running the registered version of BANK-PLAN through Windows ----------------------------------------------------------- (This is only relevant if you have remotely upgrade your copy of BANK-PLAN to the registered version and wish to run it on an ongoing basis through Windows - see Register.txt and the Upgrade command in the Main Menu.) If you are already running the shareware version of BANK-PLAN through Windows, you will *still* need to follow most of the procedure described below. You should open the Properties box for your installed copy of BANK-PLAN (click on the BANK-PLAN icon and use Program Manager's File Properties command) and then follow the instructions given below for steps 4 & 5. To set up the registered version of BANK-PLAN to run within Windows, run Program Manager and proceed as follows: 1. Select the Applications Group which you want to contain BANK-PLAN. 2. Select File and New options from the Program Manager's menu. 3. When the New Program Object box appears, select Program Item and OK. 4. When the Program Item Properties box appears, proceed as follows: - Type "BANK-PLAN" as the Description. - Type "C:\BANK\BP X" as the Command Line. Make sure you enter a single space between BP and X. This command assumes that BANK-PLAN has been installed to the BANK sub-directory on a hard disk called C. - Enter "C:\BANK" as the Working Directory. - Select Change Icon and select OK when the Change Icon message box appears. - When the next Change Icon box appears, enter "C:\BANK\BANKPLAN.ICO" as the File Name and select OK. - Once you return to the Program Item Properties box select OK twice to complete installation. 5. To run BANK-PLAN within Windows, double-click on its icon and wait while it loads. Press RETURN to ignore the 'File does not exist' message and then use the cursor keys and RETURN to select the desired *.ASS file in response to the instruction 'Enter Data File Name" which appears at the top of the screen. If more than five such data files exist, press the F3 Function Key to display them in a larger window. ***** If using Windows 3.1 - WATCH OUT **** If you try to display graphs when running BANK-PLAN in a DOS Window within Windows 3.1 (i.e. less than full screen) when running in Enhanced Mode, the graphs may not show and the display may lock. To unlock it, return to a full DO screen by pressing ALT+RETURN. Always use a DOS full screen when displaying BANK-PLAN graphs. Using a LCD display ------------------- If you are running BANK-PLAN on a portable PC with a LCD display, you will probably need to change BANK-PLAN's video setting once it has loaded in order to clearly distinguish the rectangular cursor which appears when you are viewing reports on the screen. To do this, press I (for Initialise) at the Main Menu, V (for Video) and L (for LCD/B&W). The Manual explains how to make these changes permanent. Other Information ----------------- The following text files contain more detailed information about BANK-PLAN etc.: Register.txt - Registration details, form etc. Readme.txt - Extensive introduction to BANK-PLAN Manual.txt - Comprehensive manual To read a text file: - Enter "TYPE *.TXT|MORE" *or* - Use DOS Edit or Windows Notepad. ********************************************************************** 5. WHAT IS SHAREWARE ? ======================= "Shareware" is a method of software distribution designed to give users a chance to test a package before purchase at a very competitive price. Copyright rules apply to shareware and the authors retain all the rights except as indicated in their licence agreements. ******************************************************************** 6. USER LICENCE AGREEMENT ========================== See VENDINFO.DIZ ********************************************************************** 7. SOFTWARE REVISIONS ====================== r2.0 1-JAN-1994 ----------------- First shareware release of BANK-PLAN. r2.1 10-JUL-1994 ------------------ We added some extra rows for entering direct and overhead costs and did some minor tidying up. r3.0 26-JUN-1995 ------------------ Added further rows for sales groups, direct and overhead cost variables. Introduced facility for suppressing the printing of rows with zero values. Added the remote upgrade facility. r3.3 15-OCT-1995 ----------------- Minor changes. Inclusion of info about Web site etc. r4.0 7-JUNE-1997 ---------------- Minor changes. ********************************************************************** BANK-PLAN (c) Copyright Invest-Tech Limited 1993-97 All Rights Reserved Invest-Tech Limited 27 Ardmeen Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland Irish Tel: 01-283 4083 UK Tel: 01232-315454 (Call 9 to 9 weekdays and 10 to 6 weekends - GMT/BST) Fax: 278 2391 Fax codes: Irish:01- UK:00-353-1- Inter'l:+353-1- CompuServe: 100606,2665 Internet: brianf@iol.ie WWW URL: http://www.planware.ie/resource/planware ********************************************************************** To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT" *** End of README.TXT file ***