Gold Medal Software 3

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Gold Medal Software 3 / Gold Medal Software - Volume 3 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso / database / s_pop302.arj / MANUAL.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-01-18 | 134KB | 3,018 lines

UNREGISTERED COPY THE POPIT SYSTEM - Desktop Business and Personal Information Management System - User Manual UNREGISTERED COPY VERSION 3.02 - SHAREWARE (c) Copyright 1994, VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. VITRON'S DISCLAIMER AND LIMITED WARRANTY PLEASE READ! This VITRON product, user guide and documentation are provided "AS IS". VITRON does NOT make any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of this VITRON product, user guide, and documentation is with you. VITRON does NOT warrant that the functions contained in this VITRON product will meet your requirements or that the operation of the software product will be uninterrupted or error free. VITRON will NOT be responsible for any direct, indirect, consequen- tial, or incidental damages (including damages from loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, and the like) arising out of the use or the inability to use the VITRON prod- uct even if VITRON has been advised of the possibility of such dam- ages. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liab- ility or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. PREFACE We realize that most people don't bother to read through a User Manual, but rather prefer something short and sweet that highlights the major features and functions available through a system or software package. This document lends itself to this conventional way of approaching software while not having to provide you with a detailed on-line system help facility -- as, we trust, you'll see why as you proceed to put the system through its paces. What we've done is to present you with a brief tour of the system. We believe that PopIt is intuitive enough to provide you with most, if not all, of what you need to know to use it AS YOU ARE USING IT. We trust it meets this expectation. What will become obvious to you as you proceed to use the system is that the system will guard against your making any type of major error that might cause loss of data or might compromise the integrity of your data. In this era of "user-friendly" software, we are convinced that you will find PopIt to be powerful, comprehensive, yet easy to use. Please don't hesitate to let us know if we are either correct in our anticipation or, perhaps, are a bit overly optimistic. Enjoy! (c) Copyright 1994, VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this document may be copied, duplicated, transmitted or retransmitted, reproduced or copied and stored in an electronic medium without the expressed written permission of VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - i. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Starting And Using The System............................ 1. A. Starting The System For The First Time............... 1. 1. The Control File................................. 2. 2. The Modem File................................... 4. B. Starting The System Every Other Time................. 5. C. Shelling to DOS...................................... 5. II. The Main Menu........................................... 6. III. Screen Operations: Page Lists, Data Entry/Validations, Icons and Screen Menus................................. 7. A. Pull-Down Menus...................................... 7. B. Page Lists........................................... 8. 1. & 2. Full- And Half-Page Page Lists.............. 8. 3. Related-Page Page Lists.......................... 8. C. Page List Icons and Menus............................ 9. D. Page List Searching.................................. 9. E. Record Detail Screens................................10. 1. Data Entry Field Types and Data Validations......10. (a) Normal Data Entry Fields....................10. (b) Check-Text (Codified) Data Entry Fields.....10. (c) DataHelp (Pick List) Data Entry Fields......11. 2. Screen Modes.....................................12. (a) Add Mode....................................12. (b) Modify Mode.................................13. (c) Input Mode..................................13. (d) Display Mode................................13. 3. Screen Key Icons.................................13. 4. Screen Menus.....................................16. (a) Operation Menus.............................17. (b) Screen Section Menus........................17. 5. Searching........................................17. 6. Browsing.........................................17. 7. Indexing.........................................19. 8. Notes............................................19. 9. Phone_Dial.......................................19. IV. Master Name & Address...................................20. A. Master File Name & Address Record Data...............20. B. Special Contacts.....................................21. C. Invoices.............................................22. 1. Transactions.....................................22. 2. Service Codes....................................22. 3. Invoice History..................................22. 4. Invoice Aging....................................23. 5. Statements.......................................23. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - ii. D. Software.............................................23. E. Software Registration................................24. F. Courses..............................................24. G. Course Registration..................................24. V. ToDo List & Task Log.....................................25. VI. Appointments............................................26. A. Appointments.........................................26. 1. Appointment Conflicts............................27. 2. Time Fields......................................27. B. Today's/Week's/Month's Appointments..................27. VII. Follow Ups.............................................28. VIII. Financials............................................29. A. Expenses.............................................29. IX. Utilities...............................................30. A. Reindex..............................................30. B. Pack.................................................31. C. File Browser.........................................32. 1. Initial Screen Menu..............................32. (a) Browse Mode.................................32. (b) Review......................................35. (c) Setup.......................................36. 2. Second Screen Menu Choice........................36. 3. Third Screen Menu Choice.........................36. D. DataHelp Files.......................................36. E. Note Book............................................37. F. Purge................................................37. G. Queries & Documents..................................38. 1. Ad Hoc Queries...................................38. 2. Documents........................................41. X. Communications...........................................46. XI. Reports And Labels......................................47. A. Reports..............................................47. B. Labels...............................................47. 1. Label Size.......................................48. XII. Generating Letters And Invoices - The "G" Icon.........50. A. Master File Record...................................50. B. Special Contacts Record..............................52. C. Invoices.............................................53. D. Expenses.............................................53. E. Software and Course Registrations - Invoices and Confirmations........................................53. XIII. File Filters..........................................54. Invoice & Registration Form.................................55. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 1. I. STARTING AND USING THE SYSTEM To start the system, first make sure you change to the directory into which you installed the system. If you used the system's INSTALL pro- cedure without changes, this directory is named \VMCPOP and is lo- cated on your C: drive. The program, SVMCPOP.EXE is the non-registered version of the PopIt System. NOTE: Henceforth, all discussions herein will assume that you have used the installation procedure that was supplied on the system diskette and that you did not make any changes to this procedure. Make sure your current default drive is your C: drive. To change to drive C:, at your DOS prompt, type: C: and press Enter (don't forget the colon after the C). Then, change to the directory by typing: CD \VMCPOP and press Enter. To start the PopIt System, at your DOS prompt, type: SVMCPOP and press Enter (if you're using the UNREGISTERED shareware version) OR VMCPOP and press Enter (if you're usging the REG- ISTERED version) The system displays the opening copyright screen and prompts you to press a key to proceed. Even if you don't press a key to continue, the system will display the opening screen for approximately five seconds and proceed on its own. A. STARTING THE SYSTEM FOR THE FIRST TIME When you start the system for the first time, there are two files that you need to update. The first file is the Control File; the second is the Modem File. These two files are updated from the Utilities menu. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 2. Select Utilities from the main menu. You make this selection in one of two ways: (a) Press the UP or DOWN ARROW key to highlight Utilities and press Enter; or (b) Simply type the number 6 and do NOT press Enter. The system displays the UTILITIES MENU. This menu provides eight (8) choices. We'll discuss all the choices in more detail later. Right now, we're concerned with selections 6 and 7 -- Control File and Modem File respectively. 1. THE CONTROL FILE SELECT ITEM 6 -- CONTROL FILE. This file contains data that are used to identify each individual system user and two fields that identify the type of printer you're using. As you enter data into each field, you should first clear out the current contents. To do this, press CTRL-Y (hold the CTRL key down and tap the letter Y key, then release both keys). This procedure erases all data beginning under the cursor out to the right to the end of the current field. At the bottom left of the screen, the system displays the "mode" indicator, which in this instance is MODIFY -- for modify/edit mode. At the bottom right of the screen, the system displays the screen's key icons. These icons are representations of the operation keys that are available to you to perform specific functions. <> move the cursor left or right ^v move the cursor up or down F10 initiate the Edit/Abandon/Save screen menu Esc abort the process and return to the previous screen or operation NOTE: When you enter data in each of the fields, if you do not use the entire field, press Enter after your entry. Otherwise, if you type out to the end of a field, the cursor will advance to the next field automatically. Full Name: Enter your full name VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 3. Initials: Enter your initials Company: If you have a company name, enter it here. Otherwise, enter your Full Name again. Address-1: Enter the first line of your address. Address-2: If you have a second line to your address, enter it here. City: Enter your city State: Enter your state. If you live in Canada, you may either leave this field blank or enter CN for Canada. Zip Code: Enter your zip code. This field does support Zip + 4. Prov If you live in Canada, this field is the name of the Province in which you live. Telephone: Enter your telephone number. Include your Area Code. Fax: If you have a fax, enter its telephone number here; otherwise, clear out the field and leave it blank. Printer: Here is where you tell the system about the type of printer you're using. You have two choices: L Laser Printer D Dot Matrix Printer Currently, the system supports Epson compatible dot matrix printers and HP II and HP III compatible laser printers. Compatibility: If you select laser printer (by typing an L) you're asked to indicate whether your printer is HP II or HP III compatible. If you're not sure, type 2. The cursor will go to this field if and only if you indi- cated that you're using a laser printer. Otherwise, this field is not used. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 4. After you have completed your entries, you're prompted to Edit/Abandon/Save. Edit Edit one or more entries again Abandon Abort your entries and restore the orig- inal entries. Save Save your entries and continue (usually returns to the previous screen/operation). You select an item from a screen menu in one of two ways: (a) Press LEFT or RIGHT ARROW key to highlight your choice, then press Enter; or (b) Simply type the FIRST LETTER that corresponds to your choice and do NOT press Enter. You'll be returned to the UTILITIES MENU. 2. THE MODEM FILE When you're returned to the UTILITIES MENU, select item 7 -- Modem Setup. You're presented with the Initial Settings screen and are immediately placed in MODIFY mode. The screen icons at the bottom right are the same as for item 1 -- Control File -- above. The data in this screen are necessary only if you intend to use the auto-dial feature of the system. This feature is not a sophisticated communications process, but rather it allows the system to simply dial the telephone for you. Of course, it is necessary that you have a modem hooked up to your computer to do this. Comm (Serial) Port: Enter the number of the COM port to which your modem is connected. The current system supports only COM 1 and COM 2. Your Area Code: Enter the Area Code of YOUR tele- phone. This is needed for this sys- tem to be able to distinguish be- tween local and long distance calls. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 5. Do You Dial 1...: Indicate whether or not you need to dial a 1 before making a long dist- ance call. NOTE: The current version of the system does NOT as yet support dialing 9 or 8 (or whatever number) to first get an "outside" line. It does NOT as yet support inter-office/in- ternal phone systems or extension dialing. If you have made any changes, you're prompted to Edit/Abandon /Save. This procedure is the same as discussed for the Cont- rol File above. Now that you're done, you're returned to the UTILITIES MENU. When you are in the UTILITIES MENU, press Esc to return to the main menu. B. STARTING THE SYSTEM EVERY OTHER TIME Every other time you start the system, unless you want to change either the Control File or Modem File, you can ignore steps 1 and 2 discussed above. C. SHELLING TO DOS At any time during system operation, you have the option of shelling (exiting) to DOS temporarily. You do this by pressing ALT-E. The system will then prompt you to press E to exit to DOS or to press ESC to abort the shelling request. When in DOS, you can return to the system by typing the follow- ing at the DOS prompt: EXIT and press Enter VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 6. II. THE MAIN MENU The main menu presents you with nine (9) choices. To make a selection: (a) Press UP/DOWN ARROW key to highlight your choice and press Enter; or (b) Simply type the NUMBER that corresponds to your choice and do NOT press Enter. The ">>" character that is displayed to the right of selections 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 means that these selections have their own submenus -- i.e., selecting any of these choices takes you to another menu. Selections 4, 7 and 9 take you to the corresponding procedure di- rectly. To quit the system and return to the operating system, select item 9 -- Quit. You may also press Esc at the main menu. Whichever option you choose when quitting, the system asks you to confirm whether or not you actually want to quit. The system displays a Yes/No prompt box. To make your selection, (a) Press LEFT/RIGHT ARROW to highlight Yes or No and press En- ter; or (b) Simply type Y for Yes or N for No. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 7. III. SCREEN OPERATIONS: PAGE LISTS, DATA ENTRY/VALIDATIONS, ICONS AND SCREEN MENUS The system contains four major types of screens: -- PULL-DOWN MENUS (sometimes called "cascading" menus (Refer to the Main Menu section above.) -- PAGE LISTS -- a scrolling table of records. The table con- tains key (important, frequently referenced) fields. All pick lists are displayed as page lists. As long as there is at least one record in a file, when you access that file, the first thing to be displayed is its page list of records. It is then from the page list that you access the record details. -- RECORD DETAIL SCREENS -- typically referred to as "Data En- try" screens. -- COMBINED PAGE-LIST AND RECORD-DETAIL SCREENS -- a screen that combines a page list on one-half of the screen (either on left half of the screen, as with Appointments, or on the top half of the screen, as with the ToDo List) and a record de- tail screen on the right half of the screen or at the bottom half of the screen (as with Appointments and ToDo Lists, respectively). This screen is also referred to as a HALF-PAGE PAGE LIST. Some of the data entry screens include imbedded page lists that reflect related data in a family of files, such as with the data entry screen for the Master Name and Address File, which include a page list of Follow Up File records for the individual displayed in the record detail screen. The system is virtually entirely Menu- and Prompt-Driven, meaning that you are guided through virtually every aspect of system processing without having to revert to an on-line help procedure. Let's examine each of these screen-types further. A. PULL-DOWN MENUS (Refer to Main Menu in the section above.) VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 8. B. PAGE LISTS Page Lists are nothing more but scollable tables of records. A page list is displayed if and only if and when there is at least one record contained in the file you selected. Otherwise, you're taken directly to ADD mode (if you want to add a record) to add the first record to the file. Once at least one record is in the file, the page list is displayed. Page lists present a unique way of viewing critical data in a file. Page lists also allow you to select a particular record for detail examination and/or editing or deleting, etc. In addition, please see the section on File Filters at the end of this manual (last section). There are three types of page lists: 1. Full-Page 2. Half-Page 3. Related-Page Most of the differences relate only to the way in which the list is displayed on the screen. 1. & 2. FULL- AND HALF-PAGE PAGE LISTS Some of the page lists are what we call "full-page" page lists in that they take up the entire screen. To display the details, first highlight the record you want, then press Enter. Other page lists are what we call "half-screen" page lists. In these cases, the page list table is displayed on one part of the screen and the associated details of the highlighted record are displayed either on the right or left side of the table or above or below the table. With half-screen lists, as you scroll through the list, the rest of the data that are contained in that record are also displayed. 3. RELATED-PAGE PAGE LISTS Related page lists are a rather unique feature of this sys- tem. But, what the term really means is that while you are displaying data from one file, you are also logically tied into (connected to) another related file, with the capabil- ity of viewing both sets of data on one screen (at the same time). Put more simply, its a way of viewing related data in VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 9. more than one file. For example, you'll see this technique used in the Name and Address opertation and the Special Cont- acts operation. How this relation is created is not impor- tant. What is important is that the system does allow for this logical and convenient connection (file relationships). C. PAGE LIST ICONS AND MENUS Page list menus and key icons perform in the same manner as screen menus and icons work in the detail screen. Therefore, for a dis- cussion on these two topics, please continue reading the following section on Record Detail Screens below. D. PAGE LIST SEARCHING Searching for a specific record in a page list works a bit differ- ently from the way in which searching works in a detail screen display. As such, we'll now discuss searching when a page list is displayed. To perform a record search when in a page list, press the F3 func- tion key. The system displays a small search box on the screen. A double line is under the field's name, which is also prefixed by a small upside down triangle. This indicates the current search selection field and that field is the field on which the file is currently sequenced. In most instances, the file may be accessed in more than one se- quence. The additional sequence fields -- and, thereby, the addi- tional search fields -- are those fields that are prefixed with a small square box at the left side of the single line under the field's name. To change the search field and, thereby, the file's sequence, press the LEFT or RIGHT ARROW key. The double line moves and the square changes to an upside down triangle. Enter the characters you want to search on in the search box. The more characters you enter, the more precise the search. If there is no match on the characters you enter, the system jumps to the closest matching record. Be careful with date searching. If you enter only the month and day and have multiple years on file, you'll be taken to the first record where the month and day match or are closest. It is strong- ly recommended that when you perform searches on dates that you enter a complete date in the format MM/DD/YYYY. (Even if you enter a date in the format MM/DD/YY, the system will expand the VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 10. century to the format YYYY.) If there is no such date on file, the system will jump to the closest matching date -- i.e., the date nearest to the date you entered but after it, not before it. As with detail screen searching, character searching is NOT case sensitive. For Last Name Searching, searching takes into account the actual number of letters in the last name. In this way, you can easily locate a specific person by typing in the entire last name, followed by a space, followed by one or more letters of the first name. E. RECORD DETAIL SCREENS The system presents a wide range of screens, data entry and data validation procedures and screen menus which are consistent across all of the screens and files. 1. DATA ENTRY FIELD TYPES AND DATA VALIDATIONS There are three basic data entry field types in the system. (a) NORMAL DATA ENTRY FIELDS: These fields allow you to enter virtually any type of data, without the benefit or aid of any data validation procedures. Examples of this type of field are names, addresses, amounts, etc. When the cursor lands in one of these fields, no prompts are displayed and no validation procedures are encountered. (b) CHECK-TEXT (CODIFIED) DATA ENTRY FIELDS: These fields are usually fields that represent single- letter or single-number data elements that are abbre- viations for or representations of codes. When the cursor lands in one of these fields, a legend of valid codes is displayed in bright white at the bottom of the screen. The field may remain blank. But, if you enter anything other than a blank in this field, it must be one of the codes that are displayed in the legend at the bottom of the screen. Otherwise, if you enter an invalid letter or number, the system displays a red error box at the bottom of the screen indicating the only valid en- tries. An example of this type of field includes fields requiring a yes or no (Y or N) response. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 11. (c) DATAHELP (PICK LIST) DATA ENTRY FIELDS: These fields represent one of the unique features of this system. These fields are fields that are re- stricted in terms of what you can enter, but also pro- vide you with a pick list (a selection table) from which you can select the item rather than typing it in. You do have the ability to add, modify or delete items from the pick lists. (More about this later.) These fields are self-evaluating in that whatever you enter will automatically be validated against its appropriate selection table. You may leave the field blank, but if you enter anything into it, it must be included in the selection table list exactly as it appears in the pick list. If it is not an item in the table, the system automatically displays the selection table (pick list) for you and prompts you to select a valid entry from the table. Whenever the cursor lands in one of these fields, the system normally displays the F2 function key key-icon in the icon display at the bottom right of the screen. There are some fields -- though very few of them -- that provide for DataHelp validation without the system dis- playing the F2 key in the icon area. These fields will be pointed out to you in each of the sections that follow where we discuss data field entries. Such fields are what we refer to as "optional" datahelp fields in that you can enter anything you wish or use its pick list to make the entry for you. You select an item from the pick list by pressing the UP/DOWN ARROW keys to highlight the item you want and pressing Enter. The data element will be automatically inserted into the appropriate field for you. If the pick list table is large, you can search for a particular item when the table is displayed by presing the F3 func- tion key (the F3 function key is herein referred to as the "Search" key). (Refer to "Searching" in page lists above.) In some instances, DataHelp fields are very useful in that selecting a particular pick list item will also allow the system to automatically fill in related fields. For example, there are some instances in which you're asked (prompted) as to whether or not you want to VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 12. validate a name entry against the Master File. If you select Yes and use the pick-list, the systen not only fills in the name for you, but also the addresses, company name, if any, telephone numbers, cities, states, provinces (if Canadian) and zip codes, etc. There are two special DataHelp fields that permit you to press the F2 Function Key whenever the cursor is in one of these fields. - DATE FIELDS: All date fields are datahelp fields. Whenever the cursor lands in a date field for adding or editing the date, you can press the F2 Function Key. This will display a popup, scrollable calendar from which you can select the date you want. Highlight the date and press Enter. This will enter the date into the field for you. - NUMERIC FIELDS: There are very few numeric fields in the system, and they are limited to the BUDGET, MONTHLY BUDGET, EXPENSE and TRANSACTION/INVOICE screens. All numeric fields are datahelp fields. When the cursor lands in a numeric field, you can press the F2 Function Key. This will dis- play a popup calculator. You can perform any arithmetic operation. When you are done and you press the F10 Func- tion Key to save your work, the system inserts the re- sult into the numeric field for you. 2. SCREEN MODES These are three basic types of screen modes. The mode of operation you are currently in will be displayed at the bottom left of the screen. Modes apply only when you are adding or changing data. (a) ADD MODE: This is the mode that is displayed when you are new records. When you are done with your entries, you'll be prompted as to whether you want to re-edit the data, abandon the process or save the data. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 13. (b) MODIFY MODE: This is the mode that is displayed when you are changing /editing/modifying data currently displayed. Most of the screens in the system are divided into specific numbered sections. When you elect to modify, you're prompted to first indicate the specific screen area that contains the data you wish to add to or change. When you are done making changes, and assumming that something was actual- ly changed, you're prompted as to whether you want to re-edit, abandon or save. (c) INPUT MODE: This mode is similar to MODIFY mode, but the Edit/Aban- don/Save menu may not be displayed if additional fields are required to be entered. (d) DISPLAY MODE: This mode is not an actual mode but rather represents the display of the detail record screen for the opera- tion you have selected. It contains its own screen menus and key icons that include the ability to enter Add/Modify and Input modes. 3. SCREEN KEY ICONS The screen key icons are representations of the various keys you can press, depending on the actually screen displayed and operation in progress, to perform specific tasks. The icons are displayed at the bottom right of the screen. Not all screens display all of the icons, but let's define each of them at this time. (Note: An individual icon does the same thing, regardless of the screen on which it appears. An icon is appropriate if and only if and when it is actually dis- played in the icon area of the screen. If a particular icon is not displayed, with one exception, it does not apply at that time. We'll talk about that one exception later since it involves the F2 function key when the cursor is in an option- al datahelp field.) VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 14. ICON MEANING ---- ------- F2 Represents the F2 function key. This key is display- ed when the cursor is in a non-optional DataHelp field. Pressing F2 displays the appropriate pick list from which you can choose the data you wish the system to enter for you. The F2 icon is displayed only when the cursor is in a non-optional datahelp field -- a field that is automatically validated when/if data other than blanks is/are entered into the field. Otherwise, it is not displayed. In addition to file fields, all dates are datahelp fields. When the cursor is in a date field and you press the F2 function key, the system displays a calendar from which you can select the date you wish to enter. You can scroll through the calendar, changing months, weeks, years, etc. M Press M, to enter MODIFY (edit) mode. This allows you to change data. Most screens will then display a menu that consists of the various screen sections from which you select the screen section that con- tains the data you want to edit. (See Screen Menus below.) A Press A to add a new record. Press A to enter ADD mode. D Press D to flag the current record for deletion. Records flagged for deletion are not actually de- leted at that time, but will be if/when you pack the file (in the Utilities Menu). Records flagged for deletion cannot be edited or copied or printed. If a record is already flagged for deletion (the word "DELETED" is displayed at the top of the screen in red) and you press D, you will Recall -- UNDelete -- the record. Whenever you press D to either flag for deletion or UNDelete, you'll be prompted to confirm the operation before the system actually performs the operation. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 15. C Press C to copy (make a duplicate) of the current record. You'll first be prompted to confirm your decision. This feature is useful, for example, if you want to create another record for the same person but need a different address. It's certainly useful for invoices when you want to copy all cust- omer identification data and simply want to enter different line items, etc. G Press G (for "Generate") to produce letters for the highlighted record. This procedure and process is defined in more datail later on. It represents a very powerful, flexible unique feature of the sys- tem. It is analagous to a mail merge, but for one record at a time. The system contains predefined letters from which you can choose. The current version of the system does not permit you to create your own custom letters per se. This feature is also used to print individual invoices and to maintain an audit trail of all invoices printed. This is a special icon since it executes its own program. For a detailed explanation on how this works, refer to the section on Generating Letters and Invoices. <> When a screen menu is displayed (see Screen Menus below), press the LEFT or RIGHT ARROW key to high- light the menu item of choice. Otherwise, this icon means that you can move the cursor left or right in a field. ^v When a screen menu is displayed (see Screen Menus below), press UP or DOWN ARROW to scroll to the previous record or to the next record respectively. Otherwise, this icon means that you can scroll up or down from field to field. F1 Press the F1 function key to display a HELP BOX. The help box defines the currently displayed icons and what each icon key does. F3 Press F3 to request a search. Searching allows you to locate a specific record. Field searching is de- pendent on the specific sequence of the file. (See Searching.) VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 16. Esc Abort (quit) the current procedure and return to the previous screen/opertation. If you're not sure what each icon represents at the time you're doing something, if the F1 icon is displayed, press the F1 function key to display a help box that will guide you. In several of the data entry screens, you're prompted as to whether or not you want to validate the last name entry against the Master Name & Address File. Even if you respond NO, you may still press the F2 Function Key (DataHelp) when the cursor is in the last name field to invoke the datahelp lookup table for last names. However, when you respond NO to the validation prompt, the system will not display the F2 icon in the screen icon area. In addition, there are two function keys that are available to you which are not displayed as icons. These keys are the F7 Function Key and the F9 Function key. - F7 Function Key: Whenever the cursor is not in a date field and you press F7, the system displays a popup, scrollable calendar. - F9 Function Key: Whenever the cursor is not in a numeric field and you press F9, the system displays a popup calculator. 4. SCREEN MENUS Virtually all of the screens contain one or more menus that are appropriate to the operations available for the current- ly selected file, operating in the currently selected screen. For those of you who have worked with Lotus 1-2-3, you should recognize the menu process immediately. The menus are pre- sented horizontally at the bottom left of the screen. Each menu item represents a specific task. All menu items are IN ADDITION to the operations available via the key icons. That's why the first letter of each menu item is unique and no screen menu items begins with the letters M, A, D, C or G, since these letters are reserved for the icon keys. As you scroll through each item (highlighting each item), the system VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 17. displays a brief description of that item below the menu line at the bottom of the screen. To access a screen menu item, (1) Press the LEFT/RIGHT ARROW key to highlight your choice, then press Enter; (2) Type the FIRST LETTER or NUMBER of your choice and do NOT press Enter. There are two major types of screen menus: Operations menus and Screen Section menus. (a) OPERATION MENUS: These menus present choices that involve the performance of specific tasks, such as browsing, changing the file sequence, editing notes directly, displaying a different complementary or supplementary screen, performing an auxiliary process, etc. (b) SCREEN SECTION MENUS: These menus simply display numbers, each number corres- ponding to a section of the screen as displayed on the screen. These menus are available only when you have chosen to edit (MODIFY) the current record -- i.e., only when you're in MODIFY mode. Rather than have you scroll through several unnecessary fields to get to the field you want to change, selecting a specific screen area takes you directly to the fields in that area only. If you want to change fields that are in more than one screen area, you will need to select each of the screen sections from the screen section menu, as appropriate. 5. SEARCHING Searching is the capability to locate a specific record or the first record in a group. To initiate a search at the de- tail screen, press the F3 function key. The system displays a search menu at the bottom left of the screen, indicating which fields are available to search on. Select the field from the menu. Depending on the field you select, you change the sequence of the file to be in the selected field's or- der with one exception. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 18. The exception is if you decide to search on the contents on the Notes field. The system permits you to search on a word or phrase contained in the notes field, if you so choose. In some instances, the system asks if you want to search on a precise MATCH or if you want to search for a specific word/ phrase CONTAINED IN the field of choice. When you select the field, the system displays a small search box on the screen. Based on the file's current sequence, when not searching on NOTES, you're prompted to search for a spe- cific field's contents. The more characters you type in, the more precise the search. For example, if you want to search on last name and type in only the letters SP, the system will search for the first last name that begins with SP. If no records meet the criteria -- that is, if there are no records that begin with the characters you type in -- the system takes you to the closest matching record and tells you that it could not find a match of the characters you entered but instead is displaying the closest matching record. If this happens, you're also prompted to press a key to proceed. It does not matter whether you enter the characters in upper case or lower case or a combination. Saearching is NOT case- sensitive. If you decide to search on characters CONTAINED IN the field, the system locates the first record that meets the criteria. It then asks if the record it found and is displaying is the record you want. If not, you're asked if you want to continue searching through more of the records. The process continues until you either find the record you want or reach the end of the file. 6. BROWSING Several screen menus contain a BROWSE option. A browse table is similar to a Page List Table in that it is a list of all records on the file. However, unlike the page list, a browse table lists only the field(s) involved in the file's current sequence. For ex- ample, if the file is in name sequence, the browse table lists only last and first names. You can scroll through the browse table. When you locate the record you want, highlight it and press Enter. The system immediately jumps to that record and displays the details of that record in the detail screen display. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 19. The browse table includes a feature that is not evident from its display. If/when you begin to type in characters, an in- put box is displayed at the bottom of the table. For example, let's say you want to make the table jump to last names be- ginning with the letter S. Type an S and press Enter. The table jumps to the first last name that begins with S. The more characters you type, the more precise the jump. If you then press Enter, the system jumps to that record and dis- plays its detail data in the detail screen. In this manner, browsing is similar to searching. 7. INDEXING Several screen menus contain an Index option. Simply put, this is feature that allows you to change the file's sequence without first having to execute a search. 8. NOTES Several screen menus provide the ability to edit the notes field directly rather than selecting the screen section num- ber in Modify mode. When you select Notes from the menu, the system instantly displays the notes field. If you add/change notes, you have to press the F10 function key twice, once to save the data you enter and once to save the actual record. 9. PHONE_DIAL Some of the screen menus contain the ability to have the computer (actually your modem, which is hooked up to your PC) to dial the telephone for you. When you select this option, the system displays a table of available telephone numbers for the specific record. Select the number you want to dial. When the process begins, you'll be prompted to press a key to proceed. Remember, all this feature does is dial the phone for you. If you intend to use the feature, you would have had to define the data elements in the Modem File (see Modem Setup). VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 20. IV. MASTER NAME & ADDRESS MENU When you select Names & Addresses from the Master File Menu and there is at least one record on file, the system displays the Name & Address Page List (NAME & EMPLOYER LIST). This page list is a scrollable table that lists all records on file. There is one Page List and Screen Menu option that deserves some discussion here. XREF_DEL This option gives you the ability to not only delete the current record, but to also delete all records that are RELATED to the current record system-wide. Such related files include the Appointments, FollowUps, Communications and Transaction/Invoice files. While you can mass- delete, you will not be able to mass-undelete. If you want to undelete records, you'll have to do so individually, within each file's data entry screen. You will also be asked if you want to purge records. Remember, if you purge records, they are gone forever. A. MASTER FILE NAME & ADDRESS RECORD DATA Only one of two fields is required here. If you leave the Last Name field blank, you'll be required to enter a Company name in screen section 3. You don't have to enter data into any of the remaining fields. If you want to enter data in only a few fields and save the data so that you can return to the record at a later time to complete the entries, or if you just want to enter data in only a few fields, complete your entries and press the F10 function key. This will prompt you to save the data you did enter. Just bear in mind that either Last Name or Company is required in order to save the record! Some of the fields on this screen require further discussion. DOB If/When you enter the person's date of birth, the system will calculate the person's age for you. Note that the person's age will be recalculated each time you display the detail record. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 21. Ann If/When you enter the person's wedding anniversary date, the system will calculate the number of years (YRS) married for you. The YRS field will be recal- culated each time you display the detail record. Customer? If/When you indicate that the person IS a customer, by responding Yes to the field, the system will automatically assign a unique 17-character customer number for you. This customer number is required if you intend to create transaction invoices for this person/company in TRANSACTION/INVOICE processing. SCREEN SECTION 5 - HOME DATE We've included a little shortcut here, which is not evident from looking at the screen. If the person's home address, city, state, zip code and phone number are the same as the company's/employer's address, city, state, zip code and phone number, you can save some data entry effort by perform- ing the following procedure: When the cursor lands in the Addr-1 field of the person's HOME DATA, press ALT / (Alt key plus the slash key -- that is, hold the Alt key down and tap the / key (this slash key on most keyboards is just to the left of the right Shift key). This little procedure copies the business data into the corresponding home data fields for you. This procedures works only when the cursor is in the Addr-1 field of HOME DATA. Otherwise, the system displays an error mes- sage. You may, of course, edit/change any of the Home data, as you see fit. B. SPECIAL CONTACTS Special Contacts is intended to provide a mechanism to store special names and addresses in a separate that, for whatever reason, you do not want to include as part of the Name and Add- ress Master File. These contacts may be individuals and/or com- panies that you want for special promotions or special projects such as to receive resumes, etc. You initiate the contact. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 22. C. INVOICE MENU When you select Invoices from the Master File Menu, the system displays the INVOICE MENU. This menu provides five (5) choices. 1. TRANSACTIONS Transactions is where you enter your individual invoice transactions. If there is at least one record on file, the system displays the Transaction Page List; otherwise, it requests you to enter the first record. All customers/clients MUST first have their identification data entered in the Name & Address Master File! These transactions are intended more for a service type of business (consulting in particular) than for retail/wholesale, etc. While the system can deal with partial payments, the system prefers that invoices are paid in full when/if paid. There is one selection in the screen menus that we should point out. This selection is: POST_MSTR As we stated earlier, all records that are created here are based upon existing Name & Address records. If a client is not already in the Name & Address file, you cannot create a transaction record for the person/company. The Post_Mstr menu selection allows you to create a Master Name & Address file record in Transaction processing. 2. SERVICE CODES When you select Service Codes from the Invoice Menu, the system displays the Service Codes Page List. Service Codes are data contained in a table -- the DATAHELP pick list for transaction service codes. If you want to add/change/delete codes, you do that here. The page list displays the data contained in the DataHelp file for Service Codes. 3. INVOICE HISTORY The system maintains an audit trail of all invoices printed. When you select Invoice History from the Invoice Menu, the system displays a page list of this audit trail. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 23. However, if you have not printed any invoices, the system in- forms you that there is as yet no print history, since noth- ing has been printed yet. 4. INVOICE AGING When you select Invoice Aging from the Invoice Menu, the system informs you that it is about to recalculate the age IN DAYS of all active invoices where the balance due is greater than zero. If you indicate that you want to proceed, aging takes place. When the calculations are completed, the system informs you as to the number of invoices that were aged. It asks if you want to produce an Aging report. You can display the report on the screen or print it directly. If you choose to have it displayed on the screen, you have the option of printing it by pressing the F4 function key. You can scroll through the report with the ARROW keys. As you view the data, you may notice that the Balance Due is greater than the original Amount. This is the case if there were expenses added to the original invoice. The Aging Report does not display the expense amount. 5. STATEMENTS When you select Statements from the Invoice Menu, the system displays a page list of all statements, assumming, of course, that at least one invoice has been generated. The purpose of this option is to allow you to view the total transactions for a given customer and to print out individual statements. Viewing statements is like viewing the transaction history of a given customer. D. SOFTWARE We've added some features for both shareware authors and small training firms to have the ability to record and track shareware sales and training programs. In this section, Software, the user provides for data that identifies each software package for sale or distribution. The user enters in the various data except for Product Code. The system calculates product code from the software name. Each product is assigned a unique code, regardless of version. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 24. E. SOFTWARE REGISTRATION We've added some features for both shareware authors and small training firms to have the ability to record and track shareware sales and training programs. In this section, Software Registration, the user identifies each software registrant. In addition, selecting the G icon provides the ability to generate a invoice for the registrant. Each time a package is registered, the Number Sold field for that software in the software file is incremented by one. F. COURSES We've added some features for both shareware authors and small training firms to have the ability to record and track shareware sales and training programs. In this section, Courses, the user provides the data that identifies each course, seminar, workshop or training session that the organization delivers or represents. The user enters in all data except the Course Code, which is calculated automatically by the system. In addition, each time a person is registered for a given course, the Num Reg (Number Registered) field is incremented by one. If the user attempts to register more than the maximum allowed, the system notifies the user and asks if the user want to complete the registration anyway. If so, the maximum attendance field is also incremented by one to reflect the additional attendee. G. COURSE REGISTRATION We've added some features for both shareware authors and small training firms to have the ability to record and track shareware sales and training programs. In this section, Course Registration, the user identifies each course registrant. In addition, selecting the G icon provides the ability to generate an invoice and a confirmation for the registrant. Each time a person is registered, the Number Registered field for that course in the course file is incremen- ted by one. Attendance maximums are validated for each course. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 25. V. TODO LIST & TASK LOG When you select ToDo List & Task Log from the main menu, the system displays a submenu with two choices: - ToDo List - Task Log The ToDo list is a method of keeping track of the things that you have to do. The Task Log is a method of keeping a detail log of your daily tasks. The Task Log is especially useful for those of you who may have to keep a log (or diary) of activities in a consulting role. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 26. VI. APPOINTMENTS When you select Appointments, the system displays the APPOINTMENTS MENU. This menu displays 4 choices: Appointments this is the main appointments processing selection Today's Appointments displays all appointments due for the current system date Week's Appointments Displays all apointments due for the current week. Current week starts on the previous Sunday of current system week. Month's Appointments Displays all appointments due for the current month. Current month starts on the first of the current system month. A. APPOINTMENTS There are two menu selections that we need to point out. - REPEAT Repeat allows you to repeat the highlighted appointment on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. If you select DAILY, you're asked for how many more consecutive days you want to repeat the appointment. If you select WEEKLY, you're asked to indicate for how many more consecutive weeks you want to repeat the appointment. The recurring appointments will be set by adding seven (7) days to the current date, and then to each resulting date so that the appointment is set for the same DAY -- i.e., Tuesdays -- during each week. If you select MONTHLY, you're asked to indicate for how many more months you want to repeat the appointment. The recurring appointments will be set by adding one month to the current date and then to each resulting date. The result is recurring appointments that are set for the same DATE of the month -- i.e., the 15th. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 27. - PURGE Purge allows you to delete and purge ALL previous appointments of previous appointments BETWEEN two dates. 1. APPOINTMENT CONFLICTS When you ADD a new appointment, the system automatically checks to determine if you're attempting to schedule an appointment conflict on the same day. The system will not permit you to ADD an appointment that conflicts with a current appointment. However, when you MODIFY an appointment record, you will be permitted to schedule an appointment conflict. 2. TIME FIELDS In order to accommodate the sequence of appointments that entail time within date (particularly for the same day), whenever you enter in a start or end time of 12 PM -- i.e., 12 Noon -- the system will change the PM to NN (NN for NooN). Without this slight modification, we would have had to use military time to preserve the proper file sequence. Do not enter in the NN yourself since the system's data validation for the time fields will allow you to enter AM or PM only. B. TODAY'S/WEEK'S/MONTH'S APPOINTMENTS When you decide to access any one of these three choices, the sys- tem displays the same page list and data entry screen as it does for Appointments. The difference here, however, is that you are in View Mode only -- you can only view the appointments for the se- lected category. You can view Notes and even search (F3) for a particular date/record. But, you cannot edit any records or add new ones, etc. For the dBASE "experts" among you, we note that when you select one of these options, the system, rather than use "filters," creates a temporary file that contains appointments for today, the week and the month. The temporary file is recreated each time you select one of these options. We've chosen this approach to per- mit, in the long run, faster and better access to select appoint- ments. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 28. VII. FOLLOW UPS Since the Follow Ups processing is virtually identical to the Appoint- ments function, see Appointments above. The difference, of course, is that when you select Follow Ups from the main menu, the system accesses the follow up function directly -- i.e., there is no Follow Up Menu. If you validate an entry with the Name & Address file, then when you access the Name & Address record for the person/company, the followup data will be displayed in the related page list in the Name & Address data entry screen. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 29. VIII. FINANCIALS When you select Financials from the main menu, the system displays the FINANCIALS MENU. This menu presents you with three (3) choices: - Income/Expense to maintain an income and expense "budget" - Expenses to maintain business expenses and reimbursements - Budget to maintain a monthly household/business budget. Unlike the Income/Expense option above, this fea- ture is intended to allow you to enter and view your fixed monthly income and your fixed monthly expenses in order to determine the relationship of your fixed income to your fixed outgo. Each of these functions maintains a cummulative total of amount(s) in- volved. Income/Expense maintains cummulative totals for Income, Ex- pense and the Difference. Expenses maintains a cummulative total of all expenses. Budget main- tains a cummulative total of all income items, all expense items and the difference. These totals cannot be edited directly but are calculated based upon the data you enter in the respective fields. A. EXPENSES When you select Expenses from the Financials Menu, the system presents you with a submenu that includes: - Expenses - Party File The Party File selection is used to name the person or organiza- tion for which you incurred the expense. It is used as a datahelp file for Expenses only! We recommend that you set up your parties before you begin entering in expenses. When you select Expenses from the Financial Menu, much of the processing is similar to that of Income/Expense. However, this function is used to track potentially reimburseable business expenses. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 30. IX. UTILITIES We've talked a little bit about the Utilities Menu before, when we dis- cussed setting up the Control File and Modem File. These two items will not be included in our discussion here. A. REINDEX When you select Reindex from the Utilities Menu, the system re- trieves an external program, VMCINDEX, to conduct the indexing/ reindexing. NOTE: The VMCINDEX program CANNOT BE ACCESSED from OUTSIDE of the PopIt System. Reindexing does NOT permanently delete records flagged for deletion -- i.e., it does NOT pack the file that is being reindexed. You should reindex the entire database at least once every other day, depending on the amount of data you enter and update on a daily basis. The system informs you that it is accessing the indexing module. When the module is loaded, the system displays an informa- tion box at the top of the screen. The reindexing module allows you to selectively reindex specific files or all files. In addition, you can selectively reindex specific index files for the specific file you select. While these features are all well and good and provide flexibility, we recommend that when you decide to reindex, you reindex every- thing -- i.e., select ALL files. To proceed, press ENTER, as prompted at the bottom of the inform- ation box. The system displays an Index Status box at the top of the screen and presents you with a screen menu with the following choices: Index proceed to index the highlighted file (see table at right) All reindex all of the system's files Quit quit the reindexing module and return to the Main Menu VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 31 To select a specific file for reindexing, use the UP or DOWN ARROW key to highlight the file of choice, then press ENTER. You can also search for a particular file by pressing F3 and entering in the file name in the search box. In addition, the screen menu prompts you to indicate which index file you want to regenerate. If you select 0 or Cancel, you'll be returned to the previous screen. If you select Quit, you'll be prompted as to whether or not you want to exit the reindexing program and return to the Utilities Menu. While you may selectively reindex, we strongly recommend that you choose the All option by either highlighting All and pressing ENTER or by simply typing an A. The status box at the top of the screen will keep you posted as to the progress of the reindexing process for each index file and a blinking arrow will indicate which index file is being recreated. When reindexing is finished, you'll be prompted to press a key to continue. When you are finished reindexing your file(s), you can return to the Utilities Menu by pressing ESC or by Quitting the index pro- cedure. B. PACK Selecting Pack from the Utilities Menu does two things. First, it will ask you to confirm that you want to proceed. It will ask for confirmation twice, just to make sure you are certain. It does this because the PACKing process PERMANENTLY REMOVES all records that are flagged for deletion in the file(s) you select from the Packing and Reindexing Menu. Once a file is packed, deleted records are gone forever and cannot be undeleted. Second, it provides you with a file menu from which you choose the file or files you want to pack and reindex. You can select ALL FILES by typing A. Otherwise, type in the letter that corresponds to the file you want to pack and reindex. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 32. C. FILE BROWSER The file browser feature is a very powerful and unique feature of the system. It will certainly be familiar to those of you who have worked in dBASE, Lotus, Paradox, and the like. However, please exercise care in that you can change data in fields and even add/ delete records. File Browser is a seperate executable program that is available from WITHIN the system only. You will not be able to access/use this function from outside of the system. (NOTE: We do have a ver- sion of the File Browser that is a stand-alone program. If you are interested, please give us a call.) When you select File Browser from the Utilities Menu, the system displays a scrolling table of file names on the left side of the screen. The files will be listed in alphabetical order by name. 1. INITIAL SCREEN MENU Browse Presents both a horizontal and vertical scrolling table that displays all fields within the file and the contents of the fields. When in Browse mode, you have the option of editing fields and adding/ deleting records. We would suggest that you exer- cise care here. Review Display the file's structure on the screen. Setup Review/edit/save the functions setup settings (a) BROWSE MODE When you select Browse from the screen menu, the system enters browse mode. The screen displays the scrolling browse table of records and fields. The bottom of the screen indicates the keys that are available to perform specific operations. The first letter of each function is displayed in red. To execute that function, simply type the first letter of the function you want to per- form. The options are, depending on the specific setup settings at the time (see SetUp Setting, below), one or more of the following. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 33. I = Index This option displays a scolling table of indexes for the current file. Indexes are used to display the data in a particular sequence -- the sequence indicated by the contents of the index file. You must select an index, if you decide to use the search option (F3), before you can search. C = Cancel_Index Cancel the current index -- sequence -- and return to native mode (non- sequenced mode). F1 = Navigation Help Press the F1 function key to display a Help box regarding the additional keys/operations that are available to you for moving around the display. E = Edit Type E to begin editing the data in the currently highlighted field. G = Global Changes This option presents you with a table of available global oper- ations -- operations that can span the entire file. Those operations that are currently available are displayed in red. NOTE: These functions should be used by only those who are certain as to what they are doing. The global operations include: Count Count the number of records that match the criteria you enter. Delete Delete the current record. Recall Recall/Undelete the current record. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 34. Replace Replace a field's contents with differ- ent data, depending on the criteria you enter. BE CAREFUL! Sum Total up the contents of specified numeric field. The bottom half of the display box tells you what specific operations are available at the time. F = Fields Displays a scrolling table of the cur- rent file's field names. This allows you to restrict the actual fields that are displayed in the browse table. When you first enter browse mode, the system de- faults to displaying all fields in the file. The fields option allows you to se- lect only those fields you actually want displayed. S = Setup This allows you to define current display settings. If you change the settings, you can save them for future access -- i.e., you can change the defaults. The settings are: ...Century Dates You can display all dates as mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy. The default is N (for mm/dd/yy). ...Deleted records Whether or not you want to display records that are flagged for deletion while in browse mode. Default is Y. ...Append mode Whether you want to be able to add new records when in browse mode or not. De- fault is N. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 35. ...Field editing Whether you want to be able to edit fields when in browse mode or not. De- fault is N. Delete/Recall... Whether you want the ability to delete/undelete records when in browse mode or not. Default is N. Global operations... Whether or not to allow global operations while in browse mode. Default is N. Press <Spacebar> to toggle between Y and N. Press F10 to save the settings. Press Esc to abort/exit. A = Append Allows you to add a new record to the file, field by field. (Not recommended!) D = Delete/recall Allows you to delete/undelete high- lighted record. F3 = Search This option is available only when an in- dex is active. Search allows you to search for a particular record, depending on the file's sequence. Esc Return to the file list table. (b) REVIEW Review displays a scrolling table of the contents of the file's structure on the screen. The file structure in- cludes such items as: Field # Position (offset) in the file Fieldname Field Type (Character, Numeric, Date, Logical, Memo) Field Length (size) # of Decimal Places (for numeric fields only) VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 36. The screen menu includes: Return return back to the file table list Mode display in field number order or alpha- betically by field name (c) SETUP Refer to S = Setup in Browse Mode above. 2. SECOND SCREEN MENU CHOICE When you press the > key one time, the system displays the FILE MGMT screen menu. Here you can make a copy of the currently highlighted file. You'll be prompted to enter the file name for the file (the Copy To file). 3. THIRD SCREEN MENU CHOICE When you press the > key again, the system displays the PRINT MGMT screen menu. Here you have three choices: Print Print the structure of the highlighted file All Print the structures of ALL files. Setup Print setup. The options are: Entries per page (lines/page). Default is 50 Sequence. Default is by field number. You can change it to Alpha (by field name). Press > again, you are returned to the first screen menu. D. DATAHELP FILES When you select DataHelp Files from the Utilities Menu, the system displays the DataHelp Reference Files Menu. There are nine (9) items in this menu, from States to Communication Types. Two of the selections -- Budget Categories and Income & Expense Categories -- have submenus. Both submenus are identical in that each provides two choices: Income Categories and Expense Categories. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 37. Each selection in the Reference Files Menu performs the same function. DataHelp Reference Files are used to provide lookup tables (pick lists) in the data entry screens for the system's data files (remember pressing F2?). It's here where you would maintain your lookup tables and pick lists. E. NOTE BOOK The Note Book feature of the system provides you with a very simple way of making notes. It is not intended to serve as a word processor, but rather provides a method for entering and storing brief notes that are of your own choosing. Since the data is storerd in memory before a text file is written, try to keep your notes brief -- within a few hundred lines at most. (That's brief??) When you select Note Book from the Utilities Menu, the system dis- plays all files that have a .TXT extension as well as a "<New File>" option. If there are no .TXT files in the directory, the only option displayed is the "<New File>" option. If you select "<New File>" you're prompted to enter a file name. Do NOT include the file's extension, as the system will insert it for you. If you select one of the .TXT files, the system retrieves it and displays it. The system then displays the note book entry screen. This is a screen that permits the entry of free-form text. Type your text. When you're done, press the F10 function key to save your text, press Esc to abort (cancel) your entry, and press ALT-P to print a copy of the text on your printer. Whenever the menu of .TXT files is displayed, you can press CTRL-D to be prompted to Delete a particular file. Files that are deleted CANNOT be undeleted. F. PURGE Selecting Purge from the Utilities Menu does two things. First, it will ask you to confirm that you want to proceed. It will ask for confirmation twice, just to make sure you are certain. It does this because the Purging process PERMANENTLY REMOVES all records VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 38. in the file(s) you select from the Purging Menu. Once a file is purged, records that were flagged for deletion are gone forever and cannot be recovered. Second, it provides you with a file menu from which you choose the file or files you want to purge. You may notice that the file menu is missing certain files from the list. The files that are not included -- and, as a result, cannot be purged -- are the critical system files and the Letters File, which is used for invoices. We don't want these files purg- ed at any time, otherwise the system will no longer function prop- erly. Use this option with care. You may first want to go into File Browser and make a copy of the file you want to purge, just in case. G. QUERIES & DOCUMENTS When you select Queries & Documents from the menu, the system displays a submenu that includes two choices: - Ad Hoc Queries - Documents 1. AD HOC QUERIES Ad Hoc Queries allows you to create your own query-by-ex- ample queries, using plain English. Once a query has been created, the system will ask whether you want to display the records that meet your query's criteria or not. If you choose to browse the records, the system presents a browse table that displays only those records that match your criteria. You can view each individual record horizontally and vertic- ally. You can print the highlighted as well. Our query procedure provides the following features and capabilities. (a) FIELD NAMES SHOWN IN PLAIN ENGLISH. The query's field names and relational operators are shown in plain English terms. The field data types include character, numeric, date and logical. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 39. (b) VARIETY OF RELATIONAL OPERATORS. This is a menu- driven procedure that lets you select from 16 different comparison operators in a pop-up list. These include such operators as "Begins with", "Ends with", "Exactly matches" and "Sounds like". (c) UP TO 10 CONDITIONS PER QUERY. Each of your queries can contain up to 10 individual conditions. A condition consists of a field name, relational operator and a comparison value -- e.g., STATE = NY). These conditions can in turn be separated by AND or OR connectors along with optional parentheses. (d) USER DEFINED PARENTHESES. You can use a menu to quickly add parentheses to control how your query is evaluated. Additionally, each time you make a change that can affect parentheses matching, the system automatically ensures that the parentheses are still in balance. (e) SAVES AND RESTORES QUERIES. The system can save and restore (reuse) an unlimited number of queries. (f) QUERY LIST MANAGER. The system includes a front-end Query Manager that lets you maintain a set of queries. The Query Manager's browse window makes it easy for you to add, edit, delete, rename or select any previously defined query. When you enter the Ad Hoc Query procedure, you're first presented with a pick list table of files that have been defined to function with the Ad Hoc Query facility. After you select the file you want, you're asked if you want to define criteria for record selection. If you say NO, you're asked if you want to browse the file anyway. If you say NO, you're returned to the file pick list table. If you say YES to browsing the file without any query criteria defined, the system presents the file in a full horizontal browse table (similar to the browse window used in File Browser). You can then view each record vertically and/or print out the highlighted (current ) record. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 40. If you say YES to creating query criteria, the system enters the Ad Hoc Query facility. If you have no queries defined for the file you selected, you are so notified. Your individual query names (titles) can be up to 55 characters in length. The initial dialog box provides you with six (6) choices: (a) SELECT Select and use the currently high- lighted query. Once you select a defined query, you're asked if you want to browse the file under the currently defined query conditions. (b) ADD Add a new query to the list. (c) EDIT Edit the criteria (conditions) of the currently highlighted query. (d) RENAME Change the title of the currently highlighted query. (e) DELETE Delete the currently highlighted query from the list. (f) CANCEL Cancel the task and leave the Ad Hoc Query procedure. (Pressing ESC does the same thing.) When you enter Ad Hoc Query's query building procedure (by selecting Add or Edit from the initial dialog box) you're presented with the following menu: (a) ADD Add a new condition (criterion). A con- dition consists of a field name, relational operator and a comparison value. For example, AMOUNT > 1000 (Amount Greater Than 1000). Each query can contain up to 10 conditions. (b) EDIT Change the condition by changing the field, the operator and/or the comparison value. (c) SWITCH Switch a condition's connector between an AND and an OR (if used). VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 41. (d) MOVE Change the vertical position of a condition within the list of conditions. (e) PARENTH Place or remove parentheses around two or more conditions. (f) DELETE Deletion a condition. (g) CANCEL Exit the query building procedure without saving any changes. (h) OK Save the query and exit. (i) T There is an additional menu item we have provided for the more experienced users among you -- those of you who are famil- iar with (better yet, experienced with) the dBASE programming language (or dBASE Command Mode). This selection is a toggle, toggling between what we call DEBUG mode and NON-DEBUG mode. Non-Debug mode presents the query conditions (the query criteria) in a plain English display; while Debug mode presents the query conditions in dBASE Command Mode. 2. DOCUMENTS The Documents procedure allows you to add up to 55 lines of free-form text to any record in the files that have been allocated for document processing. It is an expansion of the idea presented by the Notes field. (This procedure, however, does NOT utilize Memo fields.) Document processing is based on the individual record in the file. As such, any documents you create are "attached" to each record you select. When you select Documents from the Queries & Documents Menu, the system presents you with a file pick list of the files that have been defined for documents processing: - COMMUN The Communications File - NAME The Master Name and Address File - SPECIAL The Special Contacts File - TRANS The Invoice Transaction File VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 42. After you select a file, the system asks you to confirm whether or not you want to use the file. If you choose NO, you're returned to the file pick list. If you select YES, the system presents you with a file browse window of the key fields of the records in the file. You can scroll through the browse table. When you locate the record you want, highlight it and press Enter. The browse table includes a feature that is not evident from its display. If/when you begin to type in characters, an in- put box is displayed at the bottom of the table. For example, let's say you want to make the table jump to last names be- ginning with the letter S. Type an S and press Enter. The table jumps to the first last name that begins with S. The more characters you type, the more precise the jump. If you then press Enter, the system jumps to that record and dis- plays its detail data in the detail screen. In this manner, browsing is similar to searching. When you select the record you want to attach a document to, the system enters the Letter/Document Management screen. The screen is divided into three sections. The top section is the actual text entry window (box). The middle section (under the text entry window) indicates the name of the file selected and the key fields of the record selected. The bottom section (under the double line) indicates the various keys available for you to press to perform specific activities. The cursor is in the text window, indicating that you can begin typing your text immediately. When you press one of the "hot keys" (the keys defined at the bottom of the screen), the system performs the corresponding function. Here is a brief description of Document Manager's text editing commands, which is divided into four specific procedures. NAVIGATION KEYS RESULTING CURSOR MOVEMENT --------------- ------------------------- Arrow keys Move the cursor over existing text. If there is no text in the window, the arrow keys will not move the cursor anywhere. Ctrl + Left Arrow Jump one word to the left. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 43. Ctrl + Right Arrow Jump one word to the right. Home Jump to the beginning of the line. End Jump to the end of the line. PgUp (Page Up) Go to top of screen then scroll up. PgDn (Page Down) Go to bottom of screen then scroll down. Ctrl + PgUp Jump to the beginning of the document. Ctrl + PgDn Jump to the end of the document. Tab Jump to the next tab position. EDITING KEYS RESULTING EDITING OPERATION ------------ --------------------------- Ins Toggle between insert and overwrite modes. Del Delete current character of marked text. Ctrl + T Delete next word on right. Ctrl + Y Delete current line. (If the cursor is in the middle of a line and you press Ctrl + Y, the system deletes the next line, if there is one.) Enter Start a new paragraph. (Note: The windows is always in word-wrap mode -- i.e., words that don't fit on a line automatically wrap down to the next line.) FUNCTION KEYS RESULTING FUNCTIONAL OPERATION ------------- ------------------------------ F2 PRINT the current document on your printer. F3 SEARCH for a word or phrase. F4 SEARCH for AND REPLACE a word or phrase. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 44. F5 PASTE clipboard text into the document. (For those of you who are familiar with Microsoft Windows, the idea behind a clipboard is the same here as in Windows. A Clipboad is a temporary holding area for text that you want to move around or copy. Before you can Paste, you first have to Mark, then either Cut or Copy. See the following function key descriptions.) These procedures work essentially the same as in Word Processing too -- i.e., Mark, Cut, Copy and Paste. F6 MARK (highlight) text to be cut or copied. F7 CUT marked text (remove from document) and put it into the clipboard. F8 COPY marked text to the clipboard. F9 ZOOM in and out of "full screen" editing. FILE KEY RESULTING FILE OPERATION -------- ------------------------ F10 Function Key Save the document and exit. MENU KEY RESULTING OPERATION -------- ------------------- Esc Cause the Document Manager's pop-up menu to be displayed. This menu allows you to access all of the previously defined function-key driven procedures. It also contains an option for quitting without saving. To select a menu option, either highlight the operation you want to perform and press Enter or simply type the highlighted letter (the letter is also displayed at the right side of the menu). VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 45. NOTE: Pressing the F6 Function Key at any time toggles you into and out of text marking mode. While in text mark- ing mode, all of the above Navigation Keys work to highlight text. Once text has been marked, you can press F8 to copy it to the clipboard or press F7 (cut) to copy it to the clipboard and delete it from the doc- ument. If you press Del (Delete), then the marked text is simply deleted. If, however, you press any other key while text is marked, then the marked text is unmarked (unhighlighted) and the action of the pressed key is performed. The system contains a feature whereby the clipboard continues to contain the marked text that has been copied into it or cut to it until you cut or copy another body of marked text into it or you quit the Document Manager. As a result, for as long as you are in the Document Manager, you can continue to paste the contents of the clipboard into any number of record documents. Document Manager displays a 29-character status line that shows the total lines available, current line number, and insert/overwrite mode. STATUS LINE MESSAGE USER ACTION THAT PRODUCED MESSAGE ------------------- --------------------------------- Line 1 of 55/Insert You are at the first line of a 55 line document and you're in insert mode. Line 1 of 55/Overwrite You are at the first line of a 55 line document and you're in over- write mode. F7 to cut or F8 to copy You are in text marking mode. This message will remain on the screen until you press F6 again to leave marking mode, F7 to cut marked text, F8 to copy marked text, Del to delete marked text, or any non- cursor key. This document is full There is not enough room to accom- modate any more characters. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 46. X. COMMUNICATIONS If you have created Name and Address records, Special Contact records and FollowUp records, this facility should be familiar to you. As a result, we'll limit our discussion since much of the features and fa- cilities available here have been discussed earlier. We do want to point out that this option was inserted into the system more as an after-thought to provide a way to record the times we are contacted by people/companies. Many times we receive letters and phone calls and simply want the ability to save a record of the letter or call should we ever need to reference it at a future date. Some of our users have told us that the facilities available here are somewhat duplicated by the followup facility. While relatively accurate, Communications does permit us to maintain a seperate record and also to record a followup, should it be necessary to do so. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 47. XI. REPORTS AND LABELS When you select Reports and Labels from the main menu, the system dis- plays the Reports and Labels Menu. The system has a wide range of re- ports and labels already defined for you. A. REPORTS When you select Reports from the Reports and Labels menu, the system displays a table of available reports. Select a report by either highlighting the report you want and press Enter, or simply type the LETTER than corresponds to the report you want. Once you select the report you want, the system prompts you to indicate if you want to print the reports for All Records or for just a Range of Records. If you select Range, the system prompts you to enter Starting and Ending criteria. The ending criteria MUST BE GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO the starting criteria, should you use a Range. B. LABELS When you select Labels from the Reports and Labels menu, the system displays a table of available mailing labels/rolodex-type "labels". Select a label by either highlighting the label you want and press Enter, or simply type the LETTER than corresponds to the label you want. Once you select the label you want, the system prompts you to in- dicate if you want to print the labels for All Records or for just a Range of Records. If you select Range, the system prompts you to enter Starting and Ending criteria. The ending criteria MUST BE GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO the starting criteria, should you use a Range. After you indicate whether you want all records or just a range, the system displays a label-definition menu that includes the following choices: Size of Labels Even though the system already has a default for label size, you have the option to change the size, should you want to do so (not recom- mended). VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 48. Test Pattern Allows you to generate a test pattern to en- sure that you have properly aligned the la- bels. Generate.... This is the print routine to actually print out your labels. Printer Port Allows you to change the port to which your printer is connected. 1. LABEL SIZE If you decide to change the label size and select Size of Labels from the menu, the system displays a size entry screen. There are three type of labels indicated: Standard Large Cheshire Each size has been pre-defined. However, you may change the size by selecting EDIT from the data entry screen. Editing allows you to change the following: Label Height (number of lines) Default is 5 lines Label Width Default is 35 characters Left Margin Default is 0 spaces # of Lines Between Labels Default is 1 line # of Spaces Between Labels Default is 0 spaces # of Labels Across Default is 1 label across The system's default is for one label across. Of course, if you have sheets with two, three or four labels across, you will have to change at least the following: # of Spaces Between Labels On most sheets with mul- tiple labels across, the number of spaces is one (1) or two (2). Try 1 first. If there is a left- margin problem with the other labels to the right, try 2 spaces. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 49. # of Labels Across Indicate the actual number of labels across the sheet. Suggestion: If you're using Cheshire labels with multiple labels across, usually the number of spaces between labels is 2. If you're using Standard or Large labels, usually the number of spaces between labels is 1. The Large labels are used for the rolodex-type labels. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 50. XII. GENERATING LETTERS AND INVOICES - THE 'G' ICON The ability to generate individual letters and invoices is a very pow- erful and unique feature of this system. This feature maintains an au- dit trail of the letters and invoices it prints, allowing you to know which letters were sent to whom and when. In addition, with editing mode toggled on, you can create ad hoc let- ters on the spot for any record. This feature is so powerful and unique that we have reserved a section of this manual dedicated to a discussion of its capabilities. There are several menu selections that provide the ability to generate letters/invoices. The letter/invoice generation facility is aviailable when the following detail screens are displayed: Master File Record (Names & Addresses) Special Contacts Record Transaction Record (Invoice detail) Expense Record (within Financials) Let's look at each one. A. MASTER FILE RECORD When you are in the master file detail screen and type G (from the screen icons), the system displays two windows on your screen. The window on the left is a table of four (4) letters and the window on the right provides a table of the dates and times each generated letter has been printed for the current record. The table on the left is called the LETTER WINDOW and the table on the right is called the AUDIT WINDOW. The Audit window will be blank until one or more letters for the current record is/are printed. These tables are actually page lists and work in the same way as any other page list in the system. NOTE: Plain Paper forms (see below) use the name and address data you entered in the system's Control File to identify your- self. (See Control File discussion at the beginning of this manual.) The four letters are: GLETTER_B Business Name & Address printed on plain pa- per. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 51. GLETTER_H Home Name & Address printed on plain paper L_GLETTERB Business Name & Address printed on your let- terhead L_GLETTERH Home Name & Address printed on your letterhead The only information actually generated on the letter is the current system date, the specific name and address and the "Dear...." You type in the rest of the letter. This feature is useful, for example, when you're using a word processor to gener- ate the letter template and you want to do a mail merge by insert- ing names and addresses. The letter table's screen menu includes two options: Generate Generate the letter ViewFmt View the letter format on screen. Does not permit editing. When you select Generate, the screen menu changes to include: Single Generate only one copy of the letter Multiple Generate multiple copies of the letter. You'll be prompted to indicate the number of copies you want to produce. Toggle Toggle letter ad-hoc editing on or off. The de- fault is ON. The system will ask if you're using Continuous_Forms or Single_Sheets. If you are using a laser printer with a paper tray or a dot matrix printer, select Continuous_Forms. If you need to manually feed in your paper to the printer, select Single_Sheets. If you are using Single-Sheets, you'll be prompted to insert your paper into the printer. The letter text is generated and displayed on your screen. If the individual record has a first and last name, the "Dear..." will contain the person's first name. Otherwise, the "Dear...." will read, "Dear Sir or Madam:". You can begin to type in your text accordingly. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 52. When you are done, press F10 to save and print the letter. The actual letter contents will not be saved as part of the initial letter template. But, after the letter is printed, an entry is made in the Audit Window, indicating the date, letter code and time the letter was printed. The Letter Definitions window's screen menu now includes one more choice: Swap Jump to the letter history window (the audit window) When you select Swap, the highlight bar moves to the history window. The history window's screen menu includes: View View the actual, complete contents of the letter. Here, the letter includes the text you typed. Reprint Print the highlighted letter again, including the text you typed. NOTE: When the letter is saved in History, the complete letter is saved for you in a file so that it can be retrieved for reprinting. Swap return to the Letter Definitions window. In addition, the History window includes the following key icons: D Delete the highlighted letter. Once flagged for de- letion, history records cannot be undeleted. C Copy the highlighted letter. To return to the original data entry screen, press Esc when the highlight bar is in the Letter Definitions window. B. SPECIAL CONTACTS RECORD Letters for special contacts work in exactly the same way as for the Master File Record discussed above. The only difference is that with special contacts, there are only two letter templates from which to choose: GLETTER2 To produce a letter on plain paper. L_GLETTER2 To produce a letter on your letterhead. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 53. For more information regarding letter generation for special con- tacts, review the section on Master File Record above. C. INVOICES When you type G in a Transaction File Record (an invoice), the Letter Definitions window includes five (5) "letters." Each of the forms produced can be edited ad-hoc, as you see fit. The changes you make are not saved in the template, but are saved for each specific form produced. Since much of the processing is identical to that for Master File Record, you should read section A above. BILL Plain paper invoice. CONFIRM Plain paper service confirmation. Provides a predefined letter to the client to confirm what you discussed. H_BILL Invoice produced on letterhead. H_CONFIRM Confirmation produced on letterhead. WORK_DTL A plain paper, free form text entry screen for you to record project/work details. D. EXPENSES When you select Expenses from the Financials Menu, you have the option of generating a business expense form when you type G. The letter definitions window displays two letters: EXPENSE Produce the expense form on plain paper. H_EXPENSE Produce the expense form on letterhead. Like all the other forms, the expense form may be edited as you see fit. E. SOFTWARE AND COURSE REGISTRATIONS - INVOICES AND CONFIRMATIONS When you select Software Registration or Course Registration Record Detail from the Master Files Menu, you have the option of generating an invoice for the registrant when you select the G icon. The Letters table includes a course confirmation letter for course registrants as well as an invoice letter. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 54. XIII. FILE FILTERS The Page List menus for the following files/processing sections provide you with the ability to set filters -- i.e., criteria for selective record display. - Master Name & Address - Special Contacts - Invoices/Transactions - Follow Ups - Appointments - Expenses - Communications - Task/Work Log The Page List menu for these files include two choices: Filt_On -- Selecting filter on executes the same procedure as Ad-Doc Queries above. However, here you're requesting the system to limit the display of records to only those that match the criteria you enter for the filter. When a filter has been set, the system dis- plays 'F_ON' at the top left side of the screen, next to the system date. Off_Filt -- This choice turns off any filters that have been set previously. Use filters sparingly since they tend to slow down system response time somewhat, particularly if the file has over one thousand records. VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. - PopIt User Manual - Page 55. VITRON'S POPIT SYSTEM INVOICE & REGISTRATION FORM Please Return To: VITRON Management Consulting, Inc. Attn: Shareware Dept 11-33 Jackson Ave. Scarsdale, NY 10583 From (Please Print or Type): Name _______________________________________________________________ Company ____________________________________________________________ Title ______________________________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ City ____________________________ State ___________ Zip ____________ Telephone _________________________________________ Ext ____________ Fax ________________________________________________________________ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Quan. Description/Product Unit Price Total Price ____ The PopIt System $49.95 ________________ NY residents add appropriate Sales Tax ________________ TOTAL ________________ I Prefer (check one): [ ] 5.25" HD diskette [ ] 3.50" HD diskette The Popit System has been delivered and accepted by the customer named above. Upon receipt of this paid invoice, VITRON will send the customer a printed manual, a current version of the system, update notifications and will provide free telephone support. Please make check or money order, in U.S. Funds, payable to: VITRON Management Consulting, Inc.