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ACCTMAN.TXT
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(This is a text-only version of the Account Manager user manual.)
Account Manager
version 1.1
WinnoVation
Innovation through Windows...
(C) Copyright 1993
Winnovation
PO Box 271071
Ft. Collins, CO 80527-1071
USA
Telephone: (303) 484-7204
E-mail: CompuServe: 71774,605
Internet: 71774.605@compuserve.com
Introduction
------------
Account Manager is a tool designed for people who must
keep track of how much time they spend on different
projects or accounts. Examples of such uses are...
* A person who charges their time to several different
projects
* Someone who bills to multiple clients
* An entrepreneur who must keep records of business
vs. personal use of a computer for tax purposes
* And many more!
To use Account Manager, you "punch in" to each project or
account as you begin working on it, and "punch out" when
you are done. At the end of the week, or whenever you
need a report of how your time was spent, Account Manager
will generate a report, showing your time in varying
levels of detail.
Account Manager also has a convenient feature to make it
even easier to use. After your list of projects has been
entered, you can click on the Account Manager icon with
the right mouse button to get the Quick Access List.
This list shows all of the projects in your list, and
makes it very easy and convenient to punch in and out of
them.
For those occasions when you must exit Windows for
whatever reason, Account Manager includes a DOS command-
line interface so you can punch in/out from DOS.
Note that Account Manager requires Windows 3.1.
Packing List
------------
Your package should include the following:
This manual
Distribution disk
License statement
The following files should be present in the distribution
disk:
ACCTMAN.EXE Account Manager program
ACCTMAN.HLP On-line help file
DOSACCT.EXE DOS command-line interface
ACCTMAN.TXT Documentation text file
If any files are missing, please contact Winnovation.
Installation
------------
First, make sure that no other copies of Account Manager
are currently running. Then simply copy all of the files
from the Account Manager distribution disk to a directory
such as C:\ACCTMAN. To do this from a DOS prompt, type
the following (assuming your floppy drive is A: and your
hard disk is C:):
MKDIR C:\ACCTMAN
COPY A:\*.* C:\ACCTMAN
After the files are copied, add Account Manager to a
Program Manager group. To do this, find ACCTMAN.EXE with
the File Manager and drag it to the group you want in the
Program Manager. To run Account Manager every time you
start Windows, add Account Manager to the Startup group
in Program Manager. See your Windows manual if you are
unsure about how to do any of these steps.
Registration
------------
When Account Manager is first started, you will see a
registration reminder screen. Click the Register...
button and you will see the following registration
screen:
Enter your name EXACTLY as shown on your license
statement, and enter your serial number and registration
code (also found on the license statement).
Getting Started
---------------
This section is intended as a general overview to using
Account Manager. For more detail, please refer to the
reference section. Please note that the words "project"
and "account" are used interchangeably within this
manual.
When you start Account Manager, you will see a screen
similar to the following:
The large space on the left side is the project list.
You should enter each project or account that you work on
in to this list. To do this, you should click on the top
portion of the list (you will then see a flashing cursor
there), type the name of the project, and click the Add
button. When you do this, you will notice that the
project has been added to the list. Repeat this step for
each project that you want to enter.
After all of the projects have been entered, you may
punch in to one. To punch in to a project, select the
project in the list and click the In button.
Alternatively, you may double-click on the project name
in the list. After you punch in, the status line at the
bottom of the window will reflect which project you are
punched in to.
To punch out of a project, simply click the Out button.
You can also just punch in to another project -- this
will automatically punch you out of the first one.
To make punching in and out more convenient, Account
Manager provides a Quick Access List. To access this
list, minimize Account Manager and click on the icon with
the right mouse button. This will bring up a list of
your projects for you to conveniently punch in to and out
of.
If you wish to delete a project, select it in the list
and press the Delete button. Note that this will not
delete the data in the database for that project -- it
will merely remove the project from the Project List.
To generate a report, select Create Reports... from the
Reports menu. You will have the option of creating
several different kinds of reports. For details about
the different report types please refer to the reference
section.
---------
Reference
---------
Project Lists and Databases
---------------------------
In Account Manager, the Project List and the Database are
two different things. It is important to understand the
difference.
A Project List is simply a list of your projects. It is
displayed on the main window, and also in the Quick
Access List for easy access. Project lists are usually
saved with a .AMP extension.
A Database contains all of the punch in/punch out data.
Every time you punch in to or out of a project, the
database file is updated. Database files are usually
stored with a .AMD extension.
Note that Project Lists and Database files are not
connected in any way. A Project List exists only for
your convenience. It is possible to punch in to a
project which is not even in the Project List (to do
this, type the name of the project and press In -- do not
press the Add button, which would add it to the Project
List). Conversely, deleting a project from the Project
List will NOT delete the associated data in the database.
To find out the current Project List and Database files,
choose Get Status... from the File menu.
Note that database files can grow quite large over a long
period of time -- it is recommended that you delete old
records periodically via the Edit Database option. This
will reduce the file size and also speed up report
generation.
Database Options
----------------
The Database menu contains several options related to
database management.
Punch In Earlier
----------------
This option allows you to punch in to a project at an
earlier time. This is especially useful if you start
working on a given project, but forget to punch in to it.
When you select this option, you will see the following
screen:
Information Fields:
Previous Project: This is the name of the last
project that was active. If this is a new database
and there is no previous project on file, this field
will say "(none)".
Punched In/Out At: This is the date and time that
the previous project was punched in to or out of
(whatever the last punch in/out event was). If this
is a new database and there is no previous project
on file, this field will say "(N/A)".
Selection Fields:
New Project Name: Enter the project you wish to
punch in to here. You can either type a project
name, or select one from the drop-down list of
projects. If a project was selected in the project
list on the main screen, then that project will be
shown here as a default.
Time To Punch In: There are two fields in this
section.
Date: Valid dates are in the format MM/DD/YY.
Time: Valid times are in the format HH:MM (24-hr),
HH:MMa or HH:MMp. For example, the following are
valid times:
8:00, 14:35, 2:35p, 1:30a
Note that you are not permitted to punch in to a project
at an earlier time than the previous punch in/out time.
If you need to do this, you must delete the last record
in the database via the Edit Database option. You are
also not permitted to enter a time which is later than
the current time of day.
Punch Out Earlier
-----------------
This option allows you to punch out of a project at an
earlier time. This option is useful if you forget to
punch out of a project, or if you are away from your
computer when you stop working on a project.
When you select this option, you will see the following
screen:
Information Fields:
Current Project: This is the name of the currently
active project.
Punched In At: This is the date and time that the
current project was punched in to.
Selection Fields:
Time To Punch Out: There are two fields in this
section.
Date: Valid dates are in the format MM/DD/YY.
Time: Valid times are in the format HH:MM (24-hr),
HH:MMa or HH:MMp. For example, the following are
valid times:
8:00, 14:35, 2:35p, 1:30a
Note that you are not permitted to punch out of a project
at an earlier time than the previous punch in time. If
you need to do this, you must delete the last record in
the database via the Edit Database option.
Punch Out on Exit
-----------------
This option causes Account Manager to punch out of the
currently active project when exiting. This is
convenient in case you forget to punch out at the end of
the day, etc.
If this option is not enabled, then you will remain
punched in to the active project when Account Manager is
closed.
Warn if Active on Startup
-------------------------
If this option is selected, you will be warned if you are
already punched in when Account Manager starts. The
warning will be similar to the following:
The top lines reflect the currently active project
including the time it was punched in to. You have the
following options:
Remain Punched In: Select this option if you want to
remain punched in to the currently active project
displayed.
Punch Out Now: Select this option if you want to
punch out now from the currently active project
displayed.
Specify Earlier Time to Punch Out: Select this
option if you want to punch out from the currently
active project at some time before now. Note that
you are not allowed to punch out before the current
project was punched in to, nor can you punch out
after the current time.
Date: Valid dates are in the format MM/DD/YY.
Time: Valid times are in the format HH:MM (24-hr),
HH:MMa or HH:MMp. For example, the following are
valid times:
8:00, 14:35, 2:35p, 1:30a
This option is convenient if you stay in Windows all of
the time. If this is the case, then there is no reason
that you should be already punched in when Account
Manager starts (unless you forget to punch out), except
for a system crash or other undesirable occurrences.
Editing the Database
--------------------
This function allows you to delete data from the current
database. This can reduce the database size, resulting
in faster report generation. Also, if you should
accidentally punch in or out of a project, you can delete
the most recent records (punch in/out actions) from the
database one at a time.
When this function is selected, a screen similar to the
following will be displayed:
Information Fields:
Database: This is the filename of the currently
loaded DatabaseDATABASEFILES file.
Database contains information from {date} to {date}:
These are the range of dates for which information
is available in the database.
Selection Fields:
Delete data from {start date} to {end date}:
Selecting this option and pressing OK will delete
data in the database ranging from start date to end
date, inclusive. A punch in/out pair will be
deleted if the punch in time is within the date
range specified, even if the punch out time is not.
Valid dates are in the format MM/DD/YY.
Delete data up to and including {date}: Selecting
this option and pressing OK will delete data in the
database from the beginning up to date, inclusive.
A punch in/out pair will be deleted if the punch in
time is within the date range specified, even if the
punch out time is not. Valid dates are in the
format MM/DD/YY.
Delete last record in database: Selecting this
option and pressing OK will delete the last record
in the database. This record will include both a
punch in and a punch out. The date and time shown
are the time that the project was punched out of.
Note that since using the database editor
automatically punches you out of the current
project, there will always be a in/out pair at the
end of the database when this option is selected.
Store deleted data: This option indicated that the
data which is deleted from the database will be
stored in this indicated file (which is the database
filename, with a .BAK extension). Note that if this
.BAK file already exists, the new data will be
appended to it. Note that this option is not
available when using the Delete last record in
database option.
Note that selecting this function will cause you to be
punched out of your current project.
Reports
-------
The Reports menu contains options related to generating
and viewing reports. See the following sections for
details.
Selecting an Editor
-------------------
This menu option allows you to select an editor to use to
view your report files. The default is notepad.exe,
which is normally in your Windows directory. If you
change this editor, the new editor must support a
filename on the command line, i.e. notepad.exe
report.txt.
Selecting a Time Format
-----------------------
This option allows you to select the format used when
printing time durations in the reports. You have the
option of HH:MM:SS format (i.e. 03:20:00), or a decimal
hours format (i.e. 3.33).
Creating a Report
-----------------
This option allows you to create reports which show your
time usage. There are three different report types,
detailed in the following sections. Note that the
examples in the following sections were not created from
the same database.
Overall Summary by Project
--------------------------
This report shows the total time spent on each project
in the database, from the starting date to the ending
date (inclusive). The following is an example Overall
Summary by Project report:
Project Summary Report
Starting 01/01/93, Ending 04/05/93
Project Name Time (HH:MM:SS)
------------------------------------------------------
Presentations 1:14:02
Meetings 0:25:12
Project X 3:59:07
----------
Total Time: 5:38:21
Daily Summary by Project
------------------------
This report shows the total time spent on each project
in the database, from the starting date to the ending
date (inclusive). The following is an example Daily
Summary by Project report:
Daily Project Summary Report
Starting 01/01/93, Ending 04/05/93
Date Project Name Time (HH:MM:SS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
03/21/93 John Smith 0:04:09
Patty Roburn 0:03:52
----------
Total Time: 0:08:01
03/23/93 John Smith 1:00:07
Ed Hayes 3:25:09
Jane Doe 1:00:09
----------
Total Time: 5:25:25
04/05/93 Ed Hayes 0:25:02
----------
Total Time: 0:25:02
Detailed Report
---------------
This report shows the time of each action (punch
in/out) present in the database, from the starting date
to the ending date (inclusive). No summary is
generated in this report. The following is an example
Detailed Report:
Detailed Report
Starting 01/01/93, Ending 04/05/93
Project Name In/Out Date Time
-------------------------------------------------------
Project 1 In 03/21/93 18:42:42
Project 1 Out 03/21/93 18:46:34
Project 5 In 03/21/93 18:55:43
Project 5 Out 03/21/93 18:59:52
Project 2 In 03/23/93 21:52:20
Project 2 Out 03/23/93 21:52:29
Project 3 In 03/23/93 21:52:59
Project 3 Out 03/23/93 21:53:06
Project 4 In 03/23/93 21:53:06
Project 4 Out 03/23/93 21:53:15
Project 3 In 04/05/93 18:28:12
Project 3 Out 04/05/93 18:28:14
Command Line
------------
The command line options for Account Manager are:
ACCTMAN
ACCTMAN -out
ACCTMAN -in
ACCTMAN project name
The first option runs Account Manager normally. The -out
option will punch out of the currently active project, if
any. The project name option will punch in to the named
project.
The -in option can only be used if you are currently not
punched in. It will punch you in to the last project
which was active. For example, if project "my proj" was
active, then you punched out of it, and then ran "ACCTMAN
-in", then Account Manager would punch you in to "my
proj".
Only one copy of Account Manager will run at a time.
However, if Account Manager is running and you try to run
it again, the command line options will be passed to the
running copy. So, if Account Manager is running, running
"ACCTMAN -out" will punch you out of the current project.
Similarly, "ACCTMAN my project" will punch you in to a
project called 'my project'.
This powerful capability could be used with a program
scheduler such as Clocker (also from
Winnovation)OTHERPRODUCTS. This would give you the
capability to automatically punch out from 12:00 to
1:00pm for lunch, for example. If at 12:00 you executed
"ACCTMAN -out", and at 1:00 you executed "ACCTMAN -in",
you would be punched out from 12:00 to 1:00, and then
punched back in to the project you were previously
working on. This feature could also be used for regular
meetings, etc.
DOS Interface
-------------
Since many people have to exit Windows occasionally to
run a program that will not run in a DOS box, etc.,
Account Manager provides a DOS Interface to the database.
This interface is limited, in that you can only punch in,
punch out, or obtain the status of the database.
The DOS interface CANNOT be run from a Windows DOS box.
It is provided solely to be run completely outside of
Windows. If you are inside Windows, you must use the
Windows Account Manager (ACCTMAN.EXE).
Command Line:
DOSACCT [-db database] -status
DOSACCT [-db database] -out
DOSACCT [-db database] projectname
DOSACCT [-db database] "project name"
The DOS interface will attempt to read your ACCTMAN.INI
file to get the name of the active database. If this
ACCTMAN.INI file is not accessible (if you are on a
network workstation other than your own, for example),
then you can specify your database file with the -db
option. Use of this option is not recommended, except
where it is absolutely necessary.
The -status option will tell you which (if any) project
is currently active. The -out option will punch you out
of the currently active project. The last two options
are for punching in to a project. If the project name
contains spaces, you must enclose it in quotes as in the
fourth example above.
Examples:
DOSACCT myproject
This will punch in to the project called "myproject",
using the database file specified in the ACCTMAN.INI
file.
DOSACCT -out
This will punch out of the currently active project (if
any), using the database file specified in the
ACCTMAN.INI file.
DOSACCT -db time.amd myproject
This will punch in to the project called "myproject",
using the database file TIME.AMD.
Miscellaneous Options/Features
------------------------------
Quick Access List
-----------------
The Quick Access List is accessed by clicking on the
Account Manager icon with the right mouse button. This
brings up a list of your projects/accounts, with the
currently active one highlighted (if any). From here,
you can punch in to or out of a project.
The Quick Access List is especially convenient when you
are using the Icon Always On TopICONALWAYSONTOP option,
since the icon will then always be visible. The Quick
Access List is then never more than one mouse click away.
To punch in to a project:
Select the project you wish to punch in to, and click the
"In" button. Alternatively, you can double-click the
project name.
To punch out of a project:
Click the "Out" button. Also, punching in to a different
project will punch you out of the current project.
To Exit the Quick Access List without changing the active
project:
Click the "Cancel" button or press ESC.
Get Status
----------
This option, available on the File menu, will display the
file names of the current project list and the current
database.
Icon Always On Top
------------------
This option is available on the Account Manager System
menu. Enabling this option will cause the Account
Manager icon to remain on top of all other windows on the
desktop. This makes it especially convenient to use the
Quick Access List.
Registration and Support Information
------------------------------------
Single copy Account Manager registration is $24.95,
payable in US dollars. If used on a network, Account
Manager requires one license for each machine it is
running on. Site license rates are as follows:
5 users $ 109.95
10 users $ 199.95
20 users $ 349.95
50 users $ 699.95
100+ users $ 999.95
To register additional copies, print out ORDERFRM.TXT and
mail the completed form along with payment to:
Winnovation
PO Box 271071
Ft. Collins, CO 80527-1071
USA
After your registration is processed, you will receive a
serial number/registration code combination, a manual,
and a disk for each copy you ordered. Site licenses will
receive only one code, manual, and disk, with additional
manual copies available for a nominal fee. Registered
users will be entitled to unlimited support and free
upgrades to 1.x versions as they become available.
Future updates will be available at a significant
discount. Support will be via telephone, E-mail and US
mail. Winnovation can be reached at:
Telephone: (303) 484-7204
E-mail: CompuServe: 71774,605
Internet: 71774.605@compuserve.com