This demo version of Negotiator Pro is available for purchase
for $295 by calling Beacon Expert Systems at 1-800-448-3308.
Since we're often having sales, please call for the latest price.
You can also purchase a user's manual separately by calling the
above number. Special multi-user licenses are available.
If you are not using the option checklist you can disable
that feature by clicking on it in the top pull down menu
or by using a mouse and clicking on the button with v-list
(check list).
Windows almost gives the user too many options, and you
might want to experiment to get the windows of Negotiator
Pro where you want them on the screen. At first, you may
want to disable the Q-list, or question list to keep the
screen 'cleaner.'
Call Beacon Expert Systems if any part of the program is
problematic. It may be a 'bug' or 'undocumented feature'
or something we can help you adjust to your liking.
We also know there are some 45,000 lines of C code and
especially after a major upgrade there may be a design or
program error that needs fixing. Thank you in advance for
your patience and willingness to share your reactions,
pro and con, with us.
You can also send feedback to any of the following email addresses:
COMPUSERVE: 70621,1421
INTERNET: STWISLOS@Athena.MIT.EDU
70621.1421@Compuserve.COM
DAVENPORTJL@GW1.Hanscom.AF.MIL
TO INSTALL NEGOTIATOR PRO ON YOUR COMPUTER:
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1. You will need about 1 meg free on your hard disk.
2. Type A:INSTALL <PATHNAME> where <PATHNAME> is the drive and directory
where you want Negotiator Pro installed. For example, to install
Negotiator Pro to your hard drive C: in the directory NPRO, using the
oroginal distribution disk in drive B:, you would type:
B:INSTALL C:\NPRO
MISC. NOTES
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1. If you click on the "Print/View" button, you are given a chance to
resize your Plan window. Please note that the text in the Plan window
will be printed on paper *exactly* as it looks in the window. This
is to facilitate the margin adjustments for the final output.
Example:
If the text in your Plan window is 40 columns wide, the printed Plan
will also be 40 columns wide.
2. The command "Select Questions to Print" has been added to the menu
of the Plan Window. This command allows you to select (or de-select)
which questions from the Plan that you will print.
3. If your Negotiation Plan questions look funny: Users who have installed Adobe Type Manager for Windows may find that text in the Negotiation Plan questions comes up large and ugly. This is occurring because not all of the ATM fonts were installed.
You can add the fonts by using the ATM control panal which is found in your
Adobe (ATM) group. This problem comes about because ATM only installs the
larger fonts (automatically), therefore you have to go in manually and
select the smaller (missing) fonts from the ATM control panal. At a last
resort you can disable ATM from its control panal which allows the Windows
True Type fonts to be enabled again. Some people claim that the True Type
fonts are superior (e.g. Bill Gates), however, Adobe Type Manager is often distributed with Lotus products like Freelance Graphics (tm).
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Please run Negotiator Pro in 386 Enhanced mode for fast, reliable
performance.
NPro allows you to customize the plan questions by
specifying a special file or "template."
There are two ways to tell NPro which template to use:
1. When you first start the program, NPro will ask you,
"What do you want to do today?" Select option number 4,
"Customize NPro or select another template." You will now
be presented with a list of available templates. Click on
the template you wish to use, and click the OK button.
The process to start the plan with this template will begin
automatically.
2. Under the OPTIONS menu of the Plan Window, choose
"Select a template," and follow the instructions above.
Negotiator Pro comes with several alternative templates such
as "Sales" and "Purchasing."
The "PIM" template is meant as a suggestion of how you can use
Negotiator Pro as a Personal Information Manager or PIM to organize your
day on the computer. You can attach up to 10 programs to each question.
So, for instance, you can attach several word processors to the document
word processing question; several e-mail programs to an email question; and
likewise with the other questions.
These samples are intended to give you an idea of how templates can be
created. You can use these sample templates, or create your own template
as discussed in 3.
3. Below are details about the format of the template files that you use
to customize and create your own version of Negotiator Pro.
Negotiator Pro expects template files to be in a particular format.
This format is shown below:
#1
Question Name: <Question Name>
Question:
<Question -- can be multiple lines>
Checklist: (optional)
<Checklist -- multiple lines> (optional)
Hint:
<Hint -- can be multiple lines>
<blank line>
#2 , etc.
Note that each question must be numbered with a "pound" or "number"
sign (#), followed by the number of the question and a hard return.
(A hard return comes from hitting the ENTER or RETURN key on your
keyboard.) If one or more or the questions is numbered incorrectly,
you will receive an error message advising you to "be sure that all
questions are numbered properly."
Each of the field names, "Question Name," "Question," "Checklist," and
"Hint," must have a colon (:) immediately following the field name.
For example -
Question
Question :
would cause an error message advising you to "be sure the 'Question'
field names are correct."
The text for the optional Checklist field requires that a vertical bar
(|) be placed at the end of each line that will be in the checklist.
The first line in the Checklist field will not appear in the edit
window in the plan when the user clicks on it since this first line
is reserved for a short title for the checklist.
The following example shows correctly formatted Checklist text:
Checklist:
INTERESTS|
Financial security|
Emotional security|
Job recognition|
Professional recognition|
The Checklist text ends when the "Hint:" field name is found.
The text for the Question and Question Name fields are limited to
a maximum of 255 characters each. If the text for these fields
exceeds this limit, Negotiator Pro will be unable to correctly
identify the next field.
For example:
If the Question Name text is 270 characters long, NPRO will not be
able to identify the next field. Since the next field is the
"Question," (see format above) you will receive an error advising
you to "be sure the 'Question' fields are correct."
Misc. Notes
-----------
If part of your checklist appears in the text of your question,
make sure that you have the text "Checklist:" before the text
of your checklist.
If Negotiator Pro appears to be using the wrong question (i.e.,
question 20 comes up when question 2 should be displayed), be sure
that all of your questions are properly numbered. (See the notes
