ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.tar/ftp.whtech.com/articles/archives/reviews.exe/DEC97.TXT

Text File | 1999-07-04 | 10KB | 132 lines

Microreviews for  December 1997 Micropendium
by Charles Good

INVOICE MANAGEMENT by Larry Tippet and Asgard Software

The other day I was talking on the telephone to a well known TIer who told me that he owns a business that
uses 99/4A computers and software for all record keeping and correspondence.  The business involves
lots of writing and this person uses the Funnelweb word processor exclusively.  ôThe TI gives me all the
computing power I need to make my business a success,ö I was told.  There is a lot of good public domain
and commercial software written for the TI.  This month I am reviewing one such software package.

Inventory Management is an 80 column database designed for the small business or user group.  Its
primary function is to maintain records of delivered products.  The software is written in extended basic
using Alexander HulpkeÆs X80 80 column extensions.  It will run on a Geneve  under GPL mode or on an
80 column 99/4A and will easily run directly off of floppy disk.  You can also install the software on a
SCSI or HFDC hard drive or a ramdisk.

Inventory Management will print invoices showing your company name, address, phone number, the
customersÆ name and address and an itemized list of products delivered showing the quantity, the cost of
each item, tax, and total owed.  The software allows the immediate printing of an invoice, or you can save
your invoices to files for a once a month print session.  You can also print identical invoices showing the
same list of itemized goods and services to all clients in a specified disk address file.  This feature can be
used by groups such as TI user groups to bill the members for annual dues, or by a company that regularly
provides the same services to a group of clients.

All data is saved to disk files which can be searched and viewed at any time.  From these files you can
print a detailed monthly or annual report of all invoices recorded showing the total monthly billing and
sales tax.  Accumulative totals are kept on disk and can be printed showing year-to-date totals of billing
and tax.

Mail Room, by Larry Tippet and Asgard, is one of the first software packages I ever reviewed for
Micropendium.  If you have Mail Room then you can use its name/address data base directly in Invoice
Management without modification.  The same basic data file can be used by both software packages!
When you run LOAD on the Invoice Management disk you are presented with a menu asking if you want to
run Mail Room or Invoice Management.  Both programs can be conveniently placed on the same floppy
disk or hard drive subdirectory,

Invoice Management comes set up to print invoices on a particular type (ôTOPSö) of fan fold tractor feed
multicopy blank invoices that are commonly available at good office supply stores.  The software prints
all the data in the correct position on these preprinted invoices.  The software package also comes with on
disk invoice templates in TI Writer formatter and in Page Pro Posters format.  Print out one of these
templates, take it to your friendly neighborhood copying center and make a bunch of copies.  Then insert a
single sheet blank invoice into your printer every time you want to print a new invoice.  Actually, you
donÆt need to use preprinted invoices forms at all.  Just use blank fan fold tractor feed or single sheet
paper.  All the data is printed in a format that most folks can still understand, even without the nice
preprinted boxes that divide up the area of blank preprinted invoice forms.

When you first run Invoice Management you configure it.  This only has to be done once a year or
whenever configuration defaults change.  Here is where you enter a path name for data files, the name of
your account data file (could be an existing Mail Room file), the printer name, current year, starting
invoice number, tax rate as a decimal, default ôShipped viaö text, default ôTermsö text (such as ôCashö),
default bottom of invoice message (such as ôThank you for your orderö), and an invoice header listing
your companyÆs name and address.   Now you are ready to invoice!

You see on screen a full sized 80 column invoice in a WYSIWIG display.  As you enter data the cursor
jumps from one field of this invoice display to the next.  You are first asked for a client code.  This code
puts the name and address of the client in the ôToö invoice box.  If you are billing a new client type ôaddö
for the client code.  Then as you type the new clientÆs code (you make one up), name,  address, and
telephone number  in the ôToö field of the on screen invoice display the data is also added to your on disk
account file.

Next enter the invoice date within the default year, and the invoice number if you donÆt the consecutive
number that is automatically generated by the software.  You can then enter some ôAttentionö text or
accept the default text which reads ôAccounts Payableö.  This gets printed as part of the address on the
invoice.  Next you enter a ôjob numberö, a date shipped or accept the default invoice date, some ôshipped
viaö text (default is ôbest wayö but you might substitute something like ôUPSö or ôUS Mailö), some
ôtermsö text (default is ôcashö), and a purchase order number.  Any of these fields can be left blank and
most have configurable defaults you may or may not decide to accept.

Now you are ready to type in  the merchandise description and cost.  Here you can, from within Invoice
Management, access a little pop up calculator if you need to do some quick arithmetic.  Enter quantity,
merchandise description, and unit cost.  The software automatically figures out ôamountö by multiplying
unit cost and quantity and displays this number.  Each invoice can have up to 12 items.  When you have
entered the data for all items you are asked if sales tax is to be added.  If yes, then sales tax is
automatically calculated (based on the tax rate entered when configuring Invoice Management) and
displayed.  You can now immediately print the invoice and save it to disk, or just save it to disk.
Throughout the data entry process there is lots of error checking and opportunity to go back and correct
mistakes.  The programs gives you the opportunity to mark your data file ôpaid in fullö if you want.

At the end of each invoiceÆs printing you are asked if you want to print an envelope.  Envelope printing is
optional.  You do all your invoices first and then under software control you insert envelopes into the
printer and print envelopes for all your invoices.   The clientÆs address and, optionally,  your business
return address is printed on each envelope.

I find Invoice Management very easy to use.  The program is very professional looking on screen and
prints very professional looking invoices.  If data entry errors occur there are plenty of opportunities to
correct such errors.  It is rarely necessary to refer to the documentation.  Any store employee should have
no trouble using the software.  My only complaint concerns the calculation of tax.  In configuring Invoice
Management  the sales tax rate can only be entered as an integer percent.  The software will calculate
sales tax of 5%, 6%, 7%, etc., but not 6.5%.  In my state, Ohio, sales tax varies from county to county and
from municipality to municipality.  There is a state plus county and/or municipality tax.  My local sales
tax rate is 6.5%.  Invoice Management will not automatically calculate tax at 6.5% and there is no way
within the program of manually entering this tax prior to printing  and invoice and storing its data in a file.
You have to go into the programÆs Basic code to make the necessary alteration, and I havenÆt figured out
how to do this yet.

Invoice Management is commercial.  Originally distributed by Asgard, you can now purchase the software
from Ramcharged Computers.  I think I paid $15.  It comes on a DSSD disk with excellent printed
documentation.
FONT DESIGNER by Bruce Harrison

If you have a 24 pin dot matrix printer or a Cannon Bubble Jet printer hooked up to your 99/4A or Geneve
then you will like this.  The software lets you easily design custom a custom font using the entire 24x36
pixel character grid.  The font can be designed letter by letter and then save to disk and later downloaded
into the printer.   Any printer with epson 24 pin epson emulation should work and this includes many ink
jet printers produced by other manufacturers besides Cannon.

You can design a partial font, maybe just a few letters or characters, and the printerÆs normal letter quality
font will default for all the other characters.  Here is how this is done when you select ôDump to printerö
from the softwareÆs main menu.  First the software sets the printer to letter quality mode and then moves
the printerÆs default LQ character set to the printerÆs download ram.  Next the software sends to the
printer each character you have redefined, overwriting the LQ code in ram for only that character.  Thus
any characters not defined in your font will print in the printerÆs default LQ font.  Finally the program
sends the ôselect downloadö code so that as your printer is ready to print in the partially or completely
redefined font.

The program is easy to use.  Reference to the on disk documentation may not be necessary.  Results are
really good looking with the included ôboldö sample font.  Font Designer is public domain and comes on a
SSSD disk.  Send me $1 and I will mail you the disk.
ACCESS:

Ramcharged Computers (source of Invoice Management)
6467 E. Vancey Dr.
Brookpark OH 44141
Phone [phone]

Charles Good  (source of Font Designer)
P.O. Box 647
Venedocia OH 45894
Phone [phone]
email [e-mail]