Software of the Month Club (Business) 1998 January

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dBase/FoxBase/XBase/FoxPro Database File | 1997-10-29 | 107KB | 1,206 lines

INTRODUCTION ============ The Menu System is where the user may select any of the features found in the program. All available features will be displayed to the user. The user has a choice of two types of menu systems available. These are NOVICE and ADVANCED. These menu options may be selected in the System Configuration Menu. The Novice Menu System is a very simple menu system designed for the Novice User. The user can select the desired item by pressing a Function Key. The available function keys will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. The Advanced Menu System is designed for the experienced user. The user can select items by pressing the cursor keys or a mouse. For each menu prompt, there will be a highlighted character. The user has the option of pressing this highlighted character instead of using the cursor keys or mouse. The available selections will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. There are several hot keys available to the user from any screen. These hot keys are as follows: ALT-H Activate the Online Help System ALT-O Opens the cash drawer (if enabled) ALT-C Activate the calculator ALT-K Activate the calendar The user may press ALT-H anytime in the program to display detailed information about the current feature. More detailed information on any feature may be found in the enclosed instruction book. MAIN MENU ========= The following items may be selected from the Main Menu: System Configuration The user may configure a modem, cash drawer, printer, company information, sales taxes, and many other items. Maintenance System Allows the user to add/edit/delete customers, vendors, salesmen, tapes and inventory. Sales System This is the place that the user generates the sales. Invoices may be created and printed here. Reporting System A large number of reports may be printed here. Rentals Functions This is the place to enter all rentals that have been returned. If a rental is late, late charges may also be collected here. Appts/ToDo List An appointment scheduler and a ToDo List Manager. Database Operations The user has a selection of database functions such as rebuilding the database to generating mailmerges. Payments Allows the user to view old payments and to add new payments. Print Barcode Batch The user can print the barcodes that have been submitted to the barcode batch. Exit Exit from The Video Store. The Customer Maintenance allows the user to perform the following functions: ADD Adds a new customer. EDIT Edits information for the current customer. DEL Deletes the current customer and all customer activity. SEARCH Searches the customer database for a specific customer. VIEW Views all customers, starting with the current customer. QUERY Define a search query. NOTES Take notes for the current customer. There is no limit to the size of the notes that can be taken. DIAL Dials the customer's telephone number via modem. Please note that the modem must first be configured though System Configuration to use this feature. PRODUCT LIST Generates a list of all products that the current customer has purchased for a specific period. PAYMENT HIST Generates a list of all payments that the current customer has made for a specific period. INVOICES The user is given a view screen for all of the current customer's invoices. Any invoice may be selected and viewed on the screen. LETTER The user may write a letter to the customer. The software keeps a log of all letters that may be viewed at a later time. COMMENTS The user may edit the default invoice comments for the current customer. These default comments will be printed on the invoice. OUTSTAND Displays a list of all outstanding rentals for the current customer. RETURN Displays a list of all returned rentals for the current customer. PGDN Advance to the next customer. PGUP Backup to the previous customer. A selection has been presented to the user. The item that is highlighted is the default selection. To change the default selection, press the left or right arrow key. This will mark the next item as the default selection. To select the default item, press the ENTER key. A shortcut to selecting the item, is to press the highlighted letter. A view screen is displayed to the user. This screen allows the user to view or select records. To receive a list of navigation keys, press the F1 key at the view screen. The following options are available to the user: (Q)uit Quit the view screen. The highlighted item will not be selected. This is useful when the user is only interested in viewing records only. (G)oto The user may select a specific record to select. The software will ask the user to enter a record number. If this record is found, this new record will be the current record. (S)earch The user may search for a specific record based on a custom criteria. If this record is found, this new record will be the current record. (L)ock When scrolling accross the screen, some fields may scroll off. Locking allows the user to specify how many fields to leave on the screen while scrolling. (V)ertical View Displays a vertical view of the current record. (F)ields The user may select which fields to view. By default, all fields may be viewed. (O)rder The user may select the sort order in how the records are displayed. (P)ick or ENTER Exits the view screen and selects the current record. The Inventory Maintenance allows you to define products which are to be sold. The following options are available: ADD Adds a new inventory item. EDIT Edits information for the current inventory item. DEL Deletes the current inventory item. SEARCH Searches the inventory database for a specific inventory item. VIEW Views all inventory, starting with the current inventory item. QUERY Define a search query. UPDATE Update the stock for the current inventory item. BARCODE Submit inventory item to barcode batch. The barcode batch is used for printing all barcodes. PGDN Advance to the next inventory item. PGUP Backup to the previous inventory item. The Salesman Maintenance allows the user to perform the following functions: ADD Adds a new Salesman. EDIT Edits information for the current salesman. DEL Deletes the current salesman. SEARCH Searches the salesman database for a specific salesman. VIEW Views all salesmen, starting with the current salesman. QUERY Define a search query. PGDN Advance to the next salesman. PGUP Backup to the previous salesman. The Vendor Maintenance allows the user to perform the following functions: ADD Adds a new vendor. EDIT Edits information for the current vendor. DEL Deletes the current vendor. SEARCH Searches the vendor database for a specific vendor. VIEW Views all vendors, starting with the current vendor. QUERY Define a search query. LETTER The user may write a letter to the vendor. The software keeps a log of all letters that may be viewed at a later time. DIAL Dials the vendor's telephone number via modem. Please note that the modem must first be configured through the System Configuration to use this feature. PGDN Advance to the next vendor. PGUP Backup to the previous vendor. The following items may be edited: CUST CODE A unique customer code. The customer code is used to identify the customer. FIRST NAME First name of the customer. LAST NAME Last name of the customer. . PHONE Telephone number for the customer. If a telephone number is placed in this field, it may be dialed from the modem. ADDRESS Home address of the customer. WORK PHONE Telephone number of the customer at place of employment. DRIVERS LIC Drivers License Number for the customer. CREDIT CARD A major credit card number for the customer. SOC SEC # Social Security Number of the customer. LOCK OUT If you wish to temporary lock the customer out of the system, then enter a 'Y' here, otherwise enter a 'N'. COMMENT A general comment field. You may put anything that you wish into this field. This field is only used for reference. LATE FEES The amount of late fees that the customer has not paid. CREDIT The amount of credit that is due to customer. # RENTALS The total number of rentals for this customer. SINCE (Display Only). Shows the date the customer has been added to the system. BALANCE (Display Only). Shows the outstanding balance for this customer. Payment towards this balance must be done through the Payment system. The Online Query Builder allows the user to create a custom query expression. The user may select multiple database fields to search for a specific search criteria. This powerful searching system is only recommended for the advanced users. The following features are available for the Online Query Builder: Build a new Query Starts a new query expression. If there is an active query, it will be cleared. The user can select multiple database fields and enter a query expression. Once complete, a search can be done using this query expression. Add to current query Adds an expression to the current query. An active query must exist for this feature to work. Count matching records Displays the total number of records that match the active query. An active query must exist for this feature to work. Zap existing query If there is an active query, it will be cleared. Save current Query to disk Saves the active query expression to disk. The user will be prompted for a query name to be saved under. An active query must exist for this feature to work. Restore Query from disk Prompts the user for a query name and will load this query from disk. The loaded query will become the active query. The query must have been previously saved to disk. Delete stored queries The user can select stored queries from disk. These queries must have been previously saved to disk. This is useful when the user no longer needs a saved query. What is current Query Displays the current query expression. An active query must exist for this feature to work. Edit the current Query Edits the current query expression. Advanced users may find this easier than to use the query expression builder. An active query must exist for this feature to work. View records matching Query Displays records that match the current query expression. The user can very easily scroll through the database records. An active query must exist for this feature to work. The user has selected a search to be performed. A highlighted field is displayed to the user. To search on this field, enter the search text followed by the ENTER key. To cancel this search, press the ESC key. The user has selected a User Defined Search. This allows the user to perform a search based on a specific criteria. The following options are available for the User Defined Search: Field Contents Match The user can select any database field to perform the search. After the database field is selected, the user can enter in the search text. If the record is found, this new record will become the current record. If this search is called again, it will continue from the last search. Query match The user can create a search query that can search the database based on multiple database fields. If the record is found, this new record will become the current record. If this search is called again, it will continue from the last search. End of file Jump to the last record in the database. Beginning of File Jump to the first record in the database. Memo contents The user may search for any text that is found in a Memo File. A Memo File stores the data found in the Notes Field. Never Mind Cancel the search request. The user may enter as much text as desired. There is no limit to the amount of text that may be entered. All standard editing keys are supported. The following special keys are supported: CTRL/Y Deletes the current line. CTRL/T Deletes the word to the right of the cursor. ESC Quits and does not save the changes. F10 Quits and saves the changes. F5 Imports text from any text file. F6 Exports text to any text file. A four line comment may be printed on invoices and packing slips. The user may edit this comment to print any special information that is desired. Please Note: This comment field is for new invoices only. It will not change the comment for existing invoices. The System Configuration is used to define the system. All of the options should be set prior to running the software. These options may be changed at any time. The following options are available: Setup Your Company Information Defines information about your company. Some of this information includes company address information. Setup Tax System Define the number of taxes and rates. Setup System Defaults The user can customize the system defaults under this option. Edit Holiday Dates Edit a list of holiday dates when the store is closed. Edit Rental Agreement If the rental agreement has been enabled, its text can be edited here. The rental agreement can be enabled in System Defaults. Setup Special Promotions Any special promotions can be defined here. Setup Printer Configuration Defines the type of printer that is connected to the computer. The user may also customize the form. Setup Hardware Configuration Defines the hardware that is connected to the computer. Hardware that is currently supported is a modem and a cash drawer. Setup Additional Modules If you have purchased additional modules, these modules can be enabled here. The Company Information is required to be setup correctly. If this information is not entered, the software may probably not work correctly in your environment. The following features are available: ADDRESS The complete mailing address and telephone numbers for your company. This information can be printed on your forms. DAYS Defines which days that the store is open. If the store is closed on any day, customers are not required to return rentals on those days. LAST The last invoice number, last customer number and last product code. The software automatically updates these numbers in sequence every time a new entry is added. These fields may be reset to any value. COUNTRY The country that your company is located. The software will automatically adjust to operate in your country's mode. CURRENCY The default currency symbol. DATE FORMAT The format of the date to be displayed. COMMENT The default comment that may be printed on invoices. Enter your company's mailing address and telephone numbers in the correct fields. The user is able to reset that last sequence numbers used in assigning new numbers. The following fields may be edited: LAST INVOICE The last invoice number that has been generated. LAST CUST The last customer number that has been generated. The sales tax information is used when adding a new customer. This identifies in how your customers are taxed. The following fields may be edited: SALES TAX The rate of sales tax in percentage. TAX NUMBER The tax number for your company. This number may be printed on your forms. TAX SHIP Enter 'Y' if your company charges sales tax on shipping charges, otherwise enter 'N'. A two character currency symbol may be edited. This symbol will be printed with all money values. The System Defaults are to define your environent. The following defaults may be defined: Print Invoice The Invoice can automatically be printed when saved or it can prompt the user when to start printing. Print Zeros on Invoice The software will only support a one line product description. To make an item on the invoice have multiple lines, it would require to add additional lines manually. This is done by using MISC as the product code. The user may then type in the next line of the product description. If the quantity field and the price field are zeros, then the only field that will print on the invoice for this item would be the product description. This would allow an item to look like it has a multiple line product description. Spacing On Reports Reports may be single spaced or double spaced on printer port LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. Menu System There are two menu systems available to the user. They are the NOVICE and ADVANCED menu systems. The Novice menu system uses function keys for input, while the Advanced menu system uses cursor keys or a mouse for input. All of the features are available for both menu systems. Number Of Decimals Prices defined in the Inventory Database may have 2, 3, or 4 places after the decimal point. Check Printer If you wish to check the printer prior to a printout, enter 'Y' here. Enable Security If you wish to enable the security system then enter a 'Y' otherwise enter a 'N'. The passwords for the security system are defined in the Salesman database. Rental Return Time The time of day to return a rental. This is the time that a rental is due. If the rental is returned past this time, it is considered late. If all blanks are entered here, then the rental return time is the same as the time of rental. Print Rental Agreement If you wish to print the rental agreement at the bottom of the invoice, enter a 'Y", otherwise enter a 'N'. Define Payment Tendors A total of 10 payment tendors can be defined. You can edit any of these tendors. A window is displayed with all available items. To select the desired item, press the cursor key until the desired item is highlighted. To select this item, press the ENTER key. To cancel the request, press the ESC The user has decided to edit this shipping method. All editing keys are supported for the edit. Editing this item will change it as one of the default shipping methods. The user has decided to change this payment term. All editing keys are supported. The following format is used for payment terms: NET x Issue your customer a specified number of days to pay the invoice. (x defines the number of days). For example, NET 30 z % y NET x Issue your customer discount terms. You are giving your customer a specified number of days to pay the invoice, but if the invoice is paid in less time, you will deduct a percentage off of the invoice. (z defines the discount percentage, y defines the discount days, x defines the number of days). For example, 2 % 10 NET 30 Anything Else Payment is due today. The user had decided to change the default freight term. All editing keys are supported. Editing this item will change it as one of the default freight terms. The Printer Setup Configuration is used to define the printer that is connected to the computer. The user is able to customize the forms that are printed. The following features are available: RECEIPT Defines if a receipt printer is attatched to the computer. If a receipt printer is selected, the invoice printer cannot be used. INVOICE Selects an invoice form. Enter a 'Y' if a receipt printer is connected to the computer, otherwise enter a 'N'. Please Note: If a receipt printer is selected, the invoice printer cannot be used. The user may define the printer codes that are sent to the printer. This is useful if the user wishes to change the default printer configuration such as the form length (Many pre-printed forms are not 11 inches in length). The printer codes are entered in ascii. The field labeled BEFORE is used to generate the printer codes before the form is printed and the field labeled AFTER is used to generate the printer codes after the form is printed. The user may customize this form. This gives the user full control in how it is to be printed. The user can remove all of the field headings to work with pre-printed forms or change the form appearance. The form is divided into two formats. The first format is text. Text is any printable ascii characters. Text can be used as field headings, lines to break up items, or anything else that the user wishes to see on the form. To enter the text, just move the cursor to the desired position, and type in the desired text. The second format is data. Data are the database fields that will be printed on the form. This data may be items such as Invoice Number, Price, Customer Address, etc... Data fields can be identified as the items found between the double brackets. When printing the forms, the software will replace the database data with the data field on the form. To enter the data field, just move the cursor to the desired position, and press F2 to select the database field. To save the form, press the F10 key. Important: Before saving the form, make sure that it is correct because once it has been saved, the old form cannot be restored. The following hardware is supported in the software: MODEM Allows the user to dial a telephone number from the screen. DRAWER A cash drawer that is connected to the computer. The drawer will automatically open during a sale or may be opened anytime by pressing ALT-O. This information is used to configure the modem setup. The following information is needed: DIAL ON MODEM If a modem is connected to the computer then enter 'Y', otherwise enter 'N'. COM PORT The communications port that your modem is connected to. The software supports COM 1-4. TOUCH TONE SERVICE The software supports Tone and Pulse dialing. BAUD RATE The highest baud rate of your modem. The software supports baud rates of 300-9600. This information is needed to configure the cash drawer setup. The following information is needed: CASH DRAWER INSTALLED If a cash drawer is installed enter a 'Y', otherwise enter a 'N'. DEVICE The device that the cash drawer is installed. The software supports serial and parallel devices. COM PORT If the cash drawer is connected to the serial device, this would be the communications port that it is connected to. The software supports COM 1-4. Please Note: If a modem is attached, make sure that these two devices do not share the same port. BAUD RATE If the cash drawer is connected to the serial device, this would be the maximum baud rate of the cash drawer. The software supports baud rates of 300-9600. STRING TO OPEN If the cash drawer is opened by a string, then enter this string here. Do not enter any data if the drawer is opened by an ascii code. ASCII CODE TO OPEN If the cash drawer is opened by an ascii code, then enter the code here. Do not enter any data if the drawer is opened by a string. The Database Functions is where the user can perform special database operations. The operations that are available are: Backup/Restore Databases The databases can be backed up to floppy diskettes or the databases can be restored from floppy diskettes. Rebuild All Databases The databases and index files will be rebuilt. This operation will also pack the data so that it will free up more disk space. This operation should only be used to conserve disk space or when a fatal disk crash has taken place. Frequency Analysis Performs a frequency analysis on any specific database. The user may select which fields to perform the analysis on. This is useful to determine which piece of data occurs more than others. For example, the user may wish to generate an analysis on which cities have the best sales. Form Letters The user may create form letters on any specific database. In creating the form letter, any information from the current database may be printed. This is very useful when generating mailmerges. Import Data Imports data from a standard DBF file into any specific database. Caution should be used when using this feature. The user should have a good understanding of the databases used in this software. This feature is useful to import data from another program into this software. Export Data Exports data from any specific database to an ascii, DBF, or mailmerge file. This is very useful when another program needs the data from this software. Global Replacement The user can globally replace any field in a specific database with any piece of data. Caution should be used when using this feature. The user should have a good understanding of the databases used in this software. This feature is very useful when it is necessary to change database data. For example, the user may wish to change the sales tax rate for existing customers in NY state from 8.5% to 8.25%. Purge Data The user can purge (remove) invoices and payments from the system for any date range. Please note: Once data has been purged, it is lost, and it can never be restored. The user may select any of the listed databases. The databases are defined below: Customer Database Stores all information on the customer. This information is similiar to the data found in Customer Maintenance. Invoice Database Stores all of the information on invoices. Please Note that this database does not store customer, payment, and product information. Product Database Stores all of the products purchased for a specific invoice. This database is linked to the invoice database. Payment Database Stores all of the payments made towards a specific invoice. This database is linked to the invoice database. Inventory Database Stores all of the information on inventory. This information is similiar to the data found in Inventory Maintenance. Salesman Database Stores all of the information on salesmen. This information is similiar to the data found in Salesman Maintenance. Vendor Database Stores all of the information on vendors. This information is similiar to the data found in Vendor Maintenance. Rentals Database Stores all of the information on overdue rentals. Exporting may be performed on three types of file formats. The user may select which fields to export and in which order that these fields may appear. These formats are as follows: Ascii This file format is the most popular. The fields will be seperated by a delimiter character. The record will be followed by a CR and LF. DBF Data will be written into a standard DBF file. Mailmerge Data will be written into a mailmerge wordprocessor format. This data can then be read by the wordprocessor. You are being asked to select a name for this letter. You may specify any name that you wish to use as reference. At a later time, you may select this name to retrieve the letter. The following features are available for the Frequency Analysis: Frequency field selection The user may select which fields to perform the analysis on. This is done by tagging the fields. Please note that it is very important in the order that the fields are tagged. Additional SUM fields selection The user may select additional numeric fields for the analysis. The fields are selected the same as above. Build Query The user may specify a search query. Only these records that match the query will be selected. Perform Analysis The analysis will be performed based on the above criteria. The following features are available for the Form Letters: Select form An existing form will be selected. Please note that a form must have been previously saved to use this feature. Create new Form Creates a new form letter, The user will be able to type in the letter and select the desired mailmerge database fields. Delete Forms The user can specify which existing forms to delete. Edit current form The user may edit the current form. This procedure is quite similiar as creating a new form. Print form letters Once the form letter has been created, this feature is used to perform the printing of the form letters, Width of Form The user may specify the max width of the form. The output will automatically wrap to the next line if any line exceeds this length. Output To The form letters may be printed to a printer or to a disk file. Assign Printer Port If the form letter is to be sent to the printer, the user can specify printer port LP1, LPT2 or LPT3. Filter The user can specify a filter for printing. This filter may be set to a search query or the user may tag records. If no filter is set, all records will be selected. Importing is used to load data into any database from a DBF file. The user then then very easily match fields to import. The following feratures are available: Select Import File The user can pick any file for the import file. Please Note: This file must be a DBF file. Match Fields The user can pick any field from the specified database and match it to any field from the imported file. All of the selected fields will be imported. Do Import Perform the import operation. Tag Records to Append The user can tag which records to import from the import file. Build or Modify Query The user can build a custom query to determine whwich records to import from the import file. Exporting to an ascii file will copy records from the specified database into an ascii file. The following features are available: Export Type The user can specify the type of ascii file. The choices are SDF and Delimited. As SDF file will write one record per line while a delimited file will seperate the fields with a delimited character. Which Fields The user can specify which fields to export by tagging the fields. The order of tagging will determine the order of the export. Filter The user may filter which records to export. Create ASCII File Perform the export operation. Character Delimiter Specifices the character to be used as the character delimiter character. Field Delimiter Specifices the character to be used as the field delimiter character. View File The user may view the file after the export operation has taken place. Exporting to a DBF file will copy all records from a specific database to a DBF file. The following feature are available: Fields to Copy The user may specify which fields to copy from the specific database. Record Criteria The user may export all records or may select a criteria to perform the export. Target File The DBF file to export the data to. Do Copy Perform the export operation. Export to a mailmerge will copy all of the data from the specific database to a mailmerge file. The following features are available: Merge Type The user may specify if the export will be to a Wordperfect or Microsoft Word file format. Which Fields The user may tag whcih fields to export from the specific database. The order of tagging will determine the order that they are exported. Filter The user may specify a filter for the export. Create Merge File Perform the export operation. The Global Replacement allows the user to replace fields in the specified database. The following features are available: Select Field to Replace The user may tag which field to replace in the specific database. Replacement Options The user may specify the replacement value. There are several replacement options available to the user. Execute Replacement Perform the replacement operation. The user can also select the replacement criteria. Preview Replacement The user may review how the replacement will look prior to the replacement. The following features are available to the user for invoicing: NEW SALE Adds a new invoice. This is used when the user wishes to create a new invoice. EDIT Edits the current invoice displayed on the screen. Any information may be changed with the exception of the invoice number and invoice date. All changes will be logged into the Log Database. DEL Deletes the current invoice displayed on the screen. This will completely remove the invoice and all invoice activity from the system. It is highly recommend to use Void operation instead of this operation. SEARCH Searches for an invoice based on a search criteria. VIEW Views invoices on the screen starting from the current invoice. The user may then scroll through the invoices very easily and select the desired invoice. PRINT Prints the current invoice displayed on the screen. Printing allows invoices, packing slips, or batch operations to take place. VOID Voids the current invoice displayed on the screen. The invoice will be voided and not removed. This operation is preferred over the delete operation. RETURN Returns rentals. Same as Rental Return from Main Menu. PGDN View the next invoice. PGUP View the previous invoice. This operation is used to create a new invoice. The user may ask for an existing customer or create a new customer. To create a new customer, press the <F10> key. This will automatically invoke the Customer Maintenance system and place the user in the Add Mode. After the customer has been added, the system will return the user back to the invoice system. To recall an existing customer, the user may enter the Customer Code or part of the Customer Name. If the Customer Code is entered, then this customer will be recalled. If the Customer Name is entered, then the user may select the desired customer by scrolling through the customers. Enter the salesman code for this invoice. If the salesman code is unknown, the user may press the ENTER key for a list. The user may enter the product code or part of the product description that is defined in the Inventory System. If the user enters the Product Code, then the item will be retrieved from the Inventory System and it will be displayed on the current line. If the user enters the Product Description, then a list of products will be displayed to the user. The user may then select the desired product from the Inventory System and it will be displayed on the current line. Please Note: Normally products are defined in the Inventory System. If the user wishes to enter a non-inventory item, then the user can enter a Product Code called MISC. The user may edit the following items: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION A single line of text that describes the product. QTY The number of items that the customer is purchasing. PRICE The unit price of the item. The user may edit the items in the total line. These items are as follows: DISCNT The value of the discount. This value will be automatically deducted from the subtotal. This value is entered as a dollar amount. TAX The value of the sales tax. This value is entered as a dollar amount. Sales tax will be automatically calculated. The rate of sales tax is defined in System Configuration. FEES The value of additional fees. This field will default to any outstanding late fees that this customer has obtained. The following options are available in Edit Mode: ADD MORE PRODS Allows the user to continue to add more products to the invoice. EDIT DETAIL Allows the user to edit the salesman code or the invoice comment. EDIT TOTAL Allows the user to edit the invoice totals. EDIT PROD Allows the user to edit an item on the invoice. The user would be able to scroll to the desired item and edit the description, quantity, or price. DEL PROD Allows the user to delete an item on the invoice. The user would be able to scroll to the desired item and delete it from the invoice. The following detail information may be edited: EDIT SALESMAN The user may edit the salesman code. EDIT COMMENTS The user may edit the invoice comments. The user may edit the customer address. A four line comment may be printed on the invoice. The user may edit this comment. The software has displayed the default invoice number. The user may edit this number. Please enter the label number to start printing. This value is usually a For laser printers, the first label may already be used and the user may have to select another value. The following options are available when printing mailing labels: Maximum number of Labels The total number of labels to print. Number of EACH to print The number of copies for each label to print. Compress All Compresses the entire line with the exception of single spaces. Remove blank lines If this value is set to 'Y', then blank lines will be ignored, otherwise enter 'N' to print blank lines. You have selected to print the data to an ascii file. The user is required to enter the filename to send the data to. The user has decided to select a single customer. Please enter the Customer Code or part of the Customer Name. If the Customer Code is entered, then this customer will be processed. If the Customer Name is entered, then a list of all customers will be displayed on the screen. The user may then select the desired customer. This is where the user may enter payments for invoices. The following options are available: ADD Adds a new payment. The user will be prompted for an invoice number to apply the payment to. EDIT Edits the payment information for the displayed payment. The user cannot edit the payment amount, only the payment information. VOID Voids the displayed payment. SEARCH Searches for a specific payment. VIEW Displays a screen of payments. The user may scroll and select the desired payment. PGDN Displays the next payment. PGUP Displays the previous payment. Enter the data into the highlighted field and the first invoice that matches this criteria will become the current invoice. The user can enter the invoice number or part of the company name. If the invoice number is entered, then this invoice will be displayed on the screen. If this invoice has already been paid, then an error message will be displayed. Only unpaid invoices can be paid. If the company name is entered, then a list of unpaid invoices will be displayed. The user may select the desired invoice to pay. The user is displayed a list of payment tendors. One of these payment tendors must be selected. Please Note: An invoice may be paid with several payment tendors, but each tendor must be entered seperatly. The user may enter detailed information about the payment tendor. This information is used for reference only. The user is prompted for the payment amount and payment date. The user may edit some of the payment information. Please Note: The amounts may not be edited. Please enter the search data in the highlighted field. If the search is found, then this payment information will be displayed on the screen. The following fields may be edited: VENDOR CODE A code that identifies the vendor. This code must be unique. VENDOR NAME The name of the vendor. CONTACT The contact of the vendor. PHONE The telephone number of the vendor. FAX The fax number of the vendor. ADDRESS The address of the vendor. DETAIL A four line comment field that may be used for any purpose. The following fields may be edited: SALES CODE A code that is used to identify the salesman. This code must be unique. COMPANY The company name of the salesman. NAME The name of the salesman. ADDRESS The address of the salesman. PHONE The telephone number of the salesman. SOC SEC NUM The social security number of the salesman. COMMENTS A two line comment line that may be used for any purpose. The following fields may be edited: PROD CODE A unique code that is used to identify the product. This code must be unique. VENDOR # The vendor code that is used to link this product to a vendor. DESC The product description. This is the description that will be printed on the invoice. STOCK The number of units that are in stock. LOW STOCK The lowest number of items that the user wishes to keep in stock. If the stock falls below this number, it will be time to reorder. AVERAGE The average number of items that the user wishes to keep in stock. This is used when reordering. NUM SOLD The total number of units that have been sold. TAXABLE If this item is taxable, then enter a 'Y', otherwise enter a 'N'. PRICE The selling price of this item. COST The cost of this item. INVENTORY If this item is stocked then enter a 'Y', otherwise enter a 'N'. This feature may be used when updating the stock. The user only has to enter the number of items to add to the stock. The user may select a range of dates. The following selections are available: All Dates All records will be selected. End-Of-Day Only records with todays date will be selected. End-Of-Week Only records for this week will be selected. Weeks always start on Sunday. End-Of-Month Only records for this month will be selected. End-Of-Year Only records for this year will be selected. Date Range The user may enter a starting and ending date. The user may select a range of dates. The following information is required: FIRST DATE The starting date. LAST DATE The ending date. The following listing reports are available: Reorder Inventory Stock Listing Report will list all inventory items that must be reordered. The number of items to be reordered is determined by the value of 'Average' that is defined in the Inventory Database. Customer Listing Report to list all customers in the Customer Database. Inventory Listing Report to list all items in the Inventory Database. Salesman Listing Report to list all salesman in the Salesman Database. Vendor Listing Report to list all vendors in the Vendor Database. Price List Prints a price list may be given to customers. The user has decided to enter a single salesman. Please enter the salesman code or part of the company name of the salesman. If the salesman code has been entered, then this salesman will be processed. If the company name has been entered, then the user may select the desired salesman. The user has decided to select a single product. The user may enter the product code or part of the product description. If the product code is entered, then this product will be processed. If the product description is entered, then the user can select the desired product. The user has decided to select a single vendor. The user may enter the vendor code or part of the vendor name. If the vendor code is entered, then this vendor will be processed. If the vendor description is entered, then the user may select the desired vendor. The Customization Menu is recommended only for the advanced users. the following features are available: Customize Mailing Labels The user may customize mailing labels for any specific database. Customize Reports The user may customize reports for any specific database. Customize Lists The user may customize lists for any specific database. Configure Barcodes The user can select the style and printer for barcode printing. The following features are available: Load Label from disk If a label definition has been previously saved, it may be loaded to be processed. Save Label to disk A new or modified label may be saved to disk. The user can supply a name for this label. Erase label definition The user may select and delete a label definition. Import from .LBL format The user may import a LBL file. Dimmensions of Label The label may be customized to work with the users labels. There are also many predefined labels to select from. Contents of Label Defines which data is to be placed on the label. The user may enter ascii text and insert database fields anywhere on the label. Output Test Pattern Prints a sample label for test. Print Mailing Labels Prints the labels to the printer. Reset Printer Port Selects printer port (LPT1, LPT2, LPT3). Tag Records to Print The user may tag which records to print from the specific database. Build or Modify Query The user may build a custom query to select which records to select from the specific database. Use Single Sheet Options Single sheets are fed into the printer for each printed page. The following features are available: Load REPORT Loads a report definition that has been previously saved. Create REPORT Creates a new report definition. The user is prompted for a report name. Save REPORT Saves the current report definition. Edit Report Edits the report definition. The user selects which database fields are to be printed in the report. Deletes Reports The user may tag which report definitions to delete. Headers/Footers The user may add a header or footer to the report. Filtering The user may filter records based on a criteria to be printed. Grouping Order The user may select the order in how the database records are to be printed. This is done by selecting the desired index file. Other Options Options such as size and headings for the report. Print Report Prints the report to a printer or file. Report Status Displays the report definition. The following features are available: Pick fields to list The user may select which database fields to include in the list. This feature is used to start the list. Modify fields to list The user may select which fields to modify. This feature is similiar to above, but is used to modify an existing list. Output list Select the output device. Supported devices are printer, file, and screen. The user may also filter records and mark text. Save list definition Saves the list definition to disk. The user is prompted for a name. Restore list definition Restores the list definition from disk. The user may select any saved list definition. Delete stored definit The user may tag which list definitions to delete. Choose printer port The user may select printer port (LPT1, LPT2, LPT3). Build Query The user may build a custom query. Layout Options The user may setup custom layout options for printing the list. The Maintenance Menu allows the following operations: Customer Maintenance Allows the user to add/edit/delete customers into the customer database. Category Maintenance Allows the user to add/edit/delete tape categories into the category database. These categories contain information such as pricing for the tapes. Tapes Maintenance Allows the user to add/edit/delete tapes into the tapes database. Inventory Maintenance Allows the user to add/edit/detele inventory into the inventory database. This contains products such as candy and other sales items. Salesman Maintenance Allows the user to add/edit/delete salesmen into the salesman database. Vendor Maintenance Allows the user to add/edit/delete vendors into the vendor database. The following options are available: EDIT Edit an item that is on the invoice. SAVE Save the invoice and exit. The following is a list of reports that may be generated: SUMMARY REPORT Report to show all money that has been collected over a specified period. This report is recommended when paying sales tax. INVOICE REPORT Report to show the status of all invoices over a specified period. This report is useful to determine which invoices have not been paid. LATE CHARGE Report to show all customers that have outstanding rentals that have not been returned. Rentals that are not overdue will not be showed in this report. TOP RENTALS Report to show the top rentals. The user may specify how many rentals to be generated in this report. LISTING REPORTS A selection of listing reports to print items found in the databases. SALESMAN SALES Report to show the sales activity for salesmen over a specified period. This report is useful when generating salesman commissions. PRODUCT LIST Report to show all products that a customer has purchased over a specified period. CUSTOMER LIST Report to show all customers that have purchased a product over a specified period. INVENTORY LIST Report to show all items purchased from a vendor. OUTSTANDING RENT Report to show all rentals that have not been returned. RENTAL RETURN Report to show all rentals that have been returned. PAYMENT HISTORY Report to show all payments for a customer over a specified period. MAILING LABELS Generate custom mailing labels, custom reports, and custom lists. The user may enter the number of items to be generated in the report. The user is required to enter the product code of the returned rental. If several rentals are found with the same product code, the user will be able to select the desired rental. The following options are available when returning rentals: RETURN Return a rental item back to the store. The user must know the product code of the rental item. EDIT Edit some rental information for the currently displayed rental item. DEL Delete the current rental item. This option is not recommended to be used. Use this option only when the rental item has been lost. SEARCH Search for a specific rental item. VIEW A list of all rental items will be displayed to the user. The user may select the desired rental ti be displayed. QUERY Set a query to be displayed. Only rentals matching this query will be displayed. PGDN View next rental. PGUP View previous rental. Please enter a valid DOS filename. If downloading, this is the name of the file that you wish to save as. If uploading, this is the name of the file that you wish to upload. INTRODUCTION: The Technical Support BBS may be dialed by modem to contact out Technical Support Staff. The BBS is a Wildcat BBS system and is very simple to use. If you are calling the BBS for the very first time, you will have to sign on as a new user. The BBS will prompt you for your first and last name. After entering this information, the BBS will confirm if you have entered your name correctly. Once you have entered your name correctly, the BBS will ask you for a password. You may assign yourself any password. Please select a password that you will remember and DO NOT give this password to anyone else. After the password has been selected, the BBS will ask you a few simple questions. After you have answered these questions, an account will have been setup in your name. THE MAIN MENU: The Main Menu is where all of the features on the BBS may be selected. There are many features, but there are only four features that a new user may be interested in: [O]nline Ordering [T]echnical Support [F]iles [G]oodbye Any menu option may be selected by pressing the letter followed by the ENTER key. FIRST TIME: If you are calling the BBS for the very first time and you own one of our software products, you may have your access upgraded. This will allow you to access areas on the BBS connected with your product. To upgrade your access, select 'Online Ordering' and answer the desired question. If you own one of our software products, your access will be raised. TECHNICAL SUPPORT: To send a private e-mail question to the Technical Support Staff, select this option. This will allow you to create a message. On of our Technical Support Staff members will answer your question and send you a reply. This usually takes less than 24 hours and in most cases, your e-mail will be answered the same day. When your e-mail has been answered, you will be notified the next time that you sign onto the BBS. FILES MENU: The Files Menu will allow the user to upload or download any file. There are many file options available to the user. For a detailed explanation of these features, the BBS offers a help key. GOODBYE: To sign off the BBS, select this option. You may also sign off by pressing the ALT-X key at anytime. This screen allows you to enable external modules that you have purchased. The following modules are available: The Credit Card Store This module allows you to interface to a VeriFone Terminal. If you wish to enable this module, then select 'Y', otherwise select 'N'. Please Note: If you have not purchased the desired module, you will not be able to enable it. The Category Maintenance system allows you to define your rental tape categories. The following options are available: ADD Add a new category. EDIT Edits the currently displayed category. DEL Deletes the currently displayed category. SEARCH Searches for a specific category. VIEW Views all categories. QUERY Setup a query filter. PGDN Next category. PGUP Previous category. The following fields may be edited: CATEGORY CODE A unique code defining this category. DESC The description of this category. LATE FEE The late fee to be charged per day. PRICE The rental price per day. You can assign a different price for each day of the week. DAYS The number of days in which the rental is due. You can assign a different period for each day of the week. TAXABLE If this item is taxable then enter a 'Y' otherwise enter a 'N'. The format of the date. In United States this format is mm/dd/yyyy , where mm is a 2 digit month dd is a 2 digit day yyyy is a 4 digit year This format can be changed for other countries. The user can configure the system for 0/1/2 taxes. The taxes can be given any name at any rate. The following fields can be edited: TAX IDENTIFICATION The tax id number. NUMBER OF TAXES Enter the number of taxes that you wish to use. NAME OF TAX Enter the name of this tax. RATE OF TAX Enter the rate of this tax. This tax is entered as a percentage and not as a decimal. LATE CHARGES TAXABLE If you wish to tax late charges for this tax then enter 'Y' othwerwise enter 'N'. STACK TAX If you have configured two taxes, tax # 2 can be setup as stacked. In non-stacked mode tax # 2 is calculated as follows: tax2 = subtotal * tax2 rate In a stacked mode, tax # 2 is calculated as follows: tax2 = (subtotal + tax 1) X tax2 rate The Tapes Maintenance allows you to define the tapes for rental. Prior to defining the tapes, the Tape Categories should have first been configured. Each tape requires a tape category. The following options are available: ADD Adds a new tape. EDIT Edits the current tape. DEL Deletes the current tape. SEARCH Searches for a specific tape. VIEW Views all tapes. QUERY Setup a query search. STATUS Edits the status of the tape. BARCODE Submit current tape to barcode batch. The barcode batch is used to print barcodes. DUP Duplicates the current item. A unique product code will be automatically assigned for new items. PGDN Next tape. PGUP Previous tape. The following items may be edited: PROD CODE A unique product code identifing the tape. VENDOR The vendor code for this tape. DESCRIPTION The description of this tape. SALE PRICE The price when selling this tape. COST Your cost for this tape. CATEGORY The tape category that was defined in the Category Maintenance. NUM RENTED The number of times this tape has been rented. INCOME The total income earned from this tape. LOCATION The location of this tape. ACTOR The name of the actor. RATING The rating of the tape. CUST NOW RENTED (View Only). This field shows the customer code that is currently renting this tape. The following items may be edited: PROD CODE The unique product code for this tape. STATUS The status of the tape. The two status options are IN and OUT. RENTED The number of times that this tape has been rented. INCOME The total income that this tape has produced. The rental agreement prints directly after the invoice. If you do not wish for thsi agreement to be printed, it can be disabled in System Defaults. The entire rental agreement's text can be edited. To save any changes made, press the <F10> key. The following options are available in Edit Mode: ITEM Edit or add line items on the invoice. DETAIL Edit the detailed fields. ADDRESS Edit the customer address. COMMENTS Edit the invoice comments. The line items contain the body of the invoice. Each item requires a product code. Once the product code has been entered, the default values will automatically be displayed. To edit any of these values, just move the cursor to the desire field. Top advance to the next line, you can either press the down arrow key or the <F4> key. To delete the current line, press the <F3> key. To save the items entered, you can either press the <F5> key or press the <F10> key. The <F5> key will return to edit mode where you can edit other information on the invoice, while the <F10> key will stop editing and automatically save the entire invoice. The following fields are supported: PROD CODE The product code of the item. If you wish to add a new item, then press the <F8> key. For a partial search, type the first characters followed by <ENTER>-to search by product description or by <F9>-to search by product code. DESCRIPTION The description of the item. QTY The quantity to be sold or rented. RENT 'Y' for a rental, 'N' for a sale. DAYS The number of days for a rental. UNIT PRICE The price of a single item sold. TAXES Enter a 'Y' if this item is taxable, otherwise enter a 'N'. DISCOUNT Enter the total discount for this item. DATE DUE The date due for a rental. TIME DUE The time due for a rental. The following items can be edited: SALES The salesman code. The Rental Return System is where tapes are returned. If a tape is returned late, a late fee may be charged. If a late fee is to be charged and the customer is not present, this late fee will be charged to the customer the next time the next time the customer rents/purchases something. Rentals are returned by product code. If the user does not know the product code of the rental, press the ENTER key when prompted for the Product Code. A list of all unreturned rentals will be displayed. The Backup/Restore Databases performs the following functions: BACKUP DATABASES Backup Databases to floppy diskettes. RESTORE DATABASES Restores Databases from floppy diskettes. The following options are available for barcode printing: PRINTER TYPE The printer that you wish to use for printing the barcodes. The two laser printers supported are LASER and POSTSCRIPT. The two dot matrix printers supported are EPSON and IBMPRO. BARCODE TYPE The stype of the barcode. The foloowing barcodes are supported: CODE 3 of 9, INTERLEAVED 2 of 5, UPC ver A and UPC ver E. BARCODE CPI For CODE 3 of 9 and INTERLEAVED 2 of 5, this value is characters per inch for the barcode. For UPC ver A and UPC ver B, this value is the width of the barcode. BARCODE HEIGHT The height of the barcode. For laser printers this value is in inches and for dot matrix printers this value is in rows. To edit the current promotions, press the EDIT key. RENT x GET 1 FREE, where x is the number of tapes to rent, in order to receive one free. If x is 0, then this feature is disabled. Enter the number of times that you wish this item duplicated.