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README.PER
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PERSONAL TASK-PRO
QUICK USERS' GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
TASK-PRO is a PC program that allows the user to track, prioritize,
sort and report on tasks under way. TASK-PRO was specifically designed
with the needs of middle management in mind. As such, more emphasis is
placed on the organization, representation and status of tasks under way
than on the interrelationships of tasks. TASK-PRO is general purpose in
that it allows the user to track virtually any type of activity, from
work-in-progress to telephone inquiries to trouble reports.
PERSONAL TASK-PRO is a version of TASK-PRO which is configured to be
ideal for individual home use. Please note that PERSONAL TASK-PRO does
not run on a PC which is equipped with a LAN card.
Under the TASK-PRO system the user maintains any number of tasks in a
task folder. The user is allowed to record detailed information for each
task, and is provided with the ability to also enter a free text memo
giving a detailed description of those tasks which require such a
description. Within the folder tasks may be sorted by priority, the
name of the person assigned to the task, the deadline assigned to the
task, the date the task was entered, or the systems affected by the task.
A flashing red indication is provided for all tasks which have exceeded
their deadlines.
TASK-PRO incorporates a state-of-the-art keyboard and mouse interface
which makes excellent use of color, sound, text windows and context-
sensitive hypertext help at the touch of the F1 key or the click of
the mouse button.
Personal TASK-PRO is fully functional and loaded with features, but
lacks some of the business-oriented features of PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO.
The additional features provided with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO are:
o The ability to organize tasks into multiple folders.
o The ability to move tasks between task folders and
PC's using IMPORT and EXPORT.
o A 'Timeslip Interface' which allows the quick and
easy entry of timecard information into the TASK-
PRO database.
o The ability to run on a PC equipped with a LAN
card.
The task folder produced with by PERSONAL TASK-PRO is totally compatable
with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO.
To order a users' guide for PERSONAL TASK-PRO, or to order PROFESSIONAL
TASK-PRO, simply select the ORDERING option from the TASK-PRO main menu,
fill in the data entry form with the correct information and allow
Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 1
TASK-PRO to print an order form to you (a system printer is required).
After the order form is printed simply fill in (by hand or typewriter),
the specifics of your order.
1.0 Required Equipment
TASK-PRO runs on IBM PC's and 100% compatables with 256k of system
memory and CGA, EGA or VGA graphics adaptors. TASK-PRO may work
with other equipment configurations. TASK-PRO will utilize a mouse
if one is connected to the system and the appropriate driver software
is included.
2.0 INSTALLATION
If you have downloaded TASK-PRO from an electronic bulletin board
PTASK.ZIP contains PERSONAL TASK-PRO along with all associated
help, documentation and sample database files. Otherwise, if you
have ordered TASK-PRO the supplied diskette contains all of these
files. Create a dedicated directory for TASK-PRO (we recommend
'C:\TASK') and copy (or unZIP) these files into that directory. You
may then run PTASK, as described in this document, and practice with
the sample data provided. When you are satisfied with your expertise
you may delete every file except PTASK.EXE, TSK.HLP and this README
file and begin using PERSONAL TASK-PRO for real.
3.0 RUNNING AND QUITTING TASK-PRO
To run PERSONAL TASK-PRO simply enter 'PTASK -C' for a color system
or 'TASK -M' for a monochrome system from the DOS prompt. The user
will then be presented with the main menu screen of PERSONAL TASK-PRO.
The user may optionally enter a second command line switch '-NOMOUSE',
which disables the use of a mouse by TASK-PRO.
To quit TASK-PRO and return to DOS simply select the Quit option from
TASK-PRO main menu.
4.0 GETTING HELP SCREENS
You can always get a help screen describing what you are doing by
depressing the F1 key or be clicking the left mouse button on any
help prompt appearing on the bottom line of the screen. This help
text is completely context-sensitive, and allows you to jump to the
help screens for related topics by highlighting the text associated
with the topics within the help window (through use of the arrow
keys of the numeric keypad) and depressing the ENTER key. You may
also position the mouse cursor on any help keywords within the help
window and clicking the left mouse button. You may exit the help
system and return to TASK-PRO by depressing the ESC key or by clicking
the right mouse button (which is always equivalent to depressing the
ESC key).
Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 2
5.0 THE MENU SYSTEM
The TASK-PRO main menu is the bar menu that appears across the top of
the screen at all times that TASK-PRO is running. You may move between
the items of this menu with the left and right cursor control keys,
and any associated pull-down menus will automatically appear. You may
also move between main menu items by depressing the hot key for the
item (highlighted in yellow) while holding down the ALT key (this is
simply a shortcut for the experienced user) or by positoning the mouse
cursor on the menu item and clicking the left mouse button.
For main menu options that do not have an associated pull-down menu
the option is activated by depressing the ENTER key once the option
is highlighted. If such an option has been selected with the short-
cut ALT-hotkey keystroke then the option is activated automatically.
Once again the mouse cursor may be used to select main menu options
(except from data entry and help windows, which must be exited first).
For main menu options that have pull-down sub-menus, the sub-menu
option is activated by highlighting the desired option with the up and
down cursor control keys and depressing the ENTER key. Alternatively
the option may be activated by hitting the highlighted hot key in the
sub-menu (without depressing the ALT key).
Help information about any sub-menu option may be obtained by high-
lighting the option and depressing the F1 key.
6.0 DATA ENTRY WINDOWS
Data entry windows allow the user to enter data into the TASK-PRO
system. The up and down cursor control keys, as well as the TAB
key, allow the user to move between data entry fields. The user
may also click the left mouse button on any field to move to that
field. The left and right cursor control keys allow the user to
move within the field. The insert key toggles text entry between
insert and overstrike mode. The delete key deletes characters under
the cursor. The return key successfully ends the data entry into
the form and the ESC key aborts the data entry process. Help for
any field is available by depressing the F1 key while the cursor is
positioned within the field or by clicking the left mouse button
which the mouse cursor is positioned on the help prompt at the bottom
of the window.
7.0 The BROWSE main menu option
Selecting the BROWSE option from the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a formatted
list of all opened tasks in the lower portion of the display. The user may
use the up and down cursor control keys to highlight the various tasks or
simply position the mouse cursor over the task and click on it. This window
scrolls up and down as necessary to accommodate a large number of tasks.
One important feature of the BROWSE window to be aware of is the ability to
edit a memo for the highlighted task by depressing the F10 key. Keep
Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 3
in mind that the F1 key or the mouse will provide you with detailed context-
sensitive help at all times.
You may use the mouse to click on any of the action items appearing along
the lower portion of the display at any time, rather than utilize the
command keystrokes described below. If you are using a mouse, you may
highlight a record by positioning the mouse cursor on the record and
clicking the left mouse button; clicking a second time will bring up
the detail window for the task. Clicking the mouse with the cursor
positioned in one of the first five screen columns for a task not only
highlights the task, but toggles the tag for the task as well. This is
an extremely handy method of tagging tasks.
The command keystrokes available from within the browse window are:
'T' - Tag/Untag Highlighted Task
INS (or '+') - Add a New Task
DEL (or '-') - Delete the Highlighted Task
CTL F5 - Begin Searching Database for String Match
F5 - Continue Search Started with CTL F5
CTL K - Auxilliary Keystrokes
CTL S - Re-Sort
CTL T - * Tag all tasks
CTL F - Change the task display format
CTL P - * Produce A Report/Listing
CTL U - Untag all tasks*
CTL C - * Close all tagged tasks
CTL Y - * Delete All Tagged Tasks
Up Arrow - Highlight Next Task Line
Down Arrow - Highlight Prev Task Line
PgUp - Scroll Up One Page
PgDn - Scroll Down One Page
Home - Go to First Task In List
End - Go to End of List
F10 - Edit Memo for Highlighted Task
Enter - View and Edit the Highlighted Task
ESC - Return to Task-Pro Main Menu
* - Only available with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO
8.0 The DEFAULTS main menu option
Selecting the DEFAULTS option of the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a data
entry window in which the user can pre-fill various fields that will
usually be the same when a new task is being added. These fields will
then be pre-filled with this data whenever a new task is added. Any
entry into the DATE ENTERED field will be ignored when a new task is
added, however, as the computer's system date is entered into this field
each time a task is added.
9.0 The REPORTS main menu option
The REPORTS option of the TASK-PRO main menu has a pull-down sub-menu
with a list of the available reports. These reports are BRIEF #1,
Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 4
BRIEF #2, ABBREVIATED and FULL PAGE. Selecting one of these options
will cause the user to be subsequently prompted for a sorting order
and a task selection criteria within additional pop-up menus, and then
the report will be sent to the system printer. Depressing the ESC key
during this process will cancel the report and return the user to the
TASK-PRO main menu.
Although the names of the BRIEF reports appearing in the menu are not
extremely descriptive, depressing the F1 key will a report name
highlighted within this menu will provide a good detailed description
of the report.
All brief reports, when sorted by the name of the person assigned to
perform the task, will automatically insert page breaks whenever the
name changes. This is a handy method of producing status reports
for individual employees.
The full page report contains all imformation on each task, including
the contents of the memo. This report is actually a series of
work orders.
BRIEF REPORT #3 is designed such that employees may fill in the
hours worked on a project each week, month ... and return them to
management for updating of the TASK-PRO database through the
timesheet interface. The output of BRIEF REPORT #3, when sorted
by the name of the employee assigned to the task, can actually
replace the timecards used by many organization. Be sure to read
section 14, the TASK-PRO timeslip interface, to understand how
employee timesheet data can easily be fed back into the registered
version of TASK-PRO. This report is only available with PROFESSIONAL
TASK-PRO.
10.0 The SETUP main menu option
The SETUP option of the TASK-PRO main menu allows you to customize
TASK-PRO to meet your needs and preferences. The options available
on the associated pulldown menu are DISP MODE, SORTING and PRINTER.
Selecting the DISP MODE option evokes a pop-up menu which allows
you to select a default format for the individual task lines in
the browse window.
Selecting the SORTING options evokes a pop-up menu which allows you
to select a default sorting format for the tasks within the browse
menu.
Selecting the PRINTER option evokes a pop-up menu which allows you
to configure TASK-PRO for the set of control codes to send to your
printer as reports are being printed. Selecting the PROPRINTER option
will configure TASK-PRO to send font selection control sequences to
the printer following IBM PROPRINTER conventions. Selecting the EPSON
option will configure TASK-PRO to send font selection control sequences
to the printer following EPSON conventions. Selecting the NULL option
will cause TASK-PRO to use whatever fonts are currently set on the
printer with no control sequences being passed. Selecting the
CUSTOMIZE option will bring up a data entry window in which the user
Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 5
can specify exactly the hexadecimal escape sequences to be used to
select compressed and normal fonts. Depressing F1 from within this
window will provide detailed information on this data entry with
examples.
Once you have set any TASK-PRO configuration, it will be in force
until it is specifically changed, even if you quit TASK-PRO, return
to DOS, and run TASK-PRO at some time in the future.
11.0 The ORDERING main menu option
Selecting the ORDERING option from the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a
data entry window that allows the user to enter data into a form to
order PERSONAL TASK-PRO or PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO from Business Tech-
nologies. After the data has been entered a filled-out order form is
printed on the system printer. The F1 key provides context-sensitive
help throughout this process. Please note that the order printed by
this option still requires the hand filling of certain ordering info-
rmation. Note that PERSONAL TASK-PRO and associated files may be
freely copied and distributed in unmodified form. Ordering PERSONAL
TASK-PRO simply provides the user with a bound users' guide.
12.0 The INFO main menu option
Selecting the INFO option from the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a
window containing some information about the TASK-PRO product and
ordering information.
13.0 The QUIT main menu option
Selecting the QUIT option from the PERSONAL TASK-PRO main menu
exits TASK-PRO and returns the user to the DOS prompt.
14.0 The TASK-PRO Timeslip Interface
This option is only available with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO.
The TASK-PRO Timeslip Interface allows for the quick and easy entry
of updates to the HOURS WORKED field for any task without going into
the user interface of TASK-PRO. This is achieved through a command
prompt which understands the following commands:
FOLDER <name of task folder to update>
ADD <id of task for which hours worked are to be added>
SUB <id of task for which hours worked are to be subtracted>
SET <id of task for which hours worked are to be set>
HELP
QUIT
To bring up the timeslip interface simply enter 'TASKPRO -U' from the
DOS prompt. The following dialog with the timeslip interface would
add 5 hours to the hours worked field of task 7 in the folder SYSTEM
Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 6
and set the hours worked field of task 3 in the file TESTS to a value
of 50.
->FOLDER SYSTEM
SYSTEM-> ADD 7 5
SYSTEM-> FOLDER TESTS
TESTS-> SET 3 50
TESTS-> QUIT
Note that the command prompt contains the name of the currently opened
task folder.