Private Secretary™ is a copyrighted product of Integrated Support Technology. It has been released as shareware only under the following terms:
A single decompressed copy may be used on a trial basis for a period not to exceed 30 days. At the end of the trial period, the product must be registered or you must discontinue its use and destroy all copies in your possession.
Distribution of Private Secretary™ is permitted only in its original compressed format in order to insure the recipient receives a complete and unmodified copy of the program and the accompanying files and documents.
This documentation is intentionally brief to minimize the print out and provide step by step instructions to get Private Secretary™ up and running as quickly as possible. It is not intended to replace the illustrated manual that comes with registration and therefore does not explore the details of each function and feature.
The basic function of Private Secretary™ is to monitor the phone via a Hayes™ compatible autodial modem and notify you on your pager and/or phone at another location that a call came in. This allows you the freedom to be away from your phone and still respond quickly to incoming calls.
In addition, Private Secretary™ can send routine reminders to you, dispatch calls to small groups and report to you when power has been restored after a power failure (registered copies only).
When used with a standard remote call pick up answering machine connected to the same line, it can provide a very powerful and inexpensive voice mail system which can be linked to your pager, used for screening your cellular phone calls, or for contacting you at another location.
This ability saves you the cost of leasing voice mail services and allows you to restrict your pager or cellular phone numbers. It also means you are free to change your pager or cellular services at any time without having to notify your callers or change your business cards and stationary. You simply change the numbers in Private Secretary™.
The timing of Private Secretary™ is initially set up to send call notification to most pager services. If you wish to use it to call you at another phone, some changes in the dial timing and digital message will be required. To test your settings, you can use the Reminder feature of Private Secretary™ to force Private Secretary™ to dial out.
Hardware Requirements
The minimum configuration is a MAC plus or greater and a Hayes™ compatible modem. An answering machine connected to the same line as the modem is required for voice mail capability and a digital pager is highly recommended.
If a FAX machine is installed on the same line, it should be the type that allows an answering machine to be connected and the modem should be connected to the answering machine or phone side of the FAX machine. Depending on the hardware configuration and the capabilities of the FAX unit, Private Secretary™ may dispatch a notification call or page when FAXes are received as well as phone calls.
Software Configuration
Private Secretary™ will run under the system 6 Finder, MultiFinder and system 7. However, when running under MultiFinder or system 7, it must be the active application to dial out. Private Secretary™ will also allow data communication sessions and outbound FAX sessions to be initiated in the background. (See Background Processing)
IMPORTANT
All of the "PS" files created by Private Secretary™, should be kept in the same folder as the Private Secretary™ application. Private Secretary™ can be placed on the desktop, provided it’s subordinate files are present in the main (top) disk window. The files Private Secretary™ uses are:
PS Settings, PS Numbers, PS Reminder and PS Log.
Initial Startup
Once you have decompressed the Private Secretary™ folder, if you have a previous version of Private Secretary™, place the Private Secretary™ application in the same folder as the "PS" files used by the older version. The new version will use the data you have already set up in these files.
To Start Private Secretary™ simply double click on the Private Secretary™ application icon.
The first screen will be the "Auto Registration" screen.
If you have a previously registered version of Private Secretary™ then click "YES". Private Secretary™ will then ask you to locate it using the standard file locator interface. Once you have located it, either double click on it or click the "OPEN" button. The New Version will magically become registered and you can skip the next paragraph.
If you don't have a registered version of Private Secretary™, click "NO". Private Secretary™ will then bring up the Registration Screen explaining the terms of the evaluation. You will need to click on the "Later" button to proceed from here each time you run the program, until it is registered.
Private Secretary™ will now attempt to locate the "PS" files mentioned above. If you have them elsewhere, you can select them here, however, Private Secretary™ will continue to ask for them before each session until you put them in the same folder as the application. If you don't have them, just click the "Cancel" button and Private Secretary™ will create them for you using the standard default settings.
The first file Private Secretary™ will ask for will be the PS Settings file. Then Private Secretary™ will sign on and attempt to establish communications with the modem. If the modem does not respond, or the default settings are not supported by your modem, it will direct you to the settings menu or allow you to turn on the modem and try again. Private Secretary™ will not allow you to proceed unless it can find a Hayes™ compatible modem to communicate with.
The most common reasons for not being able to establish the modem communication link are that the modem is powered off , disconnected , poorly connected, improperly connected or the Baud Rate is set to something which is not supported by the modem.
Next the program will look for the PS Numbers file, click "CANCEL" as before. Private Secretary™ will then bring up the Numbers Set Up screen. You will have a chance later to enter the numbers, for now, click "OK", NOT "Cancel". Private Secretary™ will now bring up the Set Mode screen, for now, press Cancel.
Finally, when Private Secretary™ asks for the PS Reminders file, click "CANCEL".
The above procedure will not be required again, as long as you keep the "PS" files with the Private Secretary™ application.
Initial Set Up
Step 1
Pull down the settings menu, select phone numbers and put in a phone or pager number. The phone numbers can be entered using numbers, spaces and dashes (-). Examples: 800-555-1234, 800 555 1234 or 8005551234
Entering a "/" character will cause a brief 1/8 second delay in the dialing sequence and can be used to set a delay for an outside line on some phone systems. Example: 9/800-555-1234
The "assigned to" field is not used by the program and can contain anything or can be left blank.
To activate a number, simply click on the select box next to the desired number. An X in the select box, indicates that number is selected.
Whenever there is a change to the selection box, the OK button will change to SET MODE. This links you directly to the Call Pick Up Mode screen for adjustment or verification of the correct call pick up and group settings.
Step 2
Set the Call Pickup Modes. This tells Private Secretary™ how you want it to recognize you are picking up your messages and you may not want it to dial out for this call.
Dial out for Every Call (Confirm Call Pick Ups)
This option is available only when there is one number selected. It will dial the number selected for each call that comes in regardless if it is a message pick up or not.
Assume "N" Pick Ups per Call
This option will assume that for each call there will be "N" message pick up calls following it.
Use Pick Up Code - (1 Ring, Hang Up, Call Back)
When this mode is selected, you effectively tell Private Secretary™ that this call is a pick up call by dialing in, hanging up during the first ring, wait 3-5 seconds, then calling back to retrieve your message. Private Secretary™ will then ignore the pickup call allowing as long as is necessary to listen to the messages regardless of dial timing.
The Pick Up Code mode is usually the best for all applications.
Toll Saver Mode - Ignore Calls Less Than 4 Rings
This mode is designed for use with answering machines that have a "Toll Saver" mode. For the first call, Private Secretary™ will dial out regardless of the number of rings (just in case you forgot to reset previous messages on the answering machine). It will then ignore all subsequent calls of less than 4 rings until you call in and reset the answering machine toll saver function to 4 rings.
Group Dialing Modes:
When there is more than one phone number selection, the group dialing modes are enabled and the Dial Out for Every Call option is unavailable. When the group options are first selected or activated, Private Secretary™ defaults to the Dial All Numbers (group) mode and assumes there will be a pick up call made by each member of the group.
There are 2 group options to select from:
Dial Selected Numbers in Rotation - 1 per Call (Rotation mode)
When this option is selected, Private Secretary™ will report the first incoming call to the first phone number selected, allow for a pick up call according to one of the 3 available options previously set and report the next call to the next number, and so on. It will always start at the top of the phone list. Once a call has been sent to each number in the group, it will start over with the number at the top.
NOTE
When this mode is selected, the Reminder Service is DISABLED.
Generally, the best pickup mode for rotation is using the pick up code.
When set in any of the rotation modes, if a call comes in before Private Secretary™ has a chance to dial out, it will dispatch the second call when the first pickup call is received, indicating a "Make Up Call" was sent.
Dial All Selected Numbers After Each Call (Group mode):
When this option is selected, Private Secretary™ will dial every number selected to report each call, allow for message pick up according to one of the 3 available options selected and then report the next call to all numbers and so on.
NOTE
When this mode is selected, the Reminder Service is ENABLED.
If it is set to ON, all selected Reminders will be sent to all numbers selected.
The best pickup mode for this group selection is using the "pick up code" 1 ring, call back sequence.
The toll saver mode is available under this group option but is only practical for single user/multiple number applications or where only one member of the group is responsible for picking up the messages and resetting the toll saver. For these applications, toll saver is a good pick up option.
Step 3
If you are using Private Secretary™ to dial phones you will want to change the Digital Message.
Setting up Digital Message
The digital message is the secondary set of tones or digits that Private Secretary™ sends after dialing the phone number. The purpose of the digital message is to provide limited information about the call it received.
To set the digital message parameters, pull down the Settings menu and select "Digital Message...".
Initially the digital message settings are preset to dial pagers, sending the call number, time and number of rings, digitally.
To use it to dial phones, turn on the Private Code, set the call number to tones, with a code of 3, set pause for 2 seconds, set number of rings to tones with a code of 9.
When set this way Private Secretary™ will dial out, then play the private code (tune) followed by the digit (tone) 3, repeated equal to the call number and then the digit (tone) 9, repeated equal to the number of rings.
A detailed explanation of these settings can be found in the users manual.
Step 4
If you are using Private Secretary™ to dial phones, or it has trouble sending the Digital Message to your pager you will want to adjust the Dial Timing.
Setting Up Dial Timing
To access the timing set up, select "Dial Timing..." under the Settings menu.
Begin Dialing:
This setting tells Private Secretary™ how long to wait after a call is received before it dials out to notify you of the call. It can be set to report each call or queue up calls and only report them on a regular time schedule.
After Any Call
This option should be selected when you want each new call to be reported as soon as practical after it is received. When used with an answering machine, the time specified should be enough to allow for your outgoing message and the caller to leave his or her message plus some overhead for answering machine tape positioning.
If you find that your callers leave excessively long messages or are getting disconnected when leaving a message, or you have trouble getting all your messages remotely, increase the Begin Dialing time accordingly.
After 1st Call - (Call Queuing)
If you do not wish to be called after each call, but would rather be called only periodically choose the "After 1st Call" option. In this mode, normally you would set the Begin Dialing time to be 10, 15, or 30 minutes. When this option is selected, you will receive a call from Private Secretary™ (the number of minutes set) after the first call is received, ignoring any other calls that come in in that time frame.
Send the Message Codes:
This setting tells Private Secretary™ how long to wait after the phone or pager service was dialed to begin sending the secondary "Digital Message".
After 5 seconds of Silence
In this mode, the modem waits for 5 seconds of silence before sending the digital message. The modem decides when the time is up and therefore will only work with modems that support this option. Normally this mode should not be used when dialing phones. However, this mode may be the best choice when combining calls to pagers and phones but you must remember the modem needs 5 seconds of silence before it will send the message codes. If it hears voice such as repeated "Hello, Hello" it may interpret this as a busy signal and hang up and dial again.
__ Secs. After Dialing
If you find that the "After 5 Seconds" option does not work well in your application, set the "__ Secs. After Dialing" option and load in the appropriate number of seconds. In this case there is no way for Private Secretary™ to determine when the phone or pager service answers and it will "blind dial" the digital message the number of seconds set, after it dialed the number. To determine the best setting for this number, take into account the time your phone service normally takes to process a call and add 4 seconds for each full ring you expect to occur when the call is placed. Some pager services may hang up before 5 seconds of silence and therefore you may want to use this option to set the time manually, anywhere from 3 to 8 seconds.
Send Mark-Time Tones
The "Mark Time" option is enabled only when the "__ Secs. After Dialing" option is selected. It tells Private Secretary™ to send tones repeatedly after dialing so if the call is picked up before the time set, there will be something on the line besides silence (which might cause the person receiving the call to hang up before the digital message is sent). If the "Private Code" is selected in the digital message, the tones sent will be the private code sent repeatedly , otherwise, it will send a single "1", about every second.
Force modem to hang up____Seconds after dialing
This setting tells Private Secretary™ how long after dialing to wait before hanging up. When the "After 5 Seconds of Silence" option is selected, this should be set to 30 seconds or more as the modem will hang up as soon as it has sent the last digit. When the "___ Seconds after Dialing" option is selected, this number should be about 10 seconds if the Mark-Time option is on or 10 seconds longer than the number of seconds after dialing, if the Mark-Time option is off.
Step 5 - Setting Up other Options
Call Log
Private Secretary™ keeps a log of each call received. Each call is assigned a number (call number), starting with 1 each time Private Secretary™ is loaded. Private Secretary™ also logs the time the call was received, the number of times the phone rang (ring count) and the result when Private Secretary™ tried to dial out to report the call. This information is presented in the log window after start up and can also be sent to a log file for later analysis.
Private Secretary™ records the log information in memory, even if the log window is closed. But, Private Secretary™ must be the active application to monitor, log, and report calls. It can not report calls from the background.
Log File ON:
To have Private Secretary™ send the log information to a log file, select the Log File ON item from the Call Log menu. The log file function is on when a check mark appears next to this option.
When the log file is on, Private Secretary™ makes a log entry at the completion of each call, indicating the date, the call number, time (in 24 hour format), ring count and result. This information can be retrieved by many spreadsheet programs and most word processors for producing reports or analyzing activity.
The log file is closed between each call to avoid any damage that might occur to the file system if the system is powered down or the power fails while Private Secretary™ is running.
Append:
The append function tells Private Secretary™ to append call information to the currently selected log file, rather than overwrite the previous log each time Private Secretary™ starts up. Append is active when a check mark appears next to it in the menu.
If append is not selected, Private Secretary™ will open or create the log file each time it is started and overwrite any previous data in any log file with the same name currently on the disk in the same folder.
Set File Name:
This function allows you to set the file name for the call log. When shipped, the call log is set to "PS Log".
To set the file name, select the "Set File Name..." item under the Call Log menu.
To set the file name, simply enter the name and click on O.K. or press return on the keyboard.
If you want Private Secretary™ to create a new log file each day, click on the Append Date check box. When an X appears in the Append Date option, a new log file using the name you select plus the date, will be created for each day Private Secretary™ is used.
Note: when this option is turned on, if Private Secretary™ is used daily, 365 files a year will be created.
Reminder Service
Private Secretary™ can be set to dial out as a reminder of an important meeting or event. It can handle up to 5 reminders each day. In addition, registered copies can be set to report restoration of a power failure if Private Secretary™ is set as the start-up application under MultiFinder or placed in the "Start Up" items folder in the system folder of system 7, as the last application to load (this may require changing the name to xPrivate Secretary™) if other applications load after Private Secretary™.
Set Times:
To set the reminder times, select the "Set Times" function under the Reminder menu.
The "CALL AT" field should be loaded with the actual time you want Private Secretary™ to make the reminder call. The time should be entered in the AM/PM format such as 2:00 PM.
The send message can be any number sequence except "#". The numbers will appear as numbers to a pager and as tones to a phone.
Reminder ON:
This is the "Master" switch for the reminder service. When it has a check mark next to it, all of the reminders selected will be sent. When no check mark is next to it, none of the reminders will be sent except the Power Fail if selected.
Background Processing
In order to monitor the phone line, Private Secretary™ keeps a channel open to the modem at all times. Any program that accesses the modem after Private Secretary™ is loaded will disrupt the link between Private Secretary™ and the modem. When this occurs, Private Secretary™ will ignore further input from the modem and will re-establish the modem link after the interrupting program has properly closed the modem driver. This feature together with the background process scheduling capabilities of Private Secretary™ are designed to allow electronic data communication sessions and outbound FAX sessions to be initiated in the background while Private Secretary™ is running.
Random "Inbound" FAXes and data communications are not possible since the handlers for those operations generally must have control of the modem. However, if these processes can be scheduled, it is possible for Private Secretary™ to accommodate them as well.
By default as mentioned above, Private Secretary™ will sense another program attempting to access the modem. When this happens Private Secretary™ will begin polling the driver every "N" seconds as set in the "Set Background" screen, ignoring further input from the modem until the interrupting program properly closes the modem driver. To use this feature, no set up is necessary, unless you wish to change the polling frequency. Private Secretary™ will yield even if the Enable Background option is not checked. However, the reliability of this method depends on the interrupting program to deal with a potential "break" error that may occasionally occur when it first accesses the modem and relies on the background program to fully close the modem driver when it is finished processing. If problems occur using this method, the background task can be scheduled as discussed below.
Background Task Settings:
To schedule a background task or change the polling frequency, pull down the settings menu and select "Set Background...".
The default polling frequency is 8 seconds. This time is based on the frequency of the phone ring signal to help insure a call is not missed after the background program is finished. The polling frequency can be increased to a maximum of 999 seconds (approx. 16.5 mins.). Increasing the polling frequency will allow the background task to run faster but increases the chance for missed calls.
The "Yield At" time is the time you want Private Secretary™ to begin ignoring the modem. Between the "Yield At" and "Return At" times, Private Secretary™ sits in an idle loop.
The "Return At" time is when you want Private Secretary™ to start polling the modem driver (if the polling check mark next to it is set) or (if the polling check mark is not set) re-initialize and establish the modem link regardless of whether or not the background program has closed the modem driver.
To schedule a background task, tab to the first available "Yield At:" field. Put in the time the background task will begin (or a minute sooner to add a margin of safety) using the same format as the Reminder Service discussed above. Tab to the "Return At:" field and enter the time you want Private Secretary™ to start polling the modem driver or retake the modem regardless.
Click the select box to the left of the times you want Private Secretary™ to yield and always have an X in the poll box to the right, unless you find your program leaves the driver open when it is done. In which case you should make certain that the Return At time is set to insure that the background program has plenty of time to complete.
To activate the tasks, pull down the Settings menu and select the "Enable Background" item to place a check mark by it. This is the "Master" switch for the background times but has no effect on unscheduled interuptions.
GENERAL NOTES:
Private Secretary’s only link to your telephone is the modem. It relies on the modem to detect the phone ringing for incoming calls and to check for dial tone, busy and no answer when attempting dial out to alert you of incoming calls. Therefore, the overall reliability of Private Secretary™ depends largely on how well your modem does it’s job.
Because the modem does not report when the outgoing call is answered, Private Secretary™ can not detect when the phone is answered and must rely on the timing set up by you to be proper for the way you use it. Also, the modem only detects and reports no answer when the "5 seconds of silence" option is selected in the Dial Timing dialog. If this option is not set, Private Secretary™ will send the tones in the time frame set and will report that the call was sent successfully even if the call was not answered. If the modem "call progress protocol" mode is set properly, Private Secretary™ will report when the modem senses no dial tone, busy and no answer, and will execute a retry every 30 seconds until it gets through.
When an answering machine is used with Private Secretary™, it is important to remember that Private Secretary™ has no connection with it. When you choose the call pick up modes and dial timing you are essentially programming Private Secretary™ "around" the way your answering machine works, not programing "how" the answering machine works. Private Secretary™ has no way of knowing if the caller left a message and will report all calls that are not interpreted as message pick up calls. By setting Private Secretary™ to report the number of rings, it may be possible for you to determine if the caller hung up before leaving a message.
Increasing Response and Preventing Call Cut Off.
If you find that Private Secretary™ is cutting off your callers messages or not allowing sufficient time for you to pick them up, this can usually be remedied by increasing the begin dial timing in the Dial Timing dialog box and using the "Pick Up Code" message pick up mode. If however, you want calls reported as soon as possible after they come in, an inexpensive "line check" module can be placed on the modem which will prevent Private Secretary™ from interrupting a call in process, and report the call as soon as the phone IS available. With this device installed, Private Secretary™ can be set to report calls very shortly after the call is received (such as 30 seconds) without worry that it will interrupt the caller or message pick up calls.
The line check module is available from Integrated Support Technology for $12.95 each plus applicable CA tax. Shipping and handling are included when ordered with registration, otherwise, add $4.55.
My 2 cents:
If you find this product has helped stamp out telephone tag, simplified your communications by having a single number for your customers to call, helped land a deal or keep a critical customer happy, I would like to hear about it.
Our plans for the future include some enhancements to Private Secretary™, an IBM version release and development of a new product that sings with the latest in office communication technology. These plans can only be realized of course through your support.
Whether you use Private Secretary™ to improve your service response time, expand your service hours, moonlite from home or just avoid missing important calls and opportunities when you're having lunch with clients or fun with your friends; I hope you find this product adds a new dimension of freedom and success in your life! --
Tom Holmes.
To Register Private Secretary™, please send check or money order for $34.95 plus applicable CA sales tax to:
