The Business Master (4th Edition)

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Text File | 1993-09-28 | 15.7 KB | 404 lines

PropMan Residential Property Management Software Introduction, Installation Instructions and Quick Start for Shareware Property Management System Release 3.01 PropMan Introduction / Installation Instructions and Quick Start (C) Copyright 1992, 1993 by G. Curtis Feger PropMan Software (C) Copyright 1991, 1993 by G. Curtis Feger (C) Copyright 1986,1988 by G. Curtis Feger/Jeffrey G. Gobel PropMan Property Management Software 309 S. Ynez Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754 (818) 570-1071 Copyright PropMan software is copyrighted. This documentation is copyrighted. Illegal copying of either is a violation of both criminal and civil law. Shareware All documentation and the accompanying software are distributed as shareware. They may be freely copied and shared with the following conditions: 1 No charge may be made for the software or manual. A nominal charge may be made to cover the costs of disk duplication. 2 The entire system, including the software and documentation, must be distributed without modification. 3 All distribution must be by disk, BBS or other electronic means. Distribution of hardcopy or printed material is not authorized. Disclaimer of Warranties The Shareware version, the Registered version and all other versions of PropMan software and documentation are provided "as is". There are no warranties of any kind either expressed or implied. We expressly disclaim any warranty as to the performance of the software, the accuracy of the documentation or the results you may obtain from them. We also expressly disclaim all other warranties, including, but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of PropMan is with you. You alone are responsible for the decision as to the suitablity of PropMan for your particular needs. If PropMan proves defective or unsuitable, you assume the entire cost of all service, repair or correction; including, but not limited to, all incidential or consequential costs or damages. PropMan PropMan software was designed specifically for propery management. The Registered version of PropMan will track up to 50 units. These may be 50 individual houses or one 50 unit building or any combination inbetween. PropMan is also available in versions that will handle more units, multiple owners per building, payroll expenses, management fees, checkwriting and more. Call or write for information if you need these capabilities. PropMan is an on-line accounting system. All data is updated through-out the system each time new information is entered. Displays and reports are always current. There are no transactions to post or trial balances to run. It maintains monthly and year-to-date data about properties. Historical data is kept about current and past tenants. Financial records are kept individually for each building. There are a lot of convience features in PropMan that are difficult to do with databases or spreadsheets. PropMan does move-in and move-out prorates, calculates mortgage payments, schedules rent changes. It prints 3-Day (eviction) and rent change notices. And there are many other features. The Shareware version of PropMan is a functional property management system. It has the same capacity as the Registered version. The shareware version collects and maintains all needed data. Nothing will be lost when you convert to the Registered version. PropMan self-running demo The demo is a slide show of screens taken from a running PropMan system. They show what the system looks like after it has been run for some months and data has been entered by the user and accumulated by the system. Comments on the screens point out the features and operations of PropMan. The PropMan software will run with either a color or monochrome monitor. However the demo requires a color monitor. Documentation There are several text files of documentation. These may be printed by using the installation program or examined using any word processor. The files are two different disks. On Program disk 1: INSTALL.DOC - 8 pages, this file, Introduction, Installation and Quick Start on running PropMan INDEX.DOC - 12 pages, combined index for the Reference Manual, User Guide and PropMan screens ORDER.DOC - 1 page, an order form for PropMan software On the Demo / Documentation disk: FEATURES.DOC - 3 pages, a summary of the different versions of PropMan and their capabilities REPORTS.DOC - 16 pages, examples of PropMan printed reports USERGDE.DOC - 92 pages, the PropMan User Guide Registration The Registered version of PropMan costs $135.00. Registration includes 90 days phone support, a printed copy of the Reference Manual, and the User Guide with keystroke by keystroke instructons on how to use PropMan. Shareware is NOT free software. The Shareware version of PropMan is freely distributed so that users may have a chance to try PropMan before purchasing it. If you use PropMan you owe us the registration fee and should be willing to pay it. If you don't want to register now but want to be notified of future releases of PropMan, send us your name and address for our mailing list. Hardware Requirements PropMan runs on IBM PCs and compatibles. Minimum hardware is 512K memory, a hard disk and 80 column printer. The CONFIG.SYS file must contain a FILES parameter with a minimum of FILES=20. It will use a color monitor but does not require one. (The self- running demo on the demo disk requires color.) PropMan will use 1 meg of disk space plus 120-200K per building. PropMan avoids all non-standard operating techniques and interfaces. As a result it has run properly on every PC compatible on which it has been installed and has worked with every printer tried. PropMan runs in a DOS window with no conflicts. Installation The PropMan software and demo are self-installing. The procedure is the same for both. You may start the install program and then stop it without installing, if you wish. To install: Power up your computer Get to your DOS prompt - If you are using Windows, PC Tools, X-Tree, a menuing system or any other shell type program, exit from it completely. Put Disk #1 in any drive Switch to that drive Enter the command: PMINSTAL You may then install or remove PropMan or the demo, or print the documentation. Normally, the demo is installed in directory PMDEMO and PropMan in directory PROPMAN. You may select other directories if you wish. Running PropMan The installation program will offer to create a batch (.BAT) file to start PropMan. If you allow it to create the file, the commmand to start PropMan is: PROPMAN If you do not create the batch file, you may start PropMan by: 1) Change to the directory where you put PropMan. The command is: CD \PROPMAN (if you used a directory other than PROPMAN, use the name of that directory) 2) Then run PropMan. The command is: PROPMAN See the Quick Start section below and the PropMan User Guide for help in operating PropMan. The <Esc> key is used to exit PropMan. Running the demo Change to the directory where you put the demo. The command is: CD \PMDEMO (if you used a directory other than PMDEMO, use the name of that directory) Then run the demo. The command is: PMDEMO The demo will run through its displays and then stop. Press <Esc> to exit the demo. Press any other key to run the demo again. There are four control operations for the demo. While the initial screen is displayed, 1) Press any key except <Esc> to start the demo. 2) Press <Esc> to return to DOS. While the demo is running, 3) press the space bar to see the next screen immediately. 4) press <Alt> Q to restart the demo with the initial screen. To stop the demo while it is running, press <Alt> Q to get the initial screen back (#4 above), then press <Esc> to exit the demo (#2 above). There are two ways to run the demo. The command PMDEMO runs the demo one time, redisplays the initial screen and then waits to be cancelled or restarted. The command PMDEMOLP (PMDEMO + LP, as in loop) displays the initial screen one time. The demo then runs continuously until stopped. Quick Start for running PropMan If you would rather run the program than read the reference manual, these next two pages are for you. Here is what you need to know to get started. The PropMan Index Print the Index even if you don't print the entire User Guide. See "Documentation" above. It has references to tell you how to find features and operations in the running PropMan program as well as in the manuals. You can look items up in the Index and it will lead you to the appropriate screen. About Running PropMan <Esc>, the Escape key is the normal exit for all PropMan operations. Each press is a step out. The last step is back to DOS. <F1> is help, always. Press it anytime. The help is specific to the screen and the particular field where the cursor is located. First a graphic of the function keys is displayed, press F1 again and you get the on-line help text. The help text has information about where you are, what choices are available, what the data is used for, what it is related to, what is required for a valid entry and your options. The other function keys are used to change the screen display, change the data displayed, step through lists of choices and other operations. Their uses vary from field to field. Press <F1> to see. Sometimes there is a small up-arrow displayed with the key label. The up-arrow means that for this action, hold the shift key while pressing the function key. You will sometimes see "(Screen x of x)" in the screen title. There is more information than will fit on one screen. Use the function keys to see the other screens. Press <F1> to see which keys call the other screens. The last line on the screen is a prompt. It always lets you know what is expected or allowed for input at the current cursor location. When "(Prev/Next)" is displayed as part of the prompt it means that there is a list of allowable entries available. Use the function keys to step through the list. Press <F1> to see which keys do the stepping. There are different function key displays for 10 function key and 12 function key keyboards. Select SYSTEM MAINTENANCE and then SYSTEM PARAMETERS. Move the cursor to Function Key Type. Press <F1> to see which keys change the display type. About Entering Data PropMan operates with a single Processing Month. It is the same for all buildings in the system. The initial Processing Month and year are entirely up to you. You may change the initial Processing Month until you make the first building ACTIVE (read on). When the first building is made ACTIVE, PropMan starts normal monthly processing. For monthly processing, all business, rents, mortgages, operating expenses, etc. for the current Processing Month should be entered. After all business for the month for all buildings has been entered, close the month. The Month End Close is simple but required. It tells PropMan that one month's business has ended and the next month's has started. To close a month, select MONTH END OPERATIONS, then select MONTH END CLOSE. PropMan will step to the next Processing Month. All business will now be recorded in this month until it is closed. Accounting operations are performed independently for each building. No accounting can be done for a building until it has been started and made ACTIVE. There are three steps (the next three paragraphs) required to set up a building in the PropMan system. Remember, when setting up a building to start with a month in the past, enter the information as of the beginning of the month, before any of the month's business had taken place. As soon as the building is ACTIVE, you will want to enter the months business. Enter building information by selecting SYSTEM MAINTENANCE, then NEW BUILDING STARTUP. Here you will assign a number (three full digits, 100 and above) to the building. Then enter data about the building on multiple screens (use the function keys to move between the screens). The building number and the number of units and their IDs cannot be changed later (but you can re- start the building and enter different data). Anything else about the building can be changed if necessary. Enter tenant information by selecting DAILY OPERATIONS then TENANT ACTIVITY. For systems just being installed, enter information about the tenants who occupied the building at the time you are starting the system. When adding buildings to a running system, enter data as of the beginning of the current Processing Month. After entering all of the above, ACTIVE-ate the building. Select SYSTEM MAINTENANCE, then BUILDING CHANGES. Move the cursor to Building Status and Press <F1> for help. If this is the first building you have made ACTIVE, monthly operations as explained above will now begin. If you are adding this building to the system, you may now enter its activities starting with this month.