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RENTAL PROPERTY MANAGER
USER GUIDE
Version 1.0 - November 1996
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
MKM Software
2812 Ingrid Ln
Metairie, Louisiana 70003
USA
Phone: (281) 488-2436
Phone: (504) 885-7470
CompuServe: 72704,3566
America Online: MKMware
Copyright (C) MKM Software, 1995
All Rights Reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2
Disclaimer of Warranty 2
Definition of Shareware 2
Registration 3
Distribution 3
How to Register 3
Rental Property Manager - Version List 4
Installation 4
Operations 6
Opening a Shift 6
Closing a Shift 6
User name and Password 6
Reservation Browse Table 6
Advance Deposits and Charges 8
MasterBills 8
Front Desk - Folios 9
Front Desk Menu 9
Updating Folios 10
Transactions 10
Direct Bill Folios 10
Guest File 11
Reports 11
Utilities - Re-Index 12
Accounting - Expenses 12
Accounting - Close Account Month 12
Accounting - Close Account Year 13
Manager - Re-build AVL Tables 13
Manager - Verify Data 13
RPM - Configuration 14
Properties 14
Rate Tables 14
Owner Names 15
Unit Type Availability 15
Site Set-up 15
Parameter Set-up 16
Folio Set-up 16
Printer Set-up 18
User Names 19
Zip Codes 19
Reservation Codes 19
Travel Agents 20
General Ledger 20
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 1
INTRODUCTION
Rental Property Manager is a full working business shareware
program designed to manage the reservation and billing of
apartments, condominiums or other vacation property rentals
on a short to medium term basis. The program calculates
rates and taxes and compiles income and expenses to produce
owner statements for any given date range.
The program is capable of managing any number of units for
one or more different properties. In addition to organizing
reservations, powerful mail manager features are included to
facilitate correspondence with your customer base through
custom letters, or by simply printing mailing labels for a
selected subset of your guest file.
You can book reservations up to two years in advance and let
the program calculate unit rates on a daily, weekly, or
monthly basis, using rate tables that you design. You can
likewise enter a fixed rate at reservation or check-in time.
The registered version of RPM comes with an illustrated user
guide specially designed to help train new users of the
program. This file is an abbreviated version of the user
guide. Please refer to the online help screens for the
latest program information. Also, whenever the program
requires input from the user, there is always context
sensitive help at the bottom of the screen.
Disclaimer of Warranty
Users of Rental Property Manager must accept this disclaimer
of warranty: "Rental Property Manager is supplied as is.
The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied,
including, without limitation, the warranties of
merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author
assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential,
which may result from the use of Rental Property Manager."
Definition of Shareware
Rental Property Manager is a "shareware program" and is
provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free
to share it with others, but please do not give it away
altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-
supported" software is to provide personal computer users
with quality software without high prices, and yet to
provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new
products.
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 2
Registration
If you find this program useful and find that you are using
Rental Property Manager and continue to use Rental Property
Manager after a reasonable trial period, you must make a
registration payment to MKM Software. The registration fee
will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one
time. You must treat this software just like a book. An
example is that this software may be used by any number of
people and may be freely moved from one computer location to
another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used
at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a
book cannot be read by two different persons at the same
time.
Users of Rental Property Manager must register and pay for
their copies of Rental Property Manager within 45 days of
first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License
arrangements may be made by contacting MKM Software.
Distribution
Anyone distributing the shareware version of Rental Property
Manager for any kind of remuneration must first contact MKM
Software for authorization. This authorization is
automatically granted to distributors recognized by the
Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) as adhering to
its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such
distributors may begin offering Rental Property Manager
immediately (However MKM Software must still be advised so
that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest
version of Rental Property Manager.).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of the shareware version
of Rental Property Manager along to others for evaluation.
Please encourage them to register their copy if they find
that they can use it. All registered users receive a
personalized copy of the latest version of the program
without any shareware notices, a printed, illustrated user
manual and 90 days of free technical support. Registered
users are kept apprised of program updates and additional
programs that can be used to generate reports and analyze
and graph current and past business data.
How to Register
You can register or purchase any version of Rental Property
Manager directly through MKM Software if you pay by check.
For a credit card purchase (MasterCard, Visa, American
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 3
Express, or Discover) contact Public (software) Library at
the numbers listed below. These numbers are for registering
any version of Rental Property Manager or for ordering the
latest shareware version.
Public (software) Library cannot provide program information
or product support for Rental Property Manager. Contact MKM
Software for information about dealer pricing, volume
discounts, site licensing, the status of shipment of the
product, the latest version number or for technical
information.
To Register by Check or for Technical Support, contact:
MKM Software
2812 Ingrid Lane
Metairie, LA 70003-USA
Phone: 713-488-2436 or 504-885-7470
CompuServe: 72704,3566
America Online: MKMware
You can register by credit card using either American
Express, Discover, Mastercard or Visa. Contact:
Public (software) Library
Toll free USA only - 800-242-4775
Fax: 713-524-6398
Voice International: 713-524-6394
CompuServe: 71355,470
Be sure to provide your site name (max 35 characters) with
your order so that your copy of Rental Property Manager can
be stamped with your property name.
Rental Property Manager - Version List
Rental Property Manager comes in several versions depending
on the number of units at your site. The shareware version
supports up to fifty units and is distributed as shareware.
Other versions which are not distributed as shareware
include more units. Each version includes the modules for
reservations and advance deposits. All amounts are in US
currency. Include an additional charge for shipping and
handling.
Rental Property Manager Version List
50 units. $145
100 units. $175
101+ units. $250
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 4
Shipping US and Canada. $4
Shipping International. $11
A multi user version or Rental Property Manager is available
directly from MKM Software. Please contact us for
additional information and pricing.
Installation
The entire Rental Property Manager program and documentation
are zipped up into a single file called RNPROP.ZIP. To
install the program, you will have to unzip this file, using
the popular file compression program PkZip v2.04g. You will
need the file PKUNZIP.EXE from the PkZip program. This
program is available from most bulletin boards and online
services.
For this sample installation, we will install Rental
Property Manager in a directory called \RPM. You can choose
any directory name that you prefer. The entire Rental
Property Manager program and all files are stored in a
single directory. There are no subdirectories and as stated
above the directory name does not matter. We recommend that
you install the program in its own directory separate from
any other program.
Place the installation diskette in drive A: and at the C:
prompt, enter these DOS commands. We assume PKUNZIP.EXE is
in your DOS path.
C:\=>MD \RPM <Enter>
C:\=>CD \RPM <Enter>
C:\RPM=>PKUNZIP A:RNPROP <Enter>
C:\RPM=>RP <Enter>
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 5
OPERATIONS
Opening a Shift
Rental Property Manager breaks all usage of the program into
segments or shifts. When you sign-on to the program, if a
shift is not opened, Rental Property Manager will prompt you
for a username and password to open a new shift. Once a
shift is opened, all accounting activity is tracked and
logged on to a shift report.
Shift reports provide a way of tracking accounting data and
transactions independent of the transaction date. You
cannot access the program unless you either open a shift or
sign-on after a shift has been opened by you or by someone
else.
Closing a Shift
When an operator exits the program he has the option to
close the current shift. Normally, the answer is Yes. At
this point the program indicates what the closing cash
drawer amount should be based on payments received or
refunds given. It is the responsibility of the operator to
balance the cash receipts and cash drawer with the shift
report and turn in the amount and shift report summary of
shift activity.
User name and Password
Whenever you sign on to Rental Property Manager and open a
shift you have to enter a valid user name and password. For
the shareware version of the program enter:
Username: RPM <Enter>
Password: RPM <Enter>
Reservation Browse Table
Rental Property Manager lets you enter reservations up to
two years in advance and to accept one or more advance
deposits for a reservation. All reservations are listed in
a browse table. The browse table can be sorted several
different ways. The default sort order is by arrival date.
The browse table is one of the most important tools in
Rental Property Manager. In practically all portions of the
program, information is first presented or displayed in a
browse table format, so once you learn to navigate the
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 6
browse table you are well on your way to understanding how
to use Rental Property Manager.
The browse table offers a brief overview of current
reservations. Refer to the <F1> help screen for definitions
of hotkeys and columns. Everything you want to accomplish
with reservations can be accomplished from the browse table.
Whenever you need to input data, refer to the bottom of the
screen for context sensitive help.
Every reservation must be attached to a guest record. You
can add guest information at the beginning of the new
reservation process or at the end. If you add the guest at
the beginning, information from the guest's last stay is
used in the new reservation, last unit type, unit number and
discount, etc. You can change these values if you choose.
Rental Property Manager can automatically assign unit rates
or you can enter your own rate at reservation time.
Following are the rate types:
<N>ormal. Normal Unit Rate; Rental Property Manager
assigns a rate according to the rate tables you have
set-up. If the unit night is a Friday or Saturday, the
program reads the weekend rate from the appropriate
rate table. If the unit night falls on a Sunday
through Thursday night, the program reads the daily
rate from the appropriate rate table.
<A>ssigned Daily Rate. Rental Property Manager prompts
you for a per night unit rate, you enter the amount and
that amount overrides the amount found in the rate
table. This is a user defined rate at the time of
reservation. The rate tables are not used. You assign
the individual unit rate on a per night basis.
<W>eekly Rate. If the guest's stay is seven or more
nights, you can instruct the program to use the weekly
unit rate from the rate table. Each seven day segment
of the stay is charged at the weekly unit rate. Each
remaining individual night is billed at the normal unit
rate.
<M>onthly Rate. If the guest's stay is thirty or more
nights, you can instruct the program to use the monthly
unit rate from the appropriate rate table. Each 30 day
segment of the stay is charged at the monthly unit
rate. Each remaining night is billed at the normal
unit rate.
<F>lat Rate. This rate type lets you enter the total
unit charge for the entire stay. The program then
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 7
assigns a unit charge for each night based on the total
unit charge and the number of nights. This is a user
defined rate at the time of reservation. It does not
use the rate tables. You assign the total unit charge
and the program assigns the per night unit charge.
Advance Deposits and Charges
An important feature of Rental Property Manager is the
ability to track advance deposits for a reservation. When
you press <F5> on the reservation browse table, a separate
browse table is displayed for adding advance deposits or for
adding additional charges to a reservation, for example, you
might want to add a cleaning fee. One or more deposits or
charges can be added to a reservation. Once you add a
deposit, post it using the <Tab> key or the <Gray+> key.
Any charge you add cannot be posted until the guest is
checked-in.
You can delete a deposit or charge, if it is not posted by
pressing the <Delete> key. You can add another deposit or
charge by pressing <Insert>. These are familiar commands
from other browse tables as you will see. Once a deposit is
posted, you cannot delete it. Instead, you have to refund
the deposit. To issue a deposit refund. Edit the
reservation and change the arrival date to today and the
unit number to a House Account. Check-in the guest. Post a
miscellaneous charge for a cancellation fee if needed, then
issue a <minus> payment from the appropriate account to
accomplish the refund. You can now print, check-out and
close this folio.
MasterBills
This feature exists to allow you to open a folio that is not
attached to a unit. This open folio can be used to post any
kind of charge you want not including unit charges.
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 8
FRONT DESK - FOLIOS
Guest Folios can be accessed through the Main Menu option;
FrontDesk. After a guest has been checked-in from the
reservation browse table, this is the area of the program
where you perform all changes to the folio right up to check-
out time.
Front Desk Menu
The Front Desk Menu includes these options:
Folios. Access current folios for current checked-in
guest. This option is the main topic of the next
section. Use this option to browse through the current
checked-in guests. You can select any folio and
perform a variety of actions, including adding,
editing, deleting or posting transactions. Also, it is
here that you access folios in order to check-out a
guest.
DirectBill. Access folios for guests who have checked-
out but whose folio is not paid. A separate section is
devoted to Direct Bill folios. This option accesses a
separate browse table comprised only of DirectBill
folios. These folios can be edited or checked-out just
like folios for current guests.
WhoIsOn. Display information about the current shift
and Rental Property Manager version information. This
is useful information to quickly determine the status
of the current shift.
Payments. Display a list of all payments received
during the current shift. This report should be run
prior to the close of a shift. It can be used by the
front desk operator to confirm that credit card
receipts and cash totals match those in the computer
before the operator actually closes the shift.
AutoPost. Automatically, post all pending unposted
charges through today's date. Prior to 3:00 pm this
feature does not post today's unit charges as the
screen message will indicate. This is a precaution in
case a current guest should decide to check-out early.
After 3:00 pm all pending charges, including unit
charges are posted. Payments are not posted. These
should be posted manually by the operator at the time
they are added to the folio. You can run this option
as often as is necessary. It will count the number of
folios checked and the number of charges posted and
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 9
display the results.
Daily Posts. Display a list of all folios and the
posted charges and payments for each folio through a
given date. Depending on the number of current guests,
you may want to run this report prior to an AutoPost.
You definitely want to run it after an AutoPost. This
report should be turned in by the night front desk
operator to affirm all folios have been prepared for
the next business day. It permits you to verify folios
are properly updated without having to access and view
each folio individually.
Updating Folios
All current open folios for checked-in guests are listed in
a browse table. The browse table of current folios can be
sorted in several ways. The default sort order is by unit
number. This is the central point for working with folios
of checked-in guests. From here you can update the
individual folios and it is from here that you print, check-
out or close all folios. Press the <F1> help key to access
a full screen of online help. Also, press the <F7> View
Menu to display all reports relating to folios.
Transactions
The transaction browse table contains an itemized listing of
all folio transactions for a given guest and whether they
have been posted. The transactions are sorted by
transaction date with payments preceding charges within each
date. Press the <F1> help key for a complete description of
all available hotkeys and options.
Direct Bill Folios
Direct Bill Folios are folios that have been checked out but
were not closed because the balance due was not equal to
zero. We have extended this definition to include any
unresolved folio. You can now send any checked-out folio to
direct bill without regard to the balance due. This gives
you many more possibilities.
Also, you can now send a MasterBill folio to direct bill.
When you send a <current> folio to direct bill, the folio is
removed from the browse table of current guests so as not to
clutter the screen. When you are looking at current guest
folios that is all you want to see.
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 10
In most cases, you need to post a final payment after which
you can close and clear out the direct bill folio. You can
add new charges, or print additional copies of the folio as
needed, again, using the same keys you are familiar with
from the browse table of current folios. However, you
cannot add a new unit charge to a direct bill folio. If it
is necessary to add a unit charge, use the charge option
unit adjustment instead.
Guest File
Your first introduction to the guest file occurs when you
are booking reservations. You can attach a guest record to a
reservation either at the beginning or end of the
reservation process. Sometimes, however, you may want to
access the guest file directly to lookup specific
information about a current or previous guest or to prepare
a promotional mailing. You can accomplish all this by
selecting the option GuestFile from the Main Menu. A
submenu appears with several including the option to Browse
the guest file. Select this option to access a browse table
of guests.
You can create up to 3 user defined letters to send to any
and all guests. Refer to the <F1> help key for more
information. Also, press <F7> and view the sample guest
letters. The sample letters provide instructions on how you
can create your own letters.
Postal Codes. When you are editing a guest entry and you
enter a US zip code or Canadian postal code, Rental Property
Manager checks if that code is in the zip/postal code file.
If it is, you can choose to let the program stuff the city,
state and optionally the country name for you. This feature
can over time save you many keystrokes and likewise ensure
uniformity of spelling and style in the adding of city,
state, province or country names. Also, you can generate
revenue reports by zip code.
Reports
Rental Property Manager contains powerful reporting
capabilities. You can display reports to the screen and
subsequently print them or save them to a file to load into
your favorite word processing program. Press the <F1> key
for help in viewing and printing reports.
Report contents can be selected by date, shift number or
month number. It is best to open and close several shifts
before you begin to run all the reports, especially
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 11
accounting reports. It helps to have more data in the
program to run the reports.
On the other hand, after you enter several reservations,
move to the REPORTS | RESERVATIONS Menu and begin printing
arrival reports and unit racks. These are the first reports
you will want to see. Again, wait until you close a few
shifts before you run the accounting reports.
Utilities - Re-Index
Index files are used by RPM to quickly locate specific
information. If the computer is switched off while the
program is running; or, if there is a loss of power, these
index files can be damaged. In such cases, you should
rebuild all index files using this option. From the main
menu, select UTILITIES | RE-INDEX. Under normal
circumstances this is not necessary. RPM will always update
index files as needed. This option is made available as a
precaution. Once a week, run the option to <Optimize> your
files. This can improve program performance. To run
<Optimize>, from the Main Menu select, UTILITIES | OPTIMIZE.
Accounting - Expenses
This options lets you enter expenses incurred at your site.
Each expense entered must be attached to a specific unit.
This feature is used to build an owner statement. The owner
statement will include an itemized listing of all income and
expense for a all the owner's units for any given date
range.
Accounting - Close Account Month
Closing the month will build a monthly account summary which
is really a composite of all shifts for the current account
month. You can view this composite account summary prior to
closing the month.
If the monthly account summary is balanced and you choose to
proceed, Rental Property Manager sums all totals for the
current month and updates the general ledger with current
totals for the month and for the year. Next it moves all
cleared transactions to archive files.
Again, we use the term close account month only because most
users will close-out on a monthly basis. It is your choice.
You might choose to close each week or each quarter. It is
a matter of preference. We recommend that you close at
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 12
least each calendar month. This will maximize performance
of the program. As part of the closing, Rental Property
Manager takes certain steps to ensure the best performance
of the program.
Accounting - Close Account Year
This option updates the general ledger by moving Year-to-
date amounts to last year's total and resetting all YTD
amounts for all accounts back to 0.
You should close an account month just prior to closing
the year. This is not necessary, only recommended. For
best results, when you close a month or a year, we recommend
that you dedicate a shift to that single activity.
For example, prior to closing a month or a year, first exit
the shift you are in. When asked whether to close the
shift, answer <Y>es. Next, sign-on to Rental Property
Manager again and open a new shift. Do not take
reservations, or post transactions, instead, go directly to
the accounting menu and close the month or close the year.
Afterwards, exit the program and close the shift.
This provides a clear demarcation between account months and
between account years.
Manager - Re-build AVL Tables
Use this option to re-build the unit type and unit number
availability tables for all properties. Whenever you change
your unit set-ups, especially when you edit or delete unit
numbers, or unit types, you may have changed a unit number
that is currently in use by a pending reservations.
This can cause discrepancies in the unit type and unit
number availability tables. However, this is very simple to
correct. From the main menu select, UTILITIES | MANAGER |
RE-BUILD AVL TABLES. All unit type and unit number
availability tables are rebuilt starting from today and
working through to the end of the tables. Please note, this
option only affects reservations from today forward. It
does change any past reservations.
Manager - Verify Data
If you are updating from an earlier version of Rental
Property Manager, run this option just once. It will make
some adjustments to complete the update. If you should run
it more than once, no harm is done. It exists to ensure
compatibility between the current version of Rental Property
Manager and all prior versions of the program.
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 13
RPM - CONFIGURATION
This menu contains all the options you need to set-up Rental
Property Manager for use at your site. Work your way
through these menu options to customize Rental Property
Manager for your particular needs.
Properties
Use this option to setup each property at your site. Once
you setup a property, you have to then setup each individual
unit for that property. This can be quite an involved
procedure, because for each unit you setup, you have to
indicate which rate table the unit will use and the owner of
each unit.
There is a feature you can use to simply this process.
Highlight the property you are currently setting up. Press
<F7> to print a summary review of the property setup. This
'Property Setup Report' confirms whether the property setup
is correct. Study the report for any error codes. The
error codes draw your attention to which units need to be
revised so that the setup is valid.
Many times when you are adding units to a property setup,
most of the attributes of the unit will be very similar.
For that reason, do not use the <Insert> key to add a new
unit, rather press <Alt-Insert> to 'Clone' the highlighted
unit. Next just change the unit number or description to
account for the slight difference. Using the 'Clone' key
combination can significantly speed-up the property setup
process.
Take a moment to study the context sensitive help and the
<F1> help screen. There are other features to simplify the
setup process and ensure that the setup is correct. For
each unit you add, you have to indicate which rate table
this unit uses to calculate rates.
Rate Tables
Rental Property Manager automatically assigns unit rates at
reservation time, check-in and whenever unit charges are
added to a folio. The rates assigned are based on the rate
tables you enter here. The assigning of unit rates is a
powerful and very flexible tool provided with Rental
Property Manager. You can easily use this tool in more ways
than you might first realize. Or, if you choose you can
bypass this option and assign your own rates at the time of
reservation.
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 14
Rate tables are presented in a browse table. Press <Insert>
to add a new table, <Enter> to edit a table, <Delete> to
delete a rate table. Be careful not to delete tables unless
the Thru Date has expired. A better method is to use the
<F6> key to archive rate tables. Only the expired rate
tables are deleted. Also, many times when you are adding a
new table, it will be very similar to an existing table.
Use <Alt-Insert> to 'Clone' the old table.
Rate tables are used until the rate table Thru Date expires.
The rate table you assign to a unit and the transaction date
of a unit charge determines what rate table to read. Make
some sample reservations for which the guest's stay extends
beyond the Thru Date of a table and review the daily charges
for that reservation and see how the rate tables are used.
The <Alt-Insert> hotkey will create a new rate table from an
old rate table. The new table will carry forward rates from
the old table. Use this option when you want to make a new
table with only minor changes from the original rate table.
Owner Names
Use this feature to setup the owners of the individual
units. The names you enter will be available on a picklist
as you setup your individual units. For each unit, you will
want to assign that unit to the appropriate owner so that
you can generate owner statements of income and expenses per
unit.
Unit Type Availability
Use this option to access the unit type availability table.
This table records unit use by unit type and calculates the
percentage of occupancy on a daily basis for each property.
If you want to have these number reflected accurately, you
must enter the correct number of units per unit type for
each property.
Site Set-up
This option lets you control many features of Rental
Property Manager and customize the program for the special
needs of your site. Complete each item of the Site Set-up
edit window. Refer to the bottom of the screen for context
sensitive help for each entry field.
One important feature of the site setup is to select the
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 15
correct type of printer in use at your site. If you have a
laser printer, indicate as such so that reports are
correctly formatted using condensed printing.
For users outside of the US, you can enter the correct
format for the display and data entry of dates. The default
format is MM/DD/YY for the US, however, if you are used to
DD/MM/YY or some other format, this can be very confusing.
There are seven different date formats. Configure the
program for the date format you want.
Finally, for registered users of the program there is an
option to automatically backup all data files to floppy
diskettes using a high speed, compressed data backup.
Indicate on this screen which floppy drive you intend to
use, A or B. The default choice is A.
Parameter Set-up
This options lets you adjust all tax rates and other system
wide settings, including default charges for extra guests.
Refer to the context sensitive help at the bottom of the
screen as you complete each entry field.
Folio Set-up
This option lets you control the folio printout. You can
customize the folio to appear the way you want by changing
the page length or changing the location and font size of
your site name. The default page length format for folios
is 8.5 by 11 inch paper. However, you can change this. If
you are using preprinted forms on 8.5 by 5.5 inch paper, you
can easily adjust the program to handle these forms, using
the options described below:
Currency Symbol. Enter the currency sign or symbol
used in your country. The currency symbol can be up to
four characters in length. You can use upper or lower
case characters.
Place Symbol <B>efore or <A>fter Amounts. Indicate
whether the currency symbol should be printed <B>efore
or <A>fter the amount.
Folio Length in Lines. Set the length in lines for
your folio printout. The default is 48 for 8.5 by 11
inch forms. If you are using special forms, increase
or decrease this number until you get the results you
want. If you are using 8.5 by 5.5 inch forms, 24 lines
should work correctly.
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Set Site Name Font On. Enter the printer <escape
sequence> that turns emphasized printing <ON>. For
example, on an Epson printer, you can turn emphasized
printing on by entering this printer code: \027E. On a
laser printer, you may want to switch to a different
font or larger point size to enhance the appearance of
the site name on the folio printout. Leave this entry
blank if you prefer to print the site name in the
normal print style or font.
Set Site Name Font Off. Enter the printer <escape
sequence> that turns emphasized printing <OFF>. For
example, on an Epson impact printer, you can turn
emphasized printing off by entering this printer code:
\027F. If you are using a laser printer and you
switched on a different font to print the site name,
you now have to switch back to the original font to
print the rest of the folio. Leave this entry blank if
the previous entry on this form is blank. In short, if
you turned a special printer font on in the previous
entry, you must at this point turn that font off or set
the font back to the original font. The entries you
make here depend upon the kind of printer you are using
and can be found in the user guide for your printer.
If you are in doubt, leave this entry and the prior
entry blank.
Set Folio Form Length On. If you are printing folios
on specialized forms, enter the printer <escape
sequence> that sets your printer to the correct page
length. For example, on an Epson impact printer if you
are using 8.5 by 5.5 inch forms, you have to set the
printer page length to 33 lines. The correct printer
<escape sequence> to accomplish this is: \027C\033. If
you are using 8.5 by 11 inch forms, simply leave this
entry blank.
Set Folio Form Length Off. If you set a special form
length in the prior entry, you have to reset the form
length to the normal size after printing the folio. On
an Epson impact printer, if you set the form length to
33 lines per page for the folio in the previous entry,
here you have to reset the lines per page to 66 (the
normal lines per page for 8.5 by 11 inch paper) after
printing the folio. The correct printer <escape
sequence> for an Epson impact printer is: \027C\066.
You have to refer to the user guide for your printer to
find the correct printer code. If the previous entry
is blank, leave this entry blank as well.
Site Name Row, Column, Skip. These entries let you
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change the location of the site name at the top of the
folio:
Row. Enter the row or line number where you want
the site name printed. Your entry must be more
than 0 and should be less than 15. If you are
using forms that are only 5.5 inches in length,
take care not to use too many lines at the top of
the form. You may want to experiment with
different locations.
Column. Enter the column number where you want
the site name printed. Your entry should be more
than zero and less than 70; otherwise, the site
name may not fit on the page. Use this option to
move the site name to the left or right margin or
to center the site name on the folio printout.
Skip. After printing the site name, Rental
Property Manager skips to the next line. If you
want to skip an additional line before printing
the text of the folio, enter <Y>es. Enter <N>o if
you do not want to skip an additional line. This
is a matter of preference. Skipping an additional
line tends to enhance the site name.
Upper Case. Enter <Y>es if you want to force
printing the site name in upper case. If you
answer <N>o, the program prints the site name
exactly as it appears on the screen and reports.
End of Folio Message. Enter a message line to print on
the last line of the folio. This message appears on
folio pre-bills and on the final folio printed at check-
out time. The message can be up to 70 characters in
length. You can enter three different messages. The
default is print message 1, but you can assign any
message to a particular folio.
Printer Set-up
Rental Property Manager comes with ten printer set-ups from
which you can choose. We include Epson and HP LaserJet, two
of the most popular printers. If you have another kind of
printer, you need to add it to the list. Adding a printer
to the printer browse table is done as always by pressing
the <Insert> key.
Printer set-up requires that you enter the escape sequences
to reset your printer and to set your printer for printing
in condensed or compressed print mode. Consult your printer
manual for the correct printer codes, or contact us. We
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Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 18
have the codes for several hundred different printers.
User Names
This option lets you define user names and passwords and
control who has access to what parts of the program. Rental
Property Manager comes preset with at least two usernames:
MANAGER and RPM. Notice that these two user names are
described as system users. This means they cannot be
deleted. Having two system user names ensures that there
are always two user names and that you do not have the
problem of someone deleting all the user names.
You can add as many user names as you like. However, each
name you add will not be a system user name and therefore
can be deleted. When you add you own user name you may want
to edit the system user name MANAGER or RPM to your name so
that your user name is a system user name.
Overriding Restrictions. Sometimes a new user may have a
shift open and as it happens you need to print an accounting
report for which this user does not have access. As the
system manager, simply select the option you want even
though the access is restricted for the current user's name.
The program warns you this option is restricted, however,
you are prompted for a password. If you enter the password
for either of the two system user names, you can override
the restriction and access any option you want. Take care
to keep the passwords assigned to the system users known to
only those for whom you want access.
Zip Codes
Use this option to edit the zip code or postal code file.
You can add and edit postal codes as you enter reservations
or as you edit guest records. However, at some point you
may want to access this file directly to make changes or to
delete some entries. Use this option for direct access to
the zip code or postal code file. If you add a US zip code,
only add the first five digits. Do not add the entire nine
digit zip code to any entry in the file. If you are adding
a Canadian postal code, add only the first three characters.
Do not add the entire six character postal code. It is too
specific.
Reservation Codes
Use this option to add, edit or delete reservations codes.
You can add and edit reservation codes as you enter
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Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 19
reservations or as you edit reservations. However, at some
point you may want to access this file directly to make some
changes or to delete some entries. Use this option for
direct access to the reservation code file.
Travel Agents
When you select this item, a list of all travel agents
currently defined are presented in a browse table. You can
add, edit or delete travel agents to the browse table as
needed. Also, when you are booking reservations, if you
need to book a reservation from a travel agent you can add
agents to the agent list while you are booking the
reservation. However, at some point you will want to come
to the main travel agent browse table and be sure that all
information is correctly added for each agents.
General Ledger
View the general ledger and current amounts for each
account. Rental Property Manager lets you define the exact
payment, charge and expense accounts you want.
You can make an account active by entering a Menu Key code,
and by deleting a menu key code, the account will become
inactive. Inactive accounts will not appear as a selection
on menus. The account labels and account numbers are fixed,
but many of the accounts can be customized. All accounts
are presented in the familiar browse table. Refer to the
bottom of the screen for help messages, or press <F1> for a
full screen of online help.
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware
principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member
directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you
resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide
technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP
Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX
616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to
ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
Rental Property Manager - User Guide
Copyright (C) MKM Software 1995 - All Rights Reserved Page 20