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Text File | 1996-05-31 | 19KB | 473 lines

                                  NURSERY 1.9
                                                            18 April 96



     To install the NURSERY program, place the NURSERY distribution disk in
 drive A or B, change to that drive then type  'INSTALL'.

     Select the drive and directory of your choice. If the directory doesn't
exist it will be created.

     To start NURSERY:
          Change to its directory and enter 'NURSERY'.



                           INSTALLABLE OPTIONS:

     Define Main Parameters:

          Scheduler ON or OFF:

               With the scheduler ON the NURSERY program will place the
parent in a rotation queue and automatically schedule the parent when it is
time for their assistance.
               Once the scheduler is turned ON, another window will be opened
requesting the rotation cycle in weeks. The default is set to 4 weeks and may
be changed.
               Once a parent indicates they will assist they are assigned 'to
assist' in x number of weeks, based on the frequency of the cycle. The "AM"
and "PM" time is also set. More on the Scheduler in the 'Scheduler' section.

          Starting Visitor Number:

               Each AGE and GRADE group 'Sign-in' sheets provide space for
'VISITORS'. The numbers used will be drawn from a pool of visitor numbers and
the starting number of that pool is set here. Select a starting number that
will not conflict with the normal number assignment for your children (the
numbers for the children start at 16 and are automatically assigned upward to
the next free number, numbers 1 through 15 are reserved for the
'Director/Supervisor'). If you have a display notification system (to display
a number in the sanctuary to alert a parent) that has four digits you may
consider starting with 9000, or 900 for a three digit system.
               Each AGE or GRADE Group will draw numbers from the VISITOR
pool and assign those numbers to the 'Sign-in' sheet being printed. The
numbers that the AGE and GRADE groups reserve is dependent on the selection
that is made by 'Defining the AGE and GRADE Groups' that will be covered
later.


          Starting Worker Number:

               Unlike the Visitor Numbers, space for WORKERS are not printed
on the 'Sign-In' sheets. The WORKER information is kept in the 'Personal
Database' for easy reference.


          Age Children will graduate (be removed) from the database:
                                      1

               Once the selected age is reached the child personal data and
attendance history will be deleted.


          Define Age Groups:

               These parameters define how children will move through the
Nursery program, controls the appearance of some reports and which children
will be grouped on the same report.
               Each Line in this table represents the controlling parameter
for a Sign-In sheet, Roster, Labels and other reports.
               The starting and ending dates determine the age range of
children appearing on the report.
               Form type 1 through 3 define the style of report to be printed
for this age range. Currently only 3 report styles are available. Type 1 is
for general nursery Sign-In sheets. Type 2 and 3 is also for Sign-In sheets
and has space provided for offerings. Type 2 and 3 is intended for older
children tracking such as Children's Church or Youth Force. The difference
between type 2 and type 3 is type 2 has a column for the child's birthday and
type 3 uses that column for the child's phone number.
               See the different report headings below.


                    Report Type 1 has the following headings:
     CHECK IN  CHECK OUT  NUMBER  CHILD'S NAME  BIRTHDAY  INSTRUCTIONS
     ________  _________  ______  ____________  ________  ____________


                    Report Type 2 has the following headings:
          NUMBER  CHILD'S NAME  BIRTHDAY  SUN am  SUN pm  WED  SPECIAL
          ______  ____________  ________  ______  ______  ___  _______


                    Report Type 3 has the following headings:
          NUMBER  CHILD'S NAME  PHONE  SUN am  SUN pm  WED  SPECIAL

          ______  ____________  _____  ______  ______  ___  _______



               The # of visitors is the number of visitors to allow for on
this Sign-In sheet group.
               Age Group Description and Age Group Supervisor is the Header
information that will be printed on the top of each Age Group report. The age
Group description will allow up to 40 characters and the Age Group Supervisor
allows up to 44 characters.
               You may assign up to 18 different groups.
               Age Range, starting through ending, may overlap from one group
to the next if necessary. You may want a group of 0 through 5 months for one
Sign-In sheet and a group of 0 through 11 months for a different Sign-In
sheet.
               The order the groups are entered determine the order the
report groups are printed.


          Define Grade Groups:

                                      2
               The first Column is the GRADE for this report group. Column 2
is the GRADE the child will graduate into, under miscellaneous of the
Personal Data Section there is a choice 'Graduate Children'. The 'Graduate
Children will, when selected, graduate ALL children in grade, found in column
one to the grade found in column two. Once the 'Graduate Children' is
selected the program will indicate what is about to happen and request
confirmation. The remaining fields, Form Type, # of Visitors, Group
Description and Group Supervisor are used as explained above in the Age Group
Definition.
               The order the groups are entered determine the order the
report groups are printed.


          Program Colors:

               Allow the user to modify the default color set. Select
'Default Colors' to return to default settings.


                              SCHEDULER:

               With the Scheduler  ON  the parent, when they register their
child, will be asked if they will volunteer to assist in the Nursery or
Children's Church. If they indicate 'yes' they will be assigned a date their
assistance will be needed. This date is generated based in the frequency set
in the 'Installable Options' and the current date. This date and time ('AM'
or 'PM' only) is kept along with the child's personal data. If the parent
will not agree they will not be placed in a rotation.
               If the 'Print Attendance Label' option, <F6> on the
'Attendance Menu' screen, is set ON their scheduled date and time will be
printed on the label. See more on the Scheduler in the sections to follow.


                         PERSONAL DATA SECTION:

               Pressing the <Space-Bar> while the 'Personal Data Menu' window
is open will toggle (go from on to off or from off to on) the 'Marked Flag'
associated with the child that is highlighted. This 'Marked Flag' is used
during printing and can control if 'All' or only the children (or the parents
of the child) with their 'Marked Flag' ON are to be selected to be printed.

               HELP:

                    Cursor to the 'Help' and press the <ENTER> key to display
the functions of certain special keys and cursor control functions.

               ADD:

                    This choice will add Name and Address information to the
'Personal Database'. Starting with 16, the program will automatically assign
the next available number to the child to be entered. Numbers 1 through 15
are reserved for the Director/Supervisor and a Director/Supervisor can be
added to the 'Personal Database' by a choice under 'Miscellaneous'.
                    The child's Date Of Birth, First name and Last Name are
REQUIRED FIELDS and if not entered the child ADD process will be aborted.
Once the Date Of Birth is entered the child's computed age in months is
displayed to the right of the Date Field and the Grade Field is filled with
the recommended Grade. If the Grade is correct just press <ENTER> otherwise
                                      3
key in the correct Grade. The computed Grade is based on the age of the child
on January 1 of the current year. If the child is 4 on January 1 of this
current year then a Grade of K4 is recommended. An age of 6 on January 1 will
recommend G1. The Grade naming scheme that is used MUST be defined in the
'Grade Group' or reports for a child that has an un-defined Grade WILL NOT BE
PRINTED! Recommended approach is K0 through K5 then G1 through G9.
                    If the Scheduler is ON the parent will be asked if they
are willing to assist in the Nursery or Children's Church on a rotating
basis. Once a parent has indicated they are willing to serve the NURSERY
program will check their schedule and advise when their date has arrived.
Each time the parent works a new date will be assigned the parent. This
system works best if each child is placed in attendance when they arrive and
the 'Attendance Label Print' is also set ON. See more on the Scheduler in the
Attendance section.
                    Continue with the rest of the fields. The two Remark
lines are for general remarks on the child.
                    If <ESC> is pressed during the ADD process the child IS
NOT placed in the 'Personal Database'. Press <PgDn> or press <ENTER> on the
last remarks field to enter the child into the 'Personal Database'.
                    Under 'MISC' of the 'Personal Data Menu' find 'Enrollment
Form' to print a form that the parents should complete to aid in this
building process.

               CLEAR:

                    With 'Clear' selected and pressing the <SPACE BAR> will
clear (turn off) ALL 'Marked Flags' associated with any child.

               EDIT:

                    This will allow editing or viewing of the personal data
of the child that is highlighted.

               PRINT:

                    To print the various reports. If printing by 'AGE' is
selected the reports will be controlled by the parameters in the 'AGE GROUP'
and if 'GRADE' was selected the reports will be controlled by the parameters
in the 'GRADE GROUP'. Once 'AGE' or 'GRADE' is selected a sub-window will
open for the type of Report, Roster, Directory, Mailing Labels or other
reports. A third sub-window may also be opened on some choices for ALL
AGE/GRADE or only one AGE/GRADE Group printing.

               REMOVE:

                    To REMOVE the highlighted child from the Database and
return the child's number to the available number pool. A confirmation is
requited prior to performing this task.

               MISCellaneous:

                    Enter Comments/Visitation information for the highlighted
child.

                    Change Index:

                         Normally the children are listed in alphabetical
order, however the index you choose after NURSERY is started will determine
                                      4
the order they will be listed and printed. If the order is birthday and the
'Directory of Children' was requested, the children would be printed in
birthday order starting with the oldest.

               QUIT:

                    Quit the 'Personal Data Menu' and return to the 'Nursery
Main Menu'(pressing <ESC> will also 'Quit' the open window).


                              ATTENDANCE:

               Press F1 (Help) to show the controlling function keys.

               The space bar will toggle child in attendance flag. With the
colors set to 'default' the child will, go from white to yellow to indicate
'in attendance' or from yellow to white to indicate 'not present'. The two
pointers '>    <' will indicate which child the operation is to be performed
on.
               If the Scheduler is set ON and the parent is scheduled to work
'today' or they are 'overdue' the 'Child's Personal Data' window is opened to
alert they are scheduled. If they indicate 'yes' a new date to work will be
assigned. If the 'Attendance Label Print' (see <F6> below) is also set ON the
new schedule date will be printed on the child's two labels. If the parent is
not scheduled to assist the 'Child's Personal Data' window will not be
opened.

               Once the attendance window is opened pressing a letter key
will 'Fast-Search' to the first child whose last name begins with that
letter.

               While in attendance you may ADD a child to the 'Personal
Database' by pressing <F2> or exit the 'Attendance Section' opening the
'Personal Data' and selecting 'Add' then return to the 'Attendance Section'.
Switching from the 'Attendance Section' to the 'Personal Data Section' will
not interfere with the children that have been either 'Marked' or placed 'in-
attendance'.

               <F3> Will produce an exception report of any child that has
been missing for a given number of weeks. A sub-window will open to request
the number of weeks to use.

               <F5> Will print an attendance report for a specific week. A
sub-window will open and request the week to use.

               <F6> Will toggle the 'Print Labels for Child In Attendance'
Flag from off to on or on to off. Once the flag is set on, a child that goes
from a status of 'not present' to 'in attendance' will cause two labels to be
printed. One may be placed on the child's clothing and the other on a 3 x 5
card for the parent. The NURSERY program supports 3 1/2" x 15/16" ONE ACROSS
labels for pin fed printers (similar to Avery 4013 labels) for this process.

               <F7> Will print test labels for proper alignment in the
printer.

               <F8> Will allow you to edit or view the selected child's
'Personal Data Record'.

                                      5
               <F9> Once all children that are present have been indicated as
'in attendance' for the week you MUST then update the database by pressing
<F9>. A window will be opened requesting the correct date of the attendance
run. The program will make the attendance permanent, set all 'in attendance'
children to 'not present' and return you to the 'Nursery's Main Menu'.
               To produce a report of a attendance press <F5>.

               <F10> Another way to indicate children as 'in attendance' is
by the child's number. This is available through the use of function key
<F10>.

          DATABASE MAINTENANCE:

               Delete Old Attendance Records:

                    This will remove the attendance history that is over 90
days old. Once executed those old records are flagged as deleted, however
they still remain in the database. This 'dead-wood' can never be seen again
yet it will continue to occupy disk space.

               Pack Your Database:

                    To remove this 'dead-wood' and any other records that
have been deleted choose 'Pack Your Databases'. It is suggested you run this
process about twice a year on all three databases.




                             DISK MANAGEMENT:

     When your hard drive reaches 90% full you must seriously consider and
make plans to increase your space or remove un-used programs from your PC.

     Backup your hard drive on a regular basis. Central Point Software has a
very good backup system either from their PC-TOOLS or their Central Point
BACKUP will work well. You may use the DOS command 'BACKUP' to backup your
entire hard disk or just one file. Below will be the command necessary to
backup all files in directory "NURSERY" on drive "D" to floppy drive "B":

          CD \
          BACKUP D:\NURSERY\*.* B:

     To restore all files on floppy drive "B:", that was produced from the
above backup, to hard drive "D:" input the following:

          CD \
          RESTORE B: D:

     If you backup each week have two backup sets, one RED and one BLUE,
using the RED one week and the BLUE the next week so your oldest backup will
never be more than two weeks old. After about six months replace the used
floppies with a new freshly formatted disk.




                           LIST OF NURSERY FILES:
                                      6

               ATTENDN.DBF   =  Attendance Database
               NURSERY.DBF   =  Personal Data Database
               NURSERY.VAR   =  Changes to Default Settings
               NURSERY.EXE   =  Nursery Program
               MANUAL.BAT    =  Used to Print the Manual
               READ.ME       =  Ascii Manual File
               REMARKSN.DBF  =  Remarks/Comments Database

               Any file ending with an extent of  '.NTX'  is an INDEX file.



                    [On 1 July 1996 the 804 area code will change to 757]

                                             L.W. Kirkland
                                             640 Deep Creek Road
                                             Newport News, VA  23606-1414
                                             [phone]







































                                      7

                        NURSERY 1.8  TABEL OF CONTENTS



Add  ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3

Age Children will Graduate from Database  ---------------------------- 1

Age Group  ----------------------------------------------------------- 2

Attendance  ---------------------------------------------------------- 5

Clear  --------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Database Maintenance  ------------------------------------------------ 6

Define Main Parameters  ---------------------------------------------- 1

Delete Old Attendance Records  --------------------------------------- 6

Disk Management  ----------------------------------------------------- 6

Edit  ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Grade Group  --------------------------------------------------------- 2

Help  ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3

Installable Options  ------------------------------------------------- 1

Miscellaneous  ------------------------------------------------------- 4

Pack Your Database  -------------------------------------------------- 6

Personal Data  ------------------------------------------------------- 3

Print  --------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Program Colors  ------------------------------------------------------ 3

Remove  -------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Scheduler  ----------------------------------------------------------- 3

Visitor Numbers  ----------------------------------------------------- 1

Worker Numbers  ------------------------------------------------------ 1









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