home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Shareware Overload
/
ShartewareOverload.cdr
/
finance
/
soar3.zip
/
SOAR-2.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1989-04-17
|
50KB
|
1,321 lines
SOAR USERS GUIDE
SECTION 1
INTRODUCTION
SOAR (Service Oriented Accounts Receivables) has been designed
to simplify customer billing, provide powerful and meaningful
management reports, and allow one to rapidly obtain a "snap-
shot" of their business income and its sources. Most
importantly, SOAR is EASY TO USE! One need not be a computer
scientist to use SOAR. SOAR is, to coin an overused phrase,
"User Friendly". The key features of SOAR are:
o Simplified billing for businesses that provide services as
well as products. Charges can be fixed item (inventory
item), services, hourly rates, fixed cost, or variable
cost.
o Each customer can be assigned a late charge rate so you
can give special treatment to good customers. Any
customer can be declared as tax exempt for dealing with
government agencies or wholesale transactions.
o Automatic billing of customers with fixed rate service or
support contracts.
o 23 summary categories available to summarize you business
activity.
o Powerful reporting to identify specific areas of income
and easy identification of items or services that are
profitable for your business.
o Reports can be sorted or ordered with up to five (5) keys
to give you the specific information you need for your
business and directing your areas of effort.
o Nine billing formats supported. Two industry standard
general purpose forms as well as a "generic" form.
o Mailing list generated from customer data base. Mailing
labels can be prepared for customers billed, all
customers, active customers, inactive customers, or
customers with past due balances.
o Mailing label file compatible with popular word processors
such as PC Write for use in preparing form letters, etc.
o Taxable sales and tax exempt sales automatically stored
and reported.
o Customer inquiries are rapid and provide an instant
history of the customer's activity.
Page 1
SOAR USERS GUIDE
o Transactions are categorized to simplify billing and
applying charges; i.e., a transaction category can be a
fixed price inventory item, an hourly charge or a variable
charge.
o Number of customers and transaction categories or types
limited only by available disk space.
o Data files can be merged to allow your business to be
reported in quarters or whatever increment you desire for
tax purposes and/or management information.
o Data files can be exported to popular data base systems
such as dBASE III PLUS by Ashton-Tate and PC-FILE+ by
ButtonWare. Data can also be exported to Lotus 1-2-3.
This further enhances the reporting capabilities.
o Billing footer and header messages can be customized for
your business. Late payment messages can be customized.
o The currency symbol can be changed for countries outside the
U.S. The date format can be MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY.
o SOAR will operate on any IBM PC, IBM XT, IBM AT or true
compatible with 192K of memory and at least two floppy
disk drives or one floppy disk and a hard disk. SOAR requires
DOS versions 3.00 or greater. Reports and billing require an
80 column printer. Please note that SOAR is most efficient in
a hard disk environment.
IBM PC, IBM XT, and IBM AT are registered trademarks of the IBM
Corporation.
PC-Write is a trademark of Quicksoft.
dBASE III PLUS is a trademark of Ashton-Tate.
PC-FILE+ is a trademark of ButtonWare.
1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation.
Page 2
SOAR USERS GUIDE
SECTION 2
A BIT ABOUT SOAR
PLEASE READ THIS SECTION!! The value and utility of SOAR can
only be realized if there is a complete understanding of the
mechanics and features of the program. This section is most
important since it describes and defines the methods used by
SOAR in handling transactions.
There are five key elements of SOAR. These are the system
file, customer records, summary categories, transaction
categories, and charge or payment transactions. Each of these
elements will be defined and then their interaction described.
2.1 System File:
The system file contains all the information about your company
including the company name and address to be put on reports and
bills. This file also contains information about which of
three billing formats you want to use, the last statement
number used and the sales tax percentage for use in computing
sales tax. Lastly, the system file provides information to
tell SOAR where the data files are located in the computer
system.
2.2 Customer Records:
Charges and payments can only be applied to customers that SOAR
knows about. Therefore, the customers must be entered into the
system before they can be billed. Each customer record
contains the name and address of the customer, their present
balance, past due balance, current charges, and information
about their last payment. The customer record informs SOAR
of the late charge percentage to be used in computing late
charges on past due balances and indicates whether or not the
customer is "tax exempt".
2.3 Summary Categories:
A summary category is a means to allow you to identify specific
areas of your business activity. For example, if your business
involves retail sales, repair, service, and installation then
you can setup summary categories for PAYMENTS, TAXABLE SALES,
REPAIR, SERVICE and INSTALLATION. Each time a payment or
charge transaction is posted by SOAR, the amount of the
transaction is added to the accumulating total in the summary
category. Thus, at any time you can tell how much REPAIR
business you have done. Every transaction must report to a
summary category and you must therefore give some thought as to
how you want to summarize your business.
SOAR allows up to 23 summary categories to be defined. Six of
these are reserved for income and 16 are reserved for charges.
Page 3
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Six of the categories are pre-defined and cannot be changed.
These are PAYMENTS, TAXABLE SALES, TAX EXEMPT SALES, SALES TAX,
SERVICE CHARGES and APPLIED CREDITS. The summary categories that
might be used by a computer consulting firm are shown below.
INCOME CATEGORIES CHARGE CATEGORIES
1. PAYMENTS 22090.64 11. SOFTWARE SUPPORT 2810.00
2. CREDITS 0.00 12. REPAIR 150.00
3. DEPOSITS 0.00 13. CONSULTING 520.00
4. 0.00 14. TRAINING 80.00
5. 0.00 15. CUSTOM SOFTWARE 100.00
6. ADJUSTMENTS 2.70 16. INSTALLATION 240.00
17. SHIPPING/HANDLING 24.28
CHARGE CATEGORIES 18. 0.00
7. TAXABLE SALES 13697.35 19. 0.00
8. TAX EXEMPT SALES 65.00 20. MISCELLANEOUS 0.00
9. SERVICE 1785.96 21. SALES TAX 821.84
10. HARDWARE SUPPORT 1060.00 22. SERVICE CHARGES 3.30
23. APPLIED CREDITS 14.50
Note that categories 4, 5, 18 and 19 are not used. The amounts
shown to the right of each category reflect the charges or
incomes for that category.
2.4 Transaction Categories:
A transaction category specifically defines a transaction and
is the central feature of SOAR. A transaction category can be
an inventory item you sell, an hourly charge for a service, a
fixed charge for task, or a variable charge. Each transaction
category is composed of the following:
1. Category Number: A number assigned by SOAR when the
category is created and is used to reference the category
for entering transactions or changing the category data.
2. Title: Wording that will be printed on the bill and
describes the transaction. For example, "hrs Consulting",
"widgets @ $4.00 each" and "bxs computer paper" are all
valid titles. There are some special features of the
title that are more fully described later in this
document.
3. Charge Factor: A unit charge associated with the
category. The actual charge applied to a customer is the
charge factor of the transaction category times the
amount/quantity entered with the transaction. Or,
AMOUNT = CHARGE FACTOR X (AMOUNT/QUANTITY)
For example, if you sell three widgets then the trans-
action category defines the price per widget (Charge
Factor) and the quantity sold is entered as part of the
transaction. The total price is the quantity sold times
the unit price.
Page 4
SOAR USERS GUIDE
If the transaction category defines an inventory item or
fixed price charge, the charge factor is the price. If
this represents a service based on an hourly charge, then
the charge factor is the hourly rate. If this is a var-
iable item, then a charge factor of 1.0 is entered. A
charge factor of 0 can be entered to indicate a service or
action for which no charge is to be applied.
4. Taxable: Informs SOAR whether or not to apply sales tax
to the transaction. In California, for example, most
retail sales have a sales tax applied. However, time-
based services do not have a sales tax applied. The
amount of tax is derived from the sales tax rate in the
system file and the amount of the transaction.
5. Automatic Billing: Tells SOAR whether or not to auto-
matically bill a customer each billing period. Suppose
you provide a service to Ajax Company for a fixed fee of
$150 per month. You would create a transaction category
for that service and enter a Charge Factor of $150,
indicate Automatic Billing, and specify Ajax Company to
bill each billing period.
6. Bill To: When you specify Automatic Billing you must
also specify the customer to bill. This is entered as
the customer id or reference. The customer id will be
discussed in more detail later.
7. Summary Category Number: Every transaction must report to
a summary category. Using the Ajax Company example above,
the Summary Category Number would be the one you set aside
for SERVICE. If this were a taxable sale item, it would
report to 7, TAXABLE SALES.
Transaction Categories also contain fields that indicate the
number of times used, the total quantity, and the total amount.
As transactions are posted, the transaction category they ref-
erence is updated. If a transaction category refers to an
inventory item, you can tell at a glance the number of items
sold. If it refers to an hourly charge, you can tell how many
hours of this work have been done. The transaction category
concept may at first appear cumbersome, but you will find it to
be very easy to use and will provide you with meaningful data.
2.5 Charge or Payment Transactions:
Once you have defined your customer base, created summary
categories, and defined transaction categories then all pay-
ments or charges are entered as transactions. Transactions are
entered by specifying the customer, transaction date, trans-
action category number, and quantity or amount. You may also
Page 5
SOAR USERS GUIDE
enter a comment that becomes a permanent part of the trans-
action. An example of what appears on the screen during
transaction entry is shown below.
Customer Id: AJAX Record No: 21
1. Date (MM/DD/YY): 03/11/87
2. Transaction Category: 20
Description: Miscellaneous Taxable Sales
3. Amount or Quantity: 12.95
Taxable (Y or N): Y
4. Comment: 1 ea Widget
Sales Tax: 0.78 Amount: 12.95
In the example, a transaction category (number 20) was defined
to be 'Miscellaneous Taxable Sales" with a Charge Factor of 1.
Therefore, the amount of the transaction was entered (12.95)
and a comment was used to identify what the sale was. This
makes use of what is called a "variable transaction category".
Note that SOAR computed the sales tax since the transaction
category was defined to be "Taxable". Also note that the lines
with numbers preceeding them can be changed during entry. All
other data are supplied by SOAR either from the transaction
category record or by computation.
You do not have to memorize all transaction categories since
SOAR provides you with a windowed list that can be scrolled
during transaction entry.
2.6 Transaction Interactions:
As you enter transactions the following actions take place:
1. When you enter a customer id, SOAR quickly checks to see
that there is such a customer on file.
2. When you specify the date, SOAR checks to see that it is a
valid date.
3. When you specify the Transaction Category, SOAR checks to
see that such a category exists and that you may manually
use it; i.e., automatic billing transaction categories
cannot be entered manually ... only SOAR can do this. SOAR
then displays the Transaction Category Title and whether
or not it is taxable.
4. When you specify the quantity or amount, SOAR computes the
total amount and sales tax (if any). Note that the total
amount is the quantity or amount you entered times the
Charge Factor in the Transaction Category record.
5. The transaction record is added to the current transaction
file. This file should contain only the current billing
period transactions (charges and payments).
Page 6
SOAR USERS GUIDE
When you apply late charges the following actions occur:
1. Payments are automatically posted to ensure that the
customer's payments are applied before late charges are
computed. The customer records are scanned for past due
amounts. A late charge corresponding to the past due
amount times the late charge rate (in the customer
record) is appended to the transaction file. If the
late charge rate is zero, but there is still a past due
amount, then an entry is still made to ensure that the
customer is billed.
When you post charges or payments the following actions occur:
1. The Transaction Category is updated to reflect this
transaction in the times used, quantity, and total.
2. The Summary Category (specified as part of the Trans-
action Category record) is updated to reflect the amount
of the transaction.
3. The customer record is updated. If the transaction is a
payment then it is applied against the Past Due Balance
and the Present Balance and the payment history data is
updated. If the transaction is a charge, then the Current
Charges figure is updated.
4. The transaction record is marked to show that it has been
posted.
When you bill a customer the following actions occur:
1. The transaction file is sorted by customer and date.
2. The transaction record is marked to show that it has been
billed and prevents multiple billing.
3. A bill for the specified customer(s) is prepared. This
can be printed and/or filed on disk.
4. A billing summary and register are prepared as disk files
that can be printed from the REPORTS MENU.
When you perform End of Period Processing the following occurs:
1. Automatic Billing flags in the Transaction Category
records are cleared. You can only automatically bill
once each billing period.
2. Customer records are updated such that:
if the Present Balance is positive (they owe you)
Past Due Balance = Old Past Due + Old Present Balance
Present Balance = Current Charges
Current Charges = 0.00
if the Present Balance is negative (they have a credit)
Past Due Balance = 0.00
Present Balance = Current Charges - Credits
Current Charges = 0.00
Page 7
SOAR USERS GUIDE
SECTION 3
CREATING CATEGORIES
If you skipped Section 2 you really should go back and read
it. We are about to setup SOAR so it will run on your
computer. You need to understand the meaning and utility of
Summary Categories and Transaction Categories since we are
about to set them up for your business.
3.1 Selecting Summary Categories:
Before actually running SOAR it is best to do some paperwork
and select the Summary Categories you are going to use. You
can always go back and change these at a later time, but it is
best to try to select the ones you will need now. Summary Cat-
agories are needed for INCOME and CHARGES.
3.1.1 Income Categories:
SOAR provides up to six income categories that can be used to
summarize the income portions of your business. Category 1 is
predefined as PAYMENTS and is used whenever you receive a pay-
ment from a customer. Some other income categories you might
consider include:
CREDITS ....... To summarize any credits given to
customers for whatever reason.
DEPOSITS ...... Summarizing deposits received for
equipment, goods, or whatever.
DISCOUNTS ..... Since discounts are considered as
income, you might wish to create a
category for this so you have an
instant record of discounts given.
Write your income categories down on a piece of paper and look
over your list to see if there are any other categories you
wish to add. Once you are satisfied with your list, proceed to
the next section.
3.1.2 Charge Categories:
SOAR provides up to 16 charge categories to be used to identify
the source of your income. Four of these categories are pre-
defined by SOAR as:
7 ... TAXABLE SALES
8 ... TAX EXEMPT SALES
21 ... SALES TAX
22 ... SERVICE CHARGES
Page 8
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Category 7 totals all sales requiring sales tax and can be used
for filing your sales tax reports. Note that this category
DOES NOT include the tax charged for a transaction; Category 21
summarizes all taxes charged. Thus, you instantly have the
sales tax picture of your business readily at hand.
Category 8 is used for customers that are exempt from sales
tax. This might include government agencies or customers with
resale permits that allow them to buy from you without paying
sales tax.
Category 22 reflects the service or late charges you apply
against customers with past due amounts. SOAR treats a service
charge as any other transaction but summarizes the total in
this category.
You may now select any of the categories between 9 and 20 to
summarize your sources of income other than taxable sales. You
should jot these down on a piece of paper and give them some
serious thought. Some categories you might consider are:
REPAIR ......... Summarize repair charges involving
labor or fixed fees.
SERVICE ........ If your business provides a service
to your customers.
SHIPPING ....... If your business requires you to ship
items to customers at their expense.
TRAINING ....... Does your business provide training
services to customers?
CONSULTING ..... If you do any kind of consulting,
summarize it here.
MISCELLANEOUS .. Always a good one because something
is going to come up that you can't
tie to an existing category.
It is your business, so decide how you want it summarized so
you can instantly see how much of your income is tied to cer-
tain areas of effort. Review your choices and, when you are
satisfied, proceed to the next section.
3.2 Transaction Categories:
Transaction Categories, as described in Section 2, are a major
feature of SOAR. Some general guidelines will be presented,
but you must decide the categories that make sense for your
business.
3.2.1 General Purpose Categories:
There are many transactions that fall into a general category
and need no further resolution. For example, PAYMENT RECEIVED
is a general purpose category that can be used whenever a
customer makes a payment. Another general purpose category is
Page 9
SOAR USERS GUIDE
MISCELLANEOUS TAXABLE SALES and is used for the sale of items
for which a specific category has not been established. Ex-
amples of general purpose categories used by the author are:
Payment Received ... THANK YOU
Credits Applied
Deposit Received ... THANK YOU
Credit Adjustment to Account
' Note
Software Sales
Hardware Sales
-hrs Consulting @ $80/hr
Miscellaneous Taxable Sales
The list above is actually the title line that would be printed
on a bill. The first character of a title can have a special
meaning and will be discussed in a later section when we
actually enter the Transaction Categories. However, it must be
pointed out that you can create a category that can be used to
include a special message or note to a customer. This category
will not print the title line or the amount, but will only
print what you enter in the comment field for a transaction.
Thus far the Transaction Categories look very similar to the
Summary Categories. This is because we are dealing with
general purpose categories. Also remember that a transaction
is entered via a transaction category and reports to a summary
category. In many cases the totals accumulated for a
transaction category will be the same as for a summary
category; e.g., Payment Received ... THANK YOU should have the
same cumulative total as Summary Category 1, PAYMENTS.
3.2.2 Specific Transaction Categories:
Specific transaction categories include inventory items, fixed
price services or tasks, and automatic billing items. Inven-
tory items can be assigned a unique transaction category such
that a transaction merely references the category and the
quantity sold. Fixed price services or tasks includes those
things you do for a fixed amount. For example, a maintenance
firm might clean a swimming pool for a fixed cost. Therefore,
a transaction category would be setup for Pool Cleaning and the
cost entered as the Charge Factor.
Automatic Billing is important to businesses that provide a
service to a customer on a regular basis and receive a fixed
amount for that service. This could include retainers, service
contracts, day-care centers, building or yard maintenance, and
so on. Each customer to be automatically billed would have a
transaction category created with the amount entered as the
Charge Factor.
Page 10
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Some examples of specific transaction categories are:
DFS Shipping & Handling
Smith's Monthly Pool Service
-bx DF51-4 Multi Form
_ea Printer Ribbons
An automatic billing transaction category is shown as the
second example. The monthly cost to service Smith's swimming
pool is entered as the Charge Factor.
The third example is for an inventory item sold in units of
boxes. The leading hyphen informs SOAR to include the quantity
as part of the transaction description. If two boxes were
sold, the transaction record (and bill) would read:
2 bx DF51-4 Multi Form
The final example uses an underbar as the lead-in character and
informs SOAR to print the quantity as part of the description
line and to print the unit cost (Charge Factor) on the comment
line of the transaction record. If three ribbons were sold
then the following would appear:
3 ea Printer Ribbons
Per Unit Price is $7.95
3.2.3 Miscellaneous Transaction Categories:
It was mentioned earlier that a personal note or message could
be included as part of a customer's bill. The single quote
mark as the lead-in for a Transaction Category title informs
SOAR that a message is forthcoming and not to include the
Title, Charge Factor, Date, or Quantity in the transaction
record. The only thing included is the comment that is
supplied when the transaction is entered. A Transaction Cat-
agory of this sort would look like:
'Note for customer
The last special lead-in character to be discussed is the
asterisk. This tells SOAR to ignore the category since it is
only being used as a filler. Thus, a Transaction Category file
can be built-up with fillers and then changed when a new
category is needed. For example,
* Just a Filler Record
3.2.4 Partitioning Transaction Categories:
The following suggestions are offered for setting up your
Page 11
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Transaction Category file. They are derived from the Author's
experience and have worked quite well.
1. Assign the first 20 categories for general purpose and
miscellaneous uses. These should be the most commonly
used categories. During transaction entry SOAR displays
on a split screen 20 Transaction Categories at a time.
The first 20 represent the first screen displayed. You
might use 1-9 for income purposes (e.g., Payment Received
... THANK YOU), number 10 for customer notes (e.g.,
'Note), and 11-20 for general purpose uses such as -hrs
Consulting @ $35/hr. Please note that each Transaction
Category must report to a Summary Category. Therefore
while compiling your list include the Summary Category
and Charge Factor as part of the list.
2. You should now group all your automatic billing categories
together and enter them following the ones described
above. Leave some space (filler categories) for future
growth. While building your list keep including the
Summary Category and the Charge Factor.
3. Now organize all your fixed price inventory items. Try to
make a logical sequence by keeping similar items in the
same numerical area. For example, if you are selling
three types of widgets, then put them in sequence in you
list. If there is a chance of adding more widgets, allow
space by using fillers.
Page 12
SOAR USERS GUIDE
SECTION 4
GETTING STARTED
This section describes the things you must do to get SOAR
setup in your computer. You should follow the procedures just
as they are presented.
4.1 Some Conventions:
Throughout the remainder of this document the following
conventions will be used:
<E> ......... depress the ENTER key on your keyboard
ESC ......... depress the ESC key on your keyboard
<filename> .. the name you have given to a file without
the extension. For example, a transaction
file might be given the name "JUL-87". In
the computer directory this would be listed
as "JUL-87.TRN". However, SOAR knows when
it is looking for a transaction file and
only requires the "JUL-87".
4.2 SOAR Distribution Diskettes:
SOAR is distributed on two 360K 5.25 inch floppy disks. The
following files are included on the disks:
Disk Number 1:
SOAR.EXE ........ The main SOAR program file and Main Menu.
SOARUTL3.EXE ... SOAR utilities linked from the Main Menu.
SOARTCM3.EXE .... Summary Category and Transaction Category
maintenance programs linked from the
Main Menu.
Disk Number 2:
SOARCUS3.EXE .... Customer Maintenance programs linked from
the Main Menu
SOARARM3.EXE .... Receivables Menu and Billing program.
SOARTMU3.EXE .... Transaction Menu and transaction programs
linked from the Receivables Menu.
Disk Number 3:
CNVSOAR.EXE ..... Converts data from older versions of SOAR
SOAR-1.DOC ...... This document.
SOAR-2.DOC ...... More of this document.
SOAR-3.DOC ...... And more of this document.
READ.ME ......... How to get going and final notes.
MAKEDOC.BAT ..... A batch file to print this document.
FILES ........... A list of the distribution files.
4.3 Making Copies of SOAR:
It is recommended that you make working copies of the SOAR
Page 13
SOAR USERS GUIDE
distribution disks using the DOS DISKCOPY program. Store your
original disks in a safe place and use the copies from now on.
DISKCOPY can be used as follows:
Type
DISKCOPY A: A: <E> ... remember <E> is the ENTER key.
Follow the instructions and make a copy of SOAR Distribution
Disk number 1. Then repeat the procedure for Disks 2 and 3.
4.4 Installing SOAR For Your System:
SOAR was designed to operate in a hard disk environment, but
can be used in a floppy disk system. Because of the number and
size of the files, three 360K diskettes are required to hold the
programs. If you are using a high-density 1.2M floppy disk,
all of the programs can easily fit on one disk.
4.4.1 SOAR In A Hard Disk System:
The following procedures will allow you to establish a separate
sub-directory for SOAR and its data.
1. Turn on your computer and go to the root directory.
After the DOS prompt type:
CD \ <E>
2. Type:
MKDIR SOAR <E>
CD \SOAR <E>
MKDIR DATA <E>
The above sequence created a sub-directory titled
"SOAR" and a sub-directory within SOAR titled "DATA".
3. Place your SOAR Distribution Disk #1 in floppy disk
drive A, close the door, and type:
COPY A:*.EXE . <E>
4. Repeat the procedure for disks 2 and 3. Install
the remaining distribution disks and type:
COPY A:*.EXE . <E>
All of the SOAR program files are now loaded into your
SOAR sub-directory along with some utility programs.
This completes the initial installation of SOAR and you are
ready to setup your data files. Put your SOAR distribution
disks in a safe place. You may skip the following sections
about floppy disk based systems and go directly to Section 4.5.
Page 14
SOAR USERS GUIDE
4.4.2 SOAR In A 360K Floppy Disk System:
The performance of SOAR is greatly enhanced in a hard disk
system. If you do not have a hard disk, you should give some
serious consideration to buying one. However, since you want
to operate this with floppy disks, the following allows you to
do so.
1. Format three (3) floppy disks. You may want to put
the operating system on the two to be used to hold the
program files. The third floppy disk will be used to
setup the data files.
2. Create the program disks by putting Distribution Disk #1 in
drive B and a newly formatted disk in drive A. Close the disk
doors and type:
COPY B:SOAR*.EXE A: <E>
3. Remove the diskette from Drive A and label it as SOAR
DISK #1. Include the names of the files on the label.
4. Load a blank formatted diskette into Drive A and put
Distribution Disk #2 in Drive B. Type:
COPY B:SOAR*.EXE A: <E>
5. Remove the diskette from Drive A and label it as SOAR
DISK #2. Include the names of the files on the label.
6. Label the third disk as SOAR DATA DISK. Put your SOAR
distribution disks in a safe place and proceed to
Section 4.5.
4.4.3 SOAR In A 1.2M Floppy Disk System:
A 1.2M floppy disk system will allow all the SOAR programs to
fit on one disk and the other to be used for data.
1. Format two (2) diskettes. The one to be used as the
program disk should contain the DOS operating system.
2. Place the SOAR Distribution Disk #1 in Drive B and a
blank formatted disk in Drive A. Type:
COPY B:*.EXE . <E>
Page 15
SOAR USERS GUIDE
3. Repeat the procedure with Distribution Disks #2 and #3. For each
of the remaining disks type:
COPY B:*.EXE . <E>
4. Remove the disk from Drive A and label it as your SOAR
PROGRAM DISK.
5. Label the remaining disk as SOAR DATA DISK.
This completes the initial SOAR installation. Put the
distribution disks in a safe place and proceed to the next
section.
4.5 Setting Up The SOAR System File:
SOAR needs to know how your system is configured and where to
store and fetch data. The system file contains the information
used throughout SOAR.
Hard Disk Users: It is assumed that you are in the SOAR sub-
directory. If you would like to be able to start SOAR from the
root directory, type the following:
CD \ <E>
COPY CON SOAR.BAT <E>
ECHO OFF <E>
CD SOAR <E>
SOAR <E>
CD \ <E>
F6 <E>
Note that the last line, F6, means the function key on the left
or top of your keyboard. Now you can enter SOAR after bootup
from the root by typing:
SOAR <E>
Floppy Disk Users: It is assumed that your program disk is in
Drive A and that Drive B will be used for data. If you are
using 360K floppies, make sure that SOAR DISK #1 is in Drive A.
If SOAR cannot find a program it is looking for, you will be
prompted to load the disk containing the required file. If you
load the wrong disk, SOAR will exit to the operating system;
i.e., SOAR will try the new disk once and then quit. This is
why you were asked to include the program names on the labels.
Page 16
SOAR USERS GUIDE
4.5.1 Starting SOAR:
OK, its been a long haul getting here but now you are ready to
run the program and get the data files setup. Type:
SOAR <E>
Once the program loads you should see the following message:
A system file has not been found. After depressing
a key you will be transferred to the UTILITY MENU.
Select option 1, System File Maintenance, to create a
system file. Key to CONTINUE ...
You are now stuck! You must create a system file to continue.
Of course you could get out by turning off the power or re-
booting the computer. Lets create a system file.
Note that the Utility Menu has a value of "0" after "Option:"
at the bottom of the menu. This is the default value and de-
pressing the ENTER key will accept this value. The use of
defaults is widespread in SOAR to minimize your typing.
To get to the System File Maintenance program type: 1 <E>
You should now see a display similar to the one shown below.
SYSTEM FILE MAINTENANCE
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X 1. Company Name: X
X 2. Company Address 1: X
X 3. Company Address 2: X
X 4. Company City: X
X 5. Company State: X
X 6. Company ZIP: X
X 7. Company Telephone: X
X X
X 8. Data Drive/Path Specification: X
X 9. Mono or Color Display (M or C): X
X 10. Preprinted Name on Statements (Y or N): X
X 11. Statement Format (A,B, or C): X
X 12. Last Statement Number: X
X 13. Sales Tax (e.g., .06) X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Line to Change (0 when DONE): 0
Type 1 <E> and enter your business or company name as you would
like it printed on bills and reports. You may use up to 25
characters and they may be upper or lower case. Note that you
may edit your entry with the back-space key. Also note that
the highlighted area indicates how many characters you may use.
Page 17
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Select 2 to enter your company address. If you need an
additional line, go on to change Company Address 2. Continue
entering your company information (1-7). You can enter up to
15 characters for your state (e.g., CA or CALIFORNIA) and you
can use a 5-digit ZIP code with a 4 digit extension for line 6.
Line 8 informs SOAR where your data files are to be located.
This will depend on whether you are a hard disk or floppy disk
user.
Hard disk users: If you created the suggested sub-
directories enter:
C:\SOAR\DATA\ <E>
Otherwise, enter the drive/path specification leading to
your data file. SOAR assumes the program files are on
the defalult drive in the current directory.
Floppy disk users: Enter: B: <E>
Your data files will reside on Drive B.
For line 9 enter an M if you are using a monochrome display
and a C if you are using an EGA compatible color display.
Line 10 tells SOAR whether or not to print your company name
and address at the top of the bills. If you do not as yet have
preprinted forms then enter "N". Note, you may change this at
any time should you wish to use preprinted billing forms.
Line 11 allows you to select the billing format to be used in
preparing your bills. SOAR supports seven formats; two
standard forms, a "generic" form, and others. The forms are:
A ... DF50 9.5 X 7 (8.5 X 7 detached). Available in 1 or
carbonless 2 and 3 part sets. Your company name
and address would be preprinted at the top.
B ... DF51 9.5 X 11 (8.5 X 11 detached). Available in 1
or carbonless 2, 3 and 4 part sets. Your company
name and address would be preprinted at the top.
C ... Bill is printed on 9.5 X 11 standard white computer
paper (8.5 X 11 detached). SOAR will print your
company name and address at the top of the bill if
you answered "N" to line 10.
D - J ... Descriptions are in the Users Manual.
The DF50 and DF51 forms and window envelopes may be ordered
directly from:
Business Automation Co.
P.O. Box 1575
Ojai, CA 93023
(805) 646-1335
Page 18
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Line 12 is for the LAST statement number you used on a bill.
This must be a number (no letters) and is limited to 6 digits.
You might use something like "870123" to indicate number 123 in
the year 1987. Remember this wants the LAST statement number,
not the one you wish to start with. If you want your first
bill to be statement number 87000 then you must enter 86999.
The final line, 13, sets your state and local sales tax. This
must be entered as a decimal. For example, enter 6% as .06.
SOAR only directly supports one sales tax; other methods are
described in the manual for multiple sales taxes.
The second System Maintanance screen is fully described in the
SOAR USERS MANUAL.
This completes the setup of the system file. Just press the
ENTER key and you will save your system data and return to the
Utility Menu. At the Utility Menu depress the ENTER key (or
hit the ESC key) and you will go to the SOAR Main Menu. If you
want to verify or change your system data you may do so by
returning to the Utility Menu (6 at the Main Menu) and going to
1, System File Maintenance. The data you entered should be
displayed.
Floppy Disk Users:
SOAR requires SOAR.SYS to be on the default drive when trying
to run a program. Therefore, if you are using 360K floppy
disks, you need to copy the system file to all program disks.
You should currently have SOAR Disk #1 in Drive A. Put SOAR
Disk #2 in Drive B and type:
COPY A:SOAR.SYS B:
Please note that the Last Statement Number in the system file
will only be updated on Disk #2; the disk containing the
billing program.
Page 19
SOAR USERS GUIDE
Page 20
