Contents Page
Contents

Getting Acquainted

Main Screen

Other Informational Screens

Entering & Editing Events

Handling Projects

Setting up Categories

Reports / Hunting for Information / Bills

General Ledger

Creating and Editing Bill Formats, Custom Reports, and Check Formats

Configuration

Preserving Your Data

Installation (Including Network Setup)

Problems


Getting Acquainted

This Getting Acquainted section is guided by the philosophy that you will learn a subject more thoroughly by thinking your way through problems than by being led by the hand.  A guided tour is fine, but it is not as effective a teaching vehicle as hands-on training.  Here, you will be pointed toward some of the program's most commonly used features.  Experimenting with each will result in experience that will help you with others.  After spending a short period visiting the sections of the program recommended by this tutorial, you will have an overall appreciation for the software and will be well-poised to learn and use any of its features.

To display this tutorial at any time, use the   Help | Getting Acquainted   menu option at the Main Screen.  If you would prefer to print this topic right now, select   File | Print   above.

- General Overview -

The initial Main Screen will be a Log view of the current month.  Among the menu options at the very top of the screen will be choices that will move you to the other modules of the program or perform various other chores.  Try not to become confused by the fact that this program offers several different ways to accomplish most of its main functions.  For example, among the shortcuts to move to the Log view is to press Ctrl-L (or to select the   Log   menu item).  To move to the GenLedger view, you may press Ctrl-G (or select the   GenLdgr   menu item).

Now, we'll set up some projects, record some work for them, and then prepare bills.

- Projects -

The program can keep a database of information (name, address, etc.) for each project or client that you wish to track.  Use the   Project   menu item to set up a few projects.  If you are just familiarizing yourself with the program, you don't need to fill in every field on a project's screen.  The Project ID, name, and address should suffice at the beginning.  You may always edit a project later to add more information.

To familiarize yourself with this aspect of the program, it is suggested that you enter two or three practice projects, each containing different information.  Don't alter the program's default information for any of the fields near the bottom of the screen (those that follow the eight miscellaneous fields) until you have become comfortable with the general feel of the program.  Save that experimentation for your next session with the program, perhaps tomorrow.  The one exception to this rule is the Date Opened field on the bottom line.  The date reflected there should be prior to the earliest date for which you expect to enter any practice services, disbursements or receipts for the project.

- Events -

Now, let's make a new event entry.  To do so, you may either click on the lighted bulb icon at the top of the Main Screen, or you may simply press "M (for "make").  When you do, you'll be presented with an event entry screen.  Most of the fields are self-explanatory, but if you have a question about the specific field in which the cursor is flashing, you may press the F1 key for an explanation.  When you've finished entering all the information about this event, press the Save button at the top.

- Main Screen Options -

Practice entering several types of events for different dates and for different projects, checking the Main Screen after each one.  While at the Main Screen, you may sample the various screen displays offered by the first five icons at the top of the screen.  Whichever of these is selected when you leave the program will be what is displayed when you next enter the program.

- Bills -

You may now practice preparing bills.  To do so, you may either click on the Prepare Bills icon, or you may simply press "B".  When you do, you'll be presented with the "Project Reports / Hunt Through Projects" setup screen.  This is the same screen that may be used for any of the project reports you decide to prepare, but note that the "Type of Report" item at the upper right has already been set to "Bills".  If you change that item, some of the fields on the screen will change appropriately.  For the purposes of your familiarization, however, leave the item set to "Bills".

Don't trouble yourself yet with trying to figure out the effects of altering the information on the screen.  Let's just do some bills!

Before starting the billing process, note first that the "Report Destination" is, by default, set to "Screen".  That means that the bills you're about to prepare will appear on the screen.  Also note, in the "Billing Parameters" block, that the type of bill to be prepared is an "In-Office Bill", one that is meant for use in your office only.

Now, press the Start button at the top of the screen.  When you do, a bill for each of the projects you had entered into the system will be sent to the screen.  You will undoubtedly want to alter the bill's format, but that can be done later (at the Main Screen's   Edit | Bill Format   menu item).  The purpose of the present exercise is merely to demonstrate how easy it is to prepare bills.

After a bill for each of your projects has been sent to the screen, you will be returned to the setup screen.  The reason that ALL your projects were billed is that you did not specify that only a particular project be billed.  To do so, go to the "Project ID" field, and fill in the ID of just one of your projects.  Now, change the Report Destination to "Printer", and change from an In-Office Bill to a New Bill (one that is intended to go to the client).  Press the Start button and watch as the New Bill for that project is printed.  You'll then be returned to the setup screen.

The fields in the shaded area are the ones most commonly used to define the project(s) to be billed (or otherwise reported).  They offer wonderful flexibility, but don't get bogged down by them yet.  After you've familiarized yourself with other aspects of the program, you may come back to this screen to experiment to your heart's content.  Just bear in mind that the more of those fields you fill in, the more discriminating the program's hunt through its project database will be.

Before leaving this screen, remember that you may place your cursor on any of the fields on the right side of the screen and press F1 for an explanation of that field.  The same goes for most of the other (non-obvious) fields on the screen.

- Preparing Event Reports -

You're going to love all the different ways that the program can show you what's in its database.  At the Main Screen, select the magnifying glass icon or press "H" (for "hunt").  The "Reports / Hunting for Information" parameter screen will then appear.  The shaded portion of the screen contains the most important information used by the program in preparing its reports.  At first, just play around with changing the dates and seeing what the results are when you press the "Start Report" button.  Then, try sending the reports to the printer (selected in the "Report Destination" box at the upper right).  Next, have the program prepare a different type of report (the "Type of Report" pull-down list is in the shaded area).  You could spend literally hours practicing with report preparation, so do some experimentation with each type of report offered by the program before returning to the Main Screen.

- More Main Screen Options -

Check the week-view, day-view, and other icons at the top of the Main Screen.

The dim-light icon is for editing events for whatever date is highlighted.  You can also edit an individual event by dragging it from the right side of the split-calendar screen to the dim-light icon.  Or you may simply double-click on that event, without dragging it.  The garbage-can icon is similar to the dim-light icon, except that it is for tagging events for deletion (in this program, events are first tagged for deletion, but they aren't actually deleted from the database until you run through the Main Screen's  File | Delete  menu item).  Highlighting an event on the right side of the screen and pressing the Del key has the same effect as dragging it to the garbage can.  If you accidentally tag an event for deletion, you may "un-tag" it by highlighting the date on which it fell and then clicking either the dim-light or garbage-can icon.  Practice tagging and un-tagging an event or two.

If you need to change an event's date, you may either edit that event or drag it from one day to another.  If you have several events that you would like to move simultaneously, you may highlight them (mouse click when the Ctrl key is depressed) and then use the   Edit | Move Selected Events   menu option to actually move them.  Of course, you may also edit each individual event to change its date.

If you'd like the Main Screen to display only one project's events, select the   View | One Person/Project   menu item.  This same menu item may be used if you wish to display only those event that apply to one or more specified people in your organization.

- Phonebook -

The Phonebook at the bottom of the split-screen Main Screen (Win 95/NT versions only) will display the names in its database.  You may click into the Phonebook and begin typing a name.  Doing so will take you to the general area where you will find the person you seek.  When you click on any particular name in the listing, a phone number and address will appear to its right.  Double-clicking on any line containing a phone number will result in that number's being dialed, assuming that you have your dialing parameters entered correctly into the program (Tools | Change Dialing Parameters).  Double-clicking on a name in the Phonebook's listing will cause that person's data entry screen to appear.

There's also a handy keyword box at the upper right of the Phonebook's section of the screen.  Type a word into this box and press the Enter Key.  Doing so will cause the Phonebook's listing to be shortened to contain only those people whose records contain that word.  The keyword box is very handy in quickly finding a Phonebook entry, even if you can't recall the name, as long as you know some word contained within the entry.

- Explore On Your Own -

The surface has really only been scratched, but you should now have a solid feel for the program.  You are urged to try each of the options available in the program's pull-down menus.   For instance, if you intend to use the program to produce Income-Expense reports, you will need to set up your list of income and expense categories (Edit | Categories).  If the program will be handling trust accounts or any other type of account, you'll want to visit   Edit | GenLedger Accounts.  Billing formats may be created or modified with   Edit | Bill Format.  Remember that, once you have selected any of these (or other) items, detailed instructions may be obtained by pressing F1.

This is a big, robust program.  You already have a working knowledge of its essentials.  You may even think that you know all you need to get what you want from the software.  But you are urged to continue exploring.  Doing so will undoubtedly yield new insight into useful aspects of the program that, at this point, you don't realize exist.

Let Integra Computing know if you have any ideas about how to improve this Getting Acquainted section or any other aspect of the program or it's on-line help.  Good luck.


Main Screen

- OVERVIEW -

The top of the Main Screen contains pull-down menus that are described in detail below.  Below the pull-down menus are several speed buttons that will quickly access the program's most commonly used features.  Among the speed buttons are:  the Day View button, which will give you the complete detail for the highlighted date (as opposed to the limited detail shown on the right side of the Main Screen); the Make button, which will allow you to enter a new event; the Edit button, which will allow you to choose an existing event for editing; the Hunt/Report button, which will take you to the Report/Hunt routine, where you can look for information and prepare printouts and other reports; and the Tag for Deletion button, which will allow you to tag an event for future deletion.  There is also a button that  will open or close a perpetual Memo pad and an Allocated Time / Event List button that acts as a toggle to determine whether the right side of the screen displays an abbreviated listing of the highlighted day's events or an account of each person's allocated time for the highlighted day.  The Check To-Do's button will give you a listing of upcoming Deadlines.  The StopWatch button will start start or stop the StopWatch .  The other speed buttons are generally self-explanatory and may be fully understood by simply trying them.

There are several shortcut keys that accomplish much the same as certain options on the pull-down menus.  These keys are listed next to their associated options on the menus.  The number keys also have special meanings to the program.  They will cause the program to display information for only one person at a time (see the discussion under View | One Person/Project ).

If you are presented with a split-screen display, the left side of the Main Screen is a month's calendar, while the right contains a brief listing of the first several events on the highlighted date.

If you have the Win95/NT version of this software, you also have the option of displaying a PhoneBook on the Main Screen (through the use of one of the icons at the top of the screen).  You may enter the PhoneBook either by using the mouse or by pressing Ctrl-B.  Once inside the PhoneBook, you may begin typing a name.  When you do so, the PhoneBook will scroll to the closest match.  The window at the upper-right of the phonebook section is the place where you may wish to enter a keyword.  The keyword is a great tool in finding information in the phonebook..  Normally, you will want the keyword window to be blank, so that all your phonebook entries will be displayed.  If you elect to enter a keyword, the phonebook entries displayed will be only those containing that keyword in one or more of their data fields.

To see a day's complete detail, you may either click the Day View button at the bottom of the screen or simply press the Enter key (which will also return you to this screen from the Daily Detail view).  Displayed items are always sorted into chronological order, with those items not assigned times appearing LAST.

As you add events to the log, you will notice that each day on the left side of this screen may contain an asterisk (*) in the upper-left corner.  The asterisk indicates that there is something logged on that day.  A day may also contain time blocks that represent the time logged on that day.  Each day covers four time periods, as explained by the key at the bottom of the calendar.  Other information shown for a day may be a smiley face (representing a holiday), an infinity symbol (representing a religious holy day) or a number representing that day's Julian date, depending upon how you have configured the program.  By the way, there are also Alternate Monthly Views.

As with all Windows programs, you may use the pull-down menus to access various program features.  But the most frequently used ones may be visited by pressing single keys (most of which are listed to the right of their associated functions in the pull-down menus) or by using the speed buttons at the top of the screen.

You may point and click or use the arrow keys to change the date.  To quickly go to a date more than a couple of months away, click the Go button near the top, or just press "G".  You may add/subtract days to/from the Main Screen's highlighted date by pressing the "+" or "-" key.

To make a new event, you have several choices: double-clicking on the appropriate date (remember, single-clicking merely changes the date); clicking the Make button at the bottom of the screen; pressing the "M" key; pressing the space bar; or double-clicking on a specific time on the right side of the screen.  Experiment with each, because each has its own appeal.  For instance, if you want maximum simplicity, simply press the space bar and begin typing a service's description.  If you double-click a specific time, you'll be taken to the description field (just as if you pressed the space bar), but your times will also be automatically filled in for you.  Pressing "M" will instead take you to the "Type" field within the Make/Edit routine, from which you may quickly tab through the other fields.

To find a date with enough free time for an event, press "F".  Using the Allocated Time / Event List speed button might be more useful if you are looking for which of several persons might have free time on whichever date(s) you highlight.

Bear in mind that you may enter an event for ANY date, even though you may be sitting on any OTHER date on the Main Screen.  In other words, you dont have to move to a date on the Main Screen before entering an event for that date.

By default, the Main Screen shows events for everybody whose names and initials have been entered in the configuration routine (select Edit | Program Configuration at the menu) and for all projects.  If you prefer to see only one person's or one project's items, simply press "O" (or select View | One at the menu) and designate the appropriate information.  You may change to another person even more quickly by pressing one of the number keys (1..9).  Pressing "1", for instance, will show you the events for the first person whose name and initials are listed in the configuration routine.  Pressing "0" (zero) will bring the screen back to its default of showing everyone's events.

The StopWatch may be turned on and off by left-clicking its button at the top of the screen.  Once the StopWatch is running, you may temporarily pause its timing by right-clicking the button.  Timing will be paused until the button is clicked again.  One handy use of the StopWatch is to have the program automatically dump its time into the Event Times items when you're entering a Service Record.

- PULL-DOWN MENUS -

- File | Make:  Make a new event record.  Same as clicking the Make speed button or pressing "M".

- File | Edit:  Edit an event record.  Same as clicking the Edit speed button or pressing "E".

- File | Clone:  Make a new event record based upon one that already exists.  When you choose this option, you will be shown a listing of the events logged for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Simply choose one and modify it as needed.  The modifications you make will not affect the original event; instead, a new event will be created, based upon the modified original.

- File | Delete:  Deletion of projects and events is usually a two step process with this program.  First, an item is tagged for deletion , resulting in its disappearing from all displays and reports (except the Edit and Tag screens).  A tagged project or event may be un-tagged at any time before you actually go through this Delete routine, which you will probably want to do periodically.  The two-step process prevents the accidental deletion of items, for it allows you to change your mind about an item before it's irrevocably removed from the database.  This Delete routine will remove not only past and future events tagged for deletion, but also ALL events (tagged or not) that fall before a cut-off date that you can specify.  Using a cut-off date allows for the mass deletion of old items without having to individually tag each one.  If this program is installed on a network, it is recommended that only the Main User be allowed to use this Delete routine and that he do so only early in the morning (before everyone else arrives) or in the evening (after everyone else departs).

- File | Index:  The database consists of primary data files and index data files.  Strange things sometimes happen with computers, and data can be lost.  When that occurs, your best option is to restore from a backup tape or disks.  If that fails, cross your fingers and pray that your only problem is mis-indexed data.  Using this routine will re-index the past five-years'-worth of log entries.  If re-indexing can't repair the problem, your last desperate hope is that re-building the database will work (see File | Rebuild below).

- File | Rebuild:  If re-indexing (see File | Index above) can't seem to fix your corrupted data problems, this Rebuild routine may.  It is designed to slowly work its way through whatever data you may have in the database (assuming that one exists at all), and recover whatever information can be salvaged.  Use this routine ONLY if you cannot restore from a backup and if re-indexing doesn't cure your problem.

- File | Print Month:  This item will cause the month being displayed to be printed.  This process, which basically prints what is seen on the screen, will be time-consuming, so be patient.

- File | Print Half Year:  This item will cause a calendar of the half year to print.  The half year printed will depend upon the date highlighted on the screen.  This process will be time-consuming, since the program will need to display each month on the screen and then copy it to the printer.  Be patient.

- File | Print Year:  This item will cause a calendar of the year to print.  The year printed will depend upon the date highlighted on the screen.  This process will be time-consuming, since the program will need to display each month on the screen and then copy it to the printer.  Be patient.

- File | Print Checks:  Allows the program to print checks, based upon transactions entered into the GenLedger (which is available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill).  When this item is selected, you will be shown a listing of all transactions involving checks written for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Only transactions with check numbers and payees will be displayed.  When you select the transactions whose checks you want printed, the program will send the checks to your printer.  The progarm can print a check in almost any format , so you are free to use whatever blank checks are suitable for your printer.  By default, your default printer will be used for check printing, but you may use another.  To do so, you will need to modify the Properties for this program (select   File | Properties   at the Windows Program Manager when this program's icon is highlighted).  When the Program Item Properties box appears, add to the Command Line a space, followed by

  /CP=X

where X is the position occupied by the desired printer in your list of printers (which is obtained whenever you attempt to modify the Printer Setup in any Windows program).  Note that this program may maintain the printers list in reverse order, so that the last printer shown may actually be the first in the list.

- Edit | Event:  Edit an Event.  Same as clicking the Edit speed button or pressing "E".

- Edit | Income / Expense Categories:  Enter the income/expense categories used for Disbursements and Receipts.  On a network, only the Main User  will be able to use this option.

- Edit | GenLedger Accounts:  This option allows you to modify your chart of accounts .  On a network, only the Main User will see this item.  Available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill.

- Edit | Bill Format:  This option allows you to create or edit a billing format .

- Edit | Project Report:  This option allows you to create or edit a project report format .

- Edit | Log Report: This option allows you to create or edit a custom log report format .

- Edit | Check Format:  This option allows you to edit the check-printing format .

- Edit | Program Configuration:  Alter the program's setup configuration .

- Edit | Tag:  Same as pressing "T".  Tag an event for Deletion. This option will result in a listing of events for the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Select the one you wish to tag for future deletion and press the Enter key (or double-click on that event).  When you do so, "Del" will appear on that line under the "Typ" heading.  If you make a mistake, you may "un-tag" the event at any time in the same fashion.  A tagged event will continue to be maintained by the database until you run through an actual deletion process (see File | Delete above), but it will no longer appear on reports and MOST displays.  The two displays that will continue to list it are this (Edit | Tag) and the Edit (Edit | Event ) screens.  By the way, you may also tag an event for deletion by highlighting it on the screen and pressing the Del key (this works at the Main Screen, the Daily Detail screen, the Edit screen, and the Tag screen).

- Search | Report:  Same as pressing "H" (for Hunt) or clicking the Hunt/Report speed button.  Hunt for information in the database and/or produce a report.  This is one of the most useful options within the program.  See Reports/Hunting for Information.

- Search | Locate:  Same a pressing "L".  Quickly locate all the events that contain the word that you specify.  The non-chronological report obtained here can also be obtained in the Search | Report routine above, but not as quickly.

- Search | Go to Date:  Same as clicking the Go button or pressing "G".  Quickly go to any date.  If you need to go to a date within a month or two of the date currently highlighted on the Main Screen, you can do it just as quickly by using the arrow keys or up/down arrows at the Main Screen.  But, since the Main Screen must repaint each time it comes to a new month, it may take more time than you can tolerate to move to a date several months away.  That's where this option comes in.

- Search | Find Free Time:  Same as pressing "F".  This option displays a graphical display of the time available for each day in the next several weeks for any person recognized by the program.  When you select a date on the display, you will be afforded the opportunity to enter a new event for that date.

- Search | Add:  Adds a specified number of days to the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Simply pressing the "+" key is the fastest way to access this option.

- Search | Subtract:  Subtracts a specified number of days from the date highlighted on the Main Screen.  Simply pressing the "-" key is the fastest way to access this option.

- View | Day:   Same as clicking the Day View speed button or pressing the Enter key.  View a date's complete detail.  While here, you may do some common functions without having to return to the Main Screen.  Press "M" to Make an item, "H" to Hunt through the database and produce a report, "P" to access a Project.  You may also double-click on an event to edit it, or you may highlight an event and press the Del key to tag it for deletion.

- View | Alternate Month View:  The program offers two monthly views between which you may toggle by using this option.  One view is a split-screen calendar that consists of a monthly overview on the left and an abbreviated daily overview on the right.  The other is a full-screen calendar display.  The split-screen view displays time blocks in each of the monthly overview's daily squares.  The full-screen calendar, on the other hand, displays text in each daily square.  Because the daily squares are small, only four short lines of text will fit into each.  To conserve space, the program may allocate only up to two lines for each event logged for each day, and the lines will be split in the middle of a word, rather than between words.  A down arrow in the lower right corner of a daily square indicates that there are more events for that day than are displayed.  Because of its space limitations, the full-screen calendar is of only limited use if you have a busy schedule.

- View | World Times:  Choose this option if you wish to find the local time in any of the world's main cities.  The accuracy of the times displayed depends upon the accuracy of your computer's clock and upon your having given the program your correct time zone data in the Configuration routine (see Edit | Program Configuration ).

- View | One Person / Project:  Same as pressing "O", and similar to pressing one of the number keys.  Causes the program to display information pertaining to only one or more specified persons or to only one project.  By default, the program will display data for every person and every project being tracked in the database.  Choose this option if you wish to narrow the scope of the information shown.  Incidentally, pressing the number keys will more quickly display information for a particular person: "1" will display the data for the person who is listed first in the Configuration routine's list of persons; "2" for the second person listed, and so, on.  Pressing zero will return you to a display for everyone.

- Project | Make:  Enter the Project ID, name, address, etc., for a new project.

- Project | Edit:  Edit information for a project already in the database.  When you select this item, a special Edit window will appear, where you are expected to enter the ID of the project you wish to edit.  If you do not know the ID, but do know the client's name, enter a string of characters in the name and then press the List button immediately below the ID entry box.  That will cause a listing of all projects whose name fields contain the string you entered.  You may then select the one you want from that list.  By the way, if you begin your entry with an ampersand (&), you will get a listing of all projects that include the string in any of their text fields.

- Project | Report / Bill: This option allows you to hunt for specific projects, prepare reports of the results and handle your client billing.

- Project | Tag:  Tag/Untag a project for deletion.  As with events, project deletion is a two-step process.  See the discussion under Edit | Tag above.

- Databases | Phone Book  Keeps a listing of people's names, addresses, phone numbers, and miscellaneous data.  Use of this database is similar to that in the Project module. Available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill.

- Databases | Payees:  Keeps a listing of  names, addresses, phone numbers, and miscellaneous data of regular payees.  This information is useful if you want the program to print checks for you.  Use of this database is similar to that in the Project module.  Available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill.

- Tools | Calculate Date Intervals:  Calculate the number of days (as well as work days) between any two dates.

- Tools | Change Password:  Change your password, assuming that you have configured the program to request a password when it is loaded.

- Tools | Change Colors:  Alter the colors of the screen display.  Most options in the sub-menu are self-explanatory.  One that isn't is "Odd and Ends", which covers such things as the happy face that appears for holidays and the infinity symbol that appears for religious events.  It is also the color that is used for the General Ledger's Grid.  "Special Text" includes such things as screen headings and calendar date numbers, but does not include the text used for field headings or for the entries you make into the program.  Those colors are picked up by the program from Windows' settings, which you may alter with the Color option in Windows' Control Panel routine.  Finally, the reason you may set different colors for the "Calendar Grid" (applicable only if you have the Chronilist software), "Log Grid", and the General Ledger Grid (through "Odds and Ends") is that you may find it useful to have a visual cue that suggests which of the three modules you are using at any given time.

- Tools | Change Time Zone:  In order to properly display the times of cities around the world (View | World Times at the Main Screen's menu), the program needs to know your time zone.  Also make sure that your computer's clock is accurate.  Select this item and choose a city in your time zone by double-clicking on the line containing its name. On a network, only the Main User can use this function.

- Tools | Change Dialing Parameters:  Available only with the Windows 95/NT version of the software.  This option allows you to specify certain information that is required if you wish to use the program for dialing telephone numbers.  Here, you may designate the COM port to which your dialing modem is attached and whether your phone service accepts pulse or tone dialing.  Be sure that you are accurate.  If you need to precede all telephone calls with a certain string of numbers, enter them into the Prefix item.  To dial a phone number when viewing a project's record on the screen, just double-click on the phone number field.  The number dialed will be the first number appearing in the field.  That number will be considered to end with any character other than a digit, comma, or dash.  Double-clicking in Fax field or any of the Miscellaneous fields will also cause the program to dial the first number found in the field.

- Tools | Edit Configuration:  See Edit | Configuration above.

- Tools | Options:  Allows you to select or deselect various performance switches:

Batch Report Mode:  Appears only in the Windows 3 version of the software.  When checked, causes the program to return to the Report/Hunt parameters screen, instead of the Main Screen, after each Report/Bill is prepared.  Because of memory constraints, the program's default is to return to the Main Screen after a report is completed, which allows enough memory for you to double-click on a project listed in the report, in order to call that project up for inspection.  If you have little need for this in-report project inspection, you may wish to turn this Batch Report Mode switch on.  When the switch is on, you will be able to do one report after the other without returning to the Main Screen after each (but you will not be able to double-click on a project listed in the report).

Batch Entry Mode:  When checked, forces the program into its "batch entry" mode whenever you begin making event entries.  Normally, you will be returned to the Main Screen each time you complete entering an event.  The batch entry mode, however, causes the program to automatically take you to another blank event entry screen, instead.  That way, you will be able to more easily make a batch of entries, one after the other.

- Resume:  Available only if you have the Windows 95/NT version of the program and only if you have suspended timing of at least one service record.  Selecting this item will result in a listing of up to nine Service records whose StopWatches have been suspended.  When you select from among the list, you will be taken directly to that service record, and the stopwatch for that record will automatically resume timing at the point at which it had been suspended.


Other Screens
Other Informational Screens

There are several informational screens:	Detailed Daily Overview

Weekly View

Event Editing

Event Deletion Tagging

Project Editing

Cloning an Event

Each of these screens will be discussed below.

- Detailed Daily Overview Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing the Enter key at the Main Screen (Monthly View) or by clicking the Day View speed button.

This screen gives you complete detail for all events logged during the date selected.  The far left column of each line displays the first letter of the event type being shown on that line.  An "S", for instance, means that the event shown on that line is a Service

You may use your left and right arrows (as well as PgUp and PgDn) to change dates.  To bounce back up to the Monthly View (the Main Screen), click on the button in the upper right or just press the Enter Key.

Note that the Enter key can serve two functions.  If no item is selected, pressing the Enter key will return you to the Monthly View.  But if an event is selected at the time you press Enter, the program will act as if you had double-clicked on the selected event, and you will be taken to that event's edit screen.

Pressing the Esc key will always return you to the Monthly View, landing on the date that had been highlighted at the time you had bounced down to this Detailed Daily Overview, even if you had changed dates when at the Detailed Daily Overview.  Pressing Enter or clicking the button in the upper right, on the other hand, will return you to the Monthly View, but will highlight the date that had been last displayed at the Detailed Daily Overview.

- Weekly View Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "W" or by selecting  View | Week at the Main Screen's pull-down menu.

This screen offers several weekly views that may be selected with a "View" pull-down menu.  The information shown here will be consistent with what is shown on the Main Screen.  There's a limit to how much information may be displayed on this screen, but you may find it helpful for some purposes.

The "Description" view attempts to display the first line of each event's description within the appropriate weekday's block.

Perhaps the most useful view is the "Allocated Time, by Person" view.  It displays a single line for each person being tracked by the program.  That line will graphically display the time that has already been allocated for that person for each day of the week.  By default the time spanned will be 8:00AM to 6:00PM, but you may select the "20-hr View" check box if you would prefer 4:00AM to midnight.

The "Event Type, by Person" view will display a single letter for each event's type (eg., "A" for appointment, "D" for deadline, etc.) under the appropriate date for each person being tracked by the program.

The "First Character, by Person" view will display the first character of each event's description under the appropriate date for each person being tracked by the program.  This view may be useful if you would like a weekly overview of what each person is doing, not by event type, but by some other category.  Your office might standardize upon the practice of always beginning each event description with a single character whose category meaning everyone knows.

- Event Editing Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "E" at the Main Screen or by clicking on the Edit speed button.

This screen lists the events falling on a given date.  When you select one of the events, you'll be taken to the screen that allows you to make changes to that event.

You may use your left and right arrows (as well as PgUp and PgDn) to change dates.  To bounce back up to the Main Screen, click on the Exit button.  The Select button will take you to an edit screen for whichever event is highlighted when it is pressed.  Double-clicking on an event serves the same function, except that it allows you to specify the specific field you wish to edit.  For instance, if you double-click on a time, the field to which you will first be taken will be the a time field; double-clicking on a project will take you to the project field.

Pressing the Esc key will always return you to the Monthly View, landing on the date that had been highlighted at the time you had entered this Event Editing screen.

- Event Deletion Tagging Screen -

You may have arrived here by pressing "T".  This screen allows you to quickly tag events for deletion.  To do so, double-click an event.  Alternatively, you may select an event by single-clicking it and then pressing Enter or the Del key.

Bear in mind that all you're doing here is tagging an event for deletion, not actually deleting it.   Tagging an event for deletion will result in that event's disappearing from all screens and reports, except this screen and the Event Edit screen discussed above.  The tagged events will still be taking up space in the database, but you won't see them for most purposes.  If you discover that you have inadvertently tagged the wrong event, you may un-tag it at this screen  just as easily as you tagged it.  To actually delete all events tagged for deletion (as well as all events, tagged or not, falling before a certain date in the past), select  File | Delete at the Main Screen's menu.  Doing so will irreversibly remove tagged events from the database.

- Project Editing Screen -

This screen presents you with a listing of the projects tracked by the program.  When you select a project to edit, you'll be taken to a screen that shows you the complete detail for that project and allows you to edit it.

You may select a project in several ways.  One way is to type its ID into the box at the top of the screen.  Another is to click once on the line containing the project's ID and name and then to click on the Select button.  And yet another is to double click on the line containing the project's ID and name.

If you do not know the ID of the project you are seeking, but you do know some text in that project's record, type into the box at the top of the screen an ampersand (&), followed immediately by the known text.  When you press the Select button, you will be taken to the first record containing that text.  Pressing the PgDn key will then take you to the next matching record.  If, instead of being taken from one matching record to another, you would prefer to see a listing of records containing that text, type the ampersand and text as decribed immediately above, and then press Alt-L (instead of pressing the Select button).

- Cloning an Event Screen -

Cloning is the process of copying an event.  It saves you the time of entering the same information twice.  At this screen, select the event you wish to clone.  You may change the date whose events are displayed by using the left and right arrows (or by using the PgUp or PgDn keys).  Once you select an event, it will be copied exactly, and you'll be taken to an editing screen where you may alter the information in the copy.  If you have any small changes, such as the Project ID or date, make them and click the Save button.  Don't worry, you won't be changing the original.


Entering & Editing Events

This is the Event Editing screen.  You arrived here by selecting Make or Edit at the Main Screen. If you want to log a service, disbursement or receipt as having taken place, you should ensure that you are in the Log module.  If the transaction you wish to enter involves an account, you probably want to be in the GenLedger module (which is available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill).

- THE MAIN CHOICES -

Simply tab among the various fields in the top three-quarters of the screen.  Filling them in is generally self-explanatory.

- Dates -

When filling in a date, you may use the DD MON YR format (e.g., 25 OCT 99), the MO/DD/YY format (e.g., 10/25/99), or the DD.MO.YY format (e.g., 25.10.99, but this format works only if you have selected Int'l as the Date/Time format in the Configuration routine).  Of course, you may also use the small calendar that appears when you enter a date field.

- Times -

When filling in a time, you don't need to use colons, AM, or PM.  For instance, 12:00PM may be entered as "1200" or even as "12".  Unless you append an "AM" or "PM" (or an "A" or a "P"), the program will automatically assume that anything between 7 and 1159 is AM and that everything else is PM.  For example, if you enter "700" (or just "7"), the program will assume 7:00AM, but if you enter "659", it will assume 6:59PM.  If you intend a time to be 8:00PM, you should enter "8P", because if you enter just "8", AM will be assumed.  Of course, you may also set times in the time line box that appears when you enter a time field.  To use the time line box, point to the time at which you wish to begin this event, drag the mouse across the time line to the end time, and then release the mouse.

If you set an alarm for any time in the future, no matter what other program you may be using at the instant that the alarm is set to sound, an alarm message will appear on your screen.  When it does, simply press the Esc key to clear it from the screen, or select one of the "snooze-alarm" buttons at the bottom.  To return to the program you were using before being interrupted by the alarm, press the Alt-Tab key combination.  Of course, when the date and time for an alarm occur, this program must already be in memory for the alarm to sound.  If this program is not in memory, there will be no way for it to detect the alarm.

If you are filling in a Service record (see Event Type ),  you may insert the contents of the Main Screen's StopWatch  into the Begin Time, End Time, and Total Hours items.  To do so, press the Ins key.  Note that the Total Hours item may not seem consistent with the Begin and End Times if you have used the StopWatch's timer pause feature (in which case the Total Hours figure will match the total time that the StopWatch was on and not paused).  Assuming that the StopWatch is still on and that its timing has not been paused, as each additional minute elapses, the End Time and Total Hours will be adjusted, unless you manually enter something into one of those items (indicating to the program that you are re-taking control of those items).

If you have the Windows 95/NT version of the program, and if you're filling in a Service record, there will be a StopWatch at the top of this screen.  It is this StopWatch (not the Main Screen's) that may be used to time the work you're entering into this record.  Left-clicking the mouse on the StopWatch will turn it on or off, while right-clicking will pause its timing.  Additionally, there is a Suspend button.  It is intended for those times when your work on a project is interrupted by something else.  When an interruption occurs, press the Suspend button.  When you do so, the timing will be paused, the record will be saved, and it will be placed into a cue that will allow you to quickly resume working with it.  Then, you will be taken back to the Main Screen, from which you may begin other work with the program.  When you're ready to resume work on the project whose Service record was suspended, select the Main Screen's Resume  menu item.  There may be up to nine suspended Service records pending in the Main Screen's Resume cue.  If you forget to resume work on a suspended record, don't worry; part of the suspension process saves the record, just as if you had pressed the Save button.

- Total Hours -

Visible only when entering a Service, this item is the difference between the End Time and the Begin Time .  It will be calculated automatically, but you may manually override the calculation.

- Event Type -

While at this item on the event entry screen, you may most quickly make an entry by typing the first character of a valid event type, most of which are discussed below.  For instance, to make this event a Disbursement, just press "D".  Or you may use your mouse to make a selection from the drop-down list.

A Service is something that has been done, such as a task completed or an event attended.  It may span several days, if you wish.  A Disbursement is money that has been spent (this is an expense, money out of your pocket), while a Receipt is income (income, money into your pocket).  An Adjustment is a charge or a credit to the amount a client owes you for a project you're handling for him.  A charge to the client would be entered as a positive adjustment, while a credit would be entered as a negative adjustment (since you intend to decrease the amount he owes you).  A Note is a memorandum of something that has occurred, other than a service as described above (a memo of a phone conversation is an example of something you might enter as a note).

- Project -

The Project field may contain the ID of the project, job, client, etc., to which this event applies.  You may enter a new project right here at this screen, as well as by using the Main Screen's menu.  To enter a new project, or to edit an existing one, enter a project ID and then double-click inside the project field.  To enter the same project ID that was last entered at a similar field anywhere else in the program, simply type "S" and the hit the Tab key.  Incidentally, this use of "S" (for "same") may be used in most of the other fields on this screen and elsewhere in the program.

After you leave the Project field, its box will grow slightly to allow the displaying of additional information about the selected project.  By default, the information displayed will be the client's name.  If you would prefer to see the project's balance, click once on the additional information line.  If you would prefer to see the client's RE: information, click again.

- Person -

The Person field is for the person, employee, co-worker, etc., who is involved in this event.  You may either type in the initials of that person or use the mouse to select one or more from the drop-down list.  You may log an event for up to fifteen people.  Just separate each person's initials with a comma.  When you use the mouse to select a person from the drop-down list, his initials will be added to those already showing.

If this event is for no specific person, just leave the Person field empty, which will tell the program that this event is for EVERYBODY.

- Amount and Category -

The Amount item, visible only when entering something into the Log, requires no comment.

 	The Category item, visible only when making a record in the Log, allows you to enter an income/expense/service category designation of up to twelve characters.  The category you enter here should be one of those already listed in the categories file .  Regular use of this item is essential if you wish to use the program for Income-Expense reporting (see Reports / Hunting for Information ).  Using this item will also allow you to subsequently request a report that contains only the items in a particular category of income or expense.

- Hourly Rate -

Visible only when entering a Service, this item holds the hourly rate at which this service is being charged.  This item will be filled in automatically when you enter the Project item (assuming that, when setting up the project, you designated an hourly rate at which work on its behalf would be charged), but you may manually override whatever is filled in.  The hourly rate is used to automatically calculate the Amount item, based upon the figure found in the Total Hours  item.

- Charge Client -  This item determines whether or not the client will be charged for this service or disbursement.  If you select No, the bill you prepare for the client will list this service or disbursement, but "No Charge" will be substituted for the amount.

- Payee -

This item acts as a record of who was paid.

- Check # -

This item records the number of the check (if any) used to pay the Amount shown.  You may press "N" (for "next") to have the program fill in this item with the next check number following the one you had last entered for the account showing in the "Affected GL" account item, discussed below.  If making a GenLedger entry, you may enter "W" (for withdrawal) or "D" (for Deposit) if no check has been drafted.

- Affected GL / BalancingGL  (available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill).-

Visible only when entering a Disbursement or Receipt, these items tell the program which General Ledger account(s) is (are) affected by the record being entered.  The Affected GL is the account, if any, primarily affected by the entry you are making.  The BalancingGL is the account, if any, that should be adjusted to keep your books balanced in a double-entry bookkeeping system.  The account(s) you enter here will be automatically adjusted when you save this record.

If you wish to subtract the Amount of this transaction from a General Ledger account, begin your entry into the Affected GL field with a minus sign.  If you wish to add to the account, begin with a plus sign.  Likewise, whether you use a plus or minus sign with the BalancingGL item depends upon whether you wish to add the amount of the transaction to, or subtract it from, the account.

These items are optional.  They are totally unnecessary for keeping up with your income and expenses.  They should be used only if you want the program to keep track of your accounts automatically as you enter Receipts and Disbursements.  And the BalancingGL item should be used only if you want the program to handle double-entry bookkeeping for you.

- Account ID / BalancingAcct  (available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill).-

Visible only when making a GenLedger entry, these items tell the program which General Ledger account(s) is (are) affected by the record being entered.  The Account ID is the account primarily affected by the entry you are making.  The BalancingAcct is the account, if any, that should be adjusted to keep your books balanced in a double-entry bookkeeping system.  The account(s) you enter here will be automatically adjusted when you save this record.

If you enter a check number or "Withdrawal" in the Check # item on the screen, the amount in the Amount item will be subtracted from the account identified in the Account ID item.  If, on the other hand, you enter "Deposit" in the Check # item, the amount will be added to that account.

Whether the Amount will be added to or subtracted from the BalancingAcct depends upon whether that account is a Credit or Debit account, as identified in the General Ledger grid (see the Chart of Accounts section).  The program will automatically take whatever action is needed to keep your books balanced for double-entry purposes.

The BalancingAcct item is optional.  It should be used only if you want the program to handle double-entry bookkeeping for you.

- Advance

Visible only when entering a receipt involving a project, this item reflects how much of the receipt being entered is to be applied toward paying off unpaid advances made in behalf of the client involved with the project.  An advance is money lent to a client.  Whenever you spend money (i.e., enter a disbursement) in behalf of a client, the program will consider it to be an advance.  Whenever you receive money (i.e., enter a receipt) from a client, that money will be by default applied first to reducing the client's unpaid advances.  A note at the bottom of this item's box reflects how much the client currently owe you for advances you have made in his behalf.

- Description

Here, describe the event you are entering.  You may use up to 17 lines.  If you wish to use an abbreviation from the list of income, expense and service categories, type the abbreviation and then press the Ins key.  When you do, the abbreviation will be replaced by the category description.  Note that this abbreviation substitution works only on the first 6 lines of text.

- Suppress on Bills

Visible only if you are entering a Service, Disbursement or Receipt into the Log, this item allows you to keep this transaction from appearing on the client's bill.  If this item is selected the service, disbursement or receipt being entered will not appear on bills.  But this transaction's amount will be included in the bill's calculations.  This item is useful only if you need to maintain complete records of all that you do, but prefer that your bills not include all the detail.  If that's the case, you must be sure to enter a "phantom" item for this client before producing a bill.  The phantom item must be for an amount of zero, and should contain a description that summarizes what you've done for him during the period being billed.  Otherwise, the client will wonder why he's being charged something when no transactions appear on his bill.

This item is useful to suppress an entire transaction's appearance on bills.  But if you want only a portion of the description to be suppressed, place a left curly bracket, {, at the beginning position of the first line containing that portion of  the description that you want to keep confidential.  When the client's bill is being printed, everything up to the curly bracket will be included, but neither it nor anything following it will.


Entering & Editing Projects
Handling Projects (and Payees)

This screen allows you to enter specific information about a project/client/job, payee, or person.  Most of the fields are self-explanatory.  Those that may not be are discussed below.

- ID:  Here, enter a name, number, or anything else that quickly and easily identifies this  project or person.  It is recommended that you develop a standardized scheme for selecting IDs.  Perhaps the first three letters of a client's last name, followed by the first three letters of his first would work (e.g., Thomas Jones might have the Project ID, "JON THO").  If you follow your scheme consistently, you will rarely find yourself at a loss to remember any particular project's ID.

- Cloning a Project:  If, while entering a new project, you wish to duplicate the basic information from the last project viewed on the screen, press the F10 key.

- Current Balance:  The up-to-the-minute balance owed by the client for this project.  Negative numbers represent your indebtedness to your client.

- Billed, Not Paid:  This item represents the portion of the last bill that is still unpaid (current receivable).

- 30-Day Unpaid:  This item represents the portion of what was owed 30 days ago which is still unpaid (30-day receivable).

- 60-Day Unpaid:  This item represents the portion of what was owed 60 days ago which is still unpaid (60-day receivable).

- 90-Day Unpaid:  This item represents the portion of what was owed 90 days ago which is still unpaid (90-day receivable).

- Last Bill Date:  The date on which the most recent bill for this project was prepared.

- Last Pay Date:  The date on which money was most recently received from your client for this project.

- Master Project ID:  If you wish to subordinate this project to another, enter the other's Project ID here.  When you initially enter this screen, you will notice that the Master Project ID is the same as the Project ID, indicating that this project is its own master.  Most, if not all, your projects will probably be their own masters, meaning that they are not subordinate to any other projects.  If, however, you wish to ensure that all projects handled for a single client are billed together and then totaled, you will want all the projects to be subordinate to a single project.  In this case, you would first open a project for the client.  This will be the master project, since you do not intend to use that project for any real work.  Enter only general information into it, such as name, address, and billing format.  Then open a project for each actual job you intend to do for that client.  These projects will be the subordinates (each referring to the master in its Master Project ID field), and they will be what you actually use for real work.  When you subsequently go through the billing process, all these related projects will be billed as a group, and a billing summary sheet for them all will be produced.

- Last, First (Client Name):  This item is split into two parts.  The first is for the last name, and the second is for the first name and initial.  If a person's name includes "Jr", enter it as part of the last name.  For example, John P. Smith, Jr. would be entered as "Smith, Jr." in the first part, and "John P." in the second.

- Address:  Three lines are allowed.  The third line has a special field at the end reserved for the zip or postal code.

- Salutation:  Here, enter the salutation (e.g., "Dear Mr. Smith") you wish to use for bills and letters prepared by the program for this project.

- RE:  This item is for the portion of a letter or bill (normally just above the salutation) that contains a reference to the document's matter, such as the title by which you and the client refer to the project, the style of a legal matter, etc. (e.g.,"RE: Smith v. Jones").

- Responsible Person:  Enter the initials of the person primarily responsible for this project.

- Originating Person:  Enter the initials of the person who should be credited with bringing this project to the firm.

- Business:  If you wish to track the work your firm does by area of business, enter a one- to three-digit number representing the area into which this project falls.

- Misc:  Eight fields are reserved for entries of a miscellaneous nature.  Once you have decided how you wish to use them, you may assign an individual title to each field to assist you in consistently using it from project to project.  To do so, go to the Configuration routine's Term Substitutions field.  With the Win95/NT version of the program, double-clicking in any any of the Misc fields will result in the program's looking for a phone number within the field and then attempting to dial it (see Tools | Change Dialing Parameters ).

- Bill Format:  If you intend to bill this project, enter the number of the billing format you wish to use.  The number you enter must correspond to an actual billing format whose file exists.  Format #1 is supplied with the program (its file is BILFMT1.DAB), as are Format #2, Format #20, the In-Office Bill format (BILFMT0.DAB), and the client billing summary sheet format (BILFMT99.DAB), but you may create your own .

- Bill Interval:  Enter the minimum number of days you wish to elapse between bills sent out for this project.  If, for instance, your client will be irritated at receiving bills more frequently than every quarter, enter "90" here.  That way, when you go through your monthly billing process, the program will assume that you wish to skip billing this project if 90 days have not elapsed since its last bill was prepared.  Note that you may override that assumption for this project at billing time, if you wish.

- APR on Unpaid Balance:  This item tells the program the rate of interest you will charge this client on the unpaid balance of any bill you send him.  Interest begins accruing after the Interest-Free Interval defined in the Configuration routine.  The figure you enter here, if any at all, should be a percentage.  For example, if the APR is meant to be 8%, you should enter "8", not ".08".  Note that, in deciding how much interest to charge a client on a current bill, the program will divide the APR by 365 and multiply the result by the number of days elapsing from the date the last bill was prepared, plus the Interest-Free Interval, to the date that the current bill is being prepared.  That result will, in turn, be multiplied by that portion of the last bill's balance which has not yet been paid.  You should use a modest APR, if any at all, since the purpose of charging the client interest is not to make yourself more money, but simply to let the client know that it will cost him more if he does not pay his bills on time.

- Rate Level:  In the configuration routine, you entered various billing rates for each person whose work you wish to track with the program.  At this Rate Level item, you should fill in the level (1 to 5) you wish to use for billing this project.  If, for instance, you enter "1", each service performed in this project's behalf will by default be charged at the #1 billing rate for the person doing the work.  Note that this will be only an assumption -- an assumption which you may override at the time the service is entered into the program.

- Flat Rate:  If, instead of using your workers' various billing rates, you wish to charge this project on the basis of a flat hourly rate, enter that rate here.

- Max Fee:  If your agreement with your client is that you will charge no more than a specified amount, no matter how much work you handle for him, enter that amount here.  Once that amount is met, the program will default to the assumption that each new service entered into the system will NOT be charged to the client (but you may override this assumption at the time the service is entered).

- Max Rate:  If your agreement with the client is that you will charge no more than a certain hourly rate, you should enter that amount here.  That way, no matter who does the work, even if it's your most experienced and expensive worker, the program will assume that the Max Rate is the most that can be charged for services rendered. Note that this will be only an assumption, which you may override at the time the service is entered into the program.

- Fixed Fee:  If this project is to be charged an agreed-upon fixed fee, enter that fee here.  If a Fixed Fee is being used, the program will assume that services will NOT be charged to the project.  You should, of course, enter them into the program, so that you and your client will know all that you have done for this project.  But each individual service will have no amount to be charged (unless you override the no-charge assumption at the time the service is entered into the program).  Until the project has been completed, any bills you send out will contain a complete listing of all that has been done, but no charges.  Once the project is finished, you would then enter a final service containing an amount charged corresponding to the Fixed Fee, and then produce a final bill.

-  Contingent Percentage: If this project is to be charged on the basis of an agreed-upon contingency fee, enter that fee here.  If a Contingent Percentage is being used, the program will assume that services will NOT be charged to the project.  You should, of course, enter them into the program, so that you and your client will know all that you have done for this project.  But each individual service will have no amount to be charged (unless you override the no-charge assumption at the time the service is entered into the program).  Until the project has been completed, any bills you send out will contain a complete listing of all that has been done, but no charges.  Once the project is finished, you would then enter a final service containing an amount charged corresponding to the Contingent Percentage, and then produce a final bill.

-  Retainer:  If the client is retaining your services in exchange for a regular monthly Retainer fee, enter that fee here.  Note that this is a MONTHLY payment that you receive for whatever work you do (or don't do).  This is the fee you charge him every month for the retention of your services.  The amount you enter here will be automatically added to bills prepared for this project (each such automatic entry occurring on the last day of each month covered by a bill), unless you precede this amount with a minus sign when you enter it onto this screen.  Note that if a Retainer is being used for this project, the program will assume that NO services will be charged to the project.  You should, of course, enter services performed for the project into the program, so that you and your client will know all that you have done.  But each individual service will have an amount charged of zero (unless you override the no-charge assumption at the time the service is entered into the program).

- Charge Disbursements:  By default, the program will assume that disbursements you make on behalf of this project are to be charged to the client.  If you wish, however, you may de-select this item to force the opposite assumption.  Note that this will be only an assumption, which you may override at the time the service is entered into the program.

- Related Account:  If this project has a related GL account, enter its ID here.  Each project for which you maintain funds held in trust should have an individual GL account associated with it.  The GL account will probably be given the same ID as the project.  If you enter that account ID here at the Related Account item, bills prepared for this project will contain information pertaining to activity within that trust account.

- Project Closed:  If the project has been completed, but you don't wish to remove it from your database, you should select this item to close it.  That way, the program will ignore it for most reports and will not attempt to prepare bills for it.  But it will still be here, in case you need to look it up in the coming years.

- Notes Section (or Notes Button):  The Notes button opens and closes a notes screen into which you may enter up to 32,000 characters of information relating to this project.

- Private: Visible only if making an entry into the Phone Book while on a network, this item allows you to designate whether the data being entered or viewed is to be visible on all workstations or private to this one.


Income and Expense Categories
Setting up Categories

When you select Edit | Categories  from the Main Screen's pull-down menus, you will be allowed to enter or edit the program's income, expense, and service categories.  You should give considerable thought to how you wish to organize these categories before actually entering them into the program, because the Income-Expense Report prepared by the program will track that organization.

The Abbreviation field may contain up to twelve characters, and the Description may hold thirty-five.  If you begin a Description with ">", the category being described will be considered a sub-category of the first category preceding it which does not begin with a ">".  This distinction is important, because sub-categories will be indented on the Income-Expense Report prepared by the program.  And beginning a Description with ">>" or ">>>" will cause sub-categorization by two or three levels, respectively.  If you want a blank line to appear at a certain point on the Income-Expense Report, enter "<>" for the Description.

You must also indicate each category's Type, except for those categories that have sub-categories.  Enter "I" for income, "E" for expense, or "S" for service.  This information will be used by the program to prevent you from using an income category while filling in a disbursement screen or from using an expense category when filling in a receipt screen.  All income categories should appear first in this file, followed by all expense categories, and finally, all service categories. By the way, categories that have sub-categories have their places on the Income-Expense Report (where they will display their sub-categories totals), but they should not be used when filling out disbursement or receipt screens.  In other words, when filling out a disbursement or receipt record, the category you enter should be one that does not, itself, have any sub-categories.

The sample file accompanying the program provides a good example.  Note the scheme by which abbreviations are assigned.  Prefixes are used extensively to identify income and expense categories that fall into the same general areas.  These prefixes are useful in running reports.  If, for instance, you wanted a report showing all activity in the area of business expenses (but not personal expenses), you would ask the program to show all transactions involving category "E-B-" (since all your business expense category abbreviations begin with "E-B-").  The resulting report would include transactions whose category abbreviations contained "E-B-", but exclude all others, such as those that begin with "E-P-".  Of course, you could also be even more specific in setting up your report.  For example, if you wanted to see only those transactions involving business phone expenses, you would fill in the report category criteria with "E-B-PHO".

The Affected Acct item tells the program which General Ledger account, if any, should be automatically adjusted whenever a receipt or disbursement using the category described is actually entered into the system.  If you intend to use this item, enter the GL account ID here.  Precede your entry with a plus sign if you want to add to the account, or precede it with a minus sign to subtract from the account.  For example, if you want the program to automatically subtract from the CHECK account the amount of any transaction involving this category, you should enter, "-CHECK".  Note that, for this item to have any effect at all, the AutoUpdate GL item  (which is available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill) in the configuration routine must be selected.

If you're using BillPower to handle double-entry bookkeeping, you may wish to use the Balancing Acct item.  It tells the program which account will need to be adjusted in order to offset the adjustment resulting from your entry into the Affected Acct item.  If you're not using the program for double-entry bookkeeping , or if you have not made an entry into the Affected Acct item, skip this item.  If you do use this item, begin your entry with a plus or minus sign.  Note that, for this item to have any effect at all, you must make sure that the Double-Entry item  (which is available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill) in the configuration routine is selected.

If you're filling in a line with a service category, you may have use for the final three columns.  The Tax Rate item, useful in only specialized versions of this software, is the rate (expressed as a percentage) at which the service being described must be taxed, if at all.  You need not make an entry here if you will be taxing all services at the same rate as designated at the configuration routine's Tax  item.  The Charge item tells the program how much to charge whenever a service of this type is being entered into the database.  If it is to be an absolute fee, regardless of how much time is spent performing the service, enter "$" into the final Type column (which is for the charge type, not the category type).  But if you intend the charge to be calculated at an hourly rate, enter "H" into that final column.  Whatever you enter  in the final two columns will override any other charging assumptions the program may have when you actually enter a service of this type into the system as having been performed.

On a network, only the Main User can modify Categories.


Reports & Hunting for Information
Reports / Hunting for Information / Bills

You may conduct a Hunt for information in the Log or Project database.  Log hunts and reports are set up by pressing the "H" key or using the pull-down menu (Search | Hunt) while in the appropriate module.  The project hunts/reports may be started by using the pull-down menu (Project | Report).  Bills, which are just specialized Project reports, may also be accessed by selecting  Project | Report  at the menu or by simply pressing "B".

Discussions of  Log and Project Hunts are contained in the sections that follow.

Log Hunts and Reports

Here, you will be presented with a Hunt Screen that contains fields allowing you to designate exactly what you wish to find/report.

The more fields you fill in, the more limited the scope of your hunt through the database becomes.  For instance to find information relating to all projects, leave the Project field blank.  If you prefer to display only that data relating to a specific project, however, place that project's ID into the Project field.  Or, if you're conducting a hunt in the Log module and you want to find only those events whose Amounts are between $100 and $500, fill in the Low Amount and High Amount items accordingly.

Ensure that the Begin Date and End Date fields reflect the period of time that you want the program to search.

- Word to Find:  Here, type in a word or short phrase common to the Description fields of all records you want reported.  If you have the Win95/NT version, this program can conduct logical AND and OR hunts of the Description fields.  You may enter up to four keywords, each separated by either ^ or |.  Use the ^ character to designate AND, and use the | character to designate OR.  For instance, to find records whose Descriptions contain both "dog" and "cat", you would enter  dog^cat.  To find records whose Descriptions contain any of "dog", "cat", or "cow", you would enter dog|cat|cow. The same sort of logical AND and OR hunts may also be conducted through Misc fields while doing a hunt in the Project module.   You may not mix AND and OR hunts.  For instance, you may not enter dog^cat|cow.

- Category:  Leave this item blank if you want the report to include transactions involving all categories.  If you want only certain categories to appear on the report, however, fill in this item with a string of characters found in the category(ies) that you want included.  If you used prefixes when setting up your income-expense categories, you may include several exclusive categories on the report at one time by filling this item with only the prefix common to the categories you want included.  If you would like the program to exclude events whose categories fall within a certain range, enter the highest category to be excluded, two periods, and then the lowest category.  For example, to exclude all events whose categories fall between AUTOMAINT and OFFICEMAINT, you would enter the following into this Category item:

OFFICEMAINT..AUTOMAINT

In this example, OFFICEMAINT is assumed to be a higher category than AUTOMAINT.  In other words, OFFICEMAINT follows AUTOMAINT in the categories file  maintained by the program.  Note that this exclusion function works only with the Win95 version of the program.

- Affected Acct:  If you want only certain accounts to appear on the report, fill in this item with a string of characters found in the account(s) whose transactions you want included.  If you used prefixes when setting up your accounts, you may include several exclusive accounts on the report at one time.

- Report Title:  Normally, the program's printed reports contain generic headings of one or two lines.  If you're printing the report and want it to have an overall title, fill in the Report Title item with the text you desire.  After doing so, the program's reports will contain two or three lines, beginning with the Report Title you have designated, and followed by the generic heading the program would otherwise have produced.  If you dont want the generic lines to appear at all, end the Report Title with "//2", "//3", or "//2//3" (which will cause the second, third, or second AND third lines of the heading to be skipped).

- Report Destination:  Here, choose where you want the report or bill to be sent.  If you select a File, you should take note of the name of the file that will be created or appended, so that you can subsequently print, view, or modify it with your word processor.  Its format will be ASCII text.

- Type of Report -

Pretty is nice, but useful is better.  One of this program's goals is to provide as much information as possible on its reports.  One side-effect of this effort is that, if you have a page printer (such as a laser printer), it will probably need at least 2 megabytes of memory or the ability to do raster printing.  If your printer does not have enough memory and does not support raster printing, it may issue an Out-of-Memory message when trying to print data-intensive reports.  You really owe it to yourself to sample each of these reports on a fine printer with enough memory.  By the way, line printers (such as ink-jets and dot-matrix printers) have no such memory limitation.

 	- Standard Listing:  You will probably most frequently use the Standard Listing or Short Listing as the format in which you want information displayed.  The difference between the two is that the Standard Listing will give you complete detail of each event, while the Short Listing will display only one line of information for each event.   The Quick Non-Chron Listing is designed for just finding something quickly in the database without having the program sort its events into chronological order.  If the period of time reflected in the Begin Date and End Date fields is great, the Quick Non-Chron Listing will be prepared much more quickly than a Standard or Short Listing, since the latter two will have to be placed into chronological order.

Most of the items on the Standard listing are self-explanatory.  You may see an asterisk on some lines just after the time item.  The asterisk indicates that this item has been billed.

In the summary section at the end of a report, you may see reference to advances.  An advance is money lent to a client.  Whenever you spend money (i.e., enter a disbursement) in behalf of a client, the program will consider it to be an advance.  Whenever you receive money (i.e., enter a receipt) from a client, that money will be applied first to reducing the client's unpaid advances.

- Short Listing:  See Standard Listing above.

- Week Log:  Provides a week's-worth of information on each page printed.  The first week printed will be the one containing the specified Begin Date, and the last week printed will be the one containing the End Date.

- Month Log:  Provides a month's-worth of information on each page printed.  The first month printed will be the one containing the specified Begin Date, and the last month printed will be the one containing the End Date.  You have a choice of landscape or portrait printout, normal or small type.  Try them all to see which you find best for your needs.

- Six-Week Printout:  Provides six-weeks per printed page, starting with the week containing the specified Begin Date, and ending with a convenient week (either the one containing the End Date or a later one).

- Six-Month Log:  Six months at a glance.  This report must actually be prepared at the Main Screen (See File | Print Half Year ).

- One-Year Log:  One year at a glance.  This report must actually be prepared at the Main Screen (see File | Print Year ).

- Four-Year Calendar:  Four years at a glance.

- Allocated Time Chart:  Provides a graphical display of the time already logged for each day.  If printed in landscape orientation, 24 hours will be displayed for each day.

- Event Chart:  The top-to-bottom axis lists events, while the left-to-right axis displays the dates on which they fall.  Note that the screen and portrait printout will display a maximum of nine months' information, while the landscape printout will display up to 22 months'.

- Multi-Person Daily:  Provides, on one sheet, the daily logs of two, three, four ,five, or six persons.  You must designate the persons whose logs you wish to be included in the report.  One sheet will be printed for each day between the Begin and End Dates you select.

- Time/Expense Log:  A convenient printout that provides a format for the entry of work performed or money spent on a daily basis.

- Qwik Non-Chron Listing:  See Standard Listing above.

- Income-Expense Report:  A compilation that displays category-by-category  totals for all disbursements and receipts entered into the Log during the period requested.

- Chart of Accounts: A listing of your GenLedger accounts and their balances.  Note that with Time 'n Bill, you have no accounts.

- Productivity Report:  This report displays how much total work has been performed and charged to your clients by each person in your firm over any period of time you desire.

- ASCII Export:  Produces a disk file containing 35 lines of information per event reported.  The content of each line is as follows:

1:    Date being reported	2:  Event's beginning date

3:    Event's ending date	4:  Event type

5:    Event category	6:  Project to which this event pertains

7:    Person involved with the event	8-23:  Event description

24:  Begin time	25:  End time

26:  Alarm time	27:  Amount spent or received

28:  Tax charged	29:  Hourly rate of charge

30:  Tax rate	31:  Total Hours spent on this event

32:  Check number	33:  Payee

34:  Affected account #1	35:  Affected account #2

- CUSTOM:  Produces a report patterned after the format contained in a disk file, which in this case is named CUSTOM.DAS or CUSTOM.DAL.  You may have any number of specialized custom reports, each with a different name and each based upon a different disk file.  Custom Report disk files may be created or edited by selecting Edit | Log Report   at the pull-down menu.  See the Creating and Editing Bill Formats, Custom Reports, & Check Formats section.

Project Hunts, Reports, and Bills

Here, you will be presented with a Hunt Screen that contains fields allowing you to designate exactly what you wish to find/report.

The more fields you fill in, the more limited the scope of your hunt through the database becomes.  For instance to find information relating to all projects, leave the Project field blank.  If you prefer to display only a specific project, however, place that project's ID into the Project field.  If you wish to find all projects whose phone numbers contain a particular sequence of  numbers, place that sequence into the Phone field.  To find all projects with a particular zip code, place that zip code into the Address field.  And so, on...

Most items on the screen are self-explanatory.  Those that aren't are discussed below.

- Misc items:  If you fill in something here, the program will report to you on those projects whose associated Misc field(s) contain the string of characters you have entered.  If you are unsure which Misc field contains a string of characters, fill in the first Misc item on this Hunt screen and begin your entry with an ampersand (&).  For instance, if you wish to find each project in which one of the Misc fields contains the word, "street", you would enter into the first Misc field, "&street".  If you place two ampersands at the beginning of the first Misc field, the program will also search each project's Notes field and other text fields (ID, name, address, phone) if a match is not found in any of its Misc fields.

If you have the Win95/NT version, this program can conduct logical AND and OR hunts of the Misc fields.  You may enter up to four keywords, each separated by either ^ or |.  Use the ^ character to designate AND, and use the | character to designate OR.  For instance, to find records whose Misc fields contain both "dog" and "cat", you would enter  dog^cat.  To find records whose Misc fields contain any of "dog", "cat", or "cow", you would enter dog|cat|cow.  If you want the program to search ALL the text fields of a record (Misc fields, name, address, etc.), begin your entry with && (e.g., &&dog^cat)  You may not mix AND and OR hunts.  For instance, you may not enter dog^cat|cow.

- Project Sort Order:  Not only will the program find and report the projects you want, it will also place them into the order you specify.  You may sort by any or all of the parameters listed here.  Simply assign a number to each sorting parameter.  The parameter assigned number 1 will be the most important, and sorting will take place on it first.  Then, sorting will take place on whatever parameters may be assigned priorities 2, 3, 4, etc.  In most cases, Master ID should be the first (and possibly the only) priority used for billing.  That will ensure that a summary sheet is produced for multiple projects assigned to each Master ID.

- Report Destination:  Here, choose where you want the report or bill to be sent.  If you select a File, you should take note of the name of the file that will be created or appended.  The file's format will be ASCII text, and it can be imported as such into any word processor, where you can make any modifications you  wish.

- Pre-List Projects:  This item appears only if you have elected to prepare bills or a customized report.  If this item is not selected, billing or report preparation will begin immediately upon your pressing the Start button.  If, on the other hand, this item is selected, a listing of projects meeting the parameters specified on this screen will appear before the bills or reports are actually prepared.  When this listing appears, you may perform a final selection of the exact projects to be included in the billing or report generation by ensuring that each desired project is flagged with an asterisk (*).  To flag/un-flag a project, highlight the project on the screen and press the asterisk key.

- Billing Parameters:

- Bill Type:  A New Bill is one that you intend to send to the client.  The period covered by a New Bill (or In-Office Bill) for each project will begin the day after that project's last bill ended, and it will end on the Bill Through date designated below. An In-Office Bill is designed for in-house review only.  It will cover the same period that would be covered by a New Bill.  If you elect to produce an Old Bill, you will be presented with a Prior Bill box into which you should place a number (between 1 and 10) designating which old bill is to be reproduced.  The most recent Old Bill is #1; the second-most-recent, #2, etc.  The period covered by an Old Bill will begin on the date the original old bill began and, unless changed in the Bill Through item (described below), will end on the date the original bill ended.  A New Bill's or Old Bill's format for any particular project will depend upon the bill format you selected when you set up that project.

Note that as soon as a New Bill is produced today, it becomes Old Bill #1 (displacing the old Old Bill #1, which will become Old Bill #2).  But it also retains its identity as a New Bill until tomorrow.  If you need to re-do a bill originally printed earlier today, you may select either New Bill or Old Bill #1.  But if you need to re-do a bill printed yesterday or earlier, selecting Old Bill #1 would be the appropriate choice.

Also note that the main difference between an In-Office Bill and a New Bill is that producing the In-Office Bill will not alter the database.  Producing a New Bill, on the other hand, will result in new balance-brought-forward data being written to the database, as of the Bill Through date (which is last date whose transactions can be included on the bill).

- Statement Date: This is the date you wish to appear on the bills produced.

- Bill Through: This is the date through which whose transactions you want to appear on the bills being produced.  If you're doing New Bills, this item will be filled in with today's date, but you may change it if you wish.  If you're doing Old Bills, you may leave this item blank (if you want the bills to cover only their original beginning and end dates) or fill in a new date through which you want the old bills to include transactions.  Be aware that if you're doing Old Bills, and you enter a new date here, the new date you enter will henceforth become the Old Bills' ending date.

Assume, for instance, that today is 30 April, that Old Bill #1's ending date was 31 March, Old Bill #2's was 28 February, and Old Bill #3's was 31 January.  If you were to produce a New Bill now, its starting date would be 1 April (the day after Old Bill #1 ended).  But let's assume, instead, that you elect to print Old Bill #3 (the one that originally ended on 31 January) with a new Bill Through date of 15 April.  The new Old Bill that is produced will cover the original period of the 31 January bill, plus the period between 1 February and 15 April.  Additionally, you will no longer have old bills whose ending dates are 31 January, 28 February, and 31 March, since the one just produced will have covered a period whose ending date is later than all those others.  Your #1 old bill will now be one whose ending date is 15 April, and the next New Bill you produce will have a starting date of 16 April.

- Transaction Sort Order: By default, the transactions listed on each bill will be placed into chronological order.  But if you want them to be sorted in another fashion, place a 1 into the appropriate box.  If you also want secondary sorting to occur by date or by one of the other listed parameters, place a 2 into the appropriate box.  Third- and forth-level sorting can also be accomplished by placing 3 and 4 into the boxes.

- Type of Report:

- Bills - Produces a bill for each project/client you specify.  When you start the billing process, the first thing that happens (if the Project Pre-List item is selected) is that you will be presented with a list of the projects that meet the criteria specified at the Hunt Screen.  Just before each project's name will be an asterisk, which indicates that that project is to be billed when you press the Start button at the top of the screen.  If you don't want a project to be billed, highlight it and press the asterisk key.  When you do, the asterisk on that line will disappear, indicating that that project will be skipped during the billing process.  If the Project Pre-List item is not selected, billing will begin immediately without the intermediate project-listing step.

Once you have the projects you want billed identified with asterisks, press the Start button.  Each project's bill will be prepared in the format specified at that project's set-up screen (see Entering and Editing Projects ).  If the bills are being sent to the screen, the program will pause as each bill is displayed, waiting for you to press the Next button at the top of the screen.  If the bills are being sent to the printer or to a disk file, no pausing will take place.

- Project Listing - Produces a simple list of your projects, sorted in the order you specified at the Hunt Screen.

- Receivables -  Prints a listing of each project's receivables.  A receivable is an amount billed, but unpaid (either in part or in whole).  It does not include anything that has not been billed.  A project's receivables are affected by only two events: producing a Bill for the client, and entering a Receipt record for money received from the client (Adjustments do not affect a project's receivables).

- ASCII Export:  Produces a disk file containing 31 lines of information per project reported.  The content of each line is as follows:

1:    Project ID	2:    Master ID

3:    Client Name (last)	4:    Client Name (first)

5:    Client Address (1st line)	6:    Client Address (2d line)

7:    Client Address (3d line)	8:    Client Address (zip code)

9:    Client Phone	10:   Client Fax

11:   Company	12:   Salutation

13:   RE:	14:   Associated GenLedger account

15:   Responsible person	16:   Date this project was opened

17:   Last payment date	18-25:  Miscellaneous fields

26:   Balance owed	27:   Monthly retainer amount

28:   Contingent fee	29:   Fixed fee

30:   Interest rate	31:   Hourly charge rate

- VIEWING THE REPORT -

Here, you may double-click on any item to obtain a full-screen view of the associated project.

If you are previewing a list of projects to be included on bills or customized reports, you will notice that all the items have an asterisk (*) preceding the Name column.  Each item's asterisk indicates that that project will be among those for which a bill or customized report will be prepared.  If you wish to exclude a project, highlight it and press the asterisk key.

- PRODUCING A BILL -

Producing a bill requires that you come to this screen (by pressing "B" at the Main Screen or by selecting   Project | Report/Bill  at the pull-down menu) and filling in the items discussed immediately above.  But before you do, there must be information that can be included on a bill.  Specifically, you must have created a project (Project | Make) and entered at least one Service, Disbursement, or Receipt for that project in the Log module.

Each time you create a new project, the program assumes that you will want to use billing format #1 whenever you bill that project.  You may, of course, change the program's assumption when you reach that item on the project entry screen.  Format 1, as supplied with the program, provides a great deal of detail, but you may wish to modify it or to create alternate formats (See Creating and Editing Bill Formats & Project ) that will satisfy the needs of your various clients.  But take a look at a bill produced with format 1 before deciding which elements you want to include in your bills.


BillsProjectReports
 Creating and Editing Bill Formats, Custom Reports, and Check Formats

You are able to produce bills, custom reports and checks.  The program also affords you the ability to create new formats, based upon older ones.  You can create a wide variety of bill formats and custom reports to provide almost any type of output you desire, from simple form letters to comma-delimited merge-print files.

Choose  Edit | Bill Format  ,  Edit | Log Report  ,  Edit | Project Report    or  Edit | Check Format   at the Main Screen's menu.  When you do, you'll be presented with a file dialog box requesting the name of the file you wish to edit.  Always choose one of the files that already exists.  Each bill format file name must begin with "BILFMT" and end with ".DAB", and the number of the format shall be sandwiched between (e.g., billing format #1 is contained in a file named BILFMT1.DAB).  A custom report in the Log module must end with ".DAL".  A custom report in the Project module must end with ".DAR".  The check-printing format must be called CHECK.DAK.

Even if you wish to create a new format or report, start with one of the files that already exists, copy it to the clipboard, and close the file.  Then, open a new file, paste from the clipboard, modify the file, and save it with a new name.  For instance, to create billing format #9, you might select BILFMT1.DAB, copy it to the clipboard, and close it.  Then, you could open a new file called "BILFMT9.DAB", paste into the new file what you had copied to the clipboard from BILFMT1.DAB, modify it, and save the new file.

Formatting Codes

Whatever appears in a billing format or custom report file will appear on the bill or report that is produced from it, except for the coding you include.  Wherever a Phrase Code appears in the format or report file, something will be substituted for it in the bill or report that you prepare from it.  For instance, if you want the client's name to appear at a certain place on the bill or report, place  ~D at that place in the file.  Bill format files may also contain Special Instruction Codes, which will be discussed after the following phrase code summary.

Phrase Codes:

From a Project's file or from billing/custom report calculations  (number in parentheses is the minimum number of spaces you must provide on a line to accommodate the item):

~A = Project ID (or Payee ID, for check-printing format)

~B = Client Salutation

~C = RE: (reference line)

~D = Client Name        (or Payee name, for check-printing format)

~d = Client Name        (last name, comma, first name)

~E = Company Name   (use ~e to maintain line spacing even if this item is blank)

~F = Address, line 1     (use ~f to maintain line spacing even if this item is blank)

~G = Address, line 2    (use ~g to maintain line spacing even if this item is blank)

~H = Address, line 3, including zip code   (use ~h to maintain line spacing if this item blank)

~I = Client Phone (30)

~i = Client Fax (20)

~J = Balance owed by client (or, if preparing a trust account section, the account balance)

~K = Date money last received from client

~M = Today's date

~N = Date of this bill

~O = Date last bill was sent to client

~P = Amount still owed of the amount last billed

~Q..~X = Miscellaneous fields on project's record

~Y = Date this billing period begins

~Z = Date this billing period ends

~1 = Page number

~2 = Balance forwarded from last bill

~3 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total services (or, if doing a trust account section, total

                      transactions)

~4 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total disbursements

~5 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total receipts

~6 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total adjustments

~+=  Amount of this bill's total tax on services

~= =  Amount of this bill's total services, plus the total tax on services

~7 = Amount of this custom report/bill's total services+disbursements-receipts+adjustments

~_ = Amount of this bill's total services+disbursements-receipts+adjustments+tax

~8 = Amount owed for this bill

         (total services+disbursements-receipts+adjustments+tax+balanceForwarded)

~9 = Total time spent working in client's behalf during period reported/billed (6)

~! = Project's contingency percentage, if any (5)

~@ = Project's fixed fee, if any (9)

~# = Project's monthly retainer, if any (8)

~$ = Project's hourly rate, if any (8)

~% = Project's hourly rate level, if any (2)

~^ = Project's maximum hourly rate, if any (8)

~& = Project's maximum fee, if any (9)

~* = Project's interest APR, if any (5)

~/ = This bill's invoice number, automatically determined by program sequentially (6)

~~ = Form Feed

From each Transaction appearing in a bill's  |TRANS|  section, described below (number in parentheses is the minimum number of spaces you must provide on a line to accommodate the item):

~a: Transaction description, with preferred automatic formatting (No minimum length; use a 	         single ~ to define the end of this field)

~A: Transaction description, formatted exactly as entered into transaction record (No minimum 	        length; use a single ~ to define the end of this field)

~1: Transaction description drawn from only the description's first line (No minimum length; use 	        a single ~ to define the end of this field) (this code available only with Win95 version)

~b: Transaction begin date, formatted as DD MMM YY (9)

~B: Transaction begin date, formatted as MM/DD/YY (8)

~2: Transaction begin date, formatted as DD/MM/YY (8)

~&: Transaction begin date's weekday name (10)

~#: Transaction begin date's weekday name, abbreviated (3)

~(: Project to which this transaction is linked (12)

~c: Initials of the Person, if any, responsible for transaction (3)

~d: Transaction beginning time, if any (5)

~D: Transaction beginning time, if any, formatted as HH:MM in 24-hour time (5)

~e: Transaction ending time, if any (5)

~): Transaction alarm time, if any (6)

~f: Logged transaction total time (end time, minus begin time), if any (5)

~g: Transaction hourly charge, if any (6)

~h: Transaction amount (or, if doing an interest section, the amount of interest billed) (10)

       See ~k, ~l and ~m below for tax on this amount, if any

~i: Transaction category abbreviation (12)

~I: Transaction category title or name, if doing a bill's category totals section (35)

~j: Transaction type (service, disbursement, receipt, etc) (13)

~k: Transaction tax rate (except when printing checks) (5), or

      Transaction check number (for check format only) (6)

~l:  Tax on transaction amount (except when printing checks) (6), or

      Transaction date's day and month (for check format only) (6)

~m: Transaction amount + tax on amount (except when printing checks) (10)

       Transaction date's year (for check format only)  (2)

~n..~p: Second..fourth line of transaction description, if needed (for check format only) (38)

~q: Spelled transaction amount (for check format only)

~r: Project ID for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (12)

~s: Project reference line (RE:) for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (30)

~t: Total services for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (10)

~u: Total disbursements for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (10)

~v: Total receipts for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (10)

~w: Total adjustments for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (10)

~x: Total hours worked for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (6)

~y: Total tax for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (6)

~z: Amount due for individual project listed on billing summary sheet (10)

~_: Transaction priority (2)

~/ : Number of invoice, if any, on which this transaction appeared (6)

~>: Line feed (move down one line)

Special Instruction Codes:

Special Instruction Codes, most of which begin and end with a vertical line (that's the character above the backslash on most keyboards), are used to issue commands to the program concerning how a bill will be prepared.  For instance, you may wish to tell the program to use a particular header or footer on each page of a bill.  The most important such code, however, is the one that defines how each transaction appearing on a bill should appear.

A Special Instruction Code must begin at the first position on a line, and it must be the only thing appearing on that line.  Certain codes (such as the  |TRANS|  code) require you to fill in the line or two following the code with formatting instructions.  Neither the line containing the code, nor the lines containing the formatting instructions will appear on actual bills, but their effects will be seen in the bill.

 |TRANS=X|	This code must be followed by a single line of formatting instructions.  Together, they describe the section of the bill that will contain all the transactions of the type(s) specified by letter(s) substituted for X.  To include services in this section, substitute S for the X.  To include Disbursements, substitute D.  Likewise, substitute R for Receipts and/or A for Adjustments.  Use G if the section being formatted is for transactions involving a GenLedger trust account you are maintaining for the client. Use C if you are formatting a category summary section.  Use T if you are setting up a bill summary sheet (BILFMT99.DAB), so that totals for each of the client's separate matters can be included.

Each transaction will be formatted in accordance with the codes on the line that follows.  For example, look at these two lines:

|TRANS=SD|

   ~b         ~a                                                            ~c                                       ~f                ~g             ~h

The first line above tells the program to begin a transaction section of a bill and to include in it all the Services and Disbursements.  The second line tells the program to show each transaction in the format defined by the codes.  Remember, neither of these lines will actually appear on a bill.  Take a look at the BILFMT0.DAB, BILFMT1.DAB, and BILFMT99.DAB files that accompany this software to see how the transaction section fits into an actual bill format.

|CAT-SUMMARY|	In case you have clients who want their bills to include a section that summarizes their expenditures by service, disbursement, and receipt category, this code informs the program that it should keep a running total for each category as it prepares the bill.  These totals are then used in the category summary section that you may include near the end of the bill (see BILFMT20.DAB for an example).  Note that this code must be placed near the top of the bill format, before the actual body of the bill.

|IF-XXXXX|	Defines the beginning of an IF section.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDIF|.  This section will be printed only if the condition described by XXXXX is true;  otherwise, the section will be skipped.  XXXXX may be any of the following:

ACCOUNT-EXISTS	Print this section if the project has a related GL account

TRANS=XXXX	Print this section if there have been any transactions of the type(s)

  indicated during the time being reported.  Substitute for the X's one

  or more of the following types: S for services; D for disbursements;

  R for Receipts; A for Adjustments.

INTEREST-CHARGED 	Print this section if the client is to be charged interest

CONTINGENCY-FEE	Print this section if the client is charged a contingency fee

FIXED-FEE	Print this section if the client is charged a fixed fee

TAX-CHARGED	Print this section if the Configuration routine's Tax item is filled in

TOTAL>0	Print this section if the bill's total is greater than zero

TOTAL<=0	Print this section if the bill's total is less than or equal to zero

RESP-PERSON=XXX	Print this section if the project's responsible person is the one whose 	  initials are XXX

See BILFMT1.DAB for examples of how the IF section is implemented.

|ENDIF| 	Defines the end of an IF section, described above.

|HEADER1|	Defines the beginning of the header section for page 1.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDHEADER1|.  Everything between these two lines will be included on at the top of the first page only.  This section is useful if you need to skip some extra lines at the top of the first page in order to make room for letterhead printing, in which case there would be just blank lines in this section.  This section does not recognize the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|HEADER2|	Defines the beginning of the subsequent page header section.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDHEADER2|. Everything between these two lines will be included in each page's header, starting with page 2.  This section recognizes the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill, but after any adjustments for font, line height, or margins, which are discussed below.    See BILFMT1.DAB for an example.

|FOOTER|	Defines the beginning of the page footer section.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDFOOTER|. Everything between these two lines will be included in each page's footer.  This section recognizes the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill, but after any adjustments for font, line height, or margins, which are discussed below.  See BILFMT1.DAB for an example.

|NEWDAY|	Available only with the Windows 95/NT version of the software.  Defines the beginning of an optional section that will be inserted before each new date on a chronological listing of events.  The end of the section is marked with a line that contains nothing but |ENDNEWDAY|. Everything between these two lines will be included in the one or more lines that will be inserted before each new date's events are displayed.  This section recognizes the phrase codes listed above.  Note that this section must appear at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill, but after any adjustments for font, line height, or margins, which are discussed below.

|LETTERHEAD ("TEXT",FONTNAME,FONTSIZE,HORIZ,VERT)|	Defines the text of letterhead that you want printed on the first page.  Within the parentheses, there must be exactly five parameters, each separated from the others by a comma.  "TEXT" is the text that you want printed.  Ensure that you enclose it inside quotes.  FONTNAME is the name of the font in which you want the text printed.  Ensure that you use a legitimate name recognized by your Windows setup and printer and that you spell it correctly.  If you want the font to be bold, add  [B]  to the end of the font name you enter.  FONTSIZE is the point size of the font to be used.  HORIZ and VERT are the horizontal and vertical coordinates at which the top left corner of the text is to appear.  These coordinates are measured in pixels, which are very small.  You may have as many of these LETTERHEAD statements as you need to obtain the appearance you desire.  See BILFMT2.DAB for an example of how this statement is used.

.FF X	Forces the program to issue a form feed (page eject) command to the printer if there are fewer than X lines remaining on the page currently being printed.  This is useful if there is a section of the bill or report that you do not want split between pages.  See BILFMT2.DAB for an example of how this is used to ensure that the last couple of lines and signature block all occur on the same page.

|TOP=X|	Defines the format's top margin.  X is an integer that represents the number of pixels of blank space that will be at the top of every page printed.  The default value is 217.  A pixel is very small, so you may have to do rough adjustments in increments of 50 before fine-tuning your report.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|LEFT=X|	Defines the format's left margin.  X is an integer that represents the number of pixels of blank space that will be to the left of every line printed.  The default value is 170.  A pixel is very small, so you may have to do rough adjustments in increments of 50 before fine-tuning your report.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|LINES=X|	Defines the format's page length.  XXX is an integer that represents the number lines printed on each page.  The default value is 60.  Be careful, for if you select a number that is too large, Windows will simply "throw away" what ever it can't actually print on a page.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|LINEHEIGHT=X|	Defines the height of each line printed.  X is the height in pixels.  The default value is 46. If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed at the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.

|FONTNAME="X"|	Defines the Font, where X is the name of the font in quotes.  Make sure that the name you use is spelled correctly and that the font to which it belongs has actually been installed for use with Windows and your printer.  If the name you enter is not legitimate, your results will be unpredictable.  The default is "Courier New".  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.  If you wish to change to another font within the body of the report or bill, remove the vertical lines from either side of the code and begin it with a period, as in

.FONTNAME="X"

|FONTSIZE=X|	Defines the font's size.  X is the size of the font in points.  The default is 10.  If this code is used, it may be used only once, and it must be placed near the top of a bill or report format, before the actual body of the report or bill.  Note that you may have to use a size quite larger or smaller than you might expect. .  If you wish to change to another font size within the body of the report or bill, remove the vertical lines from either side of the code and begin it with a period, as in

.FONTSIZE=X

|SORT-BY-CAT|	Tells the program that, despite how your other bills may be sorted during this billing cycle, you want this one to be sorted by category first.

|NOFF|	Normally, a form feed (page eject) will be issued at the end of each report or bill printed.  If you prefer that no form feed be issued, use this code.

|NOPB|	Normally, a form feed (page eject) will be issued when the page currently being printed can hold no more lines.  If you prefer that no form feed be issued at this point, use this code.


General Ledger

(available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill)

Setting up a Chart of Accounts

To set up your chart of accounts, select  Edit | GenLedger  at the Main Screen's menu.  You will be presented with a grid, each line of which will contain information about an account.  If you wish to use double-entry accounting, organize your chart of accounts so that all debit accounts appear first, before your credit accounts.

Editorial: Double-entry is an ancient time-consuming means of double-checking the accuracy of the arithmetic used in keeping a business's books.  In the age of computers, which don't make arithmetic errors, tradition is not a good enough reason to stick with an outmoded system.  If you have old double-entry habits that die hard, or if your banker or accountant requires you to keep your books in this manner, BillPower will accommodate you.  But you shouldn't try double-entry bookkeeping unless you have both a clear need for it and a clear understanding of its underlying principles.

Enter only accounts into this grid.  The term "account" implies a body of money.  A bank account is an example, as is your account with a stockbroker.  Don't enter information regarding income and expense categories, since they have a grid of their own (see Entering and Editing Categories).  An Income/expense category is not an actual body of money (account); rather, it represents only the type of transaction that occurs within or among accounts.  With BillPower, you don't even need a chart of accounts to track your income and expense transactions, since the list of those categories is kept separate from the list of accounts.

- Account ID:  A short name for the account.  You may use up to twelve characters, but try to limit yourself to eight, since some reports, in the interest of saving space, will display only the first eight characters of an account's ID.

The sample chart of accounts accompanying the program provides a good example.  Note the scheme by which Account IDs are assigned.  Prefixes are used to identify accounts that are related in some fashion.  The three trust accounts, for example, all have IDs beginning with "T-".  That's because, though you may be charting each of these accounts separately, your bank (where the money is really kept) might actually be keeping all these funds in a single account.  By giving them a common prefix, you can subsequently produce a report that includes all transactions involving all related accounts, but no others.  For example, to prepare a report showing transactions involving all trust accounts, and trust accounts only, you would go the GenLedger Report routine and fill in the "Affected Acct" item with "T-", since all your trust accounts contain that common sequence.  The resulting report would include only those transactions affecting accounts whose IDs contained "T-".  Of course, you could be more specific on the report if you specified "T-SMIJOH", instead of "T-".  That would result in a report showing only transactions involving the John Smith Trust Account.

- Account Name:  The full name of the account, including any bank number associated with it.

- Type:  If you're using this program as a double-entry bookkeeping system, you should enter here the character of this account.  Use "C" for credit, or "D" for debit.  Note that, contrary to your intuition, you use a debit account for Assets, and a credit account for liabilities (remember, the same people who dreamed up double-entry accounting gave us this apparent paradox).  If you don't care about double-entry bookkeeping, just leave this item blank.

- Enter Account Balances:  Normally, you should not alter account balances manually, because the program will handle that for you automatically as you make entries into the system.  But on rare occasions, you may need to have access to a manual method.  If you absolutely need to enter an account's balance manually, check this box.  When you do, a Balance column will open up.  The only times you should need to use this option are when you are initially setting up your accounts and when you have deleted an account and need to re-establish it.

The rest of this section will be filled in at a later date.


Program Configuration

- Persons -

Here, fill in the initials and names of the timekeepers you will be tracking with the program.  You may also designate identifying initials for resources, such as rooms, autos, etc.  Time 'n Bill allows you to track up to four timekeepers/resources, while BillPower will track up to fifty.  You will also be able to enter up to five hourly billing rates for each timekeeper.  That way, when you set up a project, you may tell the program which billing rate (Rate 1, Rate 2, etc.) should be used for the work done in its behalf.

- First Day of the Week -

Select whether you want Sunday or Monday to appear at the left of any calendars displayed by the program.

- AutoUpdate GL (Available with BillPower, but not Time 'n Bill) -

This option allows you to automatically update an account in the general ledger whenever you enter a disbursement or receipt into the program.  For instance, if you want to update the balance in your checking account when you spend money, you have two options: 1) make a disbursement entry and then make a separate entry to update your checking account's balance in the general ledger; or 2) make a single disbursement entry that will automatically update the checking account.

If you select this item, the program will display a GL account item on its receipt and disbursement screens.  Thus, whenever you make a disbursement or receipt, you will have the option on the screen of filling in the GL account that is affected by the entry you are making.  Note that the program will even suggest the account to update if you have set up your categories accordingly, filling in each category's "Affected Acct" item.

- Double-Entry (Not available with Time 'n Bill) -

This option tells the program to allow you to adjust a second GL account whenever you adjust any other.  Most people don't really need double-entry bookkeeping , but if you do, select this item.

- Time / Date Format -

Your choice here determines whether the program displays time in 12- or 24-hour format and whether it accepts dates entered in the MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY format.

-  Active Day -

Here, enter the begin and end times of your work day.  What you enter here will determine the portion of the day that the program scans for free time (during the Find Free Time routine), as well as how much total time is spanned in the program's displays of daily partitions (should you elect to use them).

If you elect daily partitions, you must specify how many minutes are to be in each partition.  If your day is most conveniently divided into half-hour chunks, enter "30".  That will result in the program's dividing each screen listing of daily events into 30-minute blocks.

- Tax -

This item specifies the tax rate at which you will be charging your clients for services performed.  The figure you enter should be a percentage (e.g., 7.5 percent should be entered as 7.5, not .075).  If you make an entry here, it will be the presumptive rate at which the program will tax services, unless a particular service's category has its own individual tax rate (see Category Tax Rate).  Only if you make an entry here will the program display a Tax Rate and a Tax field on the service entry screen.

-Interest-Free Intvl -

This item is used in conjunction with each project's APR item.  The APR item tells the program the annual rate of interest to charge a client for his outstanding debt.  That amount is calculated from the date a bill is prepared, plus an interest-free interval (allowing time for the bill to arrive at your client's office, be processed, and paid).  Here, fill in the number of days following a bill's preparation that you want to elapse before interest begins to accrue.

-Minimum Time Charged -

These items affect how much a client will be charged whenever you do work for him.  The entries you make here, if any, should be in hours, not minutes (eg., 15 minutes would be entered as 0.25).

The first item tells the program to charge the client as if at least the specified amount of time had been spent on his behalf whenever a service is performed.  If you enter 0.25, for instance, the client will be charged as if at least one-quarter hour had been worked whenever you perform a service for him, even if you actually  spend only one minute.

The second item tells the program to charge for blocks of time, rather than for minutes.  Normally, the program charges in intervals of one minute, but you may increase that interval by making an entry into the second item here.  If, for instance, you entered 0.1 (one-tenth of an hour, the equivilent of  six minutes), the program would know that it is to charge a client for an entire six-minute block whenever the amount of time you spend working for him is equal to, or greater than, the threshold of  that six-minute block.  For instance, if you spent 27 minutes on a client's behalf, he would be charged for half an hour, since 27 minutes lies within the 25-30 minute block of time.

Note that neither of these items affects the actual amount of time reflectd on the record you are entering.  The only effect will be upon the automatic calculation of the amount charged for the work reflected on that record.

- Request Password -

If this item is selected, the program will request a password whenever it is loaded into memory.  You may change the password at any time by selecting Tools | Password at the Main Screen's menu.

- Fill in Month's Daily Squares -

When the Main Screen is displayed, the left side consists of a calendar.  By default, each day contains a graphical representation of what has been logged that day.  But it takes time to display each day's information, since the entire database must be scoured for the events falling on that day.  To save time, you may wish to de-select this item, which will result in the calendar's being displayed much more quickly, since it will not be displaying daily time blocks.

- Term Substitutions -

The program offers the option of re-naming several of its terms.  Don't actually make any changes until you've gained some experience with the program.  The "Misc 1".. "Misc 8" items are for the headings of the eight customizable miscellaneous fields  on each Project's information screen .

- Setting Other Configuration Parameters at Start-up -

There are some less commonly used configuration parameters that are not set at the Configuration screen.  Instead, they are set at the program's start-up by the program properties you designate for Windows to load the program.  To modify the program properties, do the following:

A)  With Windows 3.x, highlight the icon used to load the program.  With Windows 95, point to the shortcut icon.

B)  With Windows 3.x, select  File | Properties at the Program Manager menu bar.  With Windows 95, right-click on the shortcut icon and then select the Properties item in the menu that appears.

C) The "Properties" box will then open.  After "BILLPOWR.EXE" at the Command Line field (or the Target item in Windows 95), add a space and any of the following commands, each separated from the others by a space:

/CP=X	Sets the check-writing printer for BillPower.  X is the position occupied by the desired printer in your list of printers (which is obtained whenever you attempt to modify the Printer Setup in any Windows program).

/PU	Prevents unauthorized users on a network from modifying events already entered.  Normally, any user may modify any event.  If you use this /PU switch, the only users who will be able to modify an event are the one who originally entered the event and the one for whom the event was entered.

/AU	Forces the program, upon initial entry, to display a log for ALL users on a network, instead of just the local user.

/WN	Prevents the program from displaying more than the first line of description for each event shown on the Weekly Log printout.  This option allows more events to display within each daily block.

/DV	Forces the program, upon initial entry, to default to the Detailed daily view, instead of the default Monthly view.

/CD	Prevents the program from automatically copying whatever category you select, while filling in an event entry screen, into the description field.  By default, this copying will take place.

/AD	Assuming that the program is set to copy the category to the description field (see /CD above), this item will cause the program to copy the category abbreviation, instead.

/NU	When this program is used on a network, any user may set events for any other user.  That other user may want to have a special message appear on his screen within a minute or two of whenever someone else sets an event for him.  If that is the case, use this /NU option on ALL workstations that access this program.


Preserving Your Data

The importance of backing up your data on a regular basis cannot be overemphasized.  Someday, your hard disk will fail, or your data will otherwise be scrambled or lost, and you had better be prepared.

Each and every day, you should faithfully back up all crucial data to either floppy disks or a tape.  Don't use the same disks or tape every day.  Instead, rotate among several sets of disks or tapes, using a different one each day.  That way, when you need to restore and one or two disks or tapes are faulty, you will still have others that will probably be intact.  One tape or set of disks should be set aside for each day of the week.  On Monday, use the Monday set; on Tuesday, the Tuesday set; and so, on.  Also maintain a set for the end of the last month.

Ideally, you should back up your entire hard disk every day.  But, if you find that to be a rather onerous task, you should at least back up this program's data files.  Assuming that the program's data is kept on drive C, the database files you need to back up are designated as:

C:\INTEGRA\*.DA*

C:\INTEGRA\PROJNOTE\*.DA*

C:\INTEGRA\PROJPLAN\*.DA*


Installation (Including Network Setup)

- Basic Installation -

If you have already executed the SETUP.EXE routine, this software has already been installed, so please skip to the Network Installation section below.

If you have not executed the SETUP.EXE routine (perhaps just having run the INSTALL.BAT routine, instead), you will probably want to set up a Windows icon for the program.  To do so, read on.

- Icon Creation for Windows 3.x -

The program's files should be located in an INTEGRA directory on your hard disk.  If you have Windows 95, skip to the next section.  Otherwise, to complete the basic setup for Windows 3.x:

       1) Go to the Program Manager.  There, you will see that most of your programs are organized into program "groups".  Select the program group in which you wish to include this new program.  It doesn't make any difference which program within the group may be highlighted, as long as that group is the selected (or active) group.

       2) Now, select  File | New  at the Program Manager menu bar.

       3) A "New Program Object" box will open.  Select Program Item and press the OK button;

       4) A "Program Item Properties" Box will open.  Here's what you should enter:

Description:	(here, enter this program's name)

        Command Line:   	BILLPOWR.EXE

                Working Directory:	C:\INTEGRA

  (assuming that the program is on drive C; if not, substitute

   the appropriate letter)

Shortcut Key:	None

       5) Next, press the "Change Icon..." button.  When you do, a "Change Icon" box will appear.  The File Name you should enter is:

C:\INTEGRA\BILLPOWR.ICO

    (again assuming that the program is on drive C; if not,

      substitute the appropriate letter)

Now, press the OK buttons to save these program properties.

       6) If you're a registered user, see the Registered Users section below.

- Icon Creation for Windows 95 -

The program's files should be located in an INTEGRA directory on your hard disk.  Now, to complete the basic setup for Windows 95:

       1) Point to the Start button on the Task Bar.  When you  RIGHT-click the mouse, a menu will appear.  Select "Open" on the menu.

       2) A "Start Menu" box will appear.  Double-click on the "Programs" folder.

       3) A "Programs" box will appear, showing the sub-folders currently included within the Programs folder.  Double-click on the folder in which you wish to include this program.

       4) A box showing the programs contained within the folder will appear.  Select   File | New   at the box's pull-down menu.  Then, select "Shortcut" at the sub-menu that appears.

       5) A "Create Shortcut" box will appear.  Into the "Command Line" item, type

C:\INTEGRA\BILLPOWR.EXE

       6) Then, you'll be asked to select a name or title for this program or shortcut.  Type in anything that is meaningful to you.

       7) The new program will then be added to the folder.  Point to it and RIGHT-Click.  In the menu that appears, select "Properties".

       8) A "Properties" box will appear.  Select the "Shortcut" tab and then press the "Change Icon" button.  When the "Change Icon" box appears, type

C:\INTEGRA\BILLPOWR.ICO

and press the OK button.

       9) Back at the Properties box, press the "Apply" button and then the OK button.

      10) For network installation, see the section devoted to Installation in the program's on-line help.

9) If you're a registered user, see the Registered Users section below.

- Network Installation -

Running the program on a network requires only minor modifications to the basic setup described above.   Basically, you need to add two or three items of information that let the program know where to locate the data files, who the MAIN user is, and (optionally) who THIS user is.  You do so by adding some parameters to the program's "properties".  First , we shall set up the Main User's machine.  Decide who will be primarily responsible for this program within your office and designate him as the Main User.  Then, go to his computer and do the following:

A)  With Windows 3.x, highlight the program icon created above.  With Windows 95, point to the shortcut icon created above.

B)  With Windows 3.x, select  File | Properties at the Program Manager menu bar.  With Windows 95, right-click on the shortcut icon and then select the Properties item in the menu that appears.

C) The "Properties" box will then open.  After "BILLPOWR.EXE" at the Command Line field (or the Target item in Windows 95), add a space and then the following three items (each separated from the others by a space):

 /MD=x:\xxxxxx   is the parameter defining the Main Directory where the program's data files

are to be found (x:\xxxxxx being the drive and directory

designations).

 /MU=xxx             is the parameter defining the Main User (xxx being his initials).  The

main user is the one who is responsible for the program.  He is the

only one who will be able to use a couple of the program's

customization and file clean-up options.

 /TU=xxx             is the parameter defining This User (xxx being his initials).  This parameter

is optional, its minor advantage being that it will cause the program to

 	bypass its "Who are You?" prompt when loading into memory.

For example, you would enter at the Command Line (or Target) field:

        Command Line:          BILLPOWR.EXE  /MD=F:\INTEGRA  /MU=ABC

if you wished to locate the data files in the INTEGRA directory on drive F, the Main User's initials were ABC, and you didn't wish to designate This User.

After saving the modified properties, be sure that you subsequently use this shortcut to enter the program.  No other shortcut that you may find in the Windows environment will have these properties.  Do not assume that just selecting this program's name from some list in Windows will cause this shortcut to be executed.  Take note of where this shortcut is being stored or displayed and use it, and it alone.

After saving the modified properties, you may have a couple of other minor things to do.  If youre going to be using the program on a Novell network, you must flag all the program's files as "sharable" immediately after installation onto the server.  To do so, go to the directory containing the program (e.g., F:\INTEGRA) and run, "FLAG  *.*  SRW".

Some networks, such as LANtastic, may, by default, be using a program called SHARE, which might prevent more than one person from using the program at the same time.  If you find that only one person is able to use the program at any given time, try removing SHARE from the environment on each computer in the office, as well as from the network's environment.

Once the Main User's machine has been set up, you are ready to handle each of the other workstations in the office.  Go to each workstation and follow the Basic Installation for Windows 3.x or the Basic Installation for Windows 95.  The program properties you enter will be almost identical to those found on the Main User's system as described above.  Assuming that all workstations refer to the server as the same drive (e.g., "F:"), the only differences among the various computers' properties setups will be the  /TU  item, since the local user (This User) will differ from machine to machine.

- Automatically Running the Program -

If you want the program to be run automatically whenever you enter Windows, copy the new icon to the Startup group.  If you don't already have a Startup group,

       A) Go to the Program Manager and select   File | New   at the menu bar.

       B) At the New Program Object box, select "Program Group" and press OK.  A "Program Group Properties" box will then open. Enter the following:

                Description:           STARTUP

                Group File:            (leave Group File blank)

       C) Press OK.

After you have a Startup group, youre ready to copy the new icon into it.  To do so, highlight the new icon.  Then select   File | Copy   at the menu bar.  A "Copy Program Item" box will open.  At the "To Group" box, enter "STARTUP", and then press OK.  That's it.  When you next enter Windows, this program will run automatically.

- Registered Users -

If you have registered as a user, you have a serial number printed on the distribution disk's label.  You now need to let the program know that you acknowledge your serial number.  To do so,

   1) Go to the program manager and select   File | Run   at the menu bar.

   2) At the Run box, enter

C:\INTEGRA\BILLPOWR.EXE /RP

at the Command Line field.  This command assumes that you have loaded the program onto drive C.  If not, substitute the appropriate letter.  For instance, if you loaded the program onto drive F,

F:\INTEGRA\BILLPOWR.EXE /RP

 would be entered instead.

   3) When asked for your serial number, enter it.

Once you've completed this process, the program will skip the registration info screen when loading.  But you may confirm your serial number and the number of network workstations for which you are registered by selecting   Help | About   at the Main Screen's menu bar when running the program.


 Problems

-Video-

     - If vertical and horizontal scroll bars appear when the program loads, your window borders may be too wide to allow enough space for this program's screens to display in full.  Reduce the size of your window borders to 1 by running the "Desktop" program (usually found in "Control Panel" group in Windows' Program Manager).  Or, simply "maximize" the program on the screen.

     - If gibberish appears anywhere in the program, the problem is that the video driver you are using cannot produce all the fonts used by the program.  Try another driver.  Video drivers are selected in the Windows "Setup" program (usually found in the "Main" group in the Program Manager).

     - If text on the screen or printer seems improperly sized or does not seem to fit neatly into the areas where it should, there are two possible reasons:

One possibilty is that the video driver you're using may not be optimal.  Some drivers seem to be incapable of producing text of a selected font at the correct size, especially at the higher resolutions.  If you have a choice between a driver that uses Large Fonts or one that uses Small Fonts, choose the Small Fonts driver.  Video drivers are selected in the Windows "Setup" program (usually found in the "Main" group in the Program Manager).

Another possible cause of poorly fitting text is that you may be missing some font files.  Or you may be using font files that have been altered by other software.  This program relies upon the following original fonts supplied by Microsoft Windows:  Arial, Modern, and Courier New.  If they seem to be unavailable, they may be somewhere on your hard disk, but not installed.  Try using the Windows "Fonts" routine (found in the "Control Panel") to find and install (or add) them.

- Printer -

     - If fonts appear to be improperly sized, or if gibberish appears on the printout, make sure that the printer driver that you have installed into Windows is specifically matched to your exact printer model and that the driver was supplied by the printer's manufacturer, not Microsoft.  A "close" match or "emulation" may not be good enough, and Microsoft's drivers are generally less reliable than those provided by printer manufacturers.  If you must use Microsoft drivers, consider using one for a related printer.  If that doesn't work, try one for an earlier model in the same manufacturer's line (for instance, if you have an HP LaseJjet 4, you might get the results you desire by using a LaserJet II or LaserJet III driver).  This program does nothing fancy with your printer.  It relies entirely upon Windows to handle the printing.  So why do other programs appear to work with your printer and its current driver?  Perhaps because those programs don't rely upon the same Arial and Courier New fonts that this program does.  Or perhaps the other programs are somehow bypassing Windows to print directly to the printer.  Be assured that if your Windows printer driver is a good match for your printer, this program's output will be fine.

     - If printouts seem incomplete, or if nothing but a blank sheet is issued by the printer when you do a report, you need to change the settings in your printer driver (or change to a different driver).  Some HP LaserJet printer drivers, for example, are best optimized with the following settings:

From the program's Main Screen, choose   File | Printer Setup.  When the printer driver menu appears, choose  Options.  Set graphics quality to High; set graphics mode to Raster; set text mode to Truetype As Bitmaps.