_______________________________________________ 께께께께께께 W G Software Company 께께께께께께 POB 3829 Austin Texas 78764 (512) 288-1305 께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께께� This guide will cover some of the basics you need to use the Tenant File. Since the program is practical and menu driven, you should be able to get started right away. Still, this guide will not come anywhere close to the helpful manual that comes with registration. The Tenant File has many time saving features and conveniences that are outlined in the complete, easy to read manual. You'll be able to unleash the full power of the Tenant File, and the full potential of your rental management business. With your registration, you also get a larger version, access to our periodic updates and registered user discounts. Print the price sheet/order form from the Shareware Main Menu. *********************** THE MAIN MENU *********************** Here are the options you will see at the Main Menu and a brief explanation of each: The MAIN MENU is where you both enter and exit the Tenant File. To make a selection on this and all other menus, just type the number next to your choice. (Some other entries may require that you press `ENTER' or `RETURN' after typing your selection.) Here is a short description of your choices: 1. NEW PROPERTY SETUP - Setup is done from within the TENANT LEDGERS, which is selection #2 at the Main Menu. You will be asked all pertinent information concerning the new property (ie. address, tenant info, owner, lease, deposit, rent, etc.). 2. TENANT LEDGERS - The most often used part of the Tenant File will be this selection. You will be shown a ledger of your choice. It will display all tenant, owner, and property information available, along with all financial transactions that have been posted to the ledger. Additional transactions may be posted and existing postings may be corrected or deleted. 3. PRINT REPORTS - Other menus will guide you to select one of many reports available. Alphabetized tenant lists and tenants statements, and income/expense summaries are included. 4. AUTOMATIC POSTING - You can have the computer automatically charge each tenant with their monthly rent or auto post any ledger category. You additionally have the option to charge a percentage of rent or current balance due, a flat fee, or the management fee you set up in each ledger. 5. QUICK POSTING MENU - Use this to post new transactions quickly to the tenant ledgers while a posting journal is automatically printed as you go. Several time saving features make it easy. 6. MISCELLANEOUS MENU - You can search for outstanding rents, deposits, and other expenses by selecting this. Also, you can find expired leases, group and total properties by owner name, print messages, close the year and print mailing labels, or edit company information and ledger codes. 7. INACTIVE FILES - When a property becomes VACANT, the Tenant File will automatically transfer the old tenant and all pertinent information to an `inactive file' so that you may begin with the new tenant. This important feature allows you to concurrently maintain histories of all past and present tenants in detail. You can even post new transactions to an inactive tenant ledger, which is very helpful in a situation where the tenant is making payments on back rent owed. 8. EXIT PROGRAM - This takes you out of the TENANT FILE PROGRAM and back to the computer operating system. Your data is saved. INSIDE THE TENANT LEDGER Here are the selections you'll see while inside the TENANT LEDGER, which is #2 at the MAIN MENU. (D)isplay,(E)xit,(F)eatures,(I)nfo,(L)edger,(M)sg,(O)wner,(P)rint D - display another ledger by property number, address, tenant or owner. Also allows you to find available ledgers for new setup. E - return to MAIN MENU F - add, edit, display, or print property features I - add or correct any of the tenant or owner information shown at the top of the screen L - add, correct, delete, or insert ledger postings M - allows you to add two special notes to appear on screen with this ledger. O - switches to the Owner ledger for this same property. When viewing the Owner Ledger, this selection becomes (T)enant, which will allow you to switch back to the Tenant Ledger P - print a statement on this tenant or owner Page Up - Display previous screen of ledger transactions Page Down - Display next screen of ledger transactions Home - Display first screen of ledger transactions End - Display last screen of ledger transactions Right arrow - Move ahead one property number Left arrow - Move back one property number REPORT PRINTING Here are the selections you'll see at the REPORT PRINTING MENU which is #3 at the MAIN MENU: 1 VACANCY REPORT List all properties you have made `vacant' by changing the tenant's name to VACANT. This also transfers the old tenant info to the INACTIVE FILE. 2 TENANT/OWNER LISTING Shows all information about the tenants and owners in one handy report. Can be sorted various ways. 3 TENANT/OWNER STATEMENTS Several sort and report options for this accounting statement. You select either Tenant or Owner Statement and specify date ranges to print. 4 INCOME/EXPENSE SUMMARY Prints detailed transactions or condensed summary of accounting codes with subtotals for each code. Can print summaries for `groups' of properties or apartment units. 5 PAST DUE NOTICES You can send your own past due message out to tenants with full or partial rent amounts due. 6 TENANT INVOICES Allows you to print an invoice for rent due even before you have actually `charged' them rent through the auto posting. 7 USER DEFINED REPORT You pick out which information to print out of all categories and the Tenant File will do the rest. MISCELLANEOUS MENU Additional reports and other choices are selected from here: 1 Search Outstanding Amounts 2 Search Expired Leases 3 Owner Information 4 Year End Closing 5 List Current Messages 6 Mailing Labels 7 Company Heading/Printer 8 Edit Ledger Codes Through #7 Change Company Heading you can set up your company name, which appears at the top of all reports. Also, at this time, you may go ahead and enter the income and expense ledger codes for your transactions, which is selection #8. The process is very simple, and we have provided some examples to help you along. When the MAIN MENU is displayed select #6 (Miscellaneous Menu). Next, from the Miscellaneous Menu select #7 (Company Heading). Enter your own company information as shown below: (Type new entries or press `Enter' to keep current entry) Current Entry: Efficient Real Estate Company Enter COMPANY NAME: ***************************** Current Entry: 1234 Streetname Blvd. Enter COMPANY STREET ADDRESS: ********************** Current Entry: Houston TX 78704 Enter CITY ST ZIP: ********************** Current Entry: (243) 234-5567 Enter PHONE NUMBER(###) ###-####: ************** At the end of this section, you may also select the number of lines per page for your printer. For dot matrix printers, this is the default of 66 lines per page, for most laser printers it is 60. Next, press #8 at the `Miscellaneous Menu' to Edit Ledger Codes. These are the income and expense codes you'll be using. We have provided examples that you may or may not wish to use. There are a few important points to remember when setting up these codes, so please review them carefully! Do not change a code (other than the spelling) once you have used it, or you will certainly cause yourself problems. For example, if INCOME CATEGORY #1 used to be "RENT RECEIVED" and you changed it to be "MONTHLY RENT RECEIVED", that is OK, since they mean the same thing. There are 15 income and 15 expense categories. Each income category should have a corresponding expense category to offset it, if possible. For example, if income category #1 is "RENT RECEIVED", expense category #1 should be "RENT CHARGED". Other similar examples would be "DEPOSIT RECEIVED" and "DEPOSIT CHARGED", or possibly "LATE FEE RECEIVED" to "LATE FEE CHARGED". After each ledger category, you'll be asked if the code should apply to the (T)enant only, (O)wner only, or (B)oth. This is an important decision which affects each of your transactions. Since the Tenant File maintains separate ledgers for the Tenant and the Owner, you must decide which postings will go where. For example, a `RENT CHARGE' should only `go to' the Tenant Ledger, but a `RENT RECEIVED' would show up in BOTH the Tenant and Owner Ledgers. You should be aware that the `STATUS' you select is the `default' status only, and any posting can be `forced' to apply differently. (Changing the status here will not automatically change any previous postings for that reason.) Make sure you are careful in your selections because automatic postings will use this default. Another thing you should know is that to clear out a ledger and transfer the old tenant to the inactive file, you must correct the tenant name to be `VACANT'. This will set up a new ledger on that property and automatically store the inactive tenant information. The property address and owner information will be kept for you in both the active and inactive ledgers. To erase all information in a ledger (including the owner info, address, and all transactions), simply change the tenant name to `EMPTY', and the Tenant File will do the rest. There is a `reset' feature in case a ledger gets hung up from an accidental interruption of the program before saving. Just type an asterisk (*) while in the ledger and follow instructions. Transactions may also be entered from the PROPERTY LEDGER, the QUICK POSTING MENU, or the AUTOMATIC POSTING menu. For the complete Tenant File Manual, technical assistance, information on W G Software updates, larger versions up to 500 properties, user discounts, bug fixes, improvements, and new products - you MUST register. The registration fee is only pennies per property. The registration may be sent to: W G Software Company P.O.Box 3829 Austin TX 78764 Don't get left behind - register now! Thank you for using the TENANT FILE!