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" G I S T "
GENERAL INVOICE SALES TRACKER
VERSION 2.0
TypeRight Corporation
336 Swain Blvd.
Lake Worth, FL 33463-3342
(407) 967-7239 - 9-5 Mon-Fri
(407) 969-3635 - After Hours
PROGRAM AUTHOR: ROBERT F. KEBER
COPYRIGHT (C) 1990
All Rights Reserved
WHAT IS GIST?
GIST (pronounced "Jist") is a program for small business. It is
designed for small firms who produce a written customer invoice (or
"Bill") for every sale. GIST's purpose is to allow those firms to use
a computer for business purposes, but WITHOUT the need for a computer
operator who is trained in Accounting or Bookkeeping.
GIST is an "INCOME" and "Customer Management" program. It is NOT an
accounting program. GIST provides all of the "income" information that
most Accountants need from a small business on a monthly, quarterly or
annual basis. Most Accountants will only require a few of GIST's
Printouts, Bank Statements and Check Stubs to do a firm's books.
But, in addition, GIST provides Management with a great deal of very
useful information, and easily (automatically) handles many routine
monthly chores without mistakes and oversights.
The following are just "some" of GIST's features:
Customers:
- Provides "Last Sale Date" for every customer.
- Provides "Total Amount Spent" for every customer from all sales.
- Prints a Customer Telephone Directory (2 phones with extension #s).
- Prints Two Customer Address Directories (Long & Short Versions).
- Prints Customer Mailing Labels (by Name/City/State/Zip/Area/Etc.).
- Large "Comment Field" for every customer (Special Terms, Etc).
- Prints a Customer Statement or Customer Invoice for any account.
Invoices:
- Use normal "Hand Written" invoices or let GIST print your Invoices.
- Prints Accounts Receivable Statements with matching Mailing Labels.
- Prints a list of invoices with totals for any Time Period.
- Prints a list of invoices with totals for any Employee.
- Prints a list of invoices with totals for any Customer.
- Prints a list of invoices with totals for Accounts Receivable.
- Provides 11 different Sales Categories plus Sales Tax & Shipping.
- Double checks "Calculations" on hand-written employee invoices.
Income:
- Displays each "Unpaid Invoice" on screen.
- Displays "Income Totals by Sales Category" for any time period.
- Displays "Income Totals" from any Employee for any time period.
- Displays "Income Totals" from any Customer for any time period.
- Displays "Outstanding Income" for current Accounts Receivable.
General:
- Holds approximately 725,000 Customer Records.
- Holds approximately 725,000 Invoice Records.
- Data files NEVER need "File Maintenance, Sorting or Purging".
- Word Processing style commands for the majority of field entries.
- Use "NAMES or NUMBERS" for retrieving records.
- Find "Strong & Weak" categories of employee's performance.
- Catch all mistakes in "Math" on paper invoices.
- Unique "BROWSE" mode for viewing Customer & Invoice records.
System Requirements:
- Computer - PC/XT/AT or Compatible
- DOS or MS/DOS Version 3.0 or higher
- Ram Memory - 512k minimum
- Hard Drive Recommended
- Monitor - Mono or Color 80 column
- Printer - 80 Column - Dot Matrix - IBM or Epson compatible.
- CONFIG.SYS FILE - Set to "FILES = 25" (Very Important!)
REGISTRATION
GIST software is a "Shareware" package. This means that we provide you
with a fully functioning sample of the program for you to try out for
a short evaluation time. After a few weeks of use, you are required to
either dispose of the program or send us the purchase price for
registration. Extended use without proper registration is a violation
of our rights under the Copyright Laws of the United States.
Telephone and written support are available to "Registered Users" ONLY!
Please have your registered serial number available when calling us
for assistance, or be sure to include it in any letters you may mail
to us.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BONUS FOR REGISTERING
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Of course, those who register will always receive the latest updated
and improved version of GIST.
But in addition, they will also receive another program called
"GISTTOOL.EXE" which is a "support" program for GIST.
"GISTTOOL.EXE" let's the registered user do five (5) very useful tasks
related to manipulating GIST files (and the list keeps growing).
1 - Rename all ten "Sale Cat" fields and the "OTHER CHGS" field
to whatever category of Names are best suited for your
type of business. Names such as "Parts, Supplies, Sales,
Labor, Rental, Lease, Discounts, Payments, Etc.".
2 - Lock in the "Starting Number" for your Customer ID Numbers.
(GISTTOOL.EXE does all the above by "Patching" GIST.EXE with
the information which you provide.)
3 - EXTRACT Invoices from your "INVOICE.RAN" data file and
create assorted "smaller" invoice data files. This allows
"Date Specific" Invoice files to be created with "Yearly,
Semi-Annual, Quarterly or Monthly" data only.
Another side benefit of this feature is that it allows the
User to keep their "current" Invoice file much smaller in
size. A "Smaller" file size will allow GIST to work at a
faster speed during data searches.
4 - MERGE Invoice files. Allows you to merge together two or
more GIST Invoice files into a larger Invoice file which
can contain many years worth of invoices (up to about
725,000 separate invoices).
5 - CLEAR the "Last Sale Date" & "Total Amount Spent" fields
from all the records in "CUSTOMER.RAN". Then Recalculate
and insert new values for both those fields, based on the
records in the "INVOICE.RAN" file of your choice.
HOW DO I REGISTER?
Mail a Check or U.S. Postal Money Order
(Payable in US Dollars)
Payable to "R. KEBER JR."
TypeRight CORPORATION
Attn: Bob Keber - GIST
336 Swain Blvd.
Lake Worth, FL 33463-3342
PRICE: $69.00 Per Copy
(Florida Residents Add Sales Tax)
Please Call or Write for "Site License" Information
======================================================================
GIST FILES
Files included with GIST
===============================
GIST .EXE - Main Program
SCREENS .OVL - GIST Display Screens (Compressed)
GIST .DOC - This Instruction Manual
CUSTOMER.RAN - Data file of sample records
INVOICE .RAN - Data file of sample records
INSTALL .EXE - Automatically installs GIST on a Hard Drive
BRUN45 .EXE - MicroSoft "Run-Time Module" - Allows Smaller EXE Files.
GISTTOOL.EXE - With Registered Versions only
GISTTOOL.DOC - Instructions for GISTTOOL.EXE
Files which are created when GIST is run
============================================
CUSTOMER.RAN - Random Data file for Customer records
CUSTNAME.NDX - Index file - Customer Names
CUSTNUMB.NDX - Index file - Customer ID Numbers
CUSTOMER.BAK - Backup file - Copy of CUSTOMER.RAN
INVOICE .RAN - Random Data file for Invoice records
INVNAME .NDX - Index file - Invoice Customer Names
INVNUMB .NDX - Index file - Invoice ID Numbers
ACCREC .NDX - Index file - Unpaid Invoices
INVOICE .BAK - Backup file - Copy of INVOICE.RAN
HEADING .DAT - Your Name/Address/Phone for Statement Headings.
EXTRACT .RAN - Random Data file of GISTTOOL.EXE extracted Invoices
LEFTOVER.RAN - Random Data file of remaining Invoices after extraction
SETTING UP GIST ON YOUR HARD DRIVE
If you have a "Hard Drive C:" installed in your computer, the easiest
way to set up GIST is to run the GIST Program called "INSTALL.EXE".
"INSTALL.EXE" will NOT erase or delete any of your existing files.
It will simply "check to see" if a Sub Directory called "C:\GIST"
already exists on your hard drive. If it does exist, it will warn you
and then give the option to "Quit" or "Continue" operation.
If there is no such Sub Directory, GIST will create it, and then
"Copy" all the GIST files to "C:\GIST".
It will also create another file called "GIST.BAT", which it will
store in the Drive C: ROOT Directory. This file is created for those
Users who may not know their way around a Hard Drive too well. Simply
typing "GIST" in the ROOT Directory will automatically switch to
the "C:\GIST" sub directory and then run "GIST.EXE" for the operator.
INSTALL will also check to see if there is an existing file called
"CONFIG.SYS" in the ROOT Directory of the hard drive. If CONFIG.SYS
does NOT already exist, then INSTALL will create such a file for the
operator. The "CONFIG.SYS" file will contain the following very
important commands...
FILES=25
BUFFERS=20
BREAK=OFF
If there already is a "CONFIG.SYS" file existing, then "INSTALL.EXE"
will examine it's contents and either insert or adjust the "FILES="
command to "FILES=25" which is necessary for GIST (and lots of other
programs) to run properly.
You can read the commands listed in "CONFIG.SYS" by entering the
following command from your system prompt.
TYPE C:\CONFIG.SYS
..... and if there is such a file, it's contents will be shown on
your screen (or you can edit or read the file with your Word Processor
or Text Editor).
It is "VERY IMPORTANT", for the "FILES=25" command to be set to at
least 20 or more files, or GIST will run into a "Brick Wall" as it
tries to create and access many of it's associated files. The same is
true for many (lots & lots) of other programs as well. So it's not a
bad idea to set this to "25" files, and never change it again (unless
another program tells you to increase it to an even higher number).
The "FILES=" command is one where "Too much won't hurt, but too little
will".
NO HARD DRIVE?
The same instructions as above are true (about "FILES=25") even if you
don't have a Hard Drive and are trying to operate GIST from a
removable disk (which will work, but is not recommended).
The older and smaller 360k floppy disks are just too small for GIST.
While all of the important GIST files will fit on the 360k floppy, it
won't leave much room for the data files to grow in size, and you will
very shortly be getting the "out of disk space" error message.
But the newer 720k and 1.2 or 1.4 Meg disks do have some ability for
running GIST, especially if the Registered version is obtained. This
is because the GISTTOOL support program can keep INVOICE.RAN as small
as necessary to stay within the disk size limitations.
When there is no Hard Drive, most users have (or create) a "BOOTUP"
disk which they use to start up the computer all the time. On such a
disk, you should also have the "CONFIG.SYS" file present, as this file
is what sets many very important features in your system during the
BOOTUP process. Through it's lines of commands, it allows you to run
many more complex programs (again, make sure it contains "FILES=25").
See your DOS or MS/DOS User Manual for more information on creating
your "CONFIG.SYS" files.
GETTING STARTED
Once you have gotten all the GIST files installed, all that is
necessary to "RUN GIST" is to BOOTUP and....
.... Enter the command.........: GIST <enter>
GIST will then load, create several new disk files, and present you
with the "Main Menu" screen.
To make things a bit easier for you, we have included a couple of
"sample" customer and invoice data files. This will save you the time
of having to enter your own data just to try out the GIST program.
Feel free to play around with these sample files, and "get the hang"
of how the program works. That's the easiest and fastest way to learn
(most fun way too).
Run through all the different Menus and features, and try everything.
Find records, add new records, edit records, delete records. Print out
some labels, directories, statements and invoices. Make sure that
everything in GIST works well with all of your equipment. That's what
"Shareware" is all about,"Try before you buy".
DATA ENTRY & CURSOR CONTROLS
FIELD EDITING -- CURSOR MOVEMENT
INSERT KEY: Toggles between "Insert" & "Overwrite" of characters.
Cursor changes shape for each mode.
DELETE KEY: Deletes character at cursor position.
BACKSPACE.: Deletes character to left of cursor position.
LEFT ARROW.: Move cursor left one space.
RIGHT ARROW: Move cursor right one space.
UP ARROW...: Jump to previous field.
DOWN ARROW.: Jump to next field.
CTRL LEFT..: Move cursor left one word.
CTRL RIGHT.: Move cursor right one word.
HOME KEY...: Move cursor to beginning of field.
END KEY....: Move cursor to end of field entry.
CTRL END...: Delete field entry from cursor position to end.
PAGE UP....: Jump to top field.
PAGE DOWN..: Jump to bottom field.
F-1 KEY....: Exit "Current Routine" and return to the previous menu.
F-5 KEY....: Use for "Quantity" entries in Invoice Sales Categories.
F-10 KEY...: Exit from the GIST program.
YES/NO QUESTIONS:
In the majority of cases, when GIST asks a question to be answered by
a "Y" or "N", hitting the "Enter" key is the same as entering a "Y"
(for Yes). But there are a few places where the reverse is true (Enter
= "N"), and still a few other places where you MUST hit a "Y" or "N",
and the "Enter" key won't be accepted. It sounds confusing, but it
works well and makes good sense in practice. When in doubt, just hit
the "Y or N" keys.
DATE ENTRY FIELDS:
The Date format is always "MM/DD/YY"
Anywhere in GIST where you enter a "date" into a field, the date will
be checked for validity (eg: 02/30/90 is no good). If the date is
invalid, a "Warning Window" will appear on screen, and the date will
not be accepted.
Dates may be entered as 01/02/90 or 01-02-90 or just 010290.
All Invoices require an Invoice Date. You will not be able to save an
Invoice record to disk without entering a proper date in the "Invoice
Date" field.
To mark an Invoice "Unpaid", don't enter anything in the "Paid Date"
field. You accomplish this by just hitting the "Enter" key.
The OLDEST date GIST can handle is 01/02/50 (Year = 1950)
The NEWEST date GIST can handle is 12/31/49 (Year = 2049)
This range effectively gives GIST a 100 year date range.
SEARCH KEYS:
When GIST asks you to enter some information to search for a
particular record.....
If asking for an ID Number, for the best results try to enter the
entire number (not just part of it).
If asking for a Customer's Name, for the best results only enter the
first three or four characters of the last name. First names are
ignored. Never enter more than 22 characters of any last name for a
search key.
If GIST is unable to find a record which matches the "Search Key"
information which you provided, an "on screen" message may appear
saying so. You then have the option of trying again.
But in some cases, if an "Exact Match" is not found, GIST will present
the "Next Closest Match" for your inspection, and it will then ask if
that record is correct (as in the "Browse" mode).
"CUSTOMER DATA ENTRY" SCREEN
===============================
"LAST SALE DATE" & "TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT" FIELDS
These two fields are located on the "Customer Data Entry Screen". They
are "calculated", "filled in" and "maintained" automatically by GIST.
They cannot be changed or edited by an operator.
As you enter "New" invoices, these fields will be updated with the new
data automatically.
The amount displayed in the "Total Amount Spent" field is always
"rounded off" to the nearest dollar amount, and there will never be
any "cent" value shown (other than "$ .00"). As a result, the values
displayed are "close approximate" values.
When an Invoice is "Deleted", the amount of that invoice will be
subtracted from the "Total Amount Spent" field.
When an Invoice is "Edited", if the Invoice "Total Amount" field is
changed, the "Total Amount Spent" field will be adjusted "Up or Down"
by the amount of the change in the "Total Amount" field.
The GIST "Support Program" called "GISTTOOL.EXE" offers the capability
of "Clearing & Recalculating" the "Last Sale Date" & "Total Amount
Spent" fields in each customer record. The new data placed into these
fields will be based upon the Data in the Invoice file in use at that
time (with "Registered" versions only).
TWO "NAME" FIELDS
GIST provides two "Name" fields for entries. The Last/Business name
field contains 30 characters, and the First name field contains 20
characters. Combined together, the two fields total a maximum of 50
characters for names.
For reasons of spacing on paper and labels, only the first 30
characters of the combined two name fields will be printed on any GIST
printout.
For this reason, we suggest that you keep all "First Name" field
entries as reasonably short as possible.
NAMES & ID NUMBERS AS "KEYS"
After a "Customer" or an "Invoice" have been assigned an "ID number",
and the record is saved to a disk file, you will no longer be able to
change those numbers through any of the GIST "Editing" routines.
Once assigned, the "ID Numbers" are "Keyed" to the "Names", and "Vice
Versa". They are permanently "MATCHED" to each other. The only way to
change those "Names & Numbers" is to "Delete" the entire record, and
then re-enter it all over again.
THE "ZIP CODE" FIELD
The Zip Code field has some special features. The nine digit Zip Codes
may be entered as "12345-6789" or as "123456789". Five digit Zip codes
need ALL five numbers (no partial Zip Codes), or GIST will not accept
the field entry and will "clear" the field.
THE "TELEPHONE NUMBER" FIELDS
The Telephone Number fields have a special feature in that the entries
may be made as "123-4567" or as "1234567".
"INVOICE DATA ENTRY" SCREEN
================================
THE "DATE" FIELDS
Both "Date" fields have some special features. Dates may be entered as
"01/02/90" or "01-02-90" or just as "010290". The "Format" for ALL
date entries in GIST is "MM/DD/YY".
To "Mark" an Invoice as "Unpaid", don't enter anything into the "Paid
Date" field (just hit "Enter").
All date entries are checked for "Validity" before being accepted by
GIST.
CATEGORY OF SALES
GIST breaks your sales down into 13 different categories of "income".
If you operate a "Service" type of business (with "Per Hour Labor"
charges), we offer the following suggestion. Use the "OTHER CHGS"
sales category for your "Labor" charges, and "Sales Cat #1" for your
"Parts" charges.
Most "Service" invoices only have 3 charges listed on them (parts,
labor & Sales Tax). By arranging the categories as we suggested above,
data entry is faster by using your "Page Down" key to jump directly to
the "Labor" field.
DISCOUNTS & PARTIAL PAYMENTS
We suggest that "Sales Cat #9" be used for "Customer Discounts". To
make this type of an entry, just enter a "negative" number as the
discount amount in the field (-25.00).
GIST is not really designed for accounts with "Monthly Payments" or
"Partial Payments. But if you occasionally run into this situation,
you can handle these payments much the same as a discount. Use "Sales
Cat #10" for "Payments" and simply enter the amount of the Customer's
payment as a "Negative" number. By so doing, the Invoice "Total" will
change to the new balance due after partial payment. But leave the
Invoice "Paid Date" as "unpaid" until "Payment In Full" has been
received for that Invoice.
This method will keep your customer balances correct for "Statements"
and "Accounts Receivables". BUT it will give your Accountant "a fit"
if you don't "delete" the "Partial Payments" field once the Invoice
has been paid in full. That's because "NOT Deleting" any negative
partial payment entries will improperly decrease your reported taxable
"income". So when you mark your invoices as "Paid In Full", don't
forget to delete any amount in the "payment" field at the same time.
Note: GISTTOOLS.EXE makes all of the above is easier and simpler, for
it can "Rename" all of the GIST "Sales Cats" to whatever eleven (11)
character name you wish. Those new names then will appear on the
screens and on printouts in place of "Sale Cat #" (with Registered
versions of GIST only).
AUTOMATIC "QUANTITY" PRICING
In the "Sales Category" fields (1 through 10), as well as in the
"OTHER CHGS" field, you have the ability to calculate "Quantity" math
problems such as.....
379 Items at $14.37 each = ? 3.7 Hours Labor at $49.39 each = ?
As soon as you move the cursor into any of the "Sale Cat" fields, at
the bottom, center of the screen a message saying "F-5 = Quantity"
will appear. That simply means that if you have a problem like the one
shown above, just hit the "F-5" key.
When you do, an "On Screen Window" will appear to take your "Quantity"
and "Price Each" information. GIST will then automatically insert the
correct total into the "Sales Cat Field", and the "Window" will dis-
appear.
By using this "Window" method, we give you the convenience and
accuracy of automated "Quantity" pricing, without wasting a lot of
your time and screen space (especially if you seldom have a need for
"Quantity" pricing). To add a "Quantity" and "Price Each" field into
"EVERY" GIST sales category in a conventional manner would create 22
additional data fields for you to "Wade Through" as you entered each
and every invoice, whether you needed them or not.
THE "SALES TAX" FIELD
The Sales Tax percentage rate varies greatly from State to State. As a
result, we had to program this field with that in mind.
If your tax rate is ".05%", just enter "5" or "05".
If your tax rate is ".065%", just enter "065".
If your tax rate is ".0753%", then just enter "0753"
If your tax rate is ".12%", then just enter "12"
If you are entering a "Tax Exempt" invoice (such as for a church),
then don't enter anything in the Sales Tax field (just hit Enter).
If you live in an area where you have a City or County Sales Tax as
well as a State Sales Tax, then you will have to combine the two tax
rates into one figure. Example: 6% State Tax + 4% City Tax = 10%
Combined Sales Tax rate.
CLEARING THE DECKS FOR ACTION
Once you have gotten GIST up and running, play around with the sample
data files. Get samples of all of the various "Printouts". "Edit" and
"Delete" records. "Add New" records. Try your "Print Screen" key on
several different screens. In general, make sure that GIST works well
with all of your equipment.
If you have trouble with "Printing", or with GIST "Hanging Up" your
computer, or with GIST repeatedly giving error messages, check the
following items.
- Make sure that you are using a "Dot Matrix - IBM/Epson/Compatible"
printer. "Daisy Wheel" printers, or "non-compatible" printers just
won't work properly (or won't work at all) with GIST.
- Make sure the printer is plugged into "Port #1" of your computer.
- Make sure that the version of DOS or MS/DOS you are using is
version 3.0 or higher. Older versions won't work properly.
- Make sure "CONFIG.SYS" is set as described in the previous pages.
When you think you understand the operation of GIST, then it's time to
erase the sample data files so that you can create your own "for real"
data files.
To do this, "exit" from GIST (F-10 Key) and get back to your system
prompt. Then enter the following commands:
-... Erase all Random Data Files with the command.: DEL *.RAN <enter>
-... Erase all Index files with the command.......: DEL *.NDX <enter>
-... Erase all Backup files with the command......: DEL *.BAK <enter>
Now you're ready to run GIST and begin building your own data files.
IMPORTANCE OF MAKING BACKUP FILES
GIST is a very complex program. It was written using a combination of
three different programming languages, and contains many very advanced
programming routines (Binary Indexed Trees, etc.).
As such, it performs very well, but it doesn't "take kindly" to being
mistreated by operators. The worst thing an operator can do to GIST is
to take a "short-cut exit" from the program by simply turning off the
computer, or doing a "warm boot".
During a proper exit (F-10 key), GIST does quite a large number of
tasks related to closing files properly and restoring the RAM memory
to normal. To intentionally and repeatedly "bypass" these tasks is
risking serious damage (or even a complete loss) of the data files.
While we have taken every step we could think of to minimize that kind
of disaster, on rare occasions it can still happen. This same problem
can occur with most programs that access files, and it's not really a
problem that's unique "only" to GIST. But we prefer to at least give
you some warning about taking "Short Cuts".
Because of this possibility of Data loss, we can't stress strongly
enough the importance of keeping "Backup" copies of your data files.
By "Backup" files we don't mean just the backup files that GIST gives
you the option of creating upon an exit, but other "insurance" backup
copies of your "RAN" files kept on separate disks.
WHAT FILES DO I NEED TO BACKUP?
When you decide to make "Backup" copies of your records, you really
only NEED copies of four files: CUSTOMER.RAN, INVOICE.RAN, GIST.EXE
and SCREENS.OVL (and also GISTTOOL.EXE for Registered Users).
If you have enough disk space, or if your "RAN" files are not too
large, you can also backup all the files with names ending with "NDX"
and "DAT". But backing up those files is not critical, as GIST will
simply recreate them if they are missing or corrupt.
CONVERTING & RENAMING "BAK" FILES TO "RAN" FILES
If you should ever want to convert "INVOICE.BAK" or "CUSTOMER.BAK" to
a Random work file, do so by entering the following commands from your
system prompt:
-... Erase the old "RAN" files.............: DEL *.RAN <enter>
-... Erase all the old "NDX" files.........: DEL *.NDX <enter>
-... Rename both Backup files..............: REN *.BAK *.RAN <enter>
Then, when you run GIST again, it will automatically create new,
updated "NDX" files, and you're ready to go again.
Copyright (C) TypeRight Corporation 1990
All Rights Reserved
The term "IBM" is a registered trademark of the IBM Corp.
The term "DOS" is a registered trademark of the IBM Corp.
The term "EPSON" is a registered trademark of the Epson Corp.
The term "MS-DOS" is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corp.