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Page 79
SECTION I PRINTING SALESMAN AND SUPPLIER DATA
TFO 12-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
This procedure will take you through the steps to print the salesman and
performance file figures on a selected salesman. The sales and performance
data is printed by going through the <S>-Sales module. Since the screens are
so similiar for suppliers and salesman, printing instuctions are combined in
this one procedure. The only difference is when you print suppliers using
<V>-Vendors from the Main Menu, you will receive all suppliers on the report,
whereas with <S>-Salesman you will print only the salesman that you select to
print.
See the "Printing Performance Data" procedure (TFO-13) for printing the whole
performance file by month or by salesman. See the <V>-Vendor selection from
the Main Menu (or <R>-Reports from the Main Menu) to report supplier sales,
margin and costs information gathered from Sales Orders. Again Sales Order
detail is only available when using the M a n a g e r version.
PROCEDURE:
1. Using the Main Menu screen, select <S>, <Enter>, for "Salesman" to enter
the "Salesman File Maintenance" menu.
Sales File Maintenance
Select one of the following letters:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| <A>-Add or edit salesperson data <C>-Change password |
| <D>-Delete sales data <I>-reIndex files |
| <P>-Print salesperson data <R>-Replace codes |
| <S>-Sales perf. report <T>-Salesperson conTact report|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
NOTE: Likewise select <V>, Vendor, to print supplier data. All future
reference in this procedure will be for the Salesman data. Substitute the word
'vendor' for 'salesman' as you read.
A. Select <P> for "Print Salesman Data", and emter a salesperson code:
Page 80
SECTION I PRINTING SALESMAN AND SUPPLIER DATA
TFO 12-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Change Salesman Data
-------------------------------------------------------------- Current Salesman
| SALESMAN COMMISSON BASIS (S or P) COMM % 00.0 |
| NAME |
| ADDR |
| ADDR |
| CITY STATE ZIP |
| HOME TELE NO SALESMAN CODE |
| SOC. SEC. NO HIRE DATE / / |
| NOTES |
--------------------------------------------------------------
Enter salesman code... or Esc to Quit
I. After entering the code you will need to enter a range of dates:
---------------------------------- N O T E S -----------------------------------
The sales statistics can be for any period,. e.g., 1, 3, or 12 months. Enter
the beginning and ending month/year (mm/yy), or <Enter> for the entire file.
Begin report with month/year / End with month/ year /
a. Enter either the dates that you desire or touch <Enter> for
the complete file.
b. The bottom of the screen will clear, and you will be see:
Beginning month: mm/yy
Ending month: mm/yy
Verify that printer is ready...
Is all O. K? (Y or N)
Page 81
SECTION I PRINTING SALESMAN AND SUPPLIER DATA
TFO 12-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. The report will print should you answer with <Y>.
a). A one-page report for each selected salesman will
be printed and will look much like the salesman
screen with performance data added at the bottom.
b). If there are no performance figures on file, the
report will print:
NO PERFORMANCE FIGURES ON FILE FOR <selected name>
c). All columns will be totaled and percentage
figures will be given.
SUMMARY:
Here we printed the salesman file data along with the performance file data on
a single sheet of paper. This procedure is simply a method to check the
accuracy of the various salesman files and furnish hard copy on a particular
salesman.
Regarding suppliers (vendors) each vendor is printed indicating just summary
total figures for sales, margin and cost to date.
Again, for detail analysis of vendor or supplier business see the <R>-Reports
selection off of the Main Menu or <V>-Vendors.
- E N D -
Page 83
SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA
TFO 13-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
This report can also be printed from the <R>-Reports selection of the Main
Menu. See TFO 16.
Salesman performance is reported in order to verify the accuracy of the data in
the files and to report on whether:
A. Performance goals are being met for each period.
B. The current period is better than the prior period.
C. The current period is better than the same period last year.
The salesman and performance data is printed by going through the Salesman File
routine. This procedure will take you through the steps to print the salesman
and performance file figures for a selected period of time in either salesman
or month order. See the "Printing Salesperson" procedure (TFO-12) for printing
the salesman and performance file figures for selected salesmen. This procedure
prints all salesman on one report.
PROCEDURE:
1. Using the Main Menu screen, select <S>, <Enter> for "Sales" to enter the
"Salesman File Maintenance" menu.
Sales File Maintenance
Select one of the following letters:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|<A>-Add or edit salesperson data <C>-Change password |
|<D>-Delete sales data <I>-reIndex files |
|<P>-Print salesperson data <R>-Replace codes |
|<S>-Sales perf. report <T>-Salesperson conTact report |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
Page 84
SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA
TFO 13-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Select <S>-"Sales perf. report", and enter the dates for the data that
you wish on the report:
SALESMAN PERFORMANCE REPORT
This report can be by either in salesman name or period sequence.
Balances can be reflected by selecting beginning & ending periods.
The report can be limited to one month, three months, six months or a year.
Enter the beginning and ending performance months (mm/yy):
Begin report with month [ / ] End report with month [ / ]
a. Should you enter the beginning period with a date that is
greater than the ending period, the following message will
appear:
Ending month must be greater than beginning month.
< to Continue [ ]
I. You will then be returned to the date prompt.
b. If the beginning month has no data in it the first month that
does have data will be reported.
2) Make a selection from the following screen:
Page 85
SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA
TFO 13-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales Performance Report Listings
-----------------
Beginning month: 01/89 | A-Alphabetic |
Ending month: 01/89 | M-Monthly |
| Esc-Quit |
-----------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>
Sequence will report in salesman order
a. Selecting <Esc> will return you to the "Salesman File
Maintenance" screen.
b. Should you select <M>, the screen will display:
PREPARING report by MONTH ...
I. The screen will clear and ask you:
Verify that printer is ready and on-line...
< to Continue [ ]
II. As the printer begins, the screen will print:
Printing month: 01/84
c. Should you select <A>, the screen will display that same as
when selecting months, except the bottom box will display the
salesmans name as the report is printed:
Printing salesman: <name>
3) The report will finish and eject, and the screen will return to
the "Salesman File Maintenance" menu.
Page 86
SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA
TFO 13-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY:
In both the Printing Salesman Data procedure (TFO-12) and the Printing
Performance Data procedure (TFO-13) the reports will assist you in maintaining
the accuracy of the files. The percentage figures indicate whether sales
performance is better than the previous month, whether sales performance is in
line with projected goals, and how performance compares to the same period last
year.
When doing year end closing see the <U>-Utilites and <Y>-Year to date
selections. Figures to date are transferred and become year to date figures for
last year. Comparisons to last years figures require that you be using The
Front Office through a year-end closing. However, the edit of the performance
file will permit you to enter your last year's figures, should you have them.
Please note the similarity when printing the Vendor Sales Report especially
regarding selection of alphabetical or monthly sequence when using the Manager
version.
- E N D -
Page 87
SECTION I CHANGING FILE LOCATIONS
TFO 14-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
Use this procedure when running TFO on a hard disk drive that offers more than
one volume or partition, e.g., "D", "E", etc.
See the <U>-Utilities program selection from the Main Menu screen. You can
designate where your .dbf files and .ntx files reside. Should you ever wish to
move your files to a different logical drive on the hard disk, you will need to
inform the memory file "Iamclear.mem" of the new drive letter. This routine
permits you to do just that, but be careful, because if the files are not where
you say they are, you will not be able to re-enter (bring up) The Front Office.
If this should happen, you can run the program TFO UTILITY from the DOS prompt
and select <D>-Drive change to reset the designation without entering TFO.
PROCEDURE:
1. Select <U>, <Enter>, for "Utilities" from the Main Menu screen, and you
will obtain the following screen:
T F O - Maintainance Utilities
Select one of the following: [ ]
---------------------------------------------------------------
| C-Code maintenance D-change system Date |
| F-File location change H-H E L P |
| I-Import foreign file M-Master file reconstruct |
| P-reindex Prospect files * S-Set up |
| W-Walknet Y-Year end closing |
---------------------------------------------------------------
* - Usually done at installation time.
A. Select <F> for "File location change", and the computer will respond
with a new screen:
Page 88
SECTION I CHANGING FILE LOCATIONS
TFO 14-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drive Assignment Change
Use this routine to change the Hard Disk drive letters that are assigned to
each HD file. The .dbf files and .ndx files MUST reside on the drive for the
new letter that you specify. CAUTION--USE WITH CARE--If an error occurs, move
the .dbf and .ndx files to the chosen drive. You can also run this routine
from the DOS prompt by typing "TFO UTILITY" to correct any assignment errors.
The PROGRAM FILES (.OVL, .EXE, .MEM, Word Processor) will be on:
DRIVE LETTER C
DIRECTORY TITLE TFO e.g., TFO
The DATABASE FILES (.DBF, .DBT, .NTX) will be on:
DRIVE LETTER C
DIRECTORY TITLE TFO e.g., TFO\TFOFILES
Esc-Quit
1) Should you hit <Esc>, the "Utilities Maintenance" screen will
appear, and you will have exited this program.
2) Entering drive and directory data will cause the .dbf and .ndx
files to have the new letter as their prefix within the memory
file of The Front Office.
a. The files are not physically changed to the new drive; you
must do this from the system prompt using the "copy" command.
I. For example: "copy c:\tfo\*.dbt d:\sales" will
transfer overlay files to a new sub-directory called
"\sales" on drive D:.
3) A few seconds will pass, and you will see the message informing
you of the new drive letter that you had entered:
PROGRAM FILE DRIVE IS NOW: C:\TFO
DATABASE FILE DRIVE IS NOW: C:\TFO\TFOFILES
The Front Office file locations have been renamed.
4) Do not use letters A: or B: as this file change function is only
applicable to hard drive systems.
Page 89
SECTION I CHANGING FILE LOCATIONS
TFO 14-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) After the change is complete, you will be returned to the
"Utilities Maintenance" screen.
SUMMARY:
This is a fast way to reassign drive letters and directories after you may have
moved your files. The "Iamclear.mem" file is automatically changed, since this
is where the files are prefixed with the proper letter/directory so that the
system knows where to locate the various database (.dbf) and index (.ntx)
files.
Database files will not be disturbed when using S-Setup in TFO UTILITY, but to
be safe do have a current backup handy.
- E N D -
Page 91
SECTION I CALL REPORTS
TFO 15-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
The Front Office will report sales contact information or call report results.
First call reports mean that a salesperson has a simple and fast way to report
to management and, secondly, the salesperson has a reminder system for prospect
and customer relations. It permits fast recall to the screen or to the printer
of prospect contacts. Each call record can be as long as 64,000 characters or
about 20 pages.
The last contact report that was entered will appear on the Edit Routines
screen when a prospects name is summoned. The salesperson can add to and change
the call information from the edit screen while the salesperson is talking on
the phone with a prospect. The telemarketing module permits such editing of
contact reporting as well. In addition, whenever you use the automatic dialer,
<T>-Tph Call, from the Edit Routines screen, the call report screen will become
available for completion. The time that you are on the phone is clocked from
the time that you enter the call report screen until the time that you see the
"Hang-up Receiver" notice. Elapsed time of calls is based on how long the call
report screen is used for a particular call, so "hang-up" when finished with
your call not just when fishined filling-in the call information. You do both
together, but you can continue your conversation.
This procedure deals with the more complete system available for reporting call
information, deleting call data and manipulating the call report file using the
<C> - Calls selection from the Edit Routines screen.
Should calls exists on a prospect, you can print call reports by using the <D>-
Delete selection from the "Edit Routine" screen. Because when you attempt to
delete a prospect record with call records on file you will be given the
opportunity to print out the calls for that prospect before actually deleting
the calls. Simply answer the final delete question with <N> after printing the
calls.
Use the <S>-Sales selection from the Main Menu and select sales conTact report,
<T>, to print all calls for a particular salesperson for a selected range of
dates.
PROCEDURE:
1. After obtaining the prospect or customer record on the Edit Routines screen,
select <C>-Calls from the Edit Routines Menu and the following screen will
appear:
Call Report Update
CALL REPORT FOR:
---------------------------------------------------------
| COMPANY |
| NAME TPH |
| CITY STATE |
| PROSPECT CD LAST CONT / / FOLLOW-UP / / |
---------------------------------------------------------
No call report data on file
<A>-Add <D>-Delete <E>-Edit/View <H>-H E L P <P>-Print Esc-Quit [ ]
Page 92
SECTION I CALL REPORTS
TFO 15-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: This screen with it's message indicates that there are no calls on file
as yet for this prospect.
A. Otherwise the last call record as was printed on the Edit Routines
screen for this prospect will remain on the Call Report screen along
with the list of contact names:
Call Report Update
CALL REPORT FOR:
--------------------------------------------------------
|COMPANY |
|NAME TPH |
|CITY STATE |
|PROSPECT CD LAST CONT / / FOLLOW-UP / / |
----------------------------C A L L R E P O R T--------------------- Min : Sec
CONTACT DATE 07/14/89 LAST CONTACT DURATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------C O N T A C T N A M E S----------------------------
No | NAME | PHONE | JOB TITLE
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
1) To obtain a different prospect or customer record, touch <Esc>
twice to return to the Edit Routines Menu and use <S>-Search.
a. Once the new record is returned you touch <C>-Calls, and you
will be returned to this Call Report Menu.
NOTE: Should you wish to not add a call at this time, touch <Esc> once and you
will receive the Call Report menu.
Page 93
SECTION I CALL REPORTS
TFO 15-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) The cursor will be located at the follow-up date field in case you
wish to change it, then the contact date, and then the contact name.
NOTE: The follow-up date is always created based on the number appearing in the
days to automatic follow-up. See "Utilities" to change this number. If
the number is 10 then the follow-up date will always be a date 10 days
later than the current date.
a. When filling in the call record the list of contact names is
given as a reminder.
I. Contact names are changed using the <N>-contact Names
selection from the Edit Routines screen.
3) The call report window will clear so you can fill-in this added
call.
NOTE: Touch <F1> at any time to receive a pop-up window about cursor control
keys and H E L P on editing calls.
a. The <Enter> key should not be used to end each line, because
"W", word-wrap is on.
b. Your report will scroll in the window as you exceed the space
alloted.
4) Touch <Esc> when you are finished typing, and you will see the
following on the bottom:
<E>-Edit <Q>-Quit <W>-Write
a. Touch <W> to save the above call record to the file.
b. Touch <Q> to not save the above call record to the file.
c. Touch <E> to change the above call record.
B. When finished with this call report the bottom menu box will return:
Page 94
SECTION I CALL REPORTS
TFO 15-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<A>-Add <D>-Delete <E>-Edit/View <H>-H E L P <P>-Print Esc-Quit [ ]
2. Touch <Esc> to quit and return to the Edit Routines screen.
3. Select <A>-Add, to write additional reports to this prospect's call report
file.
1. Follow step "1" above to add more calls.
4. When you select <P>-Print calls, the bottom of the screen will clear and you
will see:
List to either <S>-Screen <P>-Printer Esc-Quit [ ]
A. Touch <S>, and each of the calls previously entered will be listed one
entry at a time for the prospect/customer by date sequence for the
chosen current name.
1) Touch <Enter> to see the next date and to step through each call
record.
2) Selecting <P> for printer will print all the call or contact records
on the printer after prompting for proper paper alignment.
NOTE: Printing the "Sales Call Report" should always be done before deleting
contact file information.
Should you wish to print the calls for a particular salesperson, then go
to the Salesperson module and select T-salesperson conTact report. See
procedure TFO-20.
Printing call report....
Page 95
SECTION I CALL REPORTS
TFO 15-5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Typing a <D> for "Delete" from the Call Report Update menu will cause the
screen to clear and the following message to be displayed, providing call
reports are on file for the "name" displayed: (See Paragraph 1 above)
Call Report Update
CALL REPORT FOR:
------------------------------------------------------
| COMPANY |
| NAME TPH |
| CITY STATE |
| PROSPECT CD LAST CONT / / FOLLOW-UP / / |
--------------------------L A S T C A L L R E C O R D----------------------
CONTACT DATE / / CONTACT NAME TIME
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| <last call record is printed here> |
| |
| |
| |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All call data will be deleted for the above name/company. But first,
you might want to PRINT contact data before touching 'C' for this
delete. To print data touch < and select 'P'-Print from the Call Report menu.
<C>-Confirm delete Esc-Quit [ ]
A. Here again you have a choice to either type a <C> to confirm that the
delete occur, or touch <Esc> to exit and not delete all the call
reports for this contact.
1). Should you touch <C>, the "Call Report Menu" will reappear
indicating that:
There are no call reports on file for this prospect
Page 96
SECTION I CALL REPORTS
TFO 15-6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Selecting <E>-Edit/View calls will produce the Call Report Update screen:
<B>-Backward <F>-Forward <R>-Revise Esc-Quit [ ]
A. The screen will display the last call recorded for this
prospect/customer for you to change.
B. To advance through the call report file touch <F>-Forward or touch <B>-
Backward to find the report for the entry that you wish to change or
edit.
1) Touch <R>-Revise to change the located call record.
C. Touch <Esc> and you will return to the call report menu.
1) Touch <Esc> a second time to return to the Edit Routines screen.
SUMMARY:
Processing call report information is straight forward as each screen displays
instructions to assist the unfamiliar operator. Call reports are linked
internally with the prospect/customer master file. If at some time you should
not be able to locate a call record that you know you entered, try <U>-
Utilities to <M>-Master file reconstruct.
To print call records by salesperson use the <S>-Sales selection from the Main
Menu. When the Salesperson Menu appears select <T>-salesperson conTact report.
A single call record for a prospect/customer can be deleted using the "Edit
Routine" menu. Contact names and call records would also be deleted for the
selected prospect/customer. When using the delete routine in this procedure
just the call records are deleted.
Call records can also be placed into a Walknettm file for transmission via
modem or for mailing on a diskette. See <U>-Utilities and <W>-Walknet being
certain to select <C>-Contact date as you Level 3 selection. A range of dates
is given so that all calls for a particular salesperson, region, or office can
be produced within the dates entered. (See procedure TFO 17)
- E N D -
Page 97
SECTION I REPORTS
TFO 16-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
There are basically six catagories of reporting:
1. Prospect reports are produced for tracking mailings when doing labels
or multiple letters.
2. Sales performance shows how sales goals and commissions are doing.
3. Tax reports detail sales taxes each month.
4. Customer reports are on their own menu where you can also print out a
batch of Sales Orders and obtain profit figures.
5. Job costing reports having their own menu
6. Commissions and payments reports from the <C>-Commissions module.
Our purpose here, then, is to outline the various ways that you can obtain
information about these six catagories.
When both the company field and the name field are present in a record, then
the name field is used to sequence records for reporting purposes unless you
change it using the <U>-Utility selection and <S>-Setup.
The prospects database is considered the master file and is the record
appearing on the Main Menu. It is indexed one of three ways:
1. Company name (C)
2. Individual name (N)
3. Record number (R)
Whenever changes are made to the master file, reindexing on the records for
these three fields is accomplished automatically. Any listings or reports that
utilize the prospect, salesperson, type, product, status, follow-up dates, zip
codes, region or office codes will be reindexed automatically only when changes
have occured since the last time the choosen sequence was selected. Reindex, on
a 80286 machine, with 800 records takes about 15 seconds. Incidentally, an
80287 math co-processor will increase the speed of The Front Office as well as
a faster hard disk drive. Most 20/30 meg drives are 65ms to 80 ms, and the some
40meg drives run an average access speed of about 28ms.
PROCEDURE:
1. You can receive reports or screen listings on prospects broken down as
follows:
Alphabetically - A. Everybody in the file.
- B. A particular segment of names.
Zip code order - A. Everybody in the file.
- B. A particular segment of codes.
For Example: The Front Office will find codes larger than or smaller than
any number entered within a general range such as 10000-0000
to 11000-0000, or a particular town or country, i.e. 07871 to
07871.
Follow-up date - A. Everybody in the file with a follow-up date
recorded.
- B. A particular segment of dates.
Page 98
SECTION I REPORTS
TFO 16-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Example: The Front Office will find dates larger than or smaller than
any date entered within a general range such as 01/15/86 to
01/22/86.
Status codes - A. Everybody in the file with a particular status
code.
- B. A particular seqment of status codes.
States - A. All states in Zip code order.
- B. One particular state in Zip code order
For Example: The Front Office will find records coded with a "02" for
widget prospects and list them by follow-up date range, by a
range of zip codes, a range of the alphabet, for a range of
status code, type code, or product codes. So in this example
the Prospect code (Level 1) preceeds these other Level 2 codes.
Page 59
2. Salesperson codes are the same as above.
For Example: The Front Office will find records coded with a salesperson
coded "SKJ" for Sam K. Jones' prospects, and list them by
follow-up date order range, zip code range, type, product or
prospect alphabetical range, etc.
3. Prospect reports can be selected using the <R>-Reports selection from the
Main Menu:
A. Select <P>-Prospect, etc., for prospect listings that you desire and
enter the date and whether:
S-Screen listing
P-Printer listing
from the next menu.
1) Should you select <P> the right of the screen will ask you whether
you desire a complete (C) listing or a single (S) line listing to
the printer. The complete listing reports 10 prospects on a page
and the single line selection lists 50 prospects on a page. The
single line listing is compressed, is faster and reports less
information on each prospect. But it is good for doing quick code
scanning and prospect memory jogs.
2) The screen will help you when selecting a Level 3 selection first:
LEVEL 3: Three categories of lookup are available. Level 3 can sort the
various fields shown below, directly, or use Prospect or Salesperson codes
to cause Level 3 categories to become sub-categories under Level 2's codes.
Use Level 1 codes, Region or Office, to have Level 3 and 2 become sub-
categories under the Region or an Office code. You must use Level 3.
<A>-Alphabetical <C>=Contact date <F>-Follow-up date
<P>-Product code <R>-Record number <S>-Status code
<T>-Type code <U>-User Defined <Z>-Zip code
Page 99
SECTION I REPORTS
TFO 16-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. The Zip code selection is a bit different so that you can have
Zip codes for one state or all states. To ignore state
choices, touch <Enter>.
I. When you touch <Enter>, you will be given a Level 2
selection for either Prospect or Salesperson Code.
3) The Level 2 selection is optional on the next menu.
a. You will be asked for the Prospect code or Salesperson code
(Level 1).
b. Should you select either 'P' or 'S', you will be asked for the
particular code desired.
4) The Level 1 selection is optional also.
a. Enter either a Region code or an Office code, so that previous
selections will become subcatagories under a region or office.
5) As mentioned above, you may next indicate a range for your Level 3
selection.
a. Entering blanks for a range will report all records for the
Level 3 selection.
6) After indicating whether all is 'O. K.' or not, the prospect file
is checked to see if any changes have been made since the last
selections were made.
a. If conditions warrant the 'Preparing File!' sign will appear
on the screen.
b. Files will only be prepared if reindexing is required or not.
7) The program then does a fast find for the particular item in
question.
a. Should the data be of a higher value than the beginning value
entered, the next available record that is found will be
obtained providing it is not of a higher value that the ending
value requested.
8) You will then be given a summary of your selections, and a chance
to begin again with other selections should you touch <N>:
Selection Code
Level 1 = None
Level 2 = Prospect 01
Level 3 = P PRODUCT
Starting with: Ending with:
Is all O. K? (Y or N)
Page 100
SECTION I REPORTS
TFO 16-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. If you choose <S>-Sales Performance:
1) Enter the current date and reporting months that you require.
2) Select either <A>-Alphabetical by salesperson name.
<M>-Monthly sequence.
C. If you choose T-Tax reporting:
1) Enter the date or Enter to accept the default.
2) Fill the month and year to begin and end the tax listing.
D. If you choose <C>-Job Costing, enter the date and decide where to print
results:
1) Select <J>, <O>, or <P> for the type of Cost Control Report.
a. Select A-Alphabetical by name sequence.
J-Job number sequence.
b. Enter the beginning and ending dates for the report.
c. Dating is important as you control cut-off dates. So be sure
to set up a schedule of when each report will be run when
reporting costs information.
d. In the case of the <P>-Payments vs Actual Cost after entering
the dates:
Net profit is posted to customer record for the Earnings Report.
Answer 'Y' only when report dates do not overlap, perhaps monthly.
Do you wish to post PROFIT for the period? (Y or N) [ ]
a. Answer either <Y> or <N>
E. If you choose <C>-Customer reports.
1) A second menu will appear after entering the date. It is self
explanitory:
S A L E S O R D E R R E P O R T S
Select report type [ ]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| <C>-Customer report <E>-customer Earnings report |
| <O>-Orders paid report <P>-Print sales orders |
| <R>-Report of Comm. & Shipments <S>-Salesperson report |
| <T>-Transmit sales orders <V>-Vendor/Supplier report |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
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a. Select <H> to see what each selection does.
2) Refer to the section entitled 'Customer Reports', procedure TFO-23.
F. Select <V>-Vendor report of orders and you will obtain a 'Suppliers
Sales Order Report'.
1) Answer the reporting sequence question and enter the range of
dates desired on the bottom of the screen.
2) The bottom of the screen will clear and display:
Preparing Supplier Sales Report....
4. Commission reporting is accomplished by selecting <C>-Commissions from the
Main Menu:
A. When the "Post Commissions Payments & Shipments" menu appears, select
<R>-Report of Comm. & Ship." and you can choose the sequence and totals
that you desire:
Sequence
-----------------
|C=Customer |
|O=Order Number |
|S=Salesman |
|V=Vendor/Supp |
| Esc-Quit |
-----------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then <.
Sequence will be in either Name or Company order
1) After selecting you choice, enter the beginning and ending dates
for the report contents.
2) Commissions are reported and totaled by either customer,
saleperson, sales order, or supplier sequence.
SUMMARY:
For those reports that appear on the screen, the listing on the screen will
pause after every third record and stop scrolling so that you can review each
record as it passes by. Some reports, such as Job Costing, Supplier, Customer
and Commission reports, require 132 columns and are print compressed on 80
column paper, so they cannot be printed to the screen.
We do not attempt to take you through each and every step of the reports
screens, because they are quite self-explanitory. The menus given are of
benefit and the "helps" along the way will guide you as well.
The "Supplier Sales Order Report" (or vendors) is written using the <C>-
Customer Reports selection from the <R>-Reports Menu from the Main Menu. It
can also be produced from the <V>-Vendor selection off the Main Menu. It
reports margin and costs figures for each customer order in either supplier or
order sequence.
- E N D -
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SECTION I USING WALKNET
TFO 17-1
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PURPOSE:
Walknet's purpose is to extract selected prospect/customer records from the
master file, to record those extracted records to another file (which you can
title), and then to either add or change a second TFO with the extracted data.
In other words, The Front Office offers a kind of network, but the data is hand
carried via diskette, or sent via modem, to the other TFO. Perhaps this is all
most will require in order to maintain one set of records on multiple
computers.
As an example, suppose inquiries or leads are received and entered at the home
office. A file could then be created on diskette for the additions, and that
file sent via modem to salepersons in the field. The field saleperson then
would use Walknet to update their copy of The Front Office. This eliminates
duplicate effort. These updates can also be by Contact date for call reporting
purposes.
Another use of Walknet is to select a group of records for loading onto a
diskette and then delete that same group of records. In this manner you can
purge the prospect/customer file of dead leads to reduce its size, while at
the same time still being able to save the data should you ever want to reuse
it again.
PROCEDURE:
1. Select <U>-Utilities. <Enter>, from the Main Menu screen.
A. Touch <W>-Walknet from the Utilities Menu and a window pops-up:
W A L K N E T
--------------------
| <H>-H E L P |
| <I>-Input file |
| <O>-Output file |
| Esc-Quit |
--------------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>.
Some information on making walknet files
1) The <H>-H E L P line will be highlighted. Touch <Enter> to obtain
the help screen:
--------------------------------- N O T E S -----------------------------------
<O>- You will be asked for the normal code selections to look-up records to be
placed in output files. Use your salesman code with month/day for a
file title, E.g., HAB0710. A formatted 360k diskette will hold about 200
records...perhaps 800 on a 1.2mil diskette. Three database and two index
files are created and the numbers 1, 2, 3, will be added at the end.
<I>- To input prospects that will add or change the destination file, put the
diskette in drive A:, envoke TFO, and at this menu enter 'I' to input.
Records can be added into another TFO in another computer or sub/directory.
Walknet will only transfer marketing data, i.e., not salesman data, cost
data, or sales order records. Use Import routine for SDF...not Walknet.
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SECTION I USING WALKNET
TFO 17-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. First create a file by touching O-Output file, the screen will clear, and
the following will appear:
Create Temporary File
Title the file to be created. TFO will assign the sequence number for internal
control. Use your salesman code, the month and day for the file title.
Enter up to 7 characters without an extension HAB0715
B. You may type in any title you wish (perhaps the receiving persons name)
by simply typing over the letters 'HAB0715'.
1) The next prompt will display just under the above one:
Now designate where to write the file. Use your communication drive/direc-
tory. Include the colon (:) after the letter. For example: 'C:\PROCOMM'. If
you override the default A:, be sure sub-directories have been created first.
Write the file to which drive\directory ? A:
C. Be careful not to designate the same directory and file name that The
Front Office uses.
1) Do NOT begin any file titles with the letters "IAM".
2) When desiring to send the file via modem, place the file on the
sub-directory where your modem software is located instead of to a
diskette in drive A:.
D. Next you will see:
The output file can be in fixed record length format or it can be in TFO for-
mat. Enter 'N' if you desire fixed record length format, or 'Y' for TFO format.
TFO database format? (Y or N) Y
1) A standard data file is usually ASCII with fixed record, and with
fixed field lengths. It can be created for entering data into
other systems.
a. Such files created from TFO are not intended to be used by
The Front Office.
NOTE: The Import Foreign files utility imports datafiles in the ASCII format
but quotation marks and commas delimit each field with a carrage return
at the end of each record. Use the Import utility for those files.
2) TFO will then check to see if the file you named already exists,
and if so you will see:
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SECTION I USING WALKNET
TFO 17-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<your file name> file already exist...
CAREFUL! Do you have a current backup of your .dbf files?
< to Continue Esc-Quit [ ]
a. Touch <Enter> key and you will override the previously
created file with this new output.
b. When you touch <Esc> you can re-title the file.
E. The display will then clear, and you will be asked for the catagories
of look-up as was furnished when you did reports, many letters, labels,
or telemarketing. (See TFO 7).
NOTE: The Contact date field's primary purpose is to create a file of call
reports between two dates for field salesperson call reporting.
2) After you look-up selections are made the screen will clear to
display:
Creating file called (your drive:sub\directory and file title) for
(catagory look-up that you chose)
Total records written: 292
3) The Utilities menu will be returned, after the files have been
created (output).
3. When desiring to input a walknet created file to the TFO prospect/customer
file select <W>-Walknet from the <U>-Utilities Menu.
A. The file to be added must have been created (output) by Walknet (See
paragraph 2 above).
1) Foreign data files made by other systems must be converted first
(see the next procedure TFO 18) by the Import utility, and must
not be added to TFO using Walknet.
B. Select I-Input file from the Walknet pop-up menu, whereupon the screen
will clear and you will see:
Add Prospects to Destination Computer
Be certain that you know the name of the temporary file and its' location.
The program will advise you of possible duplicates so that you can add,
change or skip them in the destination files. New record numbers will
be assigned to the added prospects in the destination file. You will
be asked for the name of the temporary or input file to be added. DO NOT
use a back-slash (\) at the end when you enter a directory title.
NOTE: To see a list of file titles enter blanks for the input file name.
< for listing
Esc-Quit
Enter input file title or < to list
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SECTION I USING WALKNET
TFO 17-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Hitting Enter (with blanks in the name field) and entering a drive
designation will display a list of all the files having the
extension .DBF on the indicated drive\subdirectory.
2. After entering the file name and its' drive\directory location the
screen will clear and be divided into two upper and lower forms as
follows:
Walknet - Add or Update Destination File
INPUT FILE:
-----------------------------------------------------------
|COMPANY REC NO |
|NAME |
|CITY STATE ZIP |
|TEL CONTACT DATE |
-----------------------------------------------------------
Destination file: <A>-Add to <R>-Replace it
<S>-Skip it Esc-Quit
Enter selection from the above menu [ ]
Searching for input file <your file title>
DESTINATION FILE:
-----------------------------------------------------------
|COMPANY REC NO |
|NAME |
|CITY STATE ZIP |
|TEL FILE DATE |
-----------------------------------------------------------
a. The center of the screen will display 'ADDING RECORD' and
the destination file area will remain blank.
I. This is an automatic add to the file as a duplicate
name or company was not found.
b. Should a record be found to be a duplicate in the
destination file, the adding process will stop and you will
be given the chance to decide whether you want to:
<A>-Add it to the destination file at the end
<R>-Revise or change the dublicate record (write over it).
<S>-Skip the incoming record entirely and go to the next input record.
II. When selecting <A>, and the incoming record is indeed
a duplicate, you will create a second copy of the
record in the file, so be careful not to create any
dublicates unless you intend to go back and delete
the old record.
a) If in doubt, answer <R>, as you can always go
back and edit the data as the new record will
write over the old.
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SECTION I USING WALKNET
TFO 17-5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Next the center of the screen will clear after the last record has
been read in.
a. The reindexing process will be performed on the destination
database, and progress will be reflected in the lower status
box.
4. When all is finished the center of the screen will clear and
display the following:
Total records entered: 279
5. Walknet will then return you to the Utilities Maintainence Menu.
SUMMARY:
Walknet(tm) is just another of the powerful ways that The Front Office can be
used to easily control and manipulate your records for:
1. Purging prospect/customer records.
2. Sending selected parts of files to other computers.
3. Acquiring salesperson periodic call records from the field without
paperwork.
You may wish to give special transfer codes to records prior to creating the
output or temporary file. Later, after creating the file, the codes could be
changed back to their proper catagory using the <C>-Code Maintainence routine
(Replace codes by group) from the <U>-Utility menu. Another thought is to
output to a temporary file the most recently entered records. Use the record
numbers to do this. One individual might be entering new contact information,
which when done can be distributed to other users' machines.
Remember that you cannot use the <I>-Input file selection on SDF (standard
data files) or foreign files delimited with commas and quotation marks. The
files that you input must be a dBASEIII/Clipper/Foxbase type file, or
Walknet tm will not work. See the following procedure (TFO 18) for how to
import foreign data files to The Front Office. Keep in mind that
DbaseIII/Foxbase+ files are different than DbaseII/Foxbase files, so again use
TFO-18 to import those types of files as well.
- E N D -
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SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES
TFO 18-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
Where our Walknet feature permits you to input database records to The Front
Office using another dBASEIII type file, this procedure permits you to input
most any file into The Front Office. We say 'most any' file, because the file
to be imported must be in ASCII format, i.e., readable when using the MSDOS
"type" command. Should you already have files of data from your old system, or
should you purchase a mail list from a list supplier on diskette, then this
feature of The Front Office is what you would use to get the data into TFO
without re-typing. You will require a knowledge of programming, so only the
most sophisticated users should use this import utility, or call us on 603-938-
2127 and Inter active micro, Inc. will be please to help you, providing you are
a licensed user.
When using data from another database, use that system to create the file as a
delimited file. This will create an ASCII text (.txt) file acceptable to The
Front Office, i.e., having quotation marks and commas surrounding each field
with a carriage return at the end of each record. Each record is on it's own
line when the file is listed using the DOS 'type' command on the file title.
Here is a bit of background on files and their structure. Data files (usually
having an extension .DAT, .LST, .DBF as oppoosed to .EXE, .BAS, .COM, etc) are
made up of records, and records are made up of data fields. Each record is
usually on one separate line in the file, and if it is not, then you must edit
the foreign file so that each record ends with a carrage return and line feed
character. These would be placed there by an editor or a word processor in the
non-document mode, e.g., Word Star, PC-Write, Brief, etc.
From your DOS prompt (perhaps the A: drive, as the file is probably on a
diskette) type "type" "(filename)" using the proper file extension. An SDF
(standard data file) will appear to have many blanks in its fields (i.e., each
field has a fixed field length), and a delimited file will have each field
separated by either commas or quotation marks or both with no blanks at the
end of each field.The files are readable, but they have different field
lengths and titles, so they are 'foreign' to the files designed for use in The
Front Office. Even files created on other DbaseIII systems are considered
foreign, because their field length differs, there field titles differ, and
the sequence of the data is different.
To bring things in line, we use a intermediary file called Convert.dbf. The
Front Office will permit you to modify the Convert.dbf file to accept the data
fields from your foreign file. Using Convert.dbf as a go-between permits us to
obtain the foreign data in a .DBF type format first without going directly to
your primary prospect/customer database file (Iamname.dbf) and possible
corrupting it. The program then uses the Convert.dbf file and reads each of
its records into Iamname.dbf master file.
Notice also that some files are received in all capital letters which may look
fine for labels but which are not acceptable for letters, proposals and such.
As part of this Database Conversion Menu, The Front Office can change letters
to lower case and to upper case depending on your needs. However, since each
letter in each field is examined by the program, and if you have thousands of
records, this could take TFO some hours. But it is easier than retyping
everything.
There are 4 steps to import each foreign file. First, using your word processor
clear up the foreign file of all strange characters, place each record on a
separate line, count spaces for each field, and do not have a carrage return at
the end of the last record. Second, using TFO, <C>-Change and clean-out the
Convert.dbf file. Third, <A>-Add the foreign files data to Convert.dbf, be sure
to check the results by <V>-Viewing Convert.dbf. Fourth, if Convert.dbf looks
O.K., <R>-Read the Convert.dbf records to the TFO master file, Iamname.dbf.
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TFO 18-2
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When clearing up the foreign file be sure to record on a piece of paper how
long each field is along with the order and name of each field, as you will
require this information later when setting up the Convert.dbf file in The
Front Office.
The rules to follow for the Convert.dbf file are:
1. It must have every field in it that the Iamname.dbf file has. This is true
even if all the fields in the Convert.dbf file are not filled when the
foreign file is read into it by the Import program.
2. Each field in the Convert.dbf file must be in the same order as the fields
in the foreign file. Each field in the foreign file is read into each
Convert.dbf field by the order in which they are being read (not by any
field title match up). Any fields that will not be filled will therefore be
at the end of the Convert.dbf file's structure.
3. The Convert.dbf file must have the same field titles as are used in
Iamname.dbf. Both file structures can be listed by the program, so that you
can make sure the the field titles in Convert.dbf are the same as the
Iamname.dbf file's field titles.
4. The order of the fields in the Convert.dbf do not have to match the order of
the fields in the Iamname.dbf file. When the Convert.dbf file's fields are
read into the Iamname.dbf file's fields, they are placed there because the
field titles agree (the sequence of the fields is unimportant).
PROCEDURE:
1. Using your word processor, edit your foreign file.
A. If the file is in the SDF format, clear out any strange characters and
arrange each record on a separate line.
1) Make a note of the length of each field by counting the number of
characters including blank spaces.
2) Make a note of the each field type (i.e., name, address line 1,
etc.,) and the order of the various fields in each record.
a. While the foreign file is listed on your screen, you might use
the <Shift> <PrtSc> keys to do this review via a hard copy.
2. Select <U>-Utilities from the Main Menu and then select I-Import Foreign
Files, and you will receive the following screen:
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SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES
TFO 18-3
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Database Conversion Menu
SELECT one of the following letters [ ]
-------------------------------------------------------
| D-Display Convert.dbf/Iamname.dbf file structures |
| C-Change Convert.dbf file to receive foreign file |
| A-Add to the Convert.dbf file from a foreigh file |
| L-Lowercase/uppercase conversion |
| R-Read Convert.dbf and add data to TFO master file |
| H-H E L P Esc-Quit |
-------------------------------------------------------
The above selections are listed in the order of their use.
A. When you touch <D> to either display or print the existing Convert.dbf
a pop-up window appears on the left:
1. The display or printout will show the exisiting file structure of
the chosen file.
Structure
-------------
| P-Print |
| S-Screen |
| Esc-Quit |
-------------
Use arrow keys to make selections. Touch <Enter> to accept.
2) Select where to show the structure, and then you will see which
file to display on the right:
Choose File
-----------------
| C-Convert.dbf |
| I-Iamname.dbf |
| Esc-Quit |
-----------------
a. Select the file that you desire and the chosen file structures
will be listed either on the screen or on your printer.
b. Use these listings to compare to a <PrtSc> image of your
foreign file (from paragraph 1 above), and go to the next step
to change the structure of the Convert.dbf file.
B. To change the Convert.dbf file to conform to the foreign files order of
fields, build a new Convert.dbf file by selection C-Change Convert.dbf...
NOTE: Because TFO will not permit you to actually edit the Convert.dbf file
(you can only add field data to a new one), you may wish to consider
using DbaseIII or Foxbase+ to edit the Convert.dbf file. If you have
these programs, it could be faster.
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TFO 18-4
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Field Number:
Enter Field Name:
Type:
Length:
Decimals:
a. Have your printout of the Iamname.dbf file handy when making
up this Convert.dbf.
- The Field Number is assigned by TFO.
- The Field Name must be the same name as used by Iamname.dbf.
- The Type is either 'C'-Character, 'N'-Numeric, 'D'-Date,
and also must agree with the Iamname.dbf field type.
- Enter field lengths in accordance with your count of the
characters in each field in the .TXT file to be imported as
recorded in step 1.
NOTE: Should you give a field length longer that the field lenght for the
corresponding field in the Iamname.dbf file then the data will be
truncated on the right.
- The Decimals field will have a single digit, usually 0 or 2
when field type is 'N'. Again, Iamname.dbf governs the
decimal type.
b. When all 28 or so fields (Manager version of TFO, 26 for the
Sales version) are completed, enter a blank field name to exit
by simply touching Enter at the Name field.
C. Selecting <A>-Add to the Convert.DBF file will display:
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SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES
TFO 18-5
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Add Foreign File to CONVERT.DBF File
You will now be asked for the .TXT file name that you wish to import and if it
is in a SDB (Standard File Format or fixed field lenghts) or in a delimited
format (i.e., fields separated by special alpha characters). Remember that
the file must be readable (i.e., ASCII format) and end with .TXT! It must not
have any unusual characters in it. Each record in the foreign file should end
with a carrage return. Each record should start on its own line. If these con-
ditions are not existing in the foreign file then touch Enter twice to quit,
use your word processor to clear it up. Otherwise Convert will have garbage data
in it. But, if you try it and get junk, you can always make a new Convert.
Any old data in Convert.dbf will be cleared out when you add any new data to it.
Remember that the Convert.dbf must have the same fields as are in Iamname.Fields
in the Convert.dbf file can be in a different sequence than Iamname, as the
sequence of the fields must match the sequence of fields in the foreign file.
Enter name of file to import (with no extension)
1) Fill-in the .TXT file name that will match the Convert.dbf file
layout prepared earlier.
2) Next you will see the line:
Enter either 'SDF' or 'DELIMITED'
3) After a few seconds the Database Conversion Menu will reappear, and
the records in the foreign file will have been added to the
Convert.dbf file.
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TFO 18-6
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4) The last step is to select R-Read Convert.dbf and add data...
Input Convert.dbf into Iamname.dbf (TFO prospect file)
Records will now be taken from Convert.dbf and added to Iamname.dbf file.
Remember you must have the same fields in Convert as are in Iamname. except
for the contact name field...it may need to be broken down into extra fields.
Do not run this selection again, or you will create file duplicates. If you
must run it again, be sure to delete the added records first using 'c'-Code
Maintainance from the 'U'-Utility Menu. You might want to assign a unique
code in one of the fields so that later you can delete the added group of
records. The code will be of your choosing, e.g. CON1, or CON2, etc. Use
this code in conjunction with 'T'-Telemarket routine and step through the
prospect file and change any name, codes or dates that are blank or do not
look right by using 'R'-Revise in the Edit Routine.
< to Continue
a. Touch <Enter> and the next screen will print on three
questions one at a time:
Convert.dbf Files Contact Names
The foreign file may have only one contact name, or it has the name broken into
separate fileds, e.g., first, middle, last. If you have placed separate fields
into Convert for the name answer the following question with a 'Y', otherwise
answer 'N'. Have you placed separte fields in Convert for the name? Y
The Convert.dbf file has only one field for the name. Is the last name
first and separated by a comma or is the name in normal sequence? If the
name has the last name first answer 'Y', otherwise answer 'N'. Does the
name field have the last name first? N
You may now enter standard codes for some of the fields. If you do not
enter any codes, then the program will use the data in the respective code
fields from the Convert.dbf file. Remember at least one standard code
will help should you later desire to delete all the records for the group
or to step through the file using <T>-Telemarketing to make changes.
Enter a TYPE code REGION code
PRODUCT code OFFICE code
PROSPECT code STATUS code TEST
Is all O. K? (Y or N)
I. If there are other segments to the name such as 'Jr.',
middle names, initials, etc., these variations must be
dealt with manually.
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TFO 18-7
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II. TFO will print each suspected name and record number on
your printer to aid you in later making manual
revisions using the TFO <T>-Telemarketing.
III. You can also edit any suspected names that TFO cannot
properly arrange should any be listed in the following
box that appears on the lower half of the display.
When a name is stored by The Front Office its' portions are divided by excla-
mation points. NAMES SUSPECTED TO BE IN ERROR WILL BE PRINTED> TURN YOUR
PRINTER ON. You may edit any incorrect names later using the print-out,
or you may correct them now. To edit the names later touch the < key.
Any missing parts causes the exclamation points to be place side-by-side.
last ! first ! middle ! prefix ! suffix
b. If there were no records in the Convert.dbf file, then you
will be given a message to that effect.
WHOOPS: There are no records in the Convert file to read to the TFO master file
Returning to menu. Use 'A' top add records, then use 'R' to read records.
c. When all records have been imported, the following message
will appear:
TOTAL RECORDS IMPORTED: 132
d. Re-indexing of the new database will then take place.
I) You will be returned to the Database Conversion Menu when
re-indexing is completed.
SUMMARY:
The ability to control such foreign records is two fold. First, through your
patience in editing your foreign files by using your word processor prior to
picking them up with the import utility. Secondly, using The Front Office to
create, add, and view the Convert.dbf file before the actual import. If
prospect and salesperson codes are not available from your foreign files, then
do put in some numbers such as '1' for each code. You can change them later is
you wish. The add and edit routines in TFO will check for their absents, so
this will save you time later.
It is important NOT to change the field titles in the Convert.dbf file. For if
you do, then the fields will not be written to master prospect file and
results will be unpredictable. Be careful and seek help if in doubt.
- E N D -
Page 117
SECTION I TELEMARKETING
TFO 19-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
Telemarketing looks-up records the same way as reporting, many letters, or
labels looks-up segments of your database. But the records are written to the
Edit Routines screen. The prospects can then be phoned and call reports created
as you step through the file in the order selected.
Also, the Telemarketing module can be used as a daily "tickler" file. Use
Telemarketing to enter your salesperson number and a range of follow-up dates
in order to display the individuals to call today.
Any <R>-Revise records that you make during the telephoning process will not
be reflected on the edit screen as each field is changed, but the changes are
recorded in a temporary file and written to the master file at the end of the
Telemarketing session. Files will then be re-indexed and updated.
PROCEDURE:
A. Selecting the <T>-Telemarket selection at the Main Menu causes the screen to
clear and display the Prospect File selection screens, Level 3.
1. See TFO-5, for how this is done for <M>-Many letters.
2. After the look-up selections have been made the edit screen will appear
with the first record that agrees with your selections.
a. You may then step through (using either F-Forward or B-Backward)
each record in sequence based on your selections.
b. Should you use the S-Search feature while using Telemarketing the
following sign will overlay the screen.
----------------------
| SEARCH IS NOT |
| PERMITTED DURING |
| TELEMARKETING. |
----------------------
c. When you are finished, and should you have made any revisions,
then the following sign will appear on the bottom of the screen:
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SECTION I TELEMARKETING
TFO 19-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revisions during Telemarking: Please wait...
d. And you will then be returned to the Main Menu.
SUMMARY:
Each prospect can be edited just as though you have searched for only one
prospect. Without entering each name or record number in order to phone a
series of prospects, simple enter the coding selections desired and walk
through the subject prospects in sequence telephoning those desired as you
proceed along. Make revisions and complete call reports as you contact each
name or company.
Remember that record numbers are a great way to phone recently
added prospects. Use the Level 3 record number selection without a Level 1 or 2
selection (prospect or salesperson code) and indicate the record number range
desired. The ending record number need only be one that is greater than the
last record number in your file. The total of all records in your file is
given on the Main Menu screen and when you do a <M>-Master File Reconstruct
from the <U>-Utilities Menu. Re-indexing files will also report file sizes.
Another use of Telemarketing is to step through a series of codes and edit only
selected prospect/customers. Calling each prospect is not done, but rather code
modifications are easily accomplished.
- E N D -
Page 119
SECTION I CALL REPORT BY DATES
TFO 20-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
Procedure TFO-15, 'Call Reports' prints all call records for a selected
prospect or customer. This procedure directs you in reporting calls for a
particular salesperson within a selected range of dates. You will be prompted
for the salesperson code and a beginning and ending date.
You will be able to optionally purge the call report files at the end of each
print run. A date is entered so that any call reports on file dated earlier
that the date entered will be removed.
PROCEDURE:
A. Select <S>-Sales from the Main Menu, enter your password (if any) and you
will receive the 'Salesperson File Maintenance' menu:
Sales File Maintenance
Select one of the following letters:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| <A>-Add or edit salesperson data <C>-Change password |
| <D>-Delete sales data <I>-reIndex files |
| <P>-Print salesperson data <R>-Replace codes |
| <S>-Sales perf. report <T>-Salesperson conTact report |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
1. Should you select <F1> for help the bottom of the screen will clear and
display:
----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------
This routine will allow you to ADD, CHANGE, DELETE or PRINT salesman data
A = Add/Edit the salesman file and the performance file.
C = Changes the password necessary to change performance figures.
D = Delete selectively removes both salesman and performance data.
I = Packs & reindexes deleted salesman and performance data.
P = Displays the salesman and performance file for all or one salesman.
R = Changes either sales or prospect codes on the prospect file.
S = Reports performance showing earned and paid percentages of goals.
T = Reports salesman calls/contacts within a range of dates.
Use initials for salesman codes.
B. Select <T>-salesperson conTact report, and you will be asked to indicate the
salesperson initials:
Page 120
SECTION I CALL REPORTS BY DATES
TFO 20-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Change Salesperson Data
--------------------------------------------------------------- Current Salesman
| COMMISSION % 00.0 |
| NAME |
| ADDR |
| ADDR |
| CITY STATE ZIP |
| HOME TELE NO SALESMAN CODE |
| SOC. SEC. NO HIRE DATE / / |
| NOTES |
---------------------------------------------------------------
Enter salesperson code, or Esc-Quit
1. After entering the three letter code, the screen will confirm your
choice and the bottom will clear and print:
Date Range
Calls can be reported between a
range of dates for one salesman.
Enter the same date twice to re-
port calls for one day. Touch
< twice and all calls for one
salesman will report.
Enter Beginning date / / Ending date / / Esc-Quit
a. Simply enter the two dates, perhaps from Monday to Sunday.
2. The bottom of the screen will clear, and the high-lighter menu will
display:
List to either <S>-Screen <P>-Printer Esc-Quit [ ]
Page 121
SECTION I CALL REPORTS BY DATES
TFO 20-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Entering an <S> will list calls to the screen for the selected
salesperson.
b. Answering with a <P> will cause the calls to be listed on the
printer by date.
I. In either case, if there were no call records on file for
this salesperson the message would print accordingly.
Page 74
3. After printing stops a second window will pop-up and display:
Delete Calls
You can now delete calls earlier than a
certain date to maintain your files.
Answer 'Y' to the following question in
order to enter a date so that calls
prior to that date will be deleted. See
the Call Report for the date to use.
a. If you answer <Y> the date question appears:
Delete call reports prior to which date / /
b. Fill-in a date to delete call records prior to but not including
the date entered.
c. If the date is left blank no calls will be deleted.
SUMMARY:
Call reporting becomes another method of following-up on contacts much like
using the follow-up date reports. The advantage here is that you can see what
you said last week, last month or last year to prospects and to decide whether
to call them again. Dates on the Follow-up Report can be helpful as you may
want to go back to a particular time period to see if any call reports exist
for a particular prospect.
Purging the call report file is important to save hard disk space by removing
any unwanted out-of-date call records. Remember that calls that are on file for
the deletion date entered will not be removed from file...only the calls prior
that date entered.
- E N D -
Page 123
SECTION I USING THE AUTO DIALER
TFO 21-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
If you do not have either an external or internal modem in your computer then
the automatic phone dialer will not help you. If you do have a modem connected,
read on.
First you will need to use the Utility Menu and the Set-up selection in order
to inform The Front Office of three facts about your telephone. What follows is
an little overview about modem communications in general.
Modem is the first part of the word modulate and the first part of the word
demodulate. The modem changes the computer signal to a telephone signal (that's
modulate) and it also changes a telephone signal back into a computer signal
(that's demodulate). While it does this, it works at not accepting or sending
signals over the telephone lines with any errors. The speed at which it sends
these signals is called the baud rate. The baud rate is roughly the number of
bits being sent per second. The Front Office needs to know the speed of your
modem, e.g., 1200, 2400, or 9600 are examples of todays microcomputer baud
rates. You also must know which communications port is being used for your
modem. These ports on your computer are called either COM1, COM2, COM3 or COM4.
Your disk operating system can usually access either COM1 or COM2. Version 3.3
of DOS will access COM3 and COM4. Which port you use is up to you when you
physically install your modem and setup you computer.
When you make calls using the modem The Front Office will time them, and the
elapsed time is reported on the Call Report.
PROCEDURE:
A. Be certain that you have set-up the requirements to run your modem using the
<U>-Utilities selection from the Main Menu and the <S>-Setup selection from
the Utility Menu.
1. Select the <C>-Communications choice from the Setup Menu and you will
see:
Enter COM port number (1 or 2) [1]
Enter modem speed (1200,2400,4800,9600) [1200]
Is your phone Touch or Pulse tone dialing (T or P) [T]
<C>-Continue <H>-H E L P Esc-Quit [ ]
a. To determine if you have a pulse or touch phone simply pick you
the receiver and touch one of the bottoms. If you hear a beep, you
have a touch tone phone.
2. Enter the three choices and they will be redisplayed so that you can
correct them if necessary.
B. To use the auto dialer you must have the prospect/customer that you wish to
call on the Edit Routines menu screen.
Page 124
SECTION I USING THE AUTO DIALER
TFO 21-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. You then touch <T>-Telephone and the telephone number from the edit
screen will be highlighted on the lower portion of the screen and give
you a choice to dial the number or not.
2. You will hear the modem dialing the phone.
a. You can pick-up the receiver at any point after the dialing sound
begins.
3. Be sure to touch the < key as the screen instructs.
a. You will then receive the Call Report screen so that you can add a
call record while talking to your party. (See TFO-15).
4. It is important to exit the Call Report screen and to touch the < key
to hang-up the modem.
a. When you do this the Call Report procedure has been timing your
call, and the elapsed time of the call will be printed on the Call
Report (See TFO-20).
SUMMARY:
Note that the elapsed time shown for calls on the call report screen and the
Call Report itself is not dependent on whether you fill-in call report
information using the auto dialer or not. We realize that elapsed time,
therefore, is reflected when filling in call records. So if modems are not use
in your company then elapsed time can be ignored.
- E N D -
Page 125
SECTION I SELECTIONS USING UDF CODES
TFO 22-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
What follows is how the screens look and how you complete the logical creation
of look-up criteria when using the User Defined Fields to search and to display
or list portions of the prospect database. When you choose the <U>-User Define
selection from the Level 1 selection menu, output will always be in either name
or company sequence for the selections you choose.
PROCEDURE:
A. After selecting "Many letters", "Walknet", "Telemarketing", "Labels", or
"Reports" from the Main Menu, you will see the Level 3 Selection screen
where you can enter, <U>-User Define and a pop-up window will appear that
looks as follows:
Page 76
Multiple Letters to PC-WRITE
LEVEL 3: Three catagories of lookup are available. Level 3 can sort the
various fields shown below, directly; or use Prospect and Salesman codes
to cause Level 3 categories to become sub-categories under Level 2's codes.
Use Level 1 codes, Region or Office, to have Level 3 and 2 become sub-
c----------der the Region or an Office code. You must use Level 3.
|FIELD1 |------------------------------------------------------------
|FIELD2 | -Alphabetical <C>-Contact date <F>-Follow-up date |
|FIELD3 | -Product code <R>-Record number <S>-Status code |
|FIELD4 | -Type code <U>-User defined <Z>-Zip code |
|FIELD5 |------------------------------------------------------------
|FIELD6 | ------------ Select Sort Criteria -----------
|FIELD7 | | 1. Select field to sort upon by moving the|
|FIELD8 | | light bar using the up and down arrows.|
|FIELD9 | | 2. Touch 'S' key to select desired field. |
|FIELD10 | ---------------------------------------------
|FIELD11 |
|FIELD12 |
|FIELD13 |
|FIELD14 |
|FIELD15 |
----------
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
NOTE: Of course, if you have changed the titles using <U>-Utilities and <S>-
Setup, then the above 'FIELDnn' list will have your titles in it.
1. After selected the field that you wish to use to find the catagory of
prospect, the logic selection screen appears.
a. When you touch the letter or use the light bar the logic sign that
is created by your selection will appear under the "Verb" in the
result box.
Page 126
SECTION I SELECTIONS USING UDF CODES
TFO 22-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Selected Verb Enter Search Data
FIELD10
----------------------
| E-Equals |
| D-Does not equal |
| G-Greater/Equal |
| L-Less than/Equal |
| H-H E L P |
| Esc-Quit |
----------------------
b. You then fill in the data to search for under the "Enter Search
Data" area.
I. Answer <Y> should you wish to search on another field, and
repeat the "verb" and "data" entries to create a multiple
choice statement.
2. The screen will clear and list your selections, in the case of multiple
selections.
a. If you have entered more than one selection, next to the list will
be a column headed "Enter AND or OR" and a message at the bottom
that reads:
When using multiple selections connect them with AND or OR. AND means in addi-
tion to or both condition, and OR means one or the other condition exists.
b. For example, the first field might be 'INCOME' and you enter the
verb '>=' (greater than and equal to) with the amount of '50000'.
I. You then want all those prospects who drive a certain car, so
you enter under 'AUTO' = 'CADDY' and connect these two
phrases with 'AND'.
II. This example would then produce every prospect who earns
over $50000 a year and who drives a Cadillac.
III. These selections, of course, could include a further
limitation based on your Level II selection of either
Prospect or Salesman, and/or Level I, Region or Office.
3. You will be returned to the "Select Lookup Level" screen where you can
accept or reject your choices.
SUMMARY:
If you do not know what is possible to know about a company try the Dun &
Bradstreet List Service. They have perhaps over 250 different pieces of data
on various businesses. However you may have critical product information that
you may wish to maintain on your customers in The Front Office. We use 'Y' or
'N' answers to reflect whether the customer purchased a Sales or Manager
version of TFO. At any rate, the selection possibilities using these UDF codes
seem limitless especially when combined with the existing TFO coding fields.
- E N D -
Page 127
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
The Front Office considers prospects as customers as soon as you write a sales
order. The prospect code will be changed to '00'. Prospect code "00" for
customers should always remain so titled under the "Prospect Code" section on
the Main Menu. It is used to key on customer reports.
The Front Office accepts sales order information and prints a copy of the sales
order. You can place up to 6 items on the Sales Order. A state and/or city
sales tax percentage is held in the Iamtax.mem file. The first time that you
enter the "Tax" routine, The Front Office will ask for a sales tax percentage
and other detail (See TFO-25) which is required to produce sales tax reports,
and to create Sales Orders. If you state has no sales tax then enter ".00" as a
tax percentage.
Order numbers are created by The Front Office. They are the customer's record
number, with a sequence digit placed at the end representing the number of
orders created for that customer.
To delete customer orders, see item number 8 of this procedure.
Earnings figures and salesperson information is integrated with the Sales
Performance System. The primary reason for a marketing and prospecting system
that makes Sales Orders is to reduce the double work of perhaps re-entering
orders in Accounts Receivable or at the home office:
The field salesperson may now transmit orders to the
home office via modem saving clerical time for himself
and home office personnel.
A second reason for creating a Sales Order is that the value of each order is
passed to the Job Cost system and compared to estimates and payments which
produces sales and customer earnings reports. A third reason for creating a
sales order is to track salesperson commissions. And lastly you can tract
supplier/principal/vendor expenditures and total margin.
In addition, sales figures are added to the sales performance system as
earnings for the particular salesperson for the month and year. The month and
year that is updated is according to contact date. Should there not be a
salesperson name on file with the salesperson code on the prospect or customer
record, then The Front Office will let you know. You then can either change the
code of record by correcting the salesperson file before entering the Sales
Order. Salespersons commissions can be split between two people. The commission
percentage and amount of commission can be changed at preparation time.
The sales order also produces supplier sales, costs and margin data as well.
There must be a supplier in the <V>-Vendor file in order to enter supplier
information.
The sales order form that you may be using could have been customized for your
company's data require-ments and therefore may differ slightly from the
examples given in this procedure. Also, you can print sales orders on your
letterhead or you can print them on blank continuous paper. If you use blank
paper then be sure that you goto the <U>-Utilities menu and the <S>-Setup
routine and select 'N-N & A print option' answering the question with a 'Y'.
PROCEDURE:
1. Enter <O>, <Enter>, on the Main Menu screen for the "Order" processing
system.
Page 128
SECTION I SALES ORDER RPOCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. The bottom of the screen will clear and you will see a Sales Order form
with the current (either the first one in file or the one that was just
on the Edit Routines screen) customer name & address:
-------------BILL TO------ S A L E S O R D E R ----------SHIP TO--------------
<your current name>
ADDRESS ADDRESS
ADDRESS ADDRESS
CITY STATE CITY STATE
ATTN ZIP ATTN ZIP
-P.O. NO------P.O. DATE---ORDER NO----ORDER DATE-------SALESMAN---ENTER DATE
/ / / / / /
----TERMS------C.O.D-----SHIP VIA------EXTRA WGT------OVERSIZE-------ZONE
(Y/N) (Y/N)
NO----QUAN--SUPP---PROD CD---COMM------DESCRIPTION----PRICE EACH--T--EXTENSION
Select on of the following: [ ]
----------------------------------------------------------------
| <A>-Add order <B>-Backward <F>-Forward <H>-H E L P |
| <I>-Index files <S>-Search <V>-View orders Esc-Quit |
----------------------------------------------------------------
Use the above name for the order, or enter <S>-Search and a different name.
2. Enter <H> for "Help" and an explanation of sales orders is given on the
screen.
3. Should the prospect/customer name have a salesperson code that does not
exist in the Salesperson file you will see the following message at the
bottom of the screen:
NO SALESMAN ON FILE WITH SALES CODE <incorrect code>
< to Quit and to either add salesman for this code or to revise the
salesman code. Incorrect salesman codes will not report properly.
< to Continue [ ]
A. When the Sales Order menu reappears touch <Esc> to Quit, and correct
the salesperson code.
5. Touch <S> to search for different prospect/customer data, and the bottom of
the screen will clear and display:
Page 129
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------
| 1. Touch < for a record on the above prospect/customer. |
| 2. For a search, select either 'C,'N', or 'R' and then enter COM- |
| PANY, NAME or NO. Upper and lower case letters do not matter. |
| 3. File stepping sequence will be according to the field searched, so |
| it helps to enter all 15 characters when name and company differ. |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter NAME, COMPANY, or REC. NO. [ ]
A. Enter the name to search for or Enter to return the Sales Order menu.
6. Touch <F>, Forward, or <B>, Backward as a quick way to locate a
prospect/customer name alphabetically near the name shown instead of using
<S> for search.
7. Touch <I>, Index, and all sales order files will be re-indexed.
8. Touch <A>, Add order, to write a new sales order for the current name shown
and to fill-in any missing heading detail such as "ship to", dates, PO
information, etc.
A. Therefore, certain fields such as the "bill to" address, order number,
order date, etc., will have already been filled-in.
1) Never fill-in your own "bill to" information.
2) Always have The Front Office fill-in the "bill to" information
because of the internal coding that is used to keep track of
record numbers for job costing.
a. You may leave the form from any location by touching the <^W>
or the <PgDn> key.
b. When the heading is finished, <^W>, or <PgDn>, and the body
of the Sales Order, line one, will appear after answering the
"Is all O. K. " question with <Y>.
I. Answer the question <N> and you will exit this order.
3) Complete line one for item one across the form, as the cursor will
be under the "QUAN" field.
T-Tax(Y/N)
NO---QUAN---SUPP----COMM----------DESCRIPTION--------PRICE EACH--T---EXTENSION
1
NOTE: If you enter a quantity of '0' you will be able to enter your own
extension amount. You might use the "description" field to describe any
special quantity arrangements, e.g., 10500 widgets @ $1.97 / 100.
4) Notice the instructions regarding the 'SUPP' field being left
blank.
a. Leaving the 'SUPP' field blank will enable you to quit and
not write this order.
Page 130
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: If you do enter a supplier code and it is not in the <V>-Vendor file you
cannot proceed with the line item. Be sure all supplier codes are on file
before attempting any sales orders. You will need to quit without a valid
supplier code.
5) Sales tax considerations:
a. When answering with a <Y> for taxes, the sales tax will be
calculated after the system multiples the quantity time the
price.
NOTE: If your state has no tax the Iamtax.mem file will have a "0" percentage,
so entering <Y> or <N> will not make any difference.
b. Enter <N> for no sales tax, if the item has no tax.
c. Should you skip the tax question (blank) you will be prompted
again for an answer even is your state has no sales tax.
I. The system must have a <Y> or <N> answer.
6) You will be asked whether you wish to split the commission and/or
override it:
Will commisssions be split (Y or N) [ ]
a. If you answer <N>, you can then touch < to accept or change
current commission:
NOTE: Do not have both a % and a $ amount. One field must have zeros.
Enter commission % 5.0 dollar amount $ 0.00 or < to accept...
b. If you answer <Y>, you can enter another salesperson code
and percentage or amount:
NOTE: Do not have both a % and a $ amount. One field must have zeros.
Enter 1st salesman code HB Split % 5.0 Split $ 0.00
2nd salesman code Split % Split $ 0.00
Page 131
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Fill-in the commission choices as explained on the
screen, or touch <Enter> to accept the numbers shown..
7) Then the bottom message box will read:
Is all OK ? (Y or N) [ ]
a. Touch <Y> to accept this line item and the lower right will
depict totals for this item.
b. Touch <N> to revise the item and you can begin the line again.
8) As each item is entered you see summary data for the item and be
asked:
LINE ITEM 100.00 TAX 6.00 TOTAL ITEM 100.00 TOTAL SALE 100.00
Order finished? (Y or N) N
a. Answer with N (by hitting Enter) and another line will be
presented to fill-in across the form to repeat the process
for up to six items.
I. Should you have more than six items on an order, then
make a second order for the customer.
NOTE: Payments are made against each order (not just to the customer account),
so be careful posting payments to multiple page orders. (See Job Costing,
TFO-24).
b. Touch <Y> and the total area will summarize this order and
you will be prompted with:
TOTAL SALE 100.00 TOTAL TAX 6.00 GRANT TOTAL 106.00
Print this order now or later using <R>-Reports. PRINT NOW? (Y or N) [ ]
c. When printing Sales Orders you can have your name and address
print on the top of the order, or not print, by selecting
your choice from the <S>-Setup menu.
I. Plain 8 1/2" X 11" paper or letterhead is used for
orders.
II. When selecting <N>, orders can be printed later in
batches for a single date or between two dates using
the <R>-Reports selection on the Main Menu, and <C>-
Customer orders and then <P>-Print sales orders.
a.) This is also the method to obtain copies of past
orders.
9) After the Sales Order is finished the bottom half of the screen
will clear and you will see:
Page 132
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------- Sales and Commission Update --------------------------
PROD CODE TYPE CODE TOTAL SALE 100.00
NOTE: Promise and ship dates may also be SALESMAN COMM 10.00
Entered thru <J>-Job Costing. Sales to SALESMAN YTD COMM 38,218.12
date are posted at this time, but profits CUSTOMER SALES YTD 3,323.23
are posted to the customer when you print CUST JC PROFIT YTD 923.90
the Job Payments Report and close the job PROMISED DATE / /
with a final payment SHIP DATE / /
a. The product and type codes, if shown, are from the prospect
file and can be changed in the prospect files at this point.
b. Enter a promised and ship date, if you wish, for the job
costing module.
c. The "Total Sale" comes from the order and the commission
figure is calculated from the percentage figure for the
salesperson credited with this order.
d. This order's sale amount is added to YTD sales for this
customer and the new total is maintained on the prospect
file.
I. This earned amount is added to the "earned" in the
Salesperson Performance file according to the month and
year of the "contact date".
NOTE: Profits are computed from payments entered using the Job Costing module,
and are added to the year-to-date profits maintained on each customer.
Profits are only added to the customer records when the 'Profits vs
Actual' report is run using the Job Costing module, and when customer
payments are entered.
e. You will be given a chance to change any of these entries:
Is all O. K.? (Y or N) [ ]
I. An <N>, <Enter>, will return the display to the original
"Sales Commission Update" screen and not update any
records.
II. A <Y>, <Enter>, will update the records and save the
information.
III. Should there not be any performance figures in the
salesperson file for the month and year of this order,
then the following message will appear as a reminder
to update sales goals.
Please NOTE that there are no performance figures for this month on this
salesman. See salesman number <the number in question> in the Sales System.
Page 133
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a). This is a reminder in case you wish to enter the
quota figures later using <S>-Sales from the Main
Menu.
b). The earnings figures for the salesperson will be
updated anyway.
IV. Lastly, sales order information will be written to the
job file after the system does some checks:
a). When no estimate or job exist for this Sales
Order, you will see the reminder:
There are NO jobs for this customer! An estimate record (E) will be created
for Job Cost with Sales Order information! To enter a description for this
estimate, see 'J'-Job Cost from the Main Menu. Customer payments are also
posted using the Job Cost module.
< to Continue [ ]
b). When a job or estimate does exists for this order
you will see:
C u r r e n t J o b L i s t
JOB # JOB NAME DATE
00031A 07/15/89
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales orders are applied against a job for custing purposes. Enter a letter
from the above list, or enter the next available letter to start a new job.
Enter a JOB LETTER for this order (A, B, C, etc) A
a). If only one job exists, simply touch Enter to
accept the default, job letter, 'A'.
f. The Sales Order menu will reappear so that you can write
another order if you wish, or...
Updating transactions before returning to the Main Menu...
Page 134
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Touch <V>-View Orders and you can step through abbreviated versions of each
order on file for a selected customer or all customers. As you look at each
order you will also habe the option to delete orders.
A. Do a <S>-Search first for the customer whose order(s) you wish to view.
1. You will receive a screen message, if you attempt a <V>-View and
there are no orders on file for the customer.
B. The first order in file for the chosen customer will appear on the
screen as follows:
<current sequence> Delete Sales Orders
O p e n O r d e r s
Company: <current company>
Name: <current name> Record number: 00031
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|ITEM NO.|ORDER DATE|QUAN | DESCRIPTION | AMOUNT | DATES | C |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T o t a l
<B>-Backward <F>-Forward <D>-Delete Esc-Quit [ ]
Select the sales order you wish then touch 'D' to delete it.
1) You may step through the orders file by touching <F> or <B>.
2) Should you wish to delete the chosen order, touch <D>, and answer
the confirm question with <Y>.
Page 135
SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS
TFO 23-9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
| Deleting Sales Order! |
-------------------------
Confirm delete? (Y or N) [Y]
a. The bottom box will clear and display each activity as it is
accomplished.
b. You will see the view menu screen return.
c. Touch Esc to return to the sales order menu.
SUMMARY:
We have seen how to write, edit, and delete sales orders. All salesperson
performance, commissions and job costing data is automatically updated as each
sales order is written. When deletions are called for the same data is reversed
by the system and records are removed from the files.
It is best to verify that the <V>-Vendor, <S>-Sales, and <A>-sAles tax modules
have vendor/supplier/-principal, salesperson, and state sales tax information
filled-in correctly before attempting to write a sales order.
Many will use sales orders for tracking anticipated salesperson and supplier
commissions, and to control payments received from principals, using the
printed orders for filing purposes only, while not actually sending a copy of
the order to the customer or to a principal. The value even here is obvious
since all financial data is maintained, i.e, total billed income, profits,
total commissions received, total commissions paid-out, profits by customer;
and if you use the job costing module, total net profit, total net profit by
customer, and total payments from customers.
- E N D -
Page 137
SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS
TFO 24-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
To report customer information, code status, sales and profits year-to-date for
each customer with totals. To report customer orders in sales order or
alphabetical sequence for any chosen period. The customer profit report can be
summarized on the screen to see quite easily how productive sales activity has
been.
Profits are posted to the customer record after the Job Costing Report called
"Payment vs Actual Cost" is printed using <J>-Job costing reports. Net profit
is posted according to the dates given. Therefore, only print the "Payments vs
Actual Cost" report according to a prescribed schedule, e.g., weekly or
monthly. You choose the dating each time, so be careful or you could duplicate
your figures or miss jobs. (See TFO 24).
When printing sales orders by date, be sure that you have informed TFO of
whether or not you desire to have your company's name and address printed in
the heading. Some may wish to use letter head to print Sales Orders, but if
not, use the <U>-Utilities and <S>-Setup menus, and select 'N' and answer 'Y'
to the name and address question.
PROCEDURE:
1. Enter <R>, <Enter>, for "Reports" from the Main Menu screen, to obtain the
following Reports Menu:
R E P O R T S M E N U
Select one of the following: [ ]
---------------------------------------------
|C - CUSTOMER REPORTS MENU |
|J - JOB COSTING REPORTS |
|P - PROSPECT LISTINGS & FOLLOW-UP REPORTS |
|S - Salesman Performance Report |
|T - Tax report |
---------------------------------------------
F1-H E L P Capital titles indicate sub-menus will appear Esc-Quit
A. Should you touch <F1>-Help you will see:
-----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------
<C>-Another menu for customers, including batch printing of sales orders.
<J>-Costing reports can also be run from the 'J' Job Cost selection, MAIN MENU.
<P>-Prospects can be sorted in many ways for review and follow-up listings.
<S>-Also can be run from the 'S' Salesman selection, MAIN MENU.
<T>-Also available from 'T', Tax selection, MAIN MENU.
2. Touch the letter <C> for "Customer Reports" and the screen will clear and
display:
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SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS
TFO 24-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S A L E S O R D E R R E P O R T S
Select report type [ ]
----------------------------------------------------------------
| <C>-Customer order report <E>-Earnings report-customer |
| <O>-Orders paid report <P>-Print sales orders |
| <R>-Report of Comm. & Ship. <S>-Salesman order report |
| <T>-Transmit sales orders <V>-Vendor/Supplier report |
----------------------------------------------------------------
F1-H E L P Esc-Quit
A. Should you touch <H> for help you will see:
-----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------
<C>-Summarizes orders by dates with totals for each customer.
<E>-List customers showing total sales and earnings.
<O>-After printing PAID ORDERS and option is presented to delete them from file.
<P>-Prints Sales Orders by enter date. Reprints any printed at entry time.
<R>-Print reports of commissions due and paid by salesman or by principal
<S>-Same as 'C' but with totals by salesman.
<T>-A customized feature to transmit orders to the Home Office by modem.
<V>-Prints sales orders showing sale amount, margin, and cost by supplier.
Customer and Salesman list can be in either name or number sequence.
B. Touch <C> and the middle of the screen will display the following for a
"Customer Sales Order Report":
NOTE: Touching <S> is the same as <C> except the form title and sub-totals are
by Salesperson when selecting <S>. The sequence can be by either customer
sequence for each salesperson or in salesperson order when selecting <S>.
Sequence
-------------------
| A-Alphabetical |
| N-Numeric |
| Esc-Quit |
-------------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>.
Ordered according to Company or Name
Page 139
SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS
TFO 24-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) You must select either <A>, <N>, or <Esc>.
2) Next the bottom of the screen will clear and display:
DATING-Orders appear on reports based on a beginning and ending date. Entering
the same date for a beginning and ending date will report the order only for
that one day. Hit < to enter blank dates so that all orders will report.
Enter Beginning date / / and Ending date / /
3) Enter the dates or blanks and you can enter <N> to quit if you wish
to:
Is all O. K? (Y or N)
4) Answer with a <Y>, and the printer pause will appear on the screen
in order to prepare the printer.
Preparing Customer Sales Order report...
Printing report....
a. All sales orders will be on the report providing the dates of
the orders are within the dates given.
B. Touch <E> for the "Earnings Report" which reports year to date
customer's sales and earnings beginning with the following pop-up
screen:
Print to:
--------------
| F1-H E L P |
| P-Printer |
| S-Screen |
| Esc-Quit |
--------------
Listings
--------------
| C-Complete |
| S-Summary |
| Esc-Quit |
--------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>.
Print all data
Page 140
SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS
TFO 24-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Touch <F1> for an explanation of customer earnings listings.
2) Select either <P> or <S> and the screen will clear and display the
'Listing' menu.
a. The <C>-Complete selection will print all customers either to
the screen or to the printer depending on your previous choice.
NOTE: The report is also used to check your entries. Profits and sales year to
date are shown for each customer (coded with a prospect code of '00')
with grand totals. When a "Total Sales" figure is "0.00" this means that
no Sales Order has been issued, yet the prospect code is "00". If the
"Total Profits" figure is "0.00" then you have not updated Job Cost and
recorded any customer payments.
b. The <S>-Summary will produce just total sales and earnings.
I). This permits a quick way of knowing just how productive
all sales activity has been.
NOTE: Profits year-to-date are updated only after selecting <J>-Job Costing
Reports, and then select <P>-Payments VS Actual Cost report. Profits are
calculated based on customer payments received. Net profit (i.e., after
all expenses and before taxes) is the "Total Profit" figure reported!
c. Next the bottom of the screen will clear again and you will
see:
-------------------
|PREPARING FILE! |
| Please wait... |
-------------------
NOTE: This is the automatic re-index feature. It means that if you have made
any changes or additions to your files since the last time that you made
this selection then the prospect file is re-indexed. If you had not made
any changes to the selected fields or had not made any additions to the
file then the pause for re-indexing will not take place.
I). And following by:
Preparing report. . .
Page 141
SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS
TFO 24-5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. When printing to the printer, the screen will clear and
display:
E A R N I N G S R E P O R T
Please be certain paper is aligned...
< to Continue
e. When printing to the screen touch Enter as each screen is
displayed.
< to Continue Esc-Quit
3) Whether you are printing on the screen or the printer the final
display will read:
C U S T O M E R R E P O R T
TOTAL CUSTOMERS SALES YTD PROFIT YTD
31 220916.96 48622.36
a. When you touch <Enter> you will be returned to the "Sales
Orders Reports" menu.
SUMMARY:
Sales are reflected above for customers and for salespersons depending on the
selections that you make. Salespersons need to know how they are progressing or
whether they are maintaining their expected earnings. This customer information
will help do that and print the results for analysis either through a Customer
Sales Order Report or a salesperson Sales Order Report. The Salesperson
Performance Report using <S>-Sales from the Main Menu will report additional
sales performance figures but with the addition of the various salesperson's
goals.
- E N D -
Page 143
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPOSE:
As you may agree, you can't tell a customer that you need to charge him more
when a quote goes bad, but it is good to know that you have a system that will
continue to track your efforts to better guide you in the future.
To help control profits for those companies that operate primarily on a per job
basis, such as computer value added resellers, plumbers, and contractors of all
sorts. There are two ways to obtain profits from The Front Office: (1) From the
margin reflected in the <V>-Vendor file and recorded each time you do a sales
order, and (2) from the expenses incurred against jobs using Job Costing and
it's reports. Both ways can be used, as reporting does not confuse the two
figures. The Customer Earnings Report reflects profits from this Job Cost
activity. Vendor reports reflect profits from the vendor margin percentage.
For Job Cost, The Front Office considers expenses in two basic categories,
fixed expenses and direct expenses. Fixed expenses would be light, heat, rent
etc., and they can be expressed as a percentage of total earnings. Your
accountant can furnish you with a percentage figure that The Front Office can
use for fixed expenses. You can change this percentage at any time using
"Utilities" from the Main Menu.
The Front Office processes detail transactions for labor, material, freight and
commissions. We call these figures actual costs (direct sales expenses). The
Front Office uses expenses directly (direct expenses) attributed to a
particular sale or job to measure profit performance while handling indirect
(fixed) expenses as a general category. Estimates and actual costs (direct
expenses) are entered into the system and controlled by a Job Cost Number. We
often refer to fixed expenses as overhead. So, when estimating jobs, do
consider the overhead percentage and add it to your final quote to the
prospect. The Front Office accepts the results of your final estimate or quote!
Profits are derived from actual costs and compared to the latest of one of
three figures: the estimate, the sales order or the payment. Transaction codes
are used to keep track of actual costs (M=Material, L=Labor, F=Freight), orders
(O=Order, R=Reserve for Commission) and payments (P=Payment, T=Taxes). As in
all areas of The Front Office, transactions can be easily changed or edited.
Sales taxes should not be included in your estimates, but they are included in
the sales order and the payments.
Payments are entered into the job cost system and are used for a final profit
figure. Posted against a job, payments credit (reduced amounts owned) sales
orders so that orders can be closed and sales tax can be credited for state tax
reports. TFO reports sales tax at the time payment is received, not when an
order is booked.
In addition, profits are calculated and integrated with the customer sales file
so that earnings reports can be analyzed. Profits are net, i.e., after all
expenses.
Reporting is done for periods of time that you decide upon. Status reports show
order dates, promised dates, and shipped dates within the job costing system.
Critical to proper reporting of profits is the "Payment vs. Actual Cost"
report. Print it on a schedule, so that profits are not reported for the same
period twice. You control the range of dates for the period desired.
PROCEDURE:
1. Before entering data into the cost system, select <U>-Utilities from the
Main Menu to enter the fixed overhead expense percentage, if you have not
done so already. If you have, see step 2.
Page 144
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Select <J>-Job Cost Overhead % after entering <U>-Utility and <S>-Setup
from the Main Menu.
1) Type the percentage (05, 10, 20) as a fixed expense of income
(overhead) and touch <Enter>.
2) This figure can be changed at anytime.
NOTE: You should review your latest Income and Expense Statement (or Profit &
Loss) to determine this percentage.
a. Divide total income for the last year (or last quarter) by the
total Indirect Expenses (light, heat, telephone, etc).
NOTE: Do not use expenses attributed directly to Sales. TFO accepts these
expenses when purchases are made and labor is expended.
3) Direct cost for labor, material, freight, commissions are entered
against each job estimate as well as an overhead amount which The
Front Office calculates from this overhead percentage.
NOTE: When entering new jobs be certain to include a dollar amount for this
overhead expense as part of your estimate to the prospect.
B. Touch <Enter> to exit to the Main Menu after entering the percentage.
2. Touch <J>-Job Costing from the Main Menu and you will see the following
screen:
<sequence>
J O B C O S T I N G
CURRENT -----------------------------------------------------
CONTACT |COMPANY |
|NAME TPH |
|CITY STATE |
|THIS REC NEXT JOB EST.DATE / / |
-----------------------------------------------------
Select one of the following: [ ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|<B>-Backward <D>-Delete jobs <F>-Forward <H>-H E L P |
|<R>-job Reports <S>-Search <T>-Transactions Esc-Quit |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Use the ABOVE NAME for job costing, or ENTER <S>-Search and a different name.
A. Select <H> and you will see at the bottom of the screen:
Page 145
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------N O T E S-------------------------------------
<D>-Delete individual jobs or delete all financial data on file.
<S>-Search to find existing jobs for changes or review before entering 'T'.
<T>-Transactions will list jobs for the selected prospect/customer and en-
able the update of job activity. Actual costs to date are listed. Over-
head is calculated using the estimate or sales order whichever is later.
Also use 'T' to add NEW jobs, to enter an estimated quote and to estimate
costs. Each job is given a letter which is added to the above 'REC' number.
Letters are assigned alphabetically by the computer. In addition, 'T' is
also used to enter actual costs to date, payments and any changes.
<O>-Orders from the MAIN MENU will produce sales & commission transactions.
<R>-Listings to report profits, taxes, balances. Same as MAIN MENU Reports.
B. <T> for "Transactions" produces the following screen for the current
name displayed:
C U R R E N T J O B L I S T
JOB # JOB NAME DATE
-------------Total Estimated Costs to Date----------------
EST SALE LABOR MATERIAL FREIGHT EST PROFIT
* = No sales order entered as of this date.
All totals above are estimates. Orders and payments could change profit figure.
1) A search is done and should there not be any jobs on file for the
selected name, then you will see:
No JOBS for this NAME
a. The screen will hold the first three jobs, so if there are
more, the display will scroll three more jobs for the current
name.
NOTE: Should a job not have a sales order on it as yet it will be flagged with
an asterisk on the left.
< to Continue [ ]
b. When all jobs have been displayed:
No more JOBS for this NAME
c. Your first decision allows you to add a job or not:
<A>-Add job <H>-H E L P <T>-Transactions Esc-Quit [ ]
Page 146
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Touch <Esc> return to the "Job Costing" menu.
II. Choose <A>-Add jobs and the screen will clear from about
half-way and display:
E N T E R N E W J O B
JOB LETTER EST. DATE JOB TITLE PROMISED DATE
------------E N T E R E S T I M A T E D C O S T---------
EST SALE LABOR MATERIAL FREIGHT EST PROFIT
The cost file uses transaction codes C, E, L, M, O,and P. Code E, Estimate,
is assigned when jobs are added (<A>-Add jobs) to the file. Only one estimate
is allowed per job. When adding new jobs the estimated profit is calculat-
ed based on the estimated sale minus labor, material, freight & overhead.
Labor costs should include any commissions to be paid.
All OK ? (Y, N or Quit) [ ]
a.) Fill in the above "form" with your estimate figures,
job title and dates as desired.
NOTE: You can produce a sales order prior to an estimate or quote. When you do,
the Job will be created and a Job Number assigned. You would then need to
edit the estimate. The job will be listed showing the sales order and the
estimate, but without an estimate amount or a job title.
III. Touching <T> passes you to the transactions screen, by-
passing the need to add any jobs at this time.
a.) Should there not be any jobs on file after touching
<Enter>, you will see an error message:
There must be a Job to do Transactions...Hit <ENTER> [ ]
b.) When you touch <Enter> you will be returned to the
"Job Costing" menu.
c.) Should there be more than one job on the current
name The Front Office needs to know what job you
require:
What JOB LETTER do you want? (A,B,C,D, etc) [ ]
Page 147
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d.) Enter the letter for the job that you wish to use
or touch <Enter> to accept the default letter.
e.) Entering a letter for a job that does not exists
and the following error message appears:
NO JOB ON FILE WITH THIS LETTER - Hit <C>-Continue [ ]
f.) The screen for entering transactions shows estimate
information across the middle of the screen and
transactions below:
ESTIMATE-------EST. LABOR------EST. MAT'L--------EST. FREIGHT-----EST. PROFIT
ACTUAL
TC DESCRIPTION DATE COST
AMOUNT----------A C T U A L C O S T T O D A T E--------PROFIT TO DATE
******** Labor/Mat'l Freight Commission NET MINUS OVHD
NET = Actual costs are subtracted from amount ******** less taxes
<A>-Add trans <E>-Edit trans <H>-H E L P <V>-View trans Esc-Quit [ ]
<<< No more transactions for this job >>>
g.) The screen holds 6 transactions on the currently
selected job.
NOTE: The asterisks are substituted for one of three words that appear at this
location on the screen: "estimate", "order", or "payment". If a Sales
Order has been entered, then the word "order" prints; if just the
estimate has been entered, "estimate" prints; and if a payment has been
entered then "payment" prints. The job status is thereby flagged for you.
h.) Should there be more than 6 transactions at this
point, then touch <Enter> to display more
transactions until all have been displayed.
i.) The "Profit to Date" figures are less any sales
taxes, so that is why the figures will not work out
sometimes, so do not be concerned.
j.) When all transactions have been listed, you will
see the message:
" No more transactions for this job "
Page 148
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. A-Add Trans produces the next screen for you to fill-in
beginning with a transaction code:
(F)-Freight costs received.
(L)-Labor costs incurred.
(M)-Material costs purchased for the job.
(P)-Payments received from the customer on a job.
NOTE: (R)-Reserve for commission is created when a Sales Order is prepared and
there is a commission to be paid to a salesperson. (E)-for estimate is
also created when no job exist. (paragraph II above).
A D D T R A N S A C T I O N S
TC DESCRIPTION DATE AMOUNT
Transaction codes (TC) are L=Labor, M=Material, P=Payment or F=Freight. DO
NOT use 'E'. You may enter as many transactions as necessary for a job.
Net profit is based on either the estimate, orders or payments. Profits on
payments are only reported when a completion date is entered with a payment.
Transaction dates should not be earlier than the estimate date.!
REMINDER - ARE ALL COSTS ENTERED?
a.) Should you attempt to add a transaction with any
letter other than what is expected the computer
will give you this error message:
USE L, M, P, F or Q(Quit) - Hit <C>-Continue [ ]
b.) Should you attempt to enter a date earlier than the
original estimate date:
DATE is EARLIER than ESTIMATE DATE... Hit <C>-Continue [ ]
c.) When each transaction is entered you will have a
chance to quit without updating the record by
answering <N> to:
Is ALL O.K. ? (Y or N) [ ]
Page 149
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d.) Adding payments is a bit special as TFO looks to
see what sales orders are on file in order to
determine the sales taxes that may be applicable.
e.) If no sales orders are on file for the chosen job
you will see:
S A L E S O R D E R S
NO SALES ORDER ON FILE....
When the order is prepared, will there be any sales tax? (Y, N or Quit) [ ]
I.) The payment can be posted before the sales
order is prepared (providing there is a job
estimate on file, of course).
II.) Sales Tax is required to be paid upon receipt
of payment, so when you answer <Y> to the
above question you will see:
We will need to calculate the sales tax at this time, so please note the
payment above. A portion of the above payment may be taxed or all of it
may be taxed. Enter portion to be taxed or hit <ENTER> to tax all of it.
Amount to be taxed [ . ]
III.) Enter the taxed amount, as it may be
different than the payment as some items on
your sales order may not be taxable.
Calculating sales tax....
Page 150
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
f.) When a sales order(s) is on file, a special sales
order screen appears listing the orders for the
current job.
NO.----DATE---------DESCRIPTION--------EXTENSION---------TAX---------TOTAL
3 order(s) on file for this customer. TOTAL:
<H>-H E L P <F>Forward <P>-Pay this order Esc-Quit [ ]
I). Each order for this job will be displayed
followed by the above menu:
II). Touch <F> or <B> to review each order to see
which one should receive payment.
III). One of two possible messages flash to quide
your search for orders for this job.
First sales order
Only one sales order for this Customer
IV). Touch <P>-Pay this order and the cursor will
move to the payment amount where you can
enter an amount and touch <Enter> or simply
touch <Enter> to accept as payment the amount
of the order that is shown.
V). The completion dates that you see default
according to the payment date that you
entered, and, of course, can be over-riden.
Hit < to accept above PAYMENT AMOUNT, or type the amount of this payment.
When a sales order and/or Job is completed, enter the completion dates below.
A sales order date means paid orders appear on the Paid Orders Report. A Job
Costing date means payments are used for job cost comparisons and that the job
is complete. Hit < to enter the dates shown, or enter spaces when more
payments are expected on an Order, or when more data is to be entered on a Job.
SALES ORDER completion date 07/15/89 JOB completion date 07/15/89
g). A sales tax reminder message is next:
Page 151
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S A L E S T A X N O T I C E
When posting a payment to a sales order with tax, the
tax amount is recorded in the state tax record for the
current month. The amount of tax posted depends on
amount of the payment, I.e., partial payments will
post partial tax amounts. See 'T-Tax on MAIN MENU.
Is all O.K? (Y or N)
h). You can still quit, or touch <Y> to record payment.
V. Touch <E>-Edit transactions produces this screen:
E D I T T R A N S A C T I O N S
The first transaction above is the estimate, code 'E' Use <B> or <F> to select
a transaction: then use <R> to enter changes. Other transaction codes are L=La-
bor, M=Material, F=Freight, O=Orders, P=Payment and R=Resv. for Comm. Sale and
comm. amounts CAN NOT be revised here, but use <O>-Orders from the MAIN MENU.
ACTUAL CURR. PROFIT is actual costs subtracted from estimate, order or payment.
'Add Trans' to enter actual costs for labor, material or freight.
a). Editing an estimate creates the following screen:
ACTUAL
TC DESCRIPTION PROMISED SHIPPED COMPLETE CURR. PROFIT
b). And the regular edit screen where just the
description, date, and actual cost are revised:
ACTUAL
TC DESCRIPTION DATE COST
<B>-Backward <D>-Delete <F>-Forward <R>-Revise Esc-Quit [ ]
Page 152
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I). Complete the screen for the chosen item to edit
after touching <R> for revise.
c). To delete a transaction use <F>-Forward or <B>-
Backward to locate the one that you wish to delete
and then touch <D>:
D E L E T E T R A N S A C T I O N S
When deleting 'E' (Estimate transactions) all the activity on the entire job
will be deleted. Otherwise only the individual transactions will be deleted.
'O' (Orders), 'P' (Payments), 'R' (Reserve for commisssion), and 'T' (Taxes)
must be deleted in order to change the transactions. They cannot be edited!
After a job is dated complete, use 'D-Delete jobs' from the Job Cost menu.
Confirm delete (Y, N, or Esc) [ ]
I). Sales orders (O transactions) cannot be deleted
here.
NOTE: You will need to go to the <O>-Orders module to <V>-View and then delete
the sales order which in turn will remove it from the Job Cost file. (See
TFO 22).
VI. Here are some other error messages that can occur in
order to keep things under control:
USE L, M, or F ONLY - Hit <C>-Continue [ ]
DATE is EARLIER than ESTIMATE DATE... Hit <C>-Continue [ ]
C. <R>-Reporting presents the following menu:
Page 153
SECTION I JOB COSTING
TFO 25-11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C O S T C O N T R O L R E P O R T S
Report Type Sequence
--------------- ---------------
|J-Job Status | |A-Alphabetic |
|O-Orders | |J-Job number |
|P-Payments | |H-H E L P |
|Esc-Quit | |Esc-Quit |
--------------- ---------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>.
Sequence will report in customer order
I. Should you touch <H> you will see:
-----------------------------------N O T E S-----------------------------------
J=Job progress with profits less all costs to date and profit less overhead.
O=Paymnets, job balances, taxes, and dating on all jobs that have an order.
P=Actual detail costs, original extimates, and % of profit based on payments.
Profit is posted to the customer record and will appear on Earnings Report.
NOTE: This is the same menu that is available when using <R>-Reports, from the
Main Menu after selecting <J>-Job costing reports.
a. After selecting one letter from each catagory the bottom of
the screen will be filled with date requirements:
DATING-Jobs appear on report based on a beginning and ending date. Entering
The same date for a beginning and ending date will report the jobs only for
that one date. Hit < to enter blank dates so that all jobs will report.
Enter Beginning date [ / / ] Ending date [ / / ]
II. Should you have selected <P> for "Payments" you will need to
decide on an answer to the following question:
DO YOU WISH TO POST PROFITS FOR THE PERIOD? (Y or N) [ ]
a. Answering <Y> means that net profit will be posted to the
customer record for "Earnings Report-Customer" to reflect
profitability in the "Total Profit" column.
NOTE: Answer <Y> once a month. The rest of the time answer N, should you want
an interim payment report. Whenever you answer Y dates entered should be
the beginning and ending period dates. The point is do not overlap dates
with a Y answer or you will cause duplication on the report.
Page 154
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TFO 25-12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Always run the "Payments" report each month from the Job Cost
<R>-Report selection before printing a monthly <E>-Earnings
report-Customer.
1). In this manner you will be assured of current, up-to-
date profit figures.
c. You will be given a chance to verify that your printer is
properly set-up before printing begins.
d. It is normal for a delay to occur prior to the actual printing
of the reports.
D. Select <D>-Delete Jobs to delete individual jobs or to delete all
financial data entered to date.
NOTE: The purpose in removing all financial data, including sales orders, jobs,
earnings, performance figures, etc., is to clear out any practice data
that you may have entered.
I. You will see a pop-up menu box on the right:
Deletions
---------------
|A-All dollars|
|C-Complete |
|H-H E L P |
|Esc-Quit |
---------------
Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>
CAUTION--INCLUDES SALES ORDERS, COMMISSIONS and EARNINGS
a. Using <C>-Complete means that only those jobs marked as paid
with a completion date will be deleted.
b. Should you elect <A>-All dollars you will obtain a chance to
change your minds.
Deleting financial data!
CAUTION: ENTER 'N' BELOW TO not delete ALL JOBS, SALES ORDERS, EARNINGS, AND
FINANCIAL DATA. IF YOU NEED A MORE CURRENT BACKUP, THEN EXIT FROM THE MAIN
MENU AND TYPE 'BACKUP C:\TFO\TFOFILES\*.* A: <ENTER> FROM THE DOS PROMPT.
Confirm delete? (Y or N) [Y]
I.) Select <N> and you will be returned to the Job Cost Menu.
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SUMMARY:
The Front Office is a management system, designed to improve your business
decisions and profits as you proceed with sales efforts. The Front Office is
intended to increase income through improved marketing and sales prospecting
techniques. In addition, The Front Office has been designed to work with those
areas of a business that most frequently have to do with public contact. Good
management information controls how we must deal with the public. Profit
analysis can force better business practices, improved quoting and better sales
techniques.
Also, when you enter a sales order/invoice and there are no job costing
transactions on file this is OK. You can also post payments on these sales
orders (using Job Costing) without any cost transactions on file. In this
manner, you are able to track such activity without ever using cost
transactions. Profits of course will be distorted, so do understand. TFO does
not attempt to do accounting, just bookkeeping.
Concerning payment transactions, a report of paid sales orders is intended to
show partial payments and to assist with paying salesmen. The salesperson's
performance report shows sales earnings from the commission percentage entered
at the time that the sales order is produced. See the <S>-Sales module from the
Main Menu. Commissions are considered a "reserve for commission". Normally,
commissions are paid when the orders are paid by the customer, so therefore,
you may wish to match the paid orders report with the sales performance report
for contolling payroll. Regardless of how you pay your sales people, the
reports are meant to assist management with sales and production.
Especially if you are a very small business, The Front Office takes all the
drugery away from record keeping...i.e, providing you key in the data, or as
the old expression goes: ....Habits make perfection.
- E N D -
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SECTION I TAXES
TFO 26-1
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PURPOSE:
To control and report state and/or city sales taxes, The Front Office makes a
couple of assumptions.
The first assumption is that taxes are paid upon receipt of income. The Iamtax
file holds all orders with their appropriate sales tax amount, if any. A second
file holds the state sales tax percentage, your company name and address, and
sales tax ID number, etc. This file is first created when you select <A>-sAles
tax from the Main Menu for the first time. Considering the sales tax and the
<J>-Job Cost module, taxes are calculated from total payments, i.e., the total
payment including the tax. For example, assuming the tax is 6 percent, a
$100.00 payment calculates to a sale of $94.34 which is the payment minus the
tax amount of $5.66. This assumption is done with partial payments or down
payments as well. Unlike a cash register where the sale amount computes the
sales tax, The Front Office assumes that the entered payment includes the tax
and then computes the tax (where there is a tax) to come down to the sale
amount. However, when using the <A>-sAles tax module manually and when entering
<O>-Orders, The Front Office will compute the tax on the amount of the sale
just like a cash register.
You can post payments using this Income and Sales Tax Control menu or you can
use the Job Cost system, but not both, as you could double up on the amount of
tax due the state. Final reporting indicates how much is owned the local taxing
authority. It helps to send a copy of the report with your check for the
period. The report is used to complete the tax authorities forms, if necessary,
as some states will accept the report.
The name and address that you use in the Tax ID file is the same name and
address that is used on the sales order. Processing a sales order will not
continue if the Tax ID file has not been created.
PROCEDURE:
1. The first menu screen for taxes appears when you select A-sAles Tax from the
Main Menu:
I N C O M E & S A L E S T A X C O N T R O L
Select on of the following [ ]
-----------------------
|C - Change payments |
|E - Enter payments |
|H - H E L P |
|P - Purge payments |
|R - Report taxes due | In last posted on
|T - Tax ID file | 06/15/89
|Esc-Quit |
-----------------------
A. Touch <H> to see a help screen about what each selection does.
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SECTION I TAXES
TFO 26-2
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2. Touch <E>-Enter payments when you should desire to pick up payments for tax
purposes because you are not using <J>-Job Cost for payments.
E N T E R P A Y M E N T S
ENTER PAYMENT DATE [ / / ]
ENTER AMOUNT RECEIVED $ [ . ]
ENTER A CUSTOMER NAME [ ]
A. Fill in the payment date, the total amount paid, and a customer name or
anything to help you to later identify the receipt.
B. The screen then asks whether the payment is exempt from sales taxes or
not:
CUSTOMER NAME
EXEMPT (Y or N) :Y:
C. The tax is computed and you can indicate whether the tax has been paid
to the state or not:
1) This is usually <N> at this time.
2) Change 'PAID STATE' to Y after writing your check to the state for
amount of taxes collected and after producing the Tax Report.
NOTE: This is the procedure for purging the file. (See Para 5.)
STATE SALES TAX
NET SALE
PAID STATE? (Y or N) [N]
D. Should the tax not be correct perhaps because only part of the payment
was taxable then you can correct the computers calculation.
CONTINUE (Y, N, or C=Change) [ ]
1) A <Y> answer permits more entries and an <N> is to quit, or <C> is
to change the current entry.
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SECTION I TAXES
TFO 26-3
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a. Should you accidentally touch <Y> and meant to touch <N>,
then just enter spaces and then touch <N>. The spaces will
not be recorded in the tax file.
3. Touch <C>-Changes to correct any entries on file that may be in error.
NOTE: Perhaps after printing out the Tax Report you found some mistakes, then
use <C>, make the changes and reprint the report:
I N C O M E E D I T R O U T I N E
ENTER 'E' (EXIT to MENU)
or <C>-Continue .... [ ]
Enter a month and year below to begin a record by record search
within that month. If 'PAID STATE' is 'Y' then that item will
be flagged for delete. Use [control] 'W' to skip and save.
Enter MONTH NUMBER (XX) [ ] and the YEAR (XX) [ ]
A. When the month and year that you enter happens to not have any records
in it this error message appears:
No records on file for :09/86: Hit <C>-Continue [ ]
B. If all is in order, the you will see:
DATE [09/12/86:
AMOUNT [ 99.95:
NAME [Acme Controls ]
EXEMPT (Y or N) [N]
SALES TAX [ 6.00]
NET SALE [ 93.95]
PAID STATE (Y or N) [N]
REPORT MO [09/86]
Continue (Y or N) [ ]
1) When "PAID STATE" has a "Y" the screen will print to the right of
the date:
* DELETED *