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.XT:6 .XB:0 .N:114 .F: .F:...Page $$$ .H:October 1, 1986...INTRODUCTION .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: We thought that rather than produce an index that sends you to some other place in the manual, we would discuss the subject of interest right in the the 'index' itself. The titles that follow are intended to be a quick reference to the many aspects of THE FRONT OFFICE. These subjects are meant to supplement your understanding of THE FRONT OFFICE, while the first section of THE FRONT OFFICE manual is a step-by-step guide through various procedures. The second section of the THE FRONT OFFICE manual consists of alphabetical subjects which we might call an on-the-spot-index. Initially, the screen instructions that appear throughout THE FRONT OFFICE will help you as well. Please keep in mind that, as with anything new, your speed at first may be slow. However your keystrokes will buffer, i.e., you can type ahead as when using WordStar and PC-Write. But, do read through these pages before beginning. The speed of Foxbase and the aspect of keyboard buffering when using the various menus can take some getting used to at first. Later, you will appreciate your ability to zip through various screens without having to stop and read them. - E N D - .H:October 1, 1986...CONTENTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: TITLE PAGE NUMBER INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114 ALPHABETICAL SUBJECTS Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116 Beginning Calls Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117 Contact Reporting Control W & Q Cost Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118 Customers Customer Report D.Com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119 Defaults Edit Prospects Envelopes Error Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 ESC & Stop Listings File Stepping Follow-up Control Job Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121 Labels Letters Letters - Once Letters - Multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 Listing Listing Control Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124 Names - Contact Passwords Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Performance Figures Prospect Codes Record Deletes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126 Replace Codes Runtime Compiler Salesman Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127 Sales Orders Screen Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128 Setup Shareware TFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 Source Codes Status Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 System File Taxes Transaction Codes Update Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131 APPENDIXES A - Sample Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132 B - File Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 C - Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134 D - PC-Write Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: BACKUPS The operating system offers BACKUP and RESTORE software. Use 'BACKUP C:IAM*.DBF A:' to copy your files to a disk- kette from a hard disk. DO THIS WEEKLY, BUT MORE in heavy entry times. BACKUP cannot be emphasized enough!! BACKUP, BACKUP and BACKUP somemore is the name of the the game. Never backup on the most current set of disk. Always use the previous set of backup disks. In this way if anything goes wrong during a backup run, your only set of disks will not be destroyed. After three sets of of backups begin again on the first set of diskettes.22 BEGINNING (SEE THE PARAGRAPH ON SETUP FIRST)--Once you have made a copy of your source diskette, type 'A:MINSTALL' <return> from the system prompt (usually \C). This will install all the programs and fil <return> from the system prompt to begin the program to Setup TFO for your terminal or computer. The first time that you enter TFO a memory file is created called IAMCLEAR.MEM and is, therefore, not present on the diskettes that you purchased. You will then see in- structions on the screen and be asked for the disk drive letters where your programs and files are to be located. CALLS You can enter call records using either the edit routine or the 'C'-Calls selection from the MAIN MENU. All call detail can be edited and listed to either the screen or to the printer. When editng an existing prospect or customer the last call record will appear on the Edit Routine screen as a reminder of your last conversation. So be sure to get into the habit of keeping the call de- tails up to date... such information will help you to remember your prospects and help management know what and how you're doing. Whenever you add a call record you will be prompted to update the follow-up date. The future follow-up date that is shown is calculated by the program based upon a figure that you can enter using 'U' -UTILITY from the MAIN MENU. (See Follow-up Control.) .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: CODES You will also need to decide what SALESMAN codes and PROSPECT codes to use for the various names, companies or accounts that you wish to enter. When the MAIN MENU appears for the first time after installing TFO , you will see that sample prospects codes are shown. You use 'U-UTILITY' to input prospect codes and S- SALES SYSTEM to input salesman codes. Do not use sales- man code '0'. In addition, for those prospects that become customers a PRODUCT code and a TYPE code can be assigned for cust- omers. These are entered from the EDIT or CUSTOMER screen, and they can be any alph/numeric code that you may wish to use. Be sure to record them so that you can maintain standards. Because you will be able to draw out any customer from the database to write letters to about the various products or type of customer he may be. TRANSACTION CODES are used in the Cost Control system. They are E-Estimate, L-Labor, M-Material, O-Order, P- Payment Received, R-commission Reserve, T-Tax. CONTACT REPORTING C-Calls from the MAIN MENU permits you to enter results and report sales contact information. Reports on the printer or screen are available as a record of your con- tacts. The S-SEARCH routine from the CALLS menu will find the prospect that you select so that you can type in the results of the contact, print results or delete the data already printed. The D-DELETE feature will delete all contact entries at once, so be certain to P-PRINT the call report before any deleting any records. The Edit Routine screen will inform you of those names who do not have any contact information on file. When entering a name at the MAIN MENU and the name is in the Prospect/Customer file than the last call recorded will be displayed on the bottom of the screen. You may add new call reports quite quickly at this point without going to the C-CALLS routine at the MAIN MENU. (See al- so CALLS.) CONTROL W or Q When editing or adding data you may exit the routine with either of these twin keys to save time over typing <RETURN> to get to the last field. ^Q (control key struck together with the letter key, Q) exits without saving the screen data, and ^W exits with the screen data saved to the database. Any exit from the edit routine will save data, however. The '^' means CTRL. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: COST CONTROL Your accountant can give you a percentage figure for what indirect business expenses are to total earnings. TFO calls this figure overhead. Profit is the balance after expenses for labor, material and salesman commissions. TFO considers these costs direct business expense. Dir- ect expenses are entered into the Cost Control system. What is left, after the percentage for indirect expenses and actural direct expenses are subtracted from a sale, is what management may distribute for salaries, business expansion, new equipment, advertising or increased inven- tory. This balance guides us in running our businesses. Once quotations or estimates are given to a prospect you can tract any resulting sales order. TFO provides order status reports, job costs and actual net profit by job & customer. Costs for labor, material, and freight are en- tered. Sales, commissions & payments update this record and figures are compared to the estimates. Reports indi- cate continuing profit status. The job file can be eas- ily changed as conditions change prior to payment. All jobs are controlled by an internal job number and letter. Review of each job's entries occurs on the screen each time it is updated for a constant review and status. CUSTOMERS If a prospect is coded with a '0' for customer then sales orders may be completed using TFO . SALES in- formation, eg., sales YTD, earnings YTD, PRODUCT codes, customer TYPE codes and details on what was purchased are all by-products of producing a Sales Order. The Sales Order is produced using 'O'-sales Orders from the MAIN MENU. You can select to name for the Sales Order either before select 'O' or you can select the name after selecting 'O'. The prospect code is automatically changed to '0' (zero) when an order is created. CUSTOMER REPORT Printed from the R-REPORT selection run off of the MAIN MENU, this report lists all the 'prospects' coded with the prospect code '0' for customer. The report shows sales and profits year to date and the status, product & type codes that you assigned to this customer. You can write multiple letters to customers by selecting the pro duct or type code for the customers you wish to place in the the MERGE file just as is done for product or salesman codes. In this case though you make up the codes that you wish to later select, so be sure to keep proper records for the codes that you design. You will need to select 'T-many leTTers' from the MAIN MENU to do customer letters. Customer product and type codes from the sales order information can only be used to write letters, ie., not labels! .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: D. COM Type the letter 'D' <RETURN> from the prompt and you will receive an alphabetical listing of all the files on that resident drive. D.COM is a program furnished as an extra by I. A. M. Inc., as it is now public domain software. Try typing 'D *.DBF'! Appendix C has the files that you should have for TFO. WordStar, and MailMerge are not included with TFO. PC- WRITE is included with THE FRONT OFFICE. DEFAULTS You can select V-VARIABLES TO DEFAULT off the 'U'-UTIL- ITY program. This routine permits you to enter codes quickly in one of three fields. Once you choose the code field to be changed, and the common data for that field then each time that you enter a name the field is changed. The date is a good example of a default value. HINT: In order to cause any group of letters, envel- opes to print together how about: 1) Enter the name to change the code as above. 2) Print the letters and a listing using the new code. 3) Use R-REPLACE CODES BY GROUP to change the new codes back to their original grouping. EDIT PROSPECTS Selecting 'R'-REVISE will move the cursor to the first field in the record once having entered the name. You can select 'S'-SEARCH and be asked for another prospect to edit. Location of prospects is done either off of the M A I N M E N U screen or from the various SEARCH routines such as the SEARCH available in the 'ONE LETTER' routine. The 'PRINT' selection will print all detail on any pro- spect on the printer. The 'D'-DELETE' selection will remove the prospect data from the database file. A de- leted prospect will no longer appear on any reports but will still remain in the file. The 'R-RESTORE' command from 'U-UTILITY' menu erases the deleted prospect per- minently from the file. This 'housekeeping' should be done periodically to clear out the master file. ENVELOPES Envelopes are done the same as letters, i.e., you can do all the envelopes for a group of coded prospects. Multiple envelopes use the same .LST file that is pre- pared for multiple letters. So multiple letters must be done first so that the data files' title is avail- able for the envelopes. The .ENV file that is created can be assigned the same file title as the .LST file. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: ERROR CONTROL Each menu (where you are given a choice) requires that you select one of the choices given. If you do not, the menu will repeat itself until you select a choice the program recognizes, or until you [retrn] to exit. ESC and STOP LISTING The <ESC> key can be used to abort a listing of the database. The 'CTRL' key and the 'NUM LOCK' key when struck together will stop a listing from scrolling when being displayed on the screen. Any key will begin the scrolling. When using <ESC> key you will need to re- start the system from the '>' prompt by typing 'TFO '! FILE STEPPING Since all file searching is done by the company/last field a step feature is used to walk through the files should many names be the same. From any screen that permits a search to be done you will also notice a B-BACKWARD or an F-FORWARD menu selection. These two letters when entered will bring up either the prior or the next record in the file. FOLLOW-UP CONTROL Each prospect has provision for a follow-up date. This is a future date that will be a reminder for you to contact a prospect. For any prospect so dated, a Follow-up Listing will be printed for those prospects or salesman dated within the two date parameters that you specify. For a report on prospects for any one day simply enter the same date twice---once for the 'begin- ning' date and once for the 'ending' date. Hit <RETURN> to accept default dates to print all prospects for follow-up. You might want to setup a code for fol- lowing up on prospects as well. An automatic follow-up date is generated by TFO whenever you edit a customer/ prospect name. This date is 10, 15 or 30 days in the future depending on how many days were selected using the 'U-UTILITY' screen. The date can be changed dur- ing editing and call report activity. Keep good follow up date habits .... IT MEANS CALLS TO MAKE AND PEOPLE TO TALK TOO. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: JOB TRACTING From the Cost Control menu select 'R-Reporting' & a re- port showing how jobs are progressing will be produced. Estimates/quotations are compared to actual material & labor figures. Payments from the customer or user are compared to each sale by Job Cost number. The Job Cost number consist of an internal record number, a job let- ter (up to 26 jobs per customer) and a master transac- tion coded as 'E' for estimate. For example, 354AE is the first job (A) for customer number 354. The 'E' means that this record holds the estimate on this job. It is important to remember to delete any old or close- out jobs. Simply delete the transaction coded 'E' and all transactions for that job will be removed from file. The dates used in each job transaction are the dates that the transaction was entered and they can be changed easily. You can reassign job letters, eg., deleting job 'D' means at some future time you can assign 'D' again. The program will not permit dublicate job letters, and constantly shows you which jobs are still open. LABELS LABELS are arranged for typing from TFO. Envelopes are arranged for typing from word processor. The label pro- gram permits you to test-print the format with X's. Labels can be printed 1, 2, or 3 across and spaces be- tween labels can be varied. Three inch high labels are are printed but only one across. Letters produced will match the labels produce by using the same selections. LETTERS Name and address data is written to the WP and merged with the chosen pre-edited (in the case of multiple letters) Word Processor file letter. TFO creates the template or mail merge file to use when merging data and text. The file extensions will all be the same such as .DOC, .TEM, .TXT. You title the files. You can select salesman or prospect codes to produce letters for many individuals to receive the same letter, or you can select only one letter to print to one individual. Envelopes use the same .LST (list) that is produced for single and multiple letters. The .TEM (template) file will have the same title. With PC-WRITE you can print directly to the printer or create an .OUT (output) file to either print from or to edit prior to printing. LETTERS ONCE The 'O' command will write one template or merge file per selected prospect. When one letter is chosen an an envelope file is also made by TFO so that you will be able to use the word processor to simply write the letter. Edit the document using the title that TFO assigned using the word processor. The 'O'-One letter selection is available using the EDIT ROUTINE screen. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: LETTERS MULTIPLE The 'M' command will produce letters to everyone or to selected individuals by code and zip code. When you use 'M' to write many letters, you must remember the title given to the file in order to edit the letter later using the word processor. TFO will ask you where you want the date located on the letters. Later, when you are in the word processor you can move data to your .TEM file or type the letter prior to running the merge. This will be the case with PC-WRITE! When using Word Star, however, TFO is designed to input the title of the letter file (.DOC) when TFO creates the Mail Merge file. Therefore, the (.DOC) must created and exist on your disk before running many letters. The title of this file is imbedded in the Mail Merge file by TFO. LISTINGS Prospects can be listed on the printer or displayed on the screen. All prospects can be listed/displayed, or they can be listed by particular codes depending on the choice of codes selected. All listings are printed on 9 1/2 X 11 inch continuous paper. Listings can be produced form the 'R'-REPORT selection off of the MAIN MENU, or from within the actual sub-system of TFO. TFO leads one through the various code selections and sub- classifications for listings. HINT: You should print listings to match the letters that you send and use the list for follow-up phoning for sales or appointments. (See Listing Control). LISTING CONTROL You can select listings, letters and envelopes by SALESMAN or PROSPECT CODES, or ALPHABETICALLY. Within Salesman & Prospect Codes you can select a listing by either ZIP CODE, FOLLOW-UP DATE or NAME order. There- fore should you wish many letters to be printed out to one particular code, then it is suggested that you run a listing by that code. For example, print out SALES- MAN by ZIP CODE and then use this listing to decide how to break up your task into smaller units for a parti- cular mailing. Then print your letters, envelopes and a listing for that particular mailing. Use this Zip Code Listing for making your prospect calls and for following up on who you sent marketing letters to. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: NAMES The programs will automatically align individual names and titles. Company names are entered into the 'Com- pany/Last' field, and well as the last name for an individual. The database file allows space for 50 characters for the edited name. Should you enter more that 50 characters for individuals (because you have 10 characters for the 'title', 15 characters for the first name and initial, 40 for the last name, and 5 for the suffix) the program will ask you to correct the name by shortening it in some way. Most often 40 characters for a company name will be enough, but if not you can use the 'first' name field. Keep in mind that the 'first' name field will print first before the 'company/last' name field, and that all sorting and look-up is done only using the 'company/last' name field. NAMES CONTACT Each prospect/customer record can hold up to 4 addition- al names and telephone numbers along with job responsi- bilities for each contact name. These names can be sel- ected and easily used in 'attention of' and letter writing activity. They also help greatly recalling con- tact details, acting as a phone directory. PASSWORDS When selecting 'S' off of the MAIN MENU to enter the Salesman file area of TFO you will be asked for a pass- word. The first time that you select the Salesman File the password to use will be blank (RETURN). Subsequent entry to the Salesman File will be according to the pass word that you enter by using the 'C - Change Password' option off of the main salesman menu. When changing the password you will be asked to enter your choice twice in order to verify that you spelled the word exactly the way that you wanted it spelled. The password that you enter will never appear anywhere, so be very sure that you do not forget it..WRITE IT DOWN .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: PAYMENTS Payments mean a job is shipped, invoiced and closed. At this time there is no invoicing in The Front Office. In- voicing we feel is best left to the 'back office' staff. But management needs to know total billings to see how productive business has been. So The Front Office re- quires and affords shipping dates, payment dates, and dollar amounts so that reports on profits can be produc- ed. Applying payments against a job is also our way of deleting sales orders from the system, producing a Paid Orders Report, closing out jobs, and showing balances on the Sales Orders vs. Actual Costs Report. Payments are applied against the individual Sales Order, thus enabl- ing the system to pick up the original sales tax for in- tegrating the sales tax reporting system. You can over- ride and correct and tax figures as the need arises. Al- so, commissions are posted to the sales performance sys- tem when the Sales Order is created, and the Paid Orders Report reflects those Sales Orders that have been paid. PERFORMANCE FIGURES The system, which can be thought of as a separate system for salesman performance data, holds a database file for performance and salesman data. Quota, sales volume and last years figures are stored for each salesman that you designate. Salesman performance is reported to verify the accuracy of the data, and to report on whether: 1. Performance goals are being met for each period. 2. The current period is better than the prior period. 3. Current period is better than same period last year. Each time a Sales Order is produced commission amounts are written to the sales performance file automatically for the month that the order was entered. PROSPECT CODES Whenever a prospect is added, the file is coded or flagged. (See DEFAULT below for more on coded re- cords.) The codes available are 0 through 99. You need to keep track of the codes that you make up by using the C-CHANGE CODES routine from the 'U-UTILITY' selec- tion on the MAIN MENU. PROSPECT CODE '0' is reserved for 'CUSTOMERS'. Any pros- prospect so coded will automatically cause the system to permit you to enter customer sales order detail such as product codes, customer type codes, sales & earnings YTD. The 'O'-ORDER routine off of the MAIN MENU will change the PROSPECT CODE to '0' automatically. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: RECORD DELETES Records can be deleted by code group as well as by individual name. Single deletions are done using the MAIN MENU screen. Type the name for deletion, and after the edit screen appears enter 'D' to delete an the in- dividual record. Also, call reports that may be assoc- iated with the record will also be deleted. Deletion of a code group is accomplished using the sub- menu, C-CHANGE CODES, from the 'U-UTILITY' screen as mentioned above for Code Replacement. Follow the screen instructions as you proceed through the group deletion routine and all prospects so coded will be de- leted along with any call reporting that is on file. REPLACE CODES You can change CODES by code group. For example, using the 'U-UTILITY' screen select C-CHANGE CODES, to enter the Code Change Menu. Then select R-REPLACE CODES BY GROUP where you will be asked for the old and the new code. In this manner you can quickly separate blocks of codes to control listings and letters based desired activity. Always maintain code zero (0) for CUSTOMERS. Other codes, for example, could be code (1) for DEAD LEADS, or code (2) for one industry group or code (3) for another, or code (4) for your local club, etc. Don't forget to show the codes as assigned above on the bottom of the MAIN MENU. Select C-CODE CHANGES off of the UTILITY screens. RUN-TIME TFO comes in both a source (or modifiable) and compiled version. You need either dBASEII or FOXBASE to use the source version of TFO . Call us concerning the use of dBASEII versions should you encounted any problems run- ning dBASEII source. There are some additional commands using FOXBASE that may cause you will need to work out if you are using dBASEII with TFO source code. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: SALESMAN CODES You can have up to 99 codes. The salesman have their own database which is maintained by using the 'S' command off the MAIN MENU. Salesman codes and the associated name information is entered. The name will appear on the MAIN MENU as a reminder to you. When ever you add or edit a salesman name, the performance file will be available for changes as well. For sin- gle digit codes DO NOT use a filling left zero (0)! SALES ORDERS TFO accepts sales order information and prints a copy of the sales order when it is entered or you can print order in batches. Select 'O'-SALES ORDER from the MAIN MENU. You will be asked for a name and in a few seconds a sales order form appears on the screen for that cust- omer. You can place up to 6 items on the order. The sales tax percentage that is used comes from the 'T'- TAX selection off of the MAIN MENU. The first time that you enter the tax routine TFO will ask you for your areas sales tax percentage, if any. Order numbers on the sales order can be either created by the salesman, the home ofice, or by TFO, automatically. Earnings fig- ures and salesman information is integrated with the Salesman Performance system. Total sales data is also passed to the Job Costing system. The primary reason for a marketing and prospecting sales system to create sales orders is to ellinate double work by home sales order entry personnel. TFO offers the user the practi- cal feature of transmitting sales orders to the home office via modem, thus reducing paperwork costs. The Sales Order form that you are using could have been customized for your company's sales requirements. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: SCREEN INSTRUC- TIONS Instructions are presented throughout each screen that appears, so that the best way to learn to use this system is to simply start hitting the keys and prac- tice. First, spend some time moving from one menu screen to another off of the MAIN MENU. Most every routine that you enter will permit you to EXIT without forcing you to create entries. Later you can add a few names and addresses and begin some practice editing and writing letters. But, getting familiar with all the available key combin- ations in some software packages is the greatest chal- lange computing has today. THE FRONT OFFICE was created by a businessman/programmer, so feel for this reason we have desiged TFO to strongly favor the first time user. Because of screen instructions and all the menus and guided input, THE FRONT OFFICE greatly reduces the need for the user to have to learn and remember compli- cated command sequences. SETUP The first thing you should do is make a copy of your TFO diskette furnished by I. A. M. Put the original diskette in a safe place and use your copy diskette to install TFO . Using a hard disk computer all programs and files should be on the same drive. For a floppy disk system you can choose which drive you wish to have your .DBF files on. Be sure to COPY the eight .DBF's to drive 'B', namely IAMNAME, IAMSNAME, IAMCONT, IAMOET, IAMOEHD, IAMPERF, IAMCALL, IAMCOST. When not using a hard disk, keep the .PRG/FOX files and word processor files on the same drive separate from the .DBF and .NDX files. In this manner you will have more room for data on one floppy disk. The 720k portable microfloppy disk computers are recommended when using floppy disks. CONFIG.SYS is a file that DOS looks to a start up. It defines any special devices that the system may need. CONFIG.SYS needs 2 lines it that read 'BUFFERS=24' and 'FILES=15'. Please use your word processor to see CON- FIG.SYS and verify that these two lines are in the file and that they read as above. If you get 'Cannot open file' errors, this is probably the reason. (See 'BEGINNING') .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: SHAREWARE-Shareware is a unique marketing method. Inter Active Micro encourages you to freely distribute unmodified copies of THE FRONT OFFICE. You support the Shareware concept by registering THE FRONT OFFICE or by purchase- ing our manuals. As a registered user, you can get a $25 commission for every new user of THE FRONT OFFICE that registers and gives us your registration number. A registered copy provides you all the following bene- fits for only $125.00: 1. Printed hardbound copy of the current manual. 2. Current version of THE FRONT OFFICE diskette with your unique registration number. 3. THE FRONT OFFICE support service for one year which includes phone support, one update or Foxbase source code. To register please give registration number of your copy to credit its owner or call Inter Active Micro direct. Add $5 for COD, PO & RUSH orders. VISA or MasterCard preferred. I. A. M., Inc., Ring Hill Road, Bradford, NH 03221 (603) --- ---- Sincere thanks for your support and ecouragement. SOURCE CODES TFO is available in source code which you may prefer to use rather than RunTime. When running TFO in dBASEII source you will need to have two dBASEII programs on the drive that TFO's programs (.PRG) files are on; namely, DBASE.COM and DBASEOVR.COM. Using DBASEII or FOXBASE you will be able to modify TFO to suit. However, be sure to use a COPY of the source programs when you attempt any modifications, and debug any changes on a separate drive before attempting to incorporate them in the master TFO version. To start the source version type 'DBASE TFO' [RETURN], or 'FOX TFO ' or construct a simple batch (.BAT) file called 'T'. For example: ECHO=OFF FOX (or DBASE) TFO Then to begin, simply type 'T' [retrn] (for THE FRONT OFFICE). You may look any .BAT with your WP. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: STATUS CODES Prospect/customers can have a four character status code made up of your choosing. This alphabetical/numerical code is intended to allow you to followup on the various conditions or status on each prospect. You may use such ideas as CALL, NI (no interest), DEMO, APPT, CB (call back), etc. Later you can report by these status codes using 'R'-REPORTS. When leads are returned use the code to assign where the lead was originated. In this manner one prospect code could be broken down to allow lead's analyst for marketing studies. Marketing survey results can mean profits for your advertising expenditures. SYSTEM FILE CONFIG.SYS is a file that DOS looks for a start up. It defines any special devices that the system may need. CONFIG.SYS needs 2 lines it that read 'BUFFERS=24' and 'FILES=15'. Please use your word processor to see CON- FIG.SYS and verify that these two lines are in the file and that they read as above. If you get 'Cannot open file' errors, this is probably the reason. TAXES Sales taxes are computed and reported by The Front Office using 'T-Tax' from the MAIN MENU. Tax details from Sales Orders are placed in the tax system when payments are re- ceived and posted using the Job Cost system. See Help Menu for Payments and Job Costing. The tax file can be edited and changed should you notice any errors or omis- sions when printed the Sales Tax Report. You can change the tax information on your company using the utility program from the Tax Menu. The company tax information is also requested automatically the first time that you enter the Tax System from the MAIN MENU. Taxes are al- reported on a monthly basis. If your state does not have any sales tax (like New Hampshire) then enter '0' for a percentage on the tax information screen. Producing the Tax Report for zero sales tax will still give you a list- ing of total receipts for any month. TRANS- ACTION CODES (Also see Cost Control). Single letter codes are used to control and process Job Costing Reports. These codes are: E=Estimate or Quote L=Labor costs M=Material costs O=Sales Order P=Payment Received R=Reserve for Commission Their use is controlled by the 'A-Add' & 'R-Revise' trans. For example, you can have one estimate (E) per job, but as many entries for other codes as needed. The 'O' code is created automatically when a Sales Order is processed. You can review how the codes appear each time that you enter the 'T-Transactions' portion of the Cost Control system. Changes to the transactions can be freely accom- plished except for code (E); it cannot be changed or a se- cond one added, but estimate figures can be 'R-Revised'. .H:October 1, 1986...SUBJECTS .H:SECTION II...Alphabetical Listing .H:------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .H: UPDATE CALLS The 'C'-CALLS selection from the MAIN MENU produces the Call Report Update screen. Here one can update, print and delete contact data in the Call Report file. You can date the enter 6 lines of information by date con- tacted on a prospect/customer by using 'A'-Add calls. When you select 'P'-PRINT a report will be displayed on the screen or printer. It will show contact detail by prospect/customer. You can also add call or contact information from the EDIT ROUTINE menu. - H A P P Y C O M P U T I N G - IAM, Inc. I AM THAT I AM P. O. Box 178 Exodus 3:14 Bradford, NH 03221 (603) --- ----