The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-385-Vol-1of3.iso/q/qt3.zip/USINGTHE.DOC

Text File | 1992-02-13 | 20KB | 481 lines

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B                     USING THE EM/DBS SYSTEM
B
D     The following schedule is recommended to maximize the
D     consistency and accuracy of the EM/dBS Equipment Maintenance
D     databases.
D
B4.1  Each Day
B
D     (1) Backup data.
D
C     NOTE: Changed data should be backed up daily. Failure to do
C     so will inevitably result in lost data, lost time, and
C     perhaps irrecoverable information. The expense in time and
C     storage media for backing up data files frequently is far
C     less than the costs of trying to recover or reenter lost
C     data.
C
D          Please refer to the Chapter 5, "Why Backup Data
D          Files?", for more information about backing up data
D          files in the DATA1 subdirectory. In order to protect
D          other information on your hard disk, we recommend use
D          of a tape backup system that will quickly backup your
D          entire hard disk on a regular basis.
D
D     (2) Close completed work orders (Work Order Main Menu -
D          "Close Work Orders" option).
D
D     (3) Document all unscheduled work by opening and closing
D          work orders to document time and material information
D          (Work Order Main Menu - "Open Unscheduled Work Order"
D          option).
D
B4.2  Weekly
B
D     (1) Instead of the daily backup, use the appropriate weekly
D          backup disk set and make a full backup of your
D          \EMS\DATA1 directory.
D
D     (2) Print an updated Pending Work Order list (Work Order
D          Main Menu - Reports Menu - "List Work Orders, Print
D          Report" option). Use the various pending work order
D          reports to review the department status of pending work
D          orders.
D
D     (3) Print an updated Completed Work Order list (Work Order
D          Main Menu - Reports Menu - "List Work Orders, Print
D          Report" option). Choose the sort options that best meet
D          your facility's needs.
D
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D     (4) Display or print the Parts Requirement list (Parts Main
D          Menu - Reports Menu - "Parts Required List" option).
D
D     (5) Order parts as indicated on the Parts Requirement list
D          (Parts Main Menu - "Print New Vendor Order" option).
D
D     (6) Display or print the Parts on Order list (Parts Menu -
D          Report Menu - "Parts on Order List" option).
D
B4.3  Monthly
B
D     The following recommended sequence should take place on the
D     first work day of each new month to assure the proper
D     transfer and closing of the previous month's data and the
D     printing of management reports.
D
D     (1) Instead of the daily or weekly backup, use the
D          appropriate monthly backup disk set and make a full
D          backup of your \EMS\DATA1 directory.
D
D     (2) The "Transfer Completed Work Orders To Archive File"
D          option will remove old work orders from the active work
D          order file and move them to a history file. You should
D          use this option when a large number of work orders have
D          been closed since the last transfer, and if the program
D          seems to be slowing down when retrieving work order
D          information from the Work Order database (Work Order
D          Main Menu - Utilities Menu). This is not required as a
D          monthly function.
D
C     NOTE: The information from the original work order is
C     condensed when transferred to the archive file. The required
C     service, reference id, required by, priority, work order
C     date, and work order type information will no longer be
C     available for the work orders transferred.
C
D          Completed work orders can only be transferred to
D          archive if they have been included in a previous End of
D          Month Work Order Summary by Account report. Further,
D          only work orders that were completed more than 60 days
D          before the beginning of the current month may be
D          transferred to archive.
D
D     (3) If hard disk storage space is limited, transfer archived
D          work orders to floppy diskettes (Work Order Main Menu -
D          Utilities Menu).
D
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D          Archived work orders on floppy diskettes are not usable
D          by the EM/dBS Equipment Maintenance program. Use dBASE
D          to obtain reports from archived floppy disk files.
D
D     (4) Print a completed work order listing for the previous
D          month (Work Order Main Menu - Reports Menu - "List Work
D          Orders, Print Report" option). The default dates should
D          be for the entire previous month.
D
C     NOTE: Review this report closely for possible errors that
C     should be corrected. If any are found, make any required
C     corrections to specific work orders (Work Order Main Menu -
C     "Edit Work Order" option).
C
C     NOTE: The EM/dBS system allows work orders to be deleted
C     before they are updated to the history files. Utilization of
C     this feature is strongly discouraged since it makes it
C     difficult to keep an accurate history of the work orders
C     produced. It is much better to close the work orders with a
C     special service code which stands for "canceled", and to use
C     zero hours for the total fields. The latter method will
C     produce a better audit trail for documentation of work.
C
D          Additional reports of completed work order activity may
D          also now be printed and distributed for management
D          review. Reports may be printed by Account/Department,
D          Employee, Equipment Class, Specialty, or Service Code.
D
D     (5) Purge any work orders that were marked for deletion from
D          step 1 above, from the work order database (Work Order
D          Main Menu - Utilities Menu - "Remove Deleted Work
D          Orders from Database" option). This step should be done
D          before transferring completed work orders to archive
D          files or printing the End of Month Work Order Summary
D          Report by Account.
D
D     (6) Print the End of Month Work Order Summary by Account
D          (Work Order Main Menu - Scheduling Work Menu - "End of
D          Month Processing and Summary Report" option). This
D          report may be printed as often as desired to show the
D          completed work order activity for the prior month for
D          each account. The report shows the total labor hours
D          and costs, plus parts and vendor costs from the
D          completed work orders for the entire previous month and
D          for the year-to-date totals through the previous month.
D          There is also a breakdown of costs by service code for
D          each account summary and a listing of completed work
D          orders that may not have been previously reported. An
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D          executive summary report summarizes completed work
D          order activity for the prior month for all accounts.
D
C     NOTE: This report must be printed to update the
C     Account/Department work history information (Support Data
C     Main Menu - "Account/Department" option).
C
D
C     NOTE: This report must also be printed before completed work
C     order history can be transferred from the active Work Order
C     database to the Work Order Archive file on the hard disk.
C
D
C     NOTE: Once this report has been run, work orders in the
C     report period should not be edited or the posted totals may
C     be incorrect.
C
D     (7) If you wish to preview the work orders that will be
D          generated for the next period, you may run one of the
D          Future Manpower Estimate reports (Work Order Main Menu
D          - Scheduling Work Menu - "Future Manpower Estimates"
D          option). This will allow you to make any special
D          adjustments to the schedules before the work orders are
D          actually opened, however this step is normally not
D          required.
D
D     (8) Open a New Period Work Order Schedule to create
D          scheduled work orders for any equipment that requires
D          preventative maintenance service during the next
D          maintenance period (Work Order Main Menu - Scheduling
D          Work Menu - "Open New Period Work Order Schedule"
D          option). These new work orders can then be displayed or
D          printed as pending work orders.
D
D          When the "Open New Period Schedule" option is selected,
D          you will be prompted to enter the last (or ending) date
D          of the period you wish to open. The default value is
D          the end of the new month.
D
D          The last date of the previous period that work orders
D          were opened will also be displayed on the screen. This
D          date is just a reference to remind you of the last open
D          date. However, the first time you use EM/dBS (or the
D          first time you convert to version 3.50), the date
D          displayed may not accurately represent the last date of
D          the previous period. This should not be a problem
D          unless the date is a very old date, or for some reason
D          a date in the distant future. This date will normally
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D          be used by the program to prevent you from accidentally
D          opening too many work orders at one time. Generally,
D          all work orders scheduled between the last open date
D          and the date entered for the end of the current period
D          will be opened when the "Open New Period Schedule"
D          option is selected. Disk space will be estimated, and a
D          warning will be displayed if there will not be enough
D          space to open all of the required work orders. An
D          estimate of the number of work orders to be opened will
D          be displayed. If more work orders than expected will be
D          created, you will be allowed to exit the procedure at
D          this point, before opening any work orders.
D
D          The "Open New Period Work Order Schedule" option works
D          differently for equipment with fixed and floating
D          schedules (see Section 7.2, for more details on fixed
D          and floating schedules). Since the software can
D          calculate when all maintenance for fixed schedules will
D          be due, the "Open New Period Work Order Schedule"
D          option can open all work orders required in the opening
D          period. If the opening date entered is for a period of
D          one month since the last time work orders were opened,
D          four work orders will be opened for an equipment item
D          with a weekly fixed schedule (one work order per week).
D          On the other hand, since the due dates cannot be
D          predetermined for equipment with floating schedules,
D          only one work order at a time can be opened. This means
D          that the "Open New Period Work Order Schedule" option
D          may need to be used more than once per month if
D          floating schedules are used with weekly or daily
D          procedures. If only fixed schedules are used, the
D          process should only need to be used once for any given
D          period, although selecting it more than once will not
D          cause extra work orders to be generated.
D
D          You will not need to stay at your terminal as the "Open
D          New Period Schedule" process runs. An error report is
D          printed if any problems are found with the equipment
D          schedules.
D
C     NOTE: Your printer must be turned on while this process is
C     running.
C
D
D          If an error report is produced, check the report to
D          review the problems. If out of date schedules were
D          found, the work order due dates can be updated
D          (Equipment Main Menu - "Display Equipment Information"
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D          option - selecting an equipment item to edit, then
D          select "S)-Display Equipment Inspection Schedule"
D          option from edit screen, or, more easily, by selecting
D          the Work Order Main Menu - Scheduling Work Menu -
D          "Rerun Open Schedule" option -- see section 6.4.2).
D          Changes to the scheduled interval can be made only by
D          editing the equipment PM Schedule (Equipment Main Menu
D          - "Display Equipment Information" option - "S)-Display
D          Equipment Inspection Schedule" option).
D
D     (9) Print a Pending Work Order Summary list which can be
D          sorted by your choice of a primary and secondary sort
D          field (Work Order Main Menu - Reports Menu - "List Work
D          Orders, Print Report" option). This listing will show
D          the new work orders just opened for the new period as
D          well as prior work orders that are carried forward as
D          still pending.
D
D     (10) Print individual scheduled work orders if required
D          (Work Order Main Menu -  Reports Menu - "Print Open
D          Work Orders" option). You will be prompted to select a
D          primary and secondary sort order for printing. The due
D          date for each scheduled work order will be printed in
D          the upper right corner of each work order.
D
D     (11) Print the Account/Department Summary list (Support Data
D          Main Menu - "Account/Department Data" option). This
D          management report will summarize the work order labor
D          and cost history charged to all account/departments
D          from the beginning of your fiscal year up to and
D          including the last activity transferred by printing the
D          End of Month Work Order Summary by Account report in
D          step (5) above. Since this End of Month report always
D          transfers closed work order history from the previous
D          month, the Account/Department summary report will also
D          be current up to the last day of the previous month.
D
D     (12) Print the Equipment Contract Expiration report
D          (Equipment Main Menu - Reports Menu - "Contract
D          Expiration Report" option).
D
D     (13) Print the Equipment Warranty Expiration report
D          (Equipment Main Menu - Reports Menu - "Warranty
D          Expiration Report" option).
D
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B4.4  Quarterly
B
D     (1) Print updated hard copies of Equipment Master Inventory
D          and Parts Master Inventory quarterly or as required
D          (Equipment Main Menu - Reports Menu).
D
D     (2) Print updated hard copies of Support Data database
D          reports quarterly or as required (Support Data Main
D          Menu).
D
D     (3) Print the Equipment Preventative Maintenance Schedule,
D          if required (Equipment Main Menu - Reports Menu -
D          "Preventive Maintenance Schedule" option).
D
B4.5  Yearly
B
D     (1) Make a full backup your entire hard disk, both the
D          programs on \EMS\ and the data on \EMS\DATA1. This
D          backup should be saved as a record of the transactions
D          performed during the year.
D
D     (2) Reset the summary information for the new year after
D          printing the final month summary reports and other
D          monthly reports (Work Order Main Menu - Utilities Menu
D          - "New Year, Reset Summary Information" option). Reset
D          the information only after the last fiscal month work
D          order data has been transferred from the active work
D          order database to the Account/Department database. This
D          transfer takes place when printing the End of Month
D          Work Order Summary by Account report which should be
D          done the first week of the new fiscal year.
D
D          When you select this option, the accounting information
D          and the yearly parts transaction record will be cleared
D          for the next year. In addition, the Year-To-Date parts
D          usage totals will be cleared. You will be asked to
D          enter the year number and insert a disk into your A
D          drive to backup the previous year's data. The year
D          entered (e.g., "91") will be used as part of the file
D          name for the data so you can easily tell which year's
D          data is on the floppy.
D
D          If you successfully completed the backup procedure in
D          step (1) above, you do not need to save this floppy
D          disk backup permanently, since the information is also
D          on the full backup. However, some users wish to store
D          their accounting information separately, making the
D          creation of the disks necessary.
D
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D     (3) If the 13 period (fixed 28 day periods) scheduling
D          option is used, enter the dates for the start of the
D          next 13 period year (Support Data Main Menu - Utilities
D          Menu - Utilities Menu, page 2 - "Thirteen Period"
D          option). The dates for the start of the previous year
D          and current year will be set automatically from last
D          year's data. You will only need to input the start date
D          of the next 13 period year. It is not necessary to
D          input this information immediately after a new year
D          begins, but a message will be displayed at the top of
D          your screens until the information is updated.
D
D     (4) Update hourly charges for each employee. This also can
D          be done as necessary. All future work order labor
D          charges will use the values entered to determine the
D          labor cost(s) per work order (Support Data Main Menu -
D          "Employee Data" option).
D
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