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+---------------------------------+ | | | | | MEETING MASTER | | | | | | from | | Cornerstone Software | | | | | +---------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | If you need any help with any aspect of MEETING MASTER, call | | Cornerstone Software on: | | | | UK 061-945-8143 | | | | Elsewhere (44) 61 904 8143 | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Cornerstone Software Limited 45 Shay Lane Hale Barns Altrincham Cheshire WA15 8PA United Kingdom This evaluation kit may be freely copied and distributed as long as the full set of files are included. For this reason, the archived version, M_M.EXE should be distributed, not the individual files. CONTENTS -------- INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . 1 INSTALLING THE PACKAGE. . . . . . . 2 RUNNING THE PACKAGE . . . . . . . . 2 KEYS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 LOGGING ON. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 THE DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ADDING ENGAGEMENTS. . . . . . . . . 4 ADDING A NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . 5 THE PLANNER . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 USERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 USER LEVELS . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ROOMS AND EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . 7 MEETINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 USER GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . 9 NETWORKING. . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SYSTEM MAINTENANCE. . . . . . . . 10 LICENSING/COST. . . . . . . . . . 10 _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software Evaluation Kit INTRODUCTION This limited version of the manual is supplied as an aid to evaluating MEETING MASTER. A full set of documentation will be supplied if you purchase the package. In addition to this manual, help is available within the package, at all times, via the <F1> key. MEETING MASTER provides a diary for every user of the Local Area Network. The diary is designed to provide privacy yet allow meetings to be arranged in a simple way without clashes. This is achieved by splitting the diary into two parts, a private set of notes, and a list of engagements. The latter, a central database of engagements enables the user to find gaps in the busy schedules of managers and set up meetings without fear of clashes. It is designed to be simple and fast to use, with only a minimum of training. MEETING MASTER also controls allocation of rooms and equipment, such as overhead projectors, to avoid double bookings. This evaluation copy of MEETING MASTER is identical to the real version in all ways, except that the database has been limited to only 5 users. This will enable a full evaluation of all the features of the package, including its operation on your Local Area Network. There are no limits on the number of users in the full version. As a quick overview, a demonstration can be run by typing: > demo This provides a short, semi-interactive look at the system. _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 1 Evaluation Kit INSTALLING THE PACKAGE The MEETING MASTER evaluation kit should have been supplied as a single file M_M!.EXE. This is a self-extracting archive file which when run will generate the full set of files required for the MEETING MASTER evaluation kit. Once the files have been extracted, the only other requirement is to check the DOS configuration file (\CONFIG.SYS) to ensure that enough file and buffer space has been allocated within the DOS environment. The file should contain two lines similar to: files=31 buffers=8 If not then add the lines and re-boot your PC. If your values are less than 31 and 8, change the values and then re-boot your PC. Note: The above lines must be entered as in the example, i.e. no spaces. To evaluate the package on your Local Area Network, load the package onto a network disk drive, using the installation sequence above but specifying a network drive, and then read the section on Networking. RUNNING THE PACKAGE To invoke the package, change directory to the sub-directory containing the package, and type: > meeting This runs a DOS batch file (meeting.bat) which starts the MEETING MASTER system in its default mode. Certain system parameters, such as whether clashing meetings are allowed, may be changed by editing meeting.bat. Further details are given in the file itself. The system will ask for a username and password. The evaluation copy comes initialised with one user called SYSTEM with a password of MANAGER. KEYS Most of the keys are designed to have their normal functions, for instance the <Delete> key rubs out the character under the cursor, and the <Insert> key toggles between insert and _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 2 Evaluation Kit overtype mode. However there are certain keys which have special functions within MEETING MASTER. First of all there are the Function keys F1 to F8. The purpose of these keys is always shown on the bottom two lines of the screen. Some remain constant, such as <F1> which is always `help', but others change their definitions as you move into different parts of the system. In addition, the following keys have special actions: KEY ACTION ---------- -------------------------------------------- <Esc> Return to previous screen without updating. Exit system from main screen +/- Show next/previous period on planner <UpArrow> Move to previous field or day <DnArrow> Move to next field or day <Ctrl> -> Move into pointer mode on the planner screen or move to the right in large increments. <Ctrl> <- Move to user mode on the planner or move to the left in large increments. LOGGING ON Having started the system, it will present you with a login screen, asking for a `user name' and a password. The password is important because it controls access to the private parts of your diary, which only you can view. Certain users are designated `privileged'. Such users can delete meetings, change meeting dates etc, even though they did not create them. However, even privileged users cannot see the private sections of other people's diaries. As a new user just enter your name, at the `username' prompt, and you will be prompted to enter your details into the system and then to enter a password. Once this has been done you are known to the system and are automatically logged in. It may seem to be a breach of security that a new user can create himself. However the system is designed to allow new users to be created wherever they are needed, either at the login prompt, or when organising meetings. Since it is possible to prevent users seeing any parts of other user's diaries, there is no reason to restrict the creation of new users. The evaluation kit has a single privileged user, called SYSTEM, with a password of MANAGER. The privileged user acts as a `system administrator', carrying out housekeeping tasks. _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 3 Evaluation Kit THE DIARY Following login, you will be presented with today's diary. Take a moment to familiarise yourself with the various parts of the 'page to a day' diary screen. The top strip tells you who you are and the current date and time. It is not as stupid as it sounds to display your name. There will be instances where a secretary 'keeps' the diary for the manager, and that secretary will have to deal with two diaries so it is helpful to know which one is currently in used. Moving down the screen, the next portion is the engagement section. Engagements, or meetings are shown as white strips, at their appropriate times. Only limited information is displayed, but it is simple to see more. Just how is explained a little later in this section. Below the engagements are the notes. The engagements may be viewed by other people (with some restrictions) but the notes are private. The notes region is split into 3 separate windows, each of which can take a note of up to 64,000 characters (ie practically limitless). How you use each section is up to you, perhaps the right hand note could be used for evening engagements, and the centre window for expense claim notes. Alternatively, you could choose to only use one of the windows, it is up to you. Next down is a strip, which is used to move to different days. Yesterday and tomorrow are accessed by the `Page Up' key and the `Page Down' key but for any greater movements, the diary strip is used. In essence, you press the `Change Date' key <F4> whereupon a cursor will appear on today's date in the strip. Move the cursor to a new date and then press return to select it. As you attempt to move off the screen to the right, the strip will move left to accommodate you, and vice versa. To move in large steps, pressing the <Ctrl> key at the same time as the arrow keys will move in larger increments. At the bottom of the screen is a description of the various function keys. The uses of some keys are fixed throughout the program, such as the on-screen help key, <F1>. Others change their meaning at different parts of the program, but the current definition is always shown at the bottom of the screen, so there are no annoying key definitions to memorise. ADDING ENGAGEMENTS It is quite simple to add an engagement via the diary screen but not the recommended way since you cannot see other peoples diaries via this screen and so cannot see an appropriate slot for _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 4 Evaluation Kit the new meeting. Much the better way is to use the planner screen, but more of that later. For now, let's create a meeting on this screen just to demonstrate the simplicity. First use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the starting time. The cursor is the white block highlighting a particular time. Once at the start time press the `Add Meeting' key. A clash check window will be briefly displayed, but if no clashing meeting exists, the meetings pop-up window will appear for you to enter the meeting details. You can alter the dates and times, provide a meaningful description and add more participants. To add a participant either type in the name, or much better, type <F2> the 'List' key. This pops up a further window allowing you to choose from the database of users. This is the preferred way since it prevents typing errors and is almost always quicker. Note that typing the first character of the name will jump to that part of the alphabet, and the <PageUp> and <PageDown> work, in addition to the arrow keys. ALWAYS USE <F2> TO LOAD USERS, NO MATTER WHAT SCREEN OR WINDOW YOU ARE IN. Once the meeting details are correct, press <F8> the 'Update' key to save the meeting in the database. It will now appear in the diary. ADDING A NOTE To add, or modify a note, move the cursor to the note window, and just begin typing. When the note is complete, press <F6> to end the edit. Individual notes may be highlighted by moving the cursor over them and pressing <F5>, the 'Highlight key. The word `** IMPORTANT **' appears in red just below the note, and will be printed on all reports. Pressing it again removes the highlight. THE PLANNER As was intimated in the section above, it is much easier to organise a meeting if you can see all of the diaries of the participants at the same time. It is one of the great strengths of MEETING MASTER that this is easy to do. A special screen is used, the `planner' screen which looks a little like a wall planner. Press <F8> in the diary screen to move to the planner screen. On the left of the planner screen a list of users is displayed. On the right are the diaries for those users. The diary can be _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 5 Evaluation Kit viewed at two levels of detail, the default is week mode which shows the next week in hourly slots. Meetings are shown in white, the top half of the block represents a meeting in the first half hour, and the bottom half represents the second half hour. Pressing <F5> shows 'month' mode instead. Here, the next 9 weeks are displayed, one day to each block. The top half of the block now represents a meeting in the morning and the bottom half, a meeting in the afternoon. Pressing + and - will move forward or backwards in time, in either mode. At the bottom of the screen is the list of function keys once more. To add a new user to the screen view, type his/her name on an empty row. If you can't remember which users exist and which don't, then type <F2> which will display the list. Once again it is important to stress that the <F2> method is always preferred. When all of the participants are displayed, you must find a space for the meeting. To do this, first move into pointer mode by typing <Ctrl> -> (Press the Control key and Right Arrow Key simultaneously). An arrow will appear on the first Monday pointing to 8 o'clock. You can use the arrow keys, and the <Ctrl> arrow keys to move this arrow around, and the +, -, <F4> and <F5> keys to show different periods. Practice this for a bit and then point the arrow to a convenient slot where there are no existing meetings. Now press <F3> to create a meeting. Once the system has checked for potential clashes, it will display a meeting details screen for completion. This is identical to the pop-up window seen in the diary screen example, and you can once more enter details, and change the list of participants. Enter some imaginary details and then press <F8> to update. The meeting will now be displayed as a white block on the planner. You will note that the new meeting is displayed against your name as a fixed, white block but against the other names as a flashing block. This is because the meeting is new and they haven't seen it yet. As each of the participants opens his or her diary and displays the meeting details for the new meeting, it will become a fixed block, on their and your planners. In this way it is simple to see whether everyone knows about the meeting and it is simple to see which are the new meetings when you view your own diary. In the `page-to-a-day' screen, if a meeting is new then it will appear with a flashing bar on the first line, just to the left of the meeting time. Again this provides an easy to see indication that this is a new meeting that you have not seen before. The same thing will happen if any of the details of the meeting are changed. All other users will see either a flashing block or a flashing bar depending on the screen in view, until they have displayed the meeting details to see the change. This is not intended to be used as a formal acknowledgement _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 6 Evaluation Kit system indicating that you will attend a meeting, just a simple indication that the meeting is known about. If you want to discuss the meeting's arrangements, then the telephone is a much more straightforward method. USERS There is no need for a special key to create new users, simply type their name in any field where a user can be entered, and if that user doesn't exist, you will be given the option to create him or her. To modify the details of an existing user, select <F7> (Utilities) and choose `User Maintenance' from the menu. A list of users will be displayed. Choose the one you wish to change by moving the light bar and typing <Enter>. The user's details will be displayed and you can change all details. (Except the privilege and level indicators, unless you are yourself privileged.) The 'Movements' indicator shows whether this user will appear on the Weekly Movements Chart, one of the system's reports. USER LEVELS Some users may object to other people being able to view their engagement lists. To accommodate these users, the User Level is provided. A user's level may be set anywhere between 1 and 100. The rule is then that a user may not display the engagements of a user with a lower level than his/her own. Everyone is created with a level of 100, (minimum privilege) and only a privileged user can set a lower level. If you do not wish to use this system, then ignore it. All users will stay at level 100 and be able to view each others engagements without restriction. ROOMS AND EQUIPMENT You may have noticed that the system does not seem to have anywhere to record where the meeting should take place. This is deliberate. Instead of a special field, you should create a user called 'Board Room' or whatever room you wish to allocate. This `user' should then be invited to the meeting, by adding it to the list of participants. Since the system will not allow any user (no matter what type) to attend two meetings at once, it follows that the board room can only `attend' one meeting at a time, and cannot get double booked. To save having to allocate everyone's office as a potential meeting room, use a convention that meetings will be held in the office of the first participant unless a special room is listed. _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 7 Evaluation Kit This technique can be used to allocate slide projectors, overhead projectors and other equipment to meetings, so that they are also not double booked. Since it is not advisable to allow logins for this type of user, a special user level exists, 101 which prevents login. MEETINGS Creating a meeting is covered in the section on the diary and the planner so here we concentrate on amending the details of meetings. There are two basic techniques. If you are an attendee at the meeting then display the appropriate diary page, move the cursor onto the meeting and type <F6> the edit key. Alternatively, meetings can be selected from the Utilities menu, <F7>. This is available in diary and planner screens and provides a general method for searching for and modifying meetings. First you must select the right meeting. Selecting 'Meeting Maintenance' on the Utilities menu presents you with a screen split in two halves. At the top is an area to enter selection criteria for the meeting you are interested in, and at the bottom will appear a list of meetings which match the criteria, when you press <F8> (choose). You can enter a date, any number of people, or a keyword from the meeting description. For instance you might enter "Board" in the description field, then press <F8> and a list of all meetings with "Board" in their description will appear. (Note you must blank the date otherwise only board meetings on that date will appear.) When a list of meetings is displayed, choose the appropriate one by moving the light bar onto it and pressing return. Hint: Always enter the minimum criteria and become more restrictive if the list found is too large. When a meeting has been selected, its details will appear and can be amended. Pressing <F8> (Update) will change the database. There are two other types of meetings, Holidays and External Visits which you are left to explore on your own. REPORTS The system will produce three types of report, by selecting <F7> (Utilities) and choosing the 'Reports' option. The three possibilities are: 1. A schedule of meetings for a particular manager for a particular day, defaulting to today, including notes if you are printing your own schedule. _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 8 Evaluation Kit 2. A schedule of meetings for a week, for a particular manager, defaulting to this week, including notes if you are printing your own schedule. 3. A Meeting Summary report which shows all meetings in summary form between a pair of dates. USER GROUPS There is often the need to deal with users as a group, for instance the members of a department, or the Board of Directors. This is catered for by creating user groups via the <F7> Utilities menu. The option 'Save User Group' will save the currently displayed set of users as a group, whose name you can choose. The Load User Group option will overwrite the currently displayed set of users, with the particular user group chosen. (Note that <F2> can be used to display a list of available groups.) A User Group named STANDARD is loaded automatically when the package is invoked, if it exists. NETWORKING To use this system on a network, it must first be installed on a drive on your network file server. Ask your Network Manager to do this. It is then necessary to set an environment variable to point to a local meetings directory on each workstation. The following line should be added to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file: set meetwrk=<local_directory> where <local_directory> is the pathname of a local work directory, such as c:\meeting. The local directory is used for storing the User Group files and temporary files. It will also be the default for any reports output to a file, rather than the printer. The package should now be started by changing disk and directory to the network disk and directory where the package has been installed, and typing: > meeting It will be necessary to ensure that the users have write access to the network sub-directory, if your network software provides _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 9 Evaluation Kit access control. The directory and its files must also be shareable, though this will normally be the default on a network drive. The evaluation kit has the necessary file and record locking to allow multi-user access. SYSTEM MAINTENANCE No system maintenance will be necessary on the Evaluation Kit, though you are welcome to explore the option, which is available on the <F7> (Utilities) menu. It is used mainly for housekeeping; clearing down past meetings. LICENSING Each copy of MEETING MASTER is licensed for use on a single site. The cost depends on the number of users as follows: 1 to 20 £395.00 21 to 100 £495.00 101 to 200 £595.00 201 to 300 £695.00 301 to 500 £795.00 over 500 £895.00 Extending an existing license costs the difference between the number of users required and the number on the existing license plus a £20 charge for handling costs. To order a copy of this package, complete the order form and send with a cheque (in sterling) for the appropriate amount. _____________________________________________________________________________ Cornerstone MEETING MASTER Software 10 Evaluation Kit To: Cornerstone Software Ltd Mr/Mrs/Ms 45 Shay Lane _____________________________________ Hale Barns Company Altrincham _____________________________________ Cheshire Address WA15 8PA _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Postcode: _____________________________________ Telephone _____________________________________ Please supply a copy of MEETING MASTER licensed for up to .... users. £ ..... extra copy(ies) of documentation at £20 each £ ---------------- Sub-Total £ VAT (for UK customers only) £ ---------------- TOTAL £ ---------------- Signed: .............................. Print Name: .............................. Position: ..............................