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OS/2 Help File | 1996-10-19 | 307KB | 4,189 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Introduction Electronic Teller is a home finance application. It features a rich set of functions and utilities, which include: An attractive user-interface to handle various sets of accounts. Multiple-user support to shield accounts from one another. A calculator that can be used to paste calculations directly into the dialog used to create new transactions. A calendar that can also act as a reminder for upcoming events or payments, be they one-time events or repeated indefinitely. A configurable cheque printer that supports user-defined designs and multiple cheque-per-page printing. A wide assortment of reports, from budget to transaction reports, with a variety of subtotalling options. Budget tracking and graphs. Transaction fee or service charge tracking. A converter to import and export QIF files. Electronic Teller is released as shareware, and sells for $40.00 US. For complete registration information, please refer to the Registration topic. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Terms and Concepts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Terms and Concepts Included, here, is an alphabetical, brief list of the terms used throughout this help file and Electronic Teller in general. Account Balance ATM card Category Class Cleared Code Credit Date Debit Description Ending balance Forward balance Ledger Link Memorandum Number Particulars Payee Postdate Record Reconcile Split Subcategory Transaction Transfer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Service Desk ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Service Desk The Service Desk is where account and card activities take place. It is the nerve-centre, of sorts, for all of Electronic Teller's primary (non-transaction) functions. The window is divided into two parts: the ATM Cards Container that displays all currently-defined cards, and the Accounts Container, displaying all defined accounts for the selected, opened card. See also: Service Desk Menus ATM Cards Container Accounts Container ATM Card Creation Card Backup / Restore Deleting Cards Account Management Deleting Accounts Card Net Worth ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Service Desk Menus ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Service Desk Menus The Service Desk provides the following list of menu options: Cards Menu Item Menu Function Access Opens the selected ATM card if closed. Close Closes the selected ATM card if opened. New Creates a new ATM card. Destroy Deletes the selected ATM card if already closed, deleting all of its accounts in the process. Setup Permits the editing of the selected ATM card. Backup Copies the contents of the selected ATM card to a diskette or drive. Restore Restores a previous backup to an existing card's directory, or permits a previously deleted card to be recreated. Settings Invokes the global Settings notebook, used to edit list items or other characteristics. Net worth Displays the selected card's net worth. Reports Invokes the report preview and printing function. Import QIF Starts the conversion utility to import an account. Exit Closes all currently opened cards and exits Electronic Teller. Accounts Menu Item Menu Function Access Opens the selected accounts if currently closed. Close Closes the selected, opened accounts. New Creates a new account. Delete Permits the deletion of one or more accounts. Edit Invokes the Account Management notebook so that the selected account may be edited. First aid Repairs balance innacuracies or damaged index files. Create record Invokes the Transaction dialog in order to add transactions to the selected account. Export QIF Exports the selected account to QIF format. View budgets Provides a graphical representation of category usage versus budgeted amounts. Utilities Menu Item Menu Function Calculator Invokes the calculator. Calendar Invokes the calendar / reminder. Window Menu Item Menu Function Sort Permits the temporary sorting of accounts by name, number, balance, or type. [Additional] All currently opened Account Books will be listed in this menu for easy access. Help Menu Item Menu Function Help contents Displays this help file's contents. General help Displays this help file's Introduction. Register Invokes the Registration dialog so that this copy may be registered and its limitations removed. Product information Displays Electronic Teller's current release level and the person to whom this version is registered, if applicable. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. ATM Cards Container ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ ATM Cards Container The ATM Cards container displays all existing cards.. When Electronic Teller first starts up, it searches for any directory beneath its own bearing the name card.*. For each directory, a file, named base.dat is read and the card values retrieved from that file. The load order, therefore, is defined by the directory order, and the sort order upon the load order. Depending upon the access state of a card, certain Service Desk menus will be disabled. Card Closed Close (disabled) Import QIF (disabled) Card Opened Access (disabled) Destroy (disabled) Restore (disabled) In addition, if a card is closed, the Accounts menu will be disabled. A popup menu is also available for the ATM Cards container, with the following items: Access New Destroy Setup Backup Restore Import QIF Calculator Calendar Exit To access a closed ATM card, either double-click upon its icon, or select the Access (Shift+A) item from the Cards menu. See also: Service Desk Menus ATM Card Creation Deleting Cards Card Backup / Restore Card Net Worth ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. Accounts Container ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Accounts Container The Accounts Container displays all of the defined accounts for the currently selected card. Initially, these are sorted alphabetically, but the sort order may be temporarily changed to any of these additional options: Number Balance Type The container is divided into 6 fields: Type The icon represents the type of account. Name This field displays the name that was assigned to the account when it was originally created. Number/Description This is the account number or description assigned when the account was originally created. Balance This is the account's ending balance. If Electronic Teller is unable to determine the ending balance or no transactions for the account exist, n/a will be displayed, here, rather than an amount. If an amount is not available, but transactions exist, it will be necessary to invoke First Aid upon that account. Last accessed This is the date upon which the account was last opened or data last written to the account, either with the account as the source of those changes, or as the target of links or transfers from other accounts. If the account was never accessed, a series of zeros will be displayed rather than an actual date. Last reconciled This is the date upon which the account was last reconciled. If the account was never balanced, a series of zeros will be displayed rather than an actual date. Accessing accounts can be done in a number of ways, depending upon whether the account is currently opened. If it is closed, double-clicking on its icon or selecting the Access item from the Accounts menu will open the selected account(s). If the account is already opened, it will be displayed in the task list in addition to Electronic Teller's Window menu in both the Service Desk and Account Books. Yet another alternative is to double-click on the account icon once again to bring the book to the surface. A popup menu is also available for this container, with the following items: Access Close New Delete Edit Export QIF Calculator Calendar Exit See also: Account Management First Aid Reconciling Accounts Deleting Accounts Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.4. ATM Card Creation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ ATM Card Creation To create an ATM Card, select New from the Cards menu. To edit an existing card's values, select Setup from the Cards menu. The ATM Card Data dialog contains the following controls: Card name This is the name by which Electronic Teller will reference the ATM card. Password (optional) A ten-character password may be entered here. Passwords are encrypted and are necessary to access the contents of a card, without exception. This includes editing the card's password. There is no master password with which to access a card's contents if the original has been lost or forgotten. Other card access rights Electronic Teller provides as much security from other cards as desired. Any transfers between accounts in separate cards are just that, transfers. They are not links. There are four levels of access rights that can be granted to any other card: 1. Never allow other accounts in other cards to transfer funds to or from any account in the current card. 2. Allow other accounts to deposit, or credit, any account in the current card. 3. Allow other accounts to withdraw, or debit, funds from any account in the current card. 4. Allow both credits and debits; that is to say, no restrictions are placed on the accounts in the current card. If an option other than Never is selected, the Access code (optional) entryfield will be enabled into which a, maximum, ten-character password can be entered. Transferring funds to or from a card account will then be conditional upon the initiator of the transfer providing the correct password. Prompt for backup on close If this box is checked, the backup dialog will be displayed whenever the individual card or Electronic Teller itself is closed. See also: Deleting Cards Card Backup / Restore ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.5. Card Backup / Restore ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Card Backup / Restore Electronic Teller provides either manual or automatic backups of the contents of an ATM card. The backup dialog can be invoked manually by selecting the Backup item from the Cards menu, or can be invoked automatically when the card or Electronic Teller is closed by checking the appropriate box when creating the card. Backups are, in fact, merely copies to the drive specified in the Destination drive combobox. To ensure that there are no file clashes, the following directory structure is maintained: ΓöîΓöÇ ETBACKUP Γöé Γö£ΓöÇΓöÇΓö¼ΓöÇ CARD.1 Γöé Γöé Γöé ΓööΓöÇΓöÇ <data files> Γöé ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓö¼ΓöÇ CARD.2 Γöé ΓööΓöÇΓöÇ <data files> Restoring is slightly more complex than backing up for the simple reason that Electronic Teller permits the restoration of cards that have been deleted. To restore a card or its contents, 1. Select the appropriate Source drive. 2. Click Restore. 3. Select the card from the list (this list consists of all valid cards located on the source drive or diskette). 4. Click OK If the card's directory no longer exists, you will be prompted whether you wish to recreate the card and copy the files. If you reply in the affirmative, the card will be recreated. If the card is of the same version as the current Electronic Teller release version, the card will be added to the ATM Cards Container at the end of the restoration process. If it is of an earlier version, you will be instructed to close the application and restart it in order that the recreated card may be properly migrated to the current level. Initialization Entries: Electronic Teller keeps much of a card's data and accounts in a separate subdirectory. There are values, however, which must be made global to the rest of the program, including the Service Desk. To this end, a dedicated file, named etdeskf.ini, is used. When a card is backed up, an ascii file is created, containing the card's complete INI entries. When a card is restored, those entries are converted to their proper format and reintegrated into etdeskf.ini. This is done to ensure that the contents in the initialization file, such as the sums tables, item lists, etc. reflect the accounts accurately. See also: Service Desk Menus ATM Card Creation Deleting Cards ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.6. Deleting Cards ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Deleting Cards To delete an ATM card, select the Delete item from the Cards menu. Doing so first deletes all files in the card's directory and then proceeds to remove all references to the card in the etdeskf.ini file. Please note: It is possible to remove a card's directory manually, and doing so will not harm Electronic Teller in any way. This method, however, has the disadvantage of not deleting the card's items from the etdeskf.ini file, thereby occupying valuable resources. Moreover, card handles are reused as soon as they become available, and many of the card characteristics are contained in the initialization file, which may result in unusual behaviour. See also: Service Desk Menus ATM Card Creation Card Backup / Restore ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7. Account Management ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Account Management The Account Management notebook is used for both creating new, and editing existing accounts. Accounts are added to the ATM card that is currently selected and opened. There are three pages to the notebook: Basic This page contains the preliminary data associated with each account. Some of the controls on this page are optional. Others are required. Credit This page is relevant to credit card accounts only, and allows the user to define the credit limit associated with the credit card account. This value is used in the account book to determine the amount of credit remaining on a card. Type This page contains the available account types. It is important to select the appropriate type, because some accounts handle amounts and balances differently. See also: Account Types Deleting Accounts Card Backup / Restore Account Book ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7.1. Basic Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Basic Page The Basic page contains controls that will define the account's primary characteristics. These controls are: Name This is the name assigned to the account as it will appear throughout Electronic Teller. The name is limited to 32 characters. Description This is the description and/or account number of the account being created or edited. This informational string which can be no longer than 32 characters appears exclusively in the Accounts Container. Balance This is the account's starting balance, or the amount of the initial transaction in the account book. See below for further clarification. Calendar The calendar is used to specify the date of the initial transaction upon account creation. Simply select the appropriate date, and the initial transaction will be dated as indicated, but see below for further clarification Further clarification: When an account is first created, a cleared entry is added to the account, dated in accordance with the selected calendar date and bearing the amount specified in the Starting entryfield. If an account is edited, the first record's amount and date will be used, which may not necessarily be the original, initial entry if a transaction dated earlier than that which was specified on creation was added subsequently. Changing the amount and/or date, therefore, affects not the initial transaction but the earliest dated transaction. In order to save changes made to an existing account or create a new one, the Name field must contain at least one alpha-numeric character when the notebook is closed. If nothing in this field is found, any changes are additions are merely discarded, and an existing account is left unchanged or a new one uncreated. See also: Credit Page Type Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7.2. Credit Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Credit Page The Credit page is used solely when creating a credit card account. The amount entered here will be used by the Account Book to track the account's credit limit. If this amount is left at $0.00, the account book will display n/a rather than the credit remaining. See also: Account Book Account Types Basic Page Type Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7.3. Type Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Type Page The Type page is used to specify the type of account being created or edited. It is important that the appropriate type be selected, otherwise unpredictable amount and balance results will occur. Five types of accounts are currently supported: Bank Credit card Cash Asset Liability See also: Account Types Basic Page Credit Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7.4. Account Types ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Account Types Electronic Teller currently supports five types of accounts: Bank This account is typically used to track savings or chequing accounts. Amounts are treated normally, in that deposits, or credits appear in an Account Book's plus column, and debits, or withdrawals, in the minus column. Credit card This account is used to track credit card purchases and payments. Unlike bank accounts, credit amounts are treated differently, since credit card purchases are essentially additions to the overall balance-owing to the institution or company owning the card. Thus, purchases appear in the plus column, whereas payments appear in the minus column. Essentially, credit card accounts are nothing more than liability accounts, with the exception of added support for a credit limit. Cash Cash accounts are used to track out-of-pocket expenses or other types of cash-based accounts. Amounts and balances are treated exactly as they are for bank accounts. Asset Asset accounts are used to track personal assets and may be used as a generic or inventory database by making use of Electronic Teller's categories and classes. For example, personal effects or assets could be entered thus: Description Category:Subcategory/Class Wedding ring Jewelry:Diamonds Pocket watch Jewelry:Gold 123 Any St. RealEstate:Home/Personal 456 Busy St. RealEstate:Home/Rental Asset amounts and balances are treated exactly as they are for bank and cash accounts. Liability Liability accounts are used for any type of transaction that will deduct from a card's net worth. As such liability amounts and balances are treated as they are for credit card accounts. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.8. Deleting Accounts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Deleting Accounts Because restoring deleted account files is extremely tedious at best, if not altogether impossible, even with an file-system undelete function, Electronic Teller provides an extra level of security before actually removing accounts from the ATM list. The process begins by selecting the accounts to be deleted from the Accounts Container and then selecting the Delete item from the Accounts menu (or pressing the Delete key). A secondary dialog listing all selected accounts will then be displayed, and those accounts will be preselected. Clicking Delete will begin removing the associated account files from the card's subdirectory. The process ends with the account's entries in the etdeskf.ini file being removed. Please note: It is not recommended that an account's files be removed manually, although doing so will not harm Electronic Teller in any way. The problem with manual removal is that the entries in the etdeskf.ini are not removed as a result, and the data occupies what may be valuable drive real estate. See also: Service Desk Menus Account Management Card Backup / Restore ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.9. Card Net Worth ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Card Net Worth Electronic Teller's net worth function will pull the ending balances of all accounts for a given card, and display these in a separate window. Liability account totals (credit cards, liabilities) are subtracted from asset account totals (bank, cash, and asset) in order to arrive at an accurate net worth. If the net worth is found to be negative, the Statement of current net worth amount will be drawn in red rather than black. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Account Book ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Account Book The Account book is used both to display individual transactions and to manipulate them. The ledger portion of the window uses a fixed set of text and colour attributes to denote each transaction's status. These are: Black Uncleared transactions. Blue Cleared transactions. Cyan (not shown) Transaction transfers. Green underscored Voided transactions. Strikeout Deleted transactions. Halftone Postdated transactions. The status area of the window can also aid in determining the status of a transaction. There are five fields to the status area: Message This first field will indicate the purpose of a button or other informational text where appropriate. Mode This second field will display the current mode of the book. Generally, this will be regular. Other possible modes are: reconcile or search. Status This will indicate the status of the last selected transaction, either cleared, uncleared, voided, deleted, postdated, or transferred. Date This penultimate field displays the current system date. Time This last field displays the current system time, updated every second. The ledger is divided into six columns when the view is not expanded: 1. Date (as defined by the system). 2. Number / Code. 3. Payee. 4. Credit (deposits for asset accounts, liabilities for liability accounts) 5. Debit (withdrawals for asset accounts, assets for liability accounts). 6. Balance (the running balance whose format is defined by the system). When the display is expanded, an additional line is appended to every transaction, containing, from left to right: 1. Category: Subcategory listings, if applicable. 2. Class, if applicable. 3. Memorandum, if present. See also: Account Book Menus Account Book Ledger Adding Transactions Deleting Transactions Drag and Drop Operations Recalling Transactions Voiding Transactions Memorizing Transactions Forecasting a Balance Range Balance Search and Replace Reconciling Accounts Transaction Graphs Printing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.1. Account Book Menus ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Account Book Menus The Account Book contains the following menu items: Book Menu Item Menu Function Page Contains submenus intended to navigate the current notebook page (Jan to Dec) or the entire notebook. Settings Invokes the Settings notebook for the current card and account. Recalculate Forces a recalculation of the Account Book. Reconcile Begins the reconciliation process for the account. Close Closes the account book after all running threads are halted. Records Menu Item Menu Function Create Invokes the Transactions dialog from which new records are added to the account. Edit Invokes the Transaction dialog and preloads the selected records for editing purposes. Recall Contains submenus used to recall list items (code, category, class), or all or portions of a memorized transaction. Delete / shred Deletes selected regular transactions or shreds selected deleted transactions. Undelete Undeletes the selected, previously deleted transactions. Void Voids the selected, unvoided transactions. Restore Restores the selected, previously voided, transactions. Clear transfer Removes the emphasis used to denote a transfer from another account in a different ATM card. Memorize Memorizes the selected transaction for recall by the Transactions dialog or by the Account Book's Recall menu item. Forecast Displays an account's ending balance on a defined date, expanding postdated transactions to adjust the real running balance. Range balance This function will permit the subtotalling of all transactions within a specified date range, including original and expanded postdated transactions if desired. Search and replace Invokes the function used to search and optionally replace transactions containing data in a specific field within a specified date range. Expand / shrink A toggle menu option that will alternatively display a transaction's category, class, and memorandum by doubling the item's height, or conceal them (the default). Utilities Menu Item Menu Function Calculator Invokes the calculator. Calendar Invokes the calendar / reminder. Graphs Presents a graphical representation of an account's inflow versus outflowtrend for the current year, as defined by the notebook's selected page. Print cheques Invokes the cheque printer to design and print selected cheque transaction entries. Reports Invokes the report printer in order to preview and print various reports. Window Menu Item Menu Function Service Desk Changes window focus to the Service Desk. [Additional] Every opened Account Book will be listed so that switching to a different book can be accomplished easily. Help Menu Item Menu Function Help contents Displays this help file's contents. General help Displays this help file's Introduction. Product information Displays Electronic Teller's release level and the name to whom this copy is registered if applicable. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.2. Account Book Ledger ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Account Book Ledger The Account Book ledger provides the easiest means of manipulating transactions. Because the control used to list transactions is not a container, special consideration is required. For example, right-clicking does not give a record cursored emphasis as it does in a standard OS/2 container, and so selecting a popup menu item may not have the expected result. This topic is intended to clarify some of the Account Book's oddities or subtle qualities. Virtually all functions associated with existing transactions are based upon a listbox selection. Editing, for example, invokes the Transactions dialog after which all selected records are preloaded into the dialog's viewing container. Similarly, deletions, undeletions, voids, restorations, and all other such activities affect selected transactions. Because some actions are not appropriate, such as undeleting an undeleted transaction, for example, certain functions will either have no affect on a particular record, or will inform you that the requested action is innapropriate. In certain other instances, menu items will be disabled to avoid inadvertent loss of data or damage to an account. Recalling a memorized transaction, for example, would be detrimental if more than one listbox item were selected. To avoid this, the Recall menu item is disabled if more than one listbox item is deemed selected. Where this distinction is most confusing, potentially, is during drag and drop operations. See also: Account Book Menus Drag and Drop Operations Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.3. Adding Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Adding Transactions There are, in fact, two ways in which transactions can be added to an account, either by dragging and dropping existing records, or by creating them, using the Transaction dialog. Each method has its own restrictions, which are explained fully in the appropriate topic. Transactions created with the Transaction dialog are always added to the account from which the dialog was invoked, if from an Account Book, or, if from the Service Desk, to the first selected account in the container. See also: Creating Transactions Creating Linked Transactions Creating Split Transactions Creating Postdated Transactions Transferring to Other Cards Drag and Drop Operations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.4. Deleting Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Deleting Transactions There are two deletion levels in Electronic Teller: The first merely sets the transaction's deletion flag so that it can be undeleted at a future time. The second removes, or shreds, the transaction permanently from the account. To delete one or more transactions, listbox items must first be selected and then one of the many delete options selected. Depending upon a transaction's status (deleted, undeleted, or voided), the function will: Delete the transaction (if it is neither already deleted nor voided). Shred the transaction (if it is already deleted). A deleted transaction will be displayed as a record with strikeout emphasis -- a line running through the individual column containing any data. To undelete one or more transactions, again, select them from the ledger, and either select the undelete function, or hold the Ctrl key and click the waste basket. If the record has not been previously deleted, invoking the undelete function will have no effect. The same holds true for voided transactions. These are restored using the Restore item in the Records menu. Note: Deleting or shredding a transaction will also affect the memorized record. If it is deleted, it will be available again only if the original transaction is undeleted. If the original is shredded, the memorized record will no longer be available for recall. See also: Account Book Menus Recalling Transactions Memorizing Transactions Voiding Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.5. Drag and Drop Operations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Drag and Drop Operations Electronic Teller makes use of OS/2's drag-and-drop feature for moving, copying, and linking transactions. Because some operations would not be inherently intelligent, such as linking two transactions within the same account, certain functions are not permitted. These are listed further into this help topic. Dragging is initiated by holding the right mouse button down. Any of the following mouse button and key combinations will define the drag: Move Mouse button two alone. Copy Control key plus mouse button two. Link Shift plus Control keys in addition to mouse button two. Dropping on an Account Book or Service Desk account icon is permitted under the following circumstances only: Move - permitted to any opened Account Book using the same card. - permitted to any opened or closed account icon in the Service Desk using the same card. - disallowed if the source and target accounts are the same, regardless of whether the transactions are dropped on an Account Book or Service Desk icon. Copy - permitted to any Account Book or Service Desk icon, including the source of the drag, but not to accounts contained in different cards. - permitted when dragging selected transactions to the Transaction dialog container for editing purposes. Link - permitted when dragging to an Account Book or Service Desk icon, only if the target account shares the same parent card and is not the source of the drag. Links are considerably more complex than simple moves or copies, and the fact that a listbox is used rather than an OS/2 container complicates matters even moreso. As a result, special consideration is required in order to link an existing transaction from one account to another. There are, in fact, two types of links: 1. Instances in which the source transaction is both copied into the target account and linked, e.g. the creation of new transactions. A successful drop will occur only if the source has one or more records selected and the target account has none. All selected source records will be copied and then linked. 2. Instances in which an existing transaction in the source account is linked to an existing transaction in the target account. Such an operation will be successful only if both the source and target accounts have one record selected. As the previous two instances indicate, a link will be rejected if the target account has more than one listbox item selected. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.6. Recalling Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Recalling Transactions Recalling a transaction depends largely upon the status of that transaction. If it is neither deleted nor voided, then a recall will have no effect. There are two forms of recalls: undeletion and restoration of voided entries: 1. To undelete one or more transactions, simply select them from the account ledger, and select the Undelete option from the Records menu. 2. To restore a previously voided transaction, again, select it from the ledger, and click the Restore item from the Records menu. In both cases, the record will be restored to its previous status prior to deletion or voiding, i.e. either cleared, uncleared, postdated, or transferred. See also: Deleting Transactions Voiding Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.7. Voiding Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Voiding Transactions A voided transaction differs from a deleted one in that the the former can not be shredded whereas the latter can. This important distinction makes it simple to shred deleted transactions, using the Search and Replace function, while leaving voided entries, which are, in all likelihood, important to the overall account with respect to cheque numbering, for example, untouched. These two types differ, also, in that a voided transaction is visually represented as underscored, dark-green entries in the Account Book ledger and deleted entries as blue (cleared), black (uncleared), half-toned (postdated), or cyan (transferred) text with the additional strikeout attribute. In order to void one or more transactions, 1. Select the transaction(s) that are to be voided. 2. Select the Void option from the Records menu. See also: Recalling Transactions Deleting Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.8. Memorizing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Memorizing Transactions There are two ways in which transactions can be memorized. The usual method is to check the Memorize box in the Transactions dialog after a new transaction is Appended to the display container, or check the Memorize is default box on the Settings' Miscellaneous page, which will automatically check the aforementioned box upon each new transaction. The alternative to this method is to select a transaction from the Account Book, and click the Memorize item from the Records menu. Either method memorizes the original transaction's unique identification number in addition to the description or payee for reference and update purposes. These can then be recalled later either during the creation of new transactions or in replacing user-selected portions of existing ones. Note: Deleting or shredding a transaction will also affect the memorized record. If it is deleted, it will be available again only if the original transaction is undeleted. If the original is shredded, the memorized record will no longer be available for recall. See also: Account Book Menus Creating Transactions Deleting Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.9. Forecasting a Balance ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Forecasting a Balance A forecasted balance is one which extends beyond the actual ending balance balance of an account, and is most suitable for accounts that contain one or more postdated transactions. For example, if an account contains a postdated transaction that repeats once every month, it is possible to forecast that account's balance to the end of the year, given the current contents of the account. The first step in forecasting a balance is deciding the date upon which the forecast is to end. This date is inclusive, meaning that the forecast will end the day after the specified date. If there are any postdated transactions from the beginning of the account to the forecasted date, they will be expanded up to, and including, the forecasted date. Forecasting lists the transactions for the month prior to the first postdated record in addition to all original and expanded postdated transactions in chronological order. Any postdated or regular transactions beyond the forecast ending-date are ignored. Original and expanded postdated records are denoted by a blue LED to the left of the item entry. See also: Creating Postdated Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.10. Range Balance ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Range Balance A range balance lists all transactions that fall between a specified date range and presents a calculated total of all such records. To determine a range balance, two dates must be supplied, a starting and ending date. By default, the ending date is inclusive, meaning that any transactions falling upon the ending date are included in the final list and their amount included in the total. There are three additional controls that can be used to control what is included in the final list: Inclusive 'To date' To ignore any transactions falling upon the specified ending date, remove the check mark from this box. Include postdated By default, postdated transactions are not included in the date range tabulation or list. To include these, check this box. Expand postdated This box is enabled only if the Include postdated box is checked, and indicates that any postdated transaction included in the list will be expanded until their calculated date exceeds that which has been specified as the ending date. The Inclusive 'To date' applies to postdated record expansion, as well. Original and expanded postdated records are denoted by a blue LED to the left of the item entry. See also: Creating Postdated Transactions Forecasting a Balance ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.11. Search and Replace ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Search and Replace The Search and Replace utility allows one to search for transactions in the current Account Book by field or by status. The following fields are searchable: Cheque / Code Payee / Description Amount Category Class Memorandum The following transaction status attributes may also be specified to limit a search further: None All transactions will be included in the search. Deleted Only deleted transactions will be considered in the search. Postdated Only postdated transactions will be considered in the search. Voided Only voided transactions will be considered in the search. Before a series of transactions may be affected by a replacement value, a search must be performed. This involves: 1. Selecting the desired field in which to search for the value. 2. Defining any status restriction. 3. Selecting a range date (the ending date is inclusive, meaning that the search will cease only once the ending date is exceeded). 4. Entering a Search string. Defining the search Depending upon the Field being search, the Search field will contain either a general, predefined, or formatted string. If searching for a payee, for example, the field can contain any full or partial string. If searching for a code, category, or class, the search field should contain an existing code, category, or class item. To view a list of existing items, either right-click in the entryfield once the Field has been specified, or tab to it and press the F2 key. Lastly, if searching for an amount, the value entered as the search string will be formatted in accordance with the system's country settings before initiating the search procedure. By default, a search is case insensitive and a substring of the search string (with the exception of amounts, which must match exactly). Moreover, split transactions are not excluded. Any of these properties may be altered by placing or removing the check mark from the appropriate box. Initiating the search / replace To initiate a search, at least one character must have been entered into the Search field. Pressing the Enter key in any object other than the Replace entryfield and Results listbox will initiate the search, as will clicking upon the magnifying glass or selecting the Search item from the Records menu. To initiate a replace, enter an optional replacement string in the Replace entryfield. Since the replacement string will be applied to all items listed in the Results listbox, it is important that items to be omitted from the replacement be removed from the list. Press Enter to begin replacing the search field contents with the replacement string, or press and hold the Ctrl key while clicking the magnifying glass. A third alternative is to select the Replace item from the Records menu. Note 1: If the search did not result in any hits, a replacement will not be permitted. Note 2: It is possible to replace the contents of the search field with an empty string. Note 3: It is also possible to replace a code, category, or class with a non-existant item. If the replacement string does not match any existing item, you will be asked if you want that item created. If you decide not to have the item created, the replacement will not take place. Note 4: Once a replacement has been issued, the Results list will no longer be valid (for obvious reasons). The Hits and Total status fields will display dashes rather than numeric values to reflect the innacuracy of the displayed items. See also: Search and Replace Menus ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.11.1. Search and Replace Menus ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Search and Replace Menus The Search and Replace dialog contains the following menus and functions: Records Menu Item Menu Function Search Initiates a search. Replace Initiates a replace. Create Invokes the Transactions dialog in order to create additional records. Edit Invokes the Transactions dialog and preloads the selected Results items for editing purposes. Remove Removes the selected Results items from the list but not from the file. This is to permit exclusion of specific records from the total or from an impending replacement. Delete / undelete Deletes the selected, undeleted items and/or undeletes the selected, deleted items. Either operation has a direct affect upon the account itself. Shred Permanently removes the selected items from the Results list and from the account file. Void / restore Voids the selected, regular transactions and/or restores the selected, voided transactions. Either operation has a direct affect upon the account itself. Close Dismisses the Search and Replace dialog. Utilities Menu Item Menu Function Calculator Invokes the Calculator. Calendar Invokes the Calendar / Reminder. Print Sends the contents of the Results list to a printer. Printer setup Permits the selection and set up of an installed printing device. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.12. Reconciling Accounts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Reconciling Accounts Reconciling an account is essentially ensuring that the balance is up-to-date and correct in accordance with the institution with which the account exists. Typically, an account is reconciled monthly, when a statement from that institution is received. Before an account can be properly reconciled, a maximum of five pieces of data are required: Previous balance (essential) The forward balance, or the amount the account contained following the last reconciliation, or, if the account was never reconciled, its starting balance. Increase by Any transaction provided by the instution that will increase the account's balance is inserted in this entryfield. Such items include interest payments paid out to you on a savings account, for example, or service charges imposed by a credit card company. Decrease by Any transaction imposed by the institution that will deduct from an account is located here, such as service fees in the case of bank accounts, or credits applied to a credit card. New balance The account's ending balance at the end of the reconciliation period must be inserted here. The statement will usually provide this amount for you. Statement This is the period which marks the end of the pre-reconciliation period; that is to say, the New balance is effective as of the date specified here. The actual reconciliation process requires only that the transactions that appear on the statement be identified as having been cleared. To do so in, simply double-click on the list box entry or scroll to it and press the Enter key. A check mark will appear to the left of the item. Either action shifts the contents of the list box up so that the last affect item appears as the second item in the list. If there is an insufficient amount of items in the list to warrant scrolling, the item position will remain unchanged, but the emphasis will still shift to the next list box entry. For each transaction that is cleared or uncleared (if an error has been made), the totals along the bottom of the dialog will be updated. These are: + the total of all positive transactions - the total of all negative transactions = the difference between the increase less the decrease amounts, plus the total credits less the total debits Once the = status equals the amount entered in the New balance entryfield, two tones will sound from the computer, indicating that the reconciliation is considered accurate and complete. Clicking the check mark icon or selecting the Reconcile item from the Options menu will complete the process. Adding Transactions If it is discovered that one or more transactions for the period in question were never entered into the Account Book, selecting the Create record item from the Options menu will invoke the Transactions dialog, from which additional records may be created. All new additions will be inserted into the reconciliation listbox so that they, too, may be cleared. Editing Transactions Existing transactions may also be edited directly from the reconciliation listbox, either by selecting the and then the Edit item from the Options menu, or by selecting them and pressing the Enter key. See also: Creating Transactions Transaction Graphs Reconcile Menus Unreconciled Records Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.12.1. Reconcile Menus ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Reconcile Menus The Reconcile dialog provides the following menu functions: Records Menu Items Menu Item Menu Function Create Invokes the Transactions dialog from which new records may be created. These will be added both to the account ledger and the reconciliation list box. Delete Deletes the selected item from both the account and the reconciliation listbox. Edit Invokes the Transactions dialog and preloads the selected items from the reconciliation listbox in order that they may be edited. Changes appear both in the account ledger and in the reconcilation list box. Reconcile Completes the reconciliation process by updating the account book. Close Dismisses the reconciliation dialog. Sort Menu Item Menu Function Date Sorts the reconciliation list box items by date. Cheque / code Sorts the reconciliation list box items by cheque number and transaction code. Payee Sorts the reconciliation list box items by payee, or description. Utilities Menu Item Menu Function Calculator Invokes the calculator. Calendar Invokes the calendar / reminder. Graphs Provides a graphical representation of the uncleared transactions inflows versus outflows. Print Invokes the report preview and printing function, preselecting the Unreconciled records type. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.13. Transaction Graphs ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transaction Graphs Transaction graphs are simple graphs used to view an overall picture of the funds entering and leaving an account, referred to as inflows and outflows. They should not be confused with the budget graphs. The x axis of the graph is divided into twelve sections, one for each month of the year as defined by the selected Account Book notebook page. The y axis denotes the amount of the individual graph entries. Unless otherwise indicated, these are in single dollar format. If you wish to zoom in on the transactions for a given month, you may do so by double-clicking upon the bar for the month in question. A secondary, informational dialog box will appear, containing all transactions for the requested month. Note: Zooming is not available from the reconciliation graph. A popup menu is also available for this graph window: Menu Item Menu Function Keep negatives This toggle menu item will either show negative amounts as additions to the positives amounts or preserve negative amount signs so that these will appear beneath the x-axis line as they do in the screen-shot above. Bar This submenu contains two items that will convert a line graph or pie chart to a bar graph. Line This function will convert a bar graph or pie chart to a line graph. Pie This function will convert a bar or line graph to a pie chart. Note that negative amounts are converted to positive integeters. Close Dismisses the graph window. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.14. Printing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Printing Transactions For a complete discussion concerning the printing of transactions, see the Reports topic. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transactions The Transactions dialog is used to create new records and to edit existing ones. Five types of transactions can be created at any given time: 1. Regular transactions 2. Linked transactions 3. Split transactions 4. Postdated transactions 5. Card transfers Depending upon the type of transaction that was created and whether it is a new or existing record, some of the dialog controls will not be available. Here is a complete list of the dialog's usage, categorized by window control: Calendar The calendar is always available, but attempting to date a split transaction to a date other than the one used by its parent will always fail. Double-clicking upon a calendar date will change the Date field to the selected value. Memorize This check box is avaible only if a transaction in the viewing container is selected. Which means that, in order to memorize a transaction, one must first be created. Update link This check box is enabled only when editing a transaction that has been linked to another account. It is highly recommended that links be always updated. Remember that the QIF Convertor requires an exact match across all record fields for the establishment of links. Transfer to ATM account This check box is enabled only if a transaction is selected in the viewing container, which means that a record must first be created in order for it to be transferred to an account in another card. Postdate This checkbox is enabled only if a transaction is selected in the viewing container. A record, therefore, must first be created in order that it may then be postdated. The box remains disabled if the selected record is a split, or if it has just been created. That is to say, record that is being edited cannot be postdated; neither can a previously postdated record that is being edited be unpostdated. Use split sum This checkbox is enabled only if a split transaction is selected in the viewing container. If the box is checked, the total of all splits will be used as the parent transaction's amount; otherwise, the parent's total will be used as a sort of running total for each individual split -- with each successive split appended to the parent, the appropriate amount entryfield will be updated with the parent transaction's total less the total of all existing splits. Change postdate selection This push button is enabled only if the selected item in the viewing container has been previously postdated. Date The date entryfield is always available, but attempting to change the date of a split to one that is dissimilar to that of its parent will fail. To scroll the date, use the Up and Down keys to scroll the day portion; use the same keys in conjunction with the Ctrl key to scroll the month portion. Number The number entryfield is always available. This field serves a double function: to specify a transaction's cheque number or code. Regardless of whether the field is to contain a cheque number or transaction code, line completion is available for this field. A next cheque hot key can also be used to display the next available cheque. Enter the hot key and tab out of the entryfield for the key to take affect. The default key is an exclamation mark (!), but this can be changed to any alphanumeric key via the Setting's Miscellaneous page. Note, however, that possible conflicts may result, e.g. selecting 1 as a hot key will prevent the use of any cheque numbered 1. The Up and Down keys may be used to scroll existing codes. The F2 key or a right click anywhere in the field will display a list from which a code may be selected. Note: Transaction codes and cheque numbers are used by the Transaction Fee report to track transactions and assign a possible cost to each item per month. Note, however, that if codes are entered for splits, it may be more prudent to omit them in the parent to avoid incorrect readings in the report. Particular / Payee This entryfield is always available, and is used to specify a record's payee or description. Line completion is available for this field. The Up and Down keys may be used to scroll existing memorized records. The F2 key or a right-click anywhere in the field will display a list of all existing memorized transactions. Memorization recall occurs after the field loses focus. To undo a recall, press the F3 key. Deposit This entryfield is always available, and its descriptive text will match the type of account for which transactions are being created. Use this field to add transactions that will increase an account's ending balance, such as credits. It is an error to enter an amount in both this field and the next. Withdraw This entryfield is always available, and its descriptive text will match the type of account for which the transactions are being created. Use this field to add transactions that will subtract from an account's ending balance such as debits. It is an error to enter an amount in both this field and the previous one. Category This field is always available and is used to define a transaction's category or the account to which the transaction is to be linked. Line completion is available for this field. The Up and Down keys may be used to scroll existing categories. The F2 key or a right-click anywhere in the field will display a list of all existing categories. Account names are included in this list, and are enclosed within square brackets, e.g. ]Savings]. Note: Categories are used by the Budget report and Budget graphs to track category usage for each transaction containing a valid category. It is good practice to assign a category to each item entered. Note, however, that you may want to avoid categorizing parent transactions containing splits, since the splits are likely to be categorized themselves, and so categorizing both parent and splits may result in incorrect readings -- essentially transaction duplication. Class This field is always available and is used to define a transaction's class. Line completion is available for this field. The Up and Down keys may be used to scroll existing classes. The F2 key or a right-click anywhere in the field will display a list of all existing classes. Memorandum This field is always available, and is used to define a transaction's memo. Viewing container The viewing container will display all transactions that have been created during the current session and/or any transactions that are to be edited. Splits are always appended as children of a parent. Records to be edited can be added to the container at any time, regardless of whether the dialog was invoked with the intention of adding new records or was invoked as a result of editing, provided that the additions emanate from the same account that invoked the Transactions dialog in the first place. Records can also be removed from the viewing container at any time. OK New records or changes to existing ones are never actually written to the account until this button is clicked. It remains disabled until at least one transaction is held in the viewing container. Cancel This button is always enabled and is used to dismiss the Transactions dialog. Any additions or changes are discarded as a result. If there are transactions in the viewing container, confirmation to dismiss is requested to avoid inadvertent loss of effort. Help This button invokes this help panel. Settings This button will invoke the Settings notebook if it is not already running. Append This button is always available, and is used to append a parent transaction to the viewing container. As Split This button is enabled only if a parent transaction is selected in the viewing container. Clicking it will append a split transaction to the parent as a child of that parent. Change This button is enabled only if an existing transaction in the viewing container has been double-clicked. It is used to confirm changes and update the container record. Remove This button is enabled only if a record in the viewing container is selected. Depending upon the type of record that is selected, this button serves two purposes: if the selected transaction is a parent, it and all of its children, or splits, will be removed from the viewing container only. if the record is a split, it will be removed from both the viewing container and from the account after confirmation is received. Note: The Remove button is the only means by which a split transaction can be deleted from an account. See also: Creating Transactions Creating Linked Transactions Creating Split Transactions Creating Postdated Transactions Transferring to Other Cards Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1. Creating Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Creating Transactions To create a regular transaction: Date the entry Either double-click on a calendar date, or tab to the Date field and press the [Ctrl]+Up / [Ctrl]+Down keys to scroll the displayed date, or enter the date manually, ensuring that it corresponds to the system's country settings format, either mm/dd/yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy, or yyyy/mm/dd. Enter a number or code Tab to the Number field and enter a cheque number or transaction code. If Electronic Teller's Transaction Fee tracking capabilities are used, it will be necessary to enter something here. Note, however, that if a code is entered for splits, the parent's code should be omitted to avoid incorrect readings in the report. Codes can be created manually, using the Lists page of the Settings notebook, or on the fly for each new transaction whose code does not currently exist. Enter a payee If a cheque is being written, the person's name to whom the cheque is made out should appear here. Otherwise, any identifying string should be entered, since the Transaction report has the capacity to subtotal by payee. The name entered here is used to identify memorized transactions. If an item already exists, it will be updated to reflect any possible changes made during the current session. Enter an amount If the transaction is to add to the account's ending balance, the amount must be entered in the first of the two amount entryfields. If it is deducting from the account's ending balance, it should go in the second. In either case, an amount is entered as a positive value. Note 1: It is possible to create zero-amount transactions, but Electronic Teller will request confirmation before appending such a transaction to the viewing container. Note 2: It is an error to enter an amount in both entryfields. If two amounts are found, the transaction will be rejected. Enter a category Typically, it is good practice to categorize transactions so that a report can be generated, using categories as a basis for subtotalling. Categories can be created either manually using the Lists page in the Settings notebook, or on the fly with each new transaction whose category does not currently exist. Note: If splits are categorized, it may be preferable to leave the parent uncategorized to avoid incorrect readings (duplicates) in reports and budgets. Enter a class If a category:subcategory combination is not sufficient to identify a transaction, a class may be used to achieve that end. Classes can be created either manually using the Lists page of the Settings notebook, or on the fly with each new transaction whose class does not yet exist. Enter a memo The memorandum is entirely optional. Save the transaction Depending upon the type of transaction or operation involved, one of three pushbuttons must be clicked in order to save the transaction: Append Appends a parent record to the viewing container. As Split Appends a split record to the viewing container's as a child of the parent record. Change Confirms any changes made to an existing record. Note: Records are not actually saved as a result of clicking any of these three pushbuttons. They are kept in the viewing container and written to file only after the OK button is clicked. Any additions are alterations can be discarded by clicking the Cancel button. Completing the process Once these basic steps are complete, one of the check boxes in the upper right-hand side of the dialog may be selected: Memorize Check to memorize the selected record. Uncheck to remove the memorization flag or prevent the record from updating an existing memorized transaction. Update link Uncheck if the transaction with which the existing record is linked is not to be updated to reflect any changes made. This is not a recommended practice. Transfer to ATM Account If unchecked, clicking this box will invoke a secondary dialog from which the destination card and account will be selected as targets of a transfer. Removing the check mark from this box cancels the record transfer. Postdate If unchecked, clicking this box will invoke a secondary dialog in which postdated options are specified. If already checked, clicking this box will cancel the postdating of the transaction (but will not remove the postdate setup). Use split sum Check if the total of all splits are to be used as the parent's amount; uncheck if the parent's amount is to be used as the basis for additional splits. Writing to file In order to make any additions or alterations permanent, the OK button must be clicked. To discard the contents of the viewing container, click the Cancel button. See also: Creating Linked Transactions Creating Split Transactions Creating Postdated Transactions Transferring to Other Cards Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2. Creating Linked Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Creating Linked Transactions There are two methods by which a transaction in one account can be linked to another account in the same card: Follow the steps outlined in Creating Transactions, but pause when at the category entryfield so that the target account may be selected or entered. To select an existing account, press the F2 key or right-click in the entryfield for a list of all categories. Accounts are included in this list, and are enclosed within square brackets, e.g. ]Savings]. To enter an account name, begin with a square bracket. The line completion process will display the first account in an alphabetically sorted list. Continue typing until the correct account is displayed, or press the Down key to scroll the list. Drag and Drop an existing transaction from one account to a different Account Book or to the target account's icon in the Service Desk. Please note: Links can be established only between accounts sharing a common card. When the target account resides in a different card, a transfer must be effected, using the Transactions dialog's Transfer to ATM account checkbox. See also: Creating Transactions Creating Split Transactions Creating Postdated Transactions Transferring to Other Cards Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3. Creating Split Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Creating Split Transactions Creating a split transaction is virtually identical to creating a regular transaction, with two three exceptions: The Date field is ignored, since splits share their parent's date. The As Split button must be clicked in order to append the transaction to the Transactions dialog's viewing container rather than the Append button, which is used to append parents. Splits are appended to the viewing container as children of a parent. See also: Creating Transactions Creating Split Transactions Creating Postdated Transactions Transferring to Other Cards Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.4. Creating Postdated Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Creating Postdated Transactions Postdated transactions appear in the account ledger using a half-toned text attribute -- it is slightly more difficult to read, but has the added advantage of clearly denoting that the transaction is to take place in the future and is not considered a part of the account ledger as of yet. As such, the amount of the transaction is not tabulated into the overall balance. To postdate a transaction, first select the record to be postdated from the Transactions dialog's viewing container and click the Postdate checkbox. If the transaction is successfully postdated, the box will remain checked. To revert to a regular transaction on new entries only, remove the check mark from the box. To edit the postdate settings, click the Edit postdate button. When the Posdated Transaction dialog first appears, the text entered in the previous dialog as the Payee / Description appears in the Setup name combobox. If a postdated setup bearing that name already exists, its configuration options will be reflected in the dialog. If one does not already exist, it will have to be created before the dialog can be dismissed. The buttons to the right of the combobox aid in the manipulation of setups: Add Creates a new setup. Change Changes the name of the selected setup. Delete Deletes the selected setup. IMPORTANT NOTE: When a setup is deleted, it affects not only the current transaction, but all transactions in the same card that make use of that particular setup. If this occurs, recreating the original will not be possible. Instead, a new setup will have to be created, and each transaction making use of the original will have to be edited so that they refer to the newly created one. ADDENDUM: Although the Calendar / Reminder makes use of this dialog for its own purposes, the setups are not interchangeable. In other words, deleting a reminder repetition will not affect any of the accounts in any of the cards. You will note that there is no actual Save button on the dialog to preserve the setup options, other than the name, that is. This is because setups are automatically updated when the OK button is clicked. If, for example, a setup named Simple made use of the Simple repetition when it was initially created, and if it was changed to One time at a later date, the new repetition option would be preserved upon dismissal of the dialog. The new repetition would also affect all transactions in all accounts of the current card making use of that particular setup. There are four possible types of postdated transactions that can be created: One Time Select this option if the transaction is postdated but is not to be repeatead after the expiry date is reached. When this event occurs, the transaction will be added to the account and the postdated copy silently deleted. Simple This type is the simplest to set up. Any combination of the three spinbuttons (Days, Months, Years) is permitted. So, setting them to: Days: 1 Months: 2 Years: 3 will advance the transaction's next date by 3 years, 2 months, and 1 day from the day it becomes due. The maximum values permitted for each spinbutton are: Days ................ 31 Months .............. 11 Years ............... 99 Recurring Date There are two spin buttons in the Date options groupbox with possible values of: On the ............. <1st> to <31st>, or <last> of every ........... <month>, or <2nd> to <11th> month, or <Jan> to <Dec> The first spin button represents an actual calendar date. If a value less than 29 is selected, bear in mind that not all months have more than 28 days, and so the item will repeat only in months with that many days. If it is the last day that is intended, then the last value should be selected to ensure that the item is repeated on the last day of every month, regardless of how many days there are. The second spin button can be set to repeat monthly (month), every x months up to a maximum of 11, or every specific month, (January through to December). The syntax of this group box should be used as a guide in defining the recurring date, postdated transaction. Recurring Weekday This is the most flexible of all, but also the most difficult to setup. There are three spin buttons, with possible values: On .................... <--->, or <1st> to <4th>, or <last> .................... <Sun> to <Sat> Of every .............. <week>, or <2nd> to <4th> week, or <month>, or <2nd> to <11th> month Again, the syntax should be used as a guide. If creating an entry for a bi-weekly pay cheque, deposited into an account every second Friday, for example, then the spin button values would read: On --- Fri of every 2nd wk If, on the other hand, an amount is withdrawn from an account on a specific day of the month, every month, and, if that day happens to be the last Monday of the month, the spin button values would read: On last Mon of every month Before a postdate setup is actually accepted, a number of verifications take place to ensure that the date of the transaction corresponds with that of the setup, which will become the starting point for all future calculations. These verifications include: The transaction's initial date of the month must correspond to the postdated date of the month, where applicable, e.g. 1st to 31st. The transaction's week in the month must correspond to the postdated week option, where applicable, e.g. 1st week to 4th week or possibly 5th week. The transaction's weekday must correspond to the postdated option's weekday where applicable, e.g. Sunday to Saturday. If any of these verifications fail, the postdated options will be rejected until either they are redefined or the transaction to which they apply is altered. See also: Creating Transactions Creating Linked Transactions Creating Split Transactions Transferring to Other Cards Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.5. Transferring to Other Cards ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transferring to Other Cards To transfer a transaction, one must first be created and selected from the Transactions dialog's viewing container, after which the Transfer to ATM account box may be clicked. Depending upon the amount of the source transaction, the transfer dialog will either show itself or report that no additional cards permitting that particular type of transaction were found. Types are defined as the opposite of the source transaction's amount. For example, a source credit will result in a debit transfer and vice versa. If all other cards are defined to accept only a type other than the one being requested, the dialog will not appear. If at least one card was found that will accept the requested transfer type, the dialog will appear. There are three controls in the Transfer dialog: Card This list box will contain a list of all cards that accept the type of transfer that is about to take place. To view a list of accounts, double-click on the desired card. Accounts This list box will contain a list of all accounts that exist for the the card that was double-clicked in the previous list box. An account must be selected before the transfer can take place. Password This entry field is used to supply a password before the transfer can be accepted. If the target card was not setup to require a password, this entry field may be left blank. If one is required, and is incorrectly inserted, here, the transfer will be rejected. The transfer does not actually take place until the Transactions dialog's OK button is clicked. Once sent, a transfer cannot be recalled, edited, or deleted by the account that initiated the transfer. Transfers to accounts are visually represented in the target account as dark cyan text with two right-angled brackets to the left of the description, e.g. >>Transfer from Savings. To clear a transfer (and remove the cyan colour attribute), select the Clear transfer item from the Account Book's Records menu. Alternatively, edit the record and delete the angled brackets manually. See also: Account Book Menus Creating Transactions Creating Linked Transactions Creating Split Transactions Creating Postdated Transactions Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.6. Editing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Editing Transactions There are a number of ways in which existing transactions can be edited. The most straightforward is to select the items in question from the Account Book Ledger and press the Enter key. An alternative is to select the transactions and then the Edit item from the Account Book's Records menu. Yet another alternative is to invoke the Transactions dialog and then press and hold the Ctrl key while dragging the selected records to the Transactions dialog's viewing container. Transaction may be added to the Transactions dialog for editing at any time, provided the account that owns the transactions is the same as that which invoked the dialog in the first place. See also: Account Book Menus Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Settings The Settings notebook is used to define or edit certain parameters, specific either to an individual card (including all of its accounts), or to an individual account. There are four pages to the notebook: Lists Page Miscellaneous Page Budget Page Fees Page Any changes made to any of the 4 pages are preserved when the notebook is closed. Changes made to list items (either emendations or deletions) will have no effect upon Account Books that are already opened. In order to view the changes made in such accounts, the book(s) must first be closed and then reopened. Note: If the notebook is invoked from the Service Desk without an account being selected, the Miscellaneous and Fees pages will not be available, since these are largely specific to individual accounts. See also: Service Desk Lists Page Miscellaneous Page Budget Page Fees Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.1. Lists Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Lists Page The Lists page permits the adding, editing, and deletion of list items, which include: Transaction codes Memorized transactions Income categories Expense categories Classes In order to edit or delete an existing item, it must first be double-clicked, which will enabled the Delete and Change buttons for all list types with the exception of memorized records, which cannot be changed manually. See also: Budget Page Fees Page Budgets Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.2. Miscellaneous Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Miscellaneous Page The Miscellaneous page affects transaction entering/editing for a specific account, with the exception of ATM card cheque numbering. Cheque numbering The top section of this page contains options specific to cheque numbering. By default, numbering is global to an entire card, which means that only one series of cheques is used for all accounts in a given card. If various accounts within the same card use separate cheque books, numbering may be set to each account in the card, meaning that Electronic Teller will increment cheque numbers independently of any other account in the card. Electronic Teller also tracks cheque numbers based upon a series from 1 to 999999999. Series are subdivided into 1000 cheques, so that one series spans 1 to 999; another spans 1000 to 1999; and so forth. To set the initial series number, spin the button so that the number reflects the last used cheque for the account, not the next in the series. For example, if the last cheque written was numbered 10 and the next in the series is 11, the spin button should be set to 10. Cheque number tracking is available solely as a preventative measure. If a new transaction is created with a number that has already been used, confirmation will be required before the transaction is appended into the Transactions dialog's viewing container. It is possible to reuse cheque numbers, in other words. The Next cheque hot key is used by the Transactions dialog as a quick means of entering the next available cheque number. If the number is greater than one digit, then line-completion will complete the remaining digits for you. You can, however, rely solely on the hot key to enter the next number. The default key is an exclamation mark (!). This value can be changed to any alphanumeric key, but bear in mind that a selection may undergo line completion and require backspacing. For example, if a W is entered, here, and a code item is defined as WIT, then the program will automatically expand that initial 'w' to the defined code. Miscellaneous options If transactions are typically memorized, it may be more convenient to allow Electronic Teller to memorize them all by default and removing the check mark from the Memorize box in the Transactions dialog whenever one is not to be memorized. If this is the case, then check the Memorize is default box. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.3. Budget Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Budget Page The Budgets page is where individual categories can be assigned budget values for an entire year. To define a budget, follow these simple steps: 1. Select the category from the Category combobox. 2. Spin the Year button to the appropriate year if it is not there already. 3. Tab to the Jan. entryfield, and enter the budget amount for that month. 4. Continue tabbing through the subsequent months until all values have been entered. 5. Click the Save button to make the changes permanent. Any changes made to a budget can be undone by clicking the Undo button, but note that this function will not succeed if the Save button was pressed. To delete a budget entry for an entire category, click the Delete button. Because Electronic Teller provides the ability to define multiple yearly budgets, there may be instances in which a previous year's budget still applies to a subsequent year. If this is the case, then spin the Year button to the first year's budget, and spin the Copy button to the subsequent year. Click Copy to copy the year's budget for the selected category to the copy year. See also: Budgets Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.4. Fees Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Fees Page The Fees page is used to define transaction fees -- costs imposed by an institution for some or all types of transactions. Fees are based upon transaction codes. Defining a fee schedule for a transaction code is fairly straightforward and requires the following steps: 1. Select the code from the Codes listbox. If a fee for that item already exists, its values will appear in the entryfields below. 2. Determine how many Free items per month are permitted, if any, and enter that value in the first listbox. 3. Determine what is the minimum required balance for complete or partial exemption, and enter that amount in the Minimum balance req'd entryfield. 4. Determine how much each transaction of the type Code costs if the minimum monthly balance is not met, and enter that value in the Cost if balance not met field. 5. Finally, enter the cost for each transaction of type Code if the minimum monthly balance is met, and enter that amount in the lower entryfield, labelled Cost if balance met. 6. Click Save. To undo any changes before the Save button has been clicked, press the Undo button. To delete a fee schedule for a selected code, click the Delete button. See also: Transaction Fee Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Conversion ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Conversion Electronic Teller provides the ability to convert from or to QIF file, a format used by both Quicken and MS Money, and, in all probability, others. See also: Importing Transactions Exporting Transactions Sample File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1. Importing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Importing Transactions Importing from QIF format is a simple matter that requires the existence of a QIF file, an ATM card into which the imported account will be saved, and the following steps: 1. Start the importer by ensuring that all accounts in the selected card are closed and by clicking the Import QIF item from the Cards menu. 2. Select the appropriate options from the available list: Regular transactions imports the transactions located in the QIF file (in addition to creating the account); Categories imports the category section of the QIF file, including any existing budgets; Classes imports the classes section of the QIF file. 3. Click Import and select the QIF file from the file dialog to initiate the process. Categories and classes are imported first, after which the account is created. If the account already exists (a duplicate name determines this), you will be asked whether you want the account to be recreated, the data in the QIF file merged with that of the existing account, or simply appended to the account. To avoid duplicate transactions, it is best to select Merge. If Append is selected, then the new entries will be added to the accound in chronological order, making it extremely difficult, if not altogether impossible, to locate those new entries manually. If the section containing the account information cannot be located in the QIF file, it will be necessary to define the type of account being imported. A list identical to that which appears in the Account Management notebook will appear. This initial record's category will be used as the account name if the appropriate section is not found. Before the actual import of records begins, a Date Format dialog appears requesting that the proper date format be selected. In all likelihood, the format used in the QIF file is that of the United States, e.g. mm/dd/yy, but the converter will not assume this to be the case. Rather, it will retrieve the first transaction and parse its date. The parsed values will appear in the dialog from which you can decide which is the proper format. If you select an incorrect format, eventually the converter will reach a date which is beyond the boundaries of a given month, e.g. 31/8/96 when it ought to have been 8/31/96. If this occurs, a fatal error will be raised and the conversion stopped. As each transaction is imported into the account, the category field will be searched for square brackets, denoting a possible link, e.g. [Savings]. If such an account already exists, it will be searched for an exact match, i.e. a date, code, payee, amount (with possible reversal), category, class, and memo match. If one is not found, the date will be broadened to include all transactions within the imported record's month. Once again, if a match is not found, rather than create the record and risk possible duplication, it will be logged to the Link Errors dialog, which will be displayed at the end of the actual import. Each logged entry will contain sufficient information to perform a manual link or to permit the user to create the entry manually. The log list can be saved to file or printed, if desired. As the export takes place, the listbox will display a log of any significant events or errors. The contents of this log may be saved to file by clicking the Save button. See also: Service Desk Menus Account Types Date Format Account Type Duplicate Accounts Link Errors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1.1. Date Format ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Date Format The Date Format dialog allows the user to specify the date format used in the QIF file. Typically, this will be the US format (mm/dd/yy), but it may well be either the European (dd/mm/yy) or Canadian (yy/mm/dd) formats. (Electronic Teller, for example, uses the system's country settings when exporting to QIF file). Rather than make an assumption about the date and risk possible error, the conversion utility will parse the first record in the QIF file and display the parsed values in this Date Format dialog. The correct format can then be specified by selecting a date element in the listbox and clicking the Up or Down buttons until all three fields are in there proper order. It may be difficult to determine the actual format based upon the initital transactions. A date of 1/1/96, for example, may indicate the 1st of January or January the 1st. If the former is determined to be accurate and the date fields sorted accordingly when in fact the latter ought to have been specified, then, eventually, a date of 31/1/96 will be encountered, which would be far beyond the boundaries of a valid year, the 1st of the 31st month of 1996. If such a condition is encountered, a fatal error will be raised and the conversion process stopped. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1.2. Account Type ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Account Type A QIF file typically contains a section that describes the account being imported -- name, type, etc. If such a section is not found, then the conversion utility will pause and request that you enter the appropriate type. This is import, given the fact that liability accounts (credit cards and liabilities) are treated differently from asset accounts. It is imperative, therefore, that the appropriate type be selected. The list of available types is identical to that found in the Account Management notebook. See also: Sample File Account Types ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1.3. Duplicate Accounts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Duplicate Accounts Accounts are considered duplicates if their names match exactly. If this is the case, then the conversion process will pause, requesting that you select an appropriate action. Available options are: Create Overwrite the data in the existing account with that of the imported account. Merge Insert the data from the imported account only if an identical match in the existing account is not found. Append Insert the data from the imported account into the existing account, without considering possible duplication. Cancel Cancel the import process altogether. See also: Importing Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1.4. Link Errors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Link Errors As transactions are imported, the category field of each import is inspected to determine whether it is enclosed within square brackets, indicating that it refers either to the account being imported or constitutes a link with another account, e.g. [Savings]. If the latter, the card into which the account is being imported is searched to determine if the linked account already exists. If it does, then that account, itself, is searched to determine if an exact transaction match exists. A match is deemed exact if the date, code, payee, amount (with possible reversal), category, class, and memo in each account is identical. If no match is found, the date is broadened to include any transaction in the potential link account that matches the source record's year and month in addition to all other fields mentioned above. If still no match is found, the record is logged to the Link Errors dialog. This entry contains sufficient information to permit a manual link by the user or the creation of a new transaction. At the very least, the actual QIF file can be searched and the transaction reconstructed based upon the information contained in the file. The conversion utility will not automatically create the transaction to avoid potential duplications if the match was incorrectly unsuccessful, or if the source transaction was never intended to be included into the QIF file. See also: Importing Transactions Sample File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.2. Exporting Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Exporting Transactions Accounts may be exported to QIF file format, and that exported data may contain any of the following four sections: Accounts Regular transactions Categories Classes The first step in exporting an account is selecting it from the Service Desk's Accounts Container, and selecting the Export QIF item from the Accounts menu. This will invoke the conversion dialog from which any or all of the four sections are selected. Clicking Export begins the process by presenting a file dialog box in which the QIF exported file is specified. As the export takes place, the listbox will display a log of any significant events or errors. The contents of this log may be saved to file by clicking the Save button. See also: Service Desk Menus Sample File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.3. Sample File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Sample File This sample is a portion of an export from Electronic Teller's demonstration card !Type:Class ΓöÇΓöÇ class section NClass One ΓöÇΓöÇ name ^ ΓöÇΓöÇ separator !Type:Cat ΓöÇΓöÇ category section NIncome ΓöÇΓöÇ name B 0.00 ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γö£ΓöÇ budgets B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 Γöé B 0.00 ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ I ΓöÇΓöÇ Income category ^ NUtilities:Electricity B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -30.00 B -50.00 E ΓöÇΓöÇ Expense category ^ !Option:AutoSwitch ΓöÇΓöÇ Accounts list !Account NSavings ΓöÇΓöÇ Account name TBank ΓöÇΓöÇ Account type DBank account ΓöÇΓöÇ Account description ^ NVisa TCCard D5555 123 789 456 L1,000.00 ΓöÇΓöÇ Account credit limit ^ !Clear:AutoSwitch ΓöÇΓöÇ Account being imported !Account NSavings DBank account TBank ^ !Type:Bank ΓöÇΓöÇ Account type D1/ 1/96 ΓöÇΓöÇ Transaction date T1,000.00 ΓöÇΓöÇ Trans. amount CX ΓöÇΓöÇ Cleared flag PStarting balance ΓöÇΓöÇ Trans. payee L[Savings] ΓöÇΓöÇ Trans. category ^ D7/31/96 T-46.75 CX NBPY PHydro Electric LUtilities:Cable Mauto bill-payment ΓöÇΓöÇ Trans. memo ^ D7/31/96 T-25.67 CX NBPY PBell Telephone LUtilities:Telephone Mauto bill-payment ^ D8/ 1/96 T-250.00 NWIT PWeekly expenses SGroceries ΓöÇΓöÇ Split category $-150.00 ΓöÇΓöÇ Split amount EThe usual ΓöÇΓöÇ Split memo SPersonal $-50.00 SAuto:Fuel $-25.00 SHousehold $-25.00 ^ ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. First Aid ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ First Aid First aid is used to repair one of a possible three account damages or apparent innacuracies: 1. Sums table 2. Index files 3. Forward Balance In order to invoke first aid on an account, it must first be closed and selected. See also: Service Desk Menus Sums Table Index Files Forward Balance ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.1. Sums Table ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Sums Table The Sums first-aid option repairs an innacurate or missing ending balance. Electronic Teller uses sums tables in order to determine quickly the running balance for a given year or month. This table is contained in the etdeskf.ini file, located in Electronic Teller's root directory. If these table entries are not found, the program will not be able to determine accurately an account's ending balance, and so the running balance in the Account Book will be innacurate, as it will be elsewhere where a balance is required. To reconstruct these table entries: 1. Close the damaged account. 2. Select it from the Service Desk's Accounts Container. 3. Invoke First Aid. 4. Select the Sums table (running balance) item from the available list. 5. Click OK The account's entry balance in the Service Desk will be updated to reflect the newly-calculated ending balance. See also: Service Desk Menus Accounts Container Trouble Shooting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.2. Index Files ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Index Files Electronic Teller uses index files to reduce the time required to load or otherwise retrieve transactions from the database. Actual transaction entries are kept in a separate file, ending with an extension REC. Should any of the index files become corrupt, the account will be unusable if not innaccessible. Should you experience odd behaviour, it is recommended that first aid be invoked upon the misbehaving account thus: 1. Ensure the account is closed. 2. Select it from the Service Desk's Accounts Container. 3. Invoke First Aid. 4. Select the Index files (delete & rebuild) option from the available list. 5. Click OK. This function will first delete all the index files associated with the account. It will then read the main record file one record at a time, reconsctructing the index files, ending and forward balances as it goes along. IMPORTANT NOTE: It is always a good idea to ensure that a recent backup of a card exists before attempting such a major reconstructive operation. Of course, backing up to a location other than the usual is a good precautionary measure, as well. See also: Card Backup / Restore Trouble Shooting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.3. Forward Balance ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Forward Balance The forward balance is used solely in account reconciliation. Having an accurate forward balance is as important as having an accurate ending balance; otherwise, balancing an account may become extremely tedious if not altogether impossible. Determining whether a forward balance is accurate is not an easy thing to do, unless you are someone who reconciles religiously at the end of the month or receives a statement, stating what the account's previous balance was before the beginning of the month's transactions. If a statement is not available, and it is patently obvious that the forward balance as it appears in the reconciliation dialog is not correct, then it may be necessary to invoke first aid: 1. Close the account in question. 2. Select it from the Service Desk's Accounts Container. 3. Invoke First Aid. 4. Select the Forward balance (for reconciliation) option from the available list. 5. Click OK. This function will cycle through all the records in the account's main record file and increment the total of all transactions that have been previously flagged as cleared. This total will then be used as the account's forward balance. See also: Reconciling Accounts Trouble Shooting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Budgets ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Budgets The budget module is used to pull together a previously defined budget and the actual data from at least one account in an ATM card. Budgets make extensive use of categories, without which, budgets would be meaningless accumulations of data. Budgets are created using the Settings notebook' s Budget Page in conjunction with predefined categories. A budget is global to the accounts of an entire card, not simply an individual account. For help in creating budgets, refer to the Budget Page topic. For help in viewing budgets versus category usage, refer to the Viewing Budgets topic. For help in printing a budget versus category usage report, refer to the Budget Reports topic. See also: Viewing Budgets Budget Reports Creating Transactions Lists Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.1. Viewing Budgets ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Viewing Budgets The budget graph consists of two windows, the main window (displayed above) from which the type of graph and the data to be included in the graph are defined, and the graph window itself. The first step in viewing a graph is deciding what to include in the final output. The controls on the main window are used to define those parameters. Categories This groupbox contains two radio buttons and one listbox. When the dialog is first displayed, the Income button is selected, and the income categories (if any) are displayed. This listbox is used to view a specific category in relation to its defined budget. To do so, simply double-click upon the desired category, and the graph window will be updated accordingly. Graph The Graph groupbox contains two radio buttons. When the dialog is first displayed, the Bar button is selected. To convert the current graph using the defined parameters as a pie chart, select the Pie button. A pie chart will not accommodate negative values. For this reason, a summary graph cannot be viewed as a pie chart. Trans. Year This spin button defines the transaction year that is to be used in constructing the graph. Budget graphs are limited to a single transaction year. When the dialog is first displayed, the selected accounts are not actually read in the event that the current year is not the preferred year or that not all accounts are to be included in the graph, or that the preselected months are not accurate. In order for a comparison to be made, the ref button to the right of this spin button must be pressed so that the selected accounts may be read. Whenever the transaction year is changed, this ref button must be clicked in order to update the data contained in memory. Budget Year Electronic Teller supports multiple-year budgets, and this spin button selects the year for which the budget has been created. By default, the value here reflects the current system year. Whenever this value is changed, the ref button to the right of the spin button must be clicked to update the data contained in the memory. Accounts This listbox contains all the accounts for the currently selected card. By default, all the accounts are preselected, indicating that they will all be read and their values combined when building the graph. To omit any account from the final display, deselect it. If any changes to the account selection are made, the ref button to the right of the Trans Year spin button must be clicked to update the data contained in memory. Include A graph is only as good as the data it contains, and since budget graphs span an entire year, it may be desirable to omit certain months of the year from the final tally. The Include listbox, which contains twelve items, permits this very thing. When the dialog is first displayed, all the months up to, and including, the current system month, are preselected. To omit or include any of the twelve months, simply deselect or select them, respectively. Once again, any changes made to this selection must be followed by a click upon the ref button to the right of the listbox to update the data contained in memory. There are, in fact, three types of graphs available, excluding the Bar / Pie displays: Category This graph, described above, displays the budgeted amounts for a selected category versus the actual amounts over the specified twelve-month period. Summary (default) The summary graph groups all categories and all budgets over the specified twelve-month period, and displays the data as six separate items along the x-axis: Budgeted Income versus Actual Income; Budgeted Expense versus Actual Expense; and Budgeted Income less Expense versus Actual Income less Expense. Group This graph groups all categories of the selected type (Income or Expense in the Categories groupbox) and all budgets for that category type. The results are then displayed over the specified twelve-month period. The Report button at the bottom of the dialog invokes the Reports function, with the Budget report type preselected. See also: Budget Page Budget Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.2. Printing Budgets ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Printing Budgets The printing of budget results is handled by the Budget report. See also: Budgets Viewing Budgets Budget Page Budget Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Calculator ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Calculator For quick calculations, a calculator is always at hand and can be used for independent calculations or, if the Transactions dialog is running, for pasting a calculated value directly into that dialog. The calculator is divided into two sections. The top section is the calculator tape into which all calculations are appended. The bottom portion holds the various keys, used to perform or edit pending calculations. Tape For virtually all key presses, the calculator tape will be updated to reflect the most recent key press. The listbox can contain approximately 32,000 lines, which should be sufficient for day-to-day usage. If desired, the contents of the tape can also be saved for future recall, or sent to a printer. Keys The following keys perform the described functions: LED Closes the calculator. ╨Ä Divides the previous value by the next value. x Multiplies the previous value by the next value. Removes the last keypress from the pending value. 0-9 Appends the number associated with the key to the pending value. . In regular mode, inserts a decimal point. This key will reflect the system's country settings. 00 In financial mode, the decimal key changes to double zeros to enable easy insertion of whole dollar amounts. - Subtracts the previous value from the next value. + Adds the previous value to the next value. = Completes the calculation. % Converts the displayed value to percentage. Mr Recalls a memorized value. Mc Clears a memorized value. M- Subtracts the displayed value from the memorized value. M+ Adds the displayed value to the memorized value. Virtually all keys have a keyboard equivalent. The less obvious are: Keyboard Equivalent or function -------- ---------------------- Insert 0 Delete . [or] 00 End 1 Down 2 PageDown 3 Left 4 Alt+Keypad 5 % Right 6 Home 7 Up 8 PageUp 9 O (letter) LED key (off) Esc Clear Backspace delete () * multiply (x) / divide (╨Ä) Menus Options Menu Item Menu Function Financial mode Toggles between regular and financial mode. Copy Copies the last value in the calculator tape to the clipboard. Paste Pastes the last value in the calculator tape into the Transactions dialog if it exists. Memory plus Adds the last value to the memorized value. Memory minus Subtracts the last value from the memorized value. Tape Menu Item Menu Function Clear Clears the tape contents. Recall Recalls a previously saved tape content and replaces the existing contents with these. Save now Saves the tape contents, overwritin any previously saved content. Save on exit If checked, the tape contents will be saved whenever the calculator is closed, overwriting any previously saved contents. Print Sends the contents of the calculator tape to a printer. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Calendar / Reminder ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Calendar The calendar / reminder serves two purposes: as a quickly accessible calendar and as a reminder utility. The calendar portion of the dialog is used to define the date upon which an event is due. Beneath the calendar are a series of controls: Event title This is the identifying string that will appear in the listbox. Create This push button creates the event and adds it to the list if appropriate. Close This button closes the calendar. Desk This button either changes focus to the Service Desk or invokes it if it is not already running. The listbox to the right of the calendar lists all items for the calendar month. If the calendar is invoked with the /NOSCAN parameter and the Service Desk is not running, it will enter into a startup mode, which means that any items that are due or past due will be displayed in the listbox, and the Show button enabled. If items are not found, the calendar will exit without showing itself. The listbox displays three items per entry: 1. An LED icon (see below). 2. The day of the month the item is due. 3. The descriptive string identifying the entry. The LEDs use four separate colours to identify the item location within the calendar year in relation to the current system date: Black Indicates that the item falls within a seven day period surrounding the current system date. Blue Indicates that the item is greater than 7 days old but less than 22 days old. Red Indicates that the item is greater than 21 days old and will be deleted at the end of 31 days. Green Indicates that the item is greater than 7 days into the future. If it is desirable to have the item repeat itself automatically upon expiration, clicking the Repeat box will invoke the postdate dialog from which a repetition can be defined. An item that is repeated will be displayed in subsequent calendar months for as long as the item is valid. For example, the Car insurance event in the screen shot is set to repeat on the last day of every month. Scrolling the calendar forward will display this particular item, because it is valid during that month. The two earlier items, however, are relevant only to the current month, and will not be displayed in any subsequent month. The four push buttons beneath the list serve the following functions: Edit repetition This button is enabled only if the selected item is set to repeat. Clicking it invokes the postdated dialog, preloading the existing values. Change Changes the date and/or Event title of the selected event. Delete Deletes the selected event from the list and file. Show This button is enabled only if the calendar is started in startup mode. When this occurs, all items that exist prior to the current system date are displayed in the list, regardless of the month for which they were created. Clicking this button cancels startup mode and reverts to the calendar's regular mode. See also: Service Desk Creating Postdated Transactions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Reports There are currently five types of reports available from the Type combobox: Transaction Budget Cheque Usage Unreconciled Records Transaction Fees A report may consist of one or more accounts selected from the same card. Depending upon where the report function was called, either an account in the Accounts listbox or a report type will be preselected. The inclusive date range is set to the first and final day of the current system month, by default. Any of these preselected values may be changed at any time. See also: Print Preview Transaction Reports Budget Reports Cheque Usage Reports Unreconciled Records Reports Transaction Fee Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.1. Print Preview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Print Preview The layout is intended to represent, as closely as possible, the printed page. For this reason, sizeing the window will almost certainly be necessary because there will likely be column clashes, in which the items of one column will run into those of another. When sizeing the preview window, you need only worry about the Memo and Category columns, because the center of these is a potential point of intersection. By that, I mean that the Date, Code, Description, and Memo columns are all based upon the left margin of the page as defined by the printer driver, and the Amount, Clr, and Category columns are based upon the right margin. The long and the short of this is: if there is text overlap in the preview window, there will surely be overlap in the printed report. The columns in the transaction report are all self-evident, with the exception, perhaps, of the Clr column. This is generally used to denote whether a transaction has been cleared, in which case an (X) is written to this column. If the transaction in question represents a split, an -s- will written to this column instead. Or, if the transaction has been voided, a -v- will be displayed. There are two menu structures in the Preview window (excluding the Help menu item). The Options menu is available to all report types. The functions included here are: Menu Item Menu Function Font Selects a font for the print preview which will be translated to the printed page. Go to If the report contains multiple pages, this item will allow jumping to a specific page. Print Sends the report to the default or last defined printer. Printer setup Permits the selection of a different printer and/or alterations to the job properties. Close Dismisses all report-related windows. The Subtotals menu is available only for transaction reports, and contains the following selections: Menu Item Menu Function None Does not subtotal the report. Weekly Subtotals the report after every week (a week is defined as a 7 days beginning on Sunday and ending on Saturday). Two weeks Subtotals the report after every two weeks, defined as 14 days beginning with a Sunday and ending with a Saturday. Half monthly Subtotals the report after the 15th of the month and again upon the last day of the month. Monthly Subtotals the report at the end of every month. Quarterly Subtotals the report at the end of: April, August, and December. Six months Subtotals the report at the end of June and December. Yearly Subtotals the report at the end of every year. Category (family) Subtotals the report for every complete category tree, e.g. Utilities:Electricity will be subtotaled, as will be Heating:Electricity. Category (single) Subtotals the report for every individual category. For example, Utilities:Electricity and Heating:Electricity will be subtotalled together, because they share the common child, Electricity. Class Subtotals the report after every class. Payee Subtotals the report after every payee or tranaction description. See also: Transaction Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.2. Transaction Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transaction Reports The Transaction report resembles most closely the actual Account Book Ledger, with the exception of drawing attributes (colours, underscoring, etc.) which are not reproduced. This report type will include all transactions in the ledger with the exception of deleted and postdated transactions. Splits are always included, and are located directly beneath their parent. The string -s- is written to the Clr column to highlight the fact that the entry is a split. Voided transactions are also included but not tabulated in any subtotal or overall total. The string -v- appears in the Clr column to denote the fact that the transaction in question has been voided. There are a number of subtotalling options available for this particular type of report, all of which are explained in the Print Preview topic. See also: Print Preview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.3. Budget Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Budget Reports The budget report displays a breakdown of the selected categories used by an account in conjunction with any budgets that may have been created for the individual categories. Each month a category is used during the prescribed period, an entry in the report will be created. The first step in generating a budget report is selecting the accounts that are to be included in the report, in addition to a date range. Subsequent steps are completed, using the Budget Options dialog: 1. Select any or all of the Income categories to include in the report. To exclude all income categories, remove the check mark from the Print income box beneath the income listbox. 2. Select any or all of the Expense categories to include in the report. To exclude all expense categories, remove the check mark from the Print expense box beneath the income listbox. 3. Select the Months to include in the report. Because months for which no transactions yet exist may skew results, it is best to leave those unselected. 4. Select the Budget year to use. 5. By default, empty or unused categories are omitted from the report. A category is deemed empty if there are no transactions within the specified date range. It is deemed unused if the category is never encountered in an account throughout the entire date range. The report itself is fairly straightforward, and may look something like the following: Category Budget Actual Difference Mth [Income] Income:Pay 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Jan 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Feb 2,250.00 0.00 -2,250.00 Mar 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Apr 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 May 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Jun 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Jul 1,500.00 850.00 -650.00 Aug 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Sep 1,500.00 0.00 -1,500.00 Oct 0.00 0.00 0.00 Nov 0.00 0.00 0.00 Dec ========= ====== ========== 15,750.00 850.00 -14,900.00 See also: Print Preview Budgets Lists Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.4. Cheque Usage Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Cheque Usage Reports The cheque-usage report serves the purpose of retrieving cheque-only transactions within the specified date range for the selected accounts, and listing these in reverse numerical order. The end of the report lists any duplicates and any numbers that have been skipped. Note: If more than one account is included in the report, and one of these accounts contains links for which a cheque was written, duplicates will be reported, even though, in reality, they are not duplicates, merely copies of the same transaction. See also: Print Preview Cheque numbers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.5. Unreconciled Records Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Unreconciled Records Reports The unreconciled-records report is virtually identical to the Transaction report, with the exception that only uncleared transactions are included in the report, and the Clr column contains three successive dashes (---) so that a manual clearing may be performed upon a hard-copy simultaneously. See also: Print Preview Reconciling Accounts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.6. Transaction Fee Reports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transaction Fee Reports The transaction-fee report is similar in purpose to the Budget report, except that transaction codes are used instead of categories. For this report to be meaningful, a fee schedule must first be created so that each transaction for each month within the specified date range may be compared to the fee values and an intelligent total presented. If no fee schedule exists for a particular code, the string n/a will be displayed rather than a numerical or monetary value. A transaction-fee report may look something like the following: Date Code Description Memo Category Clr Amount 31-07-1996 BPY Hydro Electric auto bill-payment Utilities:Hydro X -46.75 31-07-1996 BPY Bell Telephone auto bill-payment Utilities:Phone X -25.67 BPY transactions for July 1996: 2 Free transactions per month: 0 Free exceeded by: 2 Minimum monthly balance: 927.58 Minimum balance required: 1,000.00 Amount owing if balance met: 0.00 Amount owing if balance shortfall: 1.80 ========= Total owing: 1.80 See also: Print Preview Lists Page Fees Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Cheque Printer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Cheque Printer The initial cheque printing dialog is divided into two sections: The first half contains a list of the selected transactions with a valid cheque number. This is the list of cheques that will be printed. As each item is successfully queued, a cheque mark will appear to the left of the item. The second half contains a list of designs. The selected design will be used in formatting the cheque fields and assigning font attributes. To omit an item from the Queued cheques listbox, select it and click the Remove button. To send the displayed cheques to a printer, select the desired design and click Print. To create a new design click the Create button. To edit an existing design, select it and click the Edit button. To delete an existing design, select it and click the Delete button. See also: Cheque Designer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13.1. Cheque Designer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Cheque Designer The cheque design consists of two windows. The screen-shot shows the main window, used to define certain cheque paramaters. The second window is used to position individual cheque fields, and to set certain field characteristics. Every design must be given a name, which appears in the Design entryfield and in the Designs listbox on the Cheque Printer dialog. The other controls are used to define the page and cheque properties: Cheques per page This spin button will accommodate values from 1 to 5 or continuous, meaning that a page contains either a single cheque up to 5 cheques, or that the pages are continuously fed by the printer. Dimensions (W x H) This specifies the dimensions of individual cheques. The values entered here are important, because the cheque printer uses these to determine where to position individual fields, and where to insert a form feed if the cheques per page are greater than one. Window scale This spin button serves no purpose in the actual printing of cheques; rather it is used to size the design window so that it more closely resembles the physical cheque. Print cheque number If this box is checked, then the number field on the design will be available, and cheque numbers will be included in the printout. Combine date fields Depending on the cheque layout, you may wish to combine the date fields to form a single item as opposed to two. When combined, a date will resemble 1 Jan 95. If not combined, the 1 Jan portion will be separated from the 95 portion. Cheque includes stub If your cheques contain a stub line, check this box in order to make the stub field available for positioning and printing. Once these values have been set properly, you can then proceed to set the field characteristics, i.e. fonts and sizes used for each individual field or for all fields in the cheque. Following this, field positioning can be completed. And, lastly, click the Test button to test the design layout for accuracy and aesthetic qualities. See also: Field Characteristics Field Positioning ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13.1.1. Field Characteristics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Field Characteristics There are two characteristics for each available cheque field that can be set, excluding, of course, positioning: the font and size. To change or set a field's font, simply open the font palette, and drag a selection to the desired field. As the mouse moves over the field, it's size and font characteristics will be displayed in the Font status window. For example, if the system 10 point Courier font is dragged, the status window will read: Font: 10.Courier. Each field can use a different font and/or size, but remember that too many selections may result in unappealing results. See also: Cheque Designer Field Positioning ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13.1.2. Field Positioning ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Field Positioning Field position is achieved by pressing and holding the right mouse button, and dragging a field to another location within the window. IMPORTANT NOTE: When measuring the location of a line, it is important that the measurement start at the bottom left-hand corner of the cheque, since this is the 0x0 coordinate used by the cheque design window. For example, if the Memo field is the lowest field on the cheque, its vertical height will be less than that of the Date's, assuming, of course, that the latter is closer to the top of the cheque than the former. When measuring the horizontal position, no special consideration need be taken, since measurements are taken from the left of the cheque to the right. The two status windows, labelled X and Y provide an approximate position for the field beneath the mouse pointer, in millimeters. This is why it is important to test a design before actually using it on an actual cheque, because fine-tuning will almost certainly be necessary. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14. Registration ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Registration Electronic Teller is released as shareware. You are granted granted permission to use Electronic Teller for a period not exceeding 30 days for evaluation purposes only. If you decide to continue using Electronic Teller, you are required to register the program by sending a registration fee of $40.00 US ($45.00 CAN) to: Paul H. Caron 6-16 Eastwood Pl. Vanier, Ont. K1L 6X1 CANADA If you are sending a cheque or money order, please print the supplied Registration Form and send it along with your payment. For overseas or credit card orders, registration can be accomplished by contacting BMT Micro. A separate order form as well as relevant phone numbers are located in the Ordering by Phone topic. You are encouraged to distribute Electronic Teller as long as you maintain the integrity of the original archive and do not distribute any of the programs contained therein separately as individual applications. You are not permitted to charge a fee for the use of Electronic Teller, except for a small administrative fee not exceeding $10 US to cover distribution and/or media costs. After your registration payment is received, you will be given a unique registration key which you will then use to unlock the limitations of the non-registered version by selecting the Register menu item from the Service Desk's Help menu. Your key will either be sent to you my snail-mail if no e-mail address is supplied on the registration form, or by e-mail if a valid address is given. Please print your e-mail address clearly. See also: Unregistered Copy Limitations Pricing Registration Form Ordering by Phone ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14.1. Unregistered Copy Limitations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Unregistered Copy Limitations The unregistered copy of Electronic Teller is limited in the number of transactions that can be created per account. This ceiling is currently set at 200 records per account, excluding any that have been imported from a QIF file. No other limitations have been imposed. See also: Registration Pricing Conversion ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14.2. Pricing ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Pricing Electronic Teller sells for $40.00 US ($45.00 CAN). This registration fee will remove the unregistered copy limitations and covers all subsequent versions up to, but excluding, version 4.00a. Although no additional cost is envisioned for upgrading to 4.00a when that time comes, I reserve the right to charge a fee. No additional fee will be required for updates from version 2.90b through to 3.99z inclusive. See also: Registration Unregistered Copy Limitations Registration Form Ordering by Phone ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14.3. Registration Form - 2.90a ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Please take a minute to fill out the form below, and send it along with your registration fee (cheque or money order only, please) to: Paul H. Caron 6-16 Eastwood Pl. Vanier, Ontario K1L 6X1. CANADA If ordering in Canada, please add $5 to the amount listed below and send Canadian dollars. Name: ____________________________________________________________ Company: ____________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ City: _______________________ State/Province: __________________ Country: ____________________________ Postal Code: __________________ Phone: ____________________________________________________________ Fax: ____________________________________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________________________ (please print clearly) Product Version Price Quantity Total --------------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic Teller 2.90a $ 40.00 US x ________ = $____.___ Total: $____.___ Comments / suggestions? Please list them below: ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14.4. Ordering by Phone ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ If ordering by mail, please print and submit the supplied order form... Mail Orders To: BMT Micro PO Box 15016 Wilmington, NC 28408 U.S.A. Voice Orders: 8:00am - 7:00pm EST (-5 GMT) (800) 414-4268 (orders only) (910) 791-7052 Fax Orders: (910) 350-2937 24 hours / 7 Days (800) 346-1672 24 hours / 7 Days Online Orders via modem: (910) 350-8061 10 lines, all 14.4K (910) 799-0923 Direct 28.8K line Ordering and general ordering questions: Via AOL: bmtmicro via MSN: bmtmicro Via Prodigy: HNGP66D via Compuserve: 74031,307 via Internet: orders@bmtmicro.com telnet@bmtmicro.com http://www.bmtmicro.com We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, Carte Blanche, Cashiers Check, Personal Check. Personal checks are subject to clearance. Eurochecks in DM are welcome. DM, Sterling, and US Currency is welcome but send only by registered mail, return receipt requested. We cannot be liable for lost cash sent through the mail. Purchase orders are welcome, subject to approval. The minimum amount is $250.00. ORDERING FROM INSIDE GERMANY ONLY Persons in Germany wishing to order shareware may also transfer funds into our account with Deutsche Bank. Once the money is deposited you may either fax a confirmation to us with proof of deposit or wait until Deutsche Bank notifies us of the transaction (usually 10-18 business days). Account information is as follows: Deutsche Bank / Frankfurt Branch Empf╨önger: Thomas Bradford / BMT Micro Konto-Nummer: 0860221 Bankleitzahl: 500-700-10 When you make the transfer, be sure to put your name and the program you are registering on the transfer. Current exchange rates can be obtained by sending an email to dm_to_us@bmtmicro.com. An automated reply will return todays exchange rates. It is very important that you send us a completed order form by either email or fax if you deposit money into this account for a registration. Fill the order form out as usual except in the credit card number field put "DEUTSCHE BANK". We will file the order and use it to match against the deposit information we receive from the bank. IMPORTANT! When you email us your order form, we will reply with an acknowledgement. If you do not get an acknowledgement within 24 hours please send your order again in case it was lost. This extra bit of caution can save a lot of confusion. If you are concerned that your order is taking too long to process, feel free to check with us about the status of your order. It's important to all of us that you feel safe doing business with our company and please feel free to suggest ways we can improve our service to you. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14.4.1. BMT Micro Order Form - 2.90a ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ _____________________________________________________________________ Company:_____________________________________________________________ Name:________________________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ City: _______________________________State/Province: ________________ Postal/ZIP Code: ____________________Country:________________________ Phone:_______________________________________________________________ Fax: _______________________________________________________________ E-Mail #1____________________________________________________________ E-Mail #2____________________________________________________________ Product Quantity Price Number of copies _________________________ ______________ ________________ Electronic Teller 40.00 US x ____________ = + $ _______ North Carolina Residents add 6% Sales Tax $ _______ Total: $ _______ ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ Γöé Γöé Γöé For credit card payment only Γöé Γöé Γöé Γöé Circle one: VISA / Master / Discover / American Express / Diners Γöé Γöé Γöé Γöé Credit card number: _____________________________________________ Γöé Γöé Γöé Γöé Expiration date: ________________________________________________ Γöé Γöé Γöé Γöé Authorization signature: ________________________________________ Γöé Γöé Γöé ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 15. Trouble Shooting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Trouble Shooting This topic contains possible solutions to problems encountered using Electronic Teller. It is organized by way of question and answer. The program freezes when loading my accounts in the Service Desk. What do I do now? In all likelihood, one of the index files is corrupt. The first thing to do is restore a backup. If the account is still inaccessible, Identify the account that is causing the program to freeze. If this is an impossible task, try starting the program with the /showtimer parameter. This will display a small window in the lower left-hand corner of the desktop. The top field displays the card identification number. This number refers to the subdirectory, i.e. a 1 refers to the subdirectory card.1. The bottom field displays the identification number of the account being accessed. This number is used to construct the account names in the card subdirectory, i.e. a number of 2 represents all files in the subdirectory beginning with 2; for example, 2.REC. Once the actual account files have been identified, close Electronic Teller and proceed with the deletion of the files beginning with the number that was determined previously and ending with the following extensions: .AI?, .DTA, and .IDX. In all, 10 files should be deleted. Do not delete the .POL or .REC files; otherwise, the account will truly become unusable. Restart Electronic Teller and access the card. If all goes well, select the errant account and invoke First Aid's Index Files option to recreate the index files. If all does not go well, e-mail me and we'll work it out. My running balance is definitely not right, and the Service Desk shows an incorrect balance, as well. How do I fix this? Electronic Teller uses sums tables to determine an account's ending balance quickly. If an index file is damaged or the etdeskf.ini file is damaged, it will be necessary to invoke First Aid on the account. If the account is accessible, chances are the sums tables are corrupt. Simply select the account, and invoke First Aid's Sums Table option to recreate the tables. At the end of the process, the Service Desk's Accounts container will reflect the calculated balance. If it is still incorrect, Select the account and invoke First Aid's Index Files option to recreate the index files and sums tables simultaneously. Once again, the Service Desk's Accounts container will reflect the calculated balance. I'm trying to balance an account but can't seem to get my statement to agree with my account. What am I doing wrong? The first thing to check is that all transactions that appear in the statement are in the account ledger. If any are missing, add them. If they're all there, Ensure that the amount of each transaction is, in fact, correct. If it is, Verify that the forward balance is correct. If it is not, then reconciling the account will be extremely difficult. If you are unable to determine what that balance is, you can close the account, ensure that it is selected in the Service Desk's Accounts container, and invoke First Aid's Forward Balance option. All records in the main account file will be read and a total all transactions that are flagged as cleared constructed. Once the process is complete, reopen the account, and begin the reconciliation process again. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 16. Contacting the Author ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Contacting the Author For help, additional information, or bug reports, I can be reached at: phcaron@travel-net.com For update notices, visit my web page at: http://www.travel-net.com/~phcaron ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 17. Warranty ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Warranty Electronic Teller and its accompanying software and documentation are supplied with no warranty whatsoever, expressed or implied. Its author will not be held directly or indirectly responsible for any loss and/or damage to your data and/or system as a result of the use and/or misuse of Electronic Teller. All software is supplied as is. If you use this program, you understand that you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 18. Copyright Notices ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Copyright Notices Electronic Teller (c) 1994-1996 Paul Caron. OS/2 (c) IBM Corp. Quicken (c) Intuit. MS Money (c) Microsoft Corp. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Access menu item from the Service Desk's Cards menu opens the selected, unopened ATM card. If the card is already opened, this function is disabled. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Access menu item from the Service Desk's Cards menu opens the selected, unopened ATM card. If the card is already opened, this function is disabled. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The New menu item from the Service Desk's Cards menu invokes the dialog used to create new ATM cards. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Destroy menu item from the Service Desk's Cards menu prompts for deletion of the ATM card and its entire contents. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Setup menu item from the Service Desk's Cards menu invokes the dialog used to edit the currently selected ATM card. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Backup menu item from the Service Desk's Cards invokes the Backup / Restore dialog, used to copy the contents of the ATM card to a floppy diskette or hard-drive subdirectory. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Restore menu item from the Service Desk's Cards invokes the Backup / Restore dialog, used to copy the contents of an existing ATM card from a floppy diskette or hard-drive subdirectory into the ATM card's own subdirectory. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Import QIF menu item from the Service Desk's Cards invokes the QIF Converter, used to import category and class lists and transactions into an existing ATM card. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Reports menu items and the variants from the various Electronic Teller modules generally invoke the Reports function to generate and printer various reports. The exception to this rule is the cheque printer, which handles printing separately. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Settings menu item from the various Electronic Teller modules invokes the Settings notebook, used to create, edit, or otherwise define such items as category lists, budgets, transactions fees, etc. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Exit menu item in the various Electronic Teller modules generally close the window from which it was called. If called from an Account Book, the account is closed. If called from the Service Desk, opened accounts are closed in addition to Electronic Teller itself. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Close menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu closes the selected, opened account(s). If any of the accounts is already closed, this function will have no effect. If there are no accounts selected, this menu item will be disabled. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Access menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu opens the selected, unopened account(s). If any of the accounts is already opened, this function will have no effect. If there are no accounts selected, this menu item will be disabled. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The New menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes the Account Management notebook so that one new account can be created. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Edit menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes the Account Management notebook on behalf of the selected, closed account. Any changes made to the account are preserved when the notebook is closed. In order to cancel any changes, simply remove the account's name from the Name entryfield. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Delete menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes a secondary listbox in which all selected accounts are displayed and preselected. To omit any accounts from the deletion list, deselect them. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The First Aid menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes Electronic Teller's first aid function, used to repair balance innacuracies, or damaged index files. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Create record menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes the Transaction dialog on behalf of the first selected account. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Export QIF menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes the QIF Converter, from which the transactions in the first selected account may be exported, in addition to the category and class lists. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The View budgets menu item from the Service Desk's Accounts menu invokes the Budget viewer, from which an accounts budgeted and actual category amounts may be viewed graphically. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A credit limit is used in credit card accounts to track the credit remaining on that card. For example, if the card's credit limit is $1,000.00 and $300.00 worth of purchases have been made with the card, the credit remaining, as it will appear in the account book, will be $700.00. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Net worth menu item from the Service Desk's Cards invokes a display of the actual net worth of an entire card. The ending balance of liability accounts (credit card, liability) are subtracting from those of asset accounts (bank, cash, and asset), and an overall total is displayed. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Shredding a transaction permanently removes it from the account book. Its unique identification number then becomes available for future use, thereby making a restoration of the transaction impossible. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A postdated transaction is one whose amount will be taken into consideration only after it is no longer considered postdated -- its date is found to be equal to or less than the current system date. Postdated transactions cannot be voided or immediately shredded. They can, however, be deleted in preparation for shredding. These are visually represented as half-toned text. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A voided transaction differs from a deleted transaction in that it cannot be shredded without first being restored, then deleted, and, finally, shredded. Voided transactions are visually represented as dark-green, underscored text in the ledger. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A deleted transaction may be recalled, or undeleted by the account book owning the transaction. Deleted transactions are visually represented with the strikeout text attribute. Deleted transaction cannot be voided without first being undeleted. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A category identifies a transaction as belonging to a certain type. For example, Income may be defined as a category, and any transaction which constitutes a source of income would be identified as being a member of that category. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Dates in Electronic Teller conform to the system's country settings and must adhere to one of the following formats: mm/dd/yyyy dd/mm/yyyy yyyy/mm/dd When entering dates, they must be entered in accordance with the country settings, but the full format need not necessarily be followed. If the system is defined to accept mm/dd/yyyy, entering 1/9/1996 will be interpreted as Jan. 9, 1996. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A memorandum is a purely informational item attached to a transaction. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ See transaction. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ See payee. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A Number differs from a code when dealing with transactions in that it refers to a cheque number. Electronic Teller defines a number as a string beginning with a numerical value. 123, for example, is considered a number, as is 123abc. abc123 is not considered a number, however. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ See payee. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The payee is, in the case of cheque transactions, the person to whom the cheque is addressed. In all other instances, it can be used as a descriptive string identifying the transaction. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A postdated transaction is one that will occur in the future. Although these appear in the ledger as half-toned text, it is not considered part of the account until it becomes due, at which point it is added to the account. If postdated transactions are set to repeat themselves, the next date will be advanced once the transaction is added to an account; otherwise, it will be silently deleted. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A split is a child of a transaction. Parent's may have more than one split. Splits are typically used to break down a transaction into separate components. If, for example, $100.00 is withdrawn from an account, it may be desirable to track where that money has gone: Withdraw 100.00 ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ parent Groceries 70.00 ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ Personal expenses 20.00 Γö£ΓöÇ splits Auto Fuel 10.00 ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ To reconcile an account is to ensure that the balance is up-to-date in accordance with a statement issued by a bank or other institution. Reconciling generally consists of going through the individual transactions throughout a month, and marking those that appear in the statement. These transactions then become cleared and appear as blue entries in the the account ledger. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The ledger refers to the list box portion of each account book, and contains a list of that account's transactions. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Balance may refer either to the process of reconciliating an account, or to a physical ending or forward balance. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The term cleared refers to transactions that have been processed by an institution and have appeared upon a statement. Such items appear as blue entries in the ledger following the reconciliation process. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ An account is a collection of transactions. Five types of accounts are supported: bank, credit card, cash, asset, and liability.. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ ATM Cards are, in a sense, specialized folders in that they contain collections of accounts but will not permit moving or copying accounts between themselves. Cards are ideally suited for multiple users or for separating disparate accounts that do not share code, category, and class lists, such as the accounts of a parent and those of his/her children. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A class aids in further identifying a transaction, when a category or subcategory is insufficient. For example, assume that fuel is purchased for both an automabile and a motorcycle. Each purchase could be categorized, subcategorized, and, finally, classed as: Category Subcategory Class ------- ---------- ---- Purchase Fuel Auto Purchase Fuel Motorcycle Classes are frequently associated with categories and are delimited by a forward slash, e.g. Category/Class. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A code identifies a particular type of transaction more generally than a category. Withdrawals, for example, could be coded as WIT and deposits as DEP. Codes are used by the Transaction Fee report which, in conjunction with a Transaction fee schedule will display the cost, if any, of all transactions of a given code over a period of one month. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The ending balance is the total of all transactions in an account. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A transaction is an individual entry in an account that represents either a credit or debit applied to the ending balance. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transfers differ from links in two respects: Transfers exist only between accounts that do not share the same ATM cards. Transaction associations between accounts within the same card constitute links. Editing or deleting a transfer has no effect upon the account from which the funds have been transferred. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Inflow is a term used to describe all transactions that increase an account's ending balance. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Outflow is a term used to describe all transactions that decrease an account's ending balance. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A credit is a transaction that increases an account's ending balance. For asset accounts (bank, cash, asset), any positive transaction constitutes a credit. For credit card accounts, a purchase is equivalent to a credit, as is any transaction that increases the total liabilities in a liability account. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Debits are transactions that subtract from an account's ending balance. For asset (bank, credit card, asset) accounts, any negative transaction constitutes a debit. For credit card accounts, payments are equivalent to debits, as are any transactions that reduce overall liabilities in a liability account. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A link refers to a transaction that is connected, in a manner of speaking, to a transaction in a separate account within the same ATM card. When such a transaction is deleted, so, too, is its link. When one is edited, it is prudent to allow Electronic Teller to edit the linked transaction as well since the QIF convert relies upon an exact match across all record fields for the establishment of links. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Line completion is available in many areas of the Transactions dialog. Basically, this means that, as an item is entered, existing items such as cheque numbers, transaction codes, memorized records, categories, and classes will complete the line only if what has been typed matches the first x characters of an existing item. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ A sub-category further defines a category. Income is a valid category, but it is far too broad to serve any real purpose. It may, therefore, be necessary to subcategorize Income so that a more meaningful report can be created. Examples of subcategories are: Category Subcategory Income Gifts Interest Pay Winfall Auto Repairs Fuel Insurance Insurance Auto Home Electronic Teller accomodates more than one level of subcategory if necessary, e.g. Category:Sub-One:Sub-Two, and always delineates individual members by a colon, as in the above example. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The forward balance is the total of all transactions flagged as cleared in an account Clearing is a result of the reconciliation process.