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What Job Summary? _________________ CONTENTS I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. COPYRIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 III. LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 IV. TECHNICAL SUPPORT (HOW TO REACH ME) . . . . . . . . . . 2 Official Distribution Bulletin Boards . . . . . . . . . 2 V. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 VI. UPDATES, ORDERING METHODS, AND REGISTRATION FEES . . . 3 A. Verion 1 Updates Are Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 B. The Other Benefits of Registration . . . . . . . . . 4 C. How To Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 D. Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 INVOICE & REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 VII. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 VIII. FILES WHICH MAKE UP THE PACKAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 IX. RUNNING What Job Summary? FOR THE FIRST TIME . . . . 10 A. Documentation Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 B. Using the Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 C. Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 X. FILE MANAGEMENT AND EXIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 A. Year-end Close-out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 B. Rebuild Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 C. Making Back-up Copies of Your Files . . . . . . . 12 D. Restoring Files from a Back-up Copy . . . . . . . 12 E. Formatting Floppy Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 XI. DATA ENTRY ("JOBS") . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 A. Entering New Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 B. Editing Existing Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 C. Job Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1. The Job Code Format (15) 2. How Many Jobs Can I Track? (15) D. Dollar Amounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 E. Bid Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 -i- What Job Summary? _________________ XII. REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 XIII. PREFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 A. Choosing a Back-up Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 B. Country setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 C. Fiscal Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 D. Defining your Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 1. Default Directory for Laser Printer Soft Fonts ______________________________________________ (18) XIV. HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 -ii- What Job Summary? _________________ I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION ("WJS") IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THOSE CONCERNING MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. BY USING WJS, YOU ARE EXPRESSLY RELEASING ANGEL BABUDRO FROM ANY LIABILITY RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION. YOU MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING WJS. YOU ARE ADVISED TO TEST AND SUPERVISE WJS THOROUGHLY BEFORE RELYING ON IT. II. COPYRIGHT WJS is owned and copyright (c) 1989-1992 by Angel Babudro, all rights reserved. You may only use and/or distribute WJS under the License terms below. III. LICENSE 1. WJS is being distributed as Shareware, however, there is a registration fee required for its continued use. License is hereby granted for individual personal use and evaluation for an unlimited time. Use and evaluation by businesses, corporations or individuals in a commercial venture is limited to 60 days, after which time the REGISTERED Edition of WJS must be purchased or the use of Unregistered Edition of WJS must be discontinued. 2. You may keep as many backup copies of WJS as you wish. The Registered Edition is limited to simultaneous use on the number of computers indicated by your registration level. The Unregistered Edition may be used on any number of computers. You may share WJS with others in complete and unmodified form. REGISTERED USERS may NOT distribute the separate file CONFIG.WDT nor the font files ending in SFP and SFL. 3. You MUST NOT charge any fee or receive any consideration for distributing the WJS files and you MUST NOT include WJS with another business transaction (e.g., a hardware sale) unless you have express written consent from the copyright holder, Angel Babudro. You MAY charge a fee of not more than US$6 (six dollars) for the disk and/or service of distribution. -1- What Job Summary? _________________ IV. TECHNICAL SUPPORT (HOW TO REACH ME) Comments, criticisms, correspondence, witticisms, Christmas cards, and vast quantities of unmarked bills are welcome here. If you have questions or need help, just drop a note to me through the mail or a BBS listed below. Registered users, vendors, and sysops may contact me via telephone as well. Sysops and shareware vendors please see VENDOR.DOC for distribution information. Mail Angel Babudro, "Organic Computer Wizardry", 28 Mulberry Street, Clinton, NY USA 13323-1506 Phone (315) 853-6942 9am - 5pm Eastern Time, Mon-Fri Official Distribution Bulletin Boards On bulletin boards I use the first name "Angelo" since it avoids gender confusion. East Coast Excalibur, Central NY (315) 736-3792 USR Dual This is my local distribution board where you can always find the latest updates to all of my software. I will get messages left here within a few days. My software can be FREQed from this board via RBBS Net address A:954/401, FIDO Net address 1:26501, or ICN Net 91:315/101. West Coast Researcher's, So Cal (805) 949-8151 USR Dual This is my west coast distribution board which is updated every 2-3 weeks with the latest versions of all my software. Donference #136 is Organic Software - use "J 136" to join it and leave messages there. My software can also be found on many of the nations larger bulletin boards, such as Exec-PC and Channel 1. V. INTRODUCTION What Job Summary? is a tool to help you keep track of jobs _________________ for which you are contracted or sub-contracted. WJS gives you an easy way to track a summary of your jobs; the estimating is left _______ entirely up to you. WJS then provides reports for the banker and bonding company as well as to help analyze your work load. -2- What Job Summary? _________________ WJS employs the standard 2-dimensional pull-down menu system which is familiar to most PC and Macintosh users. All you need to do is highlight your choice and press ENTER or just press the highlighted letter of your choice. To back-up, press the Esc key. What could be simpler? I have designed WJS to be used without a manual as much as possible. Do you think I have achieved this goal? Your comments & criticism are appreciated. The function keys I chose are the same as the Timberline estimating package. If you are used to Timberline, the WJS function keys will be second nature. If not, just watch the bottom of the screen for the function keys to use. Please feel free to contact me with comments, questions, etc. I am available as a consultant and programmer if you would like custom modifications to my software or if you don't have a local "computer person." I may be a good answer man to call before you pull your hair out. :) VI. UPDATES, ORDERING METHODS, AND REGISTRATION FEES I hope that you are so happy with WJS that registering will be reward enough in itself, but I think it's more fun & exciting to get something new. And so you shall! I do so much programming on this machine of mine that there are minor updates practically every week, so you will definitely get an updated version. One day I realized that if I'm always updating my software some people will want to wait for that day when it's "done." So I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be nice if software publishers gave out free updates so you wouldn't have to wonder when the best time was to register?" So I decided to do just that... A. Verion 1 Updates Are Free When you register you will receive the latest version of WJS plus the next two updates will be sent to you free of charge (this does not apply to complimentary registrations). Following the free updates you will receive notices of major updates in the mail. You can download updated versions from a computer bulletin board system (BBS) or get a copy from a friend or shareware vendor and over-write the old files with the new ones. The new version will recognize your registration "stamp" in your CONFIG.WDT file (which is NOT distributed with the Unregistered -3- What Job Summary? _________________ Edition). If you can't find WJS on a bulletin board in your area, tell a sysop you want it and give her/him my address and BBS contact numbers; maybe s/he can get it for you (I've heard of FREQing files; don't know what it is, though, so ask the sysop). If, for some reason, I must provide a new registration file or if you want to get an update through the mail, I will provide updates on disk for $5.00 plus the usual shipping costs (see the Invoice below for shipping costs). Prices are subject to change, but basically I want to cover all my costs with a small buffer. You may also send me a disk with return postage & a return label; I'll re-use the envelope and mail the update to you without charge. How often is WJS updated? At this stage I am releasing a new version about every three months with a major update happening every six to eight months. Most of the updating I've been doing lately is refining the documentation and fixing bugs with what's already there. If you find a bug, please let me know about it (be as thorough and specific as you can, please) and I will fix it and send you an update. B. The Other Benefits of Registration 1. You may order the complete manual, printed & 3-ring- bound or on-disk/ready to print for your laser printer. 2. The 7-second pause at start-up will go away. 3. Technical Support: My 9-month-old son handles all the tech support calls ;), but for everything else you will have a real person (no automated phone systems) who is 100% knowledgeable about WJS whom you can contact with questions, suggestions, comments, problems, etc. 4. You'll have helped one of the little guys -- someone who isn't a huge corporation (for which you have my sincere gratitude) C. How To Order U.S. customers please send cash, check, or money order. Canadian customers please send cash or Canadian International Money Order (CIMO). Customers in other countries please send U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. If you send cash use a "security" no-see-through envelope and you may want to send it via Registered mail, too. -4- What Job Summary? _________________ D. Pricing Registration with Disk -- A single copy costs $65. You will receive the latest Registered Edition of What Job Summary? _________________ with automated installation, the latest version of this documentation on disk, and notification of updates. See below for printed & video manuals. Multiple Copies / Wholesale -- If you would like to resell What ____ Job Summary? or have multiple locations at which you would _____________ like to install WJS, you may receive a discount as follows: - 2-4 disk copies on the same order 40% - 5 or more disks on the same order 50% Site License -- purchase one copy of WJS and add a Site License to use it on as many computers as necessary at a single location of a single business. Add the amount below to your registration fee: Up to 4 computers $30.00 per site Up to 10 computers $70.00 per site Up to 20 computers $125.00 per site Any number of computers $400.00 per site Manuals -- these are typeset with Ventura Publisher, printed on my laser printer, and placed in a binder. Your copy is the up-to-the-minute latest version. Each screen is shown and explained, basic data base terminology is presented, and an index is included to locate topics quickly. Although I want people to have and use these manuals, I am concerned about our planet hurting from deforestation, so I would like to encourage people to only order manuals if necessary. Experienced users will probably prefer the concise docs provided free on disk. Purchasing multiple copies or a Site License gives you the right to photocopy the manual yourself, if you prefer, for the number of copies purchased or number of computers licensed. One copy $8.00 Multiple copies on same order $6.00 each Video Manual -- I am creating a video manual for WJS so you can learn by watching someone else do it. The video manual will be available around June 1, 1993. I can provide tapes in HiFi VHS, 8mm, or Beta formats. I'm going to start by dubbing all the tapes myself and see how it goes; the prices below are good until January 1, 1994. After this date please contact me before ordering a video manual. -5- What Job Summary? _________________ All formats have a standard audio track so they can be played on any videotape machine, HiFi or not. VHS HiFi, Beta HiFi, or 8mm PCM+HiFi $10.00 Complimentary Registered Editions - I would like to give you a complimentary registration if you will give me a bit of marketing assistance: 1. Write a review of my software and post it on a bulletin board, send me a copy of it showing the BBS's header and the name and phone number of the BBS. Just give me your honest praise and criticism in a decent review. Your review will be most helpful to me if it mentions your best & worst-liked features and any ideas you have for improvement. This will help me decide the future of WVH ___ and for that help I will send you a complimentary registered disk. 2. Upload a package to at least five public ("open") BBSs, fill in the Complimentary Registration form below, and I'll send you a complimentary registered disk. It's nice if you upload to time-share systems, private ("closed") BBSs, or part-time BBS, but please do not use these to apply for a complimentary registered edition. 3. If you are a consultant or other type of computer professional and your recommendation leads to one or more of your clients purchasing one of my packages, just send me a note with your client's registration or have them mention your name when they register. I will send a complimentary registered edition or an update for every registration you get for me. This is in lieu of a multiple copy discount; I intend it for consultants who choose not to deal with sales tax. One complimentary registration per person or company. A complimentary registration is just like a paid one - you can upgrade it with a site license, purchase manuals, etc. It helps when you send back disks to be re-used - even the envelopes can be re-used. When you order a complimentary registration please fill in the appropriate blanks below PLUS the Invoice so I know what size disk you need, and please send me a couple of dollar bills for shipping expenses. I will promise these complimentary offers until at least 12/31/93 - after that date please check with me first. -6- What Job Summary? _________________ COMPLIMENTARY REGISTRATION APPLICATION Date_______________ Please also fill in the Invoice on the following page (put $0 for the disk). Include $2.00 for shipping within the U.S. or the amount indicated for addresses outside the U.S. Remember to order printed manual(s) if you so desire. (__) Reviewed on (BBS name & number)____________________________ Include a copy of the review showing BBS header, please. (__) I uploaded (archive name, like WJS12b.ARJ)_________________ to these five 24-hour public ("open") BBSs: BBS Name Phone Number/Modem Type Sysop Name ________ _______________________ __________ 1_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 2_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 3_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 4_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 5_______________________ ________________________ _______________ These offers subject to withdrawal or change at any time without notice. All prices are subject to change without notice. Vendors and bulletin board sysops please see VENDOR.DOC, and sysops please also read SYSOP.DOC for special offers. Angel Babudro "Organic Computer Wizardry" 28 Mulberry Street Clinton, NY USA 13323-1506 (315) 853-6942 Mon-Fri 9-5 Eastern Time (home phone; remember we're 3 hours later than Pacific coast) Please register the software you keep. -7- What Job Summary? _________________ INVOICE & REGISTRATION FORM Your Name________________________________________________________ Company__________________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ City_______________________ State/Prov_______ Zip code___________ Registration Registration & disk: $65 x qty _____ $_______ Multiple/ 2-4 disks -- deduct 40% Wholesale 5 or more -- deduct 50% (_______) Site License Up to 4 CPUs add $30; Up to 10 add $70 (add to above) Up to 20 add $125; Unlimited add $400 _______ Printed Manuals One copy $8; 2 or more $6 each Qty _____ x $______ each = _______ Video Manuals __VHS __8mm __Beta $10 ea avail 6/1/93 _______ Shipping & Canada, AK, HI, VI, PR add $3 extra _______ Expenses Other countries add $9 per copy _______ ** T O T A L ** $_______ Disk size & quantity [__] 3½" [__] 5¼" Drive density [__] Low (DD) required [__] High (HD) okay FDFORMAT/FDREAD [__] FDFORMAT extended densities okay Printer make(s) & model(s)______________________________________ Which version are you using now?________________________________ Where did you get it (BBS name)?________________________________ WJS has been delivered to and accepted by customer. Upon receipt of this paid invoice you will be sent the latest Registered Edition disk and any options chosen above. Send cash, cheque, money order in U.S. funds; Canadians send Cdn$ or CIMO. NYS residents add local sales tax. Mail this page with payment to Angel Babudro, 28 Mulberry Street, Clinton, NY USA 13323-1506. Allow 1-4 weeks for the latest version to land on your doorstep. Thank you! -8- What Job Summary? _________________ VII. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Any PC-compatible computer with at least 300k of free RAM should work fine, however a 286 or better and a hard disk are preferred since WJS is a data base application which inherently involves a lot of disk access. WJS has been tested on MS-DOS 3.3 and 5.0. It should work properly under PC-DOS or MS-DOS version 3.1 or later although I recommend only 3.3 and 5.0 be used -- it's worth the money to upgrade. WJS's operating speed is quite acceptable on an 8MHz 80286 computer. You will need about 240k of disk space for WJS and its necessary files plus disk space for the information you will enter. Any dot matrix printer should work fine. If yours isn't on the list, try one of those that are - most use similar codes, the biggest variant being font codes. If your printer won't work with what is there, please tell me and your registered edition (or update) will include your printer. WJS can accommodate 26,000 jobs per year and each job can have up to ten lines. WJS uses about 21k per line of data, so you will need 21k to 210k of storage per 100 jobs entered depending on the number of lines used. Data base applications, such as this one, tend to access the disk frequently so it is much better to use a hard disk, but WJS can run on a floppy. A 360k floppy disk will have room for about 300 lines of data. VIII. FILES WHICH MAKE UP THE PACKAGE What Job Summary? consists of the following files: _________________ WJS.EXE The executable file WJS.HLP The help file WJSDOCS.EXE Documentation (self-extracting archive), contains: WJS.TXT The ASCII file of this document [*] WJS.WP WordPerfect 5 file of this document to format for your printer [*] READ.ME A file containing late-breaking news [*] ORDER.FRM Order form for all of my software -- please "TYPE ORDER.FRM > PRN" to print it PRINTER.DAT Printer codes SYSOP.DOC Special deals for sysops and co-sysops [*] VENDOR.DOC Distribution information for vendors and sysops [*] -9- What Job Summary? _________________ These are the files which make up WJS. If you distribute evaluation copies to friends and bulletin boards please be sure to include all of these files. Additional files will be created in the same directory as you use the software. The files marked with [*] can be deleted if disk space is a premium, but I ask that you please keep ORDER.FRM on disk until you decide whether or not to register. Registered users -- please keep the file CONFIG.WJS only for yourself as it contains your registration stamp. Share only those files listed above. IX. RUNNING What Job Summary? FOR THE FIRST TIME If you received your copy of WJS on disk it has an installation programme on it. Using INSTALL is faster than setting up manually, and it won't change your AutoExec or CONFIG, so I'd suggest: 1. Put the floppy in a drive 2. Type "d:INSTALL" where "d:" is your drive (e.g., "A:") When INSTALL is finished it will offer to unpack included archives. WJSDOCS.EXE contains the documentation files (see below). If you have received WJS from a bulletin board it should have been extracted into its own directory. Then just type WJS to run and type WJSDOCS to extract documentation files. A. Documentation Files WJSDOCS.EXE is a self-extracting LHARC archive (LHARC is (c) 1991 by Haruyasu Yoshizaki). I am using LHARC to help WJS fit on a 360k floppy without sacrificing documentation. WJSDOCS contains two files: WJS.TXT and WJS.WP. To extract the documentation just type "WJSDOCS". If you have WordPerfect 5, just load WJS.WP. Instructions for re-formatting are in a comment at the top of the document. If you don't have WordPerfect or a way to convert the WJS.WP file to your word processor, then use WJS.TXT which is an ASCII file generated from WordPerfect for a "standard printer." Your printer should be set to CR/CR (carriage return does NOT produce -10- What Job Summary? _________________ a line feed), which is the most common setting. If you see double printing of titles change this setting. After INSTALL is finished you can type "WJS" to start What ____ Job Summary?. The "WJS" command runs a batch file which merely ____________ changes to the proper drive & directory then runs WJS. You can delete this file if you are using a menu or would rather type the commands yourself. B. Using the Menus I have used what I understand to be an SAA-compliant (Standard Applications Architecture, an IBM slogan) menu system. Most folks know it better as the Macintosh or Windows menu standard. Basically, there is a horizontal menu of choices -- File, Data Entry, etc. Under each of the horizontal choices is a menu of functions pertaining to that item -- it is a two- dimensional menu, in other words. There are two ways to select an item from the main menu: 1. Press the letter which is highlighted in the option description 2. Use the Up/Down/Right/Left arrows to highlight the option you want then press ENTER (a.k.a. RETURN or CR). Some menus do not have highlighted options. On these menus you must use the arrow keys to highlight your choice then press ENTER. If you want to cancel an operation you selected, just press the Esc ("Escape") key. C. Quick Start That's easy -- type "WJS" and press ENTER; press "P" (Preferences) and go down the list of choices, setting each screen as you see fit. There is a brief, on-line manual under Help/Index for quick reference. X. FILE MANAGEMENT AND EXIT The choices under the File menu have to do with your system set-up, file management, and ending the programme. -11- What Job Summary? _________________ A. Year-end Close-out The purpose of this function is to remove jobs history from the files, thus freeing up disk space. When you select this option you a window will open with three fields to fill in: 1. Cut-off year (assumes current year minus 2) - All data during or before this year will be erased from the file. 2. Keep pending jobs on file - If you answer "Y" (Yes) then jobs with a "P" (pending) status will be kept on file, regardless of their bid date. 3. Report to printer - If you answer "Y" (Yes) then all jobs which are removed from the file will be printed. An audit trail, if you will. B. Rebuild Indices This function is provided in the event you ever have a power outage or for some other reason the index files become damaged. If you notice anything strange -- like dates are in the wrong order, records are mysteriously missing, etc. -- just rebuild the indices and they'll probably go away. C. Making Back-up Copies of Your Files File/Back-up protects your information by allowing you to copy it to another disk. Using Preferences/Back-up you should have decided how you wanted to perform a back-up -- using the DOS COPY command, ARJ, LHARC, or PKZIP (the default is DOS COPY). After you select File/Back-up you will see a summary window and the system will pause for you to enter the back-up destination (which is typically a floppy disk drive, but you may decide to back-up to another hard disk, a network drive, etc.). All WJS data files will then be backed-up to the destination disk and directory using the method shown in the window. Please see also the section on choosing a back-up method under Preferences. D. Restoring Files from a Back-up Copy If you ever need to recover data files from a floppy disk you made using the Back-up command (above), just place the floppy disk in its drive, if applicable, and select File/Restore. The -12- What Job Summary? _________________ method used to restore the files will be the one specified on the Preferences/Back-up window. The system will pause for you to enter the source drive -- the one you used when backing-up, which is typically a floppy disk drive, but may be another hard disk, a network drive, etc. All WJS data files will then be restored from the back-up copy to the WJS directory. Please see also the section of choosing a back-up method under Preferences. E. Formatting Floppy Disks This option is for those times when you have decided to make a back-up copy of your data but don't have a formatted disk handy or want to re-format a disk to check for any bad spots. File/Format Floppies lets you format a floppy disk to your computer's standard density without exiting WJS. By "standard density" I mean that if you have a high density drive you can only format high density disks (in other words, WJS doesn't pass any parameters to DOS FORMAT). There is an exception to this: If you have What Floppy Format? (WFF.EXE) available somewhere in your DOS search path, WJS will automatically access it for formatting floppy disks so you can format any kind of disk using FDFORMAT. (You will receive a complimentary copy of the latest version of WFF with your WJS registration. FDFORMAT is a Freeware product by another author and can be found on my support BBSs.) XI. DATA ENTRY ("JOBS") The Jobs menu of What Job Summary? lets you enter the data _________________ pertaining to your jobs. There are two data entry screens: 1. General job information (number, name, bid amount, estimated cost, and bid due date) 2. Cost figures (bid amount, original estimated cost, cost to date, billed to date, revised estimated cost) NOTE: You must first create a job on the General screen before you may access it on the Cost Figures screen. New jobs can only be added on the General screen. -13- What Job Summary? _________________ Notice the available function keys at the bottom of the screen: F1 always saves and ends the current operation (e.g., if you are entering a line of information for a job, pressing F1 will save the line and end data entry for that job). F2 always cancels the current operation without saving (old values are restored) (e.g., if you are entering changes to a line and press F2 the old data for the line will be restored and data entry for that job will be ended). A. Entering New Jobs While on the General screen press the Ins (insert) key. The cursor will "jump" to the bottom of the window and wait for you to start entering information. WJS will attempt to guess the next job number based on the default job letter (defined on the Preferences/Fiscal Year screen), the current fiscal year (defined on the Preferences/Fiscal Year screen), and the last job number on file for that letter & fiscal year. Press ENTER after each item you enter. Use the up and down arrow keys to move between the fields and the right/left arrows to move around within a field. B. Editing Existing Jobs To change information on either the General Info or Costs screen just highlight the line you want to change and press ENTER. You can then change anything on that line except for the job number (Job numbers are key items in the files and can't be changed). If you must change a job number you will have to delete and re-enter the information. C. Job Codes Each job must have a unique identification code. Each job code may have one to ten lines of information. Each line may have it's own status, dollar amount, and bid due date. This allows you to group separate elements of a similar job together under one job code. For example, let's say you are bidding on a job that will take several years to complete and has been split into four phases; you are bidding separately on each phase. When you enter the job you can put a "Phase I" line, a "Phase II", line, etc. and enter the dollar amounts, status, and bid date for each phase. If you get two of the bids just mark those two phases as "Y" (yes) and the other two as "N" (no). -14- What Job Summary? _________________ 1. The Job Code Format Job codes are entered in the format "Ayy###" where "A" is a letter used to segregate jobs (perhaps different departments in your organization, different companies owned by a larger corporation, or for different types of jobs), "yy" is a two-digit year, and "###" is a job number from 000 to 999. Using this format of job numbering gives WJS a simple but effective and flexible means to separate jobs. If you have no need to separate your jobs just make them all one letter such as "A" or the first letter of your name. When you add new jobs WJS will automatically supply the next available job code based on the default job letter & fiscal year entered on the Preferences/Fiscal Year screen. You can type over this with a new job code as necessary. 2. How Many Jobs Can I Track? The filing system used by WJS can store 5.5 million records per file. Since each line is a record this gives WJS a theoretical limit of 5.5 million lines of job information, although even the fastest 486 would have trouble with a file that large. (See System Requirements, above, for disk storage requirements.) Practically speaking, then, WJS is unlimited except by your hard disk and computer speed. The rule of "Ayy###" works well, but if you have more than 26,000 jobs per year or if you need to have more than 1,000 jobs under a letter then you can make up your own numbering scheme. A good alternative would be to use a single digit year (Ay#### - for example, J21001 for department J, year 1992, job #1001) which would give you 260,000 jobs per year for ten years. Whatever numbering scheme you use, remember that each job must have a unique code. D. Dollar Amounts Enter currency figures without any symbols, such as commas. The only non-numeric character allowed is a period/decimal point. -15- What Job Summary? _________________ E. Bid Date Enter the bid date in the form "mmddyyyy" (month/day/year). For example, "01011992" is Jan. 1, 1992. The slashes are entered for you. Be sure to fill in all numbers, even zeros -- "1192" won't work for 1/1/92 -- enter "010192" instead. XII. REPORTS Rather than describing each report here, it makes more sense for you to print a sample of each. Just highlight the one you want, follow the instructions on the screen. The Status Report has a sub-menu from which you must choose one or more report options. The Work On-hand/Completed report has a sub-menu for which one item must be chosen. One note: I have chosen to use the extended graphics characters (ASCII 127-254) rather than use the rather crude vertical bars (|), plus signs, etc. for the reports. Most printers made after 1982 are able to print these characters and it allows WJS to print nicer looking reports. If you experience problems (e.g., you see a line of italic Ms or Ds where a horizontal line should be) look in your printer's manual for a Character Set 1 or 2 setting, which may be a DIP switch or a front panel menu setting, and change it. If you have trouble you can call me and I'll try to help. XIII. PREFERENCES The Preferences menu contains options which help you customize the operation of WJS and set necessary parameters, such as the type of printer you have. Please check each Preferences screen before making full use of WJS, otherwise something might seem wrong with the software whereas it is due to the set of conditions under which WJS is operating. A. Choosing a Back-up Method Under the File menu is an option which allows you to back- up & restore your data to/from other disks for safety. These operations will use the DOS COPY command unless you use this option to change it. You will see a menu of four choices of methods to use when backing-up and restoring: DOS COPY (the default), ARJ, LHARC, or -16- What Job Summary? _________________ PKZIP. In order to use ARJ, LHARC, or PKZIP compression software you must have the compression programme available in your DOS PATH. In addition, you will also need enough free memory (RAM) to run both WJS and the compression software. B. Country setting WJS does not yet make use of this setting, but I have put it in the menus for near-future use. C. Fiscal Year To give you a report of your job activity for your company's fiscal year, WJS needs to know the beginning month of your fiscal year. Select Preferences/Fiscal Year and enter the beginning month number (1 for January, 2 for February, etc.). Highlight the "Ok" button and press ENTER or just press F1 (function keys are shown at the bottom of the screen). WJS assumes you have a wide-carriage (15-inch) printer for the Work On-hand/In progress reports since it is a 200+ column report. If you have a 10-inch (narrow carriage) printer you won't be able to print the Work reports. On a laser printer you can manually set the printer for landscape mode and a small font like Line Printer. D. Defining your Printers Before you can print anything you will have to tell WJS which printer you will use. WJS can print reports on PCL lasers or dot matrix printers, although the Work On-hand/Completed reports are so wide that they require 15-inch paper or a very, very tiny font. Until you define your printer(s) and font(s) there will be a flashing message at the bottom of the screen and you will not be able to print anything. The Printer definition window shows the current settings. Use the arrow keys to move around, and press the F3 key to change anything. For example, to set your printer move the cursor down to that line then press F3 and a menu of choices will appear. Highlight your printer (or one compatible with it) and press ENTERr. Then move down to the font definition and press F3 again. Highlight your font selection and press ENTERr. When you are finished, highlight the "Ok" button and press ENTER. Alternately, you can press F7 to save the screen and exit. -17- What Job Summary? _________________ 1. Default Directory for Laser Printer Soft Fonts ______________________________________________ If you define a laser printer you can set a default soft font directory by highlighting this field and pressing F3. Enter the directory name on your hard disk (e.g., "D:\VENTURA\") which contains your soft fonts. WJS will check to see if the directory name you entered is valid and if it exists, and will inform you if not. Then, when you set fonts for printing, you can choose the "Soft font" option and select from your fonts on disk. XIV. HELP The Help menu has two options: About and Index. "About" gives some information about the programme and free memory. Index gives a menu from which you may choose a topic and press ENTER, whereupon a helpful window of information will appear. :) It's a handy (albeit brief) on-line manual. -18-