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PERSONAL ASSET REGISTER Developed by Micro System Solutions Version 1.0 Demo Table of Contents INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 PAR CAPABILITIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Recording Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Automatic Accumulation of Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Output Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 USES FOR PAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PAR OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Start-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Function Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Screen Maneuvering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Cursor Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Item Paging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PAR SUBJECTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 INSURANCE POLICIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ART, JEWELRY & COLLECTIBLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 HOUSEHOLD INVENTORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CREDIT CARD INVENTORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SAFE DEPOSIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SAFE DEPOSIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 BOOK INVENTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 COMPUTER INVENTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 SOFTWARE INVENTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 PRINT OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 SYSTEM DEFAULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Delete a Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Rename a Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Add a new Subject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 System Definition Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Characteristic Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Record Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Screen Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Report Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Modifying Subjects and Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Rearranging Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Deleting Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Inserting Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 CHOICE MENUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 HELP WINDOWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 TECHNICAL SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 INTRODUCTION If your home were to burn down tomorrow, would you have enough information documented and available on your belongings to prove their worth and to satisfy your insurance company? If your home was burglarized and your television and stereo were stolen, would you have enough information, such as make/model and serial number, to identify them to the police or to your insurance company? In most cases, the police will not return your belongings to you unless you can show proof of ownership - serial number, etc. It is not enough to claim ownership with just a make and model. Unfortunately, when faced with such tragic circumstances, most of us would not have the necessary information available and would only suffer more due to the difficulty in recouping our losses. What kind of shape is your estate documentation in? If you were to die unexpectedly, would your family or your lawyer know what your assets and liabilities were? Are your investments documented in a central and safe place - stocks, bonds, mutual funds, brokers, account numbers, etc.? Are your life insurance companies identified, policy numbers, face values, etc? Having this type of information readily available in a safe place would save your loved ones additional grief. Even if you are alive and well, having your financial assets documented only adds to your ability to manage them and assess your personal worth at any time. If your wallet or purse were stolen would you know which credit cards were in it and who to call? Do you have a large collection of books or VCR tapes that you would like to keep track of for insurance purposes or some other reason? Perhaps you have a business and own one or more computer systems and have numerous software packages. You can inventory these assets and can use the information for tax or insurance purposes or to determine the net worth of the business. All these things add up to valuable assets that should be documented and updated regularly. The Personal Asset Register (PAR) is intended to provide you an easy means to keep a written and automated record of your personal (or business) and financial assets. PAR CAPABILITIES Recording Assets The Personal Asset Register provides a series of screens that allow you to enter and print reports about important information regarding your personal assets. The PAR system comes complete with input screens for each of the following subjects: o Insurance Policies o Art, Jewelry, & Collectibles o Household Inventory o Credit Card Inventory o Safe Deposit Boxes o Safe Deposit Box Inventory o Book Inventory o Computer Inventory o Software Inventory o Investment Portfolio o Video Cassette Recordings Each subject has a set of applicable characteristics (fields) that you can use to document your belongings. You may add, delete, or modify subjects or characteristics to meet your unique needs. The demo version allows up to 12 subjects with a maximum of 8 records each. The registered version allows up to 16 subjects with an unlimited number of records. (Up to memory capacity) Automatic Accumulation of Values Each subject contains some sort of value such as: Cost or Replacement Value of Household Items; Face Value and Premiums for Insurance; Credit Limit for Credit Cards; etc. As you make entries or changes, PAR can update and present a running total for the items in that subject. This updated information can appear on the current input screen and as summary totals on printed reports. PAR will allow you to customize your subjects/characteristics to sum or tabulate, using a formula, on fields you identify. Output Reports PAR provides options for two types of printed reports - with or without data. You can print blank forms on which you enter the items you wish to inventory. These forms would be especially useful as you move through your home taking inventory. The other report prints out items that you have entered into PAR. This report is done by subject and the items will print in alphabetical order based on the ordering of the characteristics (fields) for the subject (i.e., for Household Inventory the report would be ordered by item within location). PAR allows you to rearrange the order of the characteristics on the screen and thereby affect the sort order. The print capability is not included in the demo version of PAR. USES FOR PAR With PAR you will be able to update your inventory information very easily. As you add new items PAR automatically maintains the total values associated with the subjects. You may want to store your inventory information on your floppy disk in a safe or in a safe deposit box so that it is protected from fire or destruction. Needless to say, if your computer goes up in a puff of smoke, so will your inventory unless you store it elsewhere. You can produce printed reports of inventory information and give them to your insurance agent, or you could print information about your financial assets and give it to your lawyer or your accountant. PAR could assist you in determining your net worth by providing the asset side of the picture. Using PAR to assess the replacement value of your belongings will allow you to determine whether or not you have sufficient insurance coverage. In addition to all the insurance information, you can record information about your credit cards, such as account numbers and telephone numbers to call in case of theft or loss. You can even record the credit limit which will allow you to determine the total amount of credit you have at a glance. If you are so inclined you can inventory your collection of books or VCR tapes. If you are like us, we have a large collection of professional and technical books which are tax deductions for our business, as well as a large financial investment. We need to have an inventory for tax and insurance purposes. Or, perhaps you have a valuable collection of old books that should be inventoried for insurance and estate purposes. If you want to keep track of what movies you have taped and where they are on the tape, you can do that with PAR. PAR gives you the flexibility to document as many of your personal (or business) assets as necessary. The registered version of PAR gives you the capability to document or inventory virtually anything about anything. If you don't like the subjects or characteristics provided by PAR, you can set up your own. You are limited, however, to 16 subjects with up to 18 characteristics (fields) each for a maximum of 254 characters per item (record or single occurrence of a subject). The total number of items (all subjects included) is limited by the memory size of your machine. PAR is designed to access all data in memory. Enough about the virtues of PAR. By now you have lots of ideas on what to do with it. Let's get on with how to use it. PAR OPERATION PAR is fairly straightforward and easy to use. Most of the subjects and characteristics are self-explanatory, but we will still document them here. A general note about moving through the system - <ESC> will cancel an operation if you are in the midst of entering data, or it will signal the system that you have completed entry or work on a particular subject and will return you to the Main Menu. Start-Up To begin PAR, simply type in PAR and hit <ENTER>. The PAR system will look for a data file in the default directory and disk. If the file (PARTABLE.FIL) is found the data will be loaded into memory. If the file is not present, one will be created. (CAUTION. If you are expecting data and PAR creates a new file, exit immediately and verify that you are on the right disk and in the right directory). When the PAR logo screen comes up hit <ENTER> again, and the main menu will be appear. Using the <up arrow> and <down arrow> keys, place the menu highlight on the subject you want and hit <ENTER>. When you are finished with the selected subject, hit the <Esc> key to return you to the main menu. Function Keys On the bottom line of your screen, you will notice a series of function keys listed. The keys are used as follows: F1 - Help - Can be called from anywhere in the system to provide information on the current operation. Note that in the registered version of PAR, this is only applicable for those subjects provided by PAR, not customized items. F2 - Add - This puts you in the mode of entering new items into the given subject inventory. You will be prompted to enter at the first characteristic (field). To end an add session, you will hit <ESC> after completing the last add entry (i.e., after hitting <ENTER> on the last characteristic). This will return you to the first item in the subject. If you wish to return to the Main Menu, hit <Esc> or F10. F4 - Modify - This will allow you to modify one or more characteristics of the item currently on your screen. Hitting <ENTER> will accomplish the same thing. Each characteristic will be highlighted in succession to allow you to make the changes. When you are done making modifications to an item, you hit <ENTER>. To complete the modify session, hit <ESC> or F10 to return to the Main Menu. F6 - Delete - This deletes the item that is currently showing on the screen. Affected accumulated totals will change to reflect the deletion. After completing deletions you can return to the Main Menu by hitting <ESC> or F10. F8 - Print - This will present you with a choice menu with options for your printed report(s). These options are discussed later in the Print Options section (see page 18). The demo version of PAR does not support the print capability. F10 - Exit - This will return you to the Main Menu when you have completed an operation. Screen Maneuvering Following are a list of keyboard actions which will help you to move the cursor on the screen as well as move through the items (records) for a given subject. Cursor Movement Shift TAB - when entering or modifying an item, this will allow you to move the cursor back to a previous characteristic (field). <ENTER> - should be used to move the cursor from one characteristic to another when entering new data. Do not use up and down arrows because in some subjects there are choice menus which offer options for characteristic values. If you use an arrow, it will not proceed past these menus. Item Paging Pg Up or Home - will take you to the first item (record) for a given subject. Pg Dn or End - will take you to the last item (record) for a given subject. Up or Down Arrow - will take you to the previous or next record, respectively. NOTE: When paging through records you will find them in alphabetical order within characteristic, i.e., the ordering of the characteristics is also the sort order. PAR SUBJECTS Following are discussions of each of the subjects provided by PAR. For each subject, it gives the name of the characteristic, it's allowable length in characters, and a short description of the characteristic. Any of these subjects and/or their characteristics can be modified by the user. Figure 1 shows the subjects as they appear in the Main Menu. ___________________________________ | | | Insurance Policies | | Art, Jewelry & Collectibles | | Household Inventory | | Credit Card Inventory | | Safe Deposit Box Inventory | | Safe Deposit Boxes | | Video Cassette Recordings | | Book Inventory | | Computer Inventory | | Software Inventory | | Investment Portfolio | | System Defaults | | Exit to DOS | |_________________________________| Figure 1 - PAR Main Menu INSURANCE POLICIES Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Company 30 Identifies the company that holds the insurance policy. Policy Number 20 The official number given to a life insurance policy. Coverage 10 The dollar amount of coverage resulting from the subject policy. Enter digits only, PAR edits decimal point. Premium 6 The amount of premium paid for the insurance policy. Again enter digits only. Date Expires 6 The month, day, and year in which the insurance policy expires, if applicable. Enter digits only, PAR will provide slashes for mm/dd/yy format. Comment 30 Any additional information you wish to add. Total Coverage * Accumulation of all coverage amounts entered for insurance policies. Total Premium * Accumulation of all premiums entered for insurance policies. To ensure a more meaningful total, you should enter all premiums for the same time period, e.g., annual. Coverage by Company * Accumulation of all coverage amounts entered for the given company. Premium by Company * Accumulation of all premiums paid to the given company. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database. ART, JEWELRY & COLLECTIBLES Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Item 20 The piece of art, jewelry, or collectible that you are going to document. Description 40 Describes the item in sufficient detail to identify it from other items. Location 15 Where the item is located. Acquired 6 The month, day, and year the item was obtained or purchased. Enter digits only, PAR will provide the slashes for mm/dd/yy format. Acquired From 20 Where or from whom the item was obtained or purchased. Cost 10 The amount paid for the item. Enter digits only. PAR will provide appropriate punctuation for dollar amount. Value 10 The cost to replace the item. Enter digits only. Total Cost * The accumulation of all item costs entered entered in the inventory. Total Value * The accumulation of all art, jewelry, and collectible item values entered in the inventory. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database. HOUSEHOLD INVENTORY Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Location 15 Identifies where the item is stored or located. Item 20 Piece of furniture, clothing, appliance, housewares, etc. that is being documented. Serial Number 20 For items such as TV's, stereos, etc. which have manufacturer's serial number. Description 40 Describes the item in sufficient detail to identify it from other items. Acquired 6 The month, day, and year the item was obtained or purchased. Enter digits only. Acquired From 20 Where or from whom the item was purchased or obtained. Cost 10 The dollar amount paid for the item. Enter digits only, PAR will provide appropriate punctuation for dollar amount. Value 10 The cost to replace the item. Total Cost * The accumulation of all household item costs entered in the inventory. Total Value * The accumulation of all household item values entered in the inventory. Cost by Room * The accumulation of all item costs entered for the given room. Value by Room * The accumulation of all item values entered for the given room. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database. CREDIT CARD INVENTORY Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Card Number 20 The Account Number on the credit card. Company/Bank 25 The name of the institution that issued the credit card. Expires 4 The month and year that the credit card expires. Enter digits only. Telephone Number 10 The telephone number to call if card is lost or stolen. Enter digits only. Credit Limit 6 The credit limit established for the card. Total Credit * The accumulation of all credit limits for credit cards entered. * The size of this field is system controlled, and it is not stored in the database. SAFE DEPOSIT INVENTORY Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Name of Bank 20 The bank or institution where the safe deposit box is located. Number of Box 10 The number of the safe deposit box. Date Deposited 6 The month, day, and year the item was placed in the safe deposit box. Item 40 What the item is that is stored in the safe deposit box. Number 10 Indicates how many items of a particular type are stored in the safe deposit box. Date Removed 6 The month, day, and year the item was removed from the safe deposit box. Enter digits only. Comment 40 Any pertinent comments about the safe deposit box or its contents. SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Name of Bank 20 The bank or institution where a given safe deposit box is located. Branch 20 The specific bank branch where a given safe deposit box is located. Address 20 The street address of the bank/branch named above. Telephone Number 10 The telephone number of the bank or branch named above. Number of Box 10 The number associated with the safe deposit box. Location of Keys 20 Where the keys to the safe deposit box can be found. In Name Of 20 The individual to whom the safe deposit box is registered. Who Else Has Access 20 Other individuals who have access to the safe deposit box. VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDINGS Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Recording Title 40 Name of the recorded program. Description 40 Description of the recorded program. Rating 4 Specifies the rating given to a movie, e.g., PG=Parental Guidance, R=Restricted, etc. Date Recorded 6 The month, day, and year the program was recorded. Enter digits only. Tape Position 4 The position on the tape where the recorded program begins. Movie Length 4 The length of the recorded program in minutes or the total number of tape positions advanced during recording (your choice). BOOK INVENTORY Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Book Title 40 Name of the book being documented. Author 20 Name of the individual(s) who wrote the book. Subject 30 What the book is about. Cost 6 The dollar amount paid for the book. Value 6 The cost to replace the book. Total Cost * The accumulation of all book costs entered in the inventory. Total Value * The accumulation of all book values entered in the inventory. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database. COMPUTER INVENTORY Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description System 40 The make and type of computer (CPU) (e.g., IBM PS/2). Component 40 A peripheral device or part of system, listed above, that carries its own serial number and model number (e.g. Panasonic Printer). Serial Number 20 The manufacturer's serial number, usually placed on the back or underside of the device. Model 10 The specific model number associated with the component or system. (e.g., model 70). Cost 6 The dollar amount paid for the system or component. Enter digits only. Value 6 The cost to replace the system or component. Enter digits only. Total Cost * The accumulation of all computer equipment costs entered in the inventory. Total Value * The accumulation of all computer equipment values entered in the inventory. Cost by System * The accumulation of all component costs associated with a given system. Value by System * The accumulation of all component values associated with a given system. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database. SOFTWARE INVENTORY Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Name 40 Name of the software package or program. Company 20 Name of the company that produced the software. Category 30 The type or functionality of the software, e.g., wordprocessing or utility. Cost 6 The dollar amount paid for the software. Enter digits only. Value 6 The cost to replace the software. Total Cost * The accumulation of all software costs entered in the inventory. Total Value * The accumulation of all software values entered in the inventory. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO Characteristic Allowable Title Length Description Fund/Stock Name 20 The name of the particular fund or stock in which the money is invested. Could be used for the 6-position NYSE abbreviation. Account Number 15 The account number for the investment. Company 20 The name of the company in which the investment has been made or the company that acts as broker. Investment Type 1 A choice menu offers the following options: mutual fund, stock, bond, money market, certificate of deposit, or other to identify the type of investment. Keogh/IRA 1 A choice menu offers the options of Keogh, IRA, or neither to identify whether or not the investment is a retirement account. Date Invested 6 The month, day, and year the money was initially invested in the account. Telephone Number 10 The telephone number of the company listed above. Investment 10 The amount of money initially invested in the account. Enter digits only. Value 10 The current value of the investment. As Of Date 6 The month, day, and year this value was updated. Total Investment * The accumulation of all investment amounts entered in the portfolio. Total Value * The accumulation of all investment values entered in the portfolio. * The size of these fields is system controlled, and they are not stored in the database.PRINT OPTIONS When you are ready to begin an inventory, you may want to print out some blank forms to fill in so that you may move away from your computer. You may not need to fill in all information when you make your initial cut at the inventory. For instance, you probably don't need to record the cost or value of something up front. You may wish to enter all the items and then print a report of the inventory and research those costs and values at your leisure. You can fill in that information on the report and enter it into the system later. To initiate the Print Option (registered version only), select the subject you want to print from the Main Menu. If you want to print all subjects, you will still do it by selecting each subject in turn. When the system returns the first screen for the subject hit function key F8. You will be offered three (3) options - Print, Blank Form, or Quit. If you want to print data that you have already entered into PAR, select Print and hit <ENTER>. You will receive a message from the system telling you that the records have been sent to the printer, and your records will print. To print the next subject's records, return to the Main Menu and select your next subject. If you want to print blank forms for a subject, select Blank Forms and hit <ENTER>. The system will tell you how many forms will fit on a page and ask you how many forms you wish to print. Type in the number and hit <ENTER>. To print blank forms for another subject, return to the Main Menu and select your next subject. If you do not wish to proceed with printing, select Quit and hit <ENTER>. The positioning of characteristics on the output reports is driven by the System Definition Table for each subject. You can change these positions or eliminate characteristics by manipulating the definitions in the System Definition Table. See page 21 for a discussion of the System Definition Table. The previous section explained the subjects provided to you by PAR. Now we will discuss how you can modify those subjects and their characteristics to meet your own unique needs. You could eliminate all the existing PAR subjects and develop your own complete set if you were so inclined. To modify subjects and characteristics, select the System Default option from the main menu. SYSTEM DEFAULTS The System Defaults option allows you to add, change, or delete subjects and/or characteristics. Figure 2, the system default menu, is a list of the current subjects plus 3 additional options. ___________________________________ | | | Insurance Policies | | Art, Jewelry & Collectibles | | Household Inventory | | Credit Card Inventory | | Safe Deposit Inventory | | Safe Deposit Boxes | | Video Cassette Recordings | | Book Inventory | | Computer Inventory | | Software Inventory | | Investment Portfolio | * | Delete a Subject | * | Rename a Subject | * | Add a new Subject | |_________________________________| Figure 2 - System Defaults Menu We will cover the three additional options (marked *) first. Delete a Subject This option allows you to select one of the current subjects to be deleted. A menu will be presented with a list of the current subjects. Select the one you want to delete using the <up arrow> or <down arrow> key and hit <ENTER>. The selected subject will be removed from all menus and the data (if any) will be removed from memory. This action is not reversible. To add a deleted subject back you must add it as a new subject. Rename a Subject This option allows you to change the name of any of the current subjects. The maximum length of a subject name is 36 characters. The system will prompt you to select the name you wish to change and then prompt you to enter the new name. The new name will replace the old name in all menus and on all reports. Add a new Subject This option allows you to add a new subject to the existing list of subjects. (up to the maximum allowed by your version of the system) The new subject will be added to all the menus. The system will prompt you for the name of the new subject (up to 36 characters) and then will place you in the standard System Definition Table. You will then define each of the characteristics (fields) about the new subject. The System Definition Table is discussed next. NOTE: If you enter one of these option menus and change your mind about continuing, just hit the <Esc> key and you will back up to the previous menu. System Definition Table The System Definition Table, Figure 3, is made up of 4 main parts: the characteristic (field) definition; the record definition; the screen definition; and the print definition. --------Active-----------Your Subject--------------------------------- | | | | record | screen | print | |Sq| Title | type |len|pos | row|col|h/t|line|pos| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1| | | | | | | | | | | 2| | | | | | | | | | | 3| | | | | | | | | | | 4| | | | | | | | | | | 5| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 3 - System Definition Table Characteristic Definition The first column is the field sequence number and is maintained by the system. You will refer to this number during input of certain data types discussed later. Column 2 is the characteristic (or field) name. This name can be any of the normal keyboard characters and must end with a colon (:). The system uses the colon to align the name on the screen. Column 3 is the field type. This column is entered through the use of the system choice menu shown below in Figure 4. _____________________ | none | | formula | | subtotal | | accumulator | | text | | date - mm/dd/yy | | date - mm/yy | | number | | dollar | | phone | | fund | | IRA/Keogh | | frequency | |___________________| Figure 4 - Field Type Choice Menu Use the arrow keys to place the highlight over the correct type of field and hit the <ENTER> key. The structure of each of the data types follows: none No data type is assigned. formula Arithmetic, uses a formula structure similar to Lotus 1-2-3. Fields are identified as Fx, where x is the sequence number. subtotal Arithmetic, accumulates totals for arithmetic or numeric fields based on value changes. accumulator Arithmetic, accumulates totals for arithmetic or numeric fields. (Totals all records). text Allows entry of all keyboard characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and all special characters. Extended characters are not supported. date - mm/dd/yy Allows entry of 6 digits. Slashes are provided. No syntax checking is performed. date - mm/yy Same as date mm/dd/yy except only allow 4 digits. number Numeric, Allows entry of all numeric characters (0-9). dollar Numeric, same as number, except allows entry of 2 decimal places. phone Numeric, formatted 10 character telephone number. fund Choice, may be modified with program PARINST. (Only provided with the Registered Version) IRA/Keogh Choice, may be modified with program PARINST. (Only provided with the Registered Version) frequency Choice, may be modified with program PARINST. (Only provided with the Registered Version) Record Definition Column 4 is the field length. For some of the data types such as dates and telephone numbers, the field length is already known. If the length is not known the system will allow you to enter the proper length. The total of all length fields cannot exceed 254 characters. Column 5 is the system-calculated record position. This is provided for information only. Use this column to determine when you are exceeding the record maximum length. Screen Definition Column 6 is the row or line of the screen on which to display the characteristic and title. Column 7 is the screen column in which to begin displaying the characteristic. The displayable screen begins on the line after the subject title and is 15 lines long. The characteristic name is displayed first, followed by a space, then the actual data. The data is displayed in the proper format based on data type. Report Definition Column 8 tells the system what format the title should take on output. An "H" will cause the characteristic name to be used as a column header. A "T" will display the name as a title (i.e., beside the data in the same way as the display screen). An "E" is used to display accumulator data types at the "End" of the report. A "B" will cause a subtotal data type to print only at a value change in the break field. A blank will cause the characteristic to be skipped in the report. Column 9 is the print line on which to place the data. Most subject items will have more data than will comfortably fit on a single line so this will allow each item within a subject to be printed on multiple lines. Column 10 is the print column in which the data will begin. If column 8 contains a "T" you must allow sufficient space in front of this column for the field name followed by a space. The System Definition Table is the focus when adding new subjects or making modifications to existing subjects and characteristics. Modifying Subjects and Characteristics You can modify existing subjects by moving characteristics around on the physical record, the screen, or the output report. You can add or insert new characteristics or delete existing ones. You can change any of the definitions except record position for an existing characteristic. The following discussions will assist you in doing these operations. To begin any of these operations select the System Defaults option from the Main Menu. Then select the subject you wish to modify. The system will return the System Definition Table for that subject. To move to the right in the System Definition Table use the <Tab> key. Rearranging Characteristics To rearrange the characteristics (fields) for a subject, place the cursor on the field you wish to move and hit <Alt-M>. The system will "grab" the current field and a move window will direct you to place the move arrow on the destination entry and hit the <ENTER> key. When you hit <ENTER>, the field will be inserted into the selected sequence entry, moving any existing field down one entry. NOTE: Moving the field will affect the sort sequence for items in that subject and will affect the physical sequence of fields on the record. It will not, however, affect the position of that characteristic on the screen or the report. You must change those positions in the System Definition Table accordingly. If the subject contains data, the data will also be moved to the selected field position and the records will be resorted. Deleting Characteristics Characteristics may be deleted by placing the cursor on the field entry to be deleted and hitting <Alt-D>. This action cannot be reversed. All affected menus will be changed to reflect the deletion, and the associated data will be deleted from memory. Inserting Characteristics Characteristics may be inserted by placing the cursor on a field entry and hitting <Alt-I>. A new "Blank" field will be inserted prior to the characteristic you placed the cursor on. You may then edit the new field as desired. If there are no accumulator or tabulate characteristics, you may 'add' a characteristic after the last sequence entry. All characteristics that are to be a part of the physical record must be added or inserted prior to any tabulate or accumulate fields. CHOICE MENUS A Choice Menu is one which gives you a choice of a number of values for a field instead of requiring you to key the actual value each time. An example of a number of choice menus is located in the Investment Portfolio subject. A Choice Menu appears as a pop-up window during data entry and allows selection of a value by use of the arrow keys. The data entered by the choice menu method is stored as a single character in the data record and can significantly save storage space. The registered version allows you to delete or change existing Choice Menus and to add new ones. The demo version of PAR does not provide this capability. HELP WINDOWS Hitting the <F1> key from anywhere in the system will cause a help screen to appear. This help screen will reflect the current operation you are performing and will attempt to help you navigate through the system and provide you with limited assistance. It is not designed to replace this documentation. SUMMARY This completes the user documentation for PAR. We hope you enjoy using PAR. If you have a demo version and would like to register to receive the unlimited version of PAR, you will find an order form in ORDER.DOC on the PAR diskette. We are interested in any comments you may have about PAR and any recommendations for enhancements you would like to see in future versions. Turn to the next page for details on technical support. TECHNICAL SUPPORT Technical support is available from: Fred C. Hill Micro System Solutions 5417 S. Cimarron Rd. Littleton, Co. 80123 Voice line (303) 795-7653 8 AM - 4 PM MST Mon-Fri Compuserve CIS 76060,102 The technical support line is only available to those who have the registered version of PAR. Registered users will be notified when updates and new products are available. Anyone wishing to offer advice and suggestions is most welcome to do so. Telephone support however is available only to registered users. Anyone having access to Compuserve may leave a message for me in either the BORLAND or IBMAPP forum. My user-id is above. Those of you who request a registered copy of PAR will receive the following: 1) The latest version of the PAR program. 2) The latest documentation. 3) Notification of upgrades. Thank you for using PAR