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Page 79 SECTION I PRINTING SALESMAN AND SUPPLIER DATA TFO 12-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: This procedure will take you through the steps to print the salesman and performance file figures on a selected salesman. The sales and performance data is printed by going through the <S>-Sales module. Since the screens are so similiar for suppliers and salesman, printing instuctions are combined in this one procedure. The only difference is when you print suppliers using <V>-Vendors from the Main Menu, you will receive all suppliers on the report, whereas with <S>-Salesman you will print only the salesman that you select to print. See the "Printing Performance Data" procedure (TFO-13) for printing the whole performance file by month or by salesman. See the <V>-Vendor selection from the Main Menu (or <R>-Reports from the Main Menu) to report supplier sales, margin and costs information gathered from Sales Orders. Again Sales Order detail is only available when using the M a n a g e r version. PROCEDURE: 1. Using the Main Menu screen, select <S>, <Enter>, for "Salesman" to enter the "Salesman File Maintenance" menu. Sales File Maintenance Select one of the following letters: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | <A>-Add or edit salesperson data <C>-Change password | | <D>-Delete sales data -reIndex files | | -Print salesperson data <R>-Replace codes | | <S>-Sales perf. report <T>-Salesperson conTact report| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- F1-H E L P Esc-Quit NOTE: Likewise select <V>, Vendor, to print supplier data. All future reference in this procedure will be for the Salesman data. Substitute the word 'vendor' for 'salesman' as you read. A. Select for "Print Salesman Data", and emter a salesperson code: Page 80 SECTION I PRINTING SALESMAN AND SUPPLIER DATA TFO 12-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change Salesman Data -------------------------------------------------------------- Current Salesman | SALESMAN COMMISSON BASIS (S or P) COMM % 00.0 | | NAME | | ADDR | | ADDR | | CITY STATE ZIP | | HOME TELE NO SALESMAN CODE | | SOC. SEC. NO HIRE DATE / / | | NOTES | -------------------------------------------------------------- Enter salesman code... or Esc to Quit I. After entering the code you will need to enter a range of dates: ---------------------------------- N O T E S ----------------------------------- The sales statistics can be for any period,. e.g., 1, 3, or 12 months. Enter the beginning and ending month/year (mm/yy), or <Enter> for the entire file. Begin report with month/year / End with month/ year / a. Enter either the dates that you desire or touch <Enter> for the complete file. b. The bottom of the screen will clear, and you will be see: Beginning month: mm/yy Ending month: mm/yy Verify that printer is ready... Is all O. K? (Y or N) Page 81 SECTION I PRINTING SALESMAN AND SUPPLIER DATA TFO 12-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. The report will print should you answer with <Y>. a). A one-page report for each selected salesman will be printed and will look much like the salesman screen with performance data added at the bottom. b). If there are no performance figures on file, the report will print: NO PERFORMANCE FIGURES ON FILE FOR <selected name> c). All columns will be totaled and percentage figures will be given. SUMMARY: Here we printed the salesman file data along with the performance file data on a single sheet of paper. This procedure is simply a method to check the accuracy of the various salesman files and furnish hard copy on a particular salesman. Regarding suppliers (vendors) each vendor is printed indicating just summary total figures for sales, margin and cost to date. Again, for detail analysis of vendor or supplier business see the <R>-Reports selection off of the Main Menu or <V>-Vendors. - E N D - Page 83 SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA TFO 13-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: This report can also be printed from the <R>-Reports selection of the Main Menu. See TFO 16. Salesman performance is reported in order to verify the accuracy of the data in the files and to report on whether: A. Performance goals are being met for each period. B. The current period is better than the prior period. C. The current period is better than the same period last year. The salesman and performance data is printed by going through the Salesman File routine. This procedure will take you through the steps to print the salesman and performance file figures for a selected period of time in either salesman or month order. See the "Printing Salesperson" procedure (TFO-12) for printing the salesman and performance file figures for selected salesmen. This procedure prints all salesman on one report. PROCEDURE: 1. Using the Main Menu screen, select <S>, <Enter> for "Sales" to enter the "Salesman File Maintenance" menu. Sales File Maintenance Select one of the following letters: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |<A>-Add or edit salesperson data <C>-Change password | |<D>-Delete sales data -reIndex files | |-Print salesperson data <R>-Replace codes | |<S>-Sales perf. report <T>-Salesperson conTact report | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- F1-H E L P Esc-Quit Page 84 SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA TFO 13-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Select <S>-"Sales perf. report", and enter the dates for the data that you wish on the report: SALESMAN PERFORMANCE REPORT This report can be by either in salesman name or period sequence. Balances can be reflected by selecting beginning & ending periods. The report can be limited to one month, three months, six months or a year. Enter the beginning and ending performance months (mm/yy): Begin report with month [ / ] End report with month [ / ] a. Should you enter the beginning period with a date that is greater than the ending period, the following message will appear: Ending month must be greater than beginning month. < to Continue [ ] I. You will then be returned to the date prompt. b. If the beginning month has no data in it the first month that does have data will be reported. 2) Make a selection from the following screen: Page 85 SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA TFO 13-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales Performance Report Listings ----------------- Beginning month: 01/89 | A-Alphabetic | Ending month: 01/89 | M-Monthly | | Esc-Quit | ----------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter> Sequence will report in salesman order a. Selecting <Esc> will return you to the "Salesman File Maintenance" screen. b. Should you select <M>, the screen will display: PREPARING report by MONTH ... I. The screen will clear and ask you: Verify that printer is ready and on-line... < to Continue [ ] II. As the printer begins, the screen will print: Printing month: 01/84 c. Should you select <A>, the screen will display that same as when selecting months, except the bottom box will display the salesmans name as the report is printed: Printing salesman: <name> 3) The report will finish and eject, and the screen will return to the "Salesman File Maintenance" menu. Page 86 SECTION I PRINTING PERFORMANCE DATA TFO 13-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: In both the Printing Salesman Data procedure (TFO-12) and the Printing Performance Data procedure (TFO-13) the reports will assist you in maintaining the accuracy of the files. The percentage figures indicate whether sales performance is better than the previous month, whether sales performance is in line with projected goals, and how performance compares to the same period last year. When doing year end closing see the -Utilites and <Y>-Year to date selections. Figures to date are transferred and become year to date figures for last year. Comparisons to last years figures require that you be using The Front Office through a year-end closing. However, the edit of the performance file will permit you to enter your last year's figures, should you have them. Please note the similarity when printing the Vendor Sales Report especially regarding selection of alphabetical or monthly sequence when using the Manager version. - E N D - Page 87 SECTION I CHANGING FILE LOCATIONS TFO 14-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: Use this procedure when running TFO on a hard disk drive that offers more than one volume or partition, e.g., "D", "E", etc. See the -Utilities program selection from the Main Menu screen. You can designate where your .dbf files and .ntx files reside. Should you ever wish to move your files to a different logical drive on the hard disk, you will need to inform the memory file "Iamclear.mem" of the new drive letter. This routine permits you to do just that, but be careful, because if the files are not where you say they are, you will not be able to re-enter (bring up) The Front Office. If this should happen, you can run the program TFO UTILITY from the DOS prompt and select <D>-Drive change to reset the designation without entering TFO. PROCEDURE: 1. Select , <Enter>, for "Utilities" from the Main Menu screen, and you will obtain the following screen: T F O - Maintainance Utilities Select one of the following: [ ] --------------------------------------------------------------- | C-Code maintenance D-change system Date | | F-File location change H-H E L P | | I-Import foreign file M-Master file reconstruct | | P-reindex Prospect files * S-Set up | | W-Walknet Y-Year end closing | --------------------------------------------------------------- * - Usually done at installation time. A. Select <F> for "File location change", and the computer will respond with a new screen: Page 88 SECTION I CHANGING FILE LOCATIONS TFO 14-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drive Assignment Change Use this routine to change the Hard Disk drive letters that are assigned to each HD file. The .dbf files and .ndx files MUST reside on the drive for the new letter that you specify. CAUTION--USE WITH CARE--If an error occurs, move the .dbf and .ndx files to the chosen drive. You can also run this routine from the DOS prompt by typing "TFO UTILITY" to correct any assignment errors. The PROGRAM FILES (.OVL, .EXE, .MEM, Word Processor) will be on: DRIVE LETTER C DIRECTORY TITLE TFO e.g., TFO The DATABASE FILES (.DBF, .DBT, .NTX) will be on: DRIVE LETTER C DIRECTORY TITLE TFO e.g., TFO\TFOFILES Esc-Quit 1) Should you hit <Esc>, the "Utilities Maintenance" screen will appear, and you will have exited this program. 2) Entering drive and directory data will cause the .dbf and .ndx files to have the new letter as their prefix within the memory file of The Front Office. a. The files are not physically changed to the new drive; you must do this from the system prompt using the "copy" command. I. For example: "copy c:\tfo\*.dbt d:\sales" will transfer overlay files to a new sub-directory called "\sales" on drive D:. 3) A few seconds will pass, and you will see the message informing you of the new drive letter that you had entered: PROGRAM FILE DRIVE IS NOW: C:\TFO DATABASE FILE DRIVE IS NOW: C:\TFO\TFOFILES The Front Office file locations have been renamed. 4) Do not use letters A: or B: as this file change function is only applicable to hard drive systems. Page 89 SECTION I CHANGING FILE LOCATIONS TFO 14-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) After the change is complete, you will be returned to the "Utilities Maintenance" screen. SUMMARY: This is a fast way to reassign drive letters and directories after you may have moved your files. The "Iamclear.mem" file is automatically changed, since this is where the files are prefixed with the proper letter/directory so that the system knows where to locate the various database (.dbf) and index (.ntx) files. Database files will not be disturbed when using S-Setup in TFO UTILITY, but to be safe do have a current backup handy. - E N D - Page 91 SECTION I CALL REPORTS TFO 15-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: The Front Office will report sales contact information or call report results. First call reports mean that a salesperson has a simple and fast way to report to management and, secondly, the salesperson has a reminder system for prospect and customer relations. It permits fast recall to the screen or to the printer of prospect contacts. Each call record can be as long as 64,000 characters or about 20 pages. The last contact report that was entered will appear on the Edit Routines screen when a prospects name is summoned. The salesperson can add to and change the call information from the edit screen while the salesperson is talking on the phone with a prospect. The telemarketing module permits such editing of contact reporting as well. In addition, whenever you use the automatic dialer, <T>-Tph Call, from the Edit Routines screen, the call report screen will become available for completion. The time that you are on the phone is clocked from the time that you enter the call report screen until the time that you see the "Hang-up Receiver" notice. Elapsed time of calls is based on how long the call report screen is used for a particular call, so "hang-up" when finished with your call not just when fishined filling-in the call information. You do both together, but you can continue your conversation. This procedure deals with the more complete system available for reporting call information, deleting call data and manipulating the call report file using the <C> - Calls selection from the Edit Routines screen. Should calls exists on a prospect, you can print call reports by using the <D>- Delete selection from the "Edit Routine" screen. Because when you attempt to delete a prospect record with call records on file you will be given the opportunity to print out the calls for that prospect before actually deleting the calls. Simply answer the final delete question with <N> after printing the calls. Use the <S>-Sales selection from the Main Menu and select sales conTact report, <T>, to print all calls for a particular salesperson for a selected range of dates. PROCEDURE: 1. After obtaining the prospect or customer record on the Edit Routines screen, select <C>-Calls from the Edit Routines Menu and the following screen will appear: Call Report Update CALL REPORT FOR: --------------------------------------------------------- | COMPANY | | NAME TPH | | CITY STATE | | PROSPECT CD LAST CONT / / FOLLOW-UP / / | --------------------------------------------------------- No call report data on file <A>-Add <D>-Delete <E>-Edit/View <H>-H E L P -Print Esc-Quit [ ] Page 92 SECTION I CALL REPORTS TFO 15-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This screen with it's message indicates that there are no calls on file as yet for this prospect. A. Otherwise the last call record as was printed on the Edit Routines screen for this prospect will remain on the Call Report screen along with the list of contact names: Call Report Update CALL REPORT FOR: -------------------------------------------------------- |COMPANY | |NAME TPH | |CITY STATE | |PROSPECT CD LAST CONT / / FOLLOW-UP / / | ----------------------------C A L L R E P O R T--------------------- Min : Sec CONTACT DATE 07/14/89 LAST CONTACT DURATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------C O N T A C T N A M E S---------------------------- No | NAME | PHONE | JOB TITLE | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F1-H E L P Esc-Quit 1) To obtain a different prospect or customer record, touch <Esc> twice to return to the Edit Routines Menu and use <S>-Search. a. Once the new record is returned you touch <C>-Calls, and you will be returned to this Call Report Menu. NOTE: Should you wish to not add a call at this time, touch <Esc> once and you will receive the Call Report menu. Page 93 SECTION I CALL REPORTS TFO 15-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) The cursor will be located at the follow-up date field in case you wish to change it, then the contact date, and then the contact name. NOTE: The follow-up date is always created based on the number appearing in the days to automatic follow-up. See "Utilities" to change this number. If the number is 10 then the follow-up date will always be a date 10 days later than the current date. a. When filling in the call record the list of contact names is given as a reminder. I. Contact names are changed using the <N>-contact Names selection from the Edit Routines screen. 3) The call report window will clear so you can fill-in this added call. NOTE: Touch <F1> at any time to receive a pop-up window about cursor control keys and H E L P on editing calls. a. The <Enter> key should not be used to end each line, because "W", word-wrap is on. b. Your report will scroll in the window as you exceed the space alloted. 4) Touch <Esc> when you are finished typing, and you will see the following on the bottom: <E>-Edit <Q>-Quit <W>-Write a. Touch <W> to save the above call record to the file. b. Touch <Q> to not save the above call record to the file. c. Touch <E> to change the above call record. B. When finished with this call report the bottom menu box will return: Page 94 SECTION I CALL REPORTS TFO 15-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <A>-Add <D>-Delete <E>-Edit/View <H>-H E L P -Print Esc-Quit [ ] 2. Touch <Esc> to quit and return to the Edit Routines screen. 3. Select <A>-Add, to write additional reports to this prospect's call report file. 1. Follow step "1" above to add more calls. 4. When you select -Print calls, the bottom of the screen will clear and you will see: List to either <S>-Screen -Printer Esc-Quit [ ] A. Touch <S>, and each of the calls previously entered will be listed one entry at a time for the prospect/customer by date sequence for the chosen current name. 1) Touch <Enter> to see the next date and to step through each call record. 2) Selecting for printer will print all the call or contact records on the printer after prompting for proper paper alignment. NOTE: Printing the "Sales Call Report" should always be done before deleting contact file information. Should you wish to print the calls for a particular salesperson, then go to the Salesperson module and select T-salesperson conTact report. See procedure TFO-20. Printing call report.... Page 95 SECTION I CALL REPORTS TFO 15-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Typing a <D> for "Delete" from the Call Report Update menu will cause the screen to clear and the following message to be displayed, providing call reports are on file for the "name" displayed: (See Paragraph 1 above) Call Report Update CALL REPORT FOR: ------------------------------------------------------ | COMPANY | | NAME TPH | | CITY STATE | | PROSPECT CD LAST CONT / / FOLLOW-UP / / | --------------------------L A S T C A L L R E C O R D---------------------- CONTACT DATE / / CONTACT NAME TIME ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | <last call record is printed here> | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- All call data will be deleted for the above name/company. But first, you might want to PRINT contact data before touching 'C' for this delete. To print data touch < and select 'P'-Print from the Call Report menu. <C>-Confirm delete Esc-Quit [ ] A. Here again you have a choice to either type a <C> to confirm that the delete occur, or touch <Esc> to exit and not delete all the call reports for this contact. 1). Should you touch <C>, the "Call Report Menu" will reappear indicating that: There are no call reports on file for this prospect Page 96 SECTION I CALL REPORTS TFO 15-6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Selecting <E>-Edit/View calls will produce the Call Report Update screen: -Backward <F>-Forward <R>-Revise Esc-Quit [ ] A. The screen will display the last call recorded for this prospect/customer for you to change. B. To advance through the call report file touch <F>-Forward or touch - Backward to find the report for the entry that you wish to change or edit. 1) Touch <R>-Revise to change the located call record. C. Touch <Esc> and you will return to the call report menu. 1) Touch <Esc> a second time to return to the Edit Routines screen. SUMMARY: Processing call report information is straight forward as each screen displays instructions to assist the unfamiliar operator. Call reports are linked internally with the prospect/customer master file. If at some time you should not be able to locate a call record that you know you entered, try - Utilities to <M>-Master file reconstruct. To print call records by salesperson use the <S>-Sales selection from the Main Menu. When the Salesperson Menu appears select <T>-salesperson conTact report. A single call record for a prospect/customer can be deleted using the "Edit Routine" menu. Contact names and call records would also be deleted for the selected prospect/customer. When using the delete routine in this procedure just the call records are deleted. Call records can also be placed into a Walknettm file for transmission via modem or for mailing on a diskette. See -Utilities and <W>-Walknet being certain to select <C>-Contact date as you Level 3 selection. A range of dates is given so that all calls for a particular salesperson, region, or office can be produced within the dates entered. (See procedure TFO 17) - E N D - Page 97 SECTION I REPORTS TFO 16-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: There are basically six catagories of reporting: 1. Prospect reports are produced for tracking mailings when doing labels or multiple letters. 2. Sales performance shows how sales goals and commissions are doing. 3. Tax reports detail sales taxes each month. 4. Customer reports are on their own menu where you can also print out a batch of Sales Orders and obtain profit figures. 5. Job costing reports having their own menu 6. Commissions and payments reports from the <C>-Commissions module. Our purpose here, then, is to outline the various ways that you can obtain information about these six catagories. When both the company field and the name field are present in a record, then the name field is used to sequence records for reporting purposes unless you change it using the -Utility selection and <S>-Setup. The prospects database is considered the master file and is the record appearing on the Main Menu. It is indexed one of three ways: 1. Company name (C) 2. Individual name (N) 3. Record number (R) Whenever changes are made to the master file, reindexing on the records for these three fields is accomplished automatically. Any listings or reports that utilize the prospect, salesperson, type, product, status, follow-up dates, zip codes, region or office codes will be reindexed automatically only when changes have occured since the last time the choosen sequence was selected. Reindex, on a 80286 machine, with 800 records takes about 15 seconds. Incidentally, an 80287 math co-processor will increase the speed of The Front Office as well as a faster hard disk drive. Most 20/30 meg drives are 65ms to 80 ms, and the some 40meg drives run an average access speed of about 28ms. PROCEDURE: 1. You can receive reports or screen listings on prospects broken down as follows: Alphabetically - A. Everybody in the file. - B. A particular segment of names. Zip code order - A. Everybody in the file. - B. A particular segment of codes. For Example: The Front Office will find codes larger than or smaller than any number entered within a general range such as 10000-0000 to 11000-0000, or a particular town or country, i.e. 07871 to 07871. Follow-up date - A. Everybody in the file with a follow-up date recorded. - B. A particular segment of dates. Page 98 SECTION I REPORTS TFO 16-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Example: The Front Office will find dates larger than or smaller than any date entered within a general range such as 01/15/86 to 01/22/86. Status codes - A. Everybody in the file with a particular status code. - B. A particular seqment of status codes. States - A. All states in Zip code order. - B. One particular state in Zip code order For Example: The Front Office will find records coded with a "02" for widget prospects and list them by follow-up date range, by a range of zip codes, a range of the alphabet, for a range of status code, type code, or product codes. So in this example the Prospect code (Level 1) preceeds these other Level 2 codes. Page 59 2. Salesperson codes are the same as above. For Example: The Front Office will find records coded with a salesperson coded "SKJ" for Sam K. Jones' prospects, and list them by follow-up date order range, zip code range, type, product or prospect alphabetical range, etc. 3. Prospect reports can be selected using the <R>-Reports selection from the Main Menu: A. Select -Prospect, etc., for prospect listings that you desire and enter the date and whether: S-Screen listing P-Printer listing from the next menu. 1) Should you select the right of the screen will ask you whether you desire a complete (C) listing or a single (S) line listing to the printer. The complete listing reports 10 prospects on a page and the single line selection lists 50 prospects on a page. The single line listing is compressed, is faster and reports less information on each prospect. But it is good for doing quick code scanning and prospect memory jogs. 2) The screen will help you when selecting a Level 3 selection first: LEVEL 3: Three categories of lookup are available. Level 3 can sort the various fields shown below, directly, or use Prospect or Salesperson codes to cause Level 3 categories to become sub-categories under Level 2's codes. Use Level 1 codes, Region or Office, to have Level 3 and 2 become sub- categories under the Region or an Office code. You must use Level 3. <A>-Alphabetical <C>=Contact date <F>-Follow-up date -Product code <R>-Record number <S>-Status code <T>-Type code -User Defined <Z>-Zip code Page 99 SECTION I REPORTS TFO 16-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. The Zip code selection is a bit different so that you can have Zip codes for one state or all states. To ignore state choices, touch <Enter>. I. When you touch <Enter>, you will be given a Level 2 selection for either Prospect or Salesperson Code. 3) The Level 2 selection is optional on the next menu. a. You will be asked for the Prospect code or Salesperson code (Level 1). b. Should you select either 'P' or 'S', you will be asked for the particular code desired. 4) The Level 1 selection is optional also. a. Enter either a Region code or an Office code, so that previous selections will become subcatagories under a region or office. 5) As mentioned above, you may next indicate a range for your Level 3 selection. a. Entering blanks for a range will report all records for the Level 3 selection. 6) After indicating whether all is 'O. K.' or not, the prospect file is checked to see if any changes have been made since the last selections were made. a. If conditions warrant the 'Preparing File!' sign will appear on the screen. b. Files will only be prepared if reindexing is required or not. 7) The program then does a fast find for the particular item in question. a. Should the data be of a higher value than the beginning value entered, the next available record that is found will be obtained providing it is not of a higher value that the ending value requested. 8) You will then be given a summary of your selections, and a chance to begin again with other selections should you touch <N>: Selection Code Level 1 = None Level 2 = Prospect 01 Level 3 = P PRODUCT Starting with: Ending with: Is all O. K? (Y or N) Page 100 SECTION I REPORTS TFO 16-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. If you choose <S>-Sales Performance: 1) Enter the current date and reporting months that you require. 2) Select either <A>-Alphabetical by salesperson name. <M>-Monthly sequence. C. If you choose T-Tax reporting: 1) Enter the date or Enter to accept the default. 2) Fill the month and year to begin and end the tax listing. D. If you choose <C>-Job Costing, enter the date and decide where to print results: 1) Select <J>, <O>, or for the type of Cost Control Report. a. Select A-Alphabetical by name sequence. J-Job number sequence. b. Enter the beginning and ending dates for the report. c. Dating is important as you control cut-off dates. So be sure to set up a schedule of when each report will be run when reporting costs information. d. In the case of the -Payments vs Actual Cost after entering the dates: Net profit is posted to customer record for the Earnings Report. Answer 'Y' only when report dates do not overlap, perhaps monthly. Do you wish to post PROFIT for the period? (Y or N) [ ] a. Answer either <Y> or <N> E. If you choose <C>-Customer reports. 1) A second menu will appear after entering the date. It is self explanitory: S A L E S O R D E R R E P O R T S Select report type [ ] ----------------------------------------------------------------- | <C>-Customer report <E>-customer Earnings report | | <O>-Orders paid report -Print sales orders | | <R>-Report of Comm. & Shipments <S>-Salesperson report | | <T>-Transmit sales orders <V>-Vendor/Supplier report | ----------------------------------------------------------------- F1-H E L P Esc-Quit Page 101 SECTION I REPORTS TFO 16-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Select <H> to see what each selection does. 2) Refer to the section entitled 'Customer Reports', procedure TFO-23. F. Select <V>-Vendor report of orders and you will obtain a 'Suppliers Sales Order Report'. 1) Answer the reporting sequence question and enter the range of dates desired on the bottom of the screen. 2) The bottom of the screen will clear and display: Preparing Supplier Sales Report.... 4. Commission reporting is accomplished by selecting <C>-Commissions from the Main Menu: A. When the "Post Commissions Payments & Shipments" menu appears, select <R>-Report of Comm. & Ship." and you can choose the sequence and totals that you desire: Sequence ----------------- |C=Customer | |O=Order Number | |S=Salesman | |V=Vendor/Supp | | Esc-Quit | ----------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then <. Sequence will be in either Name or Company order 1) After selecting you choice, enter the beginning and ending dates for the report contents. 2) Commissions are reported and totaled by either customer, saleperson, sales order, or supplier sequence. SUMMARY: For those reports that appear on the screen, the listing on the screen will pause after every third record and stop scrolling so that you can review each record as it passes by. Some reports, such as Job Costing, Supplier, Customer and Commission reports, require 132 columns and are print compressed on 80 column paper, so they cannot be printed to the screen. We do not attempt to take you through each and every step of the reports screens, because they are quite self-explanitory. The menus given are of benefit and the "helps" along the way will guide you as well. The "Supplier Sales Order Report" (or vendors) is written using the <C>- Customer Reports selection from the <R>-Reports Menu from the Main Menu. It can also be produced from the <V>-Vendor selection off the Main Menu. It reports margin and costs figures for each customer order in either supplier or order sequence. - E N D - Page 103 SECTION I USING WALKNET TFO 17-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: Walknet's purpose is to extract selected prospect/customer records from the master file, to record those extracted records to another file (which you can title), and then to either add or change a second TFO with the extracted data. In other words, The Front Office offers a kind of network, but the data is hand carried via diskette, or sent via modem, to the other TFO. Perhaps this is all most will require in order to maintain one set of records on multiple computers. As an example, suppose inquiries or leads are received and entered at the home office. A file could then be created on diskette for the additions, and that file sent via modem to salepersons in the field. The field saleperson then would use Walknet to update their copy of The Front Office. This eliminates duplicate effort. These updates can also be by Contact date for call reporting purposes. Another use of Walknet is to select a group of records for loading onto a diskette and then delete that same group of records. In this manner you can purge the prospect/customer file of dead leads to reduce its size, while at the same time still being able to save the data should you ever want to reuse it again. PROCEDURE: 1. Select -Utilities. <Enter>, from the Main Menu screen. A. Touch <W>-Walknet from the Utilities Menu and a window pops-up: W A L K N E T -------------------- | <H>-H E L P | | -Input file | | <O>-Output file | | Esc-Quit | -------------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>. Some information on making walknet files 1) The <H>-H E L P line will be highlighted. Touch <Enter> to obtain the help screen: --------------------------------- N O T E S ----------------------------------- <O>- You will be asked for the normal code selections to look-up records to be placed in output files. Use your salesman code with month/day for a file title, E.g., HAB0710. A formatted 360k diskette will hold about 200 records...perhaps 800 on a 1.2mil diskette. Three database and two index files are created and the numbers 1, 2, 3, will be added at the end. - To input prospects that will add or change the destination file, put the diskette in drive A:, envoke TFO, and at this menu enter 'I' to input. Records can be added into another TFO in another computer or sub/directory. Walknet will only transfer marketing data, i.e., not salesman data, cost data, or sales order records. Use Import routine for SDF...not Walknet. Page 104 SECTION I USING WALKNET TFO 17-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. First create a file by touching O-Output file, the screen will clear, and the following will appear: Create Temporary File Title the file to be created. TFO will assign the sequence number for internal control. Use your salesman code, the month and day for the file title. Enter up to 7 characters without an extension HAB0715 B. You may type in any title you wish (perhaps the receiving persons name) by simply typing over the letters 'HAB0715'. 1) The next prompt will display just under the above one: Now designate where to write the file. Use your communication drive/direc- tory. Include the colon (:) after the letter. For example: 'C:\PROCOMM'. If you override the default A:, be sure sub-directories have been created first. Write the file to which drive\directory ? A: C. Be careful not to designate the same directory and file name that The Front Office uses. 1) Do NOT begin any file titles with the letters "IAM". 2) When desiring to send the file via modem, place the file on the sub-directory where your modem software is located instead of to a diskette in drive A:. D. Next you will see: The output file can be in fixed record length format or it can be in TFO for- mat. Enter 'N' if you desire fixed record length format, or 'Y' for TFO format. TFO database format? (Y or N) Y 1) A standard data file is usually ASCII with fixed record, and with fixed field lengths. It can be created for entering data into other systems. a. Such files created from TFO are not intended to be used by The Front Office. NOTE: The Import Foreign files utility imports datafiles in the ASCII format but quotation marks and commas delimit each field with a carrage return at the end of each record. Use the Import utility for those files. 2) TFO will then check to see if the file you named already exists, and if so you will see: Page 105 SECTION I USING WALKNET TFO 17-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <your file name> file already exist... CAREFUL! Do you have a current backup of your .dbf files? < to Continue Esc-Quit [ ] a. Touch <Enter> key and you will override the previously created file with this new output. b. When you touch <Esc> you can re-title the file. E. The display will then clear, and you will be asked for the catagories of look-up as was furnished when you did reports, many letters, labels, or telemarketing. (See TFO 7). NOTE: The Contact date field's primary purpose is to create a file of call reports between two dates for field salesperson call reporting. 2) After you look-up selections are made the screen will clear to display: Creating file called (your drive:sub\directory and file title) for (catagory look-up that you chose) Total records written: 292 3) The Utilities menu will be returned, after the files have been created (output). 3. When desiring to input a walknet created file to the TFO prospect/customer file select <W>-Walknet from the -Utilities Menu. A. The file to be added must have been created (output) by Walknet (See paragraph 2 above). 1) Foreign data files made by other systems must be converted first (see the next procedure TFO 18) by the Import utility, and must not be added to TFO using Walknet. B. Select I-Input file from the Walknet pop-up menu, whereupon the screen will clear and you will see: Add Prospects to Destination Computer Be certain that you know the name of the temporary file and its' location. The program will advise you of possible duplicates so that you can add, change or skip them in the destination files. New record numbers will be assigned to the added prospects in the destination file. You will be asked for the name of the temporary or input file to be added. DO NOT use a back-slash (\) at the end when you enter a directory title. NOTE: To see a list of file titles enter blanks for the input file name. < for listing Esc-Quit Enter input file title or < to list Page 106 SECTION I USING WALKNET TFO 17-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Hitting Enter (with blanks in the name field) and entering a drive designation will display a list of all the files having the extension .DBF on the indicated drive\subdirectory. 2. After entering the file name and its' drive\directory location the screen will clear and be divided into two upper and lower forms as follows: Walknet - Add or Update Destination File INPUT FILE: ----------------------------------------------------------- |COMPANY REC NO | |NAME | |CITY STATE ZIP | |TEL CONTACT DATE | ----------------------------------------------------------- Destination file: <A>-Add to <R>-Replace it <S>-Skip it Esc-Quit Enter selection from the above menu [ ] Searching for input file <your file title> DESTINATION FILE: ----------------------------------------------------------- |COMPANY REC NO | |NAME | |CITY STATE ZIP | |TEL FILE DATE | ----------------------------------------------------------- a. The center of the screen will display 'ADDING RECORD' and the destination file area will remain blank. I. This is an automatic add to the file as a duplicate name or company was not found. b. Should a record be found to be a duplicate in the destination file, the adding process will stop and you will be given the chance to decide whether you want to: <A>-Add it to the destination file at the end <R>-Revise or change the dublicate record (write over it). <S>-Skip the incoming record entirely and go to the next input record. II. When selecting <A>, and the incoming record is indeed a duplicate, you will create a second copy of the record in the file, so be careful not to create any dublicates unless you intend to go back and delete the old record. a) If in doubt, answer <R>, as you can always go back and edit the data as the new record will write over the old. Page 107 SECTION I USING WALKNET TFO 17-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Next the center of the screen will clear after the last record has been read in. a. The reindexing process will be performed on the destination database, and progress will be reflected in the lower status box. 4. When all is finished the center of the screen will clear and display the following: Total records entered: 279 5. Walknet will then return you to the Utilities Maintainence Menu. SUMMARY: Walknet(tm) is just another of the powerful ways that The Front Office can be used to easily control and manipulate your records for: 1. Purging prospect/customer records. 2. Sending selected parts of files to other computers. 3. Acquiring salesperson periodic call records from the field without paperwork. You may wish to give special transfer codes to records prior to creating the output or temporary file. Later, after creating the file, the codes could be changed back to their proper catagory using the <C>-Code Maintainence routine (Replace codes by group) from the -Utility menu. Another thought is to output to a temporary file the most recently entered records. Use the record numbers to do this. One individual might be entering new contact information, which when done can be distributed to other users' machines. Remember that you cannot use the -Input file selection on SDF (standard data files) or foreign files delimited with commas and quotation marks. The files that you input must be a dBASEIII/Clipper/Foxbase type file, or Walknet tm will not work. See the following procedure (TFO 18) for how to import foreign data files to The Front Office. Keep in mind that DbaseIII/Foxbase+ files are different than DbaseII/Foxbase files, so again use TFO-18 to import those types of files as well. - E N D - Page 109 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: Where our Walknet feature permits you to input database records to The Front Office using another dBASEIII type file, this procedure permits you to input most any file into The Front Office. We say 'most any' file, because the file to be imported must be in ASCII format, i.e., readable when using the MSDOS "type" command. Should you already have files of data from your old system, or should you purchase a mail list from a list supplier on diskette, then this feature of The Front Office is what you would use to get the data into TFO without re-typing. You will require a knowledge of programming, so only the most sophisticated users should use this import utility, or call us on 603-938- 2127 and Inter active micro, Inc. will be please to help you, providing you are a licensed user. When using data from another database, use that system to create the file as a delimited file. This will create an ASCII text (.txt) file acceptable to The Front Office, i.e., having quotation marks and commas surrounding each field with a carriage return at the end of each record. Each record is on it's own line when the file is listed using the DOS 'type' command on the file title. Here is a bit of background on files and their structure. Data files (usually having an extension .DAT, .LST, .DBF as oppoosed to .EXE, .BAS, .COM, etc) are made up of records, and records are made up of data fields. Each record is usually on one separate line in the file, and if it is not, then you must edit the foreign file so that each record ends with a carrage return and line feed character. These would be placed there by an editor or a word processor in the non-document mode, e.g., Word Star, PC-Write, Brief, etc. From your DOS prompt (perhaps the A: drive, as the file is probably on a diskette) type "type" "(filename)" using the proper file extension. An SDF (standard data file) will appear to have many blanks in its fields (i.e., each field has a fixed field length), and a delimited file will have each field separated by either commas or quotation marks or both with no blanks at the end of each field.The files are readable, but they have different field lengths and titles, so they are 'foreign' to the files designed for use in The Front Office. Even files created on other DbaseIII systems are considered foreign, because their field length differs, there field titles differ, and the sequence of the data is different. To bring things in line, we use a intermediary file called Convert.dbf. The Front Office will permit you to modify the Convert.dbf file to accept the data fields from your foreign file. Using Convert.dbf as a go-between permits us to obtain the foreign data in a .DBF type format first without going directly to your primary prospect/customer database file (Iamname.dbf) and possible corrupting it. The program then uses the Convert.dbf file and reads each of its records into Iamname.dbf master file. Notice also that some files are received in all capital letters which may look fine for labels but which are not acceptable for letters, proposals and such. As part of this Database Conversion Menu, The Front Office can change letters to lower case and to upper case depending on your needs. However, since each letter in each field is examined by the program, and if you have thousands of records, this could take TFO some hours. But it is easier than retyping everything. There are 4 steps to import each foreign file. First, using your word processor clear up the foreign file of all strange characters, place each record on a separate line, count spaces for each field, and do not have a carrage return at the end of the last record. Second, using TFO, <C>-Change and clean-out the Convert.dbf file. Third, <A>-Add the foreign files data to Convert.dbf, be sure to check the results by <V>-Viewing Convert.dbf. Fourth, if Convert.dbf looks O.K., <R>-Read the Convert.dbf records to the TFO master file, Iamname.dbf. Page 110 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When clearing up the foreign file be sure to record on a piece of paper how long each field is along with the order and name of each field, as you will require this information later when setting up the Convert.dbf file in The Front Office. The rules to follow for the Convert.dbf file are: 1. It must have every field in it that the Iamname.dbf file has. This is true even if all the fields in the Convert.dbf file are not filled when the foreign file is read into it by the Import program. 2. Each field in the Convert.dbf file must be in the same order as the fields in the foreign file. Each field in the foreign file is read into each Convert.dbf field by the order in which they are being read (not by any field title match up). Any fields that will not be filled will therefore be at the end of the Convert.dbf file's structure. 3. The Convert.dbf file must have the same field titles as are used in Iamname.dbf. Both file structures can be listed by the program, so that you can make sure the the field titles in Convert.dbf are the same as the Iamname.dbf file's field titles. 4. The order of the fields in the Convert.dbf do not have to match the order of the fields in the Iamname.dbf file. When the Convert.dbf file's fields are read into the Iamname.dbf file's fields, they are placed there because the field titles agree (the sequence of the fields is unimportant). PROCEDURE: 1. Using your word processor, edit your foreign file. A. If the file is in the SDF format, clear out any strange characters and arrange each record on a separate line. 1) Make a note of the length of each field by counting the number of characters including blank spaces. 2) Make a note of the each field type (i.e., name, address line 1, etc.,) and the order of the various fields in each record. a. While the foreign file is listed on your screen, you might use the <Shift> <PrtSc> keys to do this review via a hard copy. 2. Select -Utilities from the Main Menu and then select I-Import Foreign Files, and you will receive the following screen: Page 111 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Database Conversion Menu SELECT one of the following letters [ ] ------------------------------------------------------- | D-Display Convert.dbf/Iamname.dbf file structures | | C-Change Convert.dbf file to receive foreign file | | A-Add to the Convert.dbf file from a foreigh file | | L-Lowercase/uppercase conversion | | R-Read Convert.dbf and add data to TFO master file | | H-H E L P Esc-Quit | ------------------------------------------------------- The above selections are listed in the order of their use. A. When you touch <D> to either display or print the existing Convert.dbf a pop-up window appears on the left: 1. The display or printout will show the exisiting file structure of the chosen file. Structure ------------- | P-Print | | S-Screen | | Esc-Quit | ------------- Use arrow keys to make selections. Touch <Enter> to accept. 2) Select where to show the structure, and then you will see which file to display on the right: Choose File ----------------- | C-Convert.dbf | | I-Iamname.dbf | | Esc-Quit | ----------------- a. Select the file that you desire and the chosen file structures will be listed either on the screen or on your printer. b. Use these listings to compare to a <PrtSc> image of your foreign file (from paragraph 1 above), and go to the next step to change the structure of the Convert.dbf file. B. To change the Convert.dbf file to conform to the foreign files order of fields, build a new Convert.dbf file by selection C-Change Convert.dbf... NOTE: Because TFO will not permit you to actually edit the Convert.dbf file (you can only add field data to a new one), you may wish to consider using DbaseIII or Foxbase+ to edit the Convert.dbf file. If you have these programs, it could be faster. Page 112 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Field Number: Enter Field Name: Type: Length: Decimals: a. Have your printout of the Iamname.dbf file handy when making up this Convert.dbf. - The Field Number is assigned by TFO. - The Field Name must be the same name as used by Iamname.dbf. - The Type is either 'C'-Character, 'N'-Numeric, 'D'-Date, and also must agree with the Iamname.dbf field type. - Enter field lengths in accordance with your count of the characters in each field in the .TXT file to be imported as recorded in step 1. NOTE: Should you give a field length longer that the field lenght for the corresponding field in the Iamname.dbf file then the data will be truncated on the right. - The Decimals field will have a single digit, usually 0 or 2 when field type is 'N'. Again, Iamname.dbf governs the decimal type. b. When all 28 or so fields (Manager version of TFO, 26 for the Sales version) are completed, enter a blank field name to exit by simply touching Enter at the Name field. C. Selecting <A>-Add to the Convert.DBF file will display: Page 113 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Add Foreign File to CONVERT.DBF File You will now be asked for the .TXT file name that you wish to import and if it is in a SDB (Standard File Format or fixed field lenghts) or in a delimited format (i.e., fields separated by special alpha characters). Remember that the file must be readable (i.e., ASCII format) and end with .TXT! It must not have any unusual characters in it. Each record in the foreign file should end with a carrage return. Each record should start on its own line. If these con- ditions are not existing in the foreign file then touch Enter twice to quit, use your word processor to clear it up. Otherwise Convert will have garbage data in it. But, if you try it and get junk, you can always make a new Convert. Any old data in Convert.dbf will be cleared out when you add any new data to it. Remember that the Convert.dbf must have the same fields as are in Iamname.Fields in the Convert.dbf file can be in a different sequence than Iamname, as the sequence of the fields must match the sequence of fields in the foreign file. Enter name of file to import (with no extension) 1) Fill-in the .TXT file name that will match the Convert.dbf file layout prepared earlier. 2) Next you will see the line: Enter either 'SDF' or 'DELIMITED' 3) After a few seconds the Database Conversion Menu will reappear, and the records in the foreign file will have been added to the Convert.dbf file. Page 114 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) The last step is to select R-Read Convert.dbf and add data... Input Convert.dbf into Iamname.dbf (TFO prospect file) Records will now be taken from Convert.dbf and added to Iamname.dbf file. Remember you must have the same fields in Convert as are in Iamname. except for the contact name field...it may need to be broken down into extra fields. Do not run this selection again, or you will create file duplicates. If you must run it again, be sure to delete the added records first using 'c'-Code Maintainance from the 'U'-Utility Menu. You might want to assign a unique code in one of the fields so that later you can delete the added group of records. The code will be of your choosing, e.g. CON1, or CON2, etc. Use this code in conjunction with 'T'-Telemarket routine and step through the prospect file and change any name, codes or dates that are blank or do not look right by using 'R'-Revise in the Edit Routine. < to Continue a. Touch <Enter> and the next screen will print on three questions one at a time: Convert.dbf Files Contact Names The foreign file may have only one contact name, or it has the name broken into separate fileds, e.g., first, middle, last. If you have placed separate fields into Convert for the name answer the following question with a 'Y', otherwise answer 'N'. Have you placed separte fields in Convert for the name? Y The Convert.dbf file has only one field for the name. Is the last name first and separated by a comma or is the name in normal sequence? If the name has the last name first answer 'Y', otherwise answer 'N'. Does the name field have the last name first? N You may now enter standard codes for some of the fields. If you do not enter any codes, then the program will use the data in the respective code fields from the Convert.dbf file. Remember at least one standard code will help should you later desire to delete all the records for the group or to step through the file using <T>-Telemarketing to make changes. Enter a TYPE code REGION code PRODUCT code OFFICE code PROSPECT code STATUS code TEST Is all O. K? (Y or N) I. If there are other segments to the name such as 'Jr.', middle names, initials, etc., these variations must be dealt with manually. Page 115 SECTION I IMPORTING FOREIGN DATA FILES TFO 18-7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. TFO will print each suspected name and record number on your printer to aid you in later making manual revisions using the TFO <T>-Telemarketing. III. You can also edit any suspected names that TFO cannot properly arrange should any be listed in the following box that appears on the lower half of the display. When a name is stored by The Front Office its' portions are divided by excla- mation points. NAMES SUSPECTED TO BE IN ERROR WILL BE PRINTED> TURN YOUR PRINTER ON. You may edit any incorrect names later using the print-out, or you may correct them now. To edit the names later touch the < key. Any missing parts causes the exclamation points to be place side-by-side. last ! first ! middle ! prefix ! suffix b. If there were no records in the Convert.dbf file, then you will be given a message to that effect. WHOOPS: There are no records in the Convert file to read to the TFO master file Returning to menu. Use 'A' top add records, then use 'R' to read records. c. When all records have been imported, the following message will appear: TOTAL RECORDS IMPORTED: 132 d. Re-indexing of the new database will then take place. I) You will be returned to the Database Conversion Menu when re-indexing is completed. SUMMARY: The ability to control such foreign records is two fold. First, through your patience in editing your foreign files by using your word processor prior to picking them up with the import utility. Secondly, using The Front Office to create, add, and view the Convert.dbf file before the actual import. If prospect and salesperson codes are not available from your foreign files, then do put in some numbers such as '1' for each code. You can change them later is you wish. The add and edit routines in TFO will check for their absents, so this will save you time later. It is important NOT to change the field titles in the Convert.dbf file. For if you do, then the fields will not be written to master prospect file and results will be unpredictable. Be careful and seek help if in doubt. - E N D - Page 117 SECTION I TELEMARKETING TFO 19-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: Telemarketing looks-up records the same way as reporting, many letters, or labels looks-up segments of your database. But the records are written to the Edit Routines screen. The prospects can then be phoned and call reports created as you step through the file in the order selected. Also, the Telemarketing module can be used as a daily "tickler" file. Use Telemarketing to enter your salesperson number and a range of follow-up dates in order to display the individuals to call today. Any <R>-Revise records that you make during the telephoning process will not be reflected on the edit screen as each field is changed, but the changes are recorded in a temporary file and written to the master file at the end of the Telemarketing session. Files will then be re-indexed and updated. PROCEDURE: A. Selecting the <T>-Telemarket selection at the Main Menu causes the screen to clear and display the Prospect File selection screens, Level 3. 1. See TFO-5, for how this is done for <M>-Many letters. 2. After the look-up selections have been made the edit screen will appear with the first record that agrees with your selections. a. You may then step through (using either F-Forward or B-Backward) each record in sequence based on your selections. b. Should you use the S-Search feature while using Telemarketing the following sign will overlay the screen. ---------------------- | SEARCH IS NOT | | PERMITTED DURING | | TELEMARKETING. | ---------------------- c. When you are finished, and should you have made any revisions, then the following sign will appear on the bottom of the screen: Page 118 SECTION I TELEMARKETING TFO 19-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revisions during Telemarking: Please wait... d. And you will then be returned to the Main Menu. SUMMARY: Each prospect can be edited just as though you have searched for only one prospect. Without entering each name or record number in order to phone a series of prospects, simple enter the coding selections desired and walk through the subject prospects in sequence telephoning those desired as you proceed along. Make revisions and complete call reports as you contact each name or company. Remember that record numbers are a great way to phone recently added prospects. Use the Level 3 record number selection without a Level 1 or 2 selection (prospect or salesperson code) and indicate the record number range desired. The ending record number need only be one that is greater than the last record number in your file. The total of all records in your file is given on the Main Menu screen and when you do a <M>-Master File Reconstruct from the -Utilities Menu. Re-indexing files will also report file sizes. Another use of Telemarketing is to step through a series of codes and edit only selected prospect/customers. Calling each prospect is not done, but rather code modifications are easily accomplished. - E N D - Page 119 SECTION I CALL REPORT BY DATES TFO 20-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: Procedure TFO-15, 'Call Reports' prints all call records for a selected prospect or customer. This procedure directs you in reporting calls for a particular salesperson within a selected range of dates. You will be prompted for the salesperson code and a beginning and ending date. You will be able to optionally purge the call report files at the end of each print run. A date is entered so that any call reports on file dated earlier that the date entered will be removed. PROCEDURE: A. Select <S>-Sales from the Main Menu, enter your password (if any) and you will receive the 'Salesperson File Maintenance' menu: Sales File Maintenance Select one of the following letters: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | <A>-Add or edit salesperson data <C>-Change password | | <D>-Delete sales data -reIndex files | | -Print salesperson data <R>-Replace codes | | <S>-Sales perf. report <T>-Salesperson conTact report | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- F1-H E L P Esc-Quit 1. Should you select <F1> for help the bottom of the screen will clear and display: ----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------ This routine will allow you to ADD, CHANGE, DELETE or PRINT salesman data A = Add/Edit the salesman file and the performance file. C = Changes the password necessary to change performance figures. D = Delete selectively removes both salesman and performance data. I = Packs & reindexes deleted salesman and performance data. P = Displays the salesman and performance file for all or one salesman. R = Changes either sales or prospect codes on the prospect file. S = Reports performance showing earned and paid percentages of goals. T = Reports salesman calls/contacts within a range of dates. Use initials for salesman codes. B. Select <T>-salesperson conTact report, and you will be asked to indicate the salesperson initials: Page 120 SECTION I CALL REPORTS BY DATES TFO 20-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change Salesperson Data --------------------------------------------------------------- Current Salesman | COMMISSION % 00.0 | | NAME | | ADDR | | ADDR | | CITY STATE ZIP | | HOME TELE NO SALESMAN CODE | | SOC. SEC. NO HIRE DATE / / | | NOTES | --------------------------------------------------------------- Enter salesperson code, or Esc-Quit 1. After entering the three letter code, the screen will confirm your choice and the bottom will clear and print: Date Range Calls can be reported between a range of dates for one salesman. Enter the same date twice to re- port calls for one day. Touch < twice and all calls for one salesman will report. Enter Beginning date / / Ending date / / Esc-Quit a. Simply enter the two dates, perhaps from Monday to Sunday. 2. The bottom of the screen will clear, and the high-lighter menu will display: List to either <S>-Screen -Printer Esc-Quit [ ] Page 121 SECTION I CALL REPORTS BY DATES TFO 20-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Entering an <S> will list calls to the screen for the selected salesperson. b. Answering with a will cause the calls to be listed on the printer by date. I. In either case, if there were no call records on file for this salesperson the message would print accordingly. Page 74 3. After printing stops a second window will pop-up and display: Delete Calls You can now delete calls earlier than a certain date to maintain your files. Answer 'Y' to the following question in order to enter a date so that calls prior to that date will be deleted. See the Call Report for the date to use. a. If you answer <Y> the date question appears: Delete call reports prior to which date / / b. Fill-in a date to delete call records prior to but not including the date entered. c. If the date is left blank no calls will be deleted. SUMMARY: Call reporting becomes another method of following-up on contacts much like using the follow-up date reports. The advantage here is that you can see what you said last week, last month or last year to prospects and to decide whether to call them again. Dates on the Follow-up Report can be helpful as you may want to go back to a particular time period to see if any call reports exist for a particular prospect. Purging the call report file is important to save hard disk space by removing any unwanted out-of-date call records. Remember that calls that are on file for the deletion date entered will not be removed from file...only the calls prior that date entered. - E N D - Page 123 SECTION I USING THE AUTO DIALER TFO 21-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: If you do not have either an external or internal modem in your computer then the automatic phone dialer will not help you. If you do have a modem connected, read on. First you will need to use the Utility Menu and the Set-up selection in order to inform The Front Office of three facts about your telephone. What follows is an little overview about modem communications in general. Modem is the first part of the word modulate and the first part of the word demodulate. The modem changes the computer signal to a telephone signal (that's modulate) and it also changes a telephone signal back into a computer signal (that's demodulate). While it does this, it works at not accepting or sending signals over the telephone lines with any errors. The speed at which it sends these signals is called the baud rate. The baud rate is roughly the number of bits being sent per second. The Front Office needs to know the speed of your modem, e.g., 1200, 2400, or 9600 are examples of todays microcomputer baud rates. You also must know which communications port is being used for your modem. These ports on your computer are called either COM1, COM2, COM3 or COM4. Your disk operating system can usually access either COM1 or COM2. Version 3.3 of DOS will access COM3 and COM4. Which port you use is up to you when you physically install your modem and setup you computer. When you make calls using the modem The Front Office will time them, and the elapsed time is reported on the Call Report. PROCEDURE: A. Be certain that you have set-up the requirements to run your modem using the -Utilities selection from the Main Menu and the <S>-Setup selection from the Utility Menu. 1. Select the <C>-Communications choice from the Setup Menu and you will see: Enter COM port number (1 or 2) [1] Enter modem speed (1200,2400,4800,9600) [1200] Is your phone Touch or Pulse tone dialing (T or P) [T] <C>-Continue <H>-H E L P Esc-Quit [ ] a. To determine if you have a pulse or touch phone simply pick you the receiver and touch one of the bottoms. If you hear a beep, you have a touch tone phone. 2. Enter the three choices and they will be redisplayed so that you can correct them if necessary. B. To use the auto dialer you must have the prospect/customer that you wish to call on the Edit Routines menu screen. Page 124 SECTION I USING THE AUTO DIALER TFO 21-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. You then touch <T>-Telephone and the telephone number from the edit screen will be highlighted on the lower portion of the screen and give you a choice to dial the number or not. 2. You will hear the modem dialing the phone. a. You can pick-up the receiver at any point after the dialing sound begins. 3. Be sure to touch the < key as the screen instructs. a. You will then receive the Call Report screen so that you can add a call record while talking to your party. (See TFO-15). 4. It is important to exit the Call Report screen and to touch the < key to hang-up the modem. a. When you do this the Call Report procedure has been timing your call, and the elapsed time of the call will be printed on the Call Report (See TFO-20). SUMMARY: Note that the elapsed time shown for calls on the call report screen and the Call Report itself is not dependent on whether you fill-in call report information using the auto dialer or not. We realize that elapsed time, therefore, is reflected when filling in call records. So if modems are not use in your company then elapsed time can be ignored. - E N D - Page 125 SECTION I SELECTIONS USING UDF CODES TFO 22-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: What follows is how the screens look and how you complete the logical creation of look-up criteria when using the User Defined Fields to search and to display or list portions of the prospect database. When you choose the -User Define selection from the Level 1 selection menu, output will always be in either name or company sequence for the selections you choose. PROCEDURE: A. After selecting "Many letters", "Walknet", "Telemarketing", "Labels", or "Reports" from the Main Menu, you will see the Level 3 Selection screen where you can enter, -User Define and a pop-up window will appear that looks as follows: Page 76 Multiple Letters to PC-WRITE LEVEL 3: Three catagories of lookup are available. Level 3 can sort the various fields shown below, directly; or use Prospect and Salesman codes to cause Level 3 categories to become sub-categories under Level 2's codes. Use Level 1 codes, Region or Office, to have Level 3 and 2 become sub- c----------der the Region or an Office code. You must use Level 3. |FIELD1 |------------------------------------------------------------ |FIELD2 | -Alphabetical <C>-Contact date <F>-Follow-up date | |FIELD3 | -Product code <R>-Record number <S>-Status code | |FIELD4 | -Type code -User defined <Z>-Zip code | |FIELD5 |------------------------------------------------------------ |FIELD6 | ------------ Select Sort Criteria ----------- |FIELD7 | | 1. Select field to sort upon by moving the| |FIELD8 | | light bar using the up and down arrows.| |FIELD9 | | 2. Touch 'S' key to select desired field. | |FIELD10 | --------------------------------------------- |FIELD11 | |FIELD12 | |FIELD13 | |FIELD14 | |FIELD15 | ---------- F1-H E L P Esc-Quit NOTE: Of course, if you have changed the titles using -Utilities and <S>- Setup, then the above 'FIELDnn' list will have your titles in it. 1. After selected the field that you wish to use to find the catagory of prospect, the logic selection screen appears. a. When you touch the letter or use the light bar the logic sign that is created by your selection will appear under the "Verb" in the result box. Page 126 SECTION I SELECTIONS USING UDF CODES TFO 22-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Field Selected Verb Enter Search Data FIELD10 ---------------------- | E-Equals | | D-Does not equal | | G-Greater/Equal | | L-Less than/Equal | | H-H E L P | | Esc-Quit | ---------------------- b. You then fill in the data to search for under the "Enter Search Data" area. I. Answer <Y> should you wish to search on another field, and repeat the "verb" and "data" entries to create a multiple choice statement. 2. The screen will clear and list your selections, in the case of multiple selections. a. If you have entered more than one selection, next to the list will be a column headed "Enter AND or OR" and a message at the bottom that reads: When using multiple selections connect them with AND or OR. AND means in addi- tion to or both condition, and OR means one or the other condition exists. b. For example, the first field might be 'INCOME' and you enter the verb '>=' (greater than and equal to) with the amount of '50000'. I. You then want all those prospects who drive a certain car, so you enter under 'AUTO' = 'CADDY' and connect these two phrases with 'AND'. II. This example would then produce every prospect who earns over $50000 a year and who drives a Cadillac. III. These selections, of course, could include a further limitation based on your Level II selection of either Prospect or Salesman, and/or Level I, Region or Office. 3. You will be returned to the "Select Lookup Level" screen where you can accept or reject your choices. SUMMARY: If you do not know what is possible to know about a company try the Dun & Bradstreet List Service. They have perhaps over 250 different pieces of data on various businesses. However you may have critical product information that you may wish to maintain on your customers in The Front Office. We use 'Y' or 'N' answers to reflect whether the customer purchased a Sales or Manager version of TFO. At any rate, the selection possibilities using these UDF codes seem limitless especially when combined with the existing TFO coding fields. - E N D - Page 127 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: The Front Office considers prospects as customers as soon as you write a sales order. The prospect code will be changed to '00'. Prospect code "00" for customers should always remain so titled under the "Prospect Code" section on the Main Menu. It is used to key on customer reports. The Front Office accepts sales order information and prints a copy of the sales order. You can place up to 6 items on the Sales Order. A state and/or city sales tax percentage is held in the Iamtax.mem file. The first time that you enter the "Tax" routine, The Front Office will ask for a sales tax percentage and other detail (See TFO-25) which is required to produce sales tax reports, and to create Sales Orders. If you state has no sales tax then enter ".00" as a tax percentage. Order numbers are created by The Front Office. They are the customer's record number, with a sequence digit placed at the end representing the number of orders created for that customer. To delete customer orders, see item number 8 of this procedure. Earnings figures and salesperson information is integrated with the Sales Performance System. The primary reason for a marketing and prospecting system that makes Sales Orders is to reduce the double work of perhaps re-entering orders in Accounts Receivable or at the home office: The field salesperson may now transmit orders to the home office via modem saving clerical time for himself and home office personnel. A second reason for creating a Sales Order is that the value of each order is passed to the Job Cost system and compared to estimates and payments which produces sales and customer earnings reports. A third reason for creating a sales order is to track salesperson commissions. And lastly you can tract supplier/principal/vendor expenditures and total margin. In addition, sales figures are added to the sales performance system as earnings for the particular salesperson for the month and year. The month and year that is updated is according to contact date. Should there not be a salesperson name on file with the salesperson code on the prospect or customer record, then The Front Office will let you know. You then can either change the code of record by correcting the salesperson file before entering the Sales Order. Salespersons commissions can be split between two people. The commission percentage and amount of commission can be changed at preparation time. The sales order also produces supplier sales, costs and margin data as well. There must be a supplier in the <V>-Vendor file in order to enter supplier information. The sales order form that you may be using could have been customized for your company's data require-ments and therefore may differ slightly from the examples given in this procedure. Also, you can print sales orders on your letterhead or you can print them on blank continuous paper. If you use blank paper then be sure that you goto the -Utilities menu and the <S>-Setup routine and select 'N-N & A print option' answering the question with a 'Y'. PROCEDURE: 1. Enter <O>, <Enter>, on the Main Menu screen for the "Order" processing system. Page 128 SECTION I SALES ORDER RPOCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. The bottom of the screen will clear and you will see a Sales Order form with the current (either the first one in file or the one that was just on the Edit Routines screen) customer name & address: -------------BILL TO------ S A L E S O R D E R ----------SHIP TO-------------- <your current name> ADDRESS ADDRESS ADDRESS ADDRESS CITY STATE CITY STATE ATTN ZIP ATTN ZIP -P.O. NO------P.O. DATE---ORDER NO----ORDER DATE-------SALESMAN---ENTER DATE / / / / / / ----TERMS------C.O.D-----SHIP VIA------EXTRA WGT------OVERSIZE-------ZONE (Y/N) (Y/N) NO----QUAN--SUPP---PROD CD---COMM------DESCRIPTION----PRICE EACH--T--EXTENSION Select on of the following: [ ] ---------------------------------------------------------------- | <A>-Add order -Backward <F>-Forward <H>-H E L P | | -Index files <S>-Search <V>-View orders Esc-Quit | ---------------------------------------------------------------- Use the above name for the order, or enter <S>-Search and a different name. 2. Enter <H> for "Help" and an explanation of sales orders is given on the screen. 3. Should the prospect/customer name have a salesperson code that does not exist in the Salesperson file you will see the following message at the bottom of the screen: NO SALESMAN ON FILE WITH SALES CODE <incorrect code> < to Quit and to either add salesman for this code or to revise the salesman code. Incorrect salesman codes will not report properly. < to Continue [ ] A. When the Sales Order menu reappears touch <Esc> to Quit, and correct the salesperson code. 5. Touch <S> to search for different prospect/customer data, and the bottom of the screen will clear and display: Page 129 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------ | 1. Touch < for a record on the above prospect/customer. | | 2. For a search, select either 'C,'N', or 'R' and then enter COM- | | PANY, NAME or NO. Upper and lower case letters do not matter. | | 3. File stepping sequence will be according to the field searched, so | | it helps to enter all 15 characters when name and company differ. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter NAME, COMPANY, or REC. NO. [ ] A. Enter the name to search for or Enter to return the Sales Order menu. 6. Touch <F>, Forward, or , Backward as a quick way to locate a prospect/customer name alphabetically near the name shown instead of using <S> for search. 7. Touch , Index, and all sales order files will be re-indexed. 8. Touch <A>, Add order, to write a new sales order for the current name shown and to fill-in any missing heading detail such as "ship to", dates, PO information, etc. A. Therefore, certain fields such as the "bill to" address, order number, order date, etc., will have already been filled-in. 1) Never fill-in your own "bill to" information. 2) Always have The Front Office fill-in the "bill to" information because of the internal coding that is used to keep track of record numbers for job costing. a. You may leave the form from any location by touching the <^W> or the <PgDn> key. b. When the heading is finished, <^W>, or <PgDn>, and the body of the Sales Order, line one, will appear after answering the "Is all O. K. " question with <Y>. I. Answer the question <N> and you will exit this order. 3) Complete line one for item one across the form, as the cursor will be under the "QUAN" field. T-Tax(Y/N) NO---QUAN---SUPP----COMM----------DESCRIPTION--------PRICE EACH--T---EXTENSION 1 NOTE: If you enter a quantity of '0' you will be able to enter your own extension amount. You might use the "description" field to describe any special quantity arrangements, e.g., 10500 widgets @ $1.97 / 100. 4) Notice the instructions regarding the 'SUPP' field being left blank. a. Leaving the 'SUPP' field blank will enable you to quit and not write this order. Page 130 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you do enter a supplier code and it is not in the <V>-Vendor file you cannot proceed with the line item. Be sure all supplier codes are on file before attempting any sales orders. You will need to quit without a valid supplier code. 5) Sales tax considerations: a. When answering with a <Y> for taxes, the sales tax will be calculated after the system multiples the quantity time the price. NOTE: If your state has no tax the Iamtax.mem file will have a "0" percentage, so entering <Y> or <N> will not make any difference. b. Enter <N> for no sales tax, if the item has no tax. c. Should you skip the tax question (blank) you will be prompted again for an answer even is your state has no sales tax. I. The system must have a <Y> or <N> answer. 6) You will be asked whether you wish to split the commission and/or override it: Will commisssions be split (Y or N) [ ] a. If you answer <N>, you can then touch < to accept or change current commission: NOTE: Do not have both a % and a $ amount. One field must have zeros. Enter commission % 5.0 dollar amount $ 0.00 or < to accept... b. If you answer <Y>, you can enter another salesperson code and percentage or amount: NOTE: Do not have both a % and a $ amount. One field must have zeros. Enter 1st salesman code HB Split % 5.0 Split $ 0.00 2nd salesman code Split % Split $ 0.00 Page 131 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Fill-in the commission choices as explained on the screen, or touch <Enter> to accept the numbers shown.. 7) Then the bottom message box will read: Is all OK ? (Y or N) [ ] a. Touch <Y> to accept this line item and the lower right will depict totals for this item. b. Touch <N> to revise the item and you can begin the line again. 8) As each item is entered you see summary data for the item and be asked: LINE ITEM 100.00 TAX 6.00 TOTAL ITEM 100.00 TOTAL SALE 100.00 Order finished? (Y or N) N a. Answer with N (by hitting Enter) and another line will be presented to fill-in across the form to repeat the process for up to six items. I. Should you have more than six items on an order, then make a second order for the customer. NOTE: Payments are made against each order (not just to the customer account), so be careful posting payments to multiple page orders. (See Job Costing, TFO-24). b. Touch <Y> and the total area will summarize this order and you will be prompted with: TOTAL SALE 100.00 TOTAL TAX 6.00 GRANT TOTAL 106.00 Print this order now or later using <R>-Reports. PRINT NOW? (Y or N) [ ] c. When printing Sales Orders you can have your name and address print on the top of the order, or not print, by selecting your choice from the <S>-Setup menu. I. Plain 8 1/2" X 11" paper or letterhead is used for orders. II. When selecting <N>, orders can be printed later in batches for a single date or between two dates using the <R>-Reports selection on the Main Menu, and <C>- Customer orders and then -Print sales orders. a.) This is also the method to obtain copies of past orders. 9) After the Sales Order is finished the bottom half of the screen will clear and you will see: Page 132 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Sales and Commission Update -------------------------- PROD CODE TYPE CODE TOTAL SALE 100.00 NOTE: Promise and ship dates may also be SALESMAN COMM 10.00 Entered thru <J>-Job Costing. Sales to SALESMAN YTD COMM 38,218.12 date are posted at this time, but profits CUSTOMER SALES YTD 3,323.23 are posted to the customer when you print CUST JC PROFIT YTD 923.90 the Job Payments Report and close the job PROMISED DATE / / with a final payment SHIP DATE / / a. The product and type codes, if shown, are from the prospect file and can be changed in the prospect files at this point. b. Enter a promised and ship date, if you wish, for the job costing module. c. The "Total Sale" comes from the order and the commission figure is calculated from the percentage figure for the salesperson credited with this order. d. This order's sale amount is added to YTD sales for this customer and the new total is maintained on the prospect file. I. This earned amount is added to the "earned" in the Salesperson Performance file according to the month and year of the "contact date". NOTE: Profits are computed from payments entered using the Job Costing module, and are added to the year-to-date profits maintained on each customer. Profits are only added to the customer records when the 'Profits vs Actual' report is run using the Job Costing module, and when customer payments are entered. e. You will be given a chance to change any of these entries: Is all O. K.? (Y or N) [ ] I. An <N>, <Enter>, will return the display to the original "Sales Commission Update" screen and not update any records. II. A <Y>, <Enter>, will update the records and save the information. III. Should there not be any performance figures in the salesperson file for the month and year of this order, then the following message will appear as a reminder to update sales goals. Please NOTE that there are no performance figures for this month on this salesman. See salesman number <the number in question> in the Sales System. Page 133 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a). This is a reminder in case you wish to enter the quota figures later using <S>-Sales from the Main Menu. b). The earnings figures for the salesperson will be updated anyway. IV. Lastly, sales order information will be written to the job file after the system does some checks: a). When no estimate or job exist for this Sales Order, you will see the reminder: There are NO jobs for this customer! An estimate record (E) will be created for Job Cost with Sales Order information! To enter a description for this estimate, see 'J'-Job Cost from the Main Menu. Customer payments are also posted using the Job Cost module. < to Continue [ ] b). When a job or estimate does exists for this order you will see: C u r r e n t J o b L i s t JOB # JOB NAME DATE 00031A 07/15/89 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales orders are applied against a job for custing purposes. Enter a letter from the above list, or enter the next available letter to start a new job. Enter a JOB LETTER for this order (A, B, C, etc) A a). If only one job exists, simply touch Enter to accept the default, job letter, 'A'. f. The Sales Order menu will reappear so that you can write another order if you wish, or... Updating transactions before returning to the Main Menu... Page 134 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Touch <V>-View Orders and you can step through abbreviated versions of each order on file for a selected customer or all customers. As you look at each order you will also habe the option to delete orders. A. Do a <S>-Search first for the customer whose order(s) you wish to view. 1. You will receive a screen message, if you attempt a <V>-View and there are no orders on file for the customer. B. The first order in file for the chosen customer will appear on the screen as follows: <current sequence> Delete Sales Orders O p e n O r d e r s Company: <current company> Name: <current name> Record number: 00031 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |ITEM NO.|ORDER DATE|QUAN | DESCRIPTION | AMOUNT | DATES | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- T o t a l -Backward <F>-Forward <D>-Delete Esc-Quit [ ] Select the sales order you wish then touch 'D' to delete it. 1) You may step through the orders file by touching <F> or . 2) Should you wish to delete the chosen order, touch <D>, and answer the confirm question with <Y>. Page 135 SECTION I SALES ORDER PROCESSING AND COMMISSIONS TFO 23-9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- | Deleting Sales Order! | ------------------------- Confirm delete? (Y or N) [Y] a. The bottom box will clear and display each activity as it is accomplished. b. You will see the view menu screen return. c. Touch Esc to return to the sales order menu. SUMMARY: We have seen how to write, edit, and delete sales orders. All salesperson performance, commissions and job costing data is automatically updated as each sales order is written. When deletions are called for the same data is reversed by the system and records are removed from the files. It is best to verify that the <V>-Vendor, <S>-Sales, and <A>-sAles tax modules have vendor/supplier/-principal, salesperson, and state sales tax information filled-in correctly before attempting to write a sales order. Many will use sales orders for tracking anticipated salesperson and supplier commissions, and to control payments received from principals, using the printed orders for filing purposes only, while not actually sending a copy of the order to the customer or to a principal. The value even here is obvious since all financial data is maintained, i.e, total billed income, profits, total commissions received, total commissions paid-out, profits by customer; and if you use the job costing module, total net profit, total net profit by customer, and total payments from customers. - E N D - Page 137 SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS TFO 24-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: To report customer information, code status, sales and profits year-to-date for each customer with totals. To report customer orders in sales order or alphabetical sequence for any chosen period. The customer profit report can be summarized on the screen to see quite easily how productive sales activity has been. Profits are posted to the customer record after the Job Costing Report called "Payment vs Actual Cost" is printed using <J>-Job costing reports. Net profit is posted according to the dates given. Therefore, only print the "Payments vs Actual Cost" report according to a prescribed schedule, e.g., weekly or monthly. You choose the dating each time, so be careful or you could duplicate your figures or miss jobs. (See TFO 24). When printing sales orders by date, be sure that you have informed TFO of whether or not you desire to have your company's name and address printed in the heading. Some may wish to use letter head to print Sales Orders, but if not, use the -Utilities and <S>-Setup menus, and select 'N' and answer 'Y' to the name and address question. PROCEDURE: 1. Enter <R>, <Enter>, for "Reports" from the Main Menu screen, to obtain the following Reports Menu: R E P O R T S M E N U Select one of the following: [ ] --------------------------------------------- |C - CUSTOMER REPORTS MENU | |J - JOB COSTING REPORTS | |P - PROSPECT LISTINGS & FOLLOW-UP REPORTS | |S - Salesman Performance Report | |T - Tax report | --------------------------------------------- F1-H E L P Capital titles indicate sub-menus will appear Esc-Quit A. Should you touch <F1>-Help you will see: -----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------ <C>-Another menu for customers, including batch printing of sales orders. <J>-Costing reports can also be run from the 'J' Job Cost selection, MAIN MENU. -Prospects can be sorted in many ways for review and follow-up listings. <S>-Also can be run from the 'S' Salesman selection, MAIN MENU. <T>-Also available from 'T', Tax selection, MAIN MENU. 2. Touch the letter <C> for "Customer Reports" and the screen will clear and display: Page 138 SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS TFO 24-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S A L E S O R D E R R E P O R T S Select report type [ ] ---------------------------------------------------------------- | <C>-Customer order report <E>-Earnings report-customer | | <O>-Orders paid report -Print sales orders | | <R>-Report of Comm. & Ship. <S>-Salesman order report | | <T>-Transmit sales orders <V>-Vendor/Supplier report | ---------------------------------------------------------------- F1-H E L P Esc-Quit A. Should you touch <H> for help you will see: -----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------ <C>-Summarizes orders by dates with totals for each customer. <E>-List customers showing total sales and earnings. <O>-After printing PAID ORDERS and option is presented to delete them from file. -Prints Sales Orders by enter date. Reprints any printed at entry time. <R>-Print reports of commissions due and paid by salesman or by principal <S>-Same as 'C' but with totals by salesman. <T>-A customized feature to transmit orders to the Home Office by modem. <V>-Prints sales orders showing sale amount, margin, and cost by supplier. Customer and Salesman list can be in either name or number sequence. B. Touch <C> and the middle of the screen will display the following for a "Customer Sales Order Report": NOTE: Touching <S> is the same as <C> except the form title and sub-totals are by Salesperson when selecting <S>. The sequence can be by either customer sequence for each salesperson or in salesperson order when selecting <S>. Sequence ------------------- | A-Alphabetical | | N-Numeric | | Esc-Quit | ------------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>. Ordered according to Company or Name Page 139 SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS TFO 24-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) You must select either <A>, <N>, or <Esc>. 2) Next the bottom of the screen will clear and display: DATING-Orders appear on reports based on a beginning and ending date. Entering the same date for a beginning and ending date will report the order only for that one day. Hit < to enter blank dates so that all orders will report. Enter Beginning date / / and Ending date / / 3) Enter the dates or blanks and you can enter <N> to quit if you wish to: Is all O. K? (Y or N) 4) Answer with a <Y>, and the printer pause will appear on the screen in order to prepare the printer. Preparing Customer Sales Order report... Printing report.... a. All sales orders will be on the report providing the dates of the orders are within the dates given. B. Touch <E> for the "Earnings Report" which reports year to date customer's sales and earnings beginning with the following pop-up screen: Print to: -------------- | F1-H E L P | | P-Printer | | S-Screen | | Esc-Quit | -------------- Listings -------------- | C-Complete | | S-Summary | | Esc-Quit | -------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>. Print all data Page 140 SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS TFO 24-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Touch <F1> for an explanation of customer earnings listings. 2) Select either or <S> and the screen will clear and display the 'Listing' menu. a. The <C>-Complete selection will print all customers either to the screen or to the printer depending on your previous choice. NOTE: The report is also used to check your entries. Profits and sales year to date are shown for each customer (coded with a prospect code of '00') with grand totals. When a "Total Sales" figure is "0.00" this means that no Sales Order has been issued, yet the prospect code is "00". If the "Total Profits" figure is "0.00" then you have not updated Job Cost and recorded any customer payments. b. The <S>-Summary will produce just total sales and earnings. I). This permits a quick way of knowing just how productive all sales activity has been. NOTE: Profits year-to-date are updated only after selecting <J>-Job Costing Reports, and then select -Payments VS Actual Cost report. Profits are calculated based on customer payments received. Net profit (i.e., after all expenses and before taxes) is the "Total Profit" figure reported! c. Next the bottom of the screen will clear again and you will see: ------------------- |PREPARING FILE! | | Please wait... | ------------------- NOTE: This is the automatic re-index feature. It means that if you have made any changes or additions to your files since the last time that you made this selection then the prospect file is re-indexed. If you had not made any changes to the selected fields or had not made any additions to the file then the pause for re-indexing will not take place. I). And following by: Preparing report. . . Page 141 SECTION I CUSTOMER REPORTS TFO 24-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- d. When printing to the printer, the screen will clear and display: E A R N I N G S R E P O R T Please be certain paper is aligned... < to Continue e. When printing to the screen touch Enter as each screen is displayed. < to Continue Esc-Quit 3) Whether you are printing on the screen or the printer the final display will read: C U S T O M E R R E P O R T TOTAL CUSTOMERS SALES YTD PROFIT YTD 31 220916.96 48622.36 a. When you touch <Enter> you will be returned to the "Sales Orders Reports" menu. SUMMARY: Sales are reflected above for customers and for salespersons depending on the selections that you make. Salespersons need to know how they are progressing or whether they are maintaining their expected earnings. This customer information will help do that and print the results for analysis either through a Customer Sales Order Report or a salesperson Sales Order Report. The Salesperson Performance Report using <S>-Sales from the Main Menu will report additional sales performance figures but with the addition of the various salesperson's goals. - E N D - Page 143 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: As you may agree, you can't tell a customer that you need to charge him more when a quote goes bad, but it is good to know that you have a system that will continue to track your efforts to better guide you in the future. To help control profits for those companies that operate primarily on a per job basis, such as computer value added resellers, plumbers, and contractors of all sorts. There are two ways to obtain profits from The Front Office: (1) From the margin reflected in the <V>-Vendor file and recorded each time you do a sales order, and (2) from the expenses incurred against jobs using Job Costing and it's reports. Both ways can be used, as reporting does not confuse the two figures. The Customer Earnings Report reflects profits from this Job Cost activity. Vendor reports reflect profits from the vendor margin percentage. For Job Cost, The Front Office considers expenses in two basic categories, fixed expenses and direct expenses. Fixed expenses would be light, heat, rent etc., and they can be expressed as a percentage of total earnings. Your accountant can furnish you with a percentage figure that The Front Office can use for fixed expenses. You can change this percentage at any time using "Utilities" from the Main Menu. The Front Office processes detail transactions for labor, material, freight and commissions. We call these figures actual costs (direct sales expenses). The Front Office uses expenses directly (direct expenses) attributed to a particular sale or job to measure profit performance while handling indirect (fixed) expenses as a general category. Estimates and actual costs (direct expenses) are entered into the system and controlled by a Job Cost Number. We often refer to fixed expenses as overhead. So, when estimating jobs, do consider the overhead percentage and add it to your final quote to the prospect. The Front Office accepts the results of your final estimate or quote! Profits are derived from actual costs and compared to the latest of one of three figures: the estimate, the sales order or the payment. Transaction codes are used to keep track of actual costs (M=Material, L=Labor, F=Freight), orders (O=Order, R=Reserve for Commission) and payments (P=Payment, T=Taxes). As in all areas of The Front Office, transactions can be easily changed or edited. Sales taxes should not be included in your estimates, but they are included in the sales order and the payments. Payments are entered into the job cost system and are used for a final profit figure. Posted against a job, payments credit (reduced amounts owned) sales orders so that orders can be closed and sales tax can be credited for state tax reports. TFO reports sales tax at the time payment is received, not when an order is booked. In addition, profits are calculated and integrated with the customer sales file so that earnings reports can be analyzed. Profits are net, i.e., after all expenses. Reporting is done for periods of time that you decide upon. Status reports show order dates, promised dates, and shipped dates within the job costing system. Critical to proper reporting of profits is the "Payment vs. Actual Cost" report. Print it on a schedule, so that profits are not reported for the same period twice. You control the range of dates for the period desired. PROCEDURE: 1. Before entering data into the cost system, select -Utilities from the Main Menu to enter the fixed overhead expense percentage, if you have not done so already. If you have, see step 2. Page 144 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Select <J>-Job Cost Overhead % after entering -Utility and <S>-Setup from the Main Menu. 1) Type the percentage (05, 10, 20) as a fixed expense of income (overhead) and touch <Enter>. 2) This figure can be changed at anytime. NOTE: You should review your latest Income and Expense Statement (or Profit & Loss) to determine this percentage. a. Divide total income for the last year (or last quarter) by the total Indirect Expenses (light, heat, telephone, etc). NOTE: Do not use expenses attributed directly to Sales. TFO accepts these expenses when purchases are made and labor is expended. 3) Direct cost for labor, material, freight, commissions are entered against each job estimate as well as an overhead amount which The Front Office calculates from this overhead percentage. NOTE: When entering new jobs be certain to include a dollar amount for this overhead expense as part of your estimate to the prospect. B. Touch <Enter> to exit to the Main Menu after entering the percentage. 2. Touch <J>-Job Costing from the Main Menu and you will see the following screen: <sequence> J O B C O S T I N G CURRENT ----------------------------------------------------- CONTACT |COMPANY | |NAME TPH | |CITY STATE | |THIS REC NEXT JOB EST.DATE / / | ----------------------------------------------------- Select one of the following: [ ] ------------------------------------------------------------------- |-Backward <D>-Delete jobs <F>-Forward <H>-H E L P | |<R>-job Reports <S>-Search <T>-Transactions Esc-Quit | ------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the ABOVE NAME for job costing, or ENTER <S>-Search and a different name. A. Select <H> and you will see at the bottom of the screen: Page 145 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------N O T E S------------------------------------- <D>-Delete individual jobs or delete all financial data on file. <S>-Search to find existing jobs for changes or review before entering 'T'. <T>-Transactions will list jobs for the selected prospect/customer and en- able the update of job activity. Actual costs to date are listed. Over- head is calculated using the estimate or sales order whichever is later. Also use 'T' to add NEW jobs, to enter an estimated quote and to estimate costs. Each job is given a letter which is added to the above 'REC' number. Letters are assigned alphabetically by the computer. In addition, 'T' is also used to enter actual costs to date, payments and any changes. <O>-Orders from the MAIN MENU will produce sales & commission transactions. <R>-Listings to report profits, taxes, balances. Same as MAIN MENU Reports. B. <T> for "Transactions" produces the following screen for the current name displayed: C U R R E N T J O B L I S T JOB # JOB NAME DATE -------------Total Estimated Costs to Date---------------- EST SALE LABOR MATERIAL FREIGHT EST PROFIT * = No sales order entered as of this date. All totals above are estimates. Orders and payments could change profit figure. 1) A search is done and should there not be any jobs on file for the selected name, then you will see: No JOBS for this NAME a. The screen will hold the first three jobs, so if there are more, the display will scroll three more jobs for the current name. NOTE: Should a job not have a sales order on it as yet it will be flagged with an asterisk on the left. < to Continue [ ] b. When all jobs have been displayed: No more JOBS for this NAME c. Your first decision allows you to add a job or not: <A>-Add job <H>-H E L P <T>-Transactions Esc-Quit [ ] Page 146 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Touch <Esc> return to the "Job Costing" menu. II. Choose <A>-Add jobs and the screen will clear from about half-way and display: E N T E R N E W J O B JOB LETTER EST. DATE JOB TITLE PROMISED DATE ------------E N T E R E S T I M A T E D C O S T--------- EST SALE LABOR MATERIAL FREIGHT EST PROFIT The cost file uses transaction codes C, E, L, M, O,and P. Code E, Estimate, is assigned when jobs are added (<A>-Add jobs) to the file. Only one estimate is allowed per job. When adding new jobs the estimated profit is calculat- ed based on the estimated sale minus labor, material, freight & overhead. Labor costs should include any commissions to be paid. All OK ? (Y, N or Quit) [ ] a.) Fill in the above "form" with your estimate figures, job title and dates as desired. NOTE: You can produce a sales order prior to an estimate or quote. When you do, the Job will be created and a Job Number assigned. You would then need to edit the estimate. The job will be listed showing the sales order and the estimate, but without an estimate amount or a job title. III. Touching <T> passes you to the transactions screen, by- passing the need to add any jobs at this time. a.) Should there not be any jobs on file after touching <Enter>, you will see an error message: There must be a Job to do Transactions...Hit <ENTER> [ ] b.) When you touch <Enter> you will be returned to the "Job Costing" menu. c.) Should there be more than one job on the current name The Front Office needs to know what job you require: What JOB LETTER do you want? (A,B,C,D, etc) [ ] Page 147 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- d.) Enter the letter for the job that you wish to use or touch <Enter> to accept the default letter. e.) Entering a letter for a job that does not exists and the following error message appears: NO JOB ON FILE WITH THIS LETTER - Hit <C>-Continue [ ] f.) The screen for entering transactions shows estimate information across the middle of the screen and transactions below: ESTIMATE-------EST. LABOR------EST. MAT'L--------EST. FREIGHT-----EST. PROFIT ACTUAL TC DESCRIPTION DATE COST AMOUNT----------A C T U A L C O S T T O D A T E--------PROFIT TO DATE ******** Labor/Mat'l Freight Commission NET MINUS OVHD NET = Actual costs are subtracted from amount ******** less taxes <A>-Add trans <E>-Edit trans <H>-H E L P <V>-View trans Esc-Quit [ ] <<< No more transactions for this job >>> g.) The screen holds 6 transactions on the currently selected job. NOTE: The asterisks are substituted for one of three words that appear at this location on the screen: "estimate", "order", or "payment". If a Sales Order has been entered, then the word "order" prints; if just the estimate has been entered, "estimate" prints; and if a payment has been entered then "payment" prints. The job status is thereby flagged for you. h.) Should there be more than 6 transactions at this point, then touch <Enter> to display more transactions until all have been displayed. i.) The "Profit to Date" figures are less any sales taxes, so that is why the figures will not work out sometimes, so do not be concerned. j.) When all transactions have been listed, you will see the message: " No more transactions for this job " Page 148 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. A-Add Trans produces the next screen for you to fill-in beginning with a transaction code: (F)-Freight costs received. (L)-Labor costs incurred. (M)-Material costs purchased for the job. (P)-Payments received from the customer on a job. NOTE: (R)-Reserve for commission is created when a Sales Order is prepared and there is a commission to be paid to a salesperson. (E)-for estimate is also created when no job exist. (paragraph II above). A D D T R A N S A C T I O N S TC DESCRIPTION DATE AMOUNT Transaction codes (TC) are L=Labor, M=Material, P=Payment or F=Freight. DO NOT use 'E'. You may enter as many transactions as necessary for a job. Net profit is based on either the estimate, orders or payments. Profits on payments are only reported when a completion date is entered with a payment. Transaction dates should not be earlier than the estimate date.! REMINDER - ARE ALL COSTS ENTERED? a.) Should you attempt to add a transaction with any letter other than what is expected the computer will give you this error message: USE L, M, P, F or Q(Quit) - Hit <C>-Continue [ ] b.) Should you attempt to enter a date earlier than the original estimate date: DATE is EARLIER than ESTIMATE DATE... Hit <C>-Continue [ ] c.) When each transaction is entered you will have a chance to quit without updating the record by answering <N> to: Is ALL O.K. ? (Y or N) [ ] Page 149 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- d.) Adding payments is a bit special as TFO looks to see what sales orders are on file in order to determine the sales taxes that may be applicable. e.) If no sales orders are on file for the chosen job you will see: S A L E S O R D E R S NO SALES ORDER ON FILE.... When the order is prepared, will there be any sales tax? (Y, N or Quit) [ ] I.) The payment can be posted before the sales order is prepared (providing there is a job estimate on file, of course). II.) Sales Tax is required to be paid upon receipt of payment, so when you answer <Y> to the above question you will see: We will need to calculate the sales tax at this time, so please note the payment above. A portion of the above payment may be taxed or all of it may be taxed. Enter portion to be taxed or hit <ENTER> to tax all of it. Amount to be taxed [ . ] III.) Enter the taxed amount, as it may be different than the payment as some items on your sales order may not be taxable. Calculating sales tax.... Page 150 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- f.) When a sales order(s) is on file, a special sales order screen appears listing the orders for the current job. NO.----DATE---------DESCRIPTION--------EXTENSION---------TAX---------TOTAL 3 order(s) on file for this customer. TOTAL: <H>-H E L P <F>Forward -Pay this order Esc-Quit [ ] I). Each order for this job will be displayed followed by the above menu: II). Touch <F> or to review each order to see which one should receive payment. III). One of two possible messages flash to quide your search for orders for this job. First sales order Only one sales order for this Customer IV). Touch -Pay this order and the cursor will move to the payment amount where you can enter an amount and touch <Enter> or simply touch <Enter> to accept as payment the amount of the order that is shown. V). The completion dates that you see default according to the payment date that you entered, and, of course, can be over-riden. Hit < to accept above PAYMENT AMOUNT, or type the amount of this payment. When a sales order and/or Job is completed, enter the completion dates below. A sales order date means paid orders appear on the Paid Orders Report. A Job Costing date means payments are used for job cost comparisons and that the job is complete. Hit < to enter the dates shown, or enter spaces when more payments are expected on an Order, or when more data is to be entered on a Job. SALES ORDER completion date 07/15/89 JOB completion date 07/15/89 g). A sales tax reminder message is next: Page 151 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S A L E S T A X N O T I C E When posting a payment to a sales order with tax, the tax amount is recorded in the state tax record for the current month. The amount of tax posted depends on amount of the payment, I.e., partial payments will post partial tax amounts. See 'T-Tax on MAIN MENU. Is all O.K? (Y or N) h). You can still quit, or touch <Y> to record payment. V. Touch <E>-Edit transactions produces this screen: E D I T T R A N S A C T I O N S The first transaction above is the estimate, code 'E' Use or <F> to select a transaction: then use <R> to enter changes. Other transaction codes are L=La- bor, M=Material, F=Freight, O=Orders, P=Payment and R=Resv. for Comm. Sale and comm. amounts CAN NOT be revised here, but use <O>-Orders from the MAIN MENU. ACTUAL CURR. PROFIT is actual costs subtracted from estimate, order or payment. 'Add Trans' to enter actual costs for labor, material or freight. a). Editing an estimate creates the following screen: ACTUAL TC DESCRIPTION PROMISED SHIPPED COMPLETE CURR. PROFIT b). And the regular edit screen where just the description, date, and actual cost are revised: ACTUAL TC DESCRIPTION DATE COST -Backward <D>-Delete <F>-Forward <R>-Revise Esc-Quit [ ] Page 152 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I). Complete the screen for the chosen item to edit after touching <R> for revise. c). To delete a transaction use <F>-Forward or - Backward to locate the one that you wish to delete and then touch <D>: D E L E T E T R A N S A C T I O N S When deleting 'E' (Estimate transactions) all the activity on the entire job will be deleted. Otherwise only the individual transactions will be deleted. 'O' (Orders), 'P' (Payments), 'R' (Reserve for commisssion), and 'T' (Taxes) must be deleted in order to change the transactions. They cannot be edited! After a job is dated complete, use 'D-Delete jobs' from the Job Cost menu. Confirm delete (Y, N, or Esc) [ ] I). Sales orders (O transactions) cannot be deleted here. NOTE: You will need to go to the <O>-Orders module to <V>-View and then delete the sales order which in turn will remove it from the Job Cost file. (See TFO 22). VI. Here are some other error messages that can occur in order to keep things under control: USE L, M, or F ONLY - Hit <C>-Continue [ ] DATE is EARLIER than ESTIMATE DATE... Hit <C>-Continue [ ] C. <R>-Reporting presents the following menu: Page 153 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C O S T C O N T R O L R E P O R T S Report Type Sequence --------------- --------------- |J-Job Status | |A-Alphabetic | |O-Orders | |J-Job number | |P-Payments | |H-H E L P | |Esc-Quit | |Esc-Quit | --------------- --------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter>. Sequence will report in customer order I. Should you touch <H> you will see: -----------------------------------N O T E S----------------------------------- J=Job progress with profits less all costs to date and profit less overhead. O=Paymnets, job balances, taxes, and dating on all jobs that have an order. P=Actual detail costs, original extimates, and % of profit based on payments. Profit is posted to the customer record and will appear on Earnings Report. NOTE: This is the same menu that is available when using <R>-Reports, from the Main Menu after selecting <J>-Job costing reports. a. After selecting one letter from each catagory the bottom of the screen will be filled with date requirements: DATING-Jobs appear on report based on a beginning and ending date. Entering The same date for a beginning and ending date will report the jobs only for that one date. Hit < to enter blank dates so that all jobs will report. Enter Beginning date [ / / ] Ending date [ / / ] II. Should you have selected for "Payments" you will need to decide on an answer to the following question: DO YOU WISH TO POST PROFITS FOR THE PERIOD? (Y or N) [ ] a. Answering <Y> means that net profit will be posted to the customer record for "Earnings Report-Customer" to reflect profitability in the "Total Profit" column. NOTE: Answer <Y> once a month. The rest of the time answer N, should you want an interim payment report. Whenever you answer Y dates entered should be the beginning and ending period dates. The point is do not overlap dates with a Y answer or you will cause duplication on the report. Page 154 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. Always run the "Payments" report each month from the Job Cost <R>-Report selection before printing a monthly <E>-Earnings report-Customer. 1). In this manner you will be assured of current, up-to- date profit figures. c. You will be given a chance to verify that your printer is properly set-up before printing begins. d. It is normal for a delay to occur prior to the actual printing of the reports. D. Select <D>-Delete Jobs to delete individual jobs or to delete all financial data entered to date. NOTE: The purpose in removing all financial data, including sales orders, jobs, earnings, performance figures, etc., is to clear out any practice data that you may have entered. I. You will see a pop-up menu box on the right: Deletions --------------- |A-All dollars| |C-Complete | |H-H E L P | |Esc-Quit | --------------- Touch a letter or use arrow keys to make selections then touch <Enter> CAUTION--INCLUDES SALES ORDERS, COMMISSIONS and EARNINGS a. Using <C>-Complete means that only those jobs marked as paid with a completion date will be deleted. b. Should you elect <A>-All dollars you will obtain a chance to change your minds. Deleting financial data! CAUTION: ENTER 'N' BELOW TO not delete ALL JOBS, SALES ORDERS, EARNINGS, AND FINANCIAL DATA. IF YOU NEED A MORE CURRENT BACKUP, THEN EXIT FROM THE MAIN MENU AND TYPE 'BACKUP C:\TFO\TFOFILES\*.* A: <ENTER> FROM THE DOS PROMPT. Confirm delete? (Y or N) [Y] I.) Select <N> and you will be returned to the Job Cost Menu. Page 155 SECTION I JOB COSTING TFO 25-13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Front Office is a management system, designed to improve your business decisions and profits as you proceed with sales efforts. The Front Office is intended to increase income through improved marketing and sales prospecting techniques. In addition, The Front Office has been designed to work with those areas of a business that most frequently have to do with public contact. Good management information controls how we must deal with the public. Profit analysis can force better business practices, improved quoting and better sales techniques. Also, when you enter a sales order/invoice and there are no job costing transactions on file this is OK. You can also post payments on these sales orders (using Job Costing) without any cost transactions on file. In this manner, you are able to track such activity without ever using cost transactions. Profits of course will be distorted, so do understand. TFO does not attempt to do accounting, just bookkeeping. Concerning payment transactions, a report of paid sales orders is intended to show partial payments and to assist with paying salesmen. The salesperson's performance report shows sales earnings from the commission percentage entered at the time that the sales order is produced. See the <S>-Sales module from the Main Menu. Commissions are considered a "reserve for commission". Normally, commissions are paid when the orders are paid by the customer, so therefore, you may wish to match the paid orders report with the sales performance report for contolling payroll. Regardless of how you pay your sales people, the reports are meant to assist management with sales and production. Especially if you are a very small business, The Front Office takes all the drugery away from record keeping...i.e, providing you key in the data, or as the old expression goes: ....Habits make perfection. - E N D - Page 156 SECTION I TAXES TFO 26-1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: To control and report state and/or city sales taxes, The Front Office makes a couple of assumptions. The first assumption is that taxes are paid upon receipt of income. The Iamtax file holds all orders with their appropriate sales tax amount, if any. A second file holds the state sales tax percentage, your company name and address, and sales tax ID number, etc. This file is first created when you select <A>-sAles tax from the Main Menu for the first time. Considering the sales tax and the <J>-Job Cost module, taxes are calculated from total payments, i.e., the total payment including the tax. For example, assuming the tax is 6 percent, a $100.00 payment calculates to a sale of $94.34 which is the payment minus the tax amount of $5.66. This assumption is done with partial payments or down payments as well. Unlike a cash register where the sale amount computes the sales tax, The Front Office assumes that the entered payment includes the tax and then computes the tax (where there is a tax) to come down to the sale amount. However, when using the <A>-sAles tax module manually and when entering <O>-Orders, The Front Office will compute the tax on the amount of the sale just like a cash register. You can post payments using this Income and Sales Tax Control menu or you can use the Job Cost system, but not both, as you could double up on the amount of tax due the state. Final reporting indicates how much is owned the local taxing authority. It helps to send a copy of the report with your check for the period. The report is used to complete the tax authorities forms, if necessary, as some states will accept the report. The name and address that you use in the Tax ID file is the same name and address that is used on the sales order. Processing a sales order will not continue if the Tax ID file has not been created. PROCEDURE: 1. The first menu screen for taxes appears when you select A-sAles Tax from the Main Menu: I N C O M E & S A L E S T A X C O N T R O L Select on of the following [ ] ----------------------- |C - Change payments | |E - Enter payments | |H - H E L P | |P - Purge payments | |R - Report taxes due | In last posted on |T - Tax ID file | 06/15/89 |Esc-Quit | ----------------------- A. Touch <H> to see a help screen about what each selection does. Page 157 SECTION I TAXES TFO 26-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Touch <E>-Enter payments when you should desire to pick up payments for tax purposes because you are not using <J>-Job Cost for payments. E N T E R P A Y M E N T S ENTER PAYMENT DATE [ / / ] ENTER AMOUNT RECEIVED $ [ . ] ENTER A CUSTOMER NAME [ ] A. Fill in the payment date, the total amount paid, and a customer name or anything to help you to later identify the receipt. B. The screen then asks whether the payment is exempt from sales taxes or not: CUSTOMER NAME EXEMPT (Y or N) :Y: C. The tax is computed and you can indicate whether the tax has been paid to the state or not: 1) This is usually <N> at this time. 2) Change 'PAID STATE' to Y after writing your check to the state for amount of taxes collected and after producing the Tax Report. NOTE: This is the procedure for purging the file. (See Para 5.) STATE SALES TAX NET SALE PAID STATE? (Y or N) [N] D. Should the tax not be correct perhaps because only part of the payment was taxable then you can correct the computers calculation. CONTINUE (Y, N, or C=Change) [ ] 1) A <Y> answer permits more entries and an <N> is to quit, or <C> is to change the current entry. Page 158 SECTION I TAXES TFO 26-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Should you accidentally touch <Y> and meant to touch <N>, then just enter spaces and then touch <N>. The spaces will not be recorded in the tax file. 3. Touch <C>-Changes to correct any entries on file that may be in error. NOTE: Perhaps after printing out the Tax Report you found some mistakes, then use <C>, make the changes and reprint the report: I N C O M E E D I T R O U T I N E ENTER 'E' (EXIT to MENU) or <C>-Continue .... [ ] Enter a month and year below to begin a record by record search within that month. If 'PAID STATE' is 'Y' then that item will be flagged for delete. Use [control] 'W' to skip and save. Enter MONTH NUMBER (XX) [ ] and the YEAR (XX) [ ] A. When the month and year that you enter happens to not have any records in it this error message appears: No records on file for :09/86: Hit <C>-Continue [ ] B. If all is in order, the you will see: DATE [09/12/86: AMOUNT [ 99.95: NAME [Acme Controls ] EXEMPT (Y or N) [N] SALES TAX [ 6.00] NET SALE [ 93.95] PAID STATE (Y or N) [N] REPORT MO [09/86] Continue (Y or N) [ ] 1) When "PAID STATE" has a "Y" the screen will print to the right of the date: * DELETED *