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FMS is a trademark of MICROMATE
F r e i g h t M a n a g e m e n t S y s t e m
Version 1.00
MICROMATE 1991
All Rights Reserved
Written by G. Roger Clark
MICROMATE
6691 Berwick Drive
Franklin, Ohio 45005 U.S.A.
Telephone: (513) 424-8081 / 424-6483
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A Walk Through The Freight Management System Sampler Program
(Copyright (c) 1991, G. Roger Clark)
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Requirements
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DOS 3.1 or higher or 100% compatible environment
2 meg or greater of hard disk space
305 Kilobytes of free memory
OVERVIEW
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FMS is the entry level program of a family of traffic and
transportation software. Though not as comprehensive as ShipMate
II or ShipMate III, this product will serve the needs of small
companies quite well. FMS is available in network and stand-alone
versions, but its intended use does not include the larger and
more departmentalized companies. In practical terms, three
distinct information management systems and several "utility"
programs, allow MicroMate customers in the transportation industry
to choose, cafeteria style, those products that best suite their
present and growing needs.
You will probably be using the "Sampler" in a stand-alone
situation, but in actual use there may be several users at once.
In a local area network (or multi-user) situation, companies
recover their investment in our products very quickly with
tremendous productivity gains and reduction of errors. Someone
could be setting up new accounts at the same time another is
dispatching loads, while yet another is sending out freight bills,
and concurrently, someone else is doing collections. A serious
productivity gain is found in the fact FMS does NOT require
constant report printing and review of reports. Much of this type
of information is displayed to the user on-screen in tables and
forms. This is a BIG time saver.
REMEMBER, FMS is designed to help you OPERATE your company, not
just account for it. You use FMS as you work, not as an adjunct
to the heavy work load you already have. Far more valuable than
the "modified accounting programs" being offered to trucking
firms, FMS is a way to get on top of things and save money in the
process.
MENTION is made in this document of ShipMate and other products.
Our purpose here is to help "sampler" users distinguish all the
products better and make a more appropriate decision for their
company's needs. Samplers for ShipMate products are also available
for interested parties.
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TO START FMS, log on to the drive and directory where you
installed it (example: C:\>FMS) and type, FMS.
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I. MAIN MENU. The F1 key provides general program help at the
main menu, but don't forget to use F1 throughout the program
for help on almost every screen and field. Most main menu
selections are familiar terms and welcome your exploration. It
is recommended that you get acquainted with BASE FILES first,
even adding some of your own customers, drivers, rates, etc.,
before you move on to any "transaction" records such as order
entry.
II. BASE FILES. (Note: Don't forget that the INS key will allow
you to add a new record to most (but not all) of the tables
throughout the program).
Base files provide the expected base records for lookup
functions in the transaction modules (such as order entry,
dispatch). Since you cannot lookup data that does not exist,
base files should be constantly kept up to date with new
drivers, customers, rates, etc. In networked FMS (or
ShipMate), your dispatchers, sales people, etc. may handle
transaction entries as they work. Accordingly, a data entry
person is freed up to do nothing but base file updates! This
is a recommended approach.
Everything in BASE FILES is real straight-forward and doesn't
require a lot of study, but do review the following:
1) Labels and Descriptions: These are used by the transaction
modules (freight bill and other forms) to reduce keystrokes
when doing transaction entries. For example, a record of a
special freight description can be entered into LABELS AND
DESC once, and then merely "picked" off a table with a
couple of keystrokes when doing ALL future records using
this same description. Several records come with your
program and may meet your needs without any data entry on
your part.
2) Customers and Accounts: This is your shippers, consignees,
and bill-to accounts file. If you have customers with a
bill-to address that is different than the pickup or regular
mail address, you merely create a separate record for the
bill-to, using the same company name, but the correct
bill-to address. Bill-to records can be abbreviated to only
provide information needed in your billing and collection
procedures.
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Agent Code is only required if a sales agent (or terminal) is
to get sales credit for orders received from this account.
There is a name search, lookup and validation table behind the
agent code field. Just type 1 digit in the code field and
press ENTER. Now at the table, locate the agent by name (2-3
digits in the locator field). With the bar cursor on the
record, press ENTER again and you will return to the ACCOUNTS
FORM with the agent code in the code field! Neat and easy, and
this doesn't require that everyone have a list of agents,
drivers, etc. laying on their desk. The table finds it for
you. TRLR REQD is the type of trailer generally required for
this account. There is a lookup table behind the field and it
works as described above.
NOTE: MOST LOOKUP TABLES, IN MOST PROCEDURES, ARE "POPPED UP"
BY TYPING 1 OR MORE DIGITS IN THE FORM FIELD AND THEN PRESS
ENTER. With practice, you will learn to type in the first 2-3
characters of what you are looking for, allowing the table to
already be sorted when it appears.
The zipcode fields in all files are in 2 parts. Type in the
first 5 and press enter to select the second part of the
zipcode field. ShipMate III has a 49,000 record CITY, STATE,
ZIP table included so that you do not have to enter city,
states, and zips, into your forms. Just "pick" them off of the
lookup table!! FMS and ShipMate II may be upgraded with a
"shareware" program called ZIPKEY. Zipkey is not quite the
equivalent of the Ship III zipcode file, but the author of
ZIPKEY only requires a $30.00 registration fee and the program
will save you lots of time!