The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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Reservation Assistant (C), Version 1.01 Guia International Corporation 731 Edgewater place Kennesaw, Georgia 30144 (404)926-6085 Table of contents~ ----------------- Introduction .............................................. 1 Reservation Assistant Features ............................ 1 Equipment needed .......................................... 2 Installation .............................................. 2 Menus ..................................................... 3 The Sign-on Menu .......................................... 3 Time to practice .......................................... 4 The Manager's Menu ........................................ 4 The Main Menu ............................................. 7 The Report Menu ........................................... 9 Setting up a new Department ............................... 9 Practical Resource considerations ........................ 11 Messages about Dates ..................................... 12 Registration Fee ......................................... 13 Technical Support ........................................ 13 Program License Agreement ................................ 13 Introduction~ ------------ When a Person or Thing needs to be granted time on a Resource, we call it a Reservation. If there is only a single Resource and the time increments are not to short, reservation not to many and changes not to frequent, one does not need a computer. A simple book with dates and times will do just fine. Beyond that, things get difficult. Changes become confusing and it is embarrassing to the administrator when more then one User tries to compete for the same Resource at the same Time. The RESERVATION ASSISTANT will not only help the administrator to prevent the above but also be able to inform the User when and where time is reserved and for how long and by whom or what. If the User wants to make changes, this can be done quickly and a record is kept for later review if needed. Although, you may select generic names for Users and Resources, for the purpose of clarity we will refer to Users and Resources in this manual. Reservation Assistant features~ ------------------------------ There are two ways to make a reservation; * Look for an open break on a Resource graph. * Search for the available time and make a selection. When searching for reservation time, you may choose; * Search between two dates. * Search between hours of days. * Exclude special days (Weekends, Holidays etc.) * Search on the above with based on Resource features When specifying features, and searching for reservation time, you have these options; * Ignore the features. * Match any of the features. * Match all the features. 30 Minutes is the smallest increment for which a reservation can be made. Reservations may be made from one to 36 months. Months do not have to be consecutive and may cover many years if used less then 12 in a given year. Departments may number up to 99. In each Department; * Users may number from 1 to 65,000. * Recourses may number 1 to 100. Reports summarize reservations by User or by Resource. * List Users for a Date and by Resource. * List Users alphabetically with the Resources they are scheduled on. Equipment needed~ ---------------- You will need; * An IBM or compatible 286 or higher PC with at least one Diskette and one Harddrive. * 384 K of memory. * DOS 3.00 or later. * A Color or Monochrome Monitor, VGA color is preferred. * An IBM, Epson or HP compatible printer if you need reports. Installation~ ------------ Before installing the Programs and Data files, back up the installation Diskette. Since the program is not copy protected, you may use the DOS Command DISKCOPY or COPY *.*. Place the diskette in Diskdrive A: or B: and set the default drive to that drive. Type INSTALL for the installation on Harddrive C: or use INSTALL D: for installation on Drive D: etc. A Directory named RESERVE, and the "Example Department" will be created on the Harddrive of your choice and the program will automatically start. In addition, Random reservation data will be created based on the current DOS Date for practice. You will be informed of the progress as these files are installed. Later after some practice, these file may be erased using the Sign-on Menu. From now on you may start the Program from the RESERVE or from the Root Directory by typing RES. A RES.BAT file is installed for that purpose in both Directories. The following files should be present in the Directory RESERVE on the selected Disk Drive: RES.BAT RESORG.DAT PROISAM.EXE RESERVE.EXE RESHELP.DOC RESHELP.IND USEREX.DAT RESMGR.DAT RESUNIT.DAT A subdirectory RE1DIR is created off the RESERVE Directory, it should contain these files after the automatic file generation process is completed: RESUSER.DAT HIST.DAT RESUNIT.DAT RESMGR.DAT RESMONTH.DAT RE199xxx.DAT RE199xxx.DAT This completes the installation process. Menus~ ----- A window will ask you to verify the current DOS Date and Time. Since some activities in the application are based on Date and Time, it is important that this information is correct before we start. Press F10 and the Sign-on Menu will appear. The Sign-on Menu~ ---------------- On this menu you may select such items as Color, Printer type, Currency and Date formats. Press F1 and see how Help works. Go through the Menu items one by one, pop-up windows will direct you and options are explained on the bottom of every screen. After installation. you should find the "Example Department" selection. Using the up and down arrow keys, move the bounce bar up and down. This is the most common way to make a Menu selection. Select the "Example Department ", press the Enter key and the Main Menu will" appear. Its time to Practice!~ --------------------- Exit the program and type RES from the Root or from the RESERVE Directory. Select "Example Department" to the Main Menu. Go ahead and practice making, changing, deleting and searching for reservations using the outline below. The Escape (Esc) key will let you exit from almost all screens. Instruction are displayed on each screen and window. Press F1 if you need more help. The Manager's Menu~ ------------------ On the Main Menu, one selection is the Manager's Menu. Move the bar over to the Manager's Menu or you can type the character M. The manager's Menu contains the basic functions that are normally reserved for a Manager. First lets look at item; 5 - Set up Department Profiles. On this screen, all the basic information for a Department is entered. Press function key F1 if you need help. Enter; * The generic name of the Resource to be reserved. * The generic name of the User that needs the reservation. * The User identification choice. The next ten items are the features that you may assign to a Resource. For example: If your resources are classrooms at an institution, feature would include the number of students this classroom is allowed to contain. In addition you may designate the presents of an overhead projector or if this classroom has air-conditioning. Later when we do searches for available classrooms, we can specify the features to look for. The last two items that you need to fill in are the default operational hours. Later when you may search for classroom availability within specified hours. Although before a search, you may change this, the times on this screen will be the defaults. Press F10 and the screen will be saved. Select; 1 - Add a new Resource to inventory (Notice that the word Resource is substituted for the name you entered in the Department Profiles). * Enter the name of the Resource such as a number, if the generic Resource name was a Classroom, the number would indicate the Classroom number. Entering 212 would mean Classroom 212. If the Resource is a person, enter the person's name. Note: In some cases, there are multiple Users for the same Resource. A flight simulator may need; a Captain a Co - pilot an Instructor In those cases, use; Resource 1, DC9 Captain Seat ,, 2, DC9 Co-pilot Seat ,, 3, DC9 Instructor * Enter the Resource location if the location is fixed. Example; Second floor or Building 3, Dallas. * If the Resource has costs attached to it, enter the hourly rate. The remaining items are the features. Based on the features that you entered in the Department Profiles, mark the features as they apply the this Resource. Go ahead and make an entry. Select; 2 - Review a Resource description. A window will open and you may specify the starting characters of the Resource or press Enter and all resources will be listed. By moving the bar and then pressing the Enter key, the selection is completed and the selected Resource information is displayed. I you make a incorrect entry, an error massage will advise you. To delete a Resource, select the Resource, you will be asked for confirmation before the Resource is deleted. Select; 7 - Add or review a month for daily availability. Reservation are made month by month, with a maximum of 36. During the installation, two months were created based on the current DOS date. Select the top month that is on the screen. The bars and day line are on the screen. The purpose of this screen is to allow the program User to exclude any number of days from searches. You may not be operating on Weekends and Holidays. By putting the character N in the appropriate day, that day will be excluded for searches. The days are marked by their name in abbreviated form. The number of days offered are the total number of days for the month displayed for that year. In the future, when a month has past, it will be a good idea to delete that month and install a new one, this will prevent unnecessary searchtime. Select; A - Alter the current Resource rotational order. For the program user's convenience, this option is offered to allow searches to take place with a different priority sequence. You may place any item on the list by moving the cursor behind the item to be changed, then place the number on that line you wish to see that item list and press Enter. Other options are explained on the bottom of the screen, such as the sorting by name etc. By pressing F10, all the changes are saved. On the Manager's menu, only in the "Example Department ", you will find on the bottom of that menu a" special line to create random reservation files based on the Current DOS Date. Select; R - Write Random Reservation files (For Practice!). The Working window will keep you informed on the progress while the Program creates two months of random reservations data starting with the current Month, the process will take a minute or so, the reservation are also logged. These reservation are made without regard to duplicate reservations for a single User. Select; 4 - Display reservation transactions log for a User. Select a User by typing in the starting characters of a Users last name and selecting the name from the window. The screen that will be displayed will show a log of the reservations that were made during the random writing of reservations. When a transaction takes place, this screen will be updated. Currently all the activity codes are "New", future activities can also be "Change" or "Delete". Note that on the screen bottom, you may sort the log by reservation Date or Resource name. From time to time, you may want to clear out some of the log data, this will conserve disk space. The next item on the Menu, will do this, all you have to do is provide the date prior to which all log entries must be deleted. Now lets make and look at some reservations. Select; Esc Return to the Main Menu. The Main Menu~ ------------- Select; 1 - Add, review or update a reservation by Resource. The listing is for one Resource for one month. If the months that are offered do not include the month you want, press function key F2 and you may enter a new month. After the Resource selection, the days and Dates are displayed on the left and you may use the PageUp and PageDown Keys to page through the entire month. Non-schedule days will have a horizontal bar across the Editor. These days are set up when you install or review an installed month in the Manager's Menu. By moving the cursor up and down or across the screen; * On the solid portion of the bar, the User that holds the current reservation will show on the bottom of the screen. By pressing the Enter Key, you can alter or delete the current reservation for that User. * Insert the cursor between the open areas left and right of the bars, you can insert a new reservations by pressing the Enter Key. Place the cursor in an open area. Press the Enter key and the Reservation screen will be shown. A new reservation will initially start with one half hour. On the Change field line, the two outside pointers indicate the time period that this reservation can be made in. The bar between the arrows is the current reservation. By using the arrow keys and the Ctrl/arrow keys, you may adjust the reserved time. The reservation will be completed but first we need the name of the User. You may select the User or if the User is not on file, a new User may be entered without starting all over. Select; 2 - Add, review or update a reservation by date. If the month for the Date that was entered had not been installed, the program will offer to install that month. Enter the month number (from 1 to 12) and the year (from 1990-2036), fill in the unscheduled days and the month will be installed and the Editor will appear. Non-scheduled days are indicated with a horizontal bar of dashes. These days are marked in the Manager's menu when installed or updated. By holding down the Control (Ctrl) and pressing the right or left arrow keys, you may page between days within a month without returning to the Menu. Place the cursor on top of the reservation bar and press Enter. This time the User is known, and will be displayed. Place the cursor on a bar and press the ENTER key. You will now see: * The Date and available time for this reservation. * The current User for this reservation. * The Resource and its location. * Charges if used. * The change field. This screen is the screen that makes new, alters current and deletes reservations. On the Change field line, the two outside pointers indicate the time period that this reservation can be made in. The bar between the arrows is the current reservation. To make the reservation, use the left and right arrow keys. To increase or decrease the time, hold down the Control key (Ctrl) and press the arrow keys. To delete a reservation, reduce the bar until it has disappeared and the current reservation will be deleted. Pressing F10, will complete the reservation and is verified when the previous screen reappears. Select; 3 - Search for available time to reserve. This screen will prompt you for; * The amount of open time to search for. * Search one or all Resources. * Between what Hours to search. * Between what Dates to search. If you specify a search on all Resources, you may also specify the features to look for. When specifying these features, you may search on; * Match all features * Match any feature * Ignore the features when searching If no features were specified, the program will bypass this window. If blocks of the requested time are available, this will be shown in the screen up to a maximum of 50 available slots. By pressing the Escape key you may halt the search and the result will immediately be show. The window will show how many blocks of requested time has been found. You may sort the available blocks by reservation Date or by Resource name. By moving the bar over a selection and pressing Enter you may select a acceptable reservation slot and again the final screen is displayed. If you change your mind, press the Escape key and you may make another selection. You may move the reservation between the pointers and by pressing the F10 key the reservation will be completed after the User name has been entered. Select; 4 - Display the current reservation for a User. The purpose of this screen is to make a quick inquiry about the current reservations in place for a User. By selecting the User name, up to 200 reservations are displayed. The window will inform you of the progress and the Escape key will halt the search and show the results immediately. The results may quickly be sorted by reservation Date or Resource number. The rest of the Main Menu, allows the entry, change or delete of a User. Select; P - Report Menu. The Report Menu~ --------------- Two reports are offered. Both Reports require the capability of condensed printing. By selecting a printer in the Sign-on Menu except for "Other", that will be the case. To make sure that the printer is cleared of previous settings, a message will appear with the directions to prepare the printer. Printing can be stopped or abandoned by pressing the space bar, a choice will be offered. Select; 1 - Print the Resource reservations for a Date. This option prints the current reservation for the requested Date with the Users for each Resource for that Date. 2 - Print the User reservations for a date This option will print a sorted by User report for up to 1000 current reservation for a selected Date. For multiple Resources, they will be listed in a row behind the User. Setting up a new Department~ --------------------------- Before we can make reservations, we must complete some important items; Menu * Set up a Department name Sign-on Menu * Set up Department Profiles. Manager's Menu * Install one or more Months. Manager's Menu * Enter a list of Resources. Manager's Menu * Optionally enter a list if Users. Main Menu Up to 99 Departments may be initiated. From the Main Menu, select; R - Return to the Sign-on Menu. If you feel comfortable to delete the "Example Department", Select; R - Remove a Department. You will be asked to type Delete followed by the Department name, before any Department is removed. This is to prevent accidental loss of data. Now we are ready to set up a new Department. Select; N - Set up a new Department. Next, you will be asked the new Department name. A new Directory will be created from the current Directory. Type in the full Department name; Printing Department School of Business University of Georgia Aviation Scheduling On the Manager's Menu, select; 5 - Department Profiles. Enter the name of the Resource to be reserved (Classroom, Conference room etc.) Provide the generic name of the User that needs the Resource (Instructor, Pilot, Employee etc.) Under the Global feature names enter all the features that are significant to the Resource. You may choose to enter just a few and later on add to the list. The features that you specify will be offered for a Yes/No presents as you enter the particular data on each of the Resources. Next, enter the standard operating hours, use between 00:00 and 24:00. If you make an error, you will be advised. Press F10 and this page will be entered. Select; 7 - Add or review a Month for daily availability. Enter the number of the first Month that you wish to start reservations, normally that is the current Month. Enter the year on the prompt line. Press F10 and you will see the monthly availability chart. Mark all the days that you do not wish to be operational with a character N. Only the days marked with a character Y will be included in the search for available time. Press F10 and this screen is completed. You may install additional Months, up to a total of six. Select; 1 - Add a new Resource to inventory. Enter the name of the Resource. You may just assign a number like 1 or 2, or One, Two, or any other designation that would clearly identify this Resource. Enter the Resource location and the hourly user rate if applicable. Mark the presents or non-presents of the appropriate features with a Yes or No. Press F10 and this Resource is now entered. Repeat this operation for all the Resources, you may enter up to 100 Resources. Now we are ready to take reservations! Practical Resource considerations~ --------------------------------- There are many ways to set up this application. The Reservation Assistant is very flexible in its set-up and will adjust to most situations. The following examples will guide you when considering a new use for the Program. The first consideration should be the resource. If your resources are physicians, you are either targeting a specific doctor or a pool of doctors with specialties that are set up as features. If all inquiries are "I need an appointment with doctor Carter" verses "I need an appointment with a dermatologist". In the first instant, no features would have to be assigned, in the second case however all physicians would have their specialty listed as features. In the above example, you would call your generic resource in the Profiles of the manager's Menu "Doctor", the individual resource would have the doctor name (John Carter, MD). Since most physicians take a day off in the middle of the week, enter the physician as a user also and reserve time for him or herself. The same is true for a classroom or conferenceroom. If the question is "I need a classroom as soon as possible that holds at least 50 people and must have a video monitor" then the resource would have the room capacity and equipment assigned as features. There is no harm in assigning features, even if you do not use them! Sometimes, you may have to break resources down to components. In a flight simulator, though a single resource, the participants are as many as four or five people. Break down that resource by: DC9 Captain DC9 Co - pilot DC9 Flight engineer DC9 Instructor L1011 Captain L1011 Co - pilot L1011 Instructor List the resources sequentially and you may look at the Editor graph and see who is scheduled, what openings are available or do a search for available time. Enter "Maintenance" as a User if scheduled maintenance is needed, then reserve maintenance time. Messages about Dates~ -------------------- Any of the following examples of dates entered are acceptable to the Reservation Assistant, all dates are 01-02-1991. 10291 01021991 01-02-91, or 01/02/91 01-02-1991 or 01/02/1991 01-2-91, or 01/2/91 1-02-91, or 1/02/91 1-2-1991, or 1/2/1991 1-2-91, or 1/2/91 The alternate Date format of DD-MM-YYYY is used outside the United States. The input format for Months and Days is reversed. Registration Fee~ ---------------- The registration fee is $49.00 in US currency. Registrations will be acknowledged by mail and confirms the authorized use of the program. Technical Support~ ----------------- After the registration has been received by Guia International, the User is entitled to free telephone or written support for a period of 90 Days. Any extended support may be negotiated thereafter but shall at minimum be in conformance with the regulations of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). Program License Agreement~ ------------------------- Read the following terms and conditions before using the program. By using or accepting this program, you indicate that you accept the terms and conditions set forth bellow. Guia International Corp. provides this program and licenses its use. You assume responsibility for the selection of these programs to achieve your intended results, and for the installation, use and results obtained from the programs. Limited warranty The programs are provided without warranty either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event, will Guia International Corp. be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other lost incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use such programs even if Guia International Corp. or any of its agents or dealers had been advised of the possibility of such damages. When you start using the program as a production tool, the Opening Window fee is due to Guia International for each system the program is installed on. The acknowledgement returned to you will serve as your license for authorized usage. You are free to duplicate the application and make distributions providing that no alterations are made with the exception of compression to facilitate electronic transmission. You acknowledge that you have read this agreement, understand it and agree to be bound by its terms and conditions. <END OF FILE> Revised 9-8-1991