The program is now very complex and extremely configurable, although the default values make it easy to use. The purpose of this section is to introduce you to some of the more unusual functions so that you can get the most out of the program. The following are the 'extras' :
CORE PROGRAM
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1. When entering or updating Accounts, there is a second screen obtainable by selecting 'yes' in the first dialog screen. This allows you to specify, whether the Account should be included in the 'Net Worth' calculation, a balance limit (Use +ve for the case of a minimum balance for a current/checking account, and -ve for a Credit card debit limit) and the associated Interest rates if you are using the option in the Standing Orders. The Credit Limit will cause an alarm to be displayed if the value is exceeded, and the Interest Rates are used in the Automatic Interest option available from the Standing Order screen.
2. In most screens, pressing the first letter of an entry will take you straight to it, and using the left/right arrows will cycle through groups/accounts/files.
3. Note the individual Groups can be Password protected. Use <PSION-@> from the Accounts screen. This password is not case-sensitive. The Password can be configured to work only on program start, or on all occasions, i.e. auto-shutoff and then restart.
4. I've implemented a 'memo pad' feature along the same lines as that used for the 'To-Do' lists in Agenda. Simply access a Notepad from any screen by using <PSION->>. For most of the screens, this will access the same file. In the case of the Fuel module, the Expenses module, the Investment module and the Home Inventory module, this will access a file unique to that module. That is for people who like to keep track of Car Maintenance details, Trip timings, Certificate numbers and Insurance Policy details.
5. As with Accounts, when entering or updating Transactions there is a second (and sometimes third) 'More Functions' screen. To access them, just select 'yes' on the 'Display Advanced Functions' on the bottom of the first dialog. provided the appropriate optional modules have been loaded, these screens give access to the automatic counters (see later), and also allows the attribute to be set, and the transaction to be integrated into each of the appropriate optional modules that you may have loaded. Under normal circumstances, the most common dialogs are put onto the first dialog, so that you do not have to access the Advanced screens. However, if you activate the foreign currency option, which means the first dialog needs an extra line, then something may have to be 'bumped' to the second dialog. To decide which ones you want under that circumstance, select 'Define First Dialog' from the 'Set Preferences menu' in the Transaction screen and make your selection.
6. Finally, don't forget the Help menu <HELP> if you have the optional help modules loaded. Much of the contents of these instructions is included.
CONFIGURATION MODULE
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The following configuration options are available when you load the BANKCFG.OVL module.
When I first wrote the program, it was obviously designed for my use. Following comments received from earlier versions, many of the details have become configurable and this is now one of the program's strengths. These are accessible through 'Set Preferences' menus in each screen and a full explanation of each line follows: (Note the majority of these options require the BANKCFG.OVL file to be loaded)
Main Accounts screen:
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General Menu
a. All the Currency options discussed earlier, including a maximum value, automatic selection of secondary country to Home city, display of negative numbers and the Currency separator.
b. Warning Beeps can be selected On/Off
c. The Terminology menu incorporates selections for 'Check' & 'Cheque', 'Petrol' & 'Gas', 'Shares' & 'Stocks' and 'Scheduled Transactions' or 'Future Transactions' rather than 'StandingOrders'. Note that the hot keys for these will also change, i.e. <PSION-SHIFT-P> for petrol will become <PSION-SHIFT-G> for gas, and PSION- SHIFT-O> for orders becomes <PSION-SHIFT- D> or <PSION-SHIFT-F> respectively.
d. The Escape key can be configured to offer a quick way of changing accounts, rather than returning to the main screen.
e. The directory where your Memo Pad is held can be changed.
f. The Printer Configuration can be selected (Parallel, Serial, File)
g. When setting up the program it is often useful to stay in the 'Set Preferences' menu until you are complete. This can be selected from the menu.
h. The program has a memory cache to speed up performance, but at the expense of using memory. The optimum size for the cache is 11,000 bytes, but if the program crashes with 'No System Memory' during complex operations, you may find reducing the cache size will help.
Transaction Menu
a. The facility for using Default Transactions and Auto-Counters is covered later.
b. If you want the 'Deferred' transaction idea to be automated, use this toggle switch. Basically, if it is set to Auto, any entry after today's date will show up as deferred, and then as the date arrives, the deferred flag will be automatically removed.
c. The Tax Rates option is discussed separately later.
Archive Menu
a. The default Archive file can be selected to be either a certain file or the last one used. Alternatively, you can go straight into the 'Archive Select' dialog.
b. The Archive file extension. This defaults to ARC, but this can cause trouble in Windows if you have it associated with WINZIP.
Display Menu
a. The Font can be toggled between Swiss and Roman.
b. The Date can be configured for '1 Jan 96' or 'Jan 1, 96' and a few other formats.
c. The default number of decimal places can be defined. This is used for all currency displays. Where relevant, i.e. fuel consumption or Share numbers, separate configuration options are provided. These are Group-specific, so you can have different values for each Group.
d. The labels you attach to the 'Account Details' information window can be edited through this option.
e. You can select a faster screen refresh, but this tends to be jerky, so the slow option is also selectable.
Transaction screen
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Program menu
a. Two types of account switch dialog are used, see which one you prefer.
b. Often, during reconciling, it can be useful to automatically jump to the next transaction. This is selectable.
Transaction menu
a. Again, Default Transactions and Counters are covered later.
b. Some people like having deferred transactions not included in the Balance, with or without the Balance showing, some people like them included in the balance. Use the option to select your preference.
c. If you don't like having single keys working to set attributes (Space Bar or 'r' for reconcile, 'w' for warning, 'd' for deferred) you can disable them.
d. Normally, the first dialog in the Transaction Entry option has the usual entries, and the Advanced ones are put into second, and occasionally third, optional, dialogs. However, if you have the Foreign Currency option selected, there is not sufficient room in the first dialog to hold all the entries. Therefore, you have this option to determine which 2 out of three you would like to have in the first dialog (the other gets 'bumped' to the second screen) [This option is available only if you have the Budget Category optional module loaded]
e. You can specify whether the 'Advanced Functions' field in the Transaction Entry dialog defaults to 'Yes' or 'No'.
Display menu
a. The Symbols for Cleared, Reconciled, Warning and Deferred entries can be defined.
b. I like to have 'Current Balance' displayed in the total window at the bottom but other people prefer 'Running Balance', or 'Total Balance', which takes deferred entries into account. Use this option to select which you want.
c. You can select the initial highlight in the Transaction screen to be on today's date, or the last entry.
Currency Screen
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a. There is a repeat of the Currency setup dialog available from the Main screen.
b. The number of decimal places for the Exchange Rate can be specified.
c. Some people find it easier to put the rate using the number of the foreign currency to '1' of their own, some prefer the opposite. Use this option for your preference.
d. You can specify here which currencies first appear in the 'Conversion' module.
Stocks/Shares Screen
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a. You can specify whether you want to beasked each time if you want to update the history file.
b. You can specify the number of decimal places to be used for each part of the module.
Petrol/Gas Screen
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a. You can specify which units to display (litres/Gallons(UK/US), miles/kms).
b. You can decide what consumption units to use.
c. You can specify the scales in the graphical display.
Expenses Screen
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a. You can decide to display Balance or Balance Remaining, in the Total window
b. You can switch the sign of the Total display.
ADVANCED MODULE ONE
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(Needs BANKADV1.OVL)
1. After popular demand, I have incorporated a 'Look Ahead' mode <PSION-L>. For example, on the 27th of the month, you can have a prediction of your status on the 2nd of next month when all Standing Orders and Deferred Transactions are taken into account. I have also left in the Transaction Enter/Update/Delete options, so you can do some 'what if' budgeting. In V1.4, I improved this option, so that you can either do it for all accounts in a Group (the default), or for a single account. Please note that any changes you make while in this mode will be canceled when you return to normal operation.
2. Also, after popular request, there is an 'Account Details' option available to display Account Numbers, Bank addresses, Card Numbers, Emergency Phone numbers etc. Use the 'Account Details Labels' option under the 'Display' sub-menu of the 'Set Preferences' menu (<PSION-Q>) to define the Labels, then <PSION-?> either from the Accounts screen or the Transaction screen to View/Edit the details.
3. For advanced users, I have also incorporated a 'Default Transaction' option for those entries that you regularly want to input. Using the 'Set Preferences' Menu from the Account or Transactions screen and 'Default Transactions' you can define up to 20 default transactions, giving each one a unique name. These can then be quickly obtained by pressing <SHIFT-ENTER> instead of <ENTER> when in the transaction screen (or <PSION-J>), and then most of the fields will already be completed. (This option is also implemented in the Expenses module. Exactly the same logic applies).
4. Within each Default Transaction, or Standing Order, or normal Transaction you can also implement an Automatic Numbering option to keep track of cheque numbers or, in my case, the number of registrations for the program !! To enable this function use the 'Set Preferences' menu from the Account or Transactions screen and the 'Setup Counters'. Allocate a title and a value to each of the counters you wish to use (i.e. My Cheque and 345) and then it can be allocated from within a default transaction or Standing Order.
5. There is also a last Transaction Used option, just like the last Number Redial on a phone. Use <PSION-M> or <CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER> to redisplay the last entry.
ADVANCED MODULE TWO
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(Needs BANKADV2.OVL)
1. By popular request, I have included a 'Quicken' Import and Export option. As it was very simple, I have also included an option to export an ASCII file, and a 'Comma Separated Variable' (CSV) option which could be loaded into any spreadsheet. Because of different ways of exporting the date field between UK and US versions of Quicken, you have to specify, during the Import/Export process, which date format you want. (USA Versions, regardless of display format, seem to export & import dates as MM/DD/YY, UK versions use DD/MM/YY). To export, use <PSION-SHIFT-Q> from the Accounts screen or the Transaction screen, and fill in the required details. I believe they are all self-explanatory, although note you can export all or just reconciled transactions. To import from Quicken, select <PSION-SHIFT-I> and specify whether you wish to start a new account or import into the selected account, and how you want to treat unknown categories. I have also had to add a 'MS Money' option to both Import and Export, as it doesn't seem to implement the QIF format in the normal way. When building a QIF file in Quicken, make sure you only check the Transactions box, and the rest are clear. Note that SNABANK will initially assume that the QIF file is in the \BANK\ Sub-directory. This option seems to have caused the most trouble, so you will find a special section in the FAQ file which answers the most common questions.
2. Providing an Export routine for the Fuel and Shares history, and the Archive file, that would produce .SPR files proved to be very difficult, so I have provided an interim attempt. Select the 'Export History' option. This will produce a file (initially defaulting to FUEL.TXT, INVEST.TXT or ARCHIVE.TXT, but selectable) in your \WRD\ directory. Next, load the file into Word, go to the beginning of the document, then block it all using Shift-Control-Psion-PgDn. Now start a new Sheet file, and use 'Bring' function <PSION-B> to bring it in. It can then be saved in a PC-spreadsheet compatible format.
3. In addition, in the Advanced Functions when entering or updating an Account, there is an extra option to specify the type of Quicken account it represents.
4. I have also implemented a 'Pay Bills' option - <PSION-J> in the main screen, similar to that provided in Microsoft Money. It is very similar to the 'Look Ahead' mode, except it now gives you the option of actually actioning the Standing Order to pay it in advance. Once complete, unlike the 'Look Ahead' mode, it does NOT restore the original values, but stays with the new values.
5. I have provided general information screens. Press <PSION-G> from Main screen and <PSION-N> from the Transactions screen.
6. The final option to be discussed is one to help in tracking Tax payments such as Value Added Tax, (VAT) or GST. Use the 'Set Preferences' menu to define up to 4 Tax Bands, and the 'Advanced Settings' field on Transaction entry will then have a new field allowing you to allocate a tax value to the entry. In both the Transaction and Archive screen there is then a Tax filter which will then display only those entries which match the filter value. Note that it is the actual percentage that is saved with the transaction, not the tax band. The use of the tax band is simply a short-cut, to save you having to type in the value every time. These tax bands can also be put in Default Transactions and Standing Orders.
STANDING ORDERS
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The Advanced functions in the Standing Order second dialog allow you to specify a different initial payment if that is appropriate, make it a warning entry only, allocate a counter, or just do the order a specific number of times, i.e. 10 monthly payments, and whether you want it to integrate with the optional modules.
If a Standing Order is set to be done a fixed number of times, once it has been actioned that number of times it will still remain in the screen, but with a 'Done' displayed instead of the date. This allows you to either delete it, or keep it until it needs restarting again next year.
BUDGETS
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I have implemented 'Split Categories' for Budgets. This is to cater for those occasions when a single cheque or VISA payment related to more than one category. To use the option, enter a transaction, select 'Yes' in the Advanced function field, and select 'Split Transactions' in the 'Update Budget' field. This takes you to another screen allowing you to split the value across various categories. Unfortunately, memory limitations preclude the program remembering these values, so this is 'one-shot' only, and the transaction will not remember to which categories it was allocated. However, the word 'Split' will appear in the display as a reminder.
