JCSM Shareware Collection 1996 September/JCSM Shareware Collection (JCS Distribution) (September 1996).ISO/billacct/blpwrdos.zip/BILLPOWR.DOC

Text File | 1994-10-04 | 191KB | 4,544 lines

TO:  INTEGRA COMPUTING, 910 Cobb Place Manor Dr., Marietta, GA  30066   BPP 6.8

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         Address __________________________________________________________
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*   Telephone support will be provided if you pre-purchase it with  this  order
form.  Such support must be used within a year.  When you need assistance,  you
may reach Integra Computing (404-426-5735) most weekdays from 4:00pm to 6:00pm,
Eastern Time.  Because so much time is required to respond to mailed correspon-
dence,  letters requesting assistance may not be answered.  If you  need  help,
call  -- don't write.  But please don't even call unless  you've  pre-purchased
support  with this order form; if you call without having prepaid for  support,
each call will cost you a minimum of $15, plus $1.50 per minute.
-- LICENSE:
     BillPower,  TickleX,  MT-Tracker, PopForm, ReSearch, Nifty,  RAMdesk,  and
their  documentation are  copyrighted in 1985 to 1992 by R.A. Kelly.   You  may
use  any program on as many computers as you like, as long as it is never  ins-
talled  with a SERIAL NUMBER (provided to you when you register as a  user)  on
more than one computer at a time and as long as you do not alter the program in
any way.  You may distribute any of these programs to potential new users, pro-
vided  that you never divulge your SERIAL NUMBER to anyone, that you charge  no
fee for the program, and that you do not bundle it with (or use it as an incen-
tive to purchase or  lease) any  other product or service, without the  written
consent of R.A. Kelly.  All rights not expressly granted above are reserved  in
R.A. Kelly.
-- DISCLAIMER:
     BILLPOWER,   TICKLEX, MT-TRACKER, POPFORM, RESEARCH, NIFTY,  RAMDESK,  AND
THEIR INSTRUCTIONS ARE PROVIDED "AS  IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND (INCLUD-
ING  THE  IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY  AND FITNESS FOR  A  PARTICULAR
PURPOSE).  NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION  OR ADVICE  PROVIDED  BY INTEGRA, ITS
DEALERS,  DISTRIBUTORS, AGENTS,  OR  EMPLOYEES SHALL  CREATE A WARRANTY OF  ANY
KIND  REGARDING  BILLPOWER, TICKLEX, MT-TRACKER, POPFORM, RESEARCH,  NIFTY,  OR
RAMDESK,  AND  YOU  MAY  NOT RELY UPON SUCH INFORMATION OR  ADVICE.    USE   OF
BILLPOWER, TICKLEX, MT-TRACKER, POPFORM, RESEARCH, NIFTY,OR RAMDESK IS ENTIRELY
AT YOUR OWN RISK.
     NEITHER  INTEGRA NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN  THE   CREATION,
PRODUCTION,  OR DELIVERY OF BILLPOWER, TICKLEX, MT-TRACKER, POPFORM,  RESEARCH,
NIFTY,  OR RAMDESK SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL,  OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT  NOT LIMITED  TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF  BUSI-
NESS  PROFITS,  BUSINESS  INTERRUPTION,  AND LOSS   OF   BUSINESS  INFORMATION)
ARISING FROM THE USE OF (OR INABILITY TO  USE) BILLPOWER,  TICKLEX, MT-TRACKER,
POPFORM, RESEARCH, NIFTY, OR RAMDESK, EVEN THOUGH INTEGRA MAY BE ADVISED  THAT
SUCH DAMAGES ARE POSSIBLE.
                                  BILLPOWER
                                INSTRUCTIONS


    INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

    SETTING UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

    MAIN MENU  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

    CASE MODULE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

    SERVICES/FEES MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

    DISBURSEMENTS MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

    RECEIPTS MODULE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

    ADJUSTMENT MODULE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

    GENERAL LEDGER MODULE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

    BILLS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

    NOTE MODULE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

    PEOPLE MODULE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

    UTILITIES MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

    CATEGORIES, AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM. . . . . . . . . . . 77

    USING BILLPOWER WITH OLD CASES AND ACCOUNTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

    MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

    BILLPOWER ON A LOCAL AREA NETWORK  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

    USING BILLPOWER WITH MICROSOFT WINDOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

    POP-UP BILLPOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

    APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97




                                   BILLPOWER



            NOTE:
            If you're using an unregistered copy of the program,
            it will begin to beep at you in several weeks, reminding
            you that it's time to register.  Don't worry -- no data
            will be destroyed, and you'll be able to use the prog-
            ram, despite the fact that you delay registering.







     OVERVIEW

          BillPower is a timekeeping, billing and bookkeeping program de-
     signed specifically for small firms.  It will track time worked on
     professional matters and calculate the amount owed by each client.  It
     will also keep up with receipts and disbursements, and it will main-
     tain such accounts as you wish, allowing you to carry out simple book-
     keeping functions.  Perhaps most importantly, it will automatically
     compile service, disbursement, and receipt transactions for each cli-
     ent into monthly bills.  And, for your convenience, the program may be
     used as either a stand-alone system or as a RAM-resident "pop-up"
     that will allow your access even while you're in the middle of using
     another program (see the POP-UP BILLPOWER section).

          BillPower is a member of the "ManageX" series of productivity-
     enhancing software.  As such, it must reside in a MANAGEX directory on
     your hard disk.

          If you are already familiar with computer accounting programs,
     you may be in for a shock, because BillPower represents an entirely
     new approach to various aspects of bookkeeping.  BillPower is far more
     flexible than other programs which lock you into an electronic version
     of ancient manual accounting procedures.  If you are an "old hand" at
     bookkeeping, then open your mind to a different system which does not
     require monthly "postings" or year-end "close-outs"; one that never
     destroys old data from past months in the interest of consolidation.

          While other time and billing programs may offer "links" to exter-
     nal accounting software, BillPower completely integrates its bookkeep-
     ing functions into the rest of the program.  BillPower Plus can, in
     fact, SIMULTANEOUSLY update affected G/L accounts (as well as a cli-
     ent's balance and aged receivables) at the time that a disbursement or
     receipt is entered.  This "real-time" approach to bookkeeping, vir-
     tually unprecedented in a time and billing program, saves you the time
     you would otherwise spend making duplicate G/L entries, posting trans-


     INTRODUCTION                         4




     actions, and/or transferring files from one program to another.  With
     BillPower, a SINGLE entry can handle all the updating that needs to be
     done.  No other program offers such a degree of integration.

          BillPower is designed as a unique "free entry" system.  You may,
     for instance, open accounts at will, any time you want.  If, several
     months after having established your chart of accounts, you discover
     that you need to add a new account, you may easily do so.  With Bill-
     Power, you may also correct nearly ANY entry made at ANY time in the
     past.  Assume, for instance, that you wish to modify the service des-
     cription or charge appearing on a time slip that was entered three or
     four months ago.  While some other office management systems would
     require the awkward procedure of entering a corrective time slip to
     offset the faulty one, BillPower allows you to follow your natural in-
     clination: simply calling the erroneous time slip to the screen and
     editing it.  That keeps your files uncluttered and your reports and
     bills neat.

          Also unique is BillPower's ability to re-prepare bills.  Other
     programs won't redo a client's bill after transactions for that client
     have been "posted" or "closed out", since these procedures often in-
     volve the subsequent destruction of those transactions' data.  Posting
     and closing out are tedious bookkeeping procedures which are necessary
     with manual systems, and which have been emulated in many computer
     accounting programs.  BillPower, however, has been designed to capi-
     talize upon the power of the computer.  It will automatically update
     all data as each transaction is entered into the computer.  No time-
     consuming posting or close-out procedures are required, and there is
     no data destruction; therefore, you may re-prepare bills that may be
     even several months old.  If a client asks you to correct and re-sub-
     mit a bill, it's no problem with BillPower.

          BillPower's aged receivables are also more meaningful than other
     programs'.  Other programs might report aging periods of "0-30 days",
     "31-60 days", etc.  These periods are typically figured backward in
     time, beginning with the latest posting date.  If you haven't posted
     for some time, you will find yourself doing mental gymnastics to cal-
     culate how the aging periods relate to the CURRENT date (who really
     cares about the last posting date?).  With BillPower, which does not
     require posting, the aging periods are reported as "OwedSince FEB",
     "OwedSince JAN", "OwedSince DEC", etc.  Hence, you know at a glance
     how much of the money CURRENTLY owed you has been owed since the end
     of each month shown in the receivables report.


     FOUNDING PHILOSOPHY

          BillPower is based upon the proposition that it is usually best
     to send a statement to each client at some regular interval, preferab-
     ly every month.  Even when nothing is due from the client for work
     done during that period, a statement should be sent, if for no other
     reason, to let him know that you're still thinking of him.  With this


     INTRODUCTION                         5




     principle in mind, you may select a regular billing interval of 1, 2,
     3, 4, 5, or 6 months for each client, though, for simplicity's sake,
     you are urged to use the one-month interval for as many of your cli-
     ents as you can.

          Even if a case or project is a fixed fee or contingency one, a
     statement should be sent to the client on a regular basis before the
     case has been completed, so that he may have an ongoing appreciation
     of all that you are doing for him.  It takes only about a minute for
     BillPower to prepare the bill.  Your investment in time, paper and
     postage will be insignificant in comparison to the payoff resulting
     from keeping each client informed of what you're doing.


     WHAT BILLPOWER WILL DO

          BillPower can handle any combination of the following:

          15 timekeepers/employees (partners, secretaries, and others);
          4000 cases/projects;
          4000 accounts; and
          8000 transaction entries per month (services, disbursements, etc).

           Each client may be set up for either "Periodic" or "Occasional"
     billing.  The vast majority of your clients will probably be ones whom
     you want to bill on a regular basis (monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly,
     etc.).  These should be set up for Periodic billing, whereas those few
     clients that are to be billed haphazardly, or only once, may be as-
     signed to Occasional billing.

          BillPower is unique in that it allows you to prepare bills for
     the same period many times, not just once.  Each bill sent out for any
     period of time reflects the most current status of the client's ac-
     count with you for that period.  Correcting and re-submitting bills to
     your clients present no problem to BillPower.


     Periodic Billing

          There is a nominal "minimum" period for which a client set up for
     Periodic billing will be be billed: one calendar month.  Each bill
     will include all transactions from the beginning of the first month
     covered by the bill to the end of the last month covered.  A bill may
     be re-prepared for the same calendar month (or months) several times.
     For example, if it were now January 15, and you wanted to send Mr.
     Smith's bill for work done so far this month, the bill prepared by
     BillPower would cover all work done during the entire month of January
     (the beginning of the first month covered by the bill is January 1,
     and the end of the last month covered is January 31).  However, since
     no work will have been done after the fifteenth, the bill will effec-
     tively be one for only the period from January 1 to January 15.



     INTRODUCTION                         6





          If, in February, you had some reason to prepare another January
     bill for Mr. Smith, that bill would also show work done during the
     entire month.  Included on the second January bill would be 1) a recap
     of what had already been shown on the previous January bill and 2) a
     listing of what, if anything, had been done from the 16th to the 31st.
     You may not request a bill for only the period from January 16 to Jan-
     uary 31, since, as mentioned above, the minimum billing period is one
     calendar month.  But don't worry.  Mr. Smith will NOT be charged again
     for the work already reflected in the first bill.  The second bill
     will SHOW that work for a second time (as a recap), but will not
     CHARGE him a second time for it.  Of course, if Mr. Smith had sent any
     payments since the first bill was mailed, those payments would also be
     reflected on the second bill.

          Clients set up for Periodic billing must be billed at least once
     every nine months.  As long as you run at least one mass billing per
     month, BillPower will insure that at no Periodic client goes too long
     without a bill.


     Occasional Billing

          There is no minimum billing period for clients set up for Occa-
     sional billing.  If you wish, you may prepare one bill today, another
     tomorrow, another next week, and yet another eight months from now.
     Each bill will contain only those transactions falling AFTER the date
     of the last transaction on the preceding bill.  As is the case with
     Periodic clients, current and previous bills may be re-prepared as
     needed.

          The advantage of Occasional billing is that you may allow as much
     time as you wish to elapse between bills (while nine months is the
     maximum for clients billed Periodically).  One disadvantage is that
     BillPower will not automatically compute a client's interest, taxes,
     or monthly retainer fee (as it would if the client were set up for
     Periodic billing).  And, while clients set up for Occasional billing
     will be included in mass billings (along with Periodic clients), they
     can't be RE-BILLED en masse (as can be done with clients set up for
     Periodic billing).  Thus, if you've already prepared actual (final)
     bills for a given period of time, and then for some reason need to re-
     do those bills, your Periodic clients may be handled with a mass bil-
     ling.  Your Occasional clients may also be re-billed, but you must
     handle each individually.

     The Best Billing Method

          By far the simplest billing method is Periodic.  It assumes that
     most of your clients are the sort that should be billed regularly.  And it
     requires that you have the discipline to set aside a few hours at the
     beginning of each month to do your billing for the prior month.  Don't
     do sporadic billing unless it's absolutely necessary.  The scattergun


     INTRODUCTION                         7




     approach is an awful time waster.

          Still, you may have a few clients for which regular billing is
     not appropriate.  These clients should be set up for Occasional bil-
     ling, unless you need to have BillPower automatically calculate inter-
     est, taxes or monthly retainer fees.  And if you think you lack the
     discipline to stick to a regular billing schedule, you might consider
     billing ALL your clients with the Occasional method.


     Automatic Adjustment of Billing Periods

          A mentioned previously, BillPower is unusaual in its ability to
     accept new or changed transactions for dates anytime in the past and
     to re-prepare old bills.  But there's an effect you may not have
     considered.

          Let's say that the current month is March and that you've already
     prepared a bill for each of January and February.  Now, for some rea-
     son, you want to enter a new transaction with a January date.  Doing
     so will, of course, change January's balance forwarded to February
     (and February's to March).  Since this complication doesn't even occur
     to most users, BillPower has to somehow account for the changes auto-
     matically.

          What BillPower does is to assume that you'll want the next bill
     prepared (March's) to reflect the new January entry.  The only way to
     do so is to insure that the bill includes everything entered since
     January.  Therefore, the bill prepared for March will actually be one
     for January, February and March.  Normally, a March bill will contain
     only transactions entered for March, but, in this case, BillPower has
     found it necessary to also include a recap of January and February.
     In this fashion, BillPower attempts to insure that your clients are
     apprised of changes made in prior months' data.


     HOW BILLPOWER ORGANIZES ITS DATA

          BillPower consists of the following files:

          BP.BAT            the batch file used to load BillPower
          BILLPOWR.EXE      the main program file
          BILLPOWR.OVR      overlays for the main program
          EDIT.EXE          an ASCII text editor
          ________.LBF      major data files maintained by the program
          ________.LBI      indices to the major data files
          ________.HLP      help files accessed when you press the F1 key
          ________.LTR      files that contain the text portions of bills
          ________.DAT      miscellaneous minor data files





     INTRODUCTION                         8




          BillPower considers each matter handled by the firm to be a
     "case", unless you customize the program to use another term, such as
     "project" (see the CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM section below).  If you do
     select another term, you'll have to mentally translate these instruc-
     tions wherever the term "case" appears.

          Each case will be assigned a Case Name, a Case Number and a "Mas-
     terRcrd" Number.  The Case Name is simply a convenient name by which
     you can recognize the case, such as "Smith Project" or "State v. Wil-
     liams".  The Case Number is used by the program to locate the case re-
     cord in the computer's data files.  It may be in the same format as
     that used by your firm to manually file the paperwork pertaining to
     that case.  The MasterRcrd Number is used to link up to 500 subordin-
     ate case records to their master record.

          Each case is subordinate to its master.  If a case is indepen-
     dent (that is, not subordinate to another), then it is its OWN mas-
     ter, and its Case Number and MasterRcrd Number will be the same.  If,
     however, it is subordinate to another, then the other's Case Number
     will be the subordinate's MasterRcrd Number.  For example, if case
     number 2 were subordinate to case number 1, then case 2's MasterRcrd
     Number would be "1" (case 1, being its own master, would also be as-
     signed MasterRcrd Number 1).

          When would you want to subordinate one case to another?  Assume
     that you and Mr. Smith had a retainer agreement whereby he would pay
     you $150 per month for any services he needed from you at any time.
     You might set up a case record with the Case Name, "Smith Retainer"
     and the Case Number, "SMITJO1".  If Mr. Smith subsequently asked you
     to help him with a building contract, you might do one of two things.
     One would be to charge the time you spend working on the contract to
     the "Smith Retainer" (SMITJO1) case.

          The other would be to establish a separate case record, perhaps
     named "Smith Contract" and possibly numbered "SMITJO2".  If you wanted
     to make sure that both Mr. Smith's cases were linked for easy subse-
     quent identification, you would assign to the new SMITJO2 case the
     MasterRcrd Number, "SMITJO1".  A graphic representation of this mas-
     ter-subordinate relationship follows:

           MASTER                           SUBORDINATES
                                            Case #:        SmitJo1
                                            Case Name:     Smith Retainer
           Case #:        SmitJo1           MasterRcrd #:  SmitJo1
           Case Name:     Smith Retainer
           MasterRcrd #:  SmitJo1           Case #:        SmitJo2
                                            Case Name:     Smith Contract
                                            MasterRcrd #:  SmitJo1

     As can be seen, the SMITJO1 case is its own master, and it also acts
     as a master for the SMITJO2 case.  In the future, whenever you want to
     look through ALL of Mr. Smith's cases, it will be easy, because they


     INTRODUCTION                         9




     all have the same MasterRcrd Number.  MasterRcrd Numbers LINK several
     cases together for future reference.

          Now, on to a related matter.  Unlike some other programs, Bill-
     Power does not require you to set up a separate "client record" before
     you open any case (or "matter") records for the client.  Each Bill-
     Power case record contains both matter AND client information.  Hence,
     if you have a client for whom you do not expect to be handling more
     than one matter, you need open only ONE record (a case record) for
     him, rather than TWO (a client record and a matter record).  If, sub-
     sequent to your having opened that single record for him, the client
     comes to you with more work, you may either: 1) do that additional
     work under the same case already opened, or 2) set up another case for
     him.  If you do the latter, you may, though you do not HAVE to, link
     the two cases by making the first record the second's MasterRcrd.

          Though BillPower does not REQUIRE you to do so, you may set up
     something comparable to a separate "client record" for each client
     before opening actual cases for him.  To do so, you would actually set
     up a "case" record for the client and use it as a MasterRcrd for the
     several matters that you handle for him.  After all, a "client record"
     does nothing more than link several cases together under one client,
     and a BillPower MasterRcrd can serve the same function.  You would
     tell BillPower that this record is intended to serve as a simple cli-
     ent record by beginning its "case" name with an asterisk.  An example
     of a "client" record follows:

         MASTER                             SUBORDINATES
                                            Case #:        SmitJo1
                                            Case Name:     Smith Retainer
         Case #:        SmitJo              MasterRcrd #:  SmitJo
         Case Name:     *John Smith Cases
         MasterRcrd #:  SmitJo              Case #:        SmitJo2
                                            Case Name:     Smith Contract
                                            MasterRcrd #:  SmitJo

          In the above example, the SMITJO record is a "client" record,
     which contains only the client's name, address, salutation, bil-
     ling interval, responsible employee and a "case" name beginning with
     an asterisk (any other information filled in will be disregarded by
     BillPower, since this is only a "client", not a real "case", record).




          TO SAVE DISK SPACE, MUCH OF THE REST OF THIS SECTION HAS BEEN
     OMITTED.  THE DOCUMENTATIION YOU RECEIVE WHEN YOU REGISTER WILL BE
     COMPLETE.






     INTRODUCTION                         10





     Control Characters

          On-screen instructions will frequently instruct you to press con-
     trol characters.  A control character is represented graphically as a
     letter preceded by an up caret (eg: ^A or ^H).  If you are instructed
     to press a control character, you must hold the Ctrl key down, while
     simultaneously pressing the appropriate letter key.  For example, to
     press ^O, hold down the Ctrl key and tap the "O" (or "o") key.  Do not
     actually press the up caret key; the up carrot is used merely as a
     graphic representation of the control key.


     Pausing and Aborting

          When you find the computer in the middle of some lengthy proce-
     dure, such as printing a report, and you want to pause, press the
     space bar.  Doing so will cause the process to stop until you press
     the space bar again.  This use of the space bar will not work in all
     of the program's operational modes, but it will in most.  Pressing the
     space bar will often take a few seconds to have an effect, so be pa-
     tient.

          If, instead of wishing that the computer pause in the middle of a
     procedure, you prefer to abort that procedure altogether, press ESC
     (the Escape key).  As with the space bar, this key may not work in all
     parts of the program, and it may take a few seconds to have effect.


     Printer Toggling and Writing Reports to a Disk File

          Whenever you are about to have a report printed on the screen,
     and you would prefer that it be printed on your printer, press ALT-P
     (that is, hold down the ALT key and tap "P") just before the report
     preparation begins.  ALT-P is the printing toggle, and it turns the
     flow of data to the printer on and off.  You may alternatively send
     the data to a disk file, instead of the printer, by pressing ALT-F (in
     place of ALT-P).  The file created or appended, named "TEXT.MX", may
     then be modified with most any text editor capable of handling indus-
     try-standard ASCII characters.  Writing reports to the disk is useful
     if you need to make unusual changes.  And you may wish to occasionally
     write a bill to the disk, so that you can modify it with your word
     processor before having it printed.


     Accounts

          Certain accounts are opened and maintained automatically by Bill-
     Power.  These are each case's balance due and aged receivable ac-
     counts.  In order to see one of these accounts' status, you need sim-
     ply (E)dit/Examine the appropriate case's record, as explained in the
     CASE module section.


     INTRODUCTION                         11




          Some accounts, however, will NOT be automatically opened by the
     program.  You will have open them, yourself, in the GENERAL LEDGER
     module.  These discretionary accounts may include case retainer and
     trust accounts, as well as escrow, checking, and ANY other type of
     account you can think of.  BillPower will track up to 4000 such ac-
     counts.


     The EDIT Program

          There are a few files which will need to be created or modified
     by BillPower's text editor, EDIT, before you can realize the full pot-
     ential of the program.  For instance, you will certainly want to cus-
     tomize the return address file, so that your correct return address
     will be reflected on bills prepared by BillPower.  You will have to
     set up these files only once, unless you wish to subsequently modify
     them.

          EDIT manipulates simple industry-standard ASCII code.  An extra
     facility is the ability to embed printer codes in the text prepared
     with EDIT.  If, for instance, you want your printer to switch to let-
     ter-quality mode when it prepares bills, you could place the appro-
     priate printer code (available in your printer's manual) at the top of
     the return address file.  To embed any control character (such as the
     escape character), press ^P first.  For instance, to embed "esc N",
     actually enter "^P esc N".

          You may access EDIT from BillPower's MAIN MENU by pressing ^E.
     Incidentally, you may also access it directly from the DOS prompt by
     entering "EDIT".


     Deciding which module to use

          Use of BillPower requires your understanding its basic modular
     organization.  Each choice in the MAIN MENU corresponds to a different
     module.  There is a SERVICE/FEE module, a BILLS module, a DISBURSE-
     MENTS module, and so on.  Whenever you want to do ANYTHING in this
     program, you should go to the module whose subject matter most prob-
     ably encompasses what you want to do.  For instance, to run a report
     showing all your services performed during any period, you would go to
     the SERVICES/FEES module, not to the BILLS module or CASES module.
     There may be times when your first guess as to the proper module is
     incorrect.  In that case, take a second guess, and you'll be right.

          It is important that you clearly distinguish among the concepts
     of a disbursement, a receipt, and a service/fee.  If you do not un-
     derstand the differences among them, you will make entries into the
     wrong modules.

          A service is an amount of WORK performed for a client.  A fee is
     an amount charged to the client for services performed.  Both services
     and fees are entered in BillPower's SERVICE/FEE module.

     INTRODUCTION                         12




          A disbursement is an amount ADVANCED or PAID BY YOU for some-
     thing.  It must be entered in the DISBURSEMENTS module.  If, for in-
     stance, you have paid court costs of $55, this expenditure is a dis-
     bursement.  Do not enter it on a time slip in the SERVICE/FEE module.

          A receipt is a sum of money PAID TO YOU.  It is not a disburse-
     ment (which is a sum paid BY you).  BillPower considers receipts to be
     income, not expenses.  Do not enter into the RECEIPTS module any items
     purchased by you, since these purchases are properly entered into the
     DISBURSEMENTS module.

          Receipts are often a source of confusion.  Remember that they are
     money PAID TO YOU, that is, money that you intend to put into YOUR
     coffers.  Money given to you in trust is NOT a receipt.  If a client
     gives you $100 and you intend to put it into trust for him, DO NOT
     enter it as a receipt.  That $100 should be registered with BillPower
     in the GENERAL LEDGER module, where you can follow trusts, escrows,
     retainers, and other types of accounts.  That $100 is not meant to be
     a present payment to you for past or future services; rather, it is
     meant to be placed into trust for the client (in the GENERAL LEDGER
     module).  At some future time, you might withdraw part or all of it
     from the trust account as a payment to you, but, until that time, it
     is not a RECEIPT; it is merely money given to you in trust.  Remember,
     money given to you is a RECEIPT only if it is going directly into YOUR
     pocket.

          Likewise, a disbursement is money paid by YOU, from YOUR FIRM's
     accounts, not from a trust account.  DO NOT enter as a disbursement
     any payment from a trust account.  Remember, it is not a disbursement
     unless it comes from your firm's own funds.  Money taken out of a
     trust account is NOT a disbursement, as BillPower understands the term
     -- it is simply a withdrawal of money from an account, to be handled
     in the GENERAL LEDGER module, not the DISBURSEMENTS module.





















     INTRODUCTION                         13




     SETTING UP


     LOADING BILLPOWER

          The first thing you must do to get BillPower into operation is to
     make sure that all the files found on the distribution disks are put
     into the ManageX subdirectory of your hard disk.

          When you've done that, you will be ready for the next few para-
     graphs' CAUTION.  Remember that disk data is easily corrupted or des-
     troyed.  Therefore, you should be aware of the need to make backup
     copies of your data on a daily basis.

          Integra recommends that you keep at least two separate sets of
     backup disks for your data.  Label the disks in one set "odd" and the
     other "even".  On odd dates, use the "odd" disks for backups, and on
     even dates use the "even" ones.  In this way, even in the event that
     one of your backups sets fails, you will still have the other contain-
     ing data no more than two or three working days old.  You should also
     have another set that you use for weekly backups and yet another for
     monthly backups.

          Note that, as your data base grows over time, you will have to
     add more backup disks.  When you start out, you'll probably need only
     one disk in each of your ODD and EVEN sets.  But, as time goes by,
     you may end up with as many as three or four backups per set.  If
     your data base grows beyond that, you may decide to erase some
     files from the hard disk.

          NOTE:
               Before you erase ANY records, you should re-label your
          most recent set of backup disks as "archives", to be stored
          perpetually.  You should indicate on them the months whose
          data they contain.  Then, start a new set of backups (to
          take the place of the ones converted to archive use).  Bac-
          kup disks are to be used regularly.  Archives are to be
          stored permanently, so that, if ever needed, you will be
          able to retrieve data long ago deleted from the hard disk,
          and no longer being backed up on the backups.

               NEVER, NEVER erase any data files until you have first
          designated your most recent backups disks as archive disks.
          They must not take the place of archives made earlier; rather,
          they should be ADDED TO your archive collection.


     CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM

          Now that all the BillPower files are located on the ManageX sub-
     directory, you should move to that subdirectory to use the program.
     To start the program, enter "BP" (or "BP MR" for memory-resident
     service) at the keyboard.

     SETTING UP                           17





          NOTE:
               You must be sure that you are in the hard disk ManageX
          subdirectory.

          FOR USERS FAMILIAR WITH DOS:
               If you wish to access BillPower from a batch file lo-
          cated in another subdirectory, you must put BP.BAT into
          that other subdirectory and erase it from the ManageX sub-
          directory.  Use EDIT to modify the subdirectory refer-
          ences at the top and bottom of the BP.BAT file.  Do not
          change BP.BAT's name, and make sure that the subdirectory
          that contains it is in the DOS path.  NEVER rename BP.BAT
          (BillPower must always be entered from a batch file called
          "BP.BAT"), and make no modifications other than to change
          its references to subdirectories at the top and bottom of
          the file.

          If this is your first use of the program, one of the first
     screens that appears will contain a series of prompts whose purpose is
     to find out how your computer system is configured and how you want
     BillPower to work for you.


     Period during which no interest will be charged

          This figure is the number of days after a bill is sent that you
     will allow a client as a grace period before interest is charged.  If
     you don't intend to charge interest, this figure is irrelevant, and
     you may ignore the prompt by simply pressing RET.

          As you set up each case's record, you will have the opportunity
     to enter a monthly rate at which interest will be charged the client
     (if no interest is to be charged, you may just enter "0" at that
     time).  When that case's monthly bills are prepared, interest will be
     charged at that rate for all sums from the previous bill which have
     still not been paid.  HOWEVER, no interest will be charged unless the
     number of days designated here have elapsed between the invoice date
     of the previous bill and the invoice date of the new bill being pre-
     pared.

          Let us say, for example, that you enter 30 interest-free days
     here.  Let us also presume that the client's balance due on the last
     bill is $100 and that he has paid only $50 since that bill was sent.
     You are now preparing the next month's bill.  If only 30 days have
     elapsed between the last bill's invoice date and this one's, no in-
     terest will be charged on the $50 still owed from last month.  If,
     however, at least 31 days have elapsed, the interest will be charged
     on the basis of the following calculation:





     SETTING UP                           18





          $   50.00 (still owed)
          x   interest rate for that case
          x   number of months entered between the last bill's
              and this new one's statement dates.
          ------------
          =   interest


     Lines printed per page on printer

          Most printers are pre-set for 66 rows, unless you change their
     default settings.  BillPower also assumes a default value of 66, unless
     you change that assumption here.  If you are using standard letter-
     sized paper, and if your printer uses a spacing of 6 lines to the
     inch, you do not need to change this value.

          If you have a laser printer, you should enter "LASER" at this
     item.  Doing so will tell BillPower that your printer will handle all
     the line counting, itself.


     Lines from paper top to letterhead bottom

          If you will not be using letterhead paper, skip this item.  If,
     however, BillPower will be printing statements onto private letterhead
     paper, it must know how far down the page to begin printing.  Measure
     the distance from the top of the page to the bottom of the letterhead
     as accurately as possible.  Then enter the number of lines (at 6
     lines to the inch) that can be printed in that space.  For instance,
     if the distance were 2.2 inches, you would enter "13" (for "13
     lines").


     Printer Initialization Code

          You may need to refer to your printer's manual for this data,
     which is NOT essential for using BillPower.  Therefore, if you're new
     to computing, you may want to skip this item for now (by pressing
     RET), and come back at some later date (after you've had more exper-
     ience with your computer and printer).

          You will almost certainly want reports prepared on your printer
     to be centered.  However, some printers are incapable of centering
     paper on the platen.  If you have one of these printers, it must be
     sent a special code to make it begin printing each line further to the
     right than usual.  BillPower will send this code if you will tell it
     here exactly what the code your specific printer expects for a Left
     Margin change.

          You might also change fonts (to, perhaps, Elite) by sending a
     code.


     SETTING UP                           19





          Your printer's manual contains the proper code instructions.
     Make sure that the code you supply is a DECIMAL code, not a HEXADECI-
     MAL code.  Fifteen spaces allows you to enter five 3-digit numbers in
     sequence.  Make sure that each number constituting the code is rep-
     resented as a 3-digit decimal (eg: 52 should be entered as "052", and
     1 should be entered as "001").

          The code you enter need not actually fill fifteen spaces if few-
     er are needed.  Assume, for instance, that you have an Epson printer
     and that you need to move the margin to the right 4 spaces.  To do
     so, you must enter nine digits: "027108052".  The "027" translates to
     the ESC key; "108" translates to "l"; and "052" means a 4-space mar-
     gin ("053" would be a 5-space margin).

          Incidentally, what has been described above will probably work
     just fine for reports.  But a mere five decimal codes may not be
     enough for the potentially elaborate printer formatting you may want
     to do for bills.

          To further customize your printing for bills, use EDIT to embed
     printer control codes at the top of the return address file (M-
     RETADD.LTR).  To do so, you have to enter the actual characters, NOT
     decimal codes, needed to change the printer's characteristics.  If you
     want to enter a control character, press ^P first.  When you press ^P,
     nothing will appear on the screen, but EDIT will be primed to assume
     that the NEXT key pressed is a control key combination.  Assume, for
     instance, that you need to embed "ESC Q" in the file.  To do so, you
     would actually enter "^P ESC Q", not just "ESC Q".  Note that the ESC
     key an other control characters may appear as peculiar symbols on your
     display.

          You may intersperse different printer format codes at different
     places in your return address file in order to achieve a variety of
     fonts on the same bill.  You may also place codes into the bill open-
     ing and closing paragraph files, as well as in each signature block
     file.

          As you can see, BillPower offers you an enormous range of printer
     formatting flexibility.  But you must know how to use your printer's
     codes in order to tap into this power.


     Indent used for client addresses on bills

          BillPower will normally print a bill's client address at the left
     margin (column 0).  If your paper is centered in the printer when
     bills are prepared, this positioning should allow the address to show
     through the window in a standard envelope.  If, however, you wish to
     move the address to the right, you may designate another column.  It
     is recommended that you leave this figure zero until you attempt to
     prepare bills and determine that you need to change it.  To change


     SETTING UP                           20




     this indent (or any of these other setup items) at a later date, you
     need simply select the (^C)ustomize option from the MAIN MENU.





     Account automatically adjusted for disbursements and receipts

          BillPower Plus offers simple integrated accounting functions.
     One way this can be achieved is to allow you to designate the account
     you want affected whenever you spend or receive money.  If you've
     opened that account with BillPower, the program will automatically
     withdraw the amount of any disbursement you make from that account,
     saving you the time of making a separate account-adjusting entry.
     Likewise, whenever you make a receipt, a deposit to the designated
     account will automatically occur.

          Assume that you always want your checking account to be adjusted
     for disbursements and receipts, and that you have opened such an ac-
     count in the General Ledger module, assigning it the account number,
     "CHECK".  If you enter "CHECK" at the cursor here, the CHECK account
     will be the one adjusted for disbursements and receipts.  Of course,
     you should insure that you have previously opened the CHECK account in
     the General Ledger module.

          If you make an entry here, every time you enter a receipt or dis-
     bursement, you'll be afforded the opportunity to enter up to two ac-
     counts to be automatically adjusted.  One of these account will al-
     ready be filled in (with "CHECK", for example), leaving you one more
     to enter if you are interested in making a "double entry" to keep your
     books balanced.

          If you make NO entry here, you will not be given the chance to
     enter any account information when you make a receipt or disbursement
     record.

          If you like the idea of having the automated double entry option
     available when you enter disbursements or receipts, but don't want the
     same account (eg: CHECK) every time, you should enter "NUL" here.
     "NUL" tells BillPower that you want to make use of the program's doub-
     le entry facilities, but don't want the SAME account adjusted for ALL
     disbursements and receipts.

          See the GENERAL LEDGER section for more details.


     Minimum time charged on Time Slips

          If your firm charges clients for a minimum amount of time when-
     ever work is done in their behalf, enter the number of minutes here.
     For instance, if you always charge clients for at least a quarter-


     SETTING UP                           21




     hour of work whenever you speak to them on the phone or handle any
     matter for them, you should enter "15" here (a quarter-hour is fif-
     teen minutes).    If you don't have a minimum time that you charge
     clients, just leave this item as zero.  Of course, the entry made
     here will affect only cases that are to be charged by the hour, not
     contingency, fixed fee, or monthly retainer cases.


     Screen Colors

          You'll see this prompt only if you have a color video board.
     Press "M", "S", or "B" until the color combination you want appears.


     Employees and their charge rates

          Three timekeepers are allowed in BillPower, while BillPower Plus
     allows fifteen.  For each one, you may enter his/her initials and up
     to 6 hourly rates, which the program will use to compute client
     charges.


     Tax on services

          There is another item you may customize, but it's needed so rare-
     ly that it's not shown on the CUSTOMIZING screen.  This item is a tax
     on services.

          If services in your area are taxed, you will want BillPower to
     automatically compute the tax for you when it prepares bills.  To tell
     BillPower what your local tax on services is, exit the program at your
     earliest convenience.  Then, re-enter it typing at the DOS prompt,
     "BILLPOWR x ?.???", where "?.???" is your local tax.  You need do this
     only once; from then, on, BillPower should be loaded with the command,
     "BP" (or "BP MR").


     Using a term other than "case"

          If you wish to substitute another term for "case", you'll need to
     alter the BP.BAT file with EDIT.EXE (Ctrl-E from the Main Menu).  Find
     the line that says "billpowr" and change it to "billpowr x x x Project",
     "billpowr x x x Job", or "billpowr x x x File", depending upon which
     term you wish to take the place of "case".


     Using 24-hr time and non-dollar monetary symbols

          BillPower normally uses 12-hr time whenever you enter a timeslip.
     If you would prefer to use 24-hr time, you'll need to alter the BP.BAT
     file (see "Using a term other than 'case'", above).  The 11th param-
     eter on the "billpowr" line should be "24hr".  Example:


     SETTING UP                           22





                      "billpowr x x x File x x x x x x 24hr"

     To use a monetary symbol other than the dollar sign, the 1st parameter
     should be the three-digit decimal code that your computer recognizes
     for the desired symbol.  If, for instance, you wish to use the letter
     "R" (ASCII decimal code 082), the "billpowr" line might read,

                       "billpowr 082 x x x x x x x x x 24hr"


     Using BillPower with desqVIEW

               Finally, if you use desqVIEW, you should add a line at the bottom
          of the BP.BAT file, saying "EXIT"


     Wrapping up the Installation

          You will next be asked whether you need to change any of the
     information you have just entered.  If you press "Y", you will be
     taken back to the first prompt to start over again.  If you press
     "N", you will be asked to confirm today's date.  If the date dis-
     played is correct, just press RET.  If the date is wrong, you may use
     the cursor control keys to highlight the proper date and then press
     RET.

          NOTE:
               BillPower is designed to be used on a regular basis.
          If you indicate that today is a date much different from
          the last date that the program was used, BillPower will
          assume that you have made a mistake.  The program won't
          believe you of you tell it that today is 28 or more days
          later than the date on which it was last used; nor will
          it accept that today is in a month prior to the month in
          which it was last used.  Thanks to this date checking,
          you're not likely to make gross errors in entering dates.

          In addition to using the cursor control keys to enter highlight
     dates on the pop-up calendar, you may also enter them manually.  One
     of three formats must be used.  For an example of each, assume that
     today is December 1, 1989.  You could enter it as "1 DEC 89",
     "12/01/89", or "120189".

          Here it should be noted that there are many places in the program
     where you will be asked to enter a "Mon Yr" (translation: month and
     year).  When you come to such a place, simply enter the first three
     characters of the month, then enter a space, and finally enter the
     last two digits of the year.  For example, December 1989's "Mon Yr" is
     "Dec 89".




     SETTING UP                           23






     OPENING THE DATA FILES

          After you have entered the date, BillPower will double-check it
     and then begin confirming the existence of data files.  If this is
     your first use of BillPower, no data files will exist yet, so you will
     be asked whether you want to create them.  The specific prompt ap-
     pearing on the screen will be, "[month] files do not exist -- create
     them?"  Answer Yes by pressing "Y", unless, for some reason you do
     NOT want to create new files for the month.

          Next, a message will appear, asking, "Do you want to erase any
     old data from the hard disk?"  This message will appear only during
     each month's FIRST USE of BillPower.  Keeping some old files may be
     useful for referencing data from previous months, but how many old
     files you preserve depends upon how much hard disk space you are wil-
     ling to devote to BillPower, and how much you need for other uses.  It
     is recommended that you keep a minimum of a year's-worth of data on
     the hard disk.

          If this is your first use of BillPower, there are no old files,
     and you may, therefore, answer the question by pressing the "N" key
     (for "No, I do not want to...").  But before you do, please read on,
     so that you will gain an understanding of what to do when you reach
     this point in the coming months.


     Setting up files for a new month

          Some files used by BillPower keep track of perpetual information
     which must be consistent from month to month.  These perpetual files
     will be automatically updated by BillPower at the appropriate times.
     Other files, however, are month-specific.  These specialized files
     will be created "from scratch" each month, and they'll hold that
     month's services, disbursements, receipts, adjustments and notes.
     They all have names beginning with the name of the month to which they
     apply.

          If you want to clear up some hard disk space by erasing old
     monthly files, and if you have not already taken care of that matter,
     press "Y" when asked whether you want to erase some old data.  Make
     sure, however, that you have floppy archive copies of the files about
     to be erased.  You never know when you may need to retrieve some old
     data which has been deleted from the hard disk.  If you have not made
     the archives AND prepared ALL bills which will draw upon data compiled
     during the months you are considering deleting, you should NOT delete
     those months' files.

          After BillPower has erased whatever files you specified (if any),
     it will create this month's new files and take you to the MAIN MENU.



     SETTING UP                           24




     MAIN MENU

          The MAIN MENU reflects the structure of the program.  Look at it
     closely.  The message at the bottom requests that you press one of the
     letters in parentheses.  If you wish deal with a case (or job/project)
     simply press "C" to go to the CASE module.  Once there, you will be
     presented with a similar CASE MENU.  The menu in each module is simi-
     lar to those in all the others.

          To manipulate information within data records, press the appro-
     priate key indicated in parentheses.  For instance, to go to the
     (R)eceipt file to enter, change, or otherwise manipulate information
     within one of its records, you would press "R".  To enter or manipu-
     late a (N)ote, press "N".  Bills and most of the "enter/manipulate"
     options shown in the center of the screen have separate sections of
     these instructions devoted to them; the remaining options are dis-
     cussed below.


     UTILIZE UTILITIES

          This option takes you to the UTILITIES module, where you can do
     several useful things, such as erasing files and and sorting trans-
     actions chronologically.  Please see the UTILITIES MODULE section for
     details.


     CUSTOMIZE THE PROGRAM

          This option allows you to alter the parameters (such as the text
     color) you established when you initially entered the program.  See
     the CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM section (above) for details.


     EDIT TEXT FILES

          This option will take you directly into the EDIT program.  There,
     you can alter many files, including those used for the opening and
     closing paragraphs on bills, signature blocks, your income-expense
     categories, your chart of accounts, and your return address.


     ESC from BILLPOWER

          This option allows you to exit the program.  Upon leaving Bill-
     Power, you'll be asked whether you wish to copy your data files.  You
     should almost ALWAYS answer affirmatively.  Never fail to heed a hint
     to backup your files.  If you do elect to copy your files, you will be
     taken through a routine similar to that experienced if you were to
     select the "(B)acking up files" option in the UTILITIES module.  See
     the UTILITIES MODULE section for details.



     MAIN MENU                            25




     CASE MODULE


          In the CASE module, you will manipulate case/client records.  You
     should regard a case/client record as merely a descriptive cover sheet
     that would go into each case's file folder.  This record (or cover
     sheet) can be inspected at any time to get a quick overview of the
     case's current status in such areas as its balance due and its
     aged receivables.  Remember that, anytime you want information on bal-
     ances due or receivables, you should come to the CASE module.


     MAKE A NEW RECORD

          If you press "M", you will be asked to give BillPower a Case Num-
     ber for the new case.  After you enter it, you will be taken into the
     Edit mode, where you can fill in other information pertaining to that
     case.

          NOTE:
          Though you may use ANY case numbering scheme you like, you are
     strongly encouraged to use one in which the case name consists of the
     first 4 or 5 letters of the client's last name and the first 2 or 3
     letters of his fist name (eg: John Smith's first case would be
     "SMITJO1".  Doing so will make case numbers easier to remember and
     will also make certain searches for case information proceed more a
     little more quickly than if you were to use another scheme.

          The Edit mode's screen displays some information which you cannot
     change, such as the case's balance.  Since the balance is automati-
     cally updated as each service/fee, disbursement, and receipt entry is
     made, you may not alter it here.  If, for some reason, you want to
     change this case's total amount due your firm, you must select the
     "(A)djustment" option in the MAIN MENU.  The reason that you are not
     allowed to make this change directly here is that, if you did so,
     there would be no permanent record of the change and its reason.
     Forcing you to make an Adjustment will result in the filing of such a
     record.

          For similar reasons, you are also prevented from changing the
     receivables displayed.  Note that one of the items reported is
     "CrntDue", which represents the amount still due on the last bill that
     you sent the client, minus any payments that have been received since
     then.  "CrntDue" may well differ from the "Balance" figure, which in-
     cludes not just the amount due on the last bill, but also ALL the
     transactions since then (including services/fees, disbursements, re-
     ceipts, and adjustments).


     MasterRcrd Number

          You will note that this number has already been assigned.  It is


     CASE MODULE                          26




     always initially presumed that a case's master is that case, itself.
     If you wish to change it, just use the cursor control and delete keys
     to do so.  Once the new masterRcrd number has been entered, BillPower
     will search for that case to confirm its existence.  If it cannot
     find the masterRcrd, it will tell you so.  If it does find the mas-
     terRcrd, certain common information will be transferred from that
     case to the new one you are now creating.

          A subordinate case MUST NOT be entered into the file before the
     master to which it refers.  A masterRcrd must always have been en-
     tered into the case file BEFORE its subordinates.

          The reason many professionals prefer to put all matters under a
     single "master" case is that they want the bills sent to their cli-
     ents to be completely consolidated.  If you have a master with sev-
     eral subordinates, the bill sent to your client will actually consist
     of a separate bill for each subordinate case and a summary sheet con-
     taining the total amount due for all the cases.  You may believe that
     some of your clients will be confused by receiving multiple bills,
     especially if, as far as they're concerned, all the matters handled
     by one firm should appear on one consolidated bill, rather than sep-
     arate bills arriving in the same envelope.

          Before you begin any cases for a client, you should consider his
     nature and decide whether you may ultimately need to set up several
     subordinates under one master, or whether all the work you do for him
     is appropriate for one case's record.  If you are unsure how to pro-
     ceed, just set up ONE case for him now.  Then, if, in the future, you
     decide that you need to open a case subordinate to the one you orig-
     inally opened for him, you may do so simply by designating the orig-
     inal case as the new case's master.  However, you may not subsequent-
     ly open a new case and call it the original's master, since, as men-
     tioned above, master records must be opened with BillPower BEFORE any
     of their subordinates.


     Area of Business

          Next you will come to the "Area of Business".  This must be a
     number between 1 and 999 corresponding to the business category which
     most closely describes this particular case's subject matter.  You are
     free to define your category numbers, using any scheme that you wish.
     BillPower uses these numbers during its hunt routine to search for all
     cases dealing with similar subjects (if you select the "Area of Busi-
     ness" Hunt Gates in the Hunt mode).  By running such a hunt, you can
     find, among other things, which areas of business bring in the most
     money and which areas your firm seems to be concentrating upon.

          If you do not know the area of business or its number, and if you
     would like some help, press the help key, F1.  You will be shown the
     contents of the M-LBAREA.DAT file, which contains a listing of all the
     business categories and their corresponding numbers.  When you find


     CASE MODULE                          27




     the area that fits this case, enter its number and proceed to the next
     item.  See the CATEGORIES, AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM section
     for instructions on how to change M-LBAREA.DAT's contents.


     Charging Disbursements

          "Chrg Dsbrs" is the next item.  BillPower initially assumes that
     you will always charge your clients for each disbursement.  When YES
     appears next to the 'Chrg Dsbrs' item, this assumption will be fol-
     lowed for this case.  If you wish to alter this assumption for this
     case, press "N" (for NO).  If 'Chrg Dsbrs' is NO, no disbursements
     made for this case will be included on the client's bills, unless, at
     the time each disbursement is actually entered into the computer, the
     amount entry is completed with ^C (for CHARGE) instead of the usual
     RET.  If 'Chrg Dsbrs' is YES, all disbursements made for this case
     WILL be included on the client's bills, unless, at the time each dis-
     bursement is entered, the amount entry is completed with ^N (for NO
     charge) instead of the usual RET.


     Responsible and Originating Employees

          The "Responsible Employee" is the employee who is chiefly respon-
     sible for the case.  "Orig" is the originating employee.  Here, you
     should enter the ID of the employee who brought the case into the
     firm.


     Opening and Closing Dates

          The date this case is "Opened" is automatically entered by the
     computer, but you may change it if you need to.  When the case is
     closed, this item is titled, "Closed", and the date shown is that on
     which the case was closed.  See the "Closing and Opening a Case" sec-
     tion, below.


     Case Name, Client Name, etc.

          The "Case Name" is the next item to fill in.  Give the case some
     descriptive name (or "style") and enter it here.  Make sure that the
     Case Name is a presentable one, since it will appear on all bills
     prepared by BillPower.  Do not skip this item.  Each case MUST have a
     case name, a case number and a masterRcrd number.

          If this record is intended to serve merely as a "client" record,
     used merely to link other subordinate cases, begin the case name with
     an asterisk, "*" (eg: "*Smith Matters"). .cp 3

          The client's name should be entered with the last name first,
     followed by a comma, a space, and the rest of the name.  For instance,


     CASE MODULE                          28




     Mr. & Mrs. John A. Smith should be entered as "Smith, Mr. & Mrs. John
     A."  Remember, LAST names should always be entered first, except in
     the case of a client which is not a person (eg: IBM Corp), in which
     case the first name entered should be the name upon which you want to
     index the case.  For instance, The Hartford Group should be entered as
     "Hartford Group" so that the indexing name is `Hartford', not `The'.

          The program will index cases by the first initial of the cli-
     ent's last name.   At certain points in the program, you will be able
     to find some information very quickly if you enter this initial and
     then press the help key, F1.  Remember, the program assumes that
     the first name entered is the client's last name, and it is with that
     name's first initial that the indexing is done.


     Miscellaneous Information

          You may enter up to four lines of miscellaneous information.
     This facility is very useful, since you may enter ANYTHING you wish,
     such as the court, judge, and opposing counsel.  At any future time,
     you may conduct a (H)unt to find all the cases that contain certain
     miscellaneous data.  If, for instance, you included in this Miscellan-
     eous section a West reference key number, you could later find all
     your cases that fall into that key number classification.  Be as brief
     as you can here, so that you will have room to fill in lots of data on
     these four lines.  Use abbreviations (eg: "OC:" for "Opposing Coun-
     sel:", or "WK:" for "West Key Number:" ), and be consistent in your
     entries from case to case.

          At various times in the life of a case, you may enter "markers"
     into the Miscellaneous sections.  For instance, if some cases are
     turned over to a collection agency, you could "mark" each's Miscel-
     laneous section with some notation, such as "(Clctn)".  Then, when-
     ever you wanted to find ALL such cases quickly, you could conduct a
     (H)unt for all the cases whose Miscellaneous sections contain the
     character sequence, "(Clctn)".

          If you begin the first line with a plus sign ("+"), the top two
     miscellaneous lines will be included on this case's bills, just below
     the case number and case name.  This feature is useful if, for in-
     stance, you do lots of work for an insurance company which requires
     all bills submitted to contain such things as the accident date and
     claim number (there's more on this in the BILLS section of these in-
     structions).

          Beginning the first line with a plus will cause this case's bills
     to include the first two lines of miscellaneous data.  If there are
     portions of the first two lines that you do NOT want to appear on
     bills, enclose those portions inside curly brackets, "{" and "}".





     CASE MODULE                          29






     Billing Format and Interval

          The "Billing Format" you wish to use for this case may be any of
     seven basic choices, ranging from 2 (the format disclosing the least
     information to the client), through 6 (the most explicit), to 8.
     Formats 0 and 1 also exist to automatically provide an asterisk at the
     beginning of certain Description entries, but they are subjects
     reserved for discussion later.  All the formats are similar to one
     another, though some provide information lacking in others.  Each of
     the formats includes a salutation and signature block, unless you
     enter a minus after the format number.  For example, format "6-" is
     identical to format "6", except that it does not include a salutation
     or signature.  There's more on this subject in the BILLS section, and
     examples of the various formats may be found in the Appendix.

          The "Intvl" is the billing interval, in months.  Here, you should
     enter the number of months between the bills your firm will send out
     for the case.  The number must be from 1 to 6.  As examples, you
     should enter "1" for monthly, "3" for quarterly, and "6" for
     semiannual, billing.


     Salutation

          If you want a salutation (eg: "Dear Mr. Smith:") to appear on
     this client's bills, enter it here.


     Methods of Charging Your Clients

          The "TmKeepr Rate Level" is the hourly rate level (1 to 6) at
     which you wish this case to be charged to the client.  Pressing the F1
     key at this item will cause BillPower to show you a listing of the
     timekeepers and their rates.  The timekeepers and rates were discussed
     earlier in the CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM section.

          If you have an arrangement with your client whereby he is to pay
     you a certain amount each month until his debt is paid, enter that
     amount as the "MonthlyPmnt".  If the MonthlyPmnt is zero, BillPower
     will assume that the client is supposed to pay the whole balance shown
     on each bill.  If the MonthlyPmnt item is greater than zero, each bill
     for this case will contain a statement reminding the client that he
     need pay no more than the MonthlyPmnt, even though it may be less than
     the total balance due.  Also, if the MonthlyPmnt is greater than zero,
     BillPower will NOT calculate interest for this case, even though you
     specify an interest rate, as discussed below.

          NOTE:
               Don't confuse a MonthlyPmnt with a Monthly Retainer
          (described below).  The retainer is a regular monthly pay-


     CASE MODULE                          30




          ment which is due you, whether or not the client has an
          outstanding balance at the time a bill is prepared.  The
          MonthlyPmnt is due ONLY if the client has an outstanding
          balance.  The MonthlyPmnt is a payment on a debt, while the
          retainer is a sum paid to you regularly in order to keep
          you "on the line", ready to provide services at the drop of
          a hat.

          If you want the client to be charged no more than a certain
     amount per hour, regardless of which employee does work on the case,
     enter that amount as the "Max Hourly Rate".  Whenever work is done for
     the case, BillPower will calculate the charges based upon the least of
     a) the Max Hourly Rate or b) the appropriate TmKeepr Rate Level hourly
     rate for the employee who does the work.  If you leave the Max Hourly
     Rate at zero, this item will be ignored when charges are calculated,
     and the appropriate TmKeepr Rate Level charge rate for the employee
     who does the work will be used.

          If you wish to charge the client interest for any amounts he may
     owe you, enter the MONTHLY interest rate as the "IntRate".  Enter it
     as a percentage (eg: 1.5% is entered as "1.5", not as ".015").  Dur-
     ing the billing process, BillPower will calculate simple interest on
     the last bill's balance remaining unpaid for the number of days you
     specified when you first set up to use the program (see the CUSTOMIZ-
     ING THE PROGRAM section).  BillPower will also write a service/fee re-
     cord for that interest, so that you may refer to the interest charge
     at a later date.  That record will be entered into the service/fee
     file for the EARLIEST month covered by the bill.  So, if the bill
     covers JUN 89 to AUG 89, the interest record for that bill will be
     put into the JUN 89 service/fee file.  Note that interest added to a
     bill will be included in the balance forwarded upon which the next
     bill's interest, if any, will be calculated.  Also remember that,
     whenever you want to stop charging interest, you need only (E)dit this
     case record and enter zero as the interest rate.

          If you want to charge a flat hourly rate for work done on the
     case, regardless of who does the work, enter that rate as the "Flat
     Hourly Rate".  If a Flat Hourly Rate is used, that rate will always be
     used in the program's calculations for this case, no matter who does
     work on the case.

          If you wish to charge a fixed fee for this case, enter it next to
     the "Fixed Fee" item.  If there is an entry here, no work done for
     this case will result in any charges, unless you use ^C to force Bill-
     Power to calculate a charge for that work (the SERVICES\FEES section
     will discuss ^C's use).  In other words, if you classify this case as
     a fixed fee case, BillPower will charge the case nothing for services
     (though disbursements WILL be charged, regardless of whether the case
     is a fixed fee one, as long as the "Chrg Dsbrs" item above is "YES"),
     unless you specifically tell it to when you make the service entry.
     In most cases, you will probably not instruct BillPower to charge the
     fee until the case is completed.


     CASE MODULE                          31





          If you wish to run the case on a contingency, enter the contin-
     gency rate as the "Cntngnt Percentage".  For example, a one-third
     contingency would be entered as "33.33".

          If the case is to be managed on a retainer, enter the "Monthly
     Retainer" to be charged to the client every month.  As with the fixed
     fee and the contingency, BillPower will not charge this case for ser-
     vices, unless otherwise instructed at the time a service is entered.
     If you enter a retainer, the "Retainer Limit" on the next line will
     automatically be filled in (you may, of course, change it to any value
     you wish).  The purpose of the Retainer Limit is to allow you to set a
     limit on the value of work provided each month under the retainer.
     Whenever a service or fee is provided which would cause that limit to
     be exceeded during any given month, a reminder will appear on the
     screen.  You will then have the opportunity to instruct BillPower (by
     using ^C) to override the presumption against charging the case for
     that service or fee.  In calculating the value of all work done on
     retainer cases, BillPower assumes that all services would be charged
     at the standard rate, Rate Level 1.  The Retainer Limit has no effect
     upon disbursements or upon any type of transaction other than a ser-
     vice or fee.  In other words, if you set a Retainer Limit, BillPower
     will keep track of only the service/fee monthly totals and will inform
     you only if a service/fee will cause a month's total to exceed the
     Retainer Limit.

          Note that BillPower uses the term, "retainer", to mean a recur-
     ring payment made to the firm each month by the client.  Some firms,
     however, use the term to mean a fixed fee paid in advance by the cli-
     ent.  If a case is to be charged a fixed fee (even though you may call
     it a "retainer"), it should be entered next to the "Fixed Fee" item,
     whether or not it is to be paid in advance; if it IS paid in advance,
     you should, as soon as possible, enter the payment in the RECEIPTS
     module, or, if appropriate, enter it as a trust account deposit in the
     GENERAL LEDGER module.

          If this is a retainer-type case, BillPower will automatically add
     the retainer to each bill prepared for the case.  That way, you won't
     have to worry about forgetting to make a manual entry for the amount
     of the retainer.  If you'd rather not have the retainer added to each
     bill automatically, place "DONT-ADD-RETAINER" onto the fourth line of
     the Miscellaneous section described above.

          NOTE:
               The Fixed or Contingent fee that you enter in this
          CASE module is merely a reminder that you intend to
          charge such a fee at some future date.  Your entry in THIS
          module will not result in a charge to the client.  After
          all, how can the program know WHEN you wish to charge the
          fee?  When you determine that it is time for you to charge
          a fee of some sort, you need simply make a fee record in
          the SERVICES/FEES module.  For instance, while you are wor-


     CASE MODULE                          32




          king on a contingent fee case, BillPower will not calculate
          any charges for work done (since it will have no hourly
          rate at which to do the figuring).  When you finally win
          the case, take a few seconds to manually calculate the re-
          covery percentage due you and enter that amount as a fee in
          the SERVICES/FEES module.  The next bill that goes out will
          contain that charge.

          If you have an agreement with your client, by which you may
     charge him for work that you do, but by which the total charges for
     services and fees may not exceed a certain amount, enter that amount
     as the "Total Srvc/Fee Max".  Whenever a service is performed which
     would cause this Max to be exceeded, the program will adjust the am-
     ount charged for that service to something (perhaps ZERO) which will
     keep that client's total bill attributable to services and fees under
     the specified Total Srvc/Fee Max.  You may, of course, override this
     adjustment at the time the service is entered, if you wish.  This
     Total Srvc/Fee Max has no effect on disbursements or on any type of
     transaction other than a service or fee.  In other words, if you set a
     Total Srvc/Fee Max, BillPower will keep track of only the service and
     fee totals and will inform you only if a service/fee will cause the
     total to exceed the Max.


     Unusual Fee Arrangements

          If you have a fee arrangement with your client that does not fall
     within any of those described above, simply enter it as a Miscellan-
     eous note.  Make sure, however, that, if it involves an hourly fee of
     any sort, that fee is reflected as either the "TmKeepr Rate Level" or
     the "Flat Hourly Rate".  If you do not do so, BillPower will not auto-
     matically calculate charges for work done as it is entered into the
     computer.  If, for instance, your deal with the client were that you
     were to work at $40 an hour AND receive 20% of any recovery, you would
     enter an hourly rate of 40.00 as the Flat Hourly Rate.  You would also
     make a Miscellaneous note to the effect that you are to receive 20% of
     the recovery.  If you tried to enter 20% next to the "Cntngnt Percen-
     tage" item, the $40 hourly rate you just entered would disappear, and
     BillPower would not be able to automatically calculate charges at
     $40/hour.  When the recovery were finally received, you would refer to
     your miscellaneous note for confirmation of the contingent percentage
     and manually calculate your fee, yourself.


     Account Information

          If the case involves the use of an account, such as a trust or
     retainer, enter the "Account" number.  The balance for the account
     whose number you enter will be displayed to the right.  Each time you
     make a transaction for that account (in the GENERAL LEDGER module, not
     here), these balances will be automatically updated.



     CASE MODULE                          33




          Please note that this account's transactions will appear on any
     bills you prepare for the client, unless the account number entered
     here is preceded by an asterisk.  For instance, retainer account R-
     SMITJO1 should be entered as "*R-SMITJO1" if you do not want its
     transactions to appear on bills for the case to which that account is
     attached (here, for illustration, the R-SMITJO1 account is attached to
     the SMITJO1 case).


     Periodic/Occasional Billing

          Whenever you open a new case, you'll be expected to tell Bill-
     Power whether it is to be billed Periodically or Occasionally.  These
     two methods of billing are described in the "WHAT BILLPOWER WILL DO"
     section of the INTRODUCTION.

          You'll make your choice of billing method right after pressing F6
     to save a new case to disk.  Or you may press the ALT-F9 key at any
     time while you're filling the new case's information.  The currently
     selected billing method will be shown in the lower right corner of the
     screen as you press ALT-F9.

          After a case has been saved, you may subsequently change the
     billing method by editing the case and pressing ALT-F9.  But a case's
     billing method may be changed only up to the time a first bill is
     prepared for the case.  After that, the case's billing method is
     "locked in".


     EDIT/EXAMINE A RECORD

          The edit mode is useful for two things.  The first is, of course,
     to change data pertaining to a case.  The second is to simply examine
     that case's data.


     Specifying the Case to be Edited

          The first thing you will be asked after requesting an (E)dit is
     the Case Number of the case to be edited.

          NOTE:
               If you do not know it and would like some help, press
          F1, and you will be shown a list of all the cases on the
          disk.  To narrow the search, you should press the FIRST
          letter of the client's last name just before you press F1.
          If you precede F1 with a letter, you will be shown only
          those cases whose client last names begin with that letter.

          If you wish to edit all cases controlled by a certain Master-
     Rcrd, just press RET when first asked to enter the case number.  You
     will then be asked to enter the number of the MasterRcrd whose sub-


     CASE MODULE                          34




     cases you wish to edit.  F1 will also work here as it is described in
     the preceding paragraph, while pressing RET or ESC will take you back
     to the MENU.  After you enter the MasterRcrd Number, you will be pre-
     sented with the first case on file whose MasterRcrd Number matches the
     one you have entered.  After you have finished with that case, you may
     press either F6 or ESC.  F6 will cause the next case with that Master-
     Rcrd Number (if there is one) to appear on the screen, while ESC will
     abort the procedure and take you back to the MENU, without showing you
     any other cases.


     Closing & Opening a case

          If you wish to close or reopen the case being edited, press ^C
     (for "Close/Open toggle"), instead of F6.  Doing so will cause Bill-
     Power to ask whether you really wish to use the close/open toggle.  If
     so, press "Y", and the case will be closed (or reopened, if it had
     already been closed).

          In addition to establishing a closing date, closing a case is
     useful to keep it from being billed.  You may occasionally have a
     case which you do not want to omit yet, but which you do not want to
     bill for a while.  If so, you might consider closing it.  When you're
     ready to bill the case again, just open it by pressing ^C while edit-
     ing the case record.  No closed cases will be billed, unless more
     than nine months have elapsed since their last bills.


     Recent History

          While editing a case record, you may obtain a listing of the ser-
     vices, receipts, notes, etc., pertaining to that case.  If you press
     ^R, you will be asked to give earliest date whose information is to be
     found.  Just pressing RET will tell BillPower to use a default date
     approximately 3 months in the past.  After BillPower has been given a
     date, it will begin displaying all the transactions and notes involv-
     ing that case since that date.  If you wish to obtain a printout,
     press ALT-P just before you enter the date.


     F2 & F10 Keys

          Pressing the F2 key will cause BillPower to store the client's
     name, address and phone number in the computer's electronic memory.
     The F10 key will cause that same information to be copied from memory
     to the case record being edited.  The ability to copy to and from
     memory is useful if you have a client to which you have assigned a
     masterRcrd and several subordinates.  If that client changes his ad-
     dress or phone number, you may make the appropriate changes on the
     master record and store that information in memory by pressing F2.
     Then, by simply calling each subordinate record to the screen and
     pressing F10, the new information will be taken from memory and added


     CASE MODULE                          35




     to that record.  The process can be automated if you select a Master-
     Rcrd Number, instead of a Case Number, when you enter the (E)dit mode
     (if you do this, simply pressing F6, when you are finished editing a
     record, will take you to the next case assigned to that masterRcrd).


     HUNT FOR SOME INFO

          If you press "H" while in the CASES MENU, you will be taken to a
     Hunt Gates display.  Here, you are to select the gates you want to
     affect the search through the case file.  Each Hunt Gate will allow
     passage of only those records which contain information consistent
     with the parameter you assign it.  For example, if you wanted to find
     records of all clients who work for a certain company, you would enter
     a portion of the company name at item D (assuming  that you consis-
     tently used the Addrs1 line for company names).  If you wanted to find
     all cases with a certain masterRcrd number, you would enter a portion
     of that number at item A.  Entering something at both A and D would
     narrow the search to only those cases whose MasterRcrd Numbers and
     Addrs1's contained matches for items A and D.

          A hunt for any item whose entry is alphanumeric (as opposed to
     strictly numeric) may be made on the basis of partial entries.  For
     instance, if you wished to find all cases whose Addrs1's were either
     "Smith Enterprises" or "Smith, Inc", you would need to enter only
     "Smith" at item D.  All cases whose Addrs1's contained "Smith" would
     be shown to you.  Included among these cases might be "Jones and
     Smith, Ltd" and "The John Smith Company".  Any case whose Addrs1 con-
     tained "Smith" would be included.

          Following the above example, you could also have chosen to
     search for Addrs1's containing "ith".  If you had done so, in addi-
     tion to all the cases mentioned above, you might also have come ac-
     ross cases whose Addrs1's were "Ithica Fabricators" and "Lithe Forms,
     Inc".

          NOTE:
               This valuable partial entry feature is contained in
          the Hunt mode of every BillPower module, except BILLING
          module (where it's not appropriate).  It is applicable
          to only alphanumeric items (those which may contain either
          letters or numbers).  It does not apply to dates, amounts,
          and a few other items.

          NOTE:
               Suppose you elect to enter "SMITJO" at the Case Number
          gate.  If there were more than one case whose numbers con-
          tain that sequence of characters, they would all pass
          through that gate.  Hence, SMITJO, SMITJO1, SMITJO2, etc.,
          would all be selected by BillPower for the hunt report.  If,
          however, you wanted only SMITJO to pass through the gates
          (to the exclusion of SMITJO1 and SMITJO2), you would have


     CASE MODULE                          36




          to tell BillPower.  You would do this by ending your "SMITJO"
          entry by pressing the F7 key, instead of the usual RET.
          If a Case Number gate is set up for an exact match, a
          note will appear to the right, saying, "* exact *".  If no
          such note is displayed, then ALL cases whose numbers con-
          tain matches for the entered character sequence will pass
          through the gate.  If the "* exact *" note is shown, then
          only the case whose number exactly matches that character
          sequence will be reported.

          To find cases applicable to a certain areas of business range,
     set Gates F and G accordingly.  If all your divorce areas were num-
     bered between 100 and 150, you would set Gate F to "100" and Gate G to
     "150" if you wanted to look for all your divorce work.  To find only a
     SINGLE area of business, both Gates F and G (that is, both the lowest
     and the highest area of business to be reported) should be identical.

          BillPower keeps track of the date that the latest receipt for each
     case has been received.  If you wanted to hunt for all cases whose
     latest receipt date were before 15 JAN 87, you would select item H
     and enter "15 JAN 87".  The hunt performed would select only those
     cases for which a receipt had not been received since 15 JAN 87.
     This gate allows you to find cases that are seriously in arrears.

          Another check you might want to make of your cases is to find
     which ones have balances due greater than a certain amount or within
     a certain range.  For instance, if you wanted to find all cases with
     balances between -100 dollars (that is, a $100 credit) and +100 dol-
     lars ($100 due you), you would select items I and J and enter "-100"
     and "100", respectively.  If you wanted to find all cases with bal-
     ances due of over 500 dollars, you would select item J only and enter
     "500".

          Any gate that is left blank will be considered to be open, allow-
     ing ANY record to pass through.  In other words, each record will be
     deemed to meet that gate's criterion, and, assuming that all the other
     gates' criteria are also met, will be displayed during the hunt.  A
     "0" entered for some of the numeric items will accomplish the same
     purpose that a blank entry does for text items.

          To find only retainer cases, or cases which are MasterRcrds, you
     would select N or O to change that item's assertion from NO to YES (or
     vice versa).  To find only cases which are open or closed, you would
     select item L or M.

          Gate Q is a toggle that switches among the various reports
     available: "Standard", "Receivables", "Client Addresses & Phones,
     etc,", "Full-Screen Edit", "Labels and Envelopes", and "Letters".

          To begin the hunt, press F6.  For a printout of the hunt, press
     ALT-P just before you press F6.



     CASE MODULE                          37





          Once the Hunting process begins, you will be shown the data for
     each record conforming to the Hunt gates you have established.

          If you have chosen a "Receivables" report, you'll get just what
     you expect: a report of each conforming case's aged receivables.

          The "Client Addresses & Phones" report will give you an alphabet-
     ized listing of each client, his address, phone, and miscellaneous
     information.  Remember, pressing ALT-P just before beginning the re-
     port will cause it to be sent to the printer.

          If you have chosen a "Standard" report, data for each conforming
     record will appear on one line.  The program will then automatically
     search for the next conforming record, display it, then look for the
     next one, and so on.  You may make the program pause in its searching
     by pressing the space bar.  Pressing ESC will abort the hunting pro-
     cess.

          The "Full-Screen Edit" report isn't really a report; rather, it
     allows you to view's each conforming record's full summary screen.  As
     each case's record is displayed you can actually edit it as if you
     were in the (E)dit mode, instead of this (H)unt mode.  Of course, only
     one case's data will be displayed on the screen at a time.  Unlike the
     Standard summaries routine, this one will not search for the next con-
     forming file unless you press F6 to indicate that you wish to move on.
     If you want to abort the Hunt routine, press ESC instead of F6.


     Labels and Envelopes

          This option allows you to make mailing labels with clients'
     names and addresses on them.  The labels used must be of the 1" X 4"
     (or 15/16" X 3-1/2") variety and should be pin-fed into your printer
     on a continuous sheet.

          This option will also allow you to print client names and ad-
     dresses onto envelopes, one at a time.

          When you enter this option, you will first be asked to designate
     the left indentation for your label or envelope printing.  The de-
     fault is column 0, but you may enter any column between 0 and 45.
     The left edge of each printed address will line up at this column on
     your printer.  If you are happy with the current indent setting, just
     press the RET key.

          Next, you will be asked whether you want a test pattern printed.
     If you answer, "Y", you will see a demonstration of how the printing
     will line up on your labels or envelopes.  If you need to reset the
     indent and print another test pattern, you will be be afforded the
     opportunity.



     CASE MODULE                          38





          Then, you will be asked whether you want BillPower to pause be-
     tween addresses.  If you answer "Y", BillPower will stop after each
     address is printed and will not proceed until you press the RET key.
     If you are just printing labels, you will probably not want to pause.
     But if you are printing envelopes, a pause will necessary, so that
     you will be able to put each succeeding envelope into the printer.


     Letters to Clients

          This option allows you to prepare many printouts of a short let-
     ter, each addressed to a different client.

          BillPower will ask you to enter the name of the file which con-
     tains the letter.  BillPower will then print the same letter for
     each client meeting the parameters you established with the Hunt
     Gates.

          The letter printed by BillPower must have been created with EDIT,
     and it must reside in the ManageX subdirectory or on another disk en-
     tirely.  You will have to experiment with this module before attemp-
     ting an actual mass mailing.  Just prepare the body of the letter with
     EDIT.  Then use this Letters "report" option to run a single letter.
     If its format is unsatisfactory, go back to EDIT and make the approp-
     riate changes.  Repeat this procedure until you are happy with the
     results.  Then do the mass mailing.

          BillPower has the ability to interpret special "tilde" codes in-
     serted into the text of the letter.  If you use EDIT, these codes will
     be listed when you press the F5 key while creating or editing your
     letter.  Assume that you want to insert the client's name at some
     point in the letter.  To do so, you could place "~D" at the approp-
     riate spot.  Then, when the letter is being prepared by BillPower,
     "~D" will be translated to the name of whatever client is being ad-
     dressed.  Be sure to set the letter's left margin by placing ".LMx" at
     the very beginning of the very first line of the letter (where "x" is
     the column where you want the letter to begin printing on your printer
     -- typically 8).  If you use ".LMx", there should be nothing else on
     that line of the letter; that is, the actual body of the letter should
     begin on line 2.  Also, set the letter's line length (the maximum num-
     ber of spaces in each line -- typically 65) by pressing the F4 key.
     An example file called "OVERDUE.LTR" is supplied with BillPower.  It
     may be modified for use in your office to send dunning letters to cli-
     ents who are behind in their payments.  You might also prepare and
     keep on hand form letters for such things as welcoming clients and
     thanking them for their choosing your firm.


     Custom Reports

          If you would like to print a Custom Report, you should press ^Q


     CASE MODULE                          39




     (Ctrl-Q), instead of just "Q".  When you do, you'll be prompted for
     the name of the file containing the custom report you want prepared.

          The report you specify must have already been prepared with
     EDIT.EXE (^E at the Main Menu).  It should contain "tilde codes" (see
     the "Letters" section above) for elements of data you want printed for
     each case that meets the parameters you've specified with the Hunt
     Gates.  The typical custom report will consist of a single line con-
     taining a few tilde codes and little else.


     OMIT ALL RECORDS TAGGED FOR OMISSION

          Go ahead and press ^O now, even though you may not have marked
     any records for omission in the Edit mode.  You will at least see how
     the mode operates.  During the omission process, BillPower will look
     at each record in the file to see whether it is tagged for omission.
     If so, it will be omitted; if not, it will be saved.  There will be a
     some of disk drive activity, the length of which depends upon how many
     cases BillPower is tracking.


































     CASE MODULE                          40




     SERVICES/FEES MODULE


     MAKE A TIME SLIP OR FEE RECORD

          If the SERVICES/FEES MENU is being displayed, press "M" to make a
     record.  You will be asked to enter the date of the service whose re-
     cord you are about to create.  All you need to do is use the cursor
     control keys to highlight the proper date on the calendar that
     appears.  If you wish enter the date manually, be sure to use the pro-
     per format for entering dates.

          NOTE:
               If the date is the same as the last date you entered at
          the keyboard anywhere in the program, enter "S" (for "same").

          If you enter ^T for the date, BillPower will automatically enter
     both the current date AND the current time into the time slip.


     Case Number

          The next item you will have to fill in is a "Case Number".  Bill-
     Power will search the case file for your entry.  If such a case does
     not exist, you will be told so.  If it does exist, the first several
     characters of that case's name will appear to the right. As with en-
     tering the date, you may shorten your entry here by entering "S" (for
     "same") if the case number you wish to enter is the same as the last
     case number you have entered anywhere in the program.

          If you do not know the case number and would like some help,
     press F1, and you will be shown a list of all the cases on the
     disk.  To narrow the search, you should press the first letter of
     the client's last name just before you press F1.  If you precede
     F1 with a letter, you will be shown only those cases whose client
     last names begin with that letter.


     Employee

          If the case you enter exists, the responsible employee will be
     displayed as the "Employee" on the next line.  If the person actually
     performing the service does not happen to be the employee responsible
     for the case, you may change this item appropriately.


     Description

          You must next fill in a "Description" of the service performed or
     the type of fee being charged.  BillPower has word-wrap ability in
     this item.  Don't bother hitting RET to get down to the next line of
     the description; when you're at the end of a line, BillPower will aut-


     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 41




     omatically place the cursor at the beginning of the next line.  Your
     total entry may be up to 540 characters, but you should be as brief as
     possible -- the fewer lines you use in making your entry, the less
     disk space will be used to store it.


     Reformatting

          If, after making changes to the service description, some lines
     are much too short, you may reformat the entire description by pres-
     sing F3.  Pressing F3 causes extra space at the end of each line to be
     filled with data from the following line.  It results in lines that
     are about the same length.


     Long Descriptions

          If you need more than 540 characters, enter what you can for
     this record and then make another record for the rest of the ser-
     vice or fee description.  Only one of the records created for the
     same service or fee description may include Time or AMOUNT entries.
     If more than one record for the same service or fee contains Time or
     TOTAL entries, the client may be charged more than once for that ser-
     vice or fee.


     Abbreviations

          Description entries may be shortened (and disk space saved)
     through the use of abbreviations or office codes (such codes are con-
     tained in a file that can be accessed with EDIT -- see the CATEGORIES,
     AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM section for details).  To enter a
     service code, simply type it and end it with a backslash.  Assume, for
     example, that the code for "Office Conference with" were "OC".  If you
     wished to enter an office conference with Mr. Smith, you could enter
     either "Office Conference with Mr. Smith" or "OC\Mr. Smith".  If you
     entered the latter, you could be saving time by typing fewer charac-
     ters and also saving disk space.  BillPower would know what "OC\"
     means.  If you subsequently prepared a bill containing the service
     description, "OC\Mr. Smith", BillPower would actually type out "Office
     Conference with Mr. Smith".

          If, when you enter a backslash, the computer's beeper sounds, you
     have entered a code or abbreviation which does not exist.  Try again.
     If you need to see a listing of the acceptable codes, press the help
     key, F1.


     Private Notes

          If you wish to enter something for your records but do not
     want it to appear on any bills prepared by BillPower, you may en-


     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 42




     close it in curly brackets.  If the service description were
     "OC\Mr. Smith {and his wife}", the bill containing that descrip-
     tion would show only "Office Call with Mr. Smith".  If, for some
     reason, you want NONE of your description to appear on the bill,
     you could enclose the entire description in curly brackets.


     Asterisk Suppression

          Another way to prevent the ENTIRE description from appearing
     on bills is to begin the description with an asterisk.  A des-
     cription, "*OC\Mr. Smith", would not appear on a bill at all.
     The advantage of using the asterisk, instead of the curly brac-
     kets, is that the asterisk will prevent nearly EVERYTHING on the
     service record from appearing on any bill.  In addition to the
     description, the time spent and employee who did the service will
     also be suppressed at bill-printing time.  The only thing from
     that service/fee record that will appear on a bill will be the
     amount charged, and even that item will appear only indirectly,
     as part of the total charges for the month.

          Who would want to use asterisk-suppression?  The answer is,
     those professionals who don't like to itemize their bills, but
     prefer instead to send bills containing brief summaries of work
     done during each month.  If you are one of these people, you
     could make sure that each service description entered during the
     month is preceded with an asterisk.  Then, at the end of the
     month, you could make a service entry containing a summary of the
     work done that month (this entry, of course, would NOT contain an
     asterisk, because you would not want it to be suppressed).  The
     bill subsequently prepared would show this end-of-month-summary
     and the total amount charged for services that month, but no in-
     dividual service descriptions would appear (because they were
     preceded with asterisks).  If you are one who prefers end-of-
     month summaries to itemized service descriptions, you should
     elect to use Billing Format #1 when you set up the record for
     each case (in the CASE module, of course).  Format #1 is identi-
     cal to #2 (the least detailed), except that format #1 automati-
     cally precedes each service description with an asterisk at the
     time the service description is entered into a record.

          The only difference between a record whose Service or Fee
     Description entry begins with an asterisk and one whose doesn't
     is that the asterisk will prevent that record from being reflec-
     ted on bills which are printed for actual mailing to clients.
     Pre-bills will not be affected by the asterisk (or by curly brac-
     kets).

          NOTE:
               Remember that, even though the bill mailed to your
          client will not contain any description preceded by an as-
          terisk, the bill's total WILL account for whatever amount


     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 43




          is charged for each service.  Since the client may not see
          the descriptions for all the services for which he is being
          charged, he may think that the total amount reflected on
          the bill is incorrect.  Therefore, you should insure that
          whatever end-of-month summaries you use adequately explain
          the charges.


     Time Entries and Total Charge

          Next, enter the "Time Began".  This is the time at which perfor-
     mance of the service noted above began.  If you wish, you may use "P"
     for "PM" and "A" for "AM".  Under this scheme, 10:05 AM would be en-
     tered as "1005A" and 2:34 PM would be entered as "234P" (colons
     aren't needed).  Alternatively, you may enter times with neither a
     "P" nor an "A", in which case BillPower will assume that any time bet-
     ween 12:00 and 6:59 is "PM", while anything between 7:00 and 11:59 is
     "AM".

            NOTE:

                 If you want BillPower to pick up the computer's
            system time, just enter ^T, instead of the time.  The
            first time you enter ^T, the "stopwatch" will begin run-
            ning -- entering ^T again will stop it.  You may enter
            ^T (to start and stop it) at any item on the time slip.
            Note that the stopwatch may be started and stopped only
            once per time slip.

                 Pressing F6 will have the same effect as pressing
            ^T a second time, and it will also cause the elapsed
            time and amount charged to be calculated as the time
            slip is saved.  If you're using BillPower as a memory-
            resident program, pressing ESC (after having pressed ^T
            once to start the timer) will allow you to temporarily
            exit the time slip before completing it.  When you pop
            back into the program after having finished your work,
            you'll be taken immediately to the incomplete time slip,
            where you may finish filling it in.


          If a FEE, rather than a service, was entered above, DO NOT enter
     any times, since times should be used only to reflect the period dur-
     ing which SERVICES are performed.  Also, if this record is merely a
     continuation of the preceding record, do not enter any times if you
     already entered such times in the preceding record.

          "Time Ended" is the time at which performance of the service
     noted above ended.  If you do not wish to enter a Time Began or a
     Time Ended, but would prefer to enter just the Time Spent, simply
     press RET for each item you do not wish to enter.



     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 44



          Once the beginning and ending times have been entered, the "Time
     Spent" on the service will be automatically calculated.  This will be
     multiplied by the Service Performer's hourly rate (or the Max Hour-
     ly Rate for the case, if applicable, whichever is less) and displayed
     as the AMOUNT.  If, for some reason, you wish to reflect an amount of
     time different from what was calculated by the program, (or if you
     skipped the Time Began and Time Ended items) you may enter it at the
     "Time Spent" line.  If you wish to charge an amount different from
     what BillPower has calculated, you may enter any amount you wish at
     the "AMOUNT" line.

          If you want to record the time spent on the service, but do not
     wish to charge the case anything for that service, complete the Time
     Began, Time Ended, or Time Spent entry with a ^N (for "no charge"),
     instead of RET.  Doing so will cause "NC" to appear at the end of the


     "Time Spent" line.

          If the case for which you are entering a service is a fixed fee,
     contingent, or retainer case, BillPower will automatically assume that
     you do not want to charge the case for time spent on specific ser-
     vices.  If you wish to overrule this assumption, finish your time
     entries with ^C (for "charge this time"), instead of RET.


     Charging rate

          Whenever you make any changes to a service/fee record, the hour-
     ly rate at which services will be charged is re-figured.  A series of
     default rates are used by the program to arrive at the appropriate
     rate for a particular service.  If you wish to enter a special rate
     for this service, you may do so here.  If you subsequently come back
     to edit this record, the rate may change back to one of the defaults
     if you make ANY CORRECTIONS AT ALL to the record.  Therefore, when-
     ever you edit/examine a service/fee record, be sure to double-check
     the rate before you move on with F6.


     Next Time Slip

          To save the service record and move on, press F6.  BillPower will
     then automatically take you to another time slip/fee entry record to
     be filled out.  If you do not need to make any more entries, just
     press F6 again.


     Deferred Billing

          If you wish to indefinitely defer billing this Time Slip or Fee
     record, press F7 when the cursor is at one of the top items on the
     screen.  Doing so will cause the billing process to skip over this
     record.


     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 45




          The record will be automatically "un-tagged" and forwarded to a
     later month's file when you do a chronological sort (in the ^Utilities
     module) of this month's files.  Then, when you get ready to do that
     later month's bills, you should first do a set of pre-bills.  As you
     review the pre-bills, you may elect once again to defer this record
     until a still later month.  To do so, you'll have to come back to this
     SERVICES module, edit this record, and press F7 to tag it again for
     further deferral.  See the Deferred Billing section.

     "TO DATE: ..." information

          If you're doing a time slip or fee record for a case, some of
     that case's data will be summarized at the bottom of the screen.  The
     "Srvc/Fees" figure is the total services and fees charged to that
     case until now (not including the current entry).  Also shown are the
     total hours and the value of those hours (at the primary billing rate
     of the responsible employee).  "Balance" is the case's current bal-
     ance due, including all transactions, except the one you're now en-
     tering.  "CrntDue" is the amount still due on the last bill sent to
     the client.  "LastBill" is the date of the last bill sent to the
     client.


     EDIT A TIME SLIP OR FEE RECORD

          When you choose to (E)dit a record, you will be asked the "Mon
     Yr of file to edit".  Here, you should enter the month and year (eg:
     NOV 87) during which the record (or records) you wish to edit were
     entered.  If the month to be searched happens to be the current
     month, just press RET.

          The next prompt will be "Case Number".  Here, you should enter
     the number of the case whose transaction you wish to find.  If you
     know the exact transaction record number to be edited, you may just
     press RET, without entering a case.

          Finally, BillPower asks for the "Record Number to Begin Search".
     If you just press RET without entering a record number, BillPower will
     show you each time slip or fee record whose case and month of entry
     are the same as those you entered above.  The search will begin at
     the first record in the file.  To go from each record to the next,
     press F6.  To abort the search through the records press ESC.

          If, however, you DO enter a record number, BillPower will skip
     all the records before that one, which will be the first shown to you.
     If it happens to be the ONLY one you want to look at, press ESC when
     you have finished with it (ESC causes a search to abort, remember?).

          If you enter no "Mon Yr", case, or record  number, the Edit mode
     will abort (unless there happens to be a transaction entered during
     the current month which does not apply to a particular case number).



     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 46


          When you have finished editing/examining a record, press F6 to
     store it and to move on to the next record for the date you have de-
     signated (assuming that you have not designated a record number, in
     which case, only one record would be edited).  Pressing ESC will
     cause BillPower to store the record and then to leave the Edit mode
     without going on to the next record.


     HUNT FOR INFORMATION

          The Hunt Gates in this module work just like those in the CASES
     module.  The only difference is that you have a different selection of
     gates that you may define.

          Gate Q toggles among the various types of reports available:
     Standard, Income-Expense, Balance Sheet, and Full Screen Edit.

          Gates L through P tell BillPower which types of transactions to
     include in the hunt.  Even though you're in the SERVICES/FEES module,
     the hunt you do here can include Disbursements, Receipts, and/or Ad-
     justments.  If you wish, you can even prevent services/fees from being
     included.  Just switch the appropriate gates to "YES" or "NO".


     ZIP TO A TIME SLIP

          As you go through a day, you will often find yourself working on
     several cases simultaneously.  As you perform a task for each, you
     should enter it onto a time slip.  Of course, you may make out a sep-
     arate time slip for each task performed.  But, alternatively, you may
     add each new service performed for a case to the first time slip
     opened that day for that case.  If your preference is to keep adding
     to the first time slip, you may use this (Z)ip function to find that
     record quickly when you need to make an addition.

          After pressing `Z', you will be shown a list of up to twenty
     cases with which you have dealt during the day.  Press the letter
     corresponding to the one whose time slip you need to amend.

          When the time slip appears, add to it as you wish.  If you want
     to begin the automatic timer, press ^T; to stop the timer, press ^T
     again (or press F6 or esc).  When the auto timer stops, the dollar
     value of this most recent time block will be added to the time slip's
     previous total.  Thus, every time you zip to a time slip during the
     day, you may keep adding to the total time and dollar amount by simply
     pressing ^T when you begin and end your entry.  This auto timer fea-
     ture is most useful if you keep BillPower in memory at all times
     through the use of a multi-tasking program like Software Carousel or
     DESQview.  If you want don't have one of those two programs, and you
     want the ability to have a time slip timed automatically while you
     work on other things, you should get a copy of RAMdesk.  This prog-
     ram, described elsewhere in the documentation, can act as a pop-up
     entry vehicle for BillPower and/or TickleX (Integra's schedule).  One
     of RAMdesk's many features is a module in which you can time your
     work.

     SERVICES/FEES MODULE                 47




     DISBURSEMENTS MODULE


          The DISBURSEMENTS module is used for ALL firm disbursements,
     whether or not they apply to particular clients or cases.  Office
     supply purchases and employee salary payments, for example, should be
     recorded in this module, as should all your expenses for the SMITJO1
     case.  Anytime the firm transfers some of its money to someone else
     (or to someone else's account) for ANY reason, that transfer is a
     disbursement which should be entered here.


     MAKE A DISBURSEMENT

          Press "M" to make a record.  You will be asked to enter the date
     of the disbursement whose record you are about to create.  Be sure to
     use the proper format for entering dates, or use "S" (for "same", rem-
     ember?).

          BillPower will then take you into the Edit mode, so that you can
     enter the new record's data.  You may do so in the manner described
     in this manual's preceding sections in their discussions of making
     and editing records.

          NOTE:
               In the (M)ake mode, you may save time by entering "S"
          (for "same as last entry") for almost any item, such as the
          Case Number.  "S" will cause the Case Number, etc., from
          the last record entered to be entered again.

          Most of the items to be filled in are comparable to those dis-
     cussed previously in the SERVICES/FEES section.  There are, however, a
     few new items with which you need to be familiar.


     Category

          If you wish to later be able to sort your disbursements by cate-
     gory, enter the category number (1 to 9999) here.  If you are in doubt
     about the appropriate category number, press F1 for a listing. If the
     list does not have the category you wish, remember that you may modify
     it with EDIT to suit your individual needs (see the CATEGORIES,
     AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM section).

          If the category you enter does not exist, BillPower will tell you;
     otherwise, a description of the category will appear at the bottom of
     the screen.


     Payee or Creditor

          At the "Payee" item, you should enter the name of the person or


     DISBURSEMENTS MODULE                 48




     company from whom you made the purchase or to whom you made the pay-
     ment.  You will have to be brief here, since your entry is limited to
     only a few characters.  If the disbursement is a simple advance made
     directly to a client, enter the client's name here if you did not al-
     ready enter it as part of the Description just entered.


     AMOUNT

          Next, enter the "AMOUNT".  If you do not know what this amount
     should be, just enter zero; you can always come back to this record at
     a later date to enter the correct amount when it becomes known.  An
     example of this situation would be a long distance telephone call
     which you want to enter now, but for which you will not know the
     charges until you receive the telephone bill in a few weeks.  If you
     enter an amount of zero now, you may subsequently change it by using
     the Edit mode.

          If you want the record to reflect the amount you paid, but do
     not wish to charge the client for the disbursement, complete the
     "Amount Paid/Owed" with a ^N (for "no charge"), instead of RET.  Do-
     ing so will cause "NC" to appear at the end of the entry.


     Check Number

          If you are paying for the disbursement with a check, you may
     enter the check number.  This is the number of the check (from the
     firm's account) with which the disbursement is being paid.  If you
     have already entered a check number during this batch of disbursement
     entries, you may just enter "N" (for "next"), and the check number
     will be automatically assigned.


     EDIT A DISBURSEMENT

          The editing procedures have been covered under "(M)ake a dis-
     bursement", above.

          For a discussion of how to find a specific record, refer to the
     section on editing a time slip or fee in the SERVICES/FEES module
     section.












     DISBURSEMENTS MODULE                 49




     RECEIPTS MODULE


          The RECEIPTS module is where you enter payments made to you or
     your firm.  There are few significant differences between this mod-
     ule's operation and any other module's.  If you need help with any of
     this module's features, please refer to descriptions of comparable
     ones in the previous sections of these instructions.

          Two items unique to this module are the `Advance' items shown in
     the (M)ake and (E)dit modes.  An advance is a sum paid to the client
     or on his behalf.  Whenever a disbursement is made on behalf of a
     case in the DISBURSEMENTS module, BillPower considers it an `Advance'
     to be paid back by the client.








































     RECEIPTS MODULE                      50




     ADJUSTMENT MODULE

          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.



















































     ADJUSTMENT MODULE                    51




     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE


          The GENERAL LEDGER module is for maintaining the various accounts
     for which your firm is responsible.  Checking, Trust, and Escrow ac-
     counts are examples.   This module allows you to completely integrate
     a chart of accounts into the billing program.

          Though it will track both "debit" and "credit" accounts, the de-
     fault mode for this module provides simple single-entry functionality.
     Double-entry accounting is triggered by making an entry at the
     "Account automatically adjusted for disbursements and receipts" item
     in the CUSTOMIZING routine (accessed by tapping ^C at the menu -- see
     the SETTING UP section for details).  Use of the program for double-
     entry accounting will be discussed later.


     OPEN A NEW ACCOUNT

          To open an account, select the (O)pen option from the menu.
     First, you will be asked to enter an account number.  The number you
     assign an account will have a direct bearing upon how easily you are
     able to extract information from BillPower's files.  Please see the
     NUMBERING SYSTEM PROPOSAL section.

          Next, you will have to enter a descriptive name for the account,
     and you will be asked to designate whether this is to be a (C)redit
     or a (D)ebit account.  Any account that would appear as an ASSET on a
     balance sheet should be entered as a Debit account.  An account that
     will appear as a LIABILITY on the balance sheet is a Credit account.
     If you are unsure of your new account's classification, enter "-";
     otherwise, enter "C" or "D".

          BillPower will then ask whether the new account will be used to
     hold retainer funds for a case.  If not, answer `N'.  If you answer
     `Y', you will be asked to enter the Balance (if any) you would like to
     maintain in the account, as well as a minimum acceptable balance.  The
     first figure is the balance you would like to maintain in the account
     (preferably an amount to which your client has agreed).  The minimum
     acceptable balance, on the other hand, is the point at which you will
     want to ask your client to replenish this retainer account.  Assume,
     for instance, that the account's desired balance is $1000 and that its
     minimum acceptable balance is $500.  As you do work for your client,
     you will be withdrawing money from this retainer account.  At some
     point, you will want to ask your client to replenish the account to
     the desired balance of $1000.  This threshold is reached when the ac-
     count's balance is below $500.  Whenever a bill is sent to the client,
     BillPower will check the account balance.  If it is below the minimum
     acceptable balance of $500, the bill will contain a request for the
     amount needed to bring the account's funds up to the Desired Balance
     of $1000.  If the account balance is over the minimum acceptable bal-


     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                52




     ance when the bill is prepared, no such request will be made.

          Before this section is closed, it should be mentioned that, once
     an account is given an Account Number, that number may not be changed.
     The descriptive name and all other attributes may be edited, but the
     Account NUMBER will be permanent.  If you were allowed to subsequently
     change the Account Number, previously-entered transactions involving
     that account would be left in "limbo", since they would still be
     linked to the OLD Account Number.


     MAKE A TRANSACTION ENTRY

          This straigtforward process is similar to that in the DISBURSE-
     MENTS module.  However, the "Check Number" item is a little different.

          The last item to be filled in is the "Check Number".  If the
     transaction is for a deposit, just enter "D".  If it is for a with-
     drawal without the issuance of a check, enter "W".  If it is for a
     withdrawal accompanied by the issuance of a check, enter the number of
     the check with which the withdrawal from the account will be made.  Do
     not enter a check number if the transaction is a deposit (for example,
     if you are depositing a client's check into an account, do not enter
     the client's check number here -- enter "D", for "Deposit").  The
     check number must not be greater than 30000.  Since BillPower will try
     to prevent your withdrawing more from the account than is presently
     contained therein, always be sure to enter a deposit for an account
     before you attempt any withdrawals.

          If you wish, you may use the same check number on several trans-
     action records.  You might want to do so if you will be using the
     same check to pay for several different categories of expenses.  If
     such is the case, make a separate account transaction for each cate-
     gory and use the same check number for all the transaction records.


     HUNTING FOR SOME INFORMATION

          The (H)unt routine is similar to those found elsewhere in Bill-
     Power.

          Near the end of each hunt will be a listing of the TOTAL DEBITS
     and TOTAL CREDITS reported during the hunt.  In arriving at these tot-
     als, BillPower considers all deposits to debit accounts and all withdra-
     wals from credit accounts to be DEBITS, while all withdrawals from
     debit accounts and all deposits to credit accounts are considered to
     be CREDITS.  Deposits and withdrawals from "-" accounts are treated as
     if they involved debit accounts.  Also reported is the DIFFERENCE bet-
     ween the total debits and the total credits.  This difference is use-
     ful if you are doing double-entry bookkeeping, and you need to see at
     a glance whether the total debits and credits balance.  If the DIFFER-
     ENCE is not zero, then a double-entry error may have been made during


     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                53




     the period specified in the Hunt Gates.  Remember, this section of the
     report shows the totals of only those transactions which meet the par-
     ameters set by your Hunt Gates.  The total balance for each account is
     given in the Account Balances section, described below.

          The very last thing shown in a hunt will be a listing of the
     current account balances.  If a balance is enclosed inside left and
     right carets, "<" and ">", it is a Credit account balance.  For repor-
     ting purposes only, BillPower treats Credit accounts as negative Debit
     accounts.  Hence, Credit account balances that are negative will be
     ADDED to the total, while positive ones will be SUBTRACTED.  This is
     where to quickly find whether your books are properly balanced: if the
     account balance totals are not zero, your books are out of balance.


     OMITTING ACCOUNTS

          Accounts are omitted by selecting the (^O)mit option in the AC-
     COUNTS MENU.  The two-step omission process is similar to that found
     in the CASES module, but the tagging takes place directly from the
     menu, not in the Edit mode.


     ORGANIZING YOUR BOOKS

          Setting up your chart of accounts involves:  1) opening the ac-
     counts in this GENERAL LEDGER module; and 2) designating your income
     and expense categories by entering them into the M-LBCODE.DAT file
     (see the CATEGORIES, AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM section of
     these instructions).

               NOTE:
                    You may optionally open your accounts with the
               EDIT program (^E at the main menu).  But be careful
               if you so.  Remember that BillPower does not allow
               you to change the number of an account, since doing
               so may leave in "limbo" some transactions made for
               that account before the change.  Because the EDIT
               program makes it easy for you to change an account's
               number, you must be on your guard not to do so.  It
               is recommended that you use EDIT only to set up your
               chart of accounts initially.  Thereafter, if you need
               to change something, use the editing functions found
               in this GENERAL LEDGER module.  After initially estab-
               lishing the chart of accounts, use EDIT only if you
               need to change the order in which the accounts appear
               in the chart of accounts.







     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                54






     Accounts vs. Categories

          Remember that BillPower draws a clear distinction between an ac-
     count and an income/expense category.  An account is an actual body
     of money.  It is the value of an account that is affected by a re-
     ceipt or expenditure.

          A category, on the other hand, is, just as name implies, simply a
     type of expense or income.  Though the TRANSACTION involving a cate-
     gory may AFFECT an account's balance, the category is not, itself, an
     account (body of money).  For instance, a rent payment might fall into
     an expense category called "rent", but the actual body of money affec-
     ted is probably the "checking" account.  Though BillPower will, for
     any period of time, report the total value of transactions involving
     each income and expense category, it does not permanently collect
     those figures into an "account".

          Which categories (not accounts) should you open?  If you're un-
     sure, just stick with those already contained in the sample income-
     expense file (M-LBCODE.DAT) provided with BillPower.  Use EDIT (^E in
     the MAIN MENU) to examine/edit this file.

          Which accounts (not categories) should you open?  Basically, the
     decision is yours.  If you're unsure, you might consider using these
     as an absolute minimum:

          ACCOUNT NUMBER   DESCRIPTIVE NAME       CREDIT or DEBIT
          -------------------------------------------------------
          CHECK            CHECKING ACCOUNT       Debit
          EQUITY           GENERAL EQUITY         Credit

          As the need arises, also open escrow and retainer accounts.  Give
     each client's retainer/escrow a unique number and name.  Since the
     funds in such accounts are not yours, you might consider them to be
     neither CREDIT not DEBIT.  If such is the case, choose "-" as the
     CREDIT/DEBIT category (signifying neither).


     DOUBLE ENTRY ACCOUNTING

          If you've customized the program properly, you'll be afforded the
     double entry option.  If you opt for double entry, you must be abso-
     lutely sure that you understand the concept completely.  If you don't,
     you'll just be wasting your time and possibly ruining your books.

          With this option in effect, you will be allowed to make balancing
     account entries whenever you enter a disbursement, receipt or General
     Ledger transaction.  This option will save you considerable time that
     would otherwise have been spent making duplicate account-adjustment
     entries.  Your bookkeeping will be automated like never before.


     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                55





          The double-entry option is just that: an OPTION.  If it's not in
     effect, you won't be able to enter balancing account information when
     you enter transactions.  But even with the option in effect, it's
     still just an option.  You MAY enter balancing account information,
     but you don't have to.  Thus, BillPower provides you with a great deal
     of flexibility.  But this flexibility may also allow you to make mis-
     takes that will cause your books to go out of balance.  The program
     checks for non-balancing entries only if you've specified TWO accounts
     to be adjusted for a specific transaction.  If you specify only a sin-
     gle account, BillPower assumes that you're not interested in double
     entry for the current transaction.

          With the double entry option in effect, entering a single dis-
     bursement or receipt will result in the simultaneous entry of up to
     two General Ledger account transactions and the updating of the ba-
     lances in those accounts.


     Designating the accounts to adjust

          If the double entry option is in effect, you will notice that two
     additional items appear on each disbursement and receipt entry screen:

                             Affected G/L account 1
                             Affected G/L account 2

     BillPower expects you to fill in one or both of these items if you
     want the program to automatically adjust its General Ledger accounts
     when you complete entering the transaction.

          For each of these, you should fill in an account number preceded
     by a "+" or "-" (eg: "+CHECK" or "-CHECK").  A "+" indicates that the
     amount of the transaction you're entering should be ADDED to the
     balance in the specified account, while "-" indicates that the sum
     should be SUBTRACTED.  BillPower won't accept an entry that does not
     begin with a "+" or "-".


     Automating the process

          What's described in the section above will save you the time that
     might otherwise be spent making one or two separate General Ledger
     entries after you finish entering a disbursement or receipt.  But
     things could be further streamlined if BillPower knew the accounts to
     adjust without your having to tell it every time you enter a transac-
     tion.  With a little planning, you can achieve this automation.

          The first thing you need to do is to decide which of your General
     Ledger accounts is the one you will usually want affected whenever you
     do a disbursement or receipt.  In all probability, it will be your
     firm's checking account.  Assuming that this account has already been


     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                56




     assigned a number and has also been opened with BillPower, you should
     enter that account number at the "Account automatically adjusted..."
     prompt in the CUSTOMIZING routine.

          If the account that you've specified for automatic adjustment is
     not called "NUL", that the program will assume that you want that
     account updated EVERY time you make a disbursement or receipt.  At the
     time you make each entry, however, you may override this assumption if
     you like.  If "NUL" is what you've specified in the CUSTOMIZING rou-
     tine, then BillPower will make no assumption at all about which
     account you want adjusted for each disbursement and receipt.  Instead,
     you'll have to fill in the account number "from scratch" each time you
     enter a disbursement or receipt.


     The other account

          The discussion in the section above concerned only one account,
     the one that you will nearly always want to update whenever you enter
     a receipt or disbursement.  If you're interested in keeping your books
     balanced, however, you'll also want to fill in a second account num-
     ber.

          Unlike the first account, the second will vary from transaction
     to transaction, depending upon the category into which the transaction
     falls.  You'll have to be pretty competent with double-entry accoun-
     ting if you want to be sure to tell BillPower the proper account to
     update.  As you enter each disbursement or receipt, you'll have to
     decide what the balancing G/L entries should be.  This thought pro-
     cess, of course, takes time and exposes the system to the possibility
     that you may occasionally make a careless decision.  But BillPower
     offers you an alternative that will save even  more time and reduce
     the potential for error: designating the balancing account entries
     well in advance, when you initially set up the program.

          Before reading further, you should first review the ABBREVIATIONS
     and CATEGORIES, AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM section, found
     later in these instructions.

          The discussion of ABBREVIATIONS and CATEGORIES describes three
     items that may appear on each line within the M-LBCODE.DAT file, used
     by BillPower to store income and expense category information.  But
     there is a fourth item that may also be entered on each line that des-
     cribes an income or expense category.  This fourth item is the G/L
     account that you want to adjust every time you enter a transaction
     involving that line's category.

          The fourth item begins in column 43 (use the TAB key to align the
     cursor properly).  The item consists of an account number preceded by
     a "+" or "-" (eg: "+EQUITY" or "-EQUITY").  A "+" indicates that you
     want to ADD to the account whenever a transaction involving this cate-
     gory is made, while a "-" indicates that you want to SUBTRACT.  Be


     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                57




     ABSOLUTELY SURE that you precede each account number with a "+" or a
     "-", that each account you specify has previously been opened with
     BillPower, and that you align everything properly in the file.

          Remember that the account numbers you place into the M-LBCODE.DAT
     file are for the secondary (or "balancing") G/L transactions made
     automatically when you enter a disbursement or receipt.  The primary
     G/L transaction will be determined by your previous entry in the CUS-
     TOMIZING routine (the "Account automatically adjusted..." item).  The
     primary account is the one that BillPower ALWAYS assumes you want ad-
     justed whenever you enter a disbursement or receipt.  The secondary
     account is the one that will balance your books after the adjustment
     to the primary account is made.  The primary account is not affected
     by the category into which a receipt or disbursement entry falls.  The
     secondary account, however, will always be dependent upon the income-
     expense category.

          The primary and secondary accounts you set in the CUSTOMIZING
     routine and in the M-LBCODE.DAT file will provide BillPower with as-
     sumptions about which accounts you want to update whenever you enter
     an disbursement or receipt.  It will act upon these assumptions, un-
     less you override them at the time you make the actual transaction
     entries.  This degree of flexibility is unique to BillPower.































     GENERAL LEDGER MODULE                58




     BILLS


          When doing bills, BillPower, unlike some other programs, does not
     automatically include all unbilled items in its statements and then
     "dump" them from the system.  Instead, BillPower prepares bills for
     certain TIME PERIODS (one month, two months, three months, etc.).
     Both unbilled transactions AND transactions already billed (if any)
     will be included in BillPower's statements.  Of course, transactions
     already billed will be included only if you are RE-DOING bills that
     have previously been submitted for a certain period.  The client will
     never be charged more than once for the same item, but he may see it a
     second time if you RE-DO a bill covering the month in which that item
     was entered.  If, for instance, you do March's bill at the beginning
     of March and again at the end of March, the same items which appeared
     on the first bill will appear on the second, but the client won't be
     charged a second time for them.  The second bill will simply be re-
     capping the transactions previously included in the original bill, as
     well as including transactions that have occurred subsequent to the
     first bill's preparation.

          This different method of billing allows BillPower to keep ALL
     transactions in its data base, even those that have been billed, un-
     til YOU want to eliminate them.  BillPower won't arbitrarily erase
     them.  Thus, you have the flexibility to re-prepare bills many times,
     even months after their original preparation.  And, since the trans-
     actions are not automatically erased by BillPower, those items may be
     included in any reports you may wish to prepare at any time in the
     future.

          A consequence of providing you such unprecedented flexibility is
     that, under certain circumstances, BillPower may not include all the
     transactions you might expect in its bills.  This will occur if, dur-
     ing THIS month, you are preparing bills for LAST month, and you erron-
     eously expect transactions entered for THIS month to be included.
     Remember, this month's transactions will appear only when THIS month's
     bills are done (preferably at the beginning of the next month).

          If you want to insure that THIS month's entries are included in
     the bills you prepare now, you should do bills for THIS month, not
     last month.  Doing bills for this month will force BillPower to auto-
     matically include LAST month's entries in the bills, AS LONG AS you
     have not already prepared last month's bills (if you HAVE already done
     last month's bills, this month's will contain transactions entered for
     the current month only).









     BILLS                                59






     OVERVIEW

     COMPOSITION OF A BILL

          A bill consists of six parts:

          1  a return address;
          2  a client name, address and salutation, drawn from the
              appropriate case's record at the time of the bill's
              preparation;
          3  an opening statement;
          4  a basic data section drawn from transaction data at the
              time of the bill's preparation;
          5  a closing statement; and
          6  a signature block.

     These components are printed, one after the other onto each client's
     statement.  The format of the statements permits the use of 8-1/2" by
     11" paper, single sheets or form-feed.  Almost any modern printer may
     be used.  All statements should be printed at a pitch of 10 characters
     per inch.


     BILLING FORMATS

          You select each case's billing format by (M)aking or (E)diting
     that case's record (in the CASE module).  The seven formats are all
     similar to each other, differing mainly in the amount of service/fee
     information provided.  Format 2 is the least informative, while for-
     mat 6 is the most.

          There is also format 1, which is essentially similar to format
     2, but which automatically inserts an asterisk before each service
     description entry, so that the service will not be described on the
     bill.  At the time that each service description is entered, this
     asterisk may be erased if you want the service to be shown on the
     bill.  Remember, asterisks prevent everything but the amount from
     showing on the bill (and the amount is reflected only indirectly, in
     the totals).  Format 0 is identical to 1, except that, in addition to
     automatically inserting an asterisk before each SERVICE description
     entry, the program will also precede all DISBURSEMENT, RECEIPT, and
     ADJUSTMENT descriptions with asterisks.

          Each format includes a salutation and signature block, unless
     the format number ends with a minus.  For example, "6-" would not
     include a salutation and signature block, while format "6" would.

          It is suggested that, before you do any actual billings, you
     test each billing format, to see which you prefer.  Do a FICTIONAL
     client's bill for the current month (be sure you've entered some fic-


     BILLS                                60




     tional services, disbursements, and receipts).  Then go to the CASE
     module and (E)dit that client's case, in order to change the bil-
     ling format.  Then do another bill.  Repeat the process until you
     have collected several printouts of the different billing formats (2
     through 8, and 2- through 8-).  File them for future reference.  Do-
     ing these practice bills will also allow you to see how you like your
     return address, opening & closing paragraphs, and signature blocks.


     RETURN ADDRESS

          The return address must be contained in a file called "M-
     RETADD.LTR", and it must be located on the hard disk.  Whenever Bill-
     Power prepares a bill, it will find this file and print it onto the
     statement.  This file should, of course, contain the firm's return
     address.  It should be created with EDIT before you try to prepare any
     statements.  If it is not on the disk when a statement is prepared, no
     return address will be printed.  If you plan to use letterhead sta-
     tionery, erase M-RETADD.LTR from the hard disk and make sure that you
     have entered the correct figure for the number of "Lines from paper
     top to letterhead printing bottom" in the MAIN MENU's (^C)ustomize
     routine.

          After the return address (if such a file exists) is printed,
     BillPower will print the statement date (selected by you at the time
     the statements are prepared), followed by the client's name, address,
     and salutation (as stored in the Case record of the case for which the
     statement is being prepared).  The statement date will begin in the
     same column as the top line of the return address, if the return add-
     ress file exists; otherwise, it will appear at the left margin.  If
     the format chosen for the case whose bill is being prepared ends with
     a minus (eg: "6-"), then no salutation will be printed.

          Between the client address and the salutation will appear a
     short reference ("RE:") section, which will include the case Number
     and case Name.  Also included will be portions of the case record's
     Miscellaneous data IF the first line of that data begins with a plus
     sign (see the Miscellaneous discussion in the CASE MODULE section).


     OPENING STATEMENT

          Next comes the opening portion of the bill, which should include
     any remarks you wish to precede the details of the statement.  An
     example would be,

          Following is a summary of the services we have recently
          rendered in your behalf.

          The opening portion must be in a file named "M-BLOPEN.LTR". M-
     BLOPEN.LTR is included with the BillPower program as an example.  You
     may modify it with EDIT to suit your purposes.


     BILLS                                61





          If you do not want an opening paragraph printed on your state-
     ments, erase the "M-BLOPEN.LTR" file from your hard disk.

          After the opening portion is printed, BillPower will print the
     statement details.  This part of the statement consists of a listing
     of all services, fees, disbursements, income, etc., pertaining to the
     case whose statement is being prepared for a certain month.

          If you are keeping a retainer or other account for the client,
     that account's recent activities will be listed next.  If you don't
     want account information to appear on the bill, you should make sure
     that the account number, as entered at the bottom of the case's edit
     screen (in the CASES module), begins with an asterisk.


     OPTIONAL GENERAL OPENING

          If you'd like a single file to handle ALL the items appearing
     before a bill's transaction itemization section, use EDIT.EXE to
     create a file called GENERAL.OPN.  If this file exists at the time a
     bill is prepared, BillPower will not even look for the return address
     or opening paragraph files (M-RETADD.LTR and M-BLOPEN.LTR).  Instead,
     it will copy GENERAL.OPN into the top of the bill.

          GENERAL.OPN will contain tilde codes for a client's name, add-
     ress, case number, salutation, etc.  A listing of the codes will be
     shown to you if you press the F5 key while you're creating or editing
     this file.  For instance, the bill's date may be placed anywhere if
     you use it's code, ~M.  Any text or codes you place into GENERAL.OPN
     will appear above the itemization section of each bill subsequently
     prepared by BillPower.


     CLOSING STATEMENT

          The closing portion of the bill should include any remarks you
     wish to follow the details of the statement.  An example would be,

          Please promptly pay any amount shown above as being due this
          firm.  Thank you.

          The file containing the closing statement for a bill with a bal-
     ance owed is "M-BLOWED.LTR".  The file used for a bill with a zero or
     credit balance is "M-BLCRDT.LTR".  These files are included with the
     BillPower program as examples.  You may modify them with EDIT to suit
     your purposes.

          If you do not want a closing paragraph printed on your state-
     ments, erase the appropriate ".LTR" files from your hard disk.




     BILLS                                62






     SIGNATURE BLOCK

          The signature block portion of the bill also requires a file
     created by EDIT.  The file name must be "M-SGNxxx.LTR", where "xxx"
     are the initials of a timekeeper.  For example, Fred W. Tanner's sig-
     nature block file would be "M-SGNFWT.LTR", while Jerry Formy's would
     be "M-SGNJF.LTR".  The initials used must be consistent with those
     found in the ^CUSTOMIZE module (in which you entered each timekeeper's
     initials and up to six hourly rates).  "M-SGNSS.LTR" (for employee Sam
     Snort) is included with the program as an example.

          If you do not want a signature block printed on your statements,
     erase the appropriate "M-SGNxxx.LTR" files from your hard disk.


     SUMMARY SHEET

          If a master record has any subordinates, the bills for the mas-
     ter and its subordinates will be prepared, one after the other, be-
     fore bills for any other cases are done.  After each master's series
     of bills is printed, a summary sheet for all its cases will also be
     printed.  It will list the amount due (or credit) for each case as-
     signed to the master and will show a grand total.  You may either
     append this sheet to the back of all the bills sent to the client
     whose master and subordinates have just been prepared, or you may use
     it as a cover sheet for those bills.


     PREPARING A BILL


          When you enter the BILLING module, a set of Hunt Gates will
     appear.

          BillPower initially assumes that you intend to send prebills to
     the screen, but you may change this assumption, if you wish, by al-
     tering Gates J and L.

          Gate K allows you to designate whether you want to bill cases set
     up for Periodic Billing, Occasional Billing, or both.  The default is
     "Periodic" because it is those cases you will most frequently want to
     bill during a mass billing.

          An actual bill is one that you actually intend to send to a
     client.  Prebills, on the other hand, are intended to be used inter-
     nally within your office.  They are based upon billing format 6 (the
     most informative), but they also contain some extra information not
     found in their Actual Bill counterparts, such as the record number of
     each transaction included in the statements.  You may use this record
     number to quickly locate any record that needs to be altered before an


     BILLS                                63




     Actual Mailing takes place.  If, for instance, disbursement record 34
     contains erroneous information, you may change it by editing that re-
     cord in the DISBURSEMENTS module.


     Date of Statement and Month Billed

          Gate H should show the statement date you wish to appear on each
     actual bill prepared.  You should also make sure that Gate I accurate-
     ly reflects the "Mon Yr" of the month whose bills you wish to pre-
     pare.  For example, if you are preparing January 1990's bill, Gate I
     should show, "JAN 90".


          NOTE pertaining to cases set up for Periodic billing:

               If some of the cases whose bills you will be preparing
          have billing intervals of more than one month, those bills
          will be prepared only if they are due during the month
          specified above.  Therefore, be sure that the month you
          specify is in the LATEST month which you want included in
          the bills prepared.  If a case is due to be billed during
          that month, the bill will cover ALL months since that case's
          last bill was sent.

               If the last bill was prepared during the middle of the
          month whose bills you now want prepared, the new bill will
          cover that entire month (not just the portion of the month
          which was not already billed), as well as subsequent
          months.

               If a bill is not due for a case whose billing interval
          is greater than one month, that case will be skipped for
          billing purposes, and no bill will be prepared.  Case skip-
          ping occurs only in the "Actual Bill" billing mode.  Pre-
          billing statements, however, may be prepared for any case,
          for any month, at any time.  You may also force BillPower to
          prepare a case's Actual Bill if you designate its Case Number
          on the billing Hunt Gates screen.

          Try not to prepare a case's bill for a particular month if there
     is any likelihood that more work will be done for that case during
     that month, unless that case is set up for Occasional (as opposed to
     Periodic) billing.  For example, resist sending the January bills on
     19 January if you are likely to do any more work during January.  If
     you were to provide some services between the 19th and the 31st, you
     would have to re-prepare January's bills in order to advise your cli-
     ents of those services.  Those services will NOT appear on your Feb-
     ruary bills if January has already been billed (though January ser-
     vices WILL appear on February bills if January has NOT been billed
     yet).  The only exception to this advice against billing for partial
     months is that you may consider such a bill for a particular case if


     BILLS                                64




     you will not be doing any more work for that case during that month
     (as would be true if the case were completed) or if that case were set
     up for Occasional (not Periodic) billing.

          It is recommended that you establish a routine whereby you regu-
     larly prepare each month's bills at the beginning of the following
     month (ie: send January's bills sometime in early February).  If you
     stick to this routine, your billing will run easily, without your hav-
     ing to worry about the various caveats contained in this discussion.
     If you resist the temptation to alter this routine in what you might
     consider "special" circumstances, you will keep your billing proce-
     dures uncomplicated and smooth.  In those few instances when you MUST
     prepare a bill at an unusual time, you can feel confident that Bill-
     Power will follow your wishes.  But, for the sake of keeping your in-
     ternal office procedures as simple as possible, strive to do ALL your
     billing one time each month.


     Other Hunt Gates

          The other Hunt Gates allow you to select the cases for which you
     want bills prepared.  For example, to bill only those cases whose last
     payments were received before 22 January 1989, select item D and enter
     "22 JAN 89".

          However, the first time you do your billing each month, you
     should do a "MASS BILLING" by leaving Hunt Gates A to G exactly as
     they are initially set.  Only by going through this MASS BILLING can
     you insure that ALL case due to be billed actually WILL be billed.

          When the Hunt Gates initially appear, they will be set to make
     BillPower prepare a bill for EVERY Periodic case due for a bill.  A
     case is considered due if:  1) the number of months established as its
     Billing Interval (in the CASES module) have elapsed since the last
     bill was sent; and 2a) that case has had some activity since its last
     bill was sent, or 2b) you are due some money for that case.  A case
     will also be billed, even if no activity has occurred since a case's
     last bill, if nine or more months have elapsed since that bill was
     sent or if more than a couple of months have passed since that case
     was opened.

          IF YOU WANT ALL CASES DUE BILLS TO ACTUALLY HAVE BILLS PREPARED,
     DO NOT CHANGE THE HUNT GATES THAT INITIALLY APPEAR.  ALWAYS MAKE A
     PRACTICE OF PREPARING BILLS FOR ALL CASES DUE THEM AT LEAST ONCE A
     MONTH.  If the program ever prepares a bill that you didn't specifi-
     cally request, it will be because that case is in danger of exceeding
     nine months without having been billed.


     First Case to be Prepared

          After you press F6 to begin the hunt, you may be asked to des-


     BILLS                                65




     ignate which MasterRcrd's bills are to be prepared first.  BillPower
     initially assumes that you want to start with the first one in the
     file, but you may change this assumption by entering the masterRcrd
     Number of the case with which you wish to begin.  In most cases, you
     should simply press RET to ignore the prompt (and allow BillPower to
     stick with its first-case assumption).  But occasionally, you will
     want to start somewhere other than at the beginning of the file.


     Setting the Print Mode and Aligning the Paper

          You will next be asked whether the printer is turned on.  If you
     want the bills displayed on the screen, answer with an "N"; otherwise,
     answer "Y".  If you answer affirmatively, you will be given the op-
     portunity to select the print mode, using the buttons on the face of
     your printer (assuming your printer has this feature).  If your are
     happy with the default printer settings, or if you have given Bill-
     Power (in the CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM section) a series of codes to
     send the printer before preparing bills, you may wish to ignore this
     item.

          Next, you should align the paper in the printer.  Make sure that
     the print head is one inch below the top of the first sheet of paper.
     Even if you are using letterhead, you must follow this instruction
     (one inch below the PAPER TOP, not below the letterhead).   If you are
     using letterhead, though, you should have told BillPower (in the CUS-
     TOMIZING routine) how many lines there are to the bottom of the let-
     terhead printing.


     Cases set for Occasional Billing

          When BillPower encounters a case set up for billing under the
     Occasional method, it will first ask itself whether the case has been
     billed previously.  If not, a first bill will be printed.

          If a bill has been prepared previously, the screen will clear and
     BillPower will offer you the opportunity to designate which period you
     wish to bill.  You may elect to prepare a new bill for only those
     transactions falling after the last date billed, or you may elect to
     re-prepare any of up to ten prior bills.

          To prepare a brand new bill, just tap RET.

          To re-prepare a prior bill, use the arrow keys to specify the
     earliest date you want to appear on the bill about to be prepared.
     BillPower will identify which of the earlier bills you wish to prepare
     by comparing the date you specify to the earliest date covered by each
     bill.  Then, you'll be asked whether the bill about to be prepared is
     to span only the original bill's period, or whether you want this to
     be a special bill that covers everything from the beginning date you
     specified, through TODAY.


     BILLS                                66






     PRE-BILLS

          The top of a pre-bill will show selected items reflecting the
     case's current status.  Such items include the current balance, which
     may differ from the final balance shown at the bottom of the bill
     (since the end of the month being billed will probably be earlier
     than the current date).  The pre-bill will also contain a reference
     to the record number of each item reflected thereon.  If you need to
     change an item, you will know exactly which record to edit before the
     actual bill is sent.

          The bottom of the pre-bill may contain a reminder ("Apply ...
     ___") to apply funds in the client's account to his debt.  The remin-
     der may also be to the effect that you should consider charging the
     client the agreed upon fixed or contingent fee or to charge the client
     interest.  If you wish to apply the funds about which you are being
     reminded, put a check mark in the blank space, so that your secretary
     will know that an appropriate record needs to be entered before the
     Actual Bills are prepared.  For instance, if it were now time to
     charge the client the agreed-upon fixed fee, you would check "Apply
     Fixed Fee ___".  Your secretary would then know that she has to make a
     service/fee entry for that case in the amount of the fixed fee before
     the Actual Bill for that case is prepared; otherwise, the fixed fee
     will not be charged.

          A pre-bill will show ALL the pertinent data for each transac-
     tion, even though the actual bill prepared for the same case may be
     prepared in a less detailed format and may have some information sup-
     pressed or expanded.  Abbreviations MAY appear as such on pre-bills,
     but actual bills will spell out the items being abbreviated.  Actual
     bills will not show items intended to be hidden, such as items whose
     descriptions begin with asterisks, but pre-bills will show them.  The
     pre-bill is not intended to be a perfect reflection of the actual
     bill, but rather an informative tool to help you review what has been
     done during the period being billed.


     DEFERRED BILLING

          As you screen the items on a pre-bill, you may select some for
     editing, some for omission, and some for deferred billing.  If you
     select a transaction for deferred billing, you may call the pertinent
     record to the screen in the appropriate Edit mode and press F7.  Pres-
     sing F7 will result in that record's being skipped during actual bil-
     ling for the month in which the transaction took place.  After the
     actual billing takes place, you will have the opportunity to forward
     the record to the current month's file, so that it will be picked up
     during the next billing cycle (unless, of course, it is again tagged
     for deferral when the current month is billed).



     BILLS                                67




          If the month you're billing now IS the current month, you won't
     be able to forward the deferred transactions to a future month's
     files, since they don't exist yet.  Therefore, you must be sure to go
     through a SORT (in the ^Utilities module) for this month before you do
     bills for any future months.  The act of chronologically sorting any
     month's records automatically forwards deferred items to the current
     month.  This should present you no problems, since you will probably
     want to conduct a sort just before you do billing, anyway.


     STATEMENT RE-PREPARATION

          You should avoid having a bill prepared for a month preceding
     one for which another bill has already been prepared.  For example,
     if February's bill has already been prepared, and you subsequently
     have January's prepared again, you will also have to re-prepare Feb-
     ruary's.  The reason for this is that the beginning balance for the
     bill already prepared for February will have been based upon the en-
     ding balance for the January bill already prepared.  If you were now
     to go back and change January's bill, the January ending balance
     might not be the same as it had been before.  Therefore, the begin-
     ning balance for the February bill already prepared might no longer
     be accurate.  Only if you prepare February's (and any other succeed-
     ing month's) bill again, will all beginning and ending balances be-
     come consistent again.


     "UPDATED COPY" BILLS

          BillPower will sometimes prepare statements that contain the nota-
     tion, "**** UPDATED COPY ****".  The reason is that, after having
     prepared an (A)ctual statement for a case, you have subsequently
     altered the transaction data base upon which that statement was foun-
     ded.  Assume, for instance, that, on February 20, you prepare a
     JAN89-FEB89 bill for the SMITJO1 case.  Then, on February 26, you
     enter a new service for that case.  When BillPower takes in that new
     service, it will realize that the bill already prepared for February
     (the JAN89-FEB89 bill) will need to be redone, to reflect the new
     February entry.  Therefore, the next time you do a bill for SMITJO1,
     that bill will automatically include the period JAN89-FEB89, so that
     the client will be informed of the change.

          NOTE:
               Even if you waited until May to prepare the next bill,
          January and February would be included in that bill.  Bill-
          Power would automatically set the period of that bill to
          "FEB89-MAY89", thus insuring inclusion the new transaction.

     To help keep the client from becoming confused at receiving a second
     bill covering a period for which a bill has already been received,
     the phrase, "UPDATED COPY", will be printed on the statement.



     BILLS                                68





     CUSTOMIZED BILL FORMATS

          If you like, you may develop your own billing formats.  Each will
     consist of three files (developed with EDIT.EXE).  The first will
     contain your return address, date, client's address, salutation and
     opening paragraph.  The second will contain the format for the bill's
     transaction itemization.  The third will contain your closing para-
     graph, signature block, etc.  Your three files will contain tilde
     codes, so that BillPower will know where to substitute what data from
     the case and transaction files.  Most of the tilde codes may be seen
     if you press the F5 key when using EDIT.EXE to create each file.

          All three files are named after the format number you wish to
     assign to the data they contain.  For instance, if the three files
     were for billing format 15, they would be named, "15.OPN", "15.ITM",
     and "15.CLS", respectively.  Note that the first file must end with
     ".OPN", the second with ".ITM", and the third with ".CLS".  BillPower
     comes with three example files for billing format 11.  As you might
     guess, they are called "11.OPN", "11.ITM", and "11.CLS".  You should
     use those files as models for whatever billing formats you develop.
     The ITM file you set up must be IDENTICAL in general layout to the
     11.ITM file.  Every line beginning with a left curly bracket, "{",
     must be preserved.  The only items you may change are on the lines
     immediately following those beginning with curly brackets.  It would
     be a good idea to copy 11.ITM into your new ITM file when you first
     begin setting it up.  After the 11.ITM file has been copied into the
     new ITM file, you may then modify it to suit your needs.  To copy any
     file into a new file, go to the top line of the new file and press
     Ctrl-K, followed by "R"; then, name the file you wish to copy.
























     BILLS                                69




     NOTE MODULE

          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.



















































     NOTE MODULE                          70




     PEOPLE MODULE


          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.


















































     PEOPLE MODULE                        71




     UTILITIES MODULE

          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.



















































     UTILITIES MODULE                     73




     CATEGORIES, AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM


     CATEGORIES & ABBREVIATIONS

          The M-LBCODE.DAT file contains three types of information, all
     conforming to the same general format.  It holds a listing of each
     1) service code, 2) income category, and 3) expense category.  Each
     line in the file consists of an abbreviation (from 1 to 3 characters
     long) and a description of what the abbreviation means.  Other option-
     al items are also included, as described below.  You are encouraged to
     change this file with EDIT, so that it fits your needs exactly.

          Go to EDIT (to examine M-LBCODE.DAT) by pressing ^E when the MAIN
     MENU is displayed.  When the EDIT menu is on the screen, press `E'
     (for "Expense/Income/Service" file) to modify M-LBCODE.DAT.

          The file may have a total of up to 200 lines.  The items in each
     line must be lined up EXACTLY, and each line must end with a carriage
     RETurn.  The abbreviation may be from one to three characters in
     length and must begin in column 1.  A description of what is being
     abbreviated should begin in column 6, 7, 8 or 9, and may extend to
     column 30.  The TAB key will help you align your data.

          You may have blank lines which contain no information, and you
     may have lines containing headings, but you may have no more than 200
     lines.


     Income/Expense Category Numbers

          If you are using a line for an income or expense description,
     the third item (beginning at column 33) may be the income or expense
     category, and the first item (the abbreviation) may be left blank if
     you wish.  The category may be any number between 1 and 9999.  Do not
     use zero.  Begin your category entry at column 33.  If it is an income
     category, begin the entry with "I-"; if it is an expense category,
     begin it with "E-".  For example, an income category is represented by
     "I-1001", while "E-2054" represents an expense category.  Do NOT use
     the same numbers for both expense and income categories.  For ins-
     tance, do not designate both these categories: I-2054 and E-2054.  And
     DO NOT USE FRACTIONS to designate categories -- only WHOLE numbers are
     allowed.


     Optional Category Levels

          [Omitted to save space]






     CATEGORIES                           77










     Optional Service Rates

          [Omitted to save space]



















     AREAS OF BUSINESS

          The M-LBAREA.DAT file supplied with BillPower contains a listing
     of the areas of business.  You should edit this file to fit your
     needs.  It should consist of no more than 24 lines (make sure that no
     blank lines remain at the end of the file).  Each line may be up to 77
     characters long.  Unlike the M-LBCODE.DAT file, you are not required
     to line up certain information within M-LBAREA.DAT.  You may arrange
     the file any way you want, as long as the 24 X 77 limits mentioned
     above are not violated.


     NUMBERING SYSTEM PROPOSAL

          The best numbering system is one that allows you to easily re-
     member each case or account number.  It is recommended that such a
     number consist of the first four or five letters from the client's
     last name and the first two or three letters from his first.  Under
     this system, the case number for the first case you handle for John
     Smith would be SMITJO1.  The second case for Mr. Smith would be SMIT-
     JO2.

          Also decide upon a consistent pattern for numbering your ac-
     counts.  It is recommended that you begin the number of each account


     AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM  78




     belonging to the same class of accounts with the same short alphanu-
     meric sequence.  For instance, you could begin all accounts pertain-
     ing to the firm's assets with "A-" (eg: "A-BIGSOFA").  You could
     start the numbers of all accounts payable with "P-" (eg: "P-AT&T").
     All client accounts (such as trusts and retainers) could begin with
     "C-" (eg: "C-SMITJO1"), and so, on.

          If you follow a consistent pattern in numbering accounts, you
     will be able to sort through your records during (H)unts for particu-
     lar categories of accounts.  To find all records pertaining to ANY
     asset, for instance, you would define the Account Number Hunt Gate as
     "A-".  When you pressed F6 to begin the hunt, BillPower would find all
     records pertaining to the A-BIGSOFA, A-TYPWRT#1, A-CHAIR#1, etc., ac-
     counts, but it would not find anything on the C-SMITJO1 account.  Of
     course, if you had carelessly named a client account something like
     "C-SMITPA-1", it would also be picked up in the hunt for physical as-
     set account information, since it would also contain the character
     sequence, "A-".  Try to limit the use of hyphens and other delimiters
     (such as "/",":", and ",") to character sequences at the beginning of
     account numbers.

          You may establish sub-categories of accounts.  If, for instance,
     you wanted furniture to be a sub-category of assets ("A-", remember?),
     you could begin all such accounts with "FA-" (where "F" is for "fur-
     niture" and "A" is for "assets").  Equipment might be in the  "EA-"
     category.  A hunt for all accounts containing "A-" would find FA-BIG-
     SOFA, FA-CHAIR, EA-TYPWRT#1, and A-GENERAL, among others (since each
     of those "numbers" contains "A-").  But if you wanted to hunt for only
     "FA-" accounts, then only the FA-BIGSOFA and FA-CHAIR accounts would
     be found.
























     AREAS OF BUSINESS, NUMBERING SYSTEM  79




     USING BILLPOWER WITH OLD CASES AND ACCOUNTS


          If you intend to use BillPower with cases or accounts that were
     opened before you obtained BillPower, you will have to enter their
     data into BillPower's files.  You should set up the records for these
     accounts and cases in the same manner as for your new ones.  Likewise,
     you should enter transactions just as you do with your new ones.
     Treat them in every respect in the manner that you treat your new ac-
     counts and cases, except as described below.

          Normally, when BillPower prepares a bill, it will include a bal-
     ance brought forward from the preceding month.  However, when you
     FIRST BEGIN using the program, its data base will contain no infor-
     mation about what the balance was at the end of the last month (or ANY
     information at all, for that matter).  The first transaction you enter
     for each case, therefore, should be the balance brought forward from
     your manual (or old computer) system.  If the client owes you money,
     you should enter the amount as a SERVICE; if you owe him money, it
     should be an ADJUSTMENT (of the "write-off" variety).  In either case,
     the service/adjustment's description should be something like,
     "Balance prior to computerized billing."  The first bill prepared will
     contain this entry, instead of the usual "balance-forward" line (which
     will be found on subsequent bills).

          NOTE:
               Under no circumstances should a transaction entry for
          any case be dated more than three months prior to the actual
          date you entered that CASE into BillPower's data base.

          Previously-opened accounts also need to be opened with BillPower.
     Go to the GENERAL LEDGER module and (M)ake a deposit for each such ac-
     count.  The deposit should be in the amount of the current account
     balance.  That's all there is to it.  If, for some reason, there is a
     negative balance in an account, you will have to enter it as a with-
     drawal (instead of a deposit).


















     OLD CASES AND ACCOUNTS               80




     MESSAGES


          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.


















































     MESSAGES                             81




     BILLPOWER ON A LOCAL AREA NETWORK

          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.



















































                                         91




     USING BILLPOWER WITH MICROSOFT WINDOWS

          If you wish to use BillPower with Microsoft Windows, you will need
     to run Windows in its 386 mode ("WIN /3" at the DOS prompt).  You will
     also need to customize a PIF file.  Before you do ANYTHING in Windows,
     however, make sure that you have BillPower running successfully at the
     DOS level.

          Use the PIF editor within Windows to set up BP.PIF.  Keep all the
     default settings, except as follows:

           Program Filename       BP.BAT
           Window Title           BillPower
           Start-up Directory     (example: C:\MANAGEX)
           KB Required            440
           KB Desired             440
           Display Usage          "Full Screen" item should be selected
           Allow Fast Paste       DE-select this item
           Application Shortcut   Press ALT-B here if you wish to be able to
             Key                    access BillPower with this key combination

          Now, you need to edit your WIN.INI file.  Find the line that be-
     gins with "load=" and add "BP.PIF" to that line (eg: "load=BP.PIF").
     That will cause BillPower to be loaded automatically when you run Win-
     dows, so that all you need to do is to press ALT-B to access it.

          Next, you need to alter your BP.BAT file.  Look at the line that
     begins with "BillPower".  Since you'll be accessing BillPower through Win-
     dows, not as a memory-resident program in its own right, the tenth
     parameter should be "x", not "mr".  Now, you may wish to prevent an
     exit from BillPower by pressing the the ESC key.  If so, the second par-
     ameter should contain the character string, "NX" (for "no exit").

          Windows is a very complicated (even "squirrely") environment.  So
     you may have to do a lot of "tweeking" to make everything work.


















                                         92




     POP-UP BILLPOWER

      [To save space, most of this section is omitted.  The full
     documentation you receive when you register will have the complet
     section.]


          To prime BillPower for pop-up service, simply enter "BP MR",
     instead of the usual "BP", at the DOS prompt.  If that doesn't
     work, you'll need to copy the  BP.BAT to a file called BPMR.BAT
     and modify the new file.  BP.BAT should be used for standard use,
     while BPMR.BAT will be used for invoking BillPower as a pop-up.
     Now, find the line in BPMR.BAT that starts with "billpowr".  The
     tenth parameter following "billpowr" should be "mr".  If you need
     to "pad" the line with any other parameters, make each of them an
     "x".  Examples:

             billpowr x x x x JJ AWB F:\MANAGEX F:\AWB x mr
             billpowr x x x x x x x x x mr

     Each example shows the use of dummy "x" parameters.


































                                         94



     APPENDICES


          To save disk space, this section has been omitted.  The
     documentation you receive when you register will be complete.


















































                                         97