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JCSM Shareware Collection 1996 September
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1995-01-01
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SOFTWARE SALES TRACKER - RELEASE II
" SST-II "
Program Author: Robert F. Keber Jr.
Produced By: The TypeRight Company
336 SWAIN BOULEVARD
LAKE WORTH, FL 33463-3342
USA
Telephone 24 Hour Fax
(407) 969-3643 (407) 964-0785
WORLD WIDE ELECTRONIC MAIL NETWORKS
(We May Also Be Reached Via The Following Computer Networks)
COMPUSERVE INFORMATION SERVICE ID#: 73307,2256
GEnie INFORMATION SERVICE ID NAME: R.KEBER
INTERNET ID: 73307.2256@compuserve.com
COPYRIGHT (C) - All Rights Reserved
DISCLAIMER
Use This Software At Your Own Risk
The author of this software makes or offers no warranty, either
expressed or implied, regarding any of the software programs included
with this package. There is no warranty for this software's
usefulness, or for it's fitness for any particular purpose. The author
will not be liable for any damages arising from the use of (or from
the inability to use) this software. The author will not be liable for
lost profits, lost savings, lost income, lost time, claims by other
parties, or for other incidental or consequential damages arising from
the use of (or from the inability to use) this software. Use of this
software is entirely at the user's own risk.
SST-II is a "Customer Billing & Tracking" program, adapted from another of
our programs, General Invoice Sales Tracker(++). It has been re-written
with needs of a Software Producer & Distributor in mind.
To improve the readability of this text, we will refer to "Software Sales
Tracker II" from now on, simply as "SST".
SST is designed for those who have a need to produce Invoices which
contain "Descriptions" about anything. "Names and Serial Numbers" for
parts used or for sold or serviced equipment. Instructions, Expiration
Dates, Disclaimers or just about anything else can be entered into SST
invoices, as well as the very important numbers which say "Who, When,
Where, Which, Why and How Much".
SST is NOT a "General Ledger" style of accounting program. It is a
simple to use "GROSS INCOME" program which will provide all of the
"Income" information that most Accountants or Bookkeepers require from
a small business. In most cases, accountants only need some SST printed
reports, your Bank Statement, and your Check Stubs to maintain your books.
But, in addition to organizing and preparing your Income Data for your
Accountant, SST will provide "You" (as a Manager) with a great deal of
other very useful business information. It breaks down your Income by
Sales Categories, computes averages, and can show the "Total Income
Produced" from any customer or product for any period of time.
It will also automate some tedious chores such as keeping track of
"Who Paid" and "Who did NOT pay", and producing Acc/Rec "Customer
Statements" ready for "Window Envelopes" (or with matching mailing
labels).
Along these same lines, it makes the tracking of Credit Card Sales,
merchant fees and discounts, and reconciliation of these accounts much
easier to perform.
It can produce Mailing Labels for particular groups of your customers, such
as Shareware Catalog Distributors, User Groups, CD Distributors, BBSs,
Registered Users of particular Software programs, and so on.
It also prints individual Telephone Books and Address Books for each of
these groups (or types) of customers, or for everyone in your data file,
combined together.
While designed primarily for tracking software sales, SST-II can also be
used for other types of sales and/or service at the same time.
CONDENSED LIST OF PROGRAM FEATURES
Customers:
- Shows "Last Sale Date" & "Total Amount Spent" For Every Customer.
- Prints Customer Phone Directory (2 phones COUNTRY,AREA,PHONE,EXT.).
- Prints Two Customer Address Directories (Long & Short Versions).
- Prints Customer Mailing Labels (by Name/City/State/Zip/Area/Etc.).
- Large "Comment Field" For Special Terms, Ship/Bill To Address, Etc.
- Data Fields Designed To Allow Most INTERNATIONAL Address Entries.
- Prints Labels/Phone/Address Lists By "Customer Type" Code Numbers.
- Sales Tax Code Field - Applies One Of 96 Unique Sets Of Tax Rates.
- BROWSE Finds Records By Partial Name Or Customer ID Number.
- SEARCH Finds Records By Searching Any Field(s) (City, State, Etc)
- UnLimited Customers (Limited Only By 130,000,000 Byte Max File Size).
Invoices:
- Allows Custom Listings Of Items With Descriptions.
- May Be Configured To Work With ZERO, ONE, or TWO Sales Tax Fields.
- Sales Tax Can Be Configured To Comply With Most Laws & Regulations.
- Use 1 Primary Sales Tax And Up To 96 Sets Of Secondary Tax Rates.
(Eg: Primary Tax = State Tax 96 Secondary Taxes = County Taxes)
- Print Multiple Copies Of Invoices (Customer Copy & File Copies).
- Generates Invoice & Customer Numbers Automatically (No Duplicates)
- Prints Accounts Receivable Statements With Matching Mailing Labels.
- Prints A Ledger Of Invoices For Any "Time Period/Customer/Type Code".
- Prints A Ledger Of Invoices With Totals For Accounts Receivable.
- Provides 12 "ReNameable" Sales Cats Plus 2 ReNameable Sales Taxes.
- Provides 10 "ReNameable" Sets Of "Terms & Conditions".
- Handles "Partial" Or "Installment" Payments.
- Invoice Inventory: Pop-Up Scroll Bar Window With Sorted Inventory.
- Allows A Six Line "Heading" For Your Name, Address & Telephone.
- Allows A Six Line Invoice Footer For Messages, Disclaimers, Etc..
- Extensive Use Of "Pop Up Windows" For Easy Use & Simplicity.
- Jump From New Invoice To New Customer (and back) By F5 Hot Key.
- UnLimited Invoices (Limited Only By 130,000,000 Byte Max File Size).
Income:
- Prints/Displays Accounts Receivable Ledger & Customer Statements.
- Prints Gross Income Breakdown By Sales Category For Any Time Period.
- Prints Income From Any Invoice/Customer Type Code For Any Time Period.
- Prints Ledger Of "Accounts Paid" For Any Time Period.
- Shows Sales Tax Charged, Tax Collected & Tax UnCollected For Both
Primary And Secondary Sales Taxes (For Up To 97 Taxing Districts).
- Displays Or Prints Many Reports & Ledgers And Shows Averages.
Inventory:
Support Program: Provides Ability To Create/Edit Inventory Data File.
Holds Up To 735 Items. Automatic "% MarkUp" And "Retail Price"
Calculations. Entries Appear In The "Invoice" Screen In A "Pop-Up",
Scroll-Bar-Window For Automatic Data Entry.
General:
- ONE Rugged ISAM File Holds ALL Customer & Invoice Data & ALL Indexes
- Handles Data Files To 128 MegaBytes (Approx. 130,000,000 Characters).
- Uses "LZW" File Compression To Produce VERY Compact BackUp Files
- Printed Output May Be Sent To LPT1:, LPT2:, Or To A DISK FILE.
- Print Everything "NOW or LATER": BIG Time Saver With SLOW Printers.
- Word Processing Style Commands For The Majority Of Field Entries.
- Use Partial "NAMES or NUMBERS" For Retrieving Records.
- Find "Strong & Weak" Sales Areas For Any Or All Of Your Customers.
- Find "Strong & Weak" Categories Of Any Product Or Service.
- Unique "BROWSE" Mode For Viewing Customer & Invoice Records.
- Shows System "DATE & TIME" On "Main Menu".
- LABELS: Prints "1 Across" On Dot Matrix, & "3 Across" Sheets On Lasers.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURES:
- International Date Settings: MM/DD/YY DD/MM/YY or YY/MM/DD.
- Time Settings: 12 or 24 Hour Clocks.
- International Currency Symbols: Dollar, Pound, Yen, Frank, None, Etc.
- Two International Currency Formats: 1,234.56 or 1.234,56
System Requirements:
- PC/XT/AT/286/386/486 - Set "EMM386.EXE" For EMS Memory (If Available)
- MS/DOS VERSION 3.3 OR HIGHER (5.0 or higher recommended)
- Ram Memory - 640k (Requires Minimum Of 450k Of FREE Ram Without EMS)
- Hard Drive Is Required
- Monitor - Mono Or Color - 80 Column
- Set "FILES = 25" Or More (See Your MS/DOS Manual: CONFIG.SYS)
- PRINTERS - Either (or both) of the following types of printers;
LASER PRINTERS
Any Hewlett Packard 'PCL' Print Language Compatible Printer
HP LaserJet III, IIID, IIISi,IIIP, 4M, 4Si, 4SiMx, 4L, 4ML, 4P,4MP
DOT MATRIX PRINTERS
IBM ProPrinter, Epson FX, Epson RX, Epson LQnnn, Compatibles.
INSTALLATION NOTES: When SST is run from an MS/DOS Command line,
efforts should be made to free up as much of the lower 640k RAM as
possible. SST requires about 450k of Lower RAM without EMS, and only about
350k with EMS. Though NOT absolutely needed, the best program speed and
performance is with EMS (Extended Memory "EMM386") activated.
If possible, SST should be run alone, without any other Memory
Resident programs (such as Screen Savers). If this is not possible,
perform compatibility tests prior to creating "Real" data files.
SST is NOT intended for use in a "Shared File" mode of operation. If
used on a Network System, make sure ALL the "\SST" files are accessable
to only ONE (1) user at a time.
REGISTRATION
SOFTWARE SALES TRACKER - Release II (SST) is a "Shareware" software
package. The term "Shareware" means that we provide you with a copy
of the program for you to "try out" for a short evaluation time. After
a few weeks of use, you are required to either dispose of the program
or send us the purchase price for registration. Extended use without
proper registration violates our rights under International Treaties
and Copyright Laws.
WARNING: The "Shareware" versions of this program are, and will
remain, fully functional (it will NOT quit functioning at a certain
point). But any of several safeguards "may" exist to encourage User
Registration and to help detect and expose unauthorized retailing of
any Shareware version of this program.
User Support (by Phone, Fax or Letter) is available for anyone who
needs help or information with any of our products (Registered or
Not). Please have the following information whenever you contact us.
Program's Full Name, Version Number, and Serial Number (even if NOT
Registered). All of the above information is shown on the "Main Menu"
screen.
BONUS - SUPPORT FILES INCLUDED WITH REGISTRATION
All Users who register will receive the Latest, Greatest, Improved and
Debugged version of this program. Many times, they will also receive
one or more free updates of MAJOR new SST releases (those with BIG
improvements) for up to one year after purchase. They are also kept
advised of our other new programs, and many times are offered special
discounts toward (and free Demos of) those programs.
Registered Users also receive several other "SST" SUPPORT PROGRAMS.
"SETUP.EXE" will set up SST on your hard drive in the proper manner,
creating the "\SST" sub-directory, and copying all of the SST files to
that directory without over-writing any existing data files from
previous versions or SST. It will also check and adjust (if necessary)
your CONFIG.SYS file for the "FILES=25" (or higher) command. It also
creates a small Batch File in your Root Directory to allow you to run
SST without the need for your operator to move around in your Hard
Drive Sub-Directories (just type SST at your System Screen Prompt when
BootUp is complete).
The ISAMIO, ISAMPACK & ISAMREPR (EXE) files are written by Microsoft.
We are licensed by MS to include them with our software. They are used for
SST DATA.FIL Maintenance (Exporting, Packing & Repairing the DATA.FIL).
"TOOLS.EXE" let's the registered user do several other very useful tasks
related to manipulating the records in the data file, such as....
#1- EXTRACT Invoices from your data file and create assorted "smaller"
data files. This allows "Date Specific" data files to be created which
may hold "Yearly, Semi-Annual, Quarterly or Monthly" data.
Another benefit of this feature is that it allows the User to keep
their "current" data file much smaller in size. Smaller file sizes
increase the program's speed during data searches and calculation
routines. This routine can also free up a significant amount of hard
drive disk space.
#2- PACK THE ISAM File. When Records are "deleted", they are only
"marked" as being deleted. They are NOT removed from the data file,
and are simply over-written when (and if) you add new records. The
PACK FILE routine will remove all records marked as deleted, and will
readjust the reserved Index Space in the ISAM file. This will usually
reduce the file size.
#3- CLEAR the "Last Sale Date" & "Total Amount Spent" fields from all
the Customer Records. Then Recalculate and insert new values for both
of those fields based upon the information found in the Current
Invoice file.
This selection also offers the option of "Deleting" Customer Records
which have NO matching Invoice Records in the current Invoice file (No
Last Sale Date and Zero Total Amount Spent). This usually happens when
Invoice Records are either Deleted by an operator, or Extracted to
another file. This is an easy and fast method of eliminating old,
or inactive, customers from your customer mailing list.
#4- REPAIR THE DATA FILE. If your data file should become "corrupt",
in many cases this routine can "fix" the file and make it functional
again.
Any kind of file can become corrupt by Improper Program Exits (such as
Power Outages would cause), by "Bad Disk Sectors", "Broken File
Chains", "Lost File Clusters", Bad Disk File Allocation Table (FAT),
Hard Disk Crash, and several other reasons.
This REPAIR feature alone makes Registration of SST a smart choice for
any person who is serious about keeping accurate business records.
HOW DO I REGISTER?
Print out (and fill out) the enclosed file named "REGISTER.DOC" with
the following Command.... "COPY REGISTER.DOC LPT1:" <...and press
'Enter'>.
The printed output will be a Registration Form. The program price will
be listed on that Form. As all Prices and Features are subject to
periodic changes, you are advised to call or write for the latest
version number and price after April, 1995.
When you have filled in the Registration Form, Mail it to us with your
Payment. Make checks payable to "R. KEBER JR." in United States Funds.
If you wish to order by credit card, we honor VISA, MASTER CARD,
AMERICAN EXPRESS, DINERS CLUB and CARTE BLANCH. This is the fastest
way to have your order processed and delivered.
For credit card and other pre-paid purchases, we can ship "Over Night"
for a small additional shipping charge (USA Only - see Register.Doc).
Our normal method of shipping a pre-paid order within the USA and
Canada is by regular 1st Class Mail. In such cases there is NO
SHIPPING CHARGE, and delivery time is usually just a few days.
(All Prices & Features Are Subject To Change Without Notice)
COPYRIGHT (C) - ROBERT F. KEBER JR. - Produced By: TypeRight Software
Files included with SST
CNFSSTnn.EXE - "Set-Up" SOFTWARE SALES TRACKER To Individual Needs.
DATAFILE.OVL - Data File Template. Sample Invoice/Customer Data.
SST.DOC - This Instruction Manual
SST.EXE - Main Program
SST_2.EXE - Creates/Edits/Sorts "INVNTORY.DAT" Inventory File
REG.DAT - Registration Data - User's Name & Serial Number.
REGISTER.DOC - Registration Form - Print This When Registering
SCREEN.OVL - File Containing Program Display Screens (Compressed)
------- Files Shipped With Registered Versions Only ---------
CONVERT.EXE - Convert Old Style SST Files Into a new ISAM Data File.
SETUP.EXE - Installs SST on Hard Drive & Prints Instruction Manual
TOOLS.EXE - Data File Utilities and Maintenance.
ISAMREPR.EXE - Microsoft's ISAM File Repair Program.
ISAMPACK.EXE - Microsoft's ISAM File Packing Program.
ISAMIO.EXE - Microsoft's ISAM Export To ASCII Text File Program.
---------- Files which are created when SST is run ---------------
DATA.FIL - "ISAM" Data File (Indexed Sequential Access Method)
DATA.BAK - Backup File: Highly Compressed (LZW) Copy Of DATA.FIL
INVNTORY.DAT - Inventory Data File - Maximum of 735 Records
SST.CNF - Configuration File For SST's Custom Program Settings.
PRINTER.PRN - "Print To Disk" File Where Printed Output Is Stored.
RUNWHAT.DAT - Helps Direct SST File "Switching" and "Flow Control".
SETTING UP SOFTWARE SALES TRACKER
SST.EXE has been written in such a manner as to make it very adaptable
to different Tax Laws, User needs, and Hardware Abilities. As a result
there are many features which can be changed (or "Configured"). Most
changes can be made by running the SST program, and then choosing the
"RECONFIGURE" menu selection from the Main Menu.
The Reconfigure section of SST has a lot of on screen instructions,
explanations and menus. It will create a new disk file called
"SST.CNF" which will contain a list of all the custom changes you may
have selected. From then on, when SST is run, it will look for
SST.CNF and (if found) will use the list of "settings" inside the
file.
CONFIGURABLE SST SETTINGS
CONFIGURE CATEGORY | DEFAULT SETTING
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name Of Invoice Secondary Tax Field: "OTHER TAX" And "<Original>"
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #1..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #2..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #3..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #4..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #5..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #6..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #7..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #8..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #9..: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #10.: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #11.: Yes Percentage Rate: .01
Secondary Tax On Sale Category #12.: No Percentage Rate: 0
Name Of Invoice Primary Tax Field..: "SALES TAX"
Primary Tax On Sale Category #1..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #2..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #3..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #4..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #5..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #6..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #7..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #8..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #9..: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #10.: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #11.: Yes Percentage Rate: .06
Primary Tax On Sale Category #12.: No Percentage Rate: 0
Primary Tax On Secondary Tax.....: No Percentage Rate: 0
Page Headings (Graphics/Text)....: Use Non-Graphic Characters
Use SST-II Letterhead............: Yes
Use Pre-Printed Stationery.......: No
Use "Window" Mailing Envelopes...: No
Center Invoice's 5 COMMENT Lines.: No
Last Printed Line Of Invoice.....: "Sales Rep:___ Customer Rep:___"
Print Customer Phone On Invoices.: Yes
Starting Invoice Number..........: 10,000 (Options: 3 to 9,000,000)
Starting Customer Number.........: 15,000 (Options: 3 to 9,000,000)
Copies Of Printed Invoices.......: 1
Printed Output Sent To...........: LPT1: (Options: LPT2: or DISK FILES)
Sales Category #1 Is Called......: "Program #1"
Sales Category #2 Is Called......: "Program #2"
Sales Category #3 Is Called......: "Program #3"
Sales Category #4 Is Called......: "Program #4"
Sales Category #5 Is Called......: "Program #5"
Sales Category #6 Is Called......: "Program #6"
Sales Category #7 Is Called......: "Demo Disk"
Sales Category #8 Is Called......: "Accessories"
Sales Category #9 Is Called......: "Misc."
Sales Category #10 Is Called.....: "Discount"
Sales Category #11 Is Called.....: "Hourly Fee"
Sales Category #12 Is Called.....: "Shipping"
Payment Terms #1 Is Set To.......: "PAID - CASH"
Payment Terms #2 Is Set To.......: "PAID - CHECK"
Payment Terms #3 Is Set To.......: "PAID - CREDIT CARD"
Payment Terms #4 Is Set To.......: "PREPAID ORDER"
Payment Terms #5 Is Set To.......: "COLLECT ON DELIVERY"
Payment Terms #6 Is Set To.......: "NET CASH - 10 DAYS"
Payment Terms #7 Is Set To.......: "NET CASH - 15 DAYS"
Payment Terms #8 Is Set To.......: "NET CASH - 30 DAYS"
Payment Terms #9 Is Set To.......: "DUE ON RECEIPT"
Payment Terms #10 Is Set To......: "SPECIAL PRE-ARRANGEMENT"
Heading Text - Line #1...........: "YOUR COMPANY'S NAME & ADDRESS"
Heading Text - Line #2...........: "To Insert Your Own Data"
Heading Text - Line #3...........: "In These 6 Lines Of Text,"
Heading Text - Line #4...........: "Use The RECONFIGURE Selection"
Heading Text - Line #5...........: "On The Main Menu. Then On Next"
Heading Text - Line #6...........: "Menu, Use 'Header Information."
Footer Text - Line #1............: "THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS"
Footer Text - Line #2............: "To Insert Your Own Data"
Footer Text - Line #3............: "In These 6 Lines Of Text,"
Footer Text - Line #4............: "Use The RECONFIGURE Selection"
Footer Text - Line #5............: "On The Main Menu. Then On Next"
Footer Text - Line #6............: "Menu, Use 'Footer Information."
International Dates..............: MM/DD/YY (Optn: DD/MM/YY YY/MM/DD)
International Times..............: 12 Hour Clock (Optn: 24 Hour Clock)
International Money Symbols......: $ (Optn: Pound,Frank,Yen,None,etc.)
International Fraction Designator: . ("." = 1,234.56 "," = 1.234,56)
Any (or all) of the above items (and a few "Sub-Items") may be changed
as often as you like. You may use "RECONFIGURE" over and over, as it
will simply "Read" and then "Re-Write" the "SST.CNF" file.
PROGRAM SECURITY
It may take some time and experimentation to finally get SST set up
exactly the way you want it to be for all your needs. But other Users
can reset and change those same settings without your knowledge. Also,
if someone should delete the file called SST.CNF, all of your settings
will be gone, and the program will reset to it's default settings.
As a precaution against this, we suggest that you set up the program
configuration as "you" want the program to operate. Then make (and
keep on file) a printout of the configured settings. There is a menu
choice for printing a list of these settings on the ReConfigure
Program Menu. You will find those printouts VERY helpful the next time
you need to check the settings or reconfigure the program (for an
updated version) again.
As another precaution, make a backup copy of the file named "SST.CNF"
which contains all of your SST reconfigure settings.
SETTING UP SST ON YOUR HARD DRIVE
SST is NOT copy-protected and has no elaborate schemes to prevent
copies from easily being made. Though Registration only entitles you
to use one (1) working copy of SST for each registration fee, backup
copies can be made by any of the normal DOS/MS-DOS "Copy" or "Disk
Copy" commands.
All of the SST files are "matched" to each other by version number.
They MUST ALL BE from THE SAME VERSION or the program will not work
properly.
The best and easiest method (always) to "Set-Up" or "Update" SST is to
run the (Registered Only) SST Program called "SETUP.EXE".
"INSTALL.EXE" will NOT erase or delete any of your existing SST data
files, but will replace all of the other SST files. If installation is
on a Hard Drive, "INSTALL" will simply check to see if a Sub Directory
called "\SST" already exists on that drive. If it does, it will warn
you and then give the option to "Quit" or "Continue" operation.
If this is a brand new installation (you have never used this program
before) and you get the warning that "\SST" already exists, then QUIT
the install program and find out what files are already in the sub-
directory called "\SST" on your hard drive. You may then have to make
adjustments to avoid confliction problems between SST and whatever
files are already present in that sub-directory.
In the case of an "Update" installation, "\SST" WILL already exist from
the previous installation, and you will "Be Warned". Enter a "C" to
"Continue" Installation. SETUP.EXE will then "peek" into the target
Drive and Sub-Directory, and then do whatever is necessary to avoid
"over-writing" your existing DATA.FIL, INVNTORY.DAT, or SST.CNF files.
It will also create another file called "SST.BAT", which it will store
in the ROOT Directory. This file is created for those Users who may
not know their way around a Hard Drive too well. Simply typing "SST"
from anywhere in the system will automatically switch to the "\SST" sub
directory and run "SST.EXE" for the operator.
SETUP.EXE will also check to see if there is a "Boot-Up" file called
"CONFIG.SYS" on the target drive. If CONFIG.SYS does NOT already
exist, then INSTALL will create such a file for the operator. The
"CONFIG.SYS" file will only contain one very important command...
"FILES=25"
If there already is a "CONFIG.SYS" file, then "SETUP.EXE" will
examine it's contents. If a "FILES=" command to does NOT exist, it
will be inserted into the file.
If the "FILES=" command DOES EXIST, it will be examined and reset (if
necessary) to a minimum of "25" files. This command is what determines
the maximum number of disk files that the computer may "Open" (access)
at one time. On most systems, the default setting is only for "8"
files.
It is "VERY IMPORTANT" for the "FILES=25" command to be set to at
least 25 or more files or SST will run into a "Brick Wall" as it tries
to create, open or access "one" file too many.
The same is true for many (lots & lots) of other programs as well. So
it's not a bad idea to set this to "25" files, and never change it
again (unless another program tells you to increase it to an even
higher number). The "FILES=" command is one where "Too much won't
hurt, but too little will" (within reason).
GETTING STARTED
Once you have gotten all the SST files installed, all that is
necessary to RUN SST is to BOOTUP and Enter the command.....
SST <and press enter>
SST will then load into memory. If this is a brand new installation,
there will be no data file ("DATA.FIL") for the program to access. So
you will be asked if you wish to use the "SAMPLE" data to try out the
program.
If you answer "Y" (for yes) then SST will create a data file called
"DATA.FIL", and the file will contain SAMPLE Customer & Invoice
records.
If you answer "N" (for no), SST will create the same data file
(DATA.FIL), but it will contain NO sample records (it will be an EMPTY
file). Such a file is ready to start accepting "FOR REAL" data from
you, about your real customers and their billing transactions with
your firm.
Once a data file has been established, SST will then present you with
the "Main Menu" screen.
The sample data files have been included to make things a bit easier
for you if you just want to "try out" this program. They will save you
the trouble of entering your own data just to see just what SST can
do, like printing various reports, performing calculations, and many
other things. They also demonstrate many things which might otherwise
never occur to you (such as alternative uses for various data fields,
features which are NOT immediately obvious, and so on).
Feel free to play around with these sample files, and "get a feeling"
for how the program works. That's the easiest and fastest way to learn
(most fun way too).
Run through all the different Menus and features, and try everything.
Find records, add new records, edit records, delete records. Print out
some labels, directories, statements, reports and invoices. Make all
of your mistakes with the sample data files and learn while using
"them" instead of your "Real" data. Try Re-Naming the Sales Categories
and "Terms & Conditions" to settings which will apply best to your
individual type of business and software.
Selecting Sales Category Names is perhaps the most important step in
setting up SST for your own use. A LOT of thought should be given to the
Names BEFORE you begin to enter your own "for real" data.
It is usually NOT a good idea to name each Sales Category as a SINGLE
PRODUCT's Name. Instead, think BIG.., and leave yourself room for future
expansion.
Example: Instead of naming Sales Cat #1 as "MY PROGRAM1" and Sales Cat #2
as "MY PROGRAM2", etc., why not name Sales Cat #1 as "SOFTWARE", especially
if you currently produce just a few programs.
If you produce a multitude of different kinds of programs, take a lesson
from most BBSs and name your Sale Cat #s as Categories such as "GAMES,
INVOICES, BUSINESS, HOME USE, ADDRESSES, LABELS, UTILITIES", and so on.
For tracking sales of individual program names, create a "Program Type
Code" numbering system (issue each individual program it's own ID Code #)
which you can then place into BOTH the Customer Address Record (in the
"Customer Type Code Number" Field), and in the Invoice (in the "Invoice
Type Code Number" field).
REDIRECTING PRINTED OUTPUT
SST allows you to send any or all of your "Printed Output" to any of
three destinations; Line Printer #1 (LPT1:), Line Printer #2 (LPT2:)
or to a disk file named "PRINTER.PRN".
With this system, you can have a Laser Printer on LPT1: and a Dot
Matrix Printer on LPT2: (or vice versa), or you can have one single
printer (of either type) connected to either of the two LPTn: printer
ports.
When set to "Disk File", everything normally sent to your printer will
be sent (at top speed) to a disk file named "PRINTER.PRN" instead.
You may "ReDirect" the "Printed Output" from either the SST PRINT MENU
or from the RECONFIGURE MENU (the Printed Output selections).
If you have a SLOW PRINTER, and don't want to spend a lot of time "waiting
around" for your printer to slowly print each and every page, then set the
printed output to go to the DISK FILE (named PRINTER.PRN).
Or if you have a LOT of information to print, set SST for DISK FILE output.
When set to DISK FILE, SST will perform ALL printing operations extremely
fast (sometimes so fast that literally, "If you blink..., you'll miss it").
Then, when finished with your SST work session, press the "F10" Key to
exit SST. Before exiting, SST will ask if you wish to print "PRINTER.PRN"
(the disk file which contains all of your printed output). If you answer
"Yes", printing will begin immediately.
But before you answer "Yes", make sure that your printer is completely
"ready to go". Make sure it is "On Line", has plenty of paper, and is
"Electronically" set for the "Top Of Page" position. Once activated,
printing will continue non-stop until ALL of the data in PRINTER.PRN
has been printed.
If you decide to exit SST without doing the printing, SST will then ask if
you wish to DELETE the PRINTER.PRN file. If you answer "No", the print file
will be left unchanged. If "Yes", the file will be deleted.
Every time you start up SST with the "Print To Disk" option in effect, SST
will look for the PRINTER.PRN disk file. If it finds the file on your disk,
SST gives you the option of "Appending" (adding new output to the end of
the existing file), or "Over-Writing" the file.
Over-Writing the file will KILL all of the old printed output, replacing it
with any newer printing you may produce (be VERY careful with this).
If you are not sure about what is stored inside of the "PRINTER.PRN" print
file, you can "Read" that file using any text editing program (or Word
Processor). Or, if you don't have a text editor program, you can read it by
entering the MS/DOS Command "TYPE PRINTER.PRN" (but have your "Trigger
Finger" on the "Pause" key to keep the text from scrolling out of sight).
LABELS: We suggest that you DO NOT print any mailing labels while in
the "Print To Disk" mode, unless "Labels" are the ONLY thing you will
be printing in this particular work session. The reason for this is
because none of the label printing routines end with a "FormFeed".
Therefore, Label printing DOES NOT set up the paper to the next "Top Of
Page" for any other printing which will follow the printing of labels. As a
result, any printing which occurs AFTER you have printed one or more labels
WILL NOT be centered properly on the successive pages (from top to bottom).
TIME SAVER: You may use the MS/DOS program named "PRINT.COM" to print
PRINTER.PRN (see your MS/DOS manual - PRINT.COM).
Using PRINT.COM will print PRINTER.PRN in the "BACKGROUND" (in a Multi-
Tasking mode), allowing you to use your computer for other (non
printing) tasks at the same time as PRINTER.PRN is being printed.
But be aware that PRINT.COM is a "Memory Resident" program, and it
stays partially loaded in your RAM Memory after it has been run. As
SST needs an absolute minimum of 425k of FREE RAM to run, you may have
to "ReBoot" your computer to get rid of PRINT.COM, freeing up RAM
Memory, to run SST again.
If you wish, you may view or edit the "PRINTER.PRN" file with most
word processors or text editors, as it is only an ASCII TEXT file with
a few Printer Control Codes embedded in the text.
But if you edit this file, be cautious about adding or deleting lines
or linespaces in the file (unless you delete whole pages of printed
data).
In general, if you Add a new line on a page, you should also Delete a
line from somewhere else on the same page. The number of lines per
page should remain constant. Changing the number of printed lines per
page can "mess up" the linespacing on ALL of the following pages of
print, especially if you are using the "Simulated Formfeed"
ReConfigure option.
PRINTING MAILING LABELS
GPP automatically switchs back and forth to different kinds of gummed
labels as you switch back and forth from DOT MATRIX and LASER printers.
When printing with a DOT MATRIX printer, use the "ONE ACROSS" box or roll
of gummed labels (15/16" deep by at least 3" wide).
When printing with a LASER PRINTER, use the "THREE ACROSS" sheets of
gummed labels (1" x 2 5/8" size - Example: Avery Dennison #5160).
GPP will NOT print in "TWO or THREE ACROSS" mode with a DOT MATRIX printer,
and will NOT print in "ONE or TWO ACROSS" mode with a LASER PRINTER.
NEGATIVE DATA ENTRIES
To enter a "Discount" (or any other kind of number which is meant to
be subtracted), the value must be entered as a NEGATIVE NUMBER.....
(Example: -26.54 ...dash + the number).
While on this subject of Negative Entries, some of our users have
expressed confusion about how to go about eliminating Invoices which
were entered in error, or which are "UnCollectable". Some have
compounded the error by adding yet another New Invoice (identical to
the original), but with ALL Negative Entries, to "off-set" the
original Invoice's values. Such a practice will only help to create a
large "Can Of Worms" and produce some very confusing printed reports.
Instead, if the values on the Invoice in question have not yet
appeared in any reports sent to your Bookkeeper, Accountant or
Government, then simply DELETE IT (as if it never was entered in the
first place).
But if the error was found AFTER your Bookkeeper or Accountant did
your books (or after you paid the Sales Tax on the invoice), then
print out a couple of copies of the Incorrect Invoice, and then delete
that Invoice from the SST Invoice file. Take the printed Invoices and
mark each copy as "VOID". Put one copy into your paper file for record
keeping, and give the other copy to your Accountant the next time
He/She does your books. It will then be deducted (in your books) from
your reported income for the next new accounting time period (almost
like a "Refund").
PARTIAL PAYMENTS
Partial Payments (or Credits) can be applied to invoices during
Invoice Editing when the "Paid In Full" field is left without an
entered date. If the "Paid In Full" field is left without an entered
date (left UnPaid), you will be offered a chance to enter a "Partial
Payment" toward the end of the Invoice Editing process.
Partial Payments should be entered as normal (positive) numbers (NOT
Negative numbers) as the program will automatically perform all
required mathematics.
When a "Partial Payment" entry is made, some new figures will be
displayed "On Screen" which will show the "Last Payment Amount", the
"Last Payment Date", The "Total Amount Of Payments Received"
(Credits), and the "UnPaid Balance" due on that invoice.
These same "Partial Payment" figures will then appear at many other
places throughout the program as this same invoice is accessed by
other routines.
"Accounts Receivable" screens and printed reports, "Invoice" screens
and printouts, printed "Customer Statements", and "Sales Income"
screens and reports will all reflect the amounts and the changes made
by any and all of the partial payments.
If you use the "RE-BILL" routine, then all "Partial Payments" and
"UnPaid Balances" will be IGNORED and set to zero as newer invoices
are created. In other words, the OLD "Invoice Total" will be the NEW
"Balance Due" in the newly created invoices.
When the final "Payment" is entered and the "Balance Due" becomes zero
(or less than zero - no "Credit Balance"), a window will appear asking
if you wish to "Mark This Invoice As Paid In Full". If "YES", then ALL
"Partial Payment" and "Balance Due" fields will be reset to zero, and
the invoice will be marked as "Paid In Full" using "Today's Date".
If you manually enter a date into the "Paid In Full" field when there
is still a "Partial Balance Due", another window will appear asking if
you wish to "clear" all partial payment entries. If "YES", then ALL
"Partial Payment" and "Balance Due" fields will be reset to zero, and
the invoice will be marked as "Paid In Full" using the date which you
entered.
At the current time, SST will NOT keep track of "Multiple Payments"
and payment dates (beyond the last payment). It simply keeps track of
the Total Paid, Total UnPaid, and Balance Due for each invoice.
Extensive tracking of Multiple Payments (Dates, Amounts and Check
Numbers) can be performed manually in a "Hard Copy" (printed on
paper) Accounts Receivable File.
*************** IMPORTANT READING **************
IMPORTANT: When you are ready to erase the "SAMPLE" data files and
begin entering "Real" data... DO NOT just "Delete" every sample record
inside of each file.
To COMPLETELY ERASE THE DATA, select the "RECONFIGURE" selection from
the Main Menu. Once "Reconfigure" is loaded, there is a menu selection
for ERASING the DATA file on the Configuration Menu which make this
task simple and fast.
Once you have ERASED the sample data files, when SST.EXE is run again,
it will (once again) ask if you want to use the "SAMPLE" data files.
Answer "N" (for NO). By doing this, SST will create a brand new (and
empty) data file for you to begin entering your own "For Real" Invoice
& Customer data.
PRINTING TROUBLES
If you find you are having trouble with "printing" any of the various
"print" items, look farther into this text for a heading of "TROUBLE"
and "PROBLEMS" for suggestions on what to check for.
DATA ENTRY & CURSOR CONTROLS
FIELD EDITING -- CURSOR MOVEMENT
The following page or so describes the methods used in SST to enter
data into "Fields". "Field" is just another word for a "Blank Space"
to be filled in with information. Example: "NAME:____(field)_______".
We suggest that you take the time to at least glance through this
information, as most of it has been put there to make life (and SST)
easier for you. Some of it will describe "Short-Cut" methods of
entering data, while some of the others will answer some questions
before you even think to ask them.
INSERT KEY: Toggles between "Insert" & "Overwrite" of characters.
Cursor changes shape for each mode.
DELETE KEY: Deletes character at cursor position.
BACKSPACE.: Deletes character to left of cursor position.
LEFT ARROW.: Move cursor left one space.
RIGHT ARROW: Move cursor right one space.
UP ARROW...: Jump To Previous Field.
DOWN ARROW.: Jump To Next Field.
ENTER KEY..: Jump To Next Field
RETURN KEY.: Jump To Next Field
TAB KEY....: Jump To Next Field
CTRL LEFT..: Move cursor left one word.
CTRL RIGHT.: Move cursor right one word.
HOME KEY...: Move cursor to beginning of field.
END KEY....: Move cursor to end of field entry.
CTRL END...: Delete field entry from cursor position to end.
PAGE UP....: Jump to top field.
PAGE DOWN..: Jump to bottom field.
F-1 KEY....: Exit "Current Routine" and return to the previous menu.
F-5 KEY....: Varied purposes. Watch Bottom Center of Display Screens.
F-10 KEY...: Exit from the SST program.
YES/NO QUESTIONS:
In the majority of cases, when SST asks a question to be answered by a
"Y" or "N", pressing the "Enter" key is the same as entering a "Y"
(for Yes).
But there are a few places where the reverse is true (Enter = "N"), and
still a few other places where you MUST press a "Y" or "N", and the
"Enter" key won't be accepted. It sounds confusing, but (believe it or
not) it works well and makes good sense in practice. However, when in
doubt, just press the "Y or N" keys.
DATE & TIME FIELDS:
If you find that the "TIME & DATE" displays are NOT accurate, then the
problem is NOT with SST. The problem is that "YOUR" Computer System's
"Clock & Calendar" are not properly set. The "Reconfigure" program has a
menu selection to reset your System time and date to current settings.
TIMES: The Reconfigure Program offers either "12" or "24" Hour Clocks.
DATES: The Default Date format is: MM/DD/YY. Other International Date
Formats of DD/MM/YY or YY/MM/DD may be set from the Reconfigure Menu.
If you use any Date Format other than the default (USA) setting, SST will
expect you to already have your Computer System's "COUNTRY" setting set to
the appropriate country for the Date Format which you selected.
For example: If you select the United Kingdom's date format of
"DD/MM/YY", then SST expects that you already have a command line of
"COUNTRY=044" in your CONFIG.SYS file. See your MS/DOS Manual for more
information on setting "COUNTRY" settings.
If you DO NOT have the "Country" set correctly, you will produce a Warning
Error when SST tries to reset your System Date with a date format which is
different from the one which was set when you Booted Up your machine. In
such cases, the System Date & Time WILL NOT be reset, but the Date/Time
FORMAT which you selected WILL BE accepted for SST use.
Anywhere in SST where you enter a date, it will always be checked for
validity. If the date is invalid, a "Warning Window" will appear on
screen, and the date will not be accepted.
INVOICE DATE FIELD: To enter "Today's Date" (System Date) in this field,
just "exit" from this field by ANY method WITHOUT entering any kind of date
entry (Depress ENTER, TAB, UpDn, PgUp, PgDn, F5 Key, etc.).
PAID DATE: To mark an Invoice as "Unpaid" (or NOT completely paid),
don't enter anything in this field. You accomplish this by just
pressing the "Enter" (or cursor) keys. When marked as "Unpaid", the
field should show MM/DD/YY, DD/MM/YY or YY/MM/DD. Nothing should be
entered into this field until the very last cent of the Invoice Total
has been received (DO NOT enter any date here for Partial Payments).
To mark the "Paid Field" as "Paid" using "Today's Date", just press
the "F5 Key" (watch the bottom center of the screen).
The OLDEST date SST can handle is January 2, 1950 The NEWEST date SST
can handle is December 31, 2049. The "Missing Day" (Jan. 1, 1950) is
reserved for special SST program use.
This effectively gives SST a 100 year date range.
When making CORRECTIONS in a date field, it is usually best to use your
BACKSPACE and DELETE THE ENTIRE DATE. Then re-enter the correct date in
it's entirety, once again.
SEARCH KEYS:
When SST asks you to enter some information to search for a particular
record, if asking for an ID Number, for the best results try to enter
the entire number (not just part of it).
If asking for a Customer's Name, for the best results only enter the
first few characters of the last name (about 4 or 5 characters). This
is usually enough to locate most names easily (first names should NOT
be used).
However, in some cases it would be easier to type in some extra
characters to speed up the customer search. Example: If looking for
"SMITHERS" (and you know you have a fair number of "SMITH"s in the
file), to avoid wading through ALL of the "Close Match" records you
might enter "SMITHE" instead of "SMI" as your search "key".
If SST is unable to find any record which matches the "Search Key"
information which you provided, an "on screen" message will appear
saying so. You then have the option of trying again.
But in some cases, if an "Exact Match" is not found, SST will present
the "Next Closest Match" for your inspection, and it will then ask if
that record is correct (as in the "Browse" mode).
"CUSTOMER DATA ENTRY" SCREEN
===============================
We refer to these address records as "Customers" because in MOST cases they
WILL contain the name and address of someone who sent some cash your way
(hopefully) in exchange for one or more of your products.
But SST also allows you to store Names & Address of NON-CUSTOMERS such as
Catalog and Compact Disk Distributors in this address list. This is allowed
so that you can easily print mailing labels to those kind'a folks, even
though most of them may never spend a penney buying your products.
The various and different groups of these "Types" of customers can be
identified via the numeric code you assign to them and insert into the
"Customer Type" field.
"LAST SALE DATE" & "TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT" FIELDS
These two fields are located on the "Customer Data Entry Screen". They
are "calculated", "filled in" and "maintained" automatically by SST.
They cannot be changed or edited by an operator.
As you enter "New" invoices (or Edit or Delete existing Invoices),
these fields will be updated with the new data automatically.
You can always determine if you can change a field entry by the color
of the text in the field. A "White" field entry MAY NOT be directly
edited, while a "Yellow" field entry CAN be easily changed at anytime.
The SST "Support Program" called "TOOL.EXE" offers the capability of
"Clearing & Recalculating" the "Last Sale Date" & "Total Amount Spent"
fields in each customer record. The new data placed into these fields
will be based upon the Data in the Invoice Records currently in the
file. TOOL.EXE is only provided with "Registered" versions of SST.
Also offers an option to DELETE customers without any matching
invoices.
TWO "NAME" FIELDS
SST provides two "Name" fields for entries. The Last/Business name
field contains 30 characters, and the First name field contains 20
characters. Combined together, the two fields total a maximum of 50
characters for names.
For reasons of spacing on paper and labels, only the first 30
characters of the combined two name fields will be printed on many SST
printouts. For this reason, we suggest that you keep all "First Name"
field entries as reasonably short as possible.
NAMES & ID NUMBERS AS "KEYS"
After a "Customer" or an "Invoice" have been assigned an "ID number", and
the record is saved to a disk file, the ID Numbers and Names are "Keyed" to
each other (they are permanently "MATCHED" to each other).
Once a customer record is created, you can then produce invoices charged to
that customer record. Each Invoice contains a copy of the Customer ID Number
and the Customer First & Last Name. If, at a later time, you edit and change
the name in the Customer Record (for spelling corrections), only the new
invoices will show the changes in the name. Older Invoices will still have
the old name, unless you edit and re-save each of the older invoices.
CAUTION: Older versions of this program did NOT allow ANY editing of the
customer name fields. But due to many requests from our Users, we have
eliminated this restraint. But this new ability is meant ONLY for spelling
corrections and other minor name changes. Do NOT go changing "SMITH" to
"JONES", as the Customer ID Numbers will then be duplicated for BOTH of
those accounts on the Invoices. This might cause confusion on some printed
lists and Customer Statements.
A quick way to know which fields can be edited is to look at the color
of the print in the fields. Yellow text CAN be edited, while White text
may NOT be edited. Data in the White fields is usually "calculated".
The "ATTN OF:" field can be used for "Attention Of" information, or it can
be used as part of a two line street address. If this field is left empty,
it will NOT be printed as a "blank" line in your printed addresses, as the
fields normally printed below this line will move up to fill it's place.
For International Users there is a special invisible feature combined into
the "City" and "State" fields. If your equivalent abbreviation for "STATE"
is MORE than 3 characters then do the following. Try to fit your "STATE"
abbreviation into the same field as your City, and enter NOTHING into the
"State" field.
Example: "City Or Town: KANGAROO TOWN, NSWL". If this is done (and nothing
is put into the "State" field), the program will NOT put a Comma (",")
after the "City/Town" line, will ignore the "State" field, and will simply
attach your Zip Code to the end of the printed line. Your printed output
will look like "KANGAROO TOWN, NSWL 1234".
"CUSTOMER TYPE CODE NUMBER" FIELD
This field is meant to be used to identify the "Category, Group, or Type"
of Customer that this record is. You can create and use any numbering code
which suits your needs.
SST Customer records are meant to be used as a "Software Related" Address
data base for keeping track of both customers and distributors (who may NOT
be paying customers). By setting up a code numbering system, you can then
print mailing labels, address lists and telephone books for any individual
code number you desire.
The following is a sample set of codes to show you what we mean...
Codes For "Non Customers" and/or "Disk Mailout Addresses"
100 - DISTRIBUTOR - CATALOG
200 - DISTRIBUTOR - COMPACT DISKS
300 - DISTRIBUTOR - BBS
400 - DISTRIBUTOR - USER GROUP
500 - DISTRIBUTOR - RETAIL SOFTWARE STORE
600 - DISTRIBUTOR - COMPUTER DEALERSHIP
700 - DISTRIBUTOR - MISC.
800 - (Reserved)
900 - DEMONSTRATOR DISK (Prospective Customer Was Sent UnRegistered Demo)
Note: "We" charge $8.00 for Shipping & Handling when we send out demo
disks of any of our programs. This helps us recover our expenses for
disk mailers, floppy disks, shipping labels, disk labels, stationary,
postage charges, and the labor costs for putting it all together.
In such cases, we use the "900" code on BOTH of our Customer and
Invoice Records. This allows us to see how much business comes from
these "Demo Fees".
Codes For Assorted Software Programs You Produce And Sell
1000 - "MY HOME ADDRESS PROGRAM"
2000 - "MY OFFICE ADDRESS PROGRAM"
3000 - "MY BULK MAILING PROGRAM"
4000 - "MY INVOICE PROGRAM"
5000 - "MY UTILITY PROGRAM #1"
5100 - "MY UTILITY PROGRAM #2"
5200 - "MY UTILITY PROGRAM #3"
6000 - "MY LABEL MAKING PROGRAM"
These Are ID Codes For Individual Program Names. Set up any kind
of numeric code system for your own software which suites you. Then,
when you sell a copy of one of those programs to a Registered User,
put that program's code number into BOTH the Customer & Invoice
Records in the "Type" fields.
Default SST PROGRAM's Sales Category Names
Sales Cat #1 = ADDRESS SW
Sales Cat #2 = INVOICE SW
Sales Cat #3 = LABEL SW
Sales Cat #4 = UTILITY SW
Sales Cat #5 = MISC SW
Sales Cat #6 = RESERVED
Sales Cat #7 = RESERVED
Sales Cat #8 = MISC.
Sales Cat #9 = DEMO SW FEE
Sales Cat #10 = DISCOUNTS
What ever kind of code system you decide to use, put the same code number
into BOTH the "Customer Type Code Number" field and into the "Invoice Type
Code Number" field.
In cases where you have the same customer purchasing MORE THAN ONE kind of
software program, enter the same customer into the Customer File (again),
but with a different Software Code Number for each product purchased (same
customer is entered more than once into the customer list).
The reason for this is because it's very rare to do a mailout to ALL of
your customers and distributors for all of your mixed and varied products,
all at once.
Almost always, mailouts are done for one category of customer at a time (to
announce a new update, product, etc.). So to contact everyone involved with
one or more of your products, they must be listed in each type of category,
even though this may seem a bit redundant. Doing this also generates new
Customer IDs to use as Registration Numbers, if you use them as such.
For customers who purchase more than one copy of the SAME PROGRAM, just
enter them one time (in the Customer File), and use the same ID# as a
registration number for each of the multiple copies of the program.
If you want each registration ID# to be different, then add a letter prefix
to the beginning (or end) of each registration number (eg: A12345, B12345,
C12345, or 12345A, 12345B, 12345C) on your software's customer registration
certificate or form.
SST Does not "Lock You In" to a fixed coding system which may not fill all
of your needs. It allows you the freedom to use what is best for you.
96 SETS OF SECONDARY TAX CODES & NAMES
If you Reconfigure SST to use TWO Sales Taxes (Reconfigure Menu -
Taxes Selection), then two extra fields will appear in the Customer
Data Entry Screen; "TAX CODE NUMBER" and "TAX NAME".
These two fields are meant to be used ONLY when you have a need to
charge some of your customers with MORE than ONE Sales Tax (eg: State
and County Taxes, or National and Provincial Taxes, etc.).
You will only be able to make an entry in the TAX CODE field, as the
TAX NAME field will automatically be filled in for you. This will help
you to be certain that you have entered the correct Tax Code for each
customer.
The DEFAULT Tax Code for ALL customers is set to "1", even if certain
customers are Tax Exempt.
To keep from charging tax to a Tax Exempt Customer, just answer "NO"
when asked about Sales Tax during INVOICE Data Entry.
If you operate where you have NO Sales Taxes (South Pole?), or if you
are exempt from collecting any Sales Tax, just set the NUMBER OF TAXES
to "0" (Zero) in the ReConfigure Sales Tax Menu Selection.
If you only have ONE Primary Sales Tax (and NO Secondary Taxes), then
set the NUMBER OF TAXES to "1" (One) in the ReConfigure Tax Menu.
For both a Primary AND a Secondary tax, set it for "2" (Two) taxes.
If you only have one Primary, and one Secondary Tax, then we suggest
that you use Secondary Tax #1 (one) for your Secondary Tax, as that
Tax Code Number is the DEFAULT number when entering new customers in
the Customer Data Entry Screen.
If you have MORE THAN ONE Secondary Tax, we suggest that you name
Secondary Sales Tax Code #1 as your "Most Busy" Secondary Tax. In
other words, Secondary Tax Code #1 should be the one used on the
majority of your invoices. Doing this will make it easier during
Customer Data Entry, as Tax Code #1 is the automatic Default Tax Code
setting.
The values for each set of Secondary Taxes (Tax Names and percentage
rates for calculations applied to each of your Sales Categories) are
set in the ReConfigure Program.
SST can keep track of up to "97" sets of different Sales Taxes for you
(1 Primary Sales Tax, and 96 Secondary Sales Taxes). But.., why so
many..?
There are places where this large of a number may not be large enough
for "some" of our Users. Very big states (Texas, California, Florida,
Alaska, etc.) have a large number of counties, and in many cases, EACH
of those counties has a legal right to collect a LOCAL Sales Tax of
their own. And the same is also true for many large cities throughout
the world.
If you do business in such a place, to cover the whole state you have
to collect and keep track of many different sets of Sales Taxes.
To get a printed breakdown of the Gross Income, the Total Sales Tax,
and the Collected and UnCollected Tax for EACH of the 96 taxing areas,
use the "PRINTING MENU - INVOICE LISTS" in the SST program. In the
Invoice Lists Menu there is a selection for printing lists of invoices
from any Time Period and for any Tax Code Number.
To get a printed breakdown of the "Primary" Sales Tax, use the SALES
INCOME menu selection from the SST Main Menu.
THE "TELEPHONE NUMBER" FIELDS
SST includes a seven digit "Country Code" field with each telephone
number. The country code is like an "Area Code", and is used when
direct dialing most international calls.
The "Country Code" field will accept ANY kind of character, and so it
may be used for other telephone related purposes as well as Country
Codes. But, if the Country Code does NOT contain a NUMERIC VALUE
greater than zero, it will NOT be printed on SST Invoices as part of
the telephone number.
TELEPHONE CntryCode AreaCode PhoneNumber Extension
FIELDS [-------] (---) ---------- -------
Examples: "[011-44-] ( 7) 72338888-- London "
"[FAX----] (111) 111-1111-- 24 Hour"
"[PAGER--] (222) 222-2222-- 1234---"
"[Hrs 9-5] (333) 333-3333-- Office-"
The Telephone Number fields have a special feature in that seven digit
(USA) entries may be made as "123-4567" or as "1234567", and the "-"
will be inserted automatically.
For our international Users, phone numbers longer or shorter than 7
digits may be used and the dash ("-") will NOT be auto-inserted.
Telephone numbers which begin with one or more zeros (0) will have
leading zero(s) eliminated when saved in the disk file (sorry). On the
other hand Area Codes beginning with one (1) zero will have it
preserved.
Also, the USA Telephone field format "(111) 111-1111" does NOT always
look normal when used in other countries. So we have added an option
in the ReConfigure program ("Printed Output" selection) to turn "ON"
or turn "OFF" the printing of the Customer's Telephone Number on
printed Invoices.
This feature was added because many International Users have expressed
that the USA Telephone format is okay for use around their own office,
but it is very confusing to their customers when printed on the invoices.
"INVOICE DATA ENTRY" SCREEN
================================
CATEGORY OF SALES SST breaks your sales down into 14 different
categories of "Income", ALL of which can be renamed by the User by
using "RECONFIGURE".
Sale Category #1 Sale Category #6 Hourly Fee
Sale Category #2 Sale Category #7 Shipping Charges
Sale Category #3 Sale Category #8 Secondary Sales Tax Charges
Sale Category #4 Misc. Primary Sales Tax Charges
Sale Category #5 Discounts
CASH REGISTER SALES
If you use a Cash Register for sales (as well as employee invoices),
reserve one of the "Sales Categories" for "Cash Reg", and make an
entry in that "Sales Category" at the end of each day's business.
The easiest way to do this is to create a "Customer Record" for your
own office by entering your firm's name and address in the customer
file, or by creating a customer record with a "Name" of "CASH REGISTER
SALES" (or something similar). Then, at the end of each day, create an
Invoice for "CASH REGISTER SALES" (or whatever) and enter the amount from
the Cash Register.
INVENTORY ITEMS:
When you get to the "Quantity/Description/Price" section of each
invoice, you may note that at the bottom, center of the screen a
message appears when the curser enters any of the "Description" fields
("F5=INVENTORY").
If you hit the F5 Key, a "Window" will appear inside of which can be
listed up to 735 different Inventory items. Each item will have a
"Description", a "Retail Price", and a "Sales Category" number. The
items "can" also be in "Sorted" order if you wish.
To select an Inventory Item, use a combination of your Up/Down Arrow
Keys, and your PageUp/PageDn Keys. There are 49 pages of 15 items (735
items).
When the "Highlighted Bar" covers the item you want, just press the
"Enter" Key, and all of that information will be automatically
inserted into the proper Invoice fields.
To "Exit" without selecting an entry, just press the "ESC" key.
To create (or change) your own Inventory List, use Main Menu Selection
"R" (Reconfigure). When the Reconfigure Menu appears, select the
"Inventory" Menu selection.
When creating or editing Inventory Lists, all numeric entries MUST be
made using the USA numeric format (1,234.56 - NOT 1.234,56). However,
if you Reconfigure SST to use a comma (",") as a symbol of your numeric
fractions, then the various inventory items will appear as you wish in
the SST program itself, and on SST printouts. But the Inventory List
must be prepared using the USA ("1,234.56") format.
All Inventory Data is saved in a disk file named "INVNTORY.DAT". If
you have a large Inventory list, it would be a good idea to make a
Backup of that file, and to keep a "Hard Copy Printout" of the as
well.
As "INVNTORY.EXE" is a "support" program for SST, and is NOT necessary
for the "full use" of SST (descriptions, price & category can always
be manually entered), only the first 25 Inventory Items will function
in "UnRegistered" versions.
However, this limitation ONLY applies in the SST program itself. In
both the Registered and UnRegistered versions Users may enter all (or
up to) 735 Inventory Items if they wish. All the Inventory data will
be properly saved in "INVNTORY.DAT" and displayed in SST. But only the
first 25 items will be accessed by SST in the UnRegistered Versions.
INVOICE SCREEN - AUTOMATIC "QUANTITY" PRICING
In the Invoice "HOURLY FEE" & "SHIPPING" fields, you have the ability
to calculate "Quantity" math problems such as.....
12.47 Hrs at 14.37 each = ? 33.76 Square Yards at 29.3954 each = ?
As soon as you move the cursor to the HOURLY FEE field, at the bottom,
center of the screen a message saying "F-5 = Quantity" will appear.
That simply means that if you have a problem like one of the above,
just hit the "F-5" key. When you do, an "On Screen Window" will appear
to take your "Quantity" and "Price Each" information. SST will then
automatically insert the correct total into the field, and the
"Window" will disappear.
THE "SALES TAX" FIELDS
Sales Tax Rates and Laws vary greatly all over the world. As a result,
we had to program these fields with this in mind.
SST offers the ability to handle NONE, ONE or TWO different Sales
Taxes. This choice is offered to you in the ReConfigure program in the
menu selection named SALES TAX SETTINGS.
If you choose to use 1 or 2 Sales Taxes, you may assign each of these
taxes the appropriate name for the area in which you operate. Those
new Tax Names will then appear on all screens and printouts from then
on.
The "Primary Tax" has the special ability to apply a Tax Charge on the
Secondary Sales Tax (commonly referred to as "A tax upon a tax").
Each of these two Tax Fields can be set up from the ReConfigure Menu.
With each separate Tax, you may determine which Sales Categories are
Taxable or Tax-Exempt, and set the appropriate Tax Percentage Rate for
each individual Sales Category (up to 96 sets of different tax values
for Secondary Taxes).
The factory (default) settings for the Sales Tax Values are ".01" (1%)
for the Secondary Tax (Tax Code 1), and ".06" (6%) for the Primary
Tax. Default Taxes are applied to Sales Categories 1 through 11, with
NO TAX on Sales Category 12 (Shipping).
Any (or all) of those values can be changed from ".0000" through
".9999" (from NO tax to 99.99% tax).
As you Enter "New", or Edit "Old" Invoices, when you reach either of
the Sales Tax fields, a small window will appear saying "Tax? (Y/N)".
If you type a "Y", the Tax WILL be calculated and charged to the
Invoice, based upon the Sales Tax Percentage Rates which you set up as
Primary Tax values and/or as a Secondary Tax Code value.
In situations where you have set Sales Tax rates, but are now entering
a "Tax Exempt" invoice (such as for a church), then just type "N" (for
NO), and Tax will NOT be applied to ANY Sales Category in the invoice.
CLEARING THE DECKS FOR ACTION
***** GETTING RID OF THE SAMPLE DATA RECORDS *****
Go to the Main SST Menu. Choose the selection for "RECONFIGURATION".
On the Configuration Menu there is a selection for "Erasing" the Data
files. Use it to erase BOTH of the SAMPLE Customer & SAMPLE Invoice
Data files. Then, when SST is run again, brand new (and empty) data
files will automatically be created for you (answer "NO" when asked by
SST if you wish to use the two SAMPLE data files).
CUSTOMER NUMBERS
We designed SST in such a manner that the Customer "should" never see
or know what their customer number is. The number will never appear on
any invoice or statement unless YOU intentionally enter it into a
Description Field somewhere. The default starting Customer # is 15,000.
If you wish, you can set your starting customer number anywhere from 3 to
9,000,000 (auto-generated customer numbers will max-out at 10,000,000).
IMPORTANT: Set this number BEFORE entering any records in the Customer
file. Once you enter the first customer address record, that record's
ID Number becomes the starting point for ALL newer records (that
number is incremented by "1" for each new customer record). You CAN
NOT set a lower range of Customer ID#s once the 1st customer record
has been saved.
NOTE: UNIQUE SOFTWARE REGISTRATION SERIAL NUMBERS:
If you wish, you can use the SST CUSTOMER ID# as a Registration ID# for
your software sales. These numbers will never be re-used, unless you
totally delete DATA.FIL and start off with a new, empty file. That's
another good reason to make your backups often!
INVOICE NUMBERS
SST will never allow any duplicate Invoice or Customer Numbers to
exist in the same file at the same time. The default starting "Invoice
Number" is "10,000", but you can change that (by using Reconfigure) to
any number you wish (except for numbers lower than "3" which are
reserved).
But, if you sometimes use external (hand written) invoices which are
pre-printed and already contain their own Invoice Numbers, then make
sure that you set your SST starting Invoice number 10 to 20 thousand
HIGHER than any of the numbers on your pre-printed paper invoices (to
avoid "Duplicate Invoice" numbering problems at a later date).
Remember to leave yourself room for getting "Re-Prints" of those paper
invoices with higher ranges of invoice numbers printed on them, when
you run out of your current batch.
SST produces unique Invoice Numbers by starting with the "beginning"
Invoice Number which you set, and then finding the next highest unused
number in the file. It will "skip over" any "used" numbers. HOWEVER, if an
Invoice is Erased, Deleted or Removed from the file, it's number WILL be
re-used again.
Because of this, Registered Users who use "TOOLS.EXE" to "extract"
older records from a large Invoice File, should also RESET their
"Starting Invoice Number" to the next NEW Invoice Number generated
BEFORE the file extraction routine is used. Otherwise, all the
extracted invoices will have their Invoice Numbers made available for
re-use on new invoices.
You can use your "Backspace" key to erase the automatically generated
Invoice Number, and then enter whatever number you wish to use (to use
Pre-Printed, Pre-Numbered Invoices for example). But if you try to
enter a number which has already been used, a warning window will
"Pop-Up" and the Invoice Number will NOT be accepted (NO DUPLICATES
ALLOWED).
TROUBLES & PROBLEMS
- Make sure that the version of DOS or MS/DOS you are using is version
3.3 or higher. Older versions won't work properly.
- Make sure CONFIG.SYS is set as described in the previous pages.
- Not enough free RAM memory. Remove all other Memory Resident
programs from memory BEFORE running SST. This program will require
about 450k of free RAM to operate when using all of it's features.
If a screen error message such as "Error 07 in module ..etc.",
appears, the "07" means "Out Of Memory". See list of error messages
later in this text.
Many "Screen Saver" programs can clash with SST, caution is advised.
- Your Printer is "NOT" ready for action, or may be incompatible. On
some computers this problem will simply "Hang Up" the computer UNTIL
the printer "IS" ready for action. But on most, a warning "Printer Not
Ready" window appears.
- Not enough free disk space left. The ISAM data file used by SST is a
bit different than most of the files which you may be accustomed to.
To begin with, the file is fairly large in size even when there are NO
RECORDS stored in the file (has lots of overhead in the header in the
form of INDEXES, each of which would usually be a separate file).
It does not slowly grow in size as you add each new record. Instead,
it grows in occasional "Chunks" of 32,720 bytes each, reserving disk
space for new records BEFORE they are entered.
In most cases SST will give an "On-Screen Warning" when the free disk
space begins to get close to critical (before there is a problem). But
when used in a "Multi-Tasking" environment, where other applications
may use up disk space since SST last checked it out, problems "could"
possibly occur.
PROBLEM - PROGRAM WON'T LOAD OR RUN:
- SST needs five different disk files located in the default drive and
directory to be able to load & run: SST.EXE, REG.DAT, SCREENS.OVL and
DATAFILE.OVL. If any of these files are not present, or are from the
wrong version of SST, then SST probably won't run properly.
If your main data file (DATA.FIL) becomes corrupt, there is a good
chance that SST will evoke a "System Error" with an On-Screen error
message saying something about a bad file when it tries to Open and
Read DATA.FIL. In such cases, you must use your BackUp file "DATA.BAK".
DATA.BAK must be "DeCompressed" before it may be used. To do this,
instead of running "SST", run the SST Reconfigure program by entering
the command "CNFSST10" from the DOS Command Line (the "nn" in the file
name would be two numbers representing the current version number -
example: CNFSST10).
After the Reconfigure Menu is on screen, choose the menu selection for
"BACKUP FILES", and then convert 'Local' DATA.BAK to DATA.FIL.
If SST "STILL" won't run or load the file, then the DATA.BAK file was
probably just a copy of the original corrupt file (making it corrupt
too, just like the original was).
In such a case, if you are a Registered User, you can use TOOLS.EXE to
attempt to REPAIR the DATA.FIL, or you can use one of your INSURANCE
BACKUPs from a removable disk. Hopefully, you followed our advice and
have recent a Insurance Backup available.
PROBLEM - CAN'T FIND VARIOUS SST FILES:
- If SST chokes, and then spits out a "File Not Found" ERROR MESSAGE
whenever you try to run it, check for the following.
Make sure that ALL of the SST files (from the same version) were
copied to your hard drive "\SST" sub-directory (use SETUP.EXE to be
positive). All files from different versions are "Matched" to each
other, and unless they are all there, and are all from the same
version, the program usually won't run properly.
SST MUST be run from inside of it's own sub directory ("\SST" should be
the default sub-directory). This is necessary because the program
needs to access lots of it's associated files, and it won't be able to
find them unless they are in the current (default) directory. Also,
the "Install" program on newer updated versions will be looking for
the "\SST" sub-directory when it is run.
PROBLEMS WITH PRINTED OUTPUT:
- Make sure that you are using a correct kind of printer for SST. This
program is designed for use with several of the more prominent, more
commonly used, printers for MS/DOS PCs. However, that doesn't mean it
will work with just about anything you connect to it.
The SST Program is specifically designed for use with the following
brands and models of printers. If you don't have one of the brands
listed, then it's possible that your brand of printer may be able to
"Emulate" one of these listed brands, and therefore qualify as a
"Compatible" printer.
*** IBM ProPrinter
*** Epson RX
*** Epson FX
*** Epson LQnnn
*** All Hewlett Packard Laserjet Printers
"Daisy Wheel", "Serial Port" or "non-compatible" printers just won't
work properly (or some won't work at all) with SST.
Make sure your printer is plugged into your "Parallel Port" #1 or #2.
Many computers have more than two Printer Ports. A Printer designed to
be plugged into a "Serial Port" will not work with SST.
If you use TWO different printers, then make sure that are both
connected to the LPT1: and LPT2: ports on your computer.
Many other brands of printers have been reported to work well with SST
if they can be set up to "Emulate" any of the printers listed above.
To emulate the Hewlett Packard LaserJet, your laser printer must be
able to understand the HP "PCL" (Printer Control Language).
FORMFEEDS: If the SST Formfeeds do not stop properly at the top of the
next page, then run RECONFIGURE (from the main menu) and then choose
the Reconfigure Menu Selection for "Printed Output".
The first item in the "Printed Output" screen is where you tell SST
just what kind of printer you have, and at which parallel port is it
connected. SST will send different sets of printer Escape Codes for
lasers and dot matrix printers, so it's important that you have these
SST settings set correctly.
On the next menu is a selection for "FORMFEEDS" which will allow you
to USE or NOT USE a "Simulated" Formfeed. This option is ONLY for use
with "Not So Compatible" or "Not Properly Set Up" dot matrix printers.
It will have NO EFFECT if used with a laser printer.
If you are using a dot matrix printer with SST, and the formfeed is
either not happening at all, or is moving the paper too far (or not
far enough), chances are that either you don't have your printer set
up properly for use with SST, or that it is NOT compatible.
A "Standard" dot matrix formfeed is the American Standard Code (ASCII)
"012", which is the FormFeed Escape Code used by Epson & IBM Dot
Matrix Printers (CHR$(12) in Basic). On compatible printers, sending
this code will produce a true formfeed to the top of the next page.
The "Simulated" Formfeed is simply a "Repeat Linespace" until the end
of the current page is reached. This selection allows you to adjust
the number of "Printable" linespaces per page (60 to 66). Hopefully,
this adjustable feature will correct most formfeed problems with dot
matrix printers.
If you still have a formfeed problem, then make sure that your printer
controls are set to a linespace size of six lines per inch (66 lines
per 11" page). Also, try adjusting or eliminating any Top & Bottom
Page Margins, Automatic Skipping Over Page Perforations, Automatic
Page Breaks, Auto Page Numbering, etc., which your printer may be set
up to insert in each printed page (see your printer instruction manual).
We need to have your printer set up in "Very Dumb" mode, where it
doesn't add or do much of anything on it's own except to print what
SST tells it to, anywhere on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.
DOT MATRIX GRAPHICS: Make sure the printer's "SETUP SWITCHES" are
properly set to print "EXTENDED IBM/EPSON GRAPHIC" characters (see
printer manual)
If you find that on some dot matrix printouts you are getting printed
lines of full "E's, D's" or other characters in place of solid lines
or boxes, then one of two things are happening. Either you don't have
your printer set up to print "IBM Extended Graphic" characters (see
the Instruction Manual for your printer), or your printer is not
capable of printing Graphics.
In such cases, run "Reconfigure". Choose the selection for "Printed
Output" and set up SST.EXE to produce printouts using only one of the
three sets of "TEXT" (non-graphic) characters. Also, set the file to
"NO DOUBLE-WIDE CHARACTERS". Then run SST and try to print either an
Invoice or Statement.
"RUN TIME" ERROR CODES
The term "Run Time Error" refers to any error message which appears on
the screen while the program or application is running. They are
usually a bit cryptic and blunt, but can provide some valuable
debugging information. Usually, these error messages will look
something like....
"error 07 in module SST1 at address 2388:A8BC"
"Hit any key to return to system:"
To a programmer, such messages tell exactly what type of problem
happened (that's what the "07" means), and exactly where in the source
code the problem occurred (the module reference and address number
show where).
But NOT all of these error codes mean that there is something wrong
with the program. It's very possible (or even probable), that something
may not be set properly in your computer or it's hardware, and that's
why the error message (and program crash) occurred.
The following is a short list of Error Codes (and their meanings)
which "you" may be able to "fix" by making some simple adjustments to
your computer system or it's attached hardware.
"ON SCREEN - RUN TIME ERROR MESSAGES"
CODE MEANING or DEFINATION
----- ----------------------------------------------------------------
07 Out Of Memory (remove TSRs - SST Needs About 450k of free RAM)
24 Device Timeout (Printer or Drive not ready)
25 Device Fault (Printer or Drive not ready)
27 Out Of Paper (No Paper In Printer)
51 Internal Error (MS/DOS 3.3+, 640k Ram, FILES=25+, Remove TSRs)
52 Bad File Name (Possible Disk FAT Error - Run DOS's "CHKDSK/F")
53 File NOT Found (Missing or Erased File - Run DOS's "CHKDSK/F")
54 Bad File Mode (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
57 Device I/O Error (Monitor, Printer Or Drive error)
61 Disk Full (default drive is out of free space)
62 Input Past End (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
63 Bad Record Number (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
64 Bad File Name (Possible Disk FAT Error - Run DOS's "CHKDSK/F")
67 Too Many Files (Set CONFIG.SYS File To "FILES=25" or higher)
68 Device UnAvailable (Drive, Printer or Screen is NOT On-Line)
70 Permission Denied (File is READ ONLY - Reset with "ATTRIB.EXE")
71 Disk NOT Ready (Removable Disk NOT In Drive, Door Open, Etc.)
72 Disk Media Error (Bad Disk - Run MS/DOS's "CHKDSK/F")
81 Invalid Name (Possible Disk FAT Error - Run DOS's "CHKDSK/F")
82 Table Not Found (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
83 Index Not Found (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
84 Invalid Column (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
85 No Current Record (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
86 Duplicate Value In Unique Index (Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
87 Invalid Operation (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
88 ISAM File Corrupt (DATA.FIL - Run TOOLS.EXE File Maintenance)
"TOOLS.EXE" is a SST file which is included with Registered versions
of SST.
"CHKDSK/F" is the command used to run the MS/DOS "CHKDSK.EXE" program. See
your MS/DOS instruction manual for more information on CHKDSK.
RECOMMENDED PROGRAM OPERATION & BACKING UP
The suggestions given here are meant for routine use only. If your
firm produces large numbers of new customer and invoice records each
day, then you should make backup copies of your data files more often.
In general, never leave SST "On Screen" while your computer is
unattended for extended periods (lunch, meetings, etc.). Always exit
with the F-10 key if you will be away from your desk for awhile. This
insures against the possibility of file damage from power outages, or
from other people exiting SST improperly while trying to use your
computer. This small, quick action adds a very large measure of
security to your data files.
It is usually only necessary to "Backup" during your F-10 exits from
SST once or twice a day (usually at the end of each workday).
Exceptions would be if you have just entered/edited a large number of
records, and it would be difficult to do all of that work over again
in the event of problems.
Once a week (dependent upon your work load), make your "Insurance
Backups" onto removable floppy disks or to Hard Drive Backup Tapes.
IMPORTANCE OF MAKING BACKUP FILES
SST is a very complex program. It was written using a combination of
several different programming languages, and contains many very
advanced programming routines.
During a proper exit (F-10 key) SST does quite a large number of tasks
related to closing all files properly, restoring the RAM memory, and
in general, just tidying up after itself.
The new ISAM Files used in this program are much more rugged and
reliable than some other types of data files we've tried. But they're
still NOT "Bullet-Proof". If you, or someone else, intentionally and
repeatedly "bypass" those "Tidying Up Tasks" (by just shutting off the
computer), you risk doing serious damage to the data files.
It's also a good idea to wait at least one minute after you exit from
SST before you Shut Off your computer. This will allow your Disk Cache
Program (if present on your system) the time to complete updating your
disk files. Many "Caching" programs will only update disk files when
the computer is NOT very busy (usually within one minute after your
last keystroke). If you "Cut Off" the power before the last file
update takes place..., possible lost data.
Quick "Power Off" practices are NOT very good for your hard drive
either. Any type of improperly closed file can cause "Broken Chains"
and "Lost Clusters" to appear on the disk. This can "mess up" your
disk's "File Allocation Table" (FAT), and eventually lead to a hard
drive crash. That's one of the BIG reasons why "CHKDSK.EXE" is
included with MS/DOS, and why Macintosh has all but eliminated the
"Off" switch from their machines.
Because of this possibility, we can't stress strongly enough the
importance of keeping "Backup" copies of your data file.
By "Backup" files we don't mean just the compressed backup file that
SST gives you the option of creating upon an exit (DATA.BAK). While
that file is usually fine as a "Backup", it is very easy to overwrite
it with a badly scrambled or "corrupt" file, leaving you with nothing
but useless files on your disk. So by "Backup Files" we mean other
"insurance" backup copies of your "DATA.FIL" files kept on other disks
or in different Sub-Directories, or in constantly updated "Archives".
The "Reconfigure" program has a menu selection called "BackUp Files"
which makes creating, copying or converting "Backup Files" very easy.
It is in your own interest to make backups very often.
If your data files get too big to fit onto one backup disk, you can
backup VERY large files (or whole directories) to "multiple" smaller
disks by using the DOS files called "BACKUP" and "RESTORE". See your
DOS or MS/DOS instruction manual.But a much faster and dependable
method is to use a "Tape Backup" about once a week.
BATCH FILE BACKUPS
(See your DOS/MS-DOS Manual - "Batch Files")
"We" use a simple system for making "our" backups. We create another
Sub Directory branching off from our SST directory called "BACKUPS".
C:\SST 'Original Directory Set Up
C:\SST\BACKUPS 'New Directory & Sub-Directory Set Up
Then (while in our normal SST sub directory) we create a "BATCH" file
which we call "BKUP.BAT". Here's how it's done from a System Screen
Prompt. Substitute another drive letter for "C:" if you are not using
drive C:.
Help Directions (Not Commands)
-------------------------------
MD C:\SST\BACKUPS 'Creates "BACKUPS" Sub Dir
COPY CON: BKUP.BAT 'Creates "BKUP.BAT" file
DEL C:\SST\BACKUPS\DATA.OLD 'Typed Command in "BKUP.BAT"
REN C:\SST\BACKUPS\DATA.FIL DATA.OLD 'Typed Command in "BKUP.BAT"
COPY C:\SST\DATA.FIL C:\SST\BACKUPS 'Typed Command in "BKUP.BAT"
COPY C:\SST\SST.CNF C:\SST\BACKUPS 'Typed Command in "BKUP.BAT"
COPY C:\SST\MORETAX.DAT C:\SST\BACKUPS 'Typed Command in "BKUP.BAT"
COPY C:\SST\INVNTORY.DAT C:\SST\BACKUPS 'Typed Command in "BKUP.BAT"
^Z 'Hit F6 Key: Close BKUP.BAT
BKUP.BAT will make current backups, as well as keep the "Next Older"
set of data files at your fingertips. It also backs up the Inventory
List, Secondary Tax Settings, and your ReConfigure file. You can also
add other command lines to the Batch File to "Freshen" any of several types
of Archived, Compressed files, which in turn, can then be copied to a
floppy, disk as an "Insurance" backup. Example.....
PIP /Freshen SST.PIP 'Command stored inside "BKUP.BAT"
ECHO PUT BACKUP DISK IN DRIVE A: 'Command stored inside "BKUP.BAT"
BEEP 'Command stored inside "BKUP.BAT"
PAUSE 'Command stored inside "BKUP.BAT"
COPY SST.PIP A: 'Command stored inside "BKUP.BAT"
^Z
And all of this can be done every time you exit SST by just entering
the command "BKUP".
HARD COPY PAPER BACKUPS
In addition to "Disk File" Backup copies, we strongly recommend that
you also keep a file of "paper" Backups.
Print out fresh copies of your Customer Address/Phone list on a
regular and frequent basis. Do the same with Invoice Lists, at least
on a monthly basis. Also do this with Accounts Receivable.
For extra copies of the actual Invoices, there are several methods.
Either use a copy machine to make a "File Copy" of every SST Invoice,
or use "Two Part Carbonless" computer paper to print an original and
one "File Copy" at the same time, or use CNF-SST.EXE to set SST to
print TWO (or more) copies of every Invoice.
In the event of a disaster (fire, flood, computer theft, System or
Hard Drive Crash, etc.), the rusty (but tough) old filing cabinet with
it's drawers full of "old fashioned" paper Invoices can still "save
the day".
WHAT FILES DO I NEED TO BACKUP?
When you decide to make "Backup" copies of your records, you really
only NEED to make copies of DATA.FIL (or DATA.BAK) and INVNTORY.DAT.
All this assumes that you are already using a backup of the other SST
programs. Beyond that, if you are using more than one or two sets of Sales
Taxes, you might want to backup "MORETAX.DAT" in which the values for each
Sales Taxing Authority are stored.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR ACCOUNTANT HAPPY
Most small businesses have an Accountant or Bookkeeper who handles the
Accounting Needs of the firm on a "Monthly" or "Quarterly" basis.
To provide your Bookkeeper with accurate information, and to help
assure that the "Balance Sheet" does indeed "Balance", will require
some "Common Sense" chores and a lot of business information from you.
SST can handle the Business Information, but "you" get stuck with
doing the "Chores". To help you with these "Chores", we are including
this list of items which if done properly, will "Simplify" your
accountant's task of balancing your books.
And "Simplicity" is the "Mother" of all "Low Accounting Rates" ($$$).
STEPS TO FOLLOW
#1- Make sure that ALL invoice entries and payments for the given
month have been entered (and properly dated) BEFORE doing any
printouts for your Accountant.
#2- BANKING: Make sure that you deposit ALL money received during a
month by the "Last Banking Day" of that month.
If you miss making the last monthly deposit in time for the bank
statement, then include a note to your bookkeeper showing the
undeposited amount in your possession (for the same time period). Do
not count any money received for sales from the current (new and
incomplete) month.
#3- SST PRINTOUTS: At the close of the last business day of each month
(or after the last monthly Mail Delivery), print out the following
reports for your bookkeeper.
RUN "SST" AND GO TO...
MAIN MENU > SALES MENU > SELECTION #1 - ALL INVOICES IN TIME PERIOD
Print the values shown on this screen by pressing your F-5 Key. This
printout shows all new business for the given time period (broken down
by sales categories).
It also shows the PRIMARY SALES TAX Values (charged, collected,
taxable, exempt, etc.). If you collect ONE Secondary Sales Tax, this
printout shows the values for that tax too. But if you collect MORE
THAN ONE Secondary Sales Tax (for several different tax authorities),
this printout will show ALL of the assorted Secondary Sales Tax values,
COMBINED TOGETHER and TOTALED.
SALES MENU > MENU SELECTION #5 - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE VALUES
This printout shows all of the amount of money owed to you as of
"Today". It is NOT possible to get a printout showing Acc/Rec figures
for a few weeks ago. So it's very important to try to be as prompt as
possible in doing this printout, to avoid having any NEW unpaid
amounts from the new (incomplete) month added to the Acc/Rec values
from last month.
NOW GO TO...
MAIN MENU > PRINT MENU > INVOICE LISTS > SELECTION #1 - ALL INVOICES
Prints a ledger of ALL invoices produced within the given time period.
This list is arranged by Customer Name, Date, Invoice Number, and
assorted purchase values. The other list you printed from the Sales
Menu contains the same numeric values, but breaks the income down by
Sales Categories.
INVOICE LISTS > SELECTION #4 - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE INVOICE LIST
Prints a ledger of all UNPAID INVOICES as of TODAY (Right Now!).
INVOICE LISTS > SELECTION #6 - INVOICE LISTS BY SECONDARY TAX CODE #
You only need to print this list if you collect TWO or MORE Secondary
Sales Taxes. This routine will produce Invoice Ledger Sheets for each
Secondary Sales Tax Code Number, and will calculate the necessary
Sales Tax values for each Tax Code Number (total sales in that tax
district, tax charged, collected, exempt sales, etc.).
#4- OTHER ITEMS: Along with these printouts, also bring your
bookkeeper the following items.
*** Your Bank Statement complete with your canceled checks.
*** Your Check Book, or at least the check stubs from your check book,
for the given time period.
*** Any government forms or reports you may have received in the mail
during the given time period.
*** All receipts for purchases of merchandise or services for business
use during the given time period.
*** Automobile "Use" Logs showing business mileage.
*** A list of all undeposited Cash & Checks in your possession from
the associated time period.
*** Total amounts of CASH left in "Petty Cash" or as a "Draw" for
daily cash register operations.
All of the above is what "usually" is needed for most bookkeepers. But
your particular Bookkeeper or Accountant may require some additional
information from you.
NOTE TO BOOKKEEPERS
SST was designed primarily for use in firms where the great majority
of sales are NOT "Installment Payment" sales.
But, in spite of this, the program DOES handle Partial Payments, and
it DOES keep track of the "Last Payment Date" and "Payment Amount",
and "Balance Due", and "Acc/Rec" for "Customer Billing" purposes.
But it does NOT show those partial payments as "Income" in the months
in which the payments were actually received. Instead, ALL income from
that invoice will be shown as money received on the "original" Invoice
Date.
As a result, for "Tax Purposes", it is best to treat each invoice
(Paid & Unpaid), as though it were "Cash Received" on the date when
the Invoice was originally created. Calculate any Sales Tax and Income
Tax based upon Original Invoice Dates and Invoice Totals rather than
upon the "Paid In Full" or "Last Payment" dates.
<<<<<<<<<<*************************************>>>>>>>>>>
Copyright (C) - Robert F. Keber Jr
Distributed By: TypeRight Software
All Rights Reserved
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