Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/005/pcar.arc/PC-AR.DOC

Text File | 1987-07-30 | 24KB | 542 lines

                          PC-AR MANUAL
                          Version 3.7


PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

     PC-AR is an accounts receivable and sales analysis program
for small and medium size businesses.  The program runs on a IBM
PC or compatible computer with one disk drive and at least 256k
memory.

     PC-AR is a user supported program.  Your are encouraged to
give copies to anyone who might use it.  If you like the program
and find it useful, please contribute $35 to:

               Jerry Medlin
               310 S. Jefferson St.
               Napa, Ca.  94559

     Your contribution will entitle you to a copy of the latest
version of the program and a telephone number for limited
telephone assistance should you require it.  You will also
receive a program which will allow you to customize some
features of PC-AR.  A complete description of the customizing
program is contained at the end of this manual.

     The program makes liberal use of the PC's numeric key pad
both for numbers and commands.  You can have the Num Lock on all
the time.

     When inputting information, the plus <+> key has the same
effect as the return or enter key.  Numerical information is
entered "calculator style".  The decimal point is placed
automatically.  The minus <-> key enters a negative number.
This makes using the numeric key pad even easier.

     To run the program, simply type "PC-AR".  If you want to
specify a drive and path for your data just add the drive and
path description after the program name.  i.e. type "PC-AR B:"
to use the B drive for data files.

     A menu is then displayed for operator selection:

          Enter or Change Sales Codes
          Enter or Change Customers
          Enter or Change Charges & Payments
          Print Mailing Labels
          Print Charges & Payments Listing
          Print Accounts Receivable Ledger
          Print Statements
          Print Sales Summary
          Print Customer Activity Report
          Apply Charges & Payments
          Print Customer Listing
          Save Data and End

     PC-AR is fast because it works with data in random access
memory, but the capacity is limited by available memory.
Available memory is shared by the data.  With more customers on
file, fewer charges and payments can be entered and vice-versa.
PC-AR allows a maximum of 2000 customers and 2500 charges and
payments per accounting period with 512k of memory.  With 256k
the capacity is reduced to about 200 customers and 200 charges
and payments.

     Each time the menu is displayed, the number of charges and
payments that can be added with the available memory (limited to
a maximum of 2500) is printed at the bottom of the screen.  If
this number is less than 2500, then the number of customers that
can be added can be obtained by dividing the number by 6.

     Since a power interruption will result in loosing all the
data currently entered into the program, you should occasionally
save your data back to the disk.  This is done by selecting End
Processing from the menu.  The current data will be saved to the
disk then you will be asked "Do you want to end ?".  Just answer
with an "N" and you may resume processing.

THE PROCESSING CYCLE

     Accounting is done on a monthly cycle.  At the end of each
month all charges are added to the customer's balance and all
payments are deducted from the customer's balance and the new
balances are used as the starting balances for the next month.

     Each time the program is run, all customer data is loaded
into memory.  Also, any charges or payments entered since the
last update are loaded into memory.  When all of the charges and
payments for the current month have been entered, you may begin
printing reports.  Reports may be printed in any order and as
often as desired.  If you discover an error in any of the
reports you may correct the problem and reprint the report.  At
any time you can stop processing by choosing the End Processing
selection from the menu.

     The last step in processing is to apply the charges and
payments to customer balances.  This is done by choosing the
Apply Charges & Payments selection on the menu.   This selection
does four things:

1) Age the customer balances.  All current due amounts become 30
   day due, all 30 day balances become 60 day, etc.

2) Deduct the payments from the customers balance due starting
   with  90 day and proceeding to current due.

3) Calculate the late charge and add it to the current amount
   due.

4) Add the charges to the current balance.   You may then
   proceed with the next accounting period. (month)



ENTER OR CHANGE SALES CODES

     In addition to being an accounts receivable program, PC-AR
is also a sales analysis program.  Each charge or payment is
posted to a sales code.  The Enter or Change Sales Descriptions
selection allows you to enter up to 80 of these sales codes and
their corresponding descriptions.  The sales description is also
printed on the various reports including the statement.

     Just enter a three character sales code (alphabetic or
numeric characters are allowed) and up to 21 characters for a
description.  The directions are printed at the bottom of the
screen.  You may add new sales descriptions and codes at any
time, but don't change or delete sales codes once charges or
payments have been entered.  Wait until the charges and payments
have been applied to customer accounts and you are ready to
start a new accounting period before deleting or changing sales
codes.

     At least one of the sales codes and its corresponding
description should be for payments on account.  Payments
received from customers should then be posted to that code as a
negative amount using the minus <-> key instead of the enter
key.


ENTER OR CHANGE CUSTOMERS

     Customer information is entered and changed using this
     selection from the menu.  The following information is
     entered for each customer:

     Customer name - Two lines of 31 characters each are
     available.

     Customer Code - A ten character code that will be used to
     sort customers and also to post charges and payments to the
     customers account.  In most cases you will want to enter
     the customers last name, followed by as much of the first
     name as will fit in the remaining characters.  For
     instance, if the customer's name is Jerry Medlin, the
     customer code would be MEDLINJERR.  Notice that all capital
     letters are used.  If you enter lower case letters they
     will be changed to upper case automatically.  Also, notice
     that no spaces are included.  The program will prevent you
     from entering a previously used customer code.

     Street Address - Up to 31 characters for the street
     address.

     City State & Zip - Up to 31 characters for the city, state
     and zip code.

     Telephone - Up to 12 characters for the telephone number
     and assorted dashes.

     Late Charge % - Enter the desired late charge for this
     customer as a percentage.  If you are on a monthly cycle
     and you wish to charge an 18% annual rate for balances
     overdue you would enter 1.5 (18 divided by 12 months.).  If
     you don't want to charge late fees then press return to
     enter a zero.

     Auto Bill Amount - Dollar amounts entered here may be
     posted to a customers account automatically each month.

     Balances Due - You may enter the current balance, the 30
     day balance due, the 60 day balance due, and the 90 day
     balance due.  For new customers with no opening balances
     just press return to enter zero.

     Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the
previous field.  Pressing the Escape key at the first name entry
takes you to the command mode.  The command mode allows you to
scroll up and down through the customer names, delete customers,
change customer information and do a quick check on the balances
due for all customers.  Pressing the Escape key from command
mode takes you back to the menu.

     The acceptable commands at any point are printed at the
bottom of the screen.


ENTER OR CHANGE CHARGES AND PAYMENTS

     This selection allows you to enter charges and payments for
the current period.  Charge amounts are entered as positive
numbers using the plus <+> or enter key and payments are entered
as negative numbers using the minus <-> key (enter the number
then press then minus key).

     Before any charges and payments can be posted you must have
at least one sales description entered so that you have a sales
code to post to.  The following information is entered for each
charge or payment:

     Customer Code - The 10 character code previously entered
     for each customer is used to post a charge or payment.  You
     need enter only as much of the customer code necessary to
     distinguish it from any other code.  In other words, if
     only one customer has a customer  code beginning with MEDL
     then you need only enter MEDL to post to this customer.
     The customers name will be printed at the bottom of the
     screen so you can be sure you are posting to the correct
     customer account.  If all you know is that the customers
     code begins with ME then just enter ME and the program will
     print all of the customer codes beginning with ME at the
     bottom of the screen.

     Date - Enter the date of the charge or payment as in MODA
     form.  The date of June fourth would be entered 0604 with
     no dash or slash.

     Invoice number - Up to 5 characters for the invoice number.
     Alphabetic characters are allowed.  Pressing the plus <+>
     key adds one to the previous invoice number and clears the
     invoice total shown at the top of the screen.  Pressing
     <return> gives you the same invoice number as the previous
     line and does not change the invoice total.

     Sales Code - Enter one of the sales codes.  Sales codes and
     their corresponding descriptions should be setup using the
     Enter or Change Sales Descriptions selection of the menu.
     The description will be printed at the bottom of the
     screen.  If you don't remember the sales code enter the
     number 999.  The program will then allow you to use the
     arrow keys to search through the possible sales codes.
     When the desired sales code appears just press return to
     enter it.

     Amount - Enter the amount of the charge or payment.
     Payments should be entered as a negative number.  A
     negative number is entered by using the minus (-) key
     instead of the Enter key after the number is typed in.

     Pressing the return key on any entry except the amount,
defaults to the previous value.  This allows you to make
multiple entries for an invoice with the same customer, date and
invoice number.  Pressing the plus <+> key for the invoice
number increments the previous number by one.

     Two numbers are printed at the top right of the screen.
The bottom of the two numbers is the net total of all the
entries entered this accounting period.  Use this number to
check your input data.  The top number is the total for the
current invoice.  This total is reset to zero each time you
enter a new invoice number and should be checked against the
invoice total.

      Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the
previous field.  Pressing the Escape key at first entry position
takes you to the command mode.  The command mode allows you to
scroll up and down through the entries, delete entries and
change entries.  From the command mode you may press the <A>
Auto Bill key to automatically post the amount entered for each
customer as an auto bill amount.  You will be asked to enter a
date and invoice number for the automatic postings.

     Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back to
the menu.  All the available commands are printed at the bottom
of the screen and may be chosen by a single keystroke.


PRINTING REPORTS

     The first time you choose a printed report from the menu
you will be asked to enter a report date.  This date will be
used on all reports.  If you want to change the report date you
must end processing and start over, otherwise the same report
date is used on all reports printed during a posting session.

     On some reports before you start printing you will be asked
to enter a customer code.  This is the starting customer for
printing.  Press the return key to start at the first customer.
You will then be asked how many to print.  Enter the number of
customers you want, starting at the selected customer, or press
return to print from the starting customer to the end of the
list.  This feature allows you to print partial reports, and is
handy when your printer eats the 598th of 600 statements.

     When printing more than 20 statements or mailing labels,
you will be asked if you want to sort the customers by zip code.
If you answer Y (yes) the statements or mailing labels will be
printed in zip code order.  This allows you to take advantage of
the cheaper bulk mailing rates.

     Next, you will be asked to choose if you want to print the
report to the printer <P>, to the screen <S> or to a file <F>.
If you choose to print to a file you will be asked for a file
name.  The report will then be saved as an ASCII file.  These
files are not readable by PC-AR, but can be viewed and changed
with a text editor and used by other programs that can read
ASCII files. (Like the latest version of 123).  Since the report
is printed to a file exactly as it would be printed to a
printer, if you use LPT2 for a file name, the report would be
printed to your second line printer.


PRINT MAILING LABELS

     As long as you have all this customer information on your
computer, you might as well use it to print mailing labels.  You
can print labels for all the customers or only one customer and
you can sort them by zip code if you wish.  Labels are printed
on standard peel off labels with one inch spacing between
labels.  To align the printer, use the selection process to
print a single label.


PRINT CHARGES & PAYMENTS LISTING

     To provide an adequate audit trail, this report should be
printed and retained before closing out the month.  It will list
all the charges and payments entered for the accounting period
and the total of charges and payments.


PRINT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE LEDGER

     This report prints each customer's opening balance, all
charges and payments for that customer, any late charges applied
and the closing balance.  It should be printed and retained.
Since PC-AR is a "balance forward" accounts receivable program,
this report will be your only source of information several
months from now on how a customers balance got that way.


PRINT STATEMENTS

Customer statements are printed on a common statement form.  The
form may be ordered preprinted with your company name.  The
following is a list of suppliers, their toll free order number
and their catalog number for the preprinted statement forms you
will need:

NEW ENGLAND BUSINESS SVS (NEBS)   800-225-9550   Form 9060
GLOBAL COMPUTER SUPPLIES          800-645-6393   Form C2052
CHECKS TO GO                      800-854-2750   Form 380-03
                                  800-552-8817   In Calif.
FORMS SERVICE INC.                800-553-5125   Form 5060
                                  312-671-2821   In Illinois

     If you don't want to use forms preprinted with your name
and return address you may have the program print your name and
address on blank forms.  To do this requires the program
ARCONFIG which is available to all registered users of PC-AR.
The ARCONFIG program allows you to enter your company name and
address which will then be printed on plain statement forms or
on plain 8 1/2 by 11 paper.

      To test statement alignment use the start print feature to
print a single statement then adjust the alignment accordingly.


PRINT SALES SUMMARY

     This is a listing of all charges and payments by sales
category, followed by a one page listing of total sales by
category.  If you choose, you can omit the detailed listing, but
you should print it at the end of the accounting period (month)
for audit trail purposes.  The last amount printed is the total
of all service charges accrued during the current period.  If
you have a lot of customers and invoices this may cause a
noticeable pause while service charges are calculated.


PRINT CUSTOMER ACTIVITY REPORT

      The Customer Activity Report will summarize all the
transactions posted to a customers account for the past 6
months.  It will look at the transaction files on your disk
named AR1.TRN, AR2.TRN, AR3.TRN, AR4.TRN, AR5.TRN and AR6.TRN.
It will then print all the transactions made to the selected
customer code.  The period currently being processed will not be
included unless you have completed the Apply Charges and
Payments process.


APPLY CHARGES AND PAYMENTS

      When you have printed all the reports you need and all is
in order you can complete the accounting period.

     All charges and payments will then be applied to customer
balances. Any late charges due will be added also.  The
customers balances will be updated to agree with the balances
shown on the statements and the Accounts Receivable Ledger.  The
charges and payments will then be saved so that later you may
review all the transactions posted to an account for the past
six months using the Print Customer Activity Report selection of
the menu.


PRINT CUSTOMER LISTING

     This report is a printout of all customer information on
file including aging information.  The balances shown do not
reflect any charges or payments made since the last accounting
period ended.  Only the Apply Charges & Payments selection
actually changes customer balances.


EXPORT CUSTOMER DATA

     This selection will create a file on the logged drive and
subdirectory called PC-PR.PRN which can be read by programs like
Lotus 123 and Reflex.  Textual data in the customer file will be
surrounded by quotation marks.  You can then read the data into
Lotus 123 by using the /File/Import/Numbers command.  Be sure
that no names or addresses in your customer file contain
quotation marks before trying to export customer data.


SAVE DATA AND END

     When processing is completed you must exit the program
using this selection.   Do not end processing by just turning
off the computer, you will lose any data entered since the last
save operation.  If you just want to save the current data to
the disk without ending, you may answer "N" to the question "Do
you want to end processing?" and you will be returned to the
menu.


USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM

     The configuration program (ARCONFIG.COM) is provided free
to all registered users.  It allows you to change certain
features of PC-AR.  The ARCONFIG.COM program and the main
program (PC-AR.COM) should both be on the same disk drive when
you configure your copy of PC-AR.  Just run the program by
typing ARCONFIG at the Dos prompt.  Use the up and down arrows
to move the pointer and then press <C> to change an item.  You
will be allowed to change the following information:

     Display Colors - If you have a color adapter and monitor,
     you can change the colors for screen borders, program
     prompts, data, and background.  Allowable colors are from 0
     to 15 except for background color which can only be from 0
     to 7.  The display will be instantly updated as you enter
     the new colors.

     Laser Printer? - You will also be able to change the way
     PC-AR starts a new page.  Usually, PC-AR starts a new page
     by counting lines until the page total equals 66 lines.  If
     you enter a "Y" for the laser printer question, PC-AR will
     start a new page by issuing a form feed command.  This
     would work just fine on most other printers too, but
     requires that you set the top of form before you start
     printing.

     Disk Drive and Path - Enter a drive and path designation
     for PC-AR data.  If you want the program to read data from
     the B drive just enter B:.

     Months to Save - The PC-AR program saves charges and
     payments on your data disk for later review with the
     Customer Activity Report.   Normally the paid invoices for
     the previous six months are saved.  You may modify this
     number to be anywhere from zero to 16 months.  Remember,
     the more months data you save, the more room you need on
     the data disk and the more time it will take to review a
     vendor's activity.

     Plain Paper Statement - If you change this to a "Y",
     statements can be printed on plain 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  A "N"
     answer will print on pre printed 6 1/2 x 7 forms.  The
     default setting is "N".

     Statement Heading - If your company name and address is not
     pre printed on the statement forms, you may enter up to 5
     lines for a statement heading.

     Statement Footer Message - You can enter a message to be
     printed at the bottom of the statement form.  This is a
     good place to enter your payment terms, or a short
     advertising message.

     When you have finished making your changes, press the
escape key to exit the program.  You will then be asked if you
want to save the changes.  If you answer with a Y, both the
configuration program and PC-GL will be changed until you run
the configuration program again.


VERSION 3.0 CONVERSION

     If you are changing from version 2.xx to version 3.0 you
will need to convert your customer data.  A program called
CONVERT.COM is available for that purpose and is free to all
registered users.   Just run the program and follow the
directions on the screen.


HELPFUL HINTS

     The escape key is always used to go back to the previous
operation.  From anywhere in the program if you continue to
press the escape key you will eventually return to the main
menu.

     When printing reports you may pause the printing by
pressing any key.  To resume printing press any key again.  To
quit printing press the escape key after pausing.

     Each customer must have a unique customer code for posting.
If you insist on using numbers, the program won't object.  You
should at least try the method suggested earlier in the manual.
Use a customer code made up of the customers last name plus as
much of the first name as the 10 character limit will allow.
Jane Smith would then have a code of SMITHJANE (Notice that
there are no spaces).  This method allows rapid posting of
invoices without looking up customer numbers.  The searching
method allows you to quickly examine the codes for all of the
Smiths by just typing SMITH when asked for a code.

     The first 6 times you start a new accounting period more
disk space is required for historical files.  If you have a
large business and you are using floppy disks for data storage,
you could run out of disk space.  Check available disk space
with Dos's DIR command occasionally.

     PC-AR is written in Turbo Pascal.  The source code is
available for $95.