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╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ { MONEY & BANKS } tm ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ (C) Copyright MCMXCII, MCMXCIII RCCO Research Associates. ║
║ All Rights Reserved under International Conventions. ║
║ D ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
{ MONEY & BANKS } Documentation
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 2
Table of Contents
────────────────── page
Quick Start ............................................................. 3
Easy batch file ideas ................................................... 4
Moving around ........................................................... 5
Practice with SAMPLE.BNK ................................................ 6
The opening screen: Main Menu .......................................... 8
Transactions Module ..................................................... 9
Table View of Account Tables ............................................ 12
Editing, Adding to the Payee/Payor Table ................................ 13
Editing, Adding to the Allocation Table ................................. 14
Split Transactions ...................................................... 16
Dual PCodes? ............................................................ 17
Viewing/Editing the Archive table ....................................... 18
Reconcile your Bank Statement ........................................... 19
Adding a New Account .................................................... 20
The Check Printer ....................................................... 22
The Report Writer ....................................................... 23
View Tables ............................................................. 26
The Utilities Menu ...................................................... 27
Printer Support for Reports, Checks and Labels Printing ................. 30
Technical Matters ....................................................... 31
APPENDIX A (additional check-printing setup & information).............. 33
APPENDIX B (registration notes & information) .......................... 35
APPENDIX C (commonly asked questions & some answers) ................... 37
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 3
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ To read this documentation on-line anywhere in the program, simply press │
│ the <Alt-M> (for "manual") key combination. │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Quick Start:
─────────────
If you did *NOT* use INSTALL.EXE, or are moving files:
Place all the program files in a directory on your hard disk called
\MONEY
Only one type of accounts, such as "personal accounts" (usually your bank or
money market accounts, as many as desired), should be created/maintained in
this one directory. (If you are using the program ONLY for a small business
location, obviously your business banking will be done in the main \MONEY
directory; the point is, do not commingle personal and business accounts in
the same directory.)
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ If you went through the normal Install process using INSTALL.EXE the │
│ above directory was created and all files properly installed. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The following few paragraphs are applicable only if you are setting up addit-
ional directories for business accounts that are not to be commingled with
data from your personal accounts:
If business or institutional account(s) are to be used, create a subdirectory
directly below \MONEY, ie:
\MONEY\BUSINESS
When you require directories in addition to the original \MONEY directory you
*MUST* add the \MONEY directory to the path statement in your autoexec.bat
file. (You need not alter the path statement if only the one directory,
\MONEY, will be used.)
Also, in your \MONEY\BUSINESS directory make sure you have copies of the fol-
lowing files:
PNAMES.DBF, ALLOCATE.DBF, SECUR.DBF, CARDS.DBF, _ADMIN.PCX, and
ARCHIVE.DBF (any needed .NTX files will be built by the program)
(Whenever you create a new data directory other than the original \MONEY
directory, please ascertain the above files are present in the directory.
DO NOT PLACE DUPLICATES OF ANY OTHER FILES IN THE SECONDARY DIRECTORIES!)
Most of these files will eventually be different from those in your personal
directory; for example, Payees/Payors/Allocations will vary. The sample en-
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 4
tries in the PAYEE/PAYOR table and the ALLOCATION table may eventually be
changed/deleted by you after you see how they are set up for your own needs.
The Archive table (ARCHIVE.DBF) for each directory must start with a clean
(empty) copy; all the bank accounts (*.BNK files) that will be created in
each directory will depend on the one Archive table.
You may delete previous or samples entries made in the Archive table before
any new, "real" data is entered during transactions. There is more infor-
mation on deletions in the Archive table in the documentation under the head-
ing, "Practice with SAMPLE.BNK."
Remember, do not tamper with or delete any file that begins with an under-
score, as the program will not work properly.
Do not create banking directories other than one level immediately under the
main \MONEY directory. That is, do not create something like
\MONEY\BUSINESS\BUS2
Rather, if a second business directory is needed, use
\MONEY\BUS2
There may be as many subdirectories off \MONEY as you would like, and you may
add as many bank account tables as you would like in each directory.
Easy batch file ideas...
─────────────────────────
You may wish to create two batch files for your batch directory:
┌──────────┐
│ BANK.BAT │ (for personal accounts only)
└──────────┘
@ECHO OFF
C: (or whatever drive you use)
CD \MONEY
MONEY
and the other one for business accounts:
┌───────────┐
│ BANKB.BAT │ (for business accounts, if needed)
└───────────┘
@ECHO OFF
C:
CD \MONEY\BUSINESS
MONEY ( \MONEY must be in the path statement)
Please consult your DOS manual if you are unfamiliar with creating batch
files and altering your path statement. The above batch files will make op-
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 5
eration of { MONEY & BANKS } easier for you.
If you have not yet created your batch files and simply want to get right in-
to the program, change to the \MONEY directory and type:
MONEY <Enter>
to begin the { MONEY & BANKS } program.
And then...
────────────
One of the first things you may wish to do in { MONEY & BANKS } is set up at
least one account for your own bank. There is an option on the Utilities Menu
that will guide you through this. There is also a sample bank table, called
SAMPLE.BNK, that is for your practice; there is further info on this in the
section of the documentation called "Practice with SAMPLE.BNK."
Using the sample table will keep you from entering data incorrectly in your
own "real" tables while you are learning the program; a few minutes using the
sample table will save you a great deal of time later on.
Moving around...
─────────────────
In general, the <Esc> key or <RightMouse> will back you up to the previous
screen or menu; exceptions are noted on certain screens, but in general <Esc>
or <RightMouse> are the exit keys. <LeftMouse> is the same as the <Enter>
key. Scroll with the mouse or arrow keys up/down tables, menus, on-screen
reports, and when reading this reference material on-line.
In most data tables, when accessing them in 'Table View' (similar to a
spreadsheet image), there are some special key combinations called Quick-
Jumps. QuickJumps allow you to move around to the four corners of a table
instantly, avoiding lengthy scrolling with arrow keys or the mouse. The
QuickJump keys are: <Ctrl-PgDn> <Ctrl-PgUp> <Ctrl-End> and
<Ctrl-Home>. (Also, <Ctrl-RightArrow> and <Crtl-LeftArrow> may be used for
panning to the right and left.) Once you observe their function, you will
most likely always use them. Often their availability is indicated with
reminders at the bottom of many table view screens; their existence and use
is available in almost all table views throughout the program, whether indi-
cated or not. Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> while in table view saves any
changes that may have been made and returns you to the previous level.
In Table View, a blinking cursor inside of a cell indicates that you are in
edit mode. To end edit mode of a cell and retain any changes, press <Enter>.
To discard current cell edits, press <Esc> while still in edit mode.
To answer one question you will have: the little "pushbuttons" appearing at
the top of the menus are cosmetic only, they do nothing (except make you won-
der what they are for). You cannot address them with the mouse.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 6
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Almost everywhere in the program, pressing <F1> for Help will bring up │
│ context-sensitive Help. The center button on three-button mice, alias │
│ <MiddleMouse>, will provide the same function as the <F1> Help key. │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
To read this documentation online anywhere in the program, simply press the
<Alt-M> (for "manual") key combination. There are text search and print-
marking facilities available online.
Don't forget to try the pop-up Calculator with the <Alt-K> combination in any
module, anywhere in the program; <Esc> or <RightMouse> exits the calculator.
Also, anywhere in the program <Alt-L> will bring up a pop-up Calendar; <Esc>
or <RightMouse> exits the calendar.
<Alt-S> calls up the new { MONEY & BANKS } Appointments Scheduler, a useful
and intuitive pop-up facility for both business and personal scheduling. This
utility creates and maintains its own data tables to reference your appoint-
ments; therefore, be advised that appointment tables in a business directory
will be different from those in a personal banking directory. (When you are
working IN your business directory, <Alt-S> will access the appointments
table in that directory; if you change to your personal banking directory,
then <Alt-S> will bring up a different set of appointment records existing in
that directory.) Pressing <Esc> or choosing <R>eturn on the Scheduler Menu
will return you to what you were doing prior to accessing the Scheduler.
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Summary of hot-key facilities (pop-ups): ║
║ ║
║ <Alt-M> <M>anual (on-line documentation) ║
║ <Alt-K> <K>alculator ║
║ <Alt-L> ca<L>endar ║
║ <Alt-S> appointments <S>cheduler ║
║ ║
║ <F1> or <MiddleMouse> Help ║
║ ║
║ <Esc> exits any of the above ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Practice with SAMPLE.BNK...
────────────────────────────
Before you start entering your transactions in any newly created bank account
tables, you may want to experiment with the the practice account table called
SAMPLE.BNK included with the files in this package. (For information on how
to make transaction entries in SAMPLE Bank or other account tables, see the
section on the Transactions module in the documentation.)
Practice entering all types of transactions in SAMPLE Bank: deposits,
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 7
checks, ATM withdrawals, etc. Initially, make yourself a generous deposit so
that you will have some "mad money" to play with. Manipulate and spend lots
of it. You may experiment with printing "checks" (use blank pieces of paper
or discardable checks), as well as mailing labels. Before you leave your
practice sessions, make sure you try entering a few "split" transactions --
both checks and deposits -- that are mentioned in the documentation under the
heading, "Split Transactions." Most of all, try to get comfortable with the
interface and feel of the Transactions module and all that must be recorded
there, observing/using the various options, "hot-keys," and pop-up screens.
Time spent practicing with SAMPLE Bank will pay off in lessening the tedi-
ous editing/removal in your "real" account tables of erroneous or misunder-
stood data entry.
Remember, however, any "transactions" you make in this practice account will
be automatically entered into the existing Archive table as well, and will
need to be deleted before doing any "real" transactions in your own accounts.
After practicing, to delete SAMPLE Bank's entries from the Archive table,
choose View Tables from the Main Menu, then select Other (*.DBF). From the
resulting scrolling list, select ARCHIVE.DBF and carefully follow these ins-
tructions for deleting records (rows) in the Archive table:
Place the cursor on any entries that have in the column "ICODE" (which shows
the different institutions, or accounts, in your system) the entry called
"SAMPLE;" these are the practice entries that result after you have made
sample transactions. If you have not made other "transactions" than those
with SAMPLE Bank you will see only "SAMPLE" in the ICODE column. Simply
press the <Del> key on your keyboard on each row as you move down the table
searching for SAMPLE Bank's entries.
Please be aware that when you delete (with the <Del> key) a record (or "row,"
if you are used to spreadsheet terms), it is first "marked" for deletion
(you will see a caption, <Deleted> at the top of the screen). The actual
deletion does NOT OCCUR until you EXIT the table view screen. Also note that
the <Del> key is a "toggle;" that is, if you press <Del> a second time on a
record already marked for deletion you will "undelete" the record.
Any undeletes must be performed prior to exiting the table view screen. As
you exit, any records marked for deletion are permanently removed from the
table. Exercise extra caution when performing record deletes on any archival
tables, which are in essence permanent history tables and any deleted records
are irretrievably lost.
Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> saves any changes that may have been made and
returns you to the previous level. When you next again view the Archive
table, the records you "marked" for deletion are gone.
Also, when practicing with SAMPLE.BNK, any changes you make in the Payee/
Payor table (PNames.dbf) or the Allocation table (Allocate.dbf) will remain
but are easily edited or deleted at any time. You may use the View Tables
selection on the Main Menu to access these tables for editing. The on-screen
help reminders in View Tables show you the editing/access keys from the dif-
ferent screens.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 8
You may also edit tables from within the Transactions module; there is more
information in the documentation under the headings "Editing, Adding to the
Payee/Payor Table," "Editing, Adding to the Allocation Table" and "Viewing/
Editing the Archive Table."
You may eventually wish to delete the SAMPLE.BNK practice table from the
directory, after you begin entering "real" transactions in your own account
tables.
The opening screen is the Main Menu
────────────────────────────────────
Upon loading the program, the Main Menu appears, presenting a screen similar
to the following:
╔═══════════════════════════════════╗
║ ■ │ { MONEY & BANKS } │ │ ║█
║───┘───────────────────────└───┴───║█
║ ║█
║ ║█
║ ┌────────────────────────┐ ║█
║ │ │ ║█
║ │ Transactions │ ║█
║ │ Check Printer │ ║█
║ │ Report Writer │ ║█
║ │ View Tables │ ║█
║ │ Utilities │ ║█
║ │ ... │ ║█
║ │ Quit to System │ ║█
║ │ │ ║█
║ └────────────────────────┘ ║█
║ ║█
║ ║█
╚═══════════════════════════════════╝█
████████████████████████████████████
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 9
Move up and down menu items with your mouse or the arrow keys. Make a menu
selection with either the <Enter> key or <LeftMouse>.
The first item on the Main Menu, "Transactions," is where most of your active
banking business takes place; it will be the only module requiring a bit of
your time to learn. All other sections, or "modules," of {MONEY & BANKS }
are easy to use and rather self-explanatory. See the detailed information
on the Transactions module in the documentation.
The second selection on the Main Menu, "Check Printer," is also automatically
available within the Transactions module. It is additionally presented here
for times that you wish to utilize the facility separately from making new
transactions. For example, perhaps you had created several checking transac-
tions in one or more accounts using the Transactions module and had chosen to
defer the printing of checks and/or labels to a more convenient time; you
may then elect to print the checks from the selection on the Main Menu as
long as you had answered "Yes" to the prompt "Include in Batch Check Print-
ing?" when you were making out your transactions in the Transactions module.
There is more information in the documentation under the heading "Check
Printer," as well as in Appendix A which describes how to use regular bank
checks with this program.
The third item on the Main Menu, is the "Report Writer." Much of the power
and utility of the program { MONEY & BANKS } will be realized with this
module, although its importance will not be great until you have made several
months' worth of transactions, possibly using many different accounts. See
the section on "The Report Writer" below for further information.
The next selection, "View Tables," is the fourth choice on the Main Menu. It
is a versatile way to immediately view data not only in your ".BNK" tables
but other data tables (*.DBF) as well. You may also manually edit tables to
correct errors that may have crept in during transactions entry. Most of the
important tables are available for view/edit in the Transactions module as
well, via "hot-keys." The View Tables heading in the documentation provides
detailed information.
The Utilities Menu is called from a selection on the Main Menu. Here you
will select from a choice of Printers, or change directories, perform back-
ups, find system information and current time, create a new bank account
table, as well as other choices. See the documentation information for the
Utilities Menu.
The program { MONEY & BANKS } may be exited by choosing the final item on
the Main Menu, or by simply pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse>. Never turn off
the computer or reboot without properly exiting; data loss may well occur.
Transactions Module
────────────────────
After selecting "Transactions" on the { MONEY & BANKS } main menu, you are
presented with a menu of choices for available accounts in the current direc-
tory. Select the account desired with the mouse or arrow keys. The next
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 10
screen is the main transaction module; all checks, deposits, and other cred-
its/debits are entered here. The transaction date default is the current
date; change it if necessary (for interest payments, etc.), or accept the
default.
The next item, "Writing Check?," is very important; answer "N" or no to ANY-
THING OTHER THAN a check: obviously a deposit would receive an "N" answer,
but so do DEBITS OTHER THAN CHECKS. Cash withdrawals, service charges, ATM
withdrawals and related charges, check charges, interest credited to an ac-
count, are all transactions OTHER THAN "Writing [a] Check," so always answer
"N" if it involves something other than an actual check. This action keeps
the check-numbering scheme in effect to agree with your printed check num-
bers. (After checks have been entered and dated IN any new year, you will not
be allowed to back-date subsequent CHECKS to the previous year.)
Answer "Y" to "Writing Check?" if you are entering a check transaction and
either printing out the check or not. An example would be if you wrote a
check out manually in a merchant's store; when you are again at the computer,
you will answer "Y" to "Writing [a] Check?," but "N" later on down this
screen when asked "Include in Batch Check Printing?" One does not need to
print a check already written by other means and delivered to the payee. (The
check-printing module (should you choose to use it) will only print checks
for which you answered "Y" when you were asked "Include in Batch Check Print-
ing?")
If you choose "Y" to "Writing Check," the next available check number will be
used and so indicated on the screen. If you said "N," the check number will
be a zero (0) for ALL other sorts of transactions.
At any time, you may exit the Transactions module by pressing <F7>; there is
a reminder for this at the bottom of the screen after you move to the PCode
cell (described next). You may, if needed, View/Edit the current account
table in Table View mode by pressing <F8>; refer to that part of the documen-
tation under the heading "Table View of Account Tables."
Next the cursor will be in the "PCode" cell. A PCode identifies either a
Payee or a Payor that is listed in the Payee/Payor table (PNames.dbf). At
this point, you may use a "hot-key" to access your Payee/Payor table and add
or edit PCodes; use the <F9> key to bring up this table. Before attempting
to enter a transaction, you must have in the Payee/Payor table a PCode entry
for the Payee/Payor referenced in your transaction.
Setting up the PCodes (and somewhat the AlloCodes) will be the most time-
consuming part of setting up { MONEY & BANKS } in the initial stages, but
we assure you that after a couple of months the automatic usage of these
features will be so effortless and incredibly quick, you shall never again
go back to your paper bankbook and handwritten entries and erasors or White-
Out or crossed-out entries and math errors!
Also, the only time you may access the Reconcile module to reconcile your
bank statement is when the cursor is in the PCode cell; press <F6> at this
point if you wish to reconcile your account (see the information for "Recon-
cile your Bank Statement," below).
If the PCode has already been entered into the Payee/Payor table, all you
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 11
need do on the Transactions screen is either type in the PCode, or much
better yet, simply press the <Enter> key in the empty cell and a pop-up Pick-
List appears with all available PCodes and a reference to what they stand
for. Just scroll down and select the one you need, press <Enter> and it ap-
pears in the PCode cell for the current transaction. After you confirm the
PCode choice with another <Enter> press, the full name of the Payee/Payor
appears under the PCode on the screen. (If you have accessed the PickList
and find that a needed PCode does not exist and must be created, exit the
PickList with <Esc>, then press <F9> to access the Payee/Payor table; press
<Alt-N> to add a new PCode.)
Next, you will be prompted for an amount for the transaction. Enter the
amount, and after reviewing that is indeed the correct amount you want, press
<Enter> to continue.
You are now prompted for a budget allocation code, called an AlloCode. Again,
these must be set up by you in a table called the Allocation table
(Allocate.dbf), which you may access at this point by pressing <F10>. An al-
location is where you indicate that for which a transaction is designated.
For example, one of the sample entries in the Allocation table is "AUTOP"
which indicates an Expense item (rather than an Income item) with a budget
allocation named "Automobile - personal." Usage of the AlloCodes in associa-
tion with the PCodes will be most important when preparing your reports and
end-of-year tax information, especially across several bank accounts over the
period of one or more years.
It will take some time (not very much) and some thought for you to set up the
AlloCodes for your own business and/or personal lifestyle, but once it is
done it is done for as long as you continue to use { MONEY & BANKS }. Main-
tenance, changes, and additions become nothing more than minimal effort.
There is more information later on about using the Payee/Payor and Allocation
tables for entry of new code items and editing existing ones.
After you know that an AlloCode exists that you wish to use, you may use the
default AlloCode corresponding to the one you set up in the Payee/Payor table
for the PCode you have entered for this transaction. If you wish to change
the default AlloCode for this transaction, just delete the default with the
<Del> key and press <Enter> in the empty cell to bring up a PickList with all
the available AlloCodes. Make your selection and confirm it with <Enter> to
move on. (If you have accessed the PickList and find that a needed AlloCode
does not exist and must be created, exit the PickList with <Esc>, then press
<F10> to access the Allocation table; press <Alt-N> to add a new AlloCode.)
If you are doing a check transaction, you will be prompted for whether or not
you wish to include the check for processing in the check-printing module
(which follows after you complete all desired transactions; all checks are
printed in a "batch," hence the curious part of the prompt "Include in BATCH
Check Printing?"). If you will not be printing out the check on your printer,
select "N" or no.
If the transaction was a deposit or other credit, you will be prompted for an
optional memorandum. This is for your own convenience only as a reminder
memo; entry, or lack of it, will have no bearing on performance or reports.
You may leave this blank by simply pressing <Enter>.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 12
The next prompt will ask if you wish to do another transaction in this ac-
count at this time. Simply reply "Y" or "N," as needed.
Answer "N" when you have entered your final transaction for the session and
you will then leave the Transactions module. You are next asked if you would
like to enter the Check Printing module; you answer "Y" here if you intend to
use the check-printing facility of { MONEY & BANKS }. Check-printing is
provided as an option for your use: the program may be profitably used with-
out the check printing feature. (For more information, see the item on Check
Printing as well as Appendix A in the documentation.)
You may also defer the printing of checks for this session to a more con-
venient time as the check transactions will remain marked "to be printed" if
you answered "Y" to "Include in Batch Check Printing?" You may subsequently
print checks in your next session in the Transactions module or use the sep-
arate Check Printer selection on the Main Menu.
After you have elected whether or not to print checks for this session, there
is next a prompt asking if you would like to print mailing labels. Answering
"Y" will enter the Mailing Labels module; information on this module is pro-
vided under the appropriate heading in the documentation.
You may also print mailing labels at any time via a selection on the Main
Menu entitled Label Writer.
You are now returned to the Main Menu.
Table View of Account tables
─────────────────────────────
Pressing <F8> while in the Transactions module brings up the current account
table in table view format. The same may be accessed from the Main Menu by
selecting View Tables and then choosing .BNK Account Tables.
The account tables are presented in table view format. You may also wish to
refer to those parts of the main documentation that describe Editing/Adding
To/Viewing the Payee/Payor, Allocation, and Archive tables.
When browsing tables in table view, you may use the arrow keys or the mouse
for scrolling, and the QuickJump keys are available: <Ctrl-PgDn>
<Ctrl-PgUp> <Ctrl-End> <Ctrl-Home> (Also, <Ctrl-RightArrow>
and <Crtl-LeftArrow> may be used for panning to the right and left.).
Follow the on-line prompts for other needed keys. Please be aware that when
you delete (with the <Del> key) a record (or "row" in spreadsheet terms), it
is first "marked" for deletion (you will see a caption, <Deleted> at the top
of the screen). The actual deletion does not occur until you exit the table
view screen. Also note that the <Del> key is a "toggle;" that is, if you
press <Del> a second time on a record already marked for deletion you will
"undelete" the record. The undelete must be performed prior to exiting the
screen; as you exit, any records marked for deletion are permanently removed
from the table.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 13
It is suggested that you edit, change, or adjust erroneous entries in account
tables rather than deleting entire records (rows).
Be aware that should you ever delete a record (row, or complete entry) from
an account table (.BNK), or otherwise make changes in any of the monetary
amount cells, that there is NO automatic mathematical adjustment to the Bal-
ance column (as you might expect to occur in a spreadsheet program, for exam-
ple). If you feel you really must delete an entire entry, make sure you edit
and change the Balance cell not only in that record but also in the last
record of the account table. (Suggestion: use the on-line Calculator, by
pressing <Alt-K>, for quick math chores.) Please ascertain that the final
record's Balance cell has been ACCURATELY adjusted; { MONEY & BANKS } relies
on a correct Balance amount in the very bottom (last) record to accurately
continue its future updating of your banking records and amounts.
Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> saves any changes and returns you to where you
began.
Editing, Adding to the Payee/Payor Table...
────────────────────────────────────────────
While in the Transactions module, pressing the <F9> key brings up the Payee/
Payor table in the current directory. At this point, you may view existing
entries in a format similar to that of a spreadsheet. It is here you add en-
tries of your own, edit any existing ones (including the sample entries), and
delete any that you do not wish in the table. The Payee/Payor table is also
available for viewing/editing from the Main Menu selection, "View Tables."
At the outset, do not be too hasty to delete the sample entries that have
been provided: of course they will bear little relation to your own data
requirements, but exist for reference as to format and ideas. Please read
the information in the documentation under the headings "Split Transactions"
and "Dual PCodes" before making any permanent deletions.
The on-line editing commands are shown at the bottom of the table view
screen. Additionally, the QuickJumps feature you may have used in other
table views are available in this table's view as well (even though they may
not always be indicated on the screen). The QuickJump keys are: <Ctrl-PgDn>
<Ctrl-PgUp> <Ctrl-End> <Ctrl-Home>. (Also, <Ctrl-RightArrow>
and <Crtl-LeftArrow> may be used for panning to the right and left.)
Although you may add and/or edit records (entries) in the table view format,
two special hot-keys provide "form view" editing and adding. <Alt-N> will
bring up a blank "form" containing entry cells for all the information in a
single new record, in easy-to-fill-out format. Similarly, the <Alt-E> key
combination will bring up a form view to Edit the item, or record, that you
have positioned the cursor on. Make your new entries or editing changes in
form view, then press <F10> to Save or <Esc> to reject the changes.
It is suggested that you follow the capitalization style of the sample en-
tries. Although not required for functioning of the program, the differences
in using All Caps or Mixed Case will show nicely later on in your reports and
on-screen queries. It also helps you distinguish between a payee or payor in
the process of entering data in transactions.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 14
Do not ever use an exact duplicate of a PCode for more than one Payee/Payor.
Vary the codes at least slightly. ALWAYS set a default AlloCode as well.
The small cell called "PAYOR" is very important; it is a "logical-type" cell
indicating whether the PName is a payee or a payor. The only entries you may
place in this cell are either "T" (true, or yes) or "F" (false, or no).
Simply ask yourself this question for each payee/payor: Is this party a
payor? If yes, you must enter "T" in the Payor cell; if the answer is no,
you enter "F" to indicate this is not a payor (it therefore defaults to
being a payee). The default entry for the "Payor" cell is "F."
The AlloCode cell appearing in the Payee/Payor table must contain a default
allocation code. This default AlloCode indicates the normal budget alloca-
tion for this payee/payor. It will appear on the Transactions screens and
may be changed temporarily for any transaction where the default is inappro-
priate. There must be an exactly matching AlloCode entry in the Allocation
table as well (refer to "Editing, Adding to the Allocation Table" in the
documentation).
By filling out the address cells for each Payee, you will provide information
for the Label Writer utility to properly print mailing labels, as well as
providing permanent records of information. Entry here is not mandatory.
The "memo" field in each Payee/Payor record is for you to put in a merchant's
account number, or your phone or SSN, or other identifying line that will be
printed at the top right portion of printed checks (if you wish to use the
optional checkprinting facility of this program). Entry here is optional.
Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> saves any changes and returns you to what you
were doing before accessing table view.
Editing, Adding to the Allocation Table...
───────────────────────────────────────────
Editing or adding new records to the Allocation table (Allocate.dbf) is
identical to the process used in making changes to the Payee/Payor table. You
may access the Allocation table from the Transactions module by pressing the
<F10> key. The Allocation table is also available for viewing and editing
from the Main Menu selection, "View Tables."
You must be sure that you have a matching AlloCode entry in the Allocation
table corresponding to the default AlloCodes you assign in the Payee/Payor
table. For example, if you have a PCode called "SHELL" (for your Shell Oil
Co. credit card) and you have indicated in the Payee/Payor table that the
default AlloCode for "SHELL" is "AUTOP" (Auto - personal), you must then
ascertain there is truly a corresponding entry called "AUTOP" in the Alloca-
tion table in the column titled 'AlloCode' that is identical in spelling and
case.
Do not ever use an exact duplicate of an AlloCode for more than one alloca-
tion in the allocation table. Vary the codes at least slightly.
In the beginning stages of working with this program, observe the sample en-
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 15
tries and add to them in similar style, deleting the sample entries later on
that will not be used in your own system. Please read the section on "Split
Transactions" in the documentation before deleting any entries in either the
Allocation table or the Payee/Payor table.
When adding new entries to your Allocation table, note there are two cells
called "ATYPE" and "TAXCAT," respectively. In the AType cell, simply indi-
cate either "E" for an Expense item (all Debits, whether or not they are con-
sidered tax-deductible) or "I" to indicate an Income item (all Credits). The
TaxCat cell may be used to identify which part of your income tax form that
might show a tax-related event (ie, you might wish to indicate Schedule C for
business-related items). Many personal AlloCodes will simply have the entry
"None" in the TaxCat cell. The ATYPE entry is mandatory; TAXCAT is optional.
Mention must also be made about special transactions that are simply called
"transfers." When moving money from a checking account to a savings or in-
vestment account, or vice-versa, these become special transactions that do
not fall under either category of expense or income, yet they occur and must
be accounted for. You will note some sample AlloCodes we have provided in
the Allocation table that begin with the letters "TRANS-" -- such as TRANSIN,
TRANSSA, and TRANSCA. We have included them all as either 'E' (expense) or
'I' (income) items (in their AType cells), primarily for differentiation and
certainly not for tax or traditional budget allocation purposes; this has
been done to keep the program as simple as possible to operate; you might
prefer to think of them as simply 'credits' or 'debits,' 'in to' or 'out of'
an account.
TRANSIN would be an AlloCode for a 'transfer in to' an account; an example
might simply be money you are transfering from a savings account INTO the
account table you are currently working with. It is an 'I' item in the Allo-
cation table's AType cell but not a taxable income item (as you will have al-
ready accounted for it at the time of deposit into that other account).
We have used TRANSSA to indicate a transfer TO a savings or investment ac-
count, an 'E' item certainly, but not necessarily a taxable event or a normal
budget allocation. The sample AlloCode called TRANSCA, an 'E' item in its
AType cell, is used in accounts such as money market funds or money market
bank accounts for which you have set up a .BNK account table in { MONEY &
BANKS }. It simply indicates a transfer from such an account to a checking
account. Its use is primarily for differentiation. You may devise and add
other "TRANS-" category AlloCodes as you may like for your own system.
Use of these special transfer-type AlloCodes will allow you to make the dis-
tinction in your interrim and end-year reports.
Please note that if you have a business directory separate from a personal
banking directory, you will likely have differing expense and income alloca-
tions. For example, automotive expense for a business is usually a tax-
related deduction item, whereas a similar item in a personal account is not.
Therefore, you should plan to set up different Payee/Payor and Allocation
tables for business and personal use. Simply having different data director-
ies will nicely accomplish this while using the same executable program and
master files (see the Quick Start section in the documentation for more in-
formation).
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 16
The on-line editing commands are shown at the bottom of the table view
screen. Additionally, the QuickJumps feature you may have used in other
table views are available in this table's view as well (even though they may
not always be indicated on the screen). The QuickJump keys are: <Ctrl-PgDn>
<Ctrl-PgUp> <Ctrl-End> <Ctrl-Home>, as well as <Ctrl-Right-
Arrow> <Ctrl-LeftArrow>.
Although you may add and/or edit records (entries) in the table view format,
two special hot-keys provide "form view" editing and adding. <Alt-N> will
bring up a blank "form" containing entry cells for all the information in a
single new record, in easy-to-fill-out format on one screen. Similarly, the
<Alt-E> key combination will bring up a form view to Edit the item, or rec-
ord, that you have positioned the cursor on. Make your new entries or edit-
ing changes in form view, then press <F10> to Save or <Esc> to reject the
changes.
It is suggested that you follow the capitalization style of the sample en-
tries. Although not required for functioning of the program, the differences
in using All Caps or Mixed Case will show nicely later on in your printed
reports and on-screen queries.
Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> saves any changes and returns you to what you
were doing before accessing table view.
Split Transactions
───────────────────
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL NOTE │
└──────────────────────────┘
Do not change/delete the PCode entry in the PAYEE/PAYOR table called "DEPS,"
and in the ALLOCATIONS table two AlloCode items called "SPLIT" and "SPLITD."
They are needed when one transaction covers credits or debits over different
allocations.
For example, one check written to pay your American Express statement may
cover several different actual charge transactions with different alloca-
tions. Your default AlloCode for American Express should be set up by you as
"SPLIT," or changed to reflect that during transaction entry.
Or, when making a deposit, you might have several checks from different
sources. Instead of listing separate PCodes for each source, simply use the
one PCode called "DEPS" to show you have multiple entries in your bank de-
posit. The PCode "DEPS" will default to an AlloCode called "SPLITD."
Such transactions will automatically present a pop-up edit screen for the
Archive table (ARCHIVE.DBF) so that you may manually edit the "splits."
Pressing <Ins> will give you a duplicate record of the transaction so that
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 17
you may divide the one "split" transaction into as many individual alloca-
tions as you may require, all referencing the same check number or deposit.
Edit the CREDIT/DEBIT cells as needed, as well as the ALLOCODE and PCODE ad-
justments. Do not leave any AlloCode cells blank.
Please note that this special area of the program has "locks" on the cells
that appear in table view. The locks are there to prevent unintentional
changes or deletions to the Archive table. To edit or close-edit a cell, you
must each time press the <Enter> key in the cell before attempting any
changes, even when the cell might be empty. For example, to enter a valid
AlloCode in its proper cell, place the highlight on that cell, press <Enter>
to open it for editing, and press <F10> to call up a PickList for your
allocation codes and make a selection with the <Enter> key. To change a
monetary amount, press <Enter> to open the cell, make the adjustment in the
amount, and press <Enter> again to close the cell. Do not edit any cells
that are not indicated at the bottom of the screen.
The American Express check transaction mentioned above should retain the
PCode for that Payee (usually, you might call it "AMEX") in the split trans-
actions. The AlloCodes are changed to reflect the proper allocations, and
the DEBIT cells are manually edited to match the allocations.
The split deposit entry should have its PCode entries edited to reflect the
source (Payors) of each item; a pop-up PickList is available for your use in
selecting previously set PCodes. Edit the CREDIT and AlloCode cells as well.
You will note the AlloCode cell changes to the default item for the PCode you
just selected; you may retain the default or select another from an available
pop-up PickList. Do not ever leave any AlloCode cell blank!
The split-transactions operation will become obvious and simple after you
have tried it a few times, rather than just reading about it. (Easier done
than said.)
As mentioned above, pop-up PickLists are available for AlloCodes and PCodes
in the split-transactions editing table; follow the on-line instructions at
the bottom of the screens for the "hot-keys," etc.
Pressing <Esc> after your final adjustment saves the changes and returns you
to the Transactions module so that you may continue.
If your monetary adjustments are out of agreement, you will be so informed
and presented with an opportunity to make further adjustments. Again, ob-
serve carefully the on-line instructions.
Dual PCodes?
─────────────
Some entries in your PAYEE/PAYOR table will appear to be the same; for exam-
ple, two of the sample entries PCodes "FNB" and "FNBI" are both for a similar
PName "First National Bank." However, the difference is in the logical
("yes" or "no" / "true" or "false") cell called "PAYOR;" this PAYEE/PAYOR may
have two different types of transactions with different AlloCodes: "INT"
means a payment of Interest TO your account, which is an Income transaction
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 18
("I" in the PType cell). This is designated in the example by the PCode
"FNBI." The logical cell PAYOR is set to "T" (true), meaning yes it is true
that this is indeed a payor (rather than a payee).
First National Bank may also be a PAYEE, entered in the example in all upper-
case letters (for your differentiation only; it has no bearing on perfor-
mance). For example, if there are service charges or check-printing charges,
you would need to enter "FNB" which is a PAYEE, and the type of transaction
is "E" -- an expense, rather than income. The logical cell PAYOR in the
PNAMES table is set to "F" (false), that is, NOT a payor (and therefore,
defaults to being a payee). The default AlloCode for "FNB" you will see is
"BNKCHG," for the allocation Bank Charges.
It appears desirable to enter all Payees in uppercase letters in the PNAME
cell, and mixed case for Payors. The visual distinction becomes especially
important in reports. The important entry for the program is that the logi-
cal cell PAYOR (the "yes" or "no" -- "true" or "false" idea) be correctly en-
tered by you when you set up a new PCode entry. If this entry is incorrect,
some data in your tables will be unusable.
The concept of PCodes and AlloCodes may be confusing initially; after you
get used to using them with your own data, their logical use will be auto-
matic with a great saving in future time for your financial recordkeeping.
Viewing/Editing the Archive Table...
─────────────────────────────────────
The cumulative reporting data from all your bank account tables in one direc-
tory is found in the Archive table (Archive.dbf). You may access this data
in table view from the Transactions module simply by pressing the key combin-
ation <Alt-A>. The Archive table is also available for viewing and editing
from the Main Menu selection, "View Tables," then selecting "Other Data
Tables (*.dbf)."
Be especially careful before deciding to delete a record or item in an Arch-
ive table. This table is meant to be a permanent history of all your trans-
actions in all your accounts in the current directory. If you delete an en-
tire item from a history table such as your current or annual archive tables,
it is of course irretrievably lost; simply make sure that is what you intend.
You may edit individual cells to correct erroneous entries you may have made,
or any needed adjustments. Such is the main purpose of being able to easily
access your Archive table(s). Simply observe logical caution as future
reports and queries are based upon Archive tables, and reporting/querying
accuracy depends entirely upon correct data entry and integrity. Make sure
that all AlloCode cells have an entry; there must be no empty AlloCode cells.
Follow the on-line information at the bottom of the view table screen for
editing the Archive table. The usual QuickJump keys are: <Ctrl-PgDn>
<Ctrl-PgUp> <Ctrl-End> <Ctrl-Home>. (Also, <Ctrl-RightArrow>
and <Crtl-LeftArrow> may be used for panning to the right and left.)
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 19
Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> saves any changes and returns you to what you
were doing before accessing table view.
Please note that once a year, usually in January or February after all end-
ing-year transactions have cleared, reconciliations of statements have been
made, and all reports printed, the Archive table needs to be purged of the
ending-year's data for maximum efficiency of the system. The purged data is
removed to another, permanent archival table bearing an identifying mark of
the ending-year; the permanent archival table is then to be removed by you
from the current directory to diskettes or other storage media for lock-away
safekeeping and future reference.
There is a complete, very efficient utility for purging and permanent archiv-
al found on the Utilities Menu (in the registered copy version). Simply ac-
cess that utility selection when you are ready to use it. You may access
those moved archival tables later on by first using the Change Directory
utility on the Utilities Menu to access the drive and directory where you
have stored the archival copies; then select the View Tables item on the
Main Menu for viewing or for quick printouts, choose on the Report Writer
Menu the item for producing Plain, Generic listings (to the screen or to the
printer).
Reconcile your Bank Statement...
─────────────────────────────────
Please note that the ONLY time you may reconcile your bank statement is while
you are in the Transactions module, and the cursor is in the PCode cell
awaiting entry. You will see a reference to a hot-key, <F6>, at the bottom
of the screen, ONLY when you are in the PCode cell (it disappears after you
leave the PCode cell). Pressing <F6> will bring up the special Reconcile
module, which is easy to use and prompts you along the way.
Before accessing the Reconcile module to reconcile your bank statement, make
sure you have entered all bank-generated items on the statement, such as
interest credited to your account, or service/check charges deducted, as NEW
transactions in your account following the method described for deposit and
check transactions. Accurately enter the dates the bank has indicated the
transactions for interest and debits occurred; do not use the default trans-
action date that automatically appears. Simply overtype the particular date
numbers you wish to change. Obviously, answer "N" when you are asked "Writ-
ing [a] Check?"
After entering the "new" transactions (interest, etc.) from the bank state-
ment, begin yet another "transaction," which may be exited after reconcilia-
tion. Accept the default transaction date, answer "N" to "Writing [a]
Check?" with the intent of simply moving to the PCode cell. When you reach
the PCode cell, you may then press <F6> and do your reconciliation.
In the Reconcile module, have your bank statement available and follow the
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 20
on-line prompts, entering information as requested. If for some reason you
choose not to continue, pressing <Esc> on the initial screen of the Reconcile
module exits back to the Transactions module.
Simply enter the bank's idea of your current balance, the statement date, and
then, when prompted, answer "Y" or "N" to whether or not items have
"cleared" (that is, appear on the statement). It is that easy.
If your reconciliation is out of balance, you will be so informed and return-
ed to the Transactions module. You may then use the Table View <F8> to see
where discrepancies might occur. After you have determined the cause of the
discrepancy and made any necessary adjustments, return to the Transactions
module and, when in the empty PCode cell, try again to reconcile your account
with the <F6> Reconcile module.
When your account is successfully reconciled and you are returned to the
Transactions module, you may press <F7> to exit the Transactions module, if
you wish. Your account will be marked with the cleared items and you may
file your bank statement away.
The ease of use of the { MONEY & BANKS } Reconcile module should alone be
worth the purchase price of this software: never again will you struggle
with a calculator or scratch paper and flipping your bank statement from
front to back, trying to follow some idiotic accounting instructions for re-
conciling your account. Multiply this feature by the number of accounts you
are going to use with this software, and you will have multiple worth of the
purchase price for easing a truly bothersome burden of adult life: reconcil-
ing bank statements. If you like this feature, please tell your friends and
associates to consider purchasing a copy of { MONEY & BANKS }. (Thanks to
those who wrote us and (humorously?) said that reconciling statements is now
"fun;" one person even suggested he now considers it "sport.")
Adding a New Account
─────────────────────
(A menu selection item on the Utilities Menu.)
A bank data table covers one account at an institution; you may have as many
accounts as you wish at one or more institutions but each account must have a
(slightly) different name. For example, if you have both a checking and a
money market account at, say, First National Bank, you might call the check-
ing account simply "FNB" (the program attaches .BNK as a suffix to all ac-
count names). You might then call the money market account something like
"FNBMM" or anything you like up to six characters (letters or numerals, but
always beginning with a letter). Remember to create any business accounts in
the directory which will hold such business information separately from that
of personal banking.
The reason that you may only use up to six characters in the account descrip-
tion is that { MONEY & BANKS } will append a two-digit "year" when it is time
to permanently archive and purge a previous year's data (a selection on the
Utilities Menu). For example, in January or February of each new year, after
all transactions have been cleared and accounts reconciled, you will most
likely want to move the ending year's data from the current tables and perm-
anently archive them on diskettes for safekeeping.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 21
At that time, { MONEY & BANKS } will append to the example "FNBMM.BNK" ac-
count an ending year identifier, such as "92" (if the ending year is 1992,
for example), so that only 1992 transactions will be archived into a table
called "FNBMM92.BNK" that you may move to diskette or other storage media and
always have available for reference and safekeeping.
It is suggested that you begin each "new" account at the very end of the
previous year. For example, if you are beginning to use { MONEY & BANKS }
sometime in the year 1993, you may wish to begin your accounts on 12/31/92,
the last day of the then "previous" year. In this way your reports and other
data information are accurately portrayed for the entire new calendar year.
Even though this action may intially require somewhat extra data input by you
at the outset, the result will be accurate and complete reporting, a primary
objective for using a banking management system such as { MONEY & BANKS }.
As well, your overall record-keeping and maintenance shall be efficient and
up-to-date. Do not forget that in subsequent years you may need to call upon
records and reports for information detail you have long since forgotten or
for which you no longer have paper records; accurate data input and time
spent in the initial setup phase of your accounts will provide the basis for
such recordkeeping.
You will be prompted for the last check number used on or just prior to the
beginning date. { MONEY & BANKS } will use this last check number for con-
secutive check transactions after the beginning date. For new accounts just
opened at a bank, make the check number one before your first printed check;
ie, if the first printed check is '101' enter '100' at this prompt.
The next prompt is for an ACCURATE balance in the account as of the beginning
date. Please ascertain that this figure is indeed correct to the penny.
You shall then select the size of checks you are using for this account;
either <P>ersonal or <B>usiness size checks are the only selections availa-
ble, based upon current standardized bank-printed checks. This information
will be used if you should choose to utilize the optional check-printing
facilities of { MONEY & BANKS }.
After the account is created and you have exited from the Utilities Menu, you
will be returned to the Main Menu where you may select "Transactions" and
find your new account ready for use. You can create and maintain as many
.BNK bank account tables as you may need.
Footnote: Unlike some other commercial financial software, { MONEY &
BANKS } places no practical limit on the number of tables or quantity of
data entries in each account. The actual limit and usability is based upon
your hard disk space and available expanded memory (if any); the theoretical
limit is a billion transactions per account. Execution speed, however, will
be affected as account tables grow into very large (10,000+ transactions)
size. An annual archiving and purging of ending-year data *must* be done to
maintain maximum efficiency in the running of the program and preparing
reports/queries. Reports are limited to 4096 different PCodes and/or 4096
different AlloCodes, which of course are unlikely reachable limits.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 22
The Check Printer
──────────────────
If you have made previous transactions for which you have deferred the print-
ing of checks, you may access the Check Printer from a selection on the Main
Menu. You are presented with a scrolling list of available accounts; choose
the account for which you would like to now print any unprinted checks.
(The Check Printing option comes up automatically in the Transactions module
after you have entered your final transaction in an account. Selecting "Y"
or Yes to the check printing prompt will access the Check Printer module.)
You are presented with a listing of checks marked for batch printing, that
is, to be printed all in sequence at one time. Review the listing and pre-
pare your blank checks in proper numerical order for insertion into the prin-
ter when prompted (see Appendix A in the documentation for detailed check
printing operation).
Press <Esc> when you are ready to continue; you will have an exit option on
the next screen should you decide not to print checks at this time.
You will than be asked if the printer is ready and the first check has been
inserted and properly aligned. (There is also a message on the screen indi-
cating the currently selected printer; if this does not match your printer or
one of its emulations, exit this module and select the proper printer in the
Utilities Menu.) If you are ready to print, answer "Y" and the first check
will immediately print. After the first check has printed and been ejected,
there is a pause for you to prepare the next blank check in sequence and in-
sert it into the printer (refer to Appendix A in the documentation). When
the next check is indeed ready, press the <Space> bar and the check will be
immediately printed. The process is repeated until the last check in the
batch has been printed.
You are next prompted whether or not you wish to print mailing labels. Ans-
wer "Y" or "N" as desired. Information on label printing is contained in the
section "The Label Writer," in the documentation.
Reprinting a check...
─────────────────────
Should a check ever be improperly printed, possibly because of misalign-
ment or jamming in the printer, it is possible (and easy) to reprint the
check. You will need to edit the bank account table; from the Main Menu,
select View Tables, then Bank Account (*.BNK) Tables, and then the appropri-
ate account. Locate the record, or row, containing the check number of the
improperly printed check, making sure the highlight indicator is on that
row. With the <RightArrow> key, move the highlight to the cell in the
column entitled "PR" -- a logical-type cell that indicates "T" (true, or yes,
the check is to be printed) or "F" (false, or no, the check is not to be
printed). The "PR" cell will indicate "F." Press the <Enter> key in this
cell to activate the Edit mode, and change the "F" to "T." Mark any other
check transaction records that need to be reprinted in the same way. When
finished, press <Esc> to save any changes and exit the table view screen.
You may now reprint the check(s) by selecting the Check Printer module on the
Main Menu. The checks that were marked "T" in their "PR" cells will appear
as checks to be printed; you may wish to use replacement checks from the very
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 23
end of your inventory of imprinted checks, crossing out the printed check
numbers and writing in the corresponding check numbers for the reprinted
transactions. This action will allow your current sequence of check numbers
to remain in agreement with those in the account table.
We must add that you might be tempted to change the Check Number ("CKNO")
cell itself, thinking that you will just use the next imprinted check in
your checkbook and, in effect, void out the improperly printed transaction.
We somewhat advise against such a procedure for two reasons: first, this
introduces sloppy and improper recordkeeping into your system. Future re-
ports and queries will make no mention of the voided check number, and there
is no permanent record of what happened to the "missing" check; although it
will be easy to remember what you did for the time being, the passage of
months or even years may surely bring up questions about curious or seemingly
missing transactions or check numbers.
Second, any such change of a check number will also have to be done manually
in the Archive table (which also relies on a correct sequence of check num-
bers for all your accounts), a *required* action all too easy to overlook
at times, no matter how attentive you are to detail.
For your information, please note also that the check-numbering scheme in the
Transactions module relies on a correct "last" check number (other than one
with a zero "0") at the end (bottom) of an account table. The next new
checking transaction will be that check number, plus one.
The Report Writer
──────────────────
Upon selecting the Main Menu item entitled Report Writer, you are presented
with a menu screen similar to the following:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ■ │ { MONEY & BANKS } REPORT WRITER │ │ ║
║───┘──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────└───┴───║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ Archives, by Year, sorted by Institution & Date │ ║
║ │ Archives, by Year, sorted by Allocations │ ║
║ │ Archives, by Year, sorted by Payee/Payor │ ║
║ │ Summary, by Account, by Year, in date order │ ║
║ │ Listing of Uncleared Transactions in an Account │ ║
║ │ Listing of currently assigned PCodes │ ║
║ │ Listing of currently assigned AlloCodes │ ║
║ │ Listing of active CD's / BONDS / PORTFOLIO │ ║
║ │ Listing of the Credit Cards Minder │ ║
║ │ Plain, generic listings for any other Data Tables │ ║
║ │ Return to Main Menu │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 24
All reports and listings are first shown on the screen in wide-access format;
that is, reports wider than 80 characters may be scrolled out to the right
for you to view all contained information. Simply use the arrow keys or
mouse. After viewing your data on the screen, you will be presented with an
option to print the report; wide reports are printed in compressed mode on
the default printer on printer port LPT1.
All reports shown on the screen will have a resulting text file left in the
current directory; these text files, in standard ASCII format, have the ex-
tension .RPT as report identifiers. The prefix part of the file name will
refer briefly to the report selection you had made; these files are overwrit-
ten each time you specify a new version of the report. The main use of these
.RPT files is for users who have desktop publishing programs and/or Microsoft
Windows(tm) who would like to print out their reports from { MONEY & BANKS }
with the unique font and formatting capabilities contained in those programs.
Simply read or import the .RPT files as standard ASCII text files. For exam-
ple, in Microsoft Windows(tm) Notepad, you may simply open the file by speci-
fying the file name (ie, "AC.RPT") and view/prepare your report as desired.
In Ventura Publisher(tm), Windows(tm) Write, or Microsoft Word for Win-
dows(tm), you would import the file as standard ASCII text and make your
printed presentations from within those programs. Refer to those programs'
documentation for information on formatting columnar text or tables.
If you have no use whatsover for the resulting .RPT files left in your cur-
rent directory, you may safely delete them or leave them there, as desired.
They will recur each time you use the Report Writer module, and existing .RPT
files will be overwritten by any new updates. You may also retain .RPT files
by renaming the prefix part of the file name and storing them in the direc-
tory or on diskette.
The first selection on the Report Writer Menu presents a formatted report
based on your Archive table for the year-to-date, sorted by the different
accounts in the current directory as well as the date. This combination
report and query may be run often even though there may be no need to print
out such a report: viewing your data on-screen in this format will yield an
important grand-view concept of your banking management system. Its impor-
tance will become evident after you have entered several months' worth of
transaction data, especially if you use more than one bank account table.
After viewing on-screen, you may press <Esc> to continue; you are presented
with an option to send the report to the printer. Answer yes or no as you
may desire.
A progress gauge will monitor the on-screen report preparation.
The second selection is very similar to the first report, except for the sort
order and summary information you will find therein. It presents your Arch-
ive table data sorted by budget allocation categories spanning all your vari-
ous accounts. Again, the importance of this information will become greatly
enhanced after several months' worth of data entry. You will now be able to
visualize what all that time-consuming effort was about setting up all those
curious AlloCodes and PCodes.
A progress gauge monitors the on-screen report preparation.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 25
The third report is again similar, presenting the Archive table sorted by
Payee/Payor. In this order, the report is grouped and totaled by Payee/Payor
from all the accounts as combined in the Archive table. With a large Archive
table, this report will probably take more time to prepare and show on the
screen than the other reports, due to its complexity. This is a most useful
report, particularly at year-end, showing how much you have paid to, or re-
ceived from, each Payee/Payor, respectively. A progress gauge is provided.
The fourth item presented in the Report Writer, is an opportunity to view
and/or print formatted reports of your individual account tables. When you
had the opportunity to peruse account tables in table view mode, you saw en-
tries in raw data format: PCodes referring to Payee/Payors you could not re-
member, the same with all those AlloCodes. Here, in a formatted report, you
will see the correlation to the actual names of your payees and payors, along
with your allocations in plain English. The reports/queries here are pre-
sented in order of transaction date and you may choose the separate account
tables to view. As with all the selections in the Report Writer, you are
given a choice to print the formatted reports on your printer. This listing
is a fast, efficient report to produce.
Fifth, a report listing outstanding, or uncleared, transactions in any of the
account tables provides the means for you to observe which items have not yet
been marked as "CL" (a logical-type cell for "cleared"). Transactions are
automatically marked "cleared" as you check them off from your bank statement
in the Reconcile module. This quick and efficient report may be viewed and/
or printed frequently.
The sixth and seventh items are primarily for your deskside reference: they
are simple listings in alphabetical order of your current Payee/Payor table
codes and Allocation table codes, respectively.
The eighth option on the menu covers a data table that is included on the
Utilities Menu, "CD's / BONDS / PORTFOLIO," an extra storage table for opt-
ional entry of your various certificates of deposit, savings accounts/plans,
bonds and/or other securities. The report includes only items in that table
that you have marked as "Active;" that is, are currently maintained in your
portfolio (inactive items are kept in the table for long term recordkeeping
purposes).
The ninth selection, "Listing of the Credit Cards Minder," is a simple report
showing the current items in the Credit Card Minder (on the Utilities Menu).
The listing is presented in alphabetical order by card name.
The final report item for Plain, Generic listings is not truly what might be
called a report. It presents raw table data from any account table, current
or archival, or any other data table for which you might need a printout.
Please realize these are basic, unformatted listings without screen scrolling
but are invaluable when you need to retrieve stored data not available with
the other menu choices. The selection of the tables is similar to the View
Tables selection on the Main Menu. If you are retrieving data from other
drives or directories, use the "Change Directory" selection on the Utilities
Menu prior to running your report request.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 26
The final option on the Report Writer menu returns you to the Main Menu, or
you may simply press <Esc> or <RightMouse> when you wish to exit the Report
Writer.
View Tables
────────────
The Main Menu has a selection called View Tables; when you choose it, you are
presented with a small options screen similar to the following:
┌SELECT TYPE OF TABLE TO VIEW:┐
│Bank Account (*.BNK) Tables │
│Other Data (*.DBF) Tables │
│Quit: return to Main Menu │
└─────────────────────────────┘
There are two types of data tables in { MONEY & BANKS }: the account tab-
les, which have a filename extension of .BNK and all other data tables, which
all have an extension of .DBF. Both types of tables may be viewed and/or
edited with this module.
The tables are presented in table-view format, similar to that found in the
Transactions module. The operation and function is nearly identical. You
may wish to refer to those parts of the documentation that describes Editing/
Adding To/Viewing the Payee/Payor, Allocation, and Archive tables.
When browsing tables in table view, you may use the arrow keys or the mouse
for scrolling, and the QuickJump keys are available: <Ctrl-PgDn> <Ctrl-
PgUp> <Ctrl-End> <Ctrl-Home>. (Also, <Ctrl-RightArrow> and
<Crtl-LeftArrow> may be used for panning to the right and left.)
Follow the on-line prompts for other needed keys. Please be aware that when
you delete (with the <Del> key) a record (or "row" in spreadsheet terms), it
is first "marked" for deletion (you will see a caption, <Deleted> at the top
of the screen). The actual deletion does not occur until you exit the table
view screen. Also note that the <Del> key is a "toggle;" that is, if you
press <Del> a second time on a record already marked for deletion you will
"undelete" the record. The undelete must be performed prior to exiting the
screen; as you exit, any records marked for deletion are permanently removed
from the table. Exercise extra caution when performing record deletes on any
archival tables, which are in essence history tables and a deleted record is
irretrievably lost.
Although you may add and/or edit records (entries) in the table-view format,
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 27
two special hot-keys provide "form view" editing and adding for .DBF tables
(hot-keys not available when viewing .BNK tables). <Alt-N> will bring up a
blank "form" containing entry cells for all the information in a single new
record, in easy-to-fill-out format. Similarly, the <Alt-E> key combination
will bring up a form view to Edit the item, or record, that you have posit-
ioned the cursor on. Make your new entries or editing changes in form view,
then press <F10> to save, or <Esc> to reject, the changes.
Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> in table view saves any changes and returns
you level by level to where you began.
The Utilities Menu
───────────────────
Upon selecting the Main Menu item for the Utilities Menu, you are presented
with a menu screen similar to the following:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ■ │ { MONEY & BANKS } UTILITIES MENU │ │ ║
║───┘──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────└───┴───║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ CD's / BONDS / PORTFOLIO Records │ ║
║ │ Credit Cards Minder │ ║
║ │ Backup Data Tables to Diskette │ ║
║ │ Change to a Different Directory │ ║
║ │ Add a New Bank Account │ ║
║ │ Label Writer │ ║
║ │ Select a Different Printer │ ║
║ │ Archive & Purge Ending-Year Data │ ║
║ │ About │ ║
║ │ Return to Main Menu │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The first Utility option, "CD's / BONDS / PORTFOLIO Records," is a simple
recordkeeping table which is outside the functional boundry of the main pro-
gram, and is there for your optional use and convenience. Therein you may
list and keep records of active and formerly active certificates of deposit,
savings accounts, bonds and/or portfolio items, or other items of value.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 28
After you have had some practice dealing with the other data tables in
{ MONEY & BANKS }, you will find entry and maintenance of this table quite
familiar and simple. View the sample entries to start, add your own, and
delete the samples later on. You might make note of the "Active" cell in
this table; it is a "logical" type entry expecting either "T" (true) or "F"
(false) to indicate yes or no this item is active or it is not. Only items
marked "T" (true they are active) are included in the reporting option on the
Report Writer Menu. The entries in this table are not sorted in order of
date or name; they are simply maintained in the order you choose to enter
them.
The second item, "Credit Cards Minder," is another optional data table very
similar to the "CD's / BONDS / PORTFOLIO Records" table. Therein you may
keep records about the credit cards belonging to a family or business, in-
cluding the card names, account numbers, phone numbers to report lost or
stolen cards, cardholder name(s) appearing on the cards, and other pertinent
information. The records will be maintained by the program in alphabetical
order by card name. The use or non-use of this facility has no effect on the
operation of the main components of { MONEY & BANKS }; it is provided for
your convenience if you wish to keep such records in a single place. There
is a listing option on the Report Writer menu to view or print information
from this table.
The third Utility selection, "Backup Data Tables to Diskette," is a very
useful backup facility for users of DOS 5.0 and greater. It transfers fully
usable (not compressed) DOS copies of all data tables than have been changed
or added since you last did such a backup. You are presented with a choice
of using either the A: or B: drive; initially, insert a formatted diskette
and all tables are copied to that diskette. Differential type backups are
then performed daily as you use the program and elect to use this utility.
You might consider using two alternate-day diskettes for extra failsafe
security of your financial backups. Please note that the utility relies on
the DOS 5.0 (and greater) command REPLACE.EXE, which must be available in
your path. You will have to run this utility in each directory in which you
have active data tables for the program { MONEY & BANKS }; use a different
diskette for each directory. If you are using a version of DOS less than
5.0, please use a reliable backup utility after you exit { MONEY & BANKS }.
The fourth menu item, "Change to a Different Directory," allows you to change
Drives and/or Directories to access variously stored data tables. The util-
ity is simple to use and is self-explanatory; simply follow the on-screen
prompts. If you type in a non-existent or misspelled directory, you will
remain in the current directory, which will be indicated on the screen.
The fifth selection on the Utilities Menu, "Add a New Bank Account," not only
is obvious as to its function but carefully prompts you for required infor-
mation for whenever you wish to add a new "bank" account table to your bank-
ing information system. For further information on this selection, see the
section "Adding a New Account," in the documentation.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 29
You may access the Label Writer from a selection on the Utilities Menu, or in
response to the final prompt in the Transactions module.
The Label Writer module is a simple utility allowing you to print up to six-
teen labels at one time based upon names and addresses you have entered into
the Payee/Payor table. The mailing labels are intended for use on your own
envelopes to send checks to payees for which you have no preprinted return
envelopes. You might wish to manually select letter-quality mode on your
printer before printing labels. Labels are printed in 10-cpi size print
mode.
The Label Writer is set up for standard 1" x 3.5" labels, such as the widely
available Avery #4145 adhesive pin-feed printer labels. Labels may also be
"printed" to (displayed on) the screen.
In the Label Writer module itself, you are presented with empty PCode cells,
one at a time up to sixteen in number. You may type directly into the cell
the PCode desired, or better yet, press <Enter> in the empty cell and choose
a PCode from a PickList that pops-up.
After you have chosen and confirmed with the <Enter> key one or more PCodes
for labels you wish to print, simply press <Esc> in the next empty cell to
move on to the actual printing prompt screen. You will then have an election
to print to the <P>rinter, send to the <S>creen, or <Q>uit. Make your selec-
tion by pressing the appropriate letter key ("P" "S" or "Q").
If you choose <P>rinter, you will see a prompt asking if the printer is ready
and loaded with 1 x 3.5 labels. Pressing "Y" begins the printing of your
labels. There will be three printed lines on each label, provided you
properly entered the information for each entry when setting up your PCodes
in the Payee/Payor table. The left print margin is 3 characters.
If you choose to "print" to the Screen, you will see the selections shown in
label format on the screen.
Choosing the <Q>uit option will leave the Label Writer utility.
The seventh item on the Utilities Menu allows you to select the proper
printer driver for your brand of printer. For more information on this
process, see the section in the documentation called "Printer Support for
Reports, Checks and Labels Printing."
The Archive & Purge Ending Year's Data selection will be available in your
registered copy of { MONEY & BANKS }, if you should decide to purchase it.
It was felt that the trial period of this software would not extend into
another year of data and therefore, best left to be available on registered
copies. The utility maintains maximum efficiency of year-to-year data tables
and offers a permanent archival facility for your past financial records.
Please consider this very important feature when determining whether or not
you will become a registered user of { MONEY & BANKS }. We have decided to
keep the purchase price very reasonable in order to further encourage legal,
registered copies of this software.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 30
The "About" option on the Utilities Menu offers important system information
about the computer on which { MONEY & BANKS } is installed. It includes a
constantly updated on-screen clock. The "About" screen also bears the offic-
ially affixed notice of copyright for the software.
The final option on the Utilities Menu returns you to the Main Menu, or you
may simply press <Esc> or <RightMouse> when you wish to exit the Utilities
Menu.
Printer Support for Reports, Checks and Labels Printing
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
There is printer support for a variety of printers; select a compatible
printer from the "Select a Different Printer" item on the Utilities Menu to
replace the default printer. If your exact brand and model of printer is not
listed, there should be at least one selection that is a compatible emulation
for your printer; check your own printer's manual for emulation guidelines.
You may wish to manually select letter-quality print style on the printer it-
self for the printing of checks and mailing labels. You should use draft-
quality for most reports simply because of the printing speed, especially if
reports are lengthy.
If you elect to use the selection for "Generic Printer", please note that
print size codes will not be sent to your printer. You should then select
manually on the printer itself the compressed mode option for the printing of
reports. Select 10-cpi mode for the printing of labels and, especially,
checks.
The PRINTER.DBF table contains all the printer models and codes, and is edit-
able by the end user by using the View Tables selection on the Main Menu, but
is only available for editing when working in the main \MONEY directory. If
you are in your \MONEY\BUSINESS subdirectory, for example, you will need to
change directories (see the option for this on the Utilities Menu) or exit
the program and restart it in the main \MONEY directory in order for the
PRINTER.DBF table to appear on the <View Tables> <Other *.dbf> selection
menu.
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Most users will not ever need to edit the PRINTER.DBF codes. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If you do plan to edit the PRINTER.DBF, please note that printer codes are
entered in Lotus-style format; see your own printer's manual for printer
codes. Currently, { MONEY & BANKS } only uses 10-cpi size and Compressed
size for its printing requirements.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 31
Technical Matters
──────────────────
{ MONEY & BANKS } will run on IBM-compatible computers with 512k of
memory. All display modes are supported; although the video was designed on
and primarily intended for VGA display, the program was simultaneously tested
on, and modified as needed for, monochrome displays as well as laptop B/W
displays in order that contrasts and prompts be present and visible to all
possible users. Special features that are VGA-only are compensated for in
the other displays, with no adverse effect on program execution.
{ MONEY & BANKS } must be installed on a hard drive. Do not attempt to ins-
tall to, or run the program on, a floppy drive.
DOS 3.1 or higher is required, and DOS 5.0 or greater is not only suggested,
but required for one utility on the Utilities Menu: the backup facility.
Mouse support is provided, but a mouse is not required for use of the pro-
gram.
In your config.sys file, you *must* have the FILES= statement set at 30 or
greater (ie, FILES=30).
A disk cache utility used on your system will provide great benefit to run-
ning { MONEY & BANKS }, resulting in marked improvement in speed and ef-
ficiency throughout the program.
{ MONEY & BANKS } will use expanded memory if it is available on the system,
even if it is only present in a small amount. The presence of expanded mem-
ory, particularly on a 386 or greater computer, significantly enhances the
performance and efficiency of this software.
A variety of printers is supported via a selection on the Utilities Menu.
Popular printers and emulations are provided to the best of our knowledge,
and are subject to revision and additions in future versions; if there is
difficulty with any of the printer choice settings, kindly send us a note
regarding this and any possible corrections/additions you may have found, if
any.
The optional use of the check-printing facility is intended for use on dot-
matrix printers which allow printing of single sheets. Laser printer support
is included, but is intended primarily for the printing of reports. The
printer must be connected to LPT1, or you must use a utility (we suggest
something like PC Magazine's LPTPORT.COM) that will direct LPT1 calls to an
alternate address.
It is possible (but unlikely) that certain files, particularly index files
(*.NTX) can, at some point, become corrupted and you see an error message
pointing to index files. This would likely only occur if you had been work-
ing in the program and those files were being updated when there was a power
outage. Simply change to the directory where this occurred, and while in
DOS, type:
DEL *.NTX
to delete all the index files; the next time you run { MONEY & BANKS } the
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 32
index files will be rebuilt. Do not take the backup .NTX files you may have
stored on your backup diskettes; they may or may not match the data tables if
you were doing updating when the corruption occurred.
If you have data tables that become unusable, copy them from your backup
diskettes, along with their associated index files (bank account tables and
archive tables do not have index files). Should other files become corrup-
ted, particularly the "_admin.*," you will have to secure valid copies from
the original distribution files that you got when you received this program.
You might wish to keep a set of all the original uncompressed files on a
separate diskette in case one or more is needed, avoiding the install process
and uncompressing files. Also, data tables (.dbf) can appear to be corrup-
ted to some users, but usually the problem is with indexes (.ntx) that no
longer match or are not current with the associated .dbf table. Try deleting
the .ntx files as described above before deciding the .dbf tables are bad.
It is possible that after having used the "Change Directory" facility on the
Utilities Menu, { MONEY & BANKS } may leave behind a temporary swap file in
the directory that was changed "from." You may see such files in directory
listings after normally exiting { MONEY & BANKS }; they are identified by
unique file names containing a random sequence of numbers and letters with no
file extension, perhaps something like "73C0193C" (no extension). Only AFTER
you have normally exited { MONEY & BANKS } for any session, may you safely
delete such files from the directory, if they are found. Ordinarily, the
program "cleans up" any temporary swap and/or virtual-memory files it
creates; however, if the directory is changed and the program is then exited,
a previously created temporary file may be left behind in the previous direc-
tory. If you are using { MONEY & BANKS } along with a task-switching facil-
ity or multi-tasking program, or access the DOS prompt from within { MONEY &
BANKS }, and observe such temporary files, DO NOT DELETE them; only after
properly exiting a session with { MONEY & BANKS } may you safely delete any
remaining temporary files that are found.
Technical support is provided to registered users; at the time this document
was written, technical support questions should be sent in written form to
us. Please include your phone and fax (if any) numbers as well as your
mailing address on ALL written communications. Kindly indicate the product
serial number and your CustID from the invoice. Please include *detailed*
information about your system, including version number of DOS, as well as
the *exact* problem(s) experienced (not just "this or that doesn't work").
We may well expand technical support facilities and availability in the
future; registered users will be informed of changes in our technical support
service.
[ End of main documentation ]
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 33
APPENDIX A:
────────────
{ MONEY & BANKS } Check-printing module for dot-matrix printers.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Take a sheet of regular 8.5 x 11" paper, preferably of heavy stock, and make
a "carrier" for your personal or business size checks. Cut a three-sided
slot, about 3 inches in length in the upper left of the sheet of paper:
8.5"
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ │
│ Cut a 3-sided │
│ slot with knife │
│ ______________________ to hold a check │
│ / \ <-- │
│ │
│ │
11" │ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 34
Each individual check will be inserted into that slot (just to hold it easily
in proper position for printing consistently from check to check):
8.5"
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│╔══════════════════════════════╗ │
│║ ───────── ║ Your │
│║ ──────────────────── ──── ║ regular │
│║ ─────────────────────── ║ bank check │
│║ ───────────── ║ fits here │
│║ ______________________ ║ <-- │
│╚═══/ \═══╝ │
│ and "rides" │
│ into your │
│ dot-matrix │
│ printer on │
11" │ the sheet of │
│ paper. │
│ │
│ After print- │
│ ing one │
│ check, load │
│ next one the │
│ same way, │
│ pressing │
│ <space> to │
│ print each. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
(If your dot-matrix printer feeds single sheets from the rear of the machine,
you may wish to add a second, inversely-cut "slot" to hold down the top of
your check as you load it from the rear.)
Not fancy, and certainly time-consuming if printing a lot of checks at once,
but for small accounts it does the job without purchasing specially printed
form-feed checks. For doing one, two, or a few checks at a time, this is
often easier than working with form-feed checks that require placement and
movement of the pin-feed rollers in your printer.
Practice with blank pieces of paper that are translucent and cut to the size
of your printed checks. After printing a "blank," place it over a bank check
and hold them up to the light so that you may observe where the lines print
and how to position and manipulate in YOUR printer the actual printed checks
for proper alignment of the printed words and numbers with the lines on the
checks.
The "memo," usually a merchant's account number or other info, is printed at
the top above the date to identify your remittance to the person(s) you are
sending the check. The pre-printed memo area (usually at the bottom left) on
your checks is not used.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 35
Once this is set up (after practicing a few times), you will find that almost
all checks will print properly, or very close to it, with the default set-
tings for generic checks. Remember, use of the check-printing facility is
optional and most certainly not required for beneficial use of the program
{ MONEY & BANKS }.
APPENDIX B
───────────
Registration Information:
{ MONEY & BANKS } is licensed and supplied as is, without any warranty. To
the extent permitted under applicable law, RCCO Research Associates disclaims
all warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to this software
program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any par-
ticular purpose.
In particular, this software program is not guaranteed to prevent or detect
damage to your data or programs. In no event shall RCCO Research Associates
be liable for any claims for lost profits or any damage, including, but not
limited to, special, incidental, consequential or other damage (including,
without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interrup-
tion, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of
the use of or inability to use this RCCO Research Associates product, even if
RCCO Research Associates has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or conse-
quential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.
In no case shall RCCO Research Associates's liability exceed the license fees
paid for the right to use the licensed version of the software. The license
agreement and warranty shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the
laws of the state of Tennessee.
This software program, { MONEY & BANKS }tm, is protected under the Copyright
Laws of the United States of America and all applicable International Copy-
right Conventions. Makers and/or users of illegal or unauthorized copies of
the registered version are subject to prosecution under these laws.
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Please consider how unusally low the registration price is for a full, │
│ legal, registered copy of software you may use for many years. │
│ │
│ If one uses the program beyond the liberal trial period, or attempts to │
│ continue using it without purchasing a registered copy, it must be │
│ considered unauthorized use of proprietary authorship and material. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If you find this program useful and find that you would like to continue
using { MONEY & BANKS } after a reasonable trial period of ninety days, you
should purchase a registered copy by sending payment of U.S. $25.00 (plus
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 36
U.S. $3.00 S&H; $7.00 non-U.S.) to RCCO Research Associates.
Tennessee clients kindly add the required 8.5% sales tax. Due to the low
price, all corporate and institutional purchase orders must be accompanied by
remittance. (Volume purchasers please write for further information.)
*Please* indicate disk size desired (3.5" or 5.25").
You may use the order form contained in the file Register.doc to place your
order. Alternatively, you may send a note or letter containing your name and
address, disk size desired, and payment. We would appreciate knowing where
you obtained your present copy of { MONEY & BANKS }; we utilize this infor-
mation on your source for future marketing purposes.
The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any
one time. The user may not:
a. Transfer or rent the registered version of the program or use,
copy or modify the program, in whole or in part, except as
expressly permitted in the agreement.
b. Decompile, reverse assemble or otherwise reverse engineer the
program.
c. Reproduce, distribute or revise the registered version program
documentation.
Commercial users of { MONEY & BANKS } must register and order their own
authorized copies of { MONEY & BANKS } within 60 days of first use or their
license is withdrawn.
You are encouraged to pass a copy of the unregistered version of { MONEY &
BANKS } along to your friends and associates for evaluation.
All registered users will receive an authorized copy of the latest version of
{ MONEY & BANKS } along with any updated documentation on the disk size of
their choice. Any future upgrade versions will be offered to registered
users at special upgrade prices.
The name { MONEY & BANKS } is a trademark (tm) of RCCO Research Associates.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 37
APPENDIX C
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Commonly asked questions and some answers:
Q. If I only want to write a one-time quick check to a party that will prob-
ably never receive one again from me, why do I have to set up a new PCode
for such a transaction?
A. The reports and querying modules rely on certain items of information
being available; without provided detail on a payee's name, payee/payor
status and an AlloCode, your future reports and queries would come up
blank for such one-time transactions, as would your permanent archival
records. More than one table relates to the Payee/Payor table and
requires/compiles information from it; without a PCode entry, you would
have to retype the payee's name and allocation several times for the
program to be able to handle your transaction properly. Therefore, please
realize it does not take more time to set up a one-use PCode to handle
your data, but actually much less time, and affords accurate and detailed
recordkeeping for your future queries and reports. When setting up a one-
use PCode, you may save time by omitting the address, city, phone, etc.;
always, however, enter a unique PCode, the full PName, a logical "T" or
"F" in the "Payor" cell, and a default AlloCode. If the existence of that
one-use PCode is truly bothersome, then after all annual reports are
printed and permanent archives set aside (usually in January of a new
year), you may delete the record from the Payee/Payor table (PNames.dbf).
Q. Sometimes I add an entry to the Payee/Payor or Allocations table by Quick-
Jumping to the bottom of the table and pressing <DownArrow> to provide a
new, blank record (rather than using <Alt-N> for form view entry). After
filling in the information in the different cells, I think the table
should appear in alphabetical order showing my new entry in its proper
place. Why does it stay at the bottom?
A. Because this is not the preferred method for making a new entry to a
table (we advise using <Alt-N> form view), the alphabetical sort needs a
screen "refresh" to show the new entry in its proper position. Returning
from <Alt-N> or <Alt-E> form view automatically provides a refresh of the
table view. To refresh table view while it is on-screen and after you
finish editing your new entry, try pressing <PgUp> once to rewrite the
screen; your new entry should appear in its proper position. Also, when
you <Esc> from table view back to the previous module or menu and then
again enter table view, you will see the screen refreshed and your new
entry saved in its proper place in the table. Please note that if you
enter a PCode (or AlloCode) not in "all caps," the sort order will place
it after all the capitalized PCodes (or AlloCodes); make sure you use "all
caps" for the PCode (and AlloCode) cells.
Q. I find the concept of "split transactions" difficult and time-consuming;
is there a way I can just avoid using them? (I prefer to sort my tax-
related deductions and income at year-end with cancelled checks, receipts,
W-2's, and forms 1099, anyway.)
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 38
A. There is enough flexibility in { MONEY & BANKS } to allow you to figure
out your own expedient way of doing transactions. If the absence of
detail in your deposit and check transactions covering multiple alloca-
tion categories does not bother you, we see no functional reason why it
cannot be done to suit you; it certainly will not adversely effect the
mathematical calculations of your data. The queries and reports will have
more generalized reporting detail that will not be as informative to you.
We do maintain that within a few days' worth of practice with "splits,"
their concept, importance, and ease of use will become second nature to
you in your data entry. If you must avoid the feature, simply never
allowing "SPLIT" or "SPLITD" as an AlloCode in any transaction will
prevent the split transaction screen from popping up. You will have to
create broad, generalized allocation codes to handle such transactions.
Q. I do not care to print checks on my printer -- I find it tedious, need-
lessly time-consuming, and not all that important to have computer-
generated checks. Am I missing out on a primary use of your program?
A. Not at all. Check printing is certainly not an important functional
feature of { MONEY & BANKS }. Your efficient and accurate recordkeeping
details are the primary reason for using this program. Many users will
not want to utilize computer-printed checks. However, the facility is
provided if you wish to use it and if it works with your own dot-matrix
printer and bank-printed checks. What the check-printing module lacks in
elegance and flexibility is compensated for only by the fact that we do
not require you to order specially-printed pin-feed checks (as do other
banking program publishers).
Q. Aren't there several home and business budgeting, retirement, mortgage,
investment, and loan-related features available in other commercial bank-
ing software that are absent in your program?
A. There are, certainly. Time and time again, we found that most people
rarely, or never, use such parts of CPA-designed programs. Such modules
add layers of extra code and overlays to the executable file, slowing
learning time and the execution of the task at hand: doing your banking
quickly, easily, and efficiently. We find that people enjoy using their
computers in their small business, professional, and home offices, and
that financial operations must not only be accurate, but cleanly and
swiftly executed in an attractive, visual environment with equipment and
knowledge they already possess. In our pre-development research, we found
no single other financial program (at any price) to offer these
requisites. We trust many will discover these unique features in { MONEY
& BANKS }.
Q. I dread the changeover into a new calendar year; I used another financial
program that made this an absolute nightmare, although the program worked
well during the rest of the year. May I continue doing transactions dur-
ing the first portion of the calendar year without hindrance from your
program if all items are not cleared and archived from the previous year?
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 39
A. Yes. In one widely-available commercial program, the user is aggravated
incessantly during the new year with daily reminders that it is now a dif-
ferent year and constant messages to "clean out" and permanently archive
the ending-year data and reports while trying to perform normal transac-
tions on or after January 1st. As most people know, rarely do all checks
and deposits clear immediately, the bank statements arrival dates differ,
and we may just not yet be ready to devote time to archival and final re-
porting. Carry this over more than thirty days and you are in real
trouble. We don't need to hear about this over and over and over with
beeps and bright red/white warning screens and time-consuming "temporary"
archivals as we attempt to perform our normal banking transactions during
the start of the new year. { MONEY & BANKS } quietly works with YOUR
schedule and at your pace. Continue your banking in the new year; after
all statements have been received, all ended-year items cleared, and all
needed reports printed and filed, proceed with the permanent archival of
your data. Exercise due caution when entering dates to make sure they are
indeed the correct ones needed. Also, after you have entered CHECKS dated
IN the new year, you may not then back-date subsequent CHECKS to the ended
year; end-year transactions other than checks may continue to be entered.
Q. I had a check that was prepared and entered in your program, and sent to
the payee. It got lost in the mail, and a couple of months later I had to
pay the debt in person with cash. How can I void the original check
transaction?
A. You may go into the account table and the archive table and delete the
rows containing the transaction you wish to void. You MUST then adjust
the Balance cell at the very end (bottom) row of the account table, as
there is no automatic mathematical adjustment when working in a table view
and an amount is deleted or changed. Alternately, to retain a record of
the transaction as being voided, we suggest you create two special Allo-
Codes called "VOIDD" (void debit) and "VOIDC" (void credit). Rather than
delete the record, simply change the Debit or Credit cell to "0.00" and
change the AlloCode cell to "VOIDx," where x is the indication of the type
of void. Adjust the Balance cell at the bottom of the account table for
the amount you voided out. In this manner the record of the transaction
will show in queries, reports and your recordkeeping, but with the special
allocations called "VOIDx" to remind you of what was done. You will also
have to indicate the transaction as "cleared" when it appears next in the
Reconcile module.
Q. Please explain more about the needed settings in my CONFIG.SYS file. I
understand your program fairly well, but I am not a technically-oriented
computer user.
A. CONFIG.SYS FILE INFORMATION: In the documentation of { MONEY & BANKS },
under the heading "Technical Matters" we inform the user that the
computer's CONFIG.SYS file must have a line (the FILES= statement) indi-
cating the number of file handles that DOS is to open in order to use
programs like { MONEY & BANKS }. However, we did not stress how important
this setting is. In order to successfully run { MONEY & BANKS } on most
PC's, the FILES= statement *must* be set at the number 30 or greater;
ie, FILES=30 (note: NO spaces on either side of the equals sign).
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 40
If your computer does not have this many file handles available for DOS to
utilize, { MONEY & BANKS } may load properly and run for a while. As you
get involved in your banking operations, the program is setting up
complex relations between various data tables and other components used by
the program and the version of DOS you are using. If DOS runs out of
available file handles to use, you may be forced to abruptly end your work
at an inconvenient time and be returned to DOS. Computers particularly
susceptible to this are those that have several memory-resident programs
(TSR's) installed or have a DOS "shell" (PC Tools, Norton Desktop, Norton
Commander, or the shell program that comes with DOS 5.0+, etc.).
For those users who are not familiar with what the CONFIG.SYS file is, we
shall herewith attempt to provide a little information. The CONFIG.SYS
file is an optional user-created text file located in the root directory
of your boot drive, usually the C: hard drive; its purpose is to provide
instructions to DOS regarding your system configuration. Your computer
may, or may not, have come with such a file already created for you; if
the file does NOT exist on your machine, DOS will use a certain preset
default set of parameters to operate your system. In many instances, these
default parameters are adequate to serve many of the average computer
user's needs, as long is he/she is not running very complex programs or
environments such as Microsoft Windows. These default settings are *NOT*
adequate to operate { MONEY & BANKS }. The absolute minimum you must do
is assure that you have a Config.sys file and modify it, or create it from
scratch to hold simply one item: a simple statement to DOS about how many
files DOS may have open at any one time ("files" will include bank tables,
archive tables, other tables, their associated index files, the executable
portions of { MONEY & BANKS }, plus any other of your own files: batch
files, the TSR's mentioned above, etc).
To determine whether or not you have an existing Config.sys file, at the
DOS prompt type:
C:<enter>
CD \<enter>
DIR CONFIG.SYS<enter>
This will give you a directory listing showing the existence of a
Config.sys file, or else a message stating the file was not found. If NOT
found, next type the following while in the root directory of your C:
drive:
COPY CON CONFIG.SYS<enter>
FILES=30<enter> (Note: NO spaces on either side of equals sign)
<Ctrl-Z><enter> (Press & hold Control key, press "Z", release
both, which creates a symbol that looks like the
rooftop-shaped control character in front of a
letter Z. Then press the <enter> key.)
That's it; that's all you have to do (for now). There are many other
settings that you can put into your Config.sys file, and it would be wise
to learn of them as you become more familiar with DOS and its workings.
But for now, that one simple FILES=30 statement will allow your computer
to successfully run { MONEY & BANKS }.
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 41
If your computer does already have a Config.sys file, you may examine its
contents while you are in the root directory of your C: drive by typing
the following:
TYPE CONFIG.SYS<enter> ("TYPE" is a DOS command)
Look for a line anywhere in the file that says FILES=x, where x is a
number stating the file handles DOS will have available for its opera-
tions. If the line does NOT exist, or contains a number less than 30, you
will need to modify your existing Config.sys in order to run { MONEY &
BANKS }. You will need to use a plain text editor (NOT, we repeat and
emphasize *NOT* a regular word processing program that you may have on
your computer, unless it also can create or edit plain ASCII text files).
DOS 5.0 or greater comes with a plain text editor called EDIT. To use that
particular text editor, which is not a word processor, you simply type (if
you are in the root directory of your C: drive):
EDIT CONFIG.SYS<enter>
You may then edit the lines of your Config.sys much as if you were indeed
using a word processor (you must not use a regular word processor as they
most often insert invisible proprietary formatting codes into text,
rendering a configuration or batch file useless). If you presently find a
line that appears to be FILES= with a number after, change that number to
at least 30; ie,
FILES=30 (Note: NO spaces on either side of equals sign)
If there are other lines already in the Config.sys file, we suggest you
place the FILES= statement at, or near the top of the file; each command
statement in this file must be on a separate line. Make sure you have
entered no other characters or extra blank lines in the file, and then
choose File Save from the menu (other text editors will have their ap-
propriate manner for saving the file). That's it.
After you have created or modified your Config.sys file, you *must* then
reboot your computer for these changes to take effect. To reboot your
computer, press and hold the Control key, then press and hold the Alt key,
then press the Delete key. Your computer will do what is known as a warm
reboot; the changes in your Config.sys file will then be available to DOS.
{ MONEY & BANKS } will love it.
Q. I added a second directory to handle my business accounts and believe it
to be set up properly. Everything works, except as I now press <Alt-M>
(to bring up the manual) when working in the new directory, there is an
error message telling me that "Money.doc" cannot be found. I know for
certain that I put a copy of Money.doc in the new directory. What is
wrong?
A. You should not have that extra copy of Money.doc in a secondary directory.
Money.doc (and certain other files) must exist only in the primary, or
parent, directory (usually named \MONEY). If you review the instructions
in the Quick Start section of the documentation, you will see we are very
specific as to which files must go in any new directories you set up (they
are: PNAMES.DBF, ALLOCATE.DBF, SECUR.DBF, CARDS.DBF, _ADMIN.PCX, and
ARCHIVE.DBF). Also, there is a statement in that section that reads "Do
NOT place duplicates of any other files in the secondary directories."
MONEY.DOC { MONEY & BANKS } Documentation Page 42
Simply delete any files not on the required list and the program will work
properly in secondary directories. (Do not, of course, delete any .BNK
tables you may have created.) The PATH statement in your Autoexec.bat
file *must* include the primary \MONEY directory as part of the PATH in
order to use one or more secondary directories.
Q. I see the file Register.doc [order form] in my \MONEY directory. How may
I print it out on my printer?
A. To print the registered copy order form, make sure your printer is on and
ready with at least 2 sheets of paper, change to the \MONEY directory and
at the DOS prompt, type the following:
COPY REGISTER.DOC PRN<enter>
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
{ MONEY & BANKS } tm
Software and Documentation
(C) Copyright MCMXCII, MCMXCIII RCCO Research Associates.
All Rights Reserved under International Conventions.
RCCO Research Associates
Post Office Box 196
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
37738
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Please consult your software source for programs in the
OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) Filer Series from RCCO Research.