Collection of Education/collectionofeducationcarat1997.iso/RELIGION/PDMEMB3B.ZIP/QUIKSTRT.DOC

Text File | 1993-08-05 | 16KB | 293 lines

Introduction

The ProDev*MEMBER Church Membership System is designed to allow you to quickly
and easily add and modify Members, Spouses, Children and Visitors to your
membership data files.  You can track all talents and accomplishments.  You can
easily print a variety of Mailing Labels and Reports to help manage your
church.

When you are asked for a Password in the Tools Menu, the un-registered password
is the word PASSWORD.

When you are asked for the Giving Password, the starting default is the word
GIVING.  You can change this password in the Modify Giving sub-menu.

PLEASE NOTE - As you are building the Member/Visitor records, you MUST fill in
the "Date Joined" to indicate to this system that the person is a member of
your church.  If you are not sure of the date, I suggest that you use
01/01/1899 so that the system will realize the person is a member.  "Joined"
may be changed to "Confirmed" or some other term by the "Change Field Titles"
selection in the Setup Menu.

If the date is BLANK ("  /  /  ") the system assumes the person is NOT a
member of your church.  If you wish to blank a date, locate the cursor at the
beginning of the date field and press Ctrl/Y (while holding down the Ctrl key,
tap the Y key).

BE SURE you look at the bottom of the screen if you don't know what to do next.
The messages there usually tell you all of the options available at any time.

                    When All Else Fails - Press F1 for Help!

If you have below DOS 3.3, the F1 Help screens are not functional and some
parts of the program won't function.

Insert the ProDev*MEMBER disk in drive A: and type ...

   INSTALL C:   (Enter)

This will run the INSTALL program that will create the C:\MEMBER sub-directory
and copy (and un-compress) all of the necessary files to the C:\MEMBER
sub-directory (or whatever drive letter you type).

To run the ProDev*MEMBER system from the hard disk, type the drive letter of
the hard disk followed by a colon. For example "C:". You should see the hard
disk prompt (such as "C>"). Then, type:

     CD\MEMBER   (Enter)
     MEMB      (Enter)
System Files

The CONFIG.SYS File

THE MEMBER PROGRAM WILL CRASH with a "DOS Error 3" at the middle of the screen
when you try to Create, Modify or Print Labels or Reports, you will need to
re-start the computer with a CONFIG.SYS file as described below.  It will
contain information that tells the PC that there will be more than 3 files open
at the same time.

To create the CONFIG.SYS file, use the MEMBER program "Tools Menu", "Modify
System Files" Sub-Menu to create or modify your CONFIG.SYS file.  Highlight
that selection and press Enter.  You will be asked for the Password.  This is
the Password you specified when you registered the program.  Press C to
Create/Modify the CONFIG.SYS file.

If you are creating the CONFIG.SYS file, just type in the following two
commands and press F10 to save.  If you are modifying the CONFIG.SYS file,
either modify these two lines (if they exist) or add them to the end of the
CONFIG.SYS file.  Press F10 to save the changes. YOU MUST RE-START YOUR
COMPUTER for the changes to take effect.

     FILES=30
     BUFFERS=15

The FILES command can be higher than 30 if required by other software on your
computer.  Having a large BUFFERS command usually slows your system and higher
than 15 is not recommended.

IF YOU HAVE BELOW MS/IBM-DOS VERSION 3.3, the program can have only 15 files
open at a time.  To stay within this limit, the program will disable the HELP
screens to keep from opening too many files at a time.  However, some parts of
the program that opens a lot of files may not function.

The AUTOEXEC.BAT File

Your computer looks at both the CONFIG.SYS file and the AUTOEXEC.BAT file at
start-up time.  The AUTOEXEC.BAT file contains the commands that usually take
you into a hard disk menu, Windows or some other shell type hard disk manager.
If you have DOS 3.3 or higher, you need the command SET CLIPPER=F:30 in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

As above, use the MEMBER program "Tools Menu", "Modify System Files" Sub-Menu
to create or modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  Highlight that selection and press
Enter.  You will be asked for the password.  This is the Password you specified
when you registered the program.  Then, press A to Create/Modify the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
If you do not already have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, just add the command SET
CLIPPER=F:30 and press F10 to save. If you are modifying an existing
AUTOEXEC.BAT file, move to the beginning of the PATH line and press Enter. This
should open up a blank line just above the last line.  Use the Up Arrow to move
to the beginning of the blank line and type SET CLIPPER=F:30.  If you will be
running ProDev*MEMBER as a DOS application from Windows, add the command
SET MEMBAK=Y after the SET CLIPPER command.  Press F10 to save.

First Time Program Set-Up Options

The first time you run the MEMBER program, the program to ask you for the
program Set-Up defaults.  Highlight the "Set-Up" Main Menu.  Highlight each
Sub-Menu with the cursor arrow keys and press Enter.

Color/Monochrome Monitor - Highlight the "Monitor (Color/Mono)" Sub-Menu and
press Enter.  Press C for a color monitor or an M if you have a monochrome
(non-color) monitor.  Highlight "Save New Set-Ups" and press Enter to add this
to the MEMBER.MEM file.

Data File Drive & Path - Highlight the "Data File Drive & Path" Sub-Menu and
press Enter.  The program will display the Drive and Sub-Directory where the
ProDev*MEMBER system is installed.

Printer Action Table - Highlight the "Printer Action Table" Sub-Menu and press
Enter.  Using the cursor arrow keys, highlight the name of your printer.  If
you do not see the name of your printer and have a dot matrix printer, start
with the EPSONFX file.  Appendix A of the manual will describe how you can
create your own Printer Action Table file if you have a printer not shown.
After you select your printer, you will be asked for the default number of
lines for report pages.  Use the default of 59 unless you are using paper stock
longer than 11 inches.  Highlight "Save New Set-Ups" and press Enter to add
this to the MEMBER.MEM file.

Label Printing Defaults - There are many types of label stock for both dot
matrix and laser printers.  You need to select the type of stock for your
printer and needs.  After you select the paper stock, and if you are in the
USA, indicate if you have an HP compatible laser or Epson compatible 24 pin dot
matrix printer so you can print ZIP Code bar codes.

Establish Church Name - Highlight this Sub-Menu and press Enter.  Type the name
of your church.  This will appear at the top of many reports.  Although the
screen field is only 35 characters wide, you can type up to 50 characters for
your church name as the field will scroll.  When you press Enter, you can type
in the name or two letter abbreviation for your State.  This is so the
Pictorial Directory will only print the State if it is different than your own.
Change Field Titles - Highlight "Change Field Titles" on the Setup Menu and
press Enter.  If you intend to use Titles, such as Mr., Mrs., etc., place a Y
in the Use Titles field.  Otherwise use N.  Some churches use "Joined" where
your church may use the term "Confirmed".  Spec Info Code Width can be 1, 2 or
3 depending on how many codes you wish to create and how many you wish to
assign to each person.  Two is recommended.  See the detailed discussion of
this under Special Information Codes in the manual.

Some churches use "Flier List" to indicate those that are to receive the
monthly newsletter.  You may wish to call it "Mail List".

Many churches have a building improvement fund. Thus, the "Bld List" title.
You may want to call it "Mem List" for a Memorial Fund list.  When you get to
Section 7 on Giving Statements, you will find that giving is tracked under 3
categories (General, Bld Giving and Other).  The title on the Post Giving
screen and on the Statement could be changed from Bld Giving to "Mem. Fund".