******************************************************************** * WHOWORKS LITE * * Version 4.00 * * The Work Scheduling Program * * Copyright, 1994, by Woodland Engineering * * 46 Woodland Drive, Califon, NJ 07830, USA * ******************************************************************** WHOWORKS version 4.0 is a specialized program which allows the user to make, edit and print employee work schedules. It can also be used for other scheduling activities like seminars and hotel conference rooms. WHOWORKS is a DOS program which runs on 100% IBM compatible machines and requires either an Epson 9-pin, IBM 9-pin or HP LaserJet compatible printer. A Microsoft compatible mouse is optional but not necessary. DOS version 5.0 or later is preferred, version 3.1 or later is requrired. ******************************************************************** * INSTALLATION * ******************************************************************** It is assumed that you have a distribution disk, that is a floppy disk with all of the WHOWORKS files on it, and that you want to install those onto your hard drive. QUICK INSTALLATION -------------------------------------------------- There is a batch file on the distribution disk which can be used to perform the installation easily. It uses the default configuration. If you are installing from the A: drive, type A:INSTALL A: If you are installing from the B: drive, type B:INSTALL B: Procede to the section entitled BEFORE STARTING YOU SHOULD KNOW. STANDARD INSTALLATION ------------------------------------------------- You must decide where to store the program and text files and where to save the schedule files. These instructions are written as if you are installing the files from drive A:, but if not, substitute the proper drive letter in the commands below. The program and text files include the executeable program, the help files and special information files. The suggested location is in a directory named C:\WHOWORKS. Create the C:\WHOWORKS directory with the following DOS commands executed one-at-a-time: C: CD\ MD WHOWORKS Copy files from the distribution floppy disk with the following DOS commands executed one-at-a-time: COPY A:\WHOWORKS.* C:\WHOWORKS COPY A:\*.TXT C:\WHOWORKS For each schedule that you make, there will be a schedule file created. You must decide where to save them. The schedule files may be kept in one or more separate directories if desired, or you may keep the schedule files in the same directory as your program files. WHOWORKS comes preconfigured to keep schedule files in a directory named C:\WHOWORKS\WWFILES. You may want to organize your files differently such as C:\WHOWORKS\FIRE C:\WHOWORKS\POLICE C:\WHOWORKS\RESCUE You should make those directories now. Use the DOS MD command. For the default installation type MD C:\WHOWORKS\WWFILES Next copy the sample files included on the distribution disk to that directory, or if you created multiple directories, copy the sample files to the directory that you will start with. Later, after you are familiar with WHOWORKS, you can delete the sample files. If you chose to make a directory other than the default C:\WHOWORKS\WWFILES, substitute that directory below. COPY A:\*.WW_ C:\WHOWORKS\WWFILES ******************************************************************** * BEFORE STARTING YOU SHOULD KNOW * ******************************************************************** 1. This program opens several files simultaneously; therefore, there must be a CONFIG.SYS file on the boot disk with a FILES=7 statement. More than 7 is ok; most users have at least 10. Your DOS manual will explain what is a CONFIG.SYS file and how to edit or create one. 2. WHOWORKS saves its schedule files in one or more directories of your choice. The default directory is C:\WHOWORKS\WWFILES. When you use WHOWORKS to change to a new directory you must specify the entire path, that is, you must specify the drive and subdirectory(ies). When entering the data, the drive letter and colon MUST ALWAYS be followed by a backslash ( example C:\WHOWORKS\PHARMACY ). If you want to specify only a drive ( such as A: ) it is still necessary to use a backslash ( example A:\ ). 3. All schedule files used by WHOWORKS have the extension ".WW_". Only 128 schedule files maximum per directory are permitted. 4. If you are using a monochrome monitor with a color card installed ( many notebook PC's do ), you may start the program by adding a command line switch "/m". Start the program by typing WHOWORKS /M This will tell WHOWORKS to use the monochrome colors to achieve good contrast. 5. If you have a mouse, it can be used to rapidly move about the screens and select options. When WHOWORKS detects the presence a mouse, it displays special targets on the screens. The left button is always used to select the option, target or screen position. The middle button on 3-button mice, and the right button on 2-button mice, are equivalent to pressing the Escape key. 6. WHOWORKS allows time entries on the schedules in any form you choose, but the following is recommended to permit proper sorting of your entries. There must be one or two digits, followed by a colon, followed by 2 more digits. If you use a 12-hour clock, the letter A or P must immediately follow the digits. When a start and end time are both given, they must be separated by a hyphen "-". Examples: 0:15, 12:15A, 3:00P, 4:00-13:00. Incidently, 12:00A or 0:00 is midnight and 12:00P or 12:00 is noon. 7. WHOWORKS version 4.0 saves files differently than previous versions. It can read the older files, but older versions of WHOWORKS can not read version 4.0 files. If you have files created by an earlier version, back them up before using version 4.0. Thus if you are unhappy with the new WHOWORKS, you can restore your files and go back to using your previous WHOWORKS. ******************************************************************** * STARTING AND USING WHOWORKS * ******************************************************************** 1. Starting and Learning The best way to learn how to use the program is to create a sample schedule. Start the program by typing "WHOWORKS". ( or "WHOWORKS /M" as described above. ) 2. Directory configuration After the opening screen disappears, about 2 seconds, a clean worksheet is displayed. Across the top of the screen is a bar menu. It is called the Main Menu. To activate one of those selections, press the Alt key and the highlighted letter, or if you are using a mouse, move the mouse pointer over one of the options and press the left button. Before we do anything else, we want to check where WHOWORKS will save its files. Select the CONFIGURATION option. Having done that, a new menu window appears giving you more choices. Now select the FILES DIRECTORY. If the directory shown is acceptable, then just press the Escape key. But if you want to change to a different directory, then type it. Remember the instructions about directory entries given in the section BEFORE STARTING YOU SHOULD KNOW above. If you chose a new directory, and that directory does not exist, WHOWORKS will ask if you want the program to create it. At the conclusion of entering a new directory, or Escaping because you did not want to, select the QUIT option in the window menu. You will then be back at the main screen. 3. SETUP option Next you will use the SETUP option from the main screen. This is where we do a little planning. Think about how many weeks are needed, what is the maximum size for each entry, start dates, persons to be scheduled and title and footers for printouts. Each is discussed below. 3a. Number of Weeks .... First determine how many weeks you want to schedule. Select the NUMBER OF WEEKS option. You must enter a number from 1 to 5. Usually, a month will span 5 weeks, but every now and then a month spans 6 different weeks. If you want a matrix style printout, available with field sizes of 0 or 1 (described next), and the schedule start date will be the 1st of the month, enter 5. If you need to schedule for next week only, enter 1. Whatever your situation, pick a number. You can change it later if you need to. 3b. Field Size .... Select the FIELD SIZE option. You will have to enter one of 4 possible numbers, 0, 1, 6 or 11. This value represents the maximum size of each entry on the schedule. Size 0: Enter 0 when you simply want to indicate whether a person is to work or not. The 0 option places a mark, the pound sign #, on the schedule. Consider this option if your organization does not have shifts and the work hours are always the same, or when you do not care what time the employees are to show up. This option requires only a single column for each day of the schedule. You can not enter digits or letters with this option. Size 1: Enter 1 when a single digit or letter describes the assignment. For example, some organizations use a 1, 2 or 3 to describe which of three shifts a person works. Others use letters like D, E and N to describe Day, Evening and Night shifts. You can mix digits and letters like 1, 2 and 3 for shift assignment, H for holiday, V for vacation, and so on. Size 6: Enter 6 when six characters is enough. You can enter starting times like 7:00, 10:00A, 3:30P or 21:00. (Incidently, if you use a 12-hour clock, consider using the A or P suffix to indicate AM or PM, because WHOWORKS can sort it better.) You can use the 6-character option when the schedule entries are coded with 6 or less characters, such as RED, WHITE and BLUE. Size 11: Enter 11 when you need more than 6 characters. You can enter starting and ending times like 7:00-4:00 and 11:00-19:00. This option is also good for textual entries like SPORTGOODS, JEWELRY and DOMESTICS. If you are scheduling hotel conference rooms, 11 character fields are good for entering the renter such as ABC CO, LIONS CLUB, and JOHN DEERE. 3c. Dates .... This option is necessary to provide a schedule starting date. When you select this option, a calendar will appear along with a menu to assist with your decision. You can advance the calendars or move them backward to different months, or you can request the calendar for a specific month of your choice. Three of the menu options are for selecting the starting date. You can pick Sunday of the week containing the 1st of the month, you can select the 1st of the month, or you can specify any date. Before making your decision, first think about whether your printout will look like a standard calendar or matrix style. The matrix style can only be used with 0 and 1 field sizes. The calendar style can be used with any field size. Usually a calendar starts on a Sunday, but WHOWORKS calendars can start on any day of the week. 3d. Persons .... Skip this option for now, it will be discussed shortly in section 4. 3e. Title .... You can enter a title which appears in large bold print at the top of printouts. Enter any text which describes your schedule. Some suggestions are "OCTOBER NURSING SCHEDULE", "DECEMBER, 1999" or "ABC COMPANY ASSIGNMENTS". 3f. Footer .... You can enter two 80-character lines of text which appear at the bottom of printouts. These may be left blank. They are intended to let you add notes to the printouts. Some people put notices in the footers like "HOLIDAY PARTY, DEC 22, 8:00PM, AT WALDO'S RESTURANT". Others use it to explain the codes which they used on the worksheet like "H = HOLIDAY, V = VACATION DAY, P = PERSONAL". 4. PERSONNEL option The Persons option appears in the setup menu. This is where the names of employees are entered. Each name has a number on the screen. The number has no special meaning; it is there for reference. To enter a name, just type it. Edit an existing name by typing the new or revised name. You will notice a mark is placed between the number and the name. That mark, or the letter L, indicates WHOWORKS has allocated space for a person. There is a bar menu across the top of the screen with various options for rearranging, inserting and deleting names and for making names into labels. These are describe next. Labels .... Names do not have to be people names. Labels are special names which are used to organize and segment the printouts. For example, suppose you were scheduling a clinic. You might want the names categorized into doctors, nurses and receptionists. The worksheet and printout can look like this DOCTORS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SMITH JONES BROWN NURSES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TYLER DESOTO CHANG WILSON RECEPTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BLACK MILLETTE DOCTORS, NURSES AND RECEPTION are labels. They help to visually separate the categories. Labels can not have assignments. Regular names are toggled to or from labels by moving the highlight bar to the corresponding number and pressing the Alt-L keys. You can use the mouse to toggle between regular and label names by moving the mouse pointer to the mark or 'L' between the number and the label and pressing the left button. Delete .... To delete a name, move the highlighted bar with the cursor keys or mouse to the desired name then press Alt-D. Insert .... To insert a new name between two existing names or labels, move the highlighted bar to a number. When the Alt-I keys are depressed, all of the names beginning with the highlighted are pushed down to one higher-numbered position, and a new space is created just ahead of the highlighted bar. Be careful, however, because if the worksheet contains the maximimum number of names, the last will be pushed out ( along with its schedule ) and will be lost forever. Tag and Xchange .... The Alt-T and the Alt-X keys work together for rearranging name ordering. The sequence to follow is position the highlighted bar to one or more names which are to be moved and depress the Alt-T keys. A heart-shaped symbol appears to the left of the tagged number(s). If you make a mistake, hit the Alt-T keys again and the heart will disappear. You can also use the mouse to tag-untag a name. Just move the mouse pointer to the desired heart position and press the left button. Next move the highlighted bar to a number. When the Alt-X keys are pressed, all of the tagged names will be moved just ahead of (at a lower number than) the highlighted bar position. No names or schedules will be lost by Xchanging. They are only rearranged. Quit .... Selecting the Quit option returns you to the setup menu. 5. SCHEDULING The worksheet screen layout depends upon which format you chose earlier. A 0- or 1-character format shows 35 columns, with 1 day per column. A 6-character format shows 7 columns and the 11-character format shows 5. Days and dates are listed along the top of the screen. Moving the right and left cursor keys moves the highlighted day left or right. Moving up and down changes names. 5a. Movement keystrokes .... To make an entry on the worksheet, you must move the highlighted rectangle to the intersection of a date and a name. Use the cursor movement keys or mouse to get there. An indicator near the screen bottom shows which day number ( Day # 1 to 35 ) and which name ( Who # 1 to 32 ) is highlighted. There is only enough room on the screen to hold 16 names at one time; to see the others and to make their entries, scroll the screen by using the cursor-up, cursor-down, Ctl-page-up or Ctl-page-down keys. There might not be enough room on the screen to hold all the schedule days at one time; to see the others and to make their entries, scroll the screen. The cursor-left and cursor-right keys move the highlighted block 1 day and Ctl-cursor-left and Ctl-cursor- right keys move the highlighted block 1 week. 5b. Making schedule entries .... Entries typed on the worksheet are usually a matter of an individual's taste and organization practice. The number of characters which can be entered is based upon the format previously set. To enter an assignment just begin typing a letter or numeral. In 6- and 11-character formats, the important thing to remember is that the left-most character tells WHOWORKS whether an assignment has been entered. If the character is NOT a space, WHOWORKS believes an assignment has been entered and it will appear in the printouts. But if the first character is a space, WHOWORKS will not include the entry in printouts. If you wish to change an entry which already has an assignment, move to that position and begin typing the new assignment. If you wish to delete that entry ( remove the assignment ) make sure the field is filled with spaces. 0-character formats will only display a "#" on the schedule. This means the person is scheduled that day. Pressing any letter or digit key enters the '#' symbol. Pressing [Space] removes it. Read the section below on Editing Keys. This describes how to move the cursor, erasing the rest of the entry, insert and overwrite modes, etc to simplify your entering data. 5c. Repeat and Macro Keys .... The [^X] and [^A] through [^L] control keys can greatly simplify your typing effort while scheduling in the 6- and 11-character formats. Each time an entry is made, WHOWORKS remembers it temporarily. Rather than having to type a lengthy entry like 8:30-5:00 over and over, you can just press the [^X] key to repeat the last entry. That is, type an entry like 8:30-5:00 at the first assignment and then move through the entire schedule typing [^X] everywhere that same assignment should appear. The other control-letter keys, [^A] through [^L], can be set up with the WHOWORKS configuration option, described later, to automatically type entries with a single keystroke. These are called the macro keys because it substitutes pre-configured text for the control key. If your organization has a limited number of fixed schedule periods like the example following, these times can be tied to a control key. 5:30-10:30 Ctl-A 10:00-4:00 Ctl-B 3:30-9:00 Ctl-C 8:30-1:00 Ctl-D Now, instead of typing in each entry, the manager need only press one of four keys at each assignment. Of course he or she could still enter special assignments by typing in the usual manner. 5d. Saving .... You should save your work before you quit or print it. We also recommend saving your work periodically to guard against unexpected power losses or other mishaps. Saving is described in the FILES section of this manual a few paragraphs below this one. 6. FILES option The files option allows you to save your worksheets, recall previous worksheets, rename or delete them, select a new directory for worksheets and exit the WHOWORKS program. 6a. Save As .... This option lets you save a worksheet under a new name (file name). This option gives you the ability to leave an existing schedule file in the directory, and yet make a new schedule similar to the first without having to re-enter all of the names and assignments. If your intentions are to "copy and edit" a file, first load the existing file with the load option, then immediately save it as the new file. Doing the save-as promtly after loading means you won't forget to rename the worksheet later after those unplanned interruptions. 6b. Save .... The save option lets you save the worksheet with the same name (file name) that it currently has. If you edited a new worksheet and select this option, WHOWORKS will prompt you for a file name. 6c. Load .... The load option allows you to recall an existing file into the worksheet so it can be edited or printed. This is a good time to discuss the file selection screen. The names of all the schedule files are displayed. You select a file name by moving the bar over the name. Do this with the cursor keys or by placing the mouse pointer over the file and pressing the left button. You can get a quick overview of what is in the file by pressing the Ctl-T key to see the worksheet's title. To load the selected file either press the [Return] key or move the mouse pointer to the [Ent] target and press the left button. 6d. New .... This option erases the current worksheet and provides a clean one to begin scheduling. 6e. Directory .... You can change which directory WHOWORKS looks into for saving and loading files with the DIRECTORY option. You will be asked for the new directory name. You must provide the entire directory starting with the drive letter, colon, backslash and the string of subdirectories. If the new directory does not exist, WHOWORKS will ask if you want it created. After changing to the new directory, WHOWORKS will then ask if you want to make it the default directory. The default directory is the directory WHOWORKS looks into when the program is started. 6f. Show list .... This option just shows the schedule files existing in the directory. You can view the title with the Ctl-T key. 6g. Kill .... This option lets you delete a schedule file. Select the file as described in the load option and press [Return] or click the left mouse button on the [Ent] target. 6h. Rename .... This option allows you to change the file name of an existing file. Select the file as usual and provide the new name when asked. 6i. Quit .... This option brings you back to the main screen. Nothing else happens. You can also get back by pressing the [Esc] key. 6j. Exit .... Selecting this option ends your WHOWORKS session and takes you back to DOS. Remember to save your work before exiting. 7. PRINT option BEFORE YOU SELECT ANY OPTIONS, determine if your printer matches the printer type shown at the top of the screen. If it does not, you must change the printer type with that option. 7a. Master .... Your first choice will be printing a draft or final copy. Final copies are printed in graphics mode, are neatly formatted and look nice. However, they take a long time to print on a dot-matrix printer. In the draft mode, plain text is printed in a two column layout. It is the fastest way to get a look at the entire schedule on paper. Master schedules can be printed in matrix form or calendar style depending upon how many characters are used for each assignment. Matrix style is available for 0- and 1-character formats only. Each date is listed across the top of the page(s) and all names are listed down the left border of the paper. Assignments are printed at the intersection of the name and date. Calendar style is available for printing any master schedule no matter how many characters are specified to display the assignments. Only the names of those assigned will be printed in each day. If there is not enough room to print an entire week on the paper, because too many names are listed, additional sheets will be printed until all weeks have been printed. You will be given a chance to print the master schedule for all or some of the weeks in your schedule. A screen appears asking you to pick the first week to be printed and the last week. Follow the direction on the screen and use the cursor keys to select the first and last weeks. Press the F10 key when you are ready and the printing will start. 7e. Page eject .... This is a convenience which causes the printer to eject one page. This saves effort when using continuous form paper by not having to press buttons on the printer itself. 7f. Printer type .... When this option is selected, you are given a choice of printer types supported by WHOWORKS. If you have a printer brand not listed, examine your printer manual to determine if the printer supports any of the options. Many dot matrix printers support Epson 9-pin graphics and many laser printers understand HP Laser Jet commands (sometimes called HP's PCL). 7g. Quit .... This option brings you back to the main screen. Nothing else happens. You can also get back by pressing the [Esc] key. ******************************************************************** * EDITING KEYSTROKES * ******************************************************************** The keystrokes listed below can be used to rapidly edit various entries such as the names, footer, title, date, schedule entries and file names. [Cur Left] and [Cur Right] keys: Moves the cursor position left or right. [^Cur Left] and [^Cur Right] keys: Moves the cursor position 8 characters left or right. [Home] key: Moves cursor to left side. [End] key: Moves cursor to right side. [Tab] key: Erases entire line. [^End] key: Erases all characters above and to the right of the cursor. [Delete] key: Deletes only the single character above the cursor. [Backspace] key: Erases the character to the immediate left of the cursor. [Ins] key: Toggles between the over-write and insert modes. In the insert mode, characters are inserted at the cursor location. The cursor is a small blinking underline. In the over-write mode, a typed character simply replaces the character above the cursor. The cursor changes has a box shape. ******************************************************************** * OTHER INFORMATION YOU SHOULD KNOW * ******************************************************************** 1. Revising a schedule is easy. You do not have to redo all the names, dates and schedule data. You only have to edit the items which are different. The starting date will be new, but probably, most of the same names will appear and be in the same order, and likely much of the schedule will be similar. Of course it depends on your particular situation. Subsequent changes are usually easier than creating the first schedule. 2. Each time you try to resave a file which already exists, the existing file is renamed with a ".BAK" extension, and then a new file with the ".WW_" extension is created. Thus, some degree of security exists to overcome disasters. When you delete a file using the KILL option in the FILES menu, the file's ".BAK" copy is not deleted. Periodically, you might want to back up and clean up your directory(ies). We suggest copying all the ".WW_" files to a floppy disk for back up. Afterwards, delete all ".BAK" files. These activities can be accomplished with simple DOS copy and delete commands. 3. The length of each file is dependent upon the number of names and number of weeks in the schedule. ******************************************************************** * CONFIGURING WHOWORKS * ******************************************************************** Files directory, screen colors, macro key definitions and printer types may be configured by selecting the CONFIGURE option from the MAIN menu. Changes will take place immediately during the session in which these are changed; however, to take effect permanently, that is each time WHOWORKS is run, the changes must be saved. 1. Files directory .... This is the same option as is available in the FILES menu. Please refer back to that section of this manual. 2. Screen colors .... Users with color systems can easily change the screen colors used in WHOWORKS. Each color has two attributes, the foreground color ( such as the letters you are currently reading ) and a background color, which is as the name suggests, the area behind the characters. These two attributes together are called a color pair. Sample text is displayed for each color pair. The foreground attribute can have one of sixteen different values and the background can have one of eight values. Use the cursor keys to move the highlighted bar to the color pair number which you desire to change. Depress "F" to change the foreground color and "B" to change the background. Try different combinations until an appealing combination is displayed. Then move to the next color pair and do the same thing. Some users have color cards installed in their computer but have a monochrome monitor. This combination will display shades of gray. Many notebook PC's are built this way. In these cases, it is strongly suggested to use WHOWORKS's preset monochrome colors by pressing the "M" key. Pressing the "D" key, reloads WHOWORKS's default colors. 3. Macro keys .... Frequently used keystrokes for typing schedule entries may be stored permanently and then recalled with the control keys. Each of the available control keys will be listed along with their substitutions beside. To edit the characters, move the highlighted bar over the control key letter and begin typing. Remember, the left-most character must be a non-space character or WHOWORKS will ignore the assignment in the printouts. 4. Printer .... This is the same option as available from the PRINT option in the MAIN menu. Please refer back to this section of the manual.