PC-FLORIST version 2.0 July 29, 1995 Professional Product Costing For Flower Shops User's Guide Page 2 Acknowledgements IBM, IBM-AT, IBM 286 AND PC-DOS are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. LIMITED WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE PROVIDED FOR EVALUATION ONLY, ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. SCHRECK SOFTWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER SCHRECK SOFTWARE NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SCHRECK SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE RESULTS, QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. THE USER IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR TESTING THE SOFTWARE WITH HIS/HER DATA FOR REASONABLENESS AND ACCURACY OF RESULT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SCHRECK SOFTWARES' LIABILITY EVER EXCEED ANY PRICE PAID, DIRECTLY TO SCHRECK SOFTWARE, FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE CLAIM. YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota and shall inure to the benefit of SCHRECK SOFTWARE and any successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction located in Washington County, Minnesota. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts. If any provision of this agreement is found void, invalid or unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of the agreement. Page 3 30 DAY EVALUATION LICENSE Use of this product (PC-FLORIST software) constitues your acceptance of these terms and conditions and your agreement to abide by them. PC-FLORIST is NOT a public domain program. It is copyrighted by LEE SCHRECK. This software and accompanying documentation are protected by United States copyright law and also by international treaty provisions. SCHRECK SOFTWARE grants you a limited license to use this software for evaluation purposes for a period not to exceed thirty days. If you continue using this software after the thirty-day evaluation period, you MUST make the registration payment to SCHRECK SOFTWARE. You may not use, copy, rent, lease, sell, modify, decompile, disassemble, otherwise reverse engineer, or transfer this evaluation program except as provided in this agreement. Any such unauthorized use shall result in immediate and automatic termination of this license. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved to SCHRECK SOFTWARE. ASP MEMBER BBS SYSTEMS may distribute this shareware version of PC-FLORIST, completely unaltered, without further permission. For other distribution you must consult the data record in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Any distribution satisfying all the distribution requirements expressed in that data record is hereby authorized. Permission to distribute the PC-FLORIST package is not transferable, assignable, saleable, or franchisable. Each vendor wishing to distribute the package must independently satisfy the terms of this limited distribution license. U.S. Government Information: Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the computer software and documentation in this package shall be subject to the restricted rights applicable to commercial computer software as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013 (DFARS 52.227-7013). The Contractor/manufacturer is SCHRECK SOFTWARE, 1420 Interlachen Circle, Woodbury MN 55125. SCHRECK SOFTWARE may revoke any permissions granted here, by notifying you in writing. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved to SCHRECK SOFTWARE. Page 4 PROGRAM OVERVIEW PC-FLORIST was developed as an easy to use Product Costing System for flower shops. If you hate the learning curve of most software packages, you will love PC-FLORIST. With PC-FLORIST you will no longer manually calculate product cost each time input costs change. Just compare invoice prices with the stock item listing in PC-FLORIST, edit any prices that have changed, and PC-FLORIST will instantly update all calculations throughout! PC-FLORIST is very easy to use! Although developed to calculate materials cost, you might also include direct labor, supplies, or other overhead as "stock items." Just remember that any costs not included in your defined product cost, must be covered by the gross profit. Gross profit must also cover your desired net profit. PC-FLORIST will maintain two required selling prices for each product. One selling price is based on a desired gross profit dollar amount, while the other is based on a desired gross profit percentage. Gross profit is selling price minus defined cost. The "price changes" feature of PC-FLORIST will alert you to items which are outside of your pricing specifications. Review the listing and decide if the price should be updated. Pricing is an "art" not a science. PC-FLORIST is NOT an "expert" system capable of determining appropriate prices for you. Don't forget competition when pricing! Also, remember that gross profit must cover all operating costs and provide you with your desired profit. Don't confuse gross profit with net profit. Another feature of PC-FLORIST is the Product Mix function which will maintain an overall cost, total revenue and total gross profit for one or more product "mixes." Also included in PC-FLORIST is the ability to export all stock items to a file ready for import to your spreadsheet program. With this feature, you may develop your own stock item reports, input forms, maintain inventory balances, etc. CONTENTS OF DISKETTE The PC-FLORIST diskette contains the following files (and possibly others): FLRST.EXE the PC-FLORIST program STOCK.DAT "STOCK ITEM" data file (created when data is first defined) ARRNG.DAT "ARRANGEMENT" data file (created when data is first defined) PROD.DAT "PRODUCT" data file (created when data is first defined) SETUP.DAT report format settings *.MMX "PRODUCT MIX" file (file name(s) determined by user) FLRST.ICO icon file for use with WINDOWS 3.1 installation FILE_ID.DIZ information for bulletin board systems FLRST.TXT this user manual VENDINFO.DIZ complete information on distribution, licensing, etc. The "DAT" and "MMX" files MUST BE CONSIDERED AN INSEPARABLE SET. To begin with all new data, delete the "DAT" files and any "MMX" files. When you back-up your data, ALWAYS keep the "DAT" and "MMX" files in one set. Failure to do so will cause unpredictable results! Page 5 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND PROGRAM CAPACITIES MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: IBM or compatible "286" (AT) or compatible computer with 640K RAM, one 720K or 1.44MM 3.5" floppy drive, hard drive and a printer. PROGRAM CAPACITIES: From the Main Menu, PC-FLORIST displays the minimum number of additional items which may be added. This is the sum of stock items, arrangements, and products. Please note that if an item is deleted, the counter will not release the record. Adding a new item after previously deleting an item will likewise not reduce the counter. Total capacity is approximately 3,100 items (stock items, arrangements, products). DISK SPACE: The Main Menu displays available disk space. Do not attempt to exceed available space! Always leave a safety margin. Unpredictable results will occur if disk space is exceeded, including program crash. INSTALLATION The following instructions assume your hard drive is drive "C" and the distribution diskette is in floppy drive "A". 1) Create a subdirectory on your hard drive: C:MD FLORIST 2) Copy all files from the diskette to the hard drive subdirectory: C:COPY A:*.* C:\FLORIST 3) Installation in Microsoft WINDOWS 3.1 (PC-FLORIST is a DOS program): a) Complete steps 1 and 2 or use the WINDOWS file manager to do the same. b) From the WINDOWS 3.1 Program Manager, select File, New, Program Item. c) Enter a description: PC-FLORIST d) Enter a command line: C:\FLORIST\FLRST.EXE e) Select Change Icon, OK, Browse, C:\FLORIST\FLRST.ICO, OK, OK, OK STARTING PC-FLORIST PC-FLORIST uses the computer's system clock in several functions. If you have not set the clock, please do so. Enter the following command from your new subdirectory to start PC-FLORIST: C:\FLORIST\FLRST To run PC-FLORIST in black and white, add /b to the end of the command. Page 6 GENERAL PROGRAM OPERATION Begin the definition process with STOCK ITEMS. Press F1 in any input field to view specific help for that field. The idea is to first define the way you purchase (obtain) the stock item. Then "break it down" to the unit used in your ARRANGEMENTS and FINAL PRODUCTS. Proceed from top to bottom on the screen when defining a new stock item. The ARRANGEMENTS section is where you "build" your floral arrangements or possibly develop the total cost of producing your own stock. Begin by entering a description. Then save the arrangement and proceed with inserting stock items. Return to edit the qty and usage unit fields by pressing F7. The resulting "gross qty" might be your planned "harvest" qty, while the "net qty" would be your actual result. The total cost of your defined "arrangement" is absorbed by the net qty. The yield factor reduces "gross" to "net." If the arrangement is instead single floral arrangement, the gross qty would be 1 and the yield would be 100 (resulting a net qty of 1). You might also decide to "build" your arrangement directly as a FINAL PRODUCT. FINAL PRODUCTS are the items you sell in your shop. You "build" a "PRODUCT" in PC-FLORIST the same way that ARRANGEMENTS were defined (see prev paragraph). Howver, PRODUCTS may use STOCK ITEMS or ARRANGEMENTS or both. Save the item after first defining a description, then return to edit the other fields after inserting your STOCK ITEMS/ARRANGEMENTS. For items you simply purchase and resell, first define them as STOCK ITEMS and then as FINAL PRODUCTS. PRODUCT MIX files are extremely useful for bidding multiple product sales. Use a recognizable file name such as the first 8 characters of the customer name, etc. PC-FLORIST was designed to be flexible. Use the STOCK ITEM, ARRANGEMENT, FINAL PRODUCT, and PRODUCT MIX sections any way you wish to best meet your product costing/pricing/bidding needs. NOTE: On-line help is available at the press of the F1 key. Data input fields also have help available by pressing F1 while the cursor is in a field. Because most of the program's features are presented in help screens, that information will not be presented again in this printed documentation. You are encouraged to take a tour of PC-FLORIST and review the help screens before actually beginning to define your data. Help screens do not exceed one page in length. Page 7 DON'T MISS THESE IMPORTANT POINTS: 1) The main menu help screen discusses moving around in PC-FLORIST. Be sure to try finding a stock item, arrangement or product by just pressing the key of the first character of the description. Continue to press the key to scroll through the listing. 2) When using a mouse, double click to select a list choice. Single click to select a button choice or to answer a (Y / N) question. 3) When defining a product or arrangement, input the description, save the record, insert the desired stock items/arrangements, then return to edit/define the remaining fields by pressing F7=Edit. 4) The location of the highlight bar determines the selections available for printed reports in stock items, arrangements and products. 5) When printing, the "lines per page" may be set for fewer lines than are available per page to add additional blank lines after a page number. Do not set the "lines per page" to exceed your printer's normal lines per page (normally 66 for a dot matrix and 60 for a laser). 6) IF YOU INTEND TO EXPORT STOCK ITEMS BY USING F8=FILE, DO NOT USE DOUBLE QUOTATIONS (") IN ANY STOCK ITEM TEXT FIELD. THE DOUBLE QUOTE CHARACTER SIGNALS THE END OF A TEXT FIELD FOR MANY PROGRAMS. IMPORTING THE STOCK ITEMS THAT CONTAIN DOUBLE QUOTES WITHIN A DESCRIPTION OR NOTE WILL MOST LIKELY CAUSE THE RECORD TO IMPORT INCORRECTLY TO YOUR SPREADSHEET PROGRAM. 7) A numeric field that displays a preceeding "%" sign contains a value that has overflowed the display. The value may also be negative in adddition to being too large for the display. Examine the item containing the overflow for reasonableness. PC-FLORIST was designed for FLORAL costing, not for space shuttle development. The fields should allow for display if the values are reasonable. MESSAGE FROM THE ASP This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). The ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, the ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon MI 49442-9427, or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. The OMB may also be contacted by FAX by sending to the ASP FAX number: (616)788-2765. When contacting the OMB, please include a telephone number and/or FAX if available.