:Help file for the BILLING program
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.1
MAIN MENU -- CUSTOMER ACTIVITIES                                               1

This  menu  selection  allows  you to add, update(change), and display customer
records.  The DOS file called CUSTOMER.DAT contains such information  as  name,
street address, city, state, zip, telephone number, etc.

This version of the program DOES NOT allow for  the  use  of  a  fixed  monthly
service  fee.   Call  the  author  for a different program to allow for a fixed
monthly fee.  This program will allow you to create as many  bills, during  the
month, for a given customer as you desire.

Use the   Cursor positioning keys to select additional information,  then
press the Enter key to view that information.
.2
MAIN MENU -- ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS                                               2

This  menu selection allows you to look at the History or Current Account files
for any given customer.  Selection of Current will also allow you to update and
add  records  to  the Current months billing information.  These records can be
modified in any manner UNTIL such time as the bill is printed and  the  Current
Account  records are copied to the History Account file.  After the records are
are copied to the History Account  file,  the  Current  Account  file  will  be
deleted since it is no longer needed.

.3
MAIN MENU -- PRINTING                                                          3

This menu allows you to print the following reports:
        Labels
        Bills
        Maintainer
        Accounting
        Customer
        Income

.4
MAIN MENU -- YEAR END PROGRAMS                                                 4

This menu selection allows you to perform the following Year end tasks
necessary to support the program functions:

        End of Year Update       Creates next year's history files
        Print History Accounts   Prints the History files
        Backup Files             Provides some considerations for file backup.

.5
MAIN MENU -- SPECIAL PROGRAM MENU                                              5

This  menu  selection allows you to perform SPECIAL tasks necessary to support
the program functions.
        Delete last year's History Accounts
        Customize the program with your data
        Build customer index
        Register your serial number

.6
MAIN MENU -- INSTALL PROGRAM UPDATES                                           6

This  menu selection allows you to install the program updates provided to
subscribers.  Selection of this option will provide directions necessary to
install  the  update diskette(s).

NOTE: Make sure that the diskette drive letter of the BILLING.INI file contains
the drive id of the drive the UPDATE diskette is inserted into.  For example if
you insert the UPDATE diskette into drive B, make sure the BILLING.INI file
contains a B for the diskette drive identity.  To do this, at the main menu
press {s} to go to the Special Program Menu, then press {c} to review the
Customize The System Parameters.

@33[How to run the program customizer during the program]

.7
QUIT                                                                           7

By selecting this menu option the program will return to the previous screen.
Repeatedly pressing Q will cause the program to finally asks you if you wish to
quit the program and return to the DOS system.

.8
CUSTOMER MENU -- ADD CUSTOMERS                                                 8

Adding customers is just that.  The customer is automatically assigned the next
customer number (at the end of the customer file) and the  data  captured  from
the screen is written to the customer data file.

After the customer data has been entered, press the Esc(ape) key to go to the
next screen.  You are then asked if the data base should be updated with the
data you just entered.  Press the desired key to continue.  You are now asked
if you want to continue adding customer data.  Press the desired key to
continue.

.9
CUSTOMER MENU -- UPDATE CUSTOMERS                                              9

This selection allows you to change any field on the customer file input
screen.  You will be asked to enter the desired customer number of the data you
wish to change.  If you do not know the correct customer number you may enter
the first letter of the last name and the program will list all of the last
names beginning with that letter.

After the customer data has been modified, press the Esc(ape) key to go to the
next screen.  You are then asked if the data base should be updated with the
data you just entered.  Press the desired key to continue.  You are now asked
if you want to continue changing customer data.  Press the desired key to
continue.

.10
CUSTOMER MENU -- DISPLAY CUSTOMERS                                            10

You will be prompted to select the customer of your choice.  If you do not know
the correct customer number you may enter the first letter of the last name and
the program will list all of the last names beginning with that letter.

Pressing the Esc(ape) key repeatedly allows you to scroll up through the
customer records.  In between customer records you may stop scrolling through
the customer records.
.11
ACCOUNTS MENU -- HISTORY FILES                                                11

You will be prompted to select the customer of your choice.  If you do not know
the correct customer number you may enter the first letter of the last name and
the program will list all of the last names beginning with that letter.  By
entering the desired customer number the selected customer Historical Account
data is displayed for review.  Since this information is History it can not be
changed.

If the customer history file has more than ten lines of data, the Esc key is
used to page down through the file.  

.12
ACCOUNTS MENU -- CURRENT RECORDS                                              12

You will be prompted to select the customer of your choice.  If you do not know
the correct customer number you may enter the first letter of the last name and
the program will list all of the last names beginning with that letter.

You record payments by entering a date, a statement such as "Check number xxxx
dated mm/dd/yy", and entering the amount paid.  You can also enter any special
billing.  To collect taxes for any entry the tax flag should be set to Y.  You
may change any data on the screen and it will be updated in the file.  If you
want to remove a line item just change the description field to blanks.

If the customer current file has more than ten lines of data, the Esc key is
used to page down through the file.  

.13
PRINT MENU -- LABELS                                                          13

You will be prompted to select the ALL customers, all ACTIVE customers or
all INACTIVE customers.   You may want to send out a special sales message to
your inactive customers asking what it would take for them to become active
again.

The program will print mailing labels using 1" X 3 1/2" pin feed labels, or the
LaserJet version which uses (3 across 10 done) 1" x 2 5/8" labels.

.14
PRINT MENU -- BILLS                                                           14

The program will prompt you to enter a one to four line message that will be
printed at the bottom of each bill created during this run.  Any sales message
can be created in this manner, e.i.  special sales, Merry Christmas, etc.

You must select the customer of your choice.  If you do not know the correct
customer number you may enter the first letter of the last name and the program
will list all of the last names beginning with that letter.

The  program will print a bill for each customer where the active customer flag
is Y ***OR*** if the balance due is greater than, or less than $0.00.

.15
PRINT MENU -- MAINTAINER REPORT                                               15

MAINTAINER definition:  A maintainer is one of your employees that provide the
services to your customers.

Selecting this function will result in a listing being printed which is sorted
by the name of the maintainer.  It displays customer information and totals the
service charges for each maintainer.  Use this report to determine what each
maintainer contributes to your business.  Could also be used to determine
workload among your employees, etc.

.16
PRINT MENU -- ACCOUNTING REPORT                                               16

Selecting this function results in the printing of the History Accounts for
each selected customer.  While this function is mainly used at year end to
print out the History Accounts, it can be used to obtain a listing any time
during the year.  This listing could be given to your accountant to document
the total activity for each customer during the year.

You will be prompted to print ALL customers, ONE customer, or NONE.  You will
also be asked if you want to start with a certain customer.  NONE might seem to
be a strange selection, but if you decide that you really didn't want to
continue you can stop the function by entering NONE.  If you answered that you
wanted to start with a particular customer, you will be prompted to select the
customer of your choice.  If you do not know the correct customer number you
may enter the first letter of the last name and the program will list all of
the last names beginning with that letter.

.17
PRINT MENU -- CUSTOMER REPORT                                                 17

This function creates a listing of all customers sorted in the sort field
sequence you entered for each customer record.  The active customer flag is
printed as well as the customer's phone number.  A stop date is printed for
each inactive customers.  Your CPA may use the number of customers you lost
during the year to your advantage(at least that was a beta test site request).

.18
PRINT MENU -- INCOME REPORT                                                   18
This function will read the History Account Files and total the sales tax that
has been billed and the dollar amount customers have paid this year.  It then
reads the Current Account Files and totals the dollar amount customers have
paid during the current month.  The income amount is then calculated by
subtracting the total taxes received from the sum of History payments and the
Current payments.

.19
YEAR END MENU -- PRINT HISTORY ACCOUNTS                                       19

Selecting this function results in the printing of the Historical Accounts.
You will be prompted to select a given year.  The year that you select must be
either this year or last year.  You may print last years History Account files
provided that you have not deleted them from your hard drive.  Please read the
help screen for the Delete History Accounts menu selection for additional help.

@20[Delete History Accounts]

.20
SPECIAL PROGRAM MENU -- DELETE HISTORY ACCOUNTS                               20

Selecting this function results in the deletion of the Historical Accounts.
You will be prompted to select a given year.  The year that you select must be
prior to the current year.  This function is mainly used to CLEAN up the hard
drive.  When the end of month update program runs at year end it creates next
year's History Accounts, it does not delete the old History Accounts.  If you
continue to run the end of month update program, year after year, the hard
drive would eventually fill up.  Before this happens you should delete last
years History Accounts (probably in June or whenever you are through with last
years History Accounts).  Remember a diskette copy of last year's History
Accounts was made at year end.  The only reason they remain on the hard drive
is so that you may display them in order to answer customer questions
concerning last years activity.

NOTE:  It is not unusual for customers to inquire about something that happened
last year.  This is the only reason why  you  may  want  to  keep  last  year's
history accounts around for awhile.
          DELETE THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO RELEASE DISK SPACE

.21
SPECIAL PROGRAM MENU -- INDEX BUILD FOR CUSTOMER FILE                         21

The customer index file is used to allow you to enter the first letter of the
customer's last name to get a list of customer names beginning with that
letter.  If you enter f for example, all customers with a last name beginning
with the letter f would be listed together with their customer numbers.  Many
of the programs use this function.  It is important that the index is built
when appropriate.

In the original version the index was automatically updated.  As time passed
however, it was determined that to update the index for each change took too
long. IT IS NECESSARY FOR YOU TO DETERMINE WHEN TO REBUILD THE INDEX.  You
should do it after adding one or a group of new customers, or when you change a
the sort field of a Customer record.

.22
SPECIAL PROGRAM MENU -- REGISTER SERIAL NUMBER                                22

When you subscribe and pay your registration fee, the author will call you and
give you a registration number, or one will be mailed to you.  You should enter
the registration number using this menu function.

Once the registration number is entered, the License and Warranty prompts that
have been appearing at the end of the program and the watermark on the invoices
will be removed.

.23
KEYBOARD USAGE      PLEASE READ CAREFULLY                                     23
There are two types of screens, Menu Selection and Data Entry.  Both screens
allow you to press the Esc key to advance to the next screen.  Each screen uses
the keyboard in a slightly different manner.

To learn the difference between Menu Selection and Data Entry usage of the
keyboard, press the Enter or Return Key now.

@24[Menu Selection Screen Keyboard Usage]

.24
MENU SELECTION SCREEN KEYBOARD USAGE                                          24
You select a menu item using one of two methods.

The   cursor positioning keys will move the menu selection bar.  To activate
your selection you must then press the Enter key.

A quicker method to activate a selection, is to press the key representing the
first letter of the desired selection.  If for example, your desired selection
is "Mouse", pressing the letter 'm' would ACTIVATE the selection "Mouse", no
need to press the Enter key.

The Esc key may be used to return to the previous menu.

@25[Data Entry Screen Keyboard Usage]

.25
DATA ENTRY SCREEN KEYBOARD USAGE                                              25
The following keys are used when using a data entry screen:
The <- and  ->  cursor  positioning  keys  will  move  the  cursor  within  the
highlighted  field.   The   cursor  positioning  key  will  move the cursor to
the previous field.  The  cursor  positioning  key  and  the  Enter  key  will
advance  the  cursor  to  the next field.  If you press the Enter key while the
cursor is positioned in the last data entry field on the the screen the program
will go to the next screen.

The space bar and any data key will enter data and move to the next position.

The Home key will move the cursor to the beginning of the field and the END key
will move the cursor to end of the entered data.

The Ins, Del, Backspace, Capslock, and Shift keys perform as normal.

The Esc key can be used when the cursor is in the middle of a data entry
screen.  For example you need to update field eight of a data entry screen
which displays 25 fields.  When your update of field eight is complete,
pressing the Esc key will cause the program to move the next screen.

.26
SPECIAL PROGRAM MENU -- CUSTOMIZE THE SYSTEM                                  26

Customizing the Service Billing Program With Your Data
During the setup process it is necessary for you to customize the software with
YOUR unique information.  Your business name, address, state, telephone number,
zip code, etc.  are entered on the next screen by you.  The prompts at the
bottom of the screen indicate the desired information to be entered.

CAUTION!:  Do not change the path information for the PROGRAM subdirectory.  It
has already been set to the current path used for the program files.

CAUTION:  If you change the DATA subdirectory path, the program will not be
able to find the data files.  On the other hand this allows you to have
multiple data files.  For example, when you run the tutorial you will use a
test subdirectory It is beneficial to keep the test data subdirectory for
testing new releases of the program.  Change the name to test whenever you want
to test the system and want to protect your real data.  When finished testing,
change the data subdirectory back to your the subdirectory containing your real
data.
@33[How to run the program customizer during the program]

.27
YEAR END MENU -- END OF YEAR UPDATE                                           27

You have selected the Year End Function.  It should only be run at the end of
the year when no more account records are to be added for any customer.  For
each History Account file for the year that has a balance of other than zero,
an Account History file for next year will be created.  It will contain one
record with a date of 01/01/YY, a description of "Balance carried over from
last year", and a balance due amount.  This amount will be the balance due from
the end of this year.

It is now time to backup the files.  The next screen will tell you how to do
this.  Except for December, the program will end so that you can perform the
backup.  In December you will be reminded that you should wait till the end of
the year to perform the backup.  These files should be saved as a permanent
record for your company.

.28
Service Billing Program Install Note                                          28

This BILLING program is a Shareware program.  That means that you TRY IT BEFORE
YOU BUY IT.  After 35 days of evaluation you must either delete the program
from your computer, or pay for this program by sending your payment with the
registration form to the author.  The file REGISTER.DOC contains the
registration form.

    ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
    ║                This is a fully functioning program!                ║
    ║                      ╔══════════════════════╗                      ║
    ║                      ║  WITH ONE EXCEPTION  ║                      ║
    ║                      ╚══════════════════════╝                      ║
    ║          All invoices created by an unregistered version           ║
    ║         of this program will include the following notice:         ║
    ║                                                                    ║
    ║                                                                    ║
    ║ "Bill printed using an unregistered copy of the billing program."  ║
    ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

    *************THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED JUST THIS ONCE**************

.29
SETUP PROGRAM -- MAIN MENU                                                    29
The MAIN MENU has two functions:
           1. Present a list of tasks to be performed
           2. Exit the SETUP program.

If you change your mind the Exit item will end the SETUP program and return to
DOS.  OTHERWISE, Press {t} to view the Task List.

.30
SETUP PROGRAM -- TASK MENU  -- CUSTOMIZE                                      30

Perform the customize function first.  It will customize the program with your
information.  After changing the sample data to YOUR data, press Esc(ape) key
to be returned to the TASK menu.

.31
SETUP PROGRAM -- TASK MENU  -- VIEW FILES                                     31

This task will start the INFO program so that you may read or print the
documentation files.  You should print the TUTORIAL.DOC file so that you may go
through it step by step.  Doing this will enable you to learn things that are
not intuitively obvious.  When you exit the INFO program you will return to the
TASK menu.

.32
SETUP PROGRAM -- TASK MENU -- START SERVICE BILLING PROGRAM                   32

Selecting this task will stop the SETUP program and start the Service Billing
Program.

NOTE: Make sure you have customized the program  first before you start the
Service Billing program by typing {s}

.33
GENERAL CUSTOMIZING INFORMATION                                               33

Running the program customization function from the Service Billing Program.

You may run the customizer any time you want to change any of YOUR information.
To run the customizer perform the following steps:
     1. Start the Service Billing program.
     2. On the MAIN menu press the {s} key.
     3. On the Special Program menu press the {c} key.
     4. When finished making changes press the ESC(ape) key.

.34
MAIN MENU -- VIEW FILES                                                       34
Use this menu selection to view/print the documentation files.

        File Name:      Purpose of File:
        ------------ ---------------------------------------------------
        HISTORY.DOC  Service Billing Upgrade History.
        REGISTER.DOC Registration information and order form.
        LICENSE.DOC  Service Billing License Information and Agreement.
        WARRANTY.DOC Service Billing Warranty Information and Agreement.
        TUTORIAL.DOC A Tutorial to help you get started.
        README.DOC   An introduction to the Service Billing program.

.35
YEAR END PROGRAMS -- BACKUP FILES                                             35
There are many considerations concerning the backup of your data files.  Here
are a few:
        1.  Version of DOS.  Determines the actual commands to be used.
        2.  Frequency.  Daily, weekly, or monthly, based upon how often your 
        data changes.  If you add new customers every day and print bills 
        everyday, you should probably backup on a daily baisis.  On the other 
        hand your services may be seasonal.  If for example during the months 
        of NOV through APR you do not update any of your data you probably do 
        not have to backup your data except at year end when you run the year 
        end function to create NEXT year's History Account files.

Because of the many versions of DOS available for the PC, there is no menu
option for backing up the data files.  You must backup your data files at the
DOS prompt.  This means if you are running the Service Billing program you must
exit using the normal method.  You then issue the DOS commands to move to the
DATA subdirectory and backup ALL files located in your DATA subdirectory.


.END
