***************************************************************** -> This file introduces PERS-PLAN, explains how to get started etc. It should be read by all first-time users. -> The file has been supplied as an integral part of PERS-PLAN. This is a personal financial planning software package developed as a shareware package for use on a 'try-before-you-buy' basis by Invest-Tech Limited. For contact details, see end of this file. -> To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT" ***************************************************************** WELCOME ======= PERS-PLAN (r3.3) is an easy-to-use software package for preparing a personal/household budget and cashflow projections for twelve months ahead. It enables you to project your income and expenditure and to forecast monthly cashflows and end-month bank and credit card balances. Use PERS-PLAN to plan ahead and save money !!!!!!!! We have offered PERS-PLAN as shareware to encourage users to evaluate and to register it and maybe to also purchase some of our other financial planning software products for preparing financial projections for businesses. PERS-PLAN is NOT free software. It has been supplied on a "try- before-you-buy" basis. If you continue to use PERS-PLAN after a 30-day trial period, you must register with the author, Invest-Tech. In return for registering, you will receive a copy of the latest release of PERS-PLAN with its printing and file options fully enabled, a spiral-bound 90-page manual incorporating tutorial exercises etc. You also gain access to full support etc. Full registration details are contained in the REGISTER.TXT file. PERS-PLAN is fully protected by copyright. However, the shareware version may be copied in its entirety and without modification for FREE distribution to friends and, subject to the conditions set out in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, by shareware libraries, BBSs etc. Good luck with PERS-PLAN. Brian Flanagan, Invest-Tech Limited ***************************************************************** FILE CONTENTS/INDEX =================== This file (README.TXT) covers the following topics in separate sections below: A - Details of supplied files B - General introduction PERS-PLAN and related matters C - Guidance on how to run PERS-PLAN D - Explanation of shareware E - User Licence Agreement F - Software revisions ***************************************************************** The supplied file VENDINFO.DIZ also contains important information. It can be accessed by entering READ_ME.BAT at the DOS prompt. ***************************************************************** A - SUPPLIED FILES ================== See VENDINFO.DIZ for a list of supplied files. Before starting to use PERS-PLAN, we recommend that you review this entire file either on-screen or, preferably, after printing it. It includes brief instructions for loading PERS-PLAN which should enable you to start using the package. Another supplied text file (MANUAL.TXT), explains, in much more detail, how to load and use PERS-PLAN. Because PERS-PLAN is very intuitive and contains very extensive 'on-line' help, you may only need to refer to this file on an occasional basis. However, you may wish to print it at this stage in order to have it readily accessible for future reference, or if you get "stuck", or need detailed guidance on a specific issue. We have also included with PERS-PLAN a text file (MONEY.TXT) which contains dozens of famous (and not so well-known) quotations on the subject of "money". If you feel depressed about your personal finances after using PERS-PLAN, you should have a look at MONEY.TXT. It MIGHT cheer you up !! We welcome further quotations for inclusion in the next release of PERS-PLAN. More seriously, have a look at Section 6.5 within the manual text file (MANUAL.TXT) for some basic ideas on utilising the output from PERS-PLAN to improve your financial planning and/or position. Other text files of note are as follows: PICPRT About the PICprint graph printing utility REGISTER Details and Form for registration ENTERASS Detailed guidance on entering assumptions. ***************************************************************** B - GENERAL INTRODUCTION ======================== PERS-PLAN is an easy-to-use software package for preparing a personal budget and cashflow projections for twelve months ahead. It can be used to improve the management of your finances by forecasting your income and expenditure. The resulting budget can then be used to improve your financial planning & control and, ultimately, to save yourself money. Based on your estimates and assumptions, PERS-PLAN compiles a detailed and summary budget for twelve months ahead. It also produces reports analysing the budget and detailing all your underlying assumptions on income and expenditure. PERS-PLAN incorporates facilities for graphing key results; overwriting assumptions by actuals; undertaking 'what-if' analysis; and rolling-forward assumptions and projections one month at a time. PERS-PLAN is very suitable for users with limited or no prior experience of computers as well as for more experienced computer users who do not wish to go to the very considerable trouble, or to waste valuable time, developing their own planning system on a spreadsheet. Bear in mind that PERS-PLAN involved hundreds of hours of development and years of "know-how". To run PERS-PLAN you need the following system: * Industry-standard PC with DOS 3.30 or higher and a hard disk, or dual 3.5" or 5.25" drives. * Conventional memory of 640k. * VGA, GCA, mono, Hercules or LCD display (or equivalent). A printer (dot-matrix, ink-jet or laser) is desirable. You can run PERS-PLAN as a DOS program within Windows (use the supplied icon called PERSPLAN.ICO). PERS-PLAN complements the very many personal financial packages currently available in the market. Most of these are basically household accounts systems with only very limited budgeting facilities. To our best knowledge, very few of them have any dynamic planning capabilities, similar to PERS-PLAN's. To produce any form of projections with most of these systems, you must first keep historic accounts. For many people, this is a pain in the ...... Most of us are much more interested in projecting our income/expenditure and making ends meet in the FUTURE, rather than in learning about the past ("water under the bridge", "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted" and that sort of thing). Historic data is NOT required to use PERS-PLAN. However, if you do happen to keep household accounts (either manually or computer-based), past data on income and expenditure patterns etc. should help you make more accurate projections for the future. Features -------- PERS-PLAN's features include the following: * Thirteen categories of income (salaries for one or two wage earners, reimbursed work expenses, dividends, rent etc.). * Facilities for handling salary deductions based on absolute amounts and simple percentages as well as different percentages related to bands and thresholds (as for PAYE income tax) specified by the user. PERS-PLAN is not restricted to any particular tax system or currency. * Seventeen main expenditure groups (household, car, accommodation etc.) incorporating over fifty subgroups which can be defined by a user. * Facilities for planning credit card expenditure and payments and for calculating interest on any outstanding balances. * Current and deposit accounts with facilities for calculating interest on the basis of specified interest rates, handling accrued interest and specifying interest payment dates. Help ---- PERS-PLAN is entirely menu-driven and incorporates very comprehensive context-sensitive help facilities. These include extensive menu prompts, error trapping, on-line Help Pages, pop-up Hint & Guidance Windows, annotated variable descriptions and "drill-down" values. A very comprehensive manual is supplied as an accompanying text file (MANUAL.TXT). Specification ------------- Number of reports 13 Number of graphed variables 18 Approximate maximum number of user assumptions 1,100 Approximate total number of built-in formulae 1,700 Registration ------------ The idea behind shareware is to allow a user to evaluate a software package at minimal cost - "try-before-you-buy". PERS-PLAN is NOT FREE software. If you decide that you would like to retain and continue to use PERS-PLAN after a 30-day trial period, you must register with Invest-Tech, the author and copyright holder. In return for registering, a user is licensed to continue using PERS-PLAN on one computer without any time limit and receives a copy of the latest fully-operational version of PERS-PLAN with its 90-page spiral-bound printed manual (incorporating tutorial exercises etc.). You also gain access to full support. If you prefer, you can remotely upgrade this shareware version of PERS-PLAN. Press U (for Upgrade) from PERS-PLAN's Main Menu for details. See the REGISTER.TXT file for further details and a Registration Form. Invest-Tech Limited ------------------- We are management consultants specialising in financial and business planning software. Formed in 1983, Invest-Tech is a Registered Practice within the Institute of Management Consultants in Ireland. Our banker is Bank of Ireland, Dublin, and our auditors are Deloitte & Touche, Dublin. In addition to PERS-PLAN, our range of financial planning software includes the following commercial products: BANK-PLAN: 12-month cashflow planner for micro- and small- businesses. Runs 'stand-alone' and with similar general structure to PERS-PLAN. Handles debtors, VAT, creditors, expense payments etc. Price: 50 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$70). These is a shareware version of BANK-PLAN. Look for a file called BANKP*.ZIP. CASH-PLAN: 4-week + 11-month cashflow planner for small/medium sized businesses, subsidiaries of large companies and corporate cash planning. Runs 'stand-alone' and with similar general structure to PERS-PLAN. More powerful version of BANK-PLAN with additional features and facilities. Price: 95 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$150). EASI-PLAN: A range of comprehensive and fully-integrated financial planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets, ratios etc.) covering 12-months plus 8 quarters. To our best knowledge, no other package even remotely offers the same range of features or facilities for business and financial planning. Runs 'stand-alone' with similar general structure to PERS-PLAN. A "MICRO" version for new and very small businesses (with annual sales of up to 250,000 pounds). Price: 45 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$70). A "LITE" version for new and small businesses (with annual sales of up to 2 million pounds). Price: 75 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$120). A "PRO" version for larger businesses and/or professional advisers. Price: 145 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$230). These are shareware versions of EASI-PLAN Micro, Lite and Pro. Look for files called EASI*.ZIP. FIN-PLAN: Wide range of comprehensive and fully-integrated financial planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets, ratios etc.) covering 12-months plus 8/16 quarters. Versions are available to run on Lotus 1-2-3 (any release for DOS or Windows). Extensive menus with numerous features and facilities. Easily expanded by user. Price: 95 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$150). Comprehensive descriptions, specifications and 'demos' are available for each of the foregoing products. ****************************************************************** C - HOW TO RUN PERS-PLAN ======================== Refer to Section 3 of the MANUAL.TXT text file for more detailed instructions if you run into any problems. Note that you can run PERS-PLAN as a DOS program within Windows. The following guidelines assume that you have already installed (i.e. copied, unzipped, unarchived, uncompressed etc.) the complete set of PERS-PLAN files onto a hard disk or a 3.5" disk. If PERS-PLAN has been installed onto a hard disk: ------------------------------------------------ a) Get into the sub-directory where you have installed all PERS-PLAN's files. For example, if the sub-directory PERS was used, type "CD PERS" and press RETURN at the DOS prompt. b) For general introductory information, type "GO". If your PC uses a very old type of display, do not select this option - choose d) or e) below. or c) For guidance on the syntax for loading PERS-PLAN etc. type "PP". or d) Type "PP MASTER" to load PERS-PLAN along with a set of specimen assumptions in a file called MASTER.ASS (Make sure that there is a single space between "PP" and "MASTER"). By following the on-screen Hints and Guidance Notes and by accessing Help Notes and Help Pages, have a go at building your first budget. Good luck ! If you are running PERS-PLAN from a 3.5" drive: ---------------------------------------------- a) Place the disk to which you have installed PERS-PLAN into a drive. If necessary, switch to that drive by typing the drive designation followed by a colon, e.g. "A:" and press RETURN. b) For general introductory information, type "GO". If your PC uses a very old type of display, do not select this option - choose d) or e) below. or c) For guidance on the syntax for loading PERS-PLAN etc. type "PP". or d) Type "PP MASTER" to load PERS-PLAN along with a set of specimen assumptions in a file called MASTER.ASS (Make sure that there is a single space between "PP" and "MASTER"). By following the on-screen Hints and Guidance Notes and by accessing Help Notes and Help Pages, have a go at building your first budget. Good luck ! Running PERS-PLAN through Windows --------------------------------- To set up PERS-PLAN to run within Windows, install it using the DOS commands etc. before you load Windows. Next, run the Windows Program Manager and proceed as follows: 1. Select the Applications Group which you want to contain PERS-PLAN. 2. Select File and New options from the Program Manager's menu. 3. When the New Program Object box appears, select Program Item and OK. 4. When the Program Item Properties box appears, proceed as follows: - Type "PERS-PLAN" as the Description. - Type "C:\PERS\PP X" as the Command Line. Make sure you enter a single space between PP and X. This command assumes that PERS-PLAN has been installed to the PERS sub-directory on a hard disk called C. - Enter "C:\PERS" as the Working Directory. - Select Change Icon and select OK when the Change Icon message box appears. - When the next Change Icon box appears, enter "C:\PERS\PERSPLAN.ICO" as the File Name and select OK. - Once you return to the Program Item Properties box select OK twice to complete installation. To run PERS-PLAN within Windows, double-click on its icon and wait while it loads. Press RETURN to ignore the 'File does not exist' message and then use the cursor keys and RETURN to select the desired *.ASS file in response to the instruction 'Enter Data File Name" which appears at the top of the screen. If more than five such data files exist, press the F3 Function Key to display them in a larger window. ***** WATCH OUT **** If you try to display graphs when running PERS-PLAN in a DOS Window (i.e. less than full screen) when running in Enhanced Mode, the graphs may not show and the display may lock. To unlock it, return to a full DOS screen by pressing ALT+RETURN. Always use a DOS full screen when displaying PERS-PLAN graphs. Using a LCD display ------------------- If you are running PERS-PLAN on a portable PC with a LCD display, you will probably need to change PERS-PLAN's video setting once it has loaded in order to clearly distinguish the rectangular cursor which appears when you are viewing reports on the screen. To do this, press I (for Initialise) at the Main Menu, V (for Video) and L (for LCD/B&W). The Manual explains how to make these changes permanent. Other Information ----------------- The following text files contain more detailed information about PERS-PLAN etc.: Register.txt - Registration details, form etc. Picprt.txt - Manual for the PICPRT graph printing utility Money.txt - Numerous quotations about money Manual.txt - Comprehensive manual Enterass.txt - Guidance on entering assumptions To read a text file: - Enter "TYPE *.TXT|MORE" *or* - Use DOS Edit or Windows Notepad. **************************************************************** D - WHAT IS SHAREWARE ? ======================= "Shareware" is a method of software distribution designed to give users a chance to test a package before purchase at a very competitive price. Copyright rules apply to shareware and the authors retain all the rights except as indicated in their licence agreements. As you will see from PERS-PLAN, shareware does not signify cheap (in the nasty sense) or poor quality software. ***************************************************************** E - USER LICENCE AGREEMENT ========================== See VENDINFO.DIZ. ***************************************************************** F - SOFTWARE REVISIONS ====================== r3.0 20th-June-1995 --------------------- First shareware release of PERS-PLAN. Enhancements since r2.0 and r2.1 of PERS-PLAN include the provision of additional rows for income and expenditure and a facility to suppress the printing of rows containing zero values. An utility for customising the printing of graphs has been provided. r3.3 15th October 1995 ----------------------- Minor changes. Addition of info on Web site etc. ***************************************************************** PERS-PLAN (c) Copyright Invest-Tech Limited 1992-95 All Rights Reserved Invest-Tech Limited 27 Ardmeen Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland Irish Tel: 01-283 4083 UK Tel: 01232-315454 (Call 9 to 9 weekdays and 10 to 6 weekends - GMT/BST) Fax: 278 2391 Fax codes: Irish:01- UK:00-353-1- Inter'l:+353-1- CompuServe: 100606,2665 Internet: brianf@iol.ie WWW Site URL: http://www.planware.ie/resource/planware ***************************************************************** To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT" *** End of README.TXT file ***