A P P T R A K Applicant Tracker User Documentation (c) Copyright 1991 Archer Software All Rights Reserved ***************** DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ******************** THE APPTRAK SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION IS OFFERED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE DIVERSITY OF CONDITIONS AND HARDWARE UNDER WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE USED, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. THE USER IS ADVISED TO TEST THE PROGRAM THOROUGHLY BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING APPTRAK. ************************************************************** Table of Contents Introduction ..............................1 System Requirements .......................1 Installation ..............................2 Inputing Applicants .......................4 Editing Applicants ........................6 Database filtering ........................7 Delete Applicants .........................7 Browsing through the data .................8 Editing and Printing Letters ..............9 Reports ..................................10 Setup (configuration options) ............12 AppTrak Q & A ............................13 Special Keys for Letter Edit Screen ...APX A Sample printer setup strings ..........APX B Sample database filters ...............APX C Introduction 1 ------------ AppTrak is an applicant tracking database system designed to compliment your paper file system. AppTrak allows you to track all personal information such as; name, address, telephone number and social security number. You can also track EEO information such as; race, sex, handicap, veteran status and EEO job classes. Other data you can track include: skills, position applying for, department codes, current status codes, education level, applicant's source of information and application date. Each applicant's file is easily accessible for instant information. AppTrak allows you to create and save your own customized reports. You may also create and save up to five different letters which can be personally addressed to any applicant on file. Using AppTrak ------------- AppTrak is has four different sections all of which can be selected from the main menu. They are: Database - Input, edit, delete or browse data Reports - Create, execute, view and delete reports Letters - Edit or print personalized letters Setup - Change AppTrak configuration Each of these areas can be accessed by typing it's first letter. Or, once a menu is open, by using the right and left arrow keys. Press to select a highlighted menu item. AppTrak System Requirements --------------------------- IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or compatible computer 512K RAM DOS 2.0 or later A hard disk is recommended for optimal performance but is not required unless large databases will be used. AppTrak supports most printers. Installation 2 ------------ Diskette based systems ---------------------- You need to have a file called config.sys on the DOS diskette with which you boot your system. There should be two lines in this file similar to the following: Files=20 Buffers=8 These are suggested settings for optimal performance. Your settings may vary although you must have a files setting of at least 20 for AppTrak to work properly. If you already have a "Config.sys" file check to see what the settings are by using the following procedure: 1. Place boot diskette in drive A. 2. Type: "Type a:config.sys" The contents of the Config.sys file will be displayed on the screen. If the Files and Buffers settings need to be changed you may do so with any text editor or with a word processor that reads and writes DOS text files. Included with AppTrak is a file called config.app. You may use this file as your config.sys file if you do not already have one or, if you wish to replace the config.sys file you currently have. Use the following procedure: 1. Place your boot diskette in drive A and the AppTrak diskette in drive B. 2. Type "copy b:config.app a:config.sys". Hard Disk Systems ----------------- You need to have a file called config.sys in the root (main) directory of the drive which you boot your system from (usually c). There should be at least two lines in this file similar to the following: Files=20 Buffers=8 These are suggested settings for optimal performance. Your settings may vary although you must have a Files setting of at least 20 for AppTrak to work properly. If you already have a "Config.sys" file check to see what the settings are by following these steps: 1. Go to your root directory by typing "cd\". 2. Type: "Type config.sys" The contents of the Config.sys file will be displayed on the screen. If the Files and Buffers settings need to be changed you may do so with any text editor or with a word processor that reads and writes DOS text files. Included with AppTrak is a file called config.app. You may use this file as your config.sys file if you do not already have one or wish to replace the one you currently have. Use the following procedure: 1. If you are not already in the root directory of 3 your boot drive type "cd\" to get there. 2. Place the AppTrak disk in drive A. 3. Type "copy a:config.app c:config.sys". Installing AppTrak on your hard drive ------------------------------------- Use the following procedure to install AppTrak on your hard drive: 1. Place the AppTrak diskette in drive A. 2. Make drive A your current drive by typing "A:" 3. Type "INSTALL" to load AppTrak on to C:\APPTRAK. *If you want to install AppTrak onto a different drive\path, you will need to specify the destination. For example, to install AppTrak on to drive D and directory APPTRAK, you should type "INSTALL D:\APPTRAK". The automatic install procedure will check to see if an earlier version of AppTrak is in the target drive\path and will avoid overwriting your AppTrak data files. If you do not have an earlier version of AppTrak on your hard drive and for some reason you have difficulty with the install procedure, you can perform a manual installation by following the instructions below: 1. Create a directory on your hard drive by typing "MD\APPTRAK" and pressing 2. Make "APPTRAK" your current directory by typing "CD\APPTRAK" and pressing . 3. Place the AppTrak diskette in drive A. 4. Copy the contents of the AppTrak disk onto your hard disk by typing "copy a:*.*". CAUTION: IF YOU ALREADY HAVE AN EARLIER VERSION APPTRAK YOU WILL NEED TO RUN A SPECIAL INSTALLATION AND CONVERSION PROGRAM TO INSTALL AND RUN VERSION 3.0. CONTACT ARCHER SOFTWARE TO RECEIVE THE UPDATE PACKAGE. Inputing Data 4 ------------- Select Input Data from the Database submenu to input new applicants. The input screen has been designed to resemble a typical job application form. Before inputting any data, a valid application date must be entered. Below are examples of valid and invalid dates. Valid: 01/09/88 Invalid: 1 / 9/88 12/33/90 11/21/XX Once a valid date has been input, entry fields for the rest of the data will appear on the screen. Press after each field to move on to the next field. Press the up arrow to move backwards through the screen. While most of the fields on the input screen are self exp- lanatory, the following fields may need some description: Salutation - How should the applicant be addressed in any form letters which might be sent later. For example, "MR.", "MS.", "DR.", etc. If no title is entered, the first and last name will be used as the salutation on letters. Source - Where did the applicant learn of your company or job opening (e.g. newspaper, school, personal referral, etc.) Handicap - Only true/false (T/F) answers will be accepted in this field Position - Job title applying for. Dept - Department code in which position is located. Status - Status code of applicant (e.g. A= new applicant, B= interviewed once, C= rejected, etc.) Skills - If more than one skill is entered, include a comma between each item. This will allow you to find any single skill when using the filter creation screen discussed later. The Status and Dept fields accept codes which identify the different departments and status's of each applicant. To use these fields properly you should assign these codes carefully and make sure all users understand the meaning of each code and the importance of entering each exactly the same. For example, AppTrak will treat dept codes "1 " and " 1" and "01" as three different departments in report filtering and sorting. The Letter field is a special field for determining whether the applicant has had a letter addressed to him or her. This field may not be input or edited but is automatically updated each time a letter is printed. In the bottom right corner of the screen is a record counter 5 which displays the number of applicants currently in the database. After the last field has been input the record will be entered into the database and a new blank form will appear for the next application. Pressing at any time while inputing will also enter the record (even if the inputing is incomplete). AppTrak offers a duplicate entry check which will warn you if a duplicate social security number is about to be entered. You may choose to cancel the input, or enter the record anyway. When finished inputing, press or at the date prompt to return to the AppTrak main menu. IMPORTANT: Do not re-boot or turn off the computer without first exiting AppTrak. Doing so may cause a loss of data. Edit Records 6 ------------ Any applicant's file may be called up for editing or viewing by selecting Edit Records from the Database submenu screen. When prompted, input the social security number of the applicant to edit. If the social security number is not available, type the letter 'N' and press to search by name. You will be prompted for the applicants first and last name (the names must be spelled EXACTLY as they appear in the database for AppTrak to find them). Since AppTrak will find the file much more quickly if searching by social security number you should search by name only when necessary. A third option for finding the correct record to edit is to press the funtion key . This will allow you to browse through the records in your database. See page 8 for details on the browse feature. The Edit screen is identical in appearance to the Input screen. Any information on the screen may be changed with the exception of the Letter field. (Please see Input Applicants on page 4 for an explanation of the Letter field). Press when finished editing or viewing the file, any changes made to the file will be saved and you will return to the main screen to search for more records. To exit Edit mode press or at the social security prompt. Delete Applicants 7 ----------------- To delete records from your database, select Delete Records from the Database submenu. You may delete any number of applicants all at once using the powerful filter screen (This screen is also used to filter reports so that only pre- specified records will show up on your reports, and to filter records for browsing). Filtering the database ---------------------- The filter screen allows you to build a set of rules (criteria) which AppTrak will follow for selecting records. Down the left side of the screen is a window with a list of all of the fields in the database. Not all of the fields can fit on the screen at once, so cursoring to the bottom of the window will cause the top fields to scroll out of sight. Highlight the field you want and press . Next, select the operator you wish to use from the operator window. Depending on the field you selected, you may not be able to select certain operators. For example, If Last Name is selected then "Less Than" cannot be selected as an operator. After an operator is selected, a third window will appear in the upper right corner. From this window you may elect to continue by choosing "And" or "Or". You will then return to the fields window to select another field. As you build your set of rules they will be displayed in the large window on the bottom right half of your screen. When you have selected all of the fields you need, choose "Done" from the final window. At the bottom of the screen you will be given the option of seeing the percentage of the entire database which meets the criteria you have just selected. Depending on the type of computer you are using this may take several minutes if there is a large number of records in the database (1000 or more). See Appendix C for some examples of setting database filters. Printing Deleted Records ------------------------ Upon returning to the main screen you will be given an opportunity to abort the deletion request. If you choose to proceed, you may then choose to have an optional printout of deleted records. This is usually helpful for purging corresponding paper files from your paper system. Before AppTrak prints the deletion list it will check to see if your printer is ready to receive data. If it is not turned on, or not online, an error message will occur. You will then be given the option of aborting the printout by pressing or retrying by pressing any other key. Aborting the printout will NOT cancel the deletion request. Browsing through the database 8 ----------------------------- To scan the records in your database, select Browse from the Database submenu. Browse will display on your screen 16 applicant records at a time. All of the fields cannot be shown on the screen at one time so only first name, last name, application date, social security number and telephone number are shown. The applicant records will be shown on your screen in the order in which they were input. Movement keys within Browse Down Arrow......Move down a record Up Arrow........Move up a record Page Down.......Move down 16 records Page Up.........Move up 16 records Home............Move to first record End.............Move to last record To edit or view any complete record while browsing, simply move to the appropriate record and press . The browse screen will be replaced by the Input/Edit screen. Here, you can make changes or simply view more information. Press to return to the browse screen. You do not have to always browse the entire database if you are looking for something in particular. When Browse is selected you will be asked if you want to Browse the entire database. Answering "N" for no, will bring up the database filter screen. Here, you can select the criteria of the records you wish to view. For example, you can view only those applicants who have secretarial skills, or certain application dates. Depending on the size of your database and the type of computer you are using you may see a slight degradation in browse speed if you have most of the database filtered out. For a detailed explanation of the filtering feature, see the section on deleting records (the same procedure is used to select records for deletion). Also, see Appendix C for examples of creating filters. Editing and Printing Letters 9 ---------------------------- Edit ---- AppTrak provides the capability of sending personalized letters to any applicant on file. Five letters can be stored within AppTrak to provide the flexibilty of selecting the letter which best suits a given situation. To print or edit these letters select "Letters" from the main menu. To edit a letter, select Edit Letters from the Database submenu. Another menu will appear with the names of the five saved letters. Use your arrow keys to select the appropriate letter and press to bring the letter up on your screen. At the bottom of the letter edit screen is a small chart detailing some of the keys used while editing. For example, CTRL-Y = "Delete Line". This means that the key should be held down while the Y key is pressed. In Appendix A is a complete list of all commands which can be used while editing letters. Letters may be edited as often as you like. Please note that any letter changes must be saved with the -W key combination. Pressing will abort the edit. If is pressed any changes made to the letter will not be saved. Print ----- To print a letter, select Print Letters from the menu. As when editing, you will choose the appropriate letter from the menu of letter names. You will then be prompted for the social security number of the applicant which the letter will be addressed to. Pressing at this prompt without entering a number will cancel the print order and return you to the main menu. If a social security number is entered the name of the applicant will appear on the screen, along with a prompt asking for confirmation of the name. If "Y" (yes) is selected a letter addressed to the applicant will be printed. If the social security number is not on file you will be prompted to re-enter it. If the social security number is not known, you can browse the database to find the appropriate applicant by pressing at the social security prompt. Highlight the applicant which the letter should be addressed to and press . After the letter is printed, a field called "Letter" will be updated to "T" (true) showing that the applicant has received a letter. REPORTS 10 ------- When you select "Reports" from the AppTrak main menu. A second menu will appear which has the following options: Execute Saved Report - Print a previously created report. View Saved Report - View report titles and columnar format of selected reports. Delete Saved Report - Delete a previously saved report. Create New Report - Build new report form. Creating Reports: Select "Create New Report" from the menu. A list will appear down the left side of the screen of all the fields which may be chosen for your report. Use the arrow keys to make your your selections. You may have up to seven fields per report. In the lower right corner of the screen your selections will appear as you choose them. This is the same order which the fields will appear on the final report. If less than seven fields are desired press after the last field is selected. This will terminate the selection process and take you to the next step. Your report will be sorted in the order of the first two fields you select. For example, if the following fields are chosen in order; Application Date, Last Name, First Name, Position and Telephone - the report will be sorted first by Application Date then by Last Name. After you have finished selecting the fields for your report you will be prompted for a name for your report. This is not necessarily the title of the report. It is the name you will use later to retrieve the report (should you decide to save it). AppTrak will not proceed until a name is entered. Next, you will prompted for the first and second title lines which will appear on top of the report. After naming your report you will have three choices as follows: Execute and Save Report - Print report and save format for later use. Execute Report - Print report, but do not save it. Return to Menu - Exit report screen and return to main menu (Do not print). If "Execute and Save Report" is selected, later you may print the report by simply choosing its name from the list of saved reports. A maximum of 15 reports may be kept at any one time. If you wish to save a report and 15 reports have already been saved then you must choose a report to be replaced from a list which will pop up on your screen. The reports that you save can be replaced as often as you wish. If you get to this point and decide that you do not want to replace any of the current reports, simply press to return to the main menu. Report Options 11 -------------- Before printing, you may filter the output of the report using any criteria you wish. For example, you can print all applications for a specific position in the last three weeks. Select filter from the options menu to bring up the filter selection screen. See the Delete Records section for details on filtering the database. Place the cursor on Destination in the report options menu and press to change the destination to your screen. When all options are set select Print Report and press to execute the report request. Setup 12 ----- Some of the settings in AppTrak can be changed to fit your specific needs. You may change the right and left margins on the form letters, and you may turn color off or on. You can also send setup strings to your printer to change the fonts or orientation of your reports. Letter Margins The left and right margins on your form letters (not reports) can be adjusted by selecting this option. Simply enter the new margins and press . Margin settings are reflected on the screen when editing letters. Printer Setup Using this option you can send specific control characters to your printer which will allow you to print with different fonts, type sizes and orientations. When this option is selected, you will be asked to input a "setup string" to be sent to the printer each time a report is printed. This setup string will remain in the system until it is removed or replaced by another. A sample setup string which will make a Hewlett Packard LaserJet Series II printer print in landscape mode (sideways) is: CHR(27)+"E"+CHR(27)+"&l1O" Many printer manuals give sample setup strings for the BASIC language. Those samples are the same format you should use for entering setup strings in AppTrak with one difference. BASIC requires a dollar sign after the "CHR" characters in the string. So, in BASIC the above LaserJet example would be: CHR$(27)+"E"+CHR$(27)+"&l1O". Do not include the dollar signs when inputing setup strings for AppTrak. If your printer manual includes samples setups for dBase, you should use those samples as a guide for inputing AppTrak setup strings. See Appendix B for some examples of setup strings for the Hewlett Packard Laserjet and Epson printers. Color On/Off If your computer has a any kind of color graphics adapter, AppTrak will detect it and initially show all screens in color. The color may be turned off (and back on again) by selecting this option on the Setup menu. This option is especially useful for paper white VGA monitors, laptops and some Compaq monitors. APPTRAK Q & A 13 Q. How can I view the applicant database in order to look up a social security number? A. Select Browse from the Database submenu. The names, social security numbers, dates of application and telephone numbers of all or part of the database will be displayed on the screen. See page 8 for more details on using Browse. Q. I make changes to my saved letters using the Letter Writer, later when I print the letter those changes are not there. Why? A. Make sure you press -W to save any changes you make. Q. Why does the cursor skip over the Letter field when I am inputing or editing applicant records ? A. The Letter field will always be "F" (false) until a letter is printed to the applicant when it will automatically update to "T" (true). To insure accuracy of this field it may not be changed. Q. Sometimes the cursor will not move when I'm trying to make a menu selection. Why? A. The most likely cause of this problem is that NUM-LOCK is toggled "on". Make sure NUM-LOCK is off so that the keypad is not entering numbers. Appendix A Special Keys Used While Editing Letters Movement Keys: -------------- Up Arrow............Move up one line Down Arrow..........Move down one line Left Arrow..........Left one character Right Arrow.........Right one character -Left Arrow...Move left one word -Right Arrow..Move right one word ..............Go to beginning of current line ...............Go to end of current line ..............Go down one screen (longer letters) ..............Go up one screen -PgDn.........Go to end of letter -PgUp.........Go to beginning of letter .............Go to beginning of next line Editing Keys: ------------- .........Delete character at cursor ......Delete character left of cursor -Y.........Delete the current line -T.........Delete word right ............Insert tab spaces ............Toggle insert mode -W.........Save letter ............Exit letter edit with no changes Appendix B Sample Printer Setup Strings Epson ----- Near Letter Quality: chr(27)+chr(120)+"1" Pica (10 cpi): chr(27)+chr(80) Elite (12 cpi): chr(27)+chr(77) Condensed: chr(27)+chr(15) Reset (printer default): chr(27)+chr(64) HP LaserJet ----------- Compressed: chr(27)+"E"+chr(27)+"(s16.66H" Landscape: chr(27)+"E"+chr(27)+"&l1O" Reset: chr(27)+"E" Appendix C Sample Database Filters ----------------------- Filter all applications received in May 1990. 1. Select "Application Date" 2. Select "Greater Than or Equal" 3. Enter "05/01/91" when prompted. 4. Select "And" 5. Select "Application Date" 6. Select "Less Than or Equal" 7. Enter "05/31/91" 8. Select "Done" Filter all applicants who have word processing or typing skills. 1. Select "Skills" 2. Select "Equal to" *3. Enter "WORD PROCESSING" where prompted 4. Select "Or" 5. Select "Skills" 6. Select "Equal to" *7. Enter "TYPING" 8. Select "Done" * Reminder - AppTrak is case sensitive. What that means is that "Word Processing" and "WORD PROCESSING" are NOT the same. Make sure that a standard input format is used at all times when inputing data. When entering data for your filtering criteria, you may shorten the key word or words in order to capture all possible in forms in which it may have been input. For example, The skills for two different applicants have been input as follows: "TYPES 60WPM" and simply "TYPING". You can capture both in a filter by entering "TYP" in step 7 above, since the first three letters of each are identical. This technique can be used when building filters for any field in which a character string is entered for a match. ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about this program to the author of the program, whose name appears elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do run. 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