Table Of Contents

As in all of the BMS modules, the flow of processing is outlined on the menus themselves. If you need further help, there are help screens available in each screen. The following pages have examples of the help screens available in the order entry module. The help screens will be referred to throughout the course of this manual. In most screens, there is additional on-line more detailed help available. This will be indicated by a statement at the bottom of the screen such as Press F1 for more detailed help.

There are also examples of various screens found in BMS included in this manual. These will help you become more familiar with the look of software screens. Since the modules are integrated, this manual will refer to other modules. To find more information on those modules, check the appropriate manuals.

As in most of the BMS modules, a few basic "rules" or keystrokes are in effect for order entry. They are the following:

All functions must be performed in CAPITAL LETTERS

<F1>=Help
<F9>=Clears screen
<Esc>=Exit
<Tab>=Find
<Backspace>=Clears the line

This manual is intended to be used as a guide in learning the BMS software. It is not a replacement for a manager's direction. Some processes in the Business Management System are subjective and require specific instructions from a manager as to how your company would like a particular situation handled. Executive Computer Systems is not responsible for any actions taken based upon information found within this manual.  Top.

Initial Setup

As with every new accounting software package, BMS requires some initial setup. This setup process will be different for every company. What you will find in this manual is every setup scenario possible in BMS. Some companies will setup most if not all of the features available. Others will only setup a few. Once your software is installed, ECS will work with you to setup the system to fit your company.

The Utilities menu is where the majority of the company setup will take place. The following is a sample of the Utilities menu.

From these selections, you will setup the software to work with your company’s individual needs. The first selection you will make is A/R Invt. Setup Files. The following menu will appear when this is selected.

From this menu, select Company Information. This section is described in detail on the following pages.  Top.

Most of the items in company setup are only entered once, upon initial installation. Obviously, if your phone number or address changes, you will need to change that in the Company Setup. It helps to become aware of what is in Company Setup. We recommend only a manager who is experienced with the system make changes to the setup.

From the master menu, select Utilities, then select A/R, Invt. Setup Files, then select Setup Company Information. The following is an example of the Setup Company Information screen.

In this screen you will enter your company information. If your system is integrated, you will choose to integrate with general ledger. You can choose to archive cash sales, which will allow you to look up the information at a later date. You may enter the default ship via, bill-to and ship-to information. The next section is for those customers using the credit card processing module only. If you are these items will be setup when the credit card module is installed.

The miscellaneous section of the company setup covers a variety of different settings. From here you can setup printer settings, tax information, late charge percentage to be used when calculating finance charges on outstanding receivables, ability to allow for over or partial payments in Cash Receipts, how often to age invoices, if you want to allow for layaway sales and if you want to print receipts for retail sales.

The order entry screen in company setup is to set the defaults for many functions. You can prevent the operator from changing terms or salesman in order entry. You can set the default for quantity shipped for items ordered. Customer past due alert for the operator is setup here. If you want to setup for passwording for each order, credit limit override, operator price override are all found here.

This section covers setup for customer defaults. These are the defaults for the Customer Maintenance Screen when setting up new customers. You can setup defaults for price code, history price, salesman, terms, credit limit and printing price list. From here you would also setup whether to automatically show notes and if not what code is used to not display note and customer number for a cash customer. The cash customer setup is used for cash sales or counter sales. When you setup the cash customer number here, any orders entered under this number in order entry will require a method of payment upon invoicing. These invoices will be "paid" immediately in the system. There will not be a receivable created upon posting.

This section details setup for Inventory, Purchase Orders and Warehousing. You can setup default category number for special sales, default warehouse and adjustment warehouse for inventory. You can choose to create an automatic purchase order for out of stock items or to print purchase orders on forms or or plain paper.

Other inventory defaults to be setup here are to apply a conversion factor, have inventory cost averaged or based on last receiver amount, tax flags to be taxable or non-taxable for all inventory items, stock item flag in inventory to be yes or no and what the list price code should be. Select a default for customer history to be shown in Order Entry when operator is entering a new order. Select if you want detail history shown every time an item is sold, whether you want inactive items shown in history and the date past which you do not want history shown. The final default selection is to determine when you want the inventory update – at the time of invoicing of the individual order or all updating done when the posting is run.

This section goes over the shipping, pick tickets and UPS setups. You must select a default weight for the UPS module. Select a default shipping type from the UPS module. The one selected in this example is otr - our truck. See the Setup UPS Handling Charges section to setup the various shipping types you will need. This is described at a later point in the manual.

Next you can select the dollar amount on which you want to include shipping insurance with UPS, and the insurance increments for which to add additional insurance. Select the weight minimum for an over-size package.

You can select to print pick tickets by bin locations instead of how entered. Finally you can select the dollar amount over which you do not want to charge shipping and the shipping type on which you are waiving shipping charges.

In this section, defaults for invoicing and invoices are selected. You can choose to alert the operator if an item is below stock before changing an order to invoice and to re-check if cost is accurate when invoicing. When you are done invoicing, you can select to have the screen clear or to automatically print an invoice upon invoicing.

You may choose to print your company name and address on the orders/invoices if you are using blank forms and to print more than one copy of an invoice when it is printed. If you have stored credit card information for a customer, you may choose to have that information printed on the invoice.

Select yes or no for each of the following items - to print a customer label automatically after invoicing, to print customer past-due aging on invoices or to print the entire kit on an invoice.

This section is to setup defaults for the Advertising key codes. Select the default ad for new customers. Select whether to display the default ad in Order Entry. Enter the code for the currently active ad.

Any changes made in the Company Information module must be saved by pressing <F10>. If you do not press <F10>, the changes will not be saved.  Top.

This program is to be used for companies who are using the general ledger integration. If you are integrated, there are general ledger accounts that must be cross-referenced while working the system. The following is an example of this screen.

This program is for entering your general ledger numbers which are used as accumulators for reports. Each entry in this file is printed either on a daily sales journal or cash receipts journal. Only those accounts that are needed in sales or cash receipts (A/R) need to be setup here. If you do not know about how a general ledger works, some suggested ones are:

Cash Receipt Type Sales Type

cash receipts freight
adjustments specials
returned check tax
discounts each category
return check charge interest charge

The cash receipts type accounts are accessible while entering cash receipts. This means if a customer owes you $100 and pays you $90, you can "write off" the extra $10 and apply it towards a cash receipts type, such as adjustments. If the account is not entered here it will not be accessible in the Cash Receipts program.

The sales type accounts are used during order entry to attribute each type of sale towards a general ledger number so these can be reported on separately. Some of these accounts would be tax, freight, etc. If the accounts are not setup here the appropriate journal entries the system cannot

In Category Setup, the general ledger numbers that are assigned to each category should be entered here in the general ledger cross reference as they are sales accounts. These are what will print on the posting report.

If you are integrated to General Ledger, you can access Setup Chart of Accounts program by pressing the <F7> key.  Top.

Setup Category File

To use the BMS system, you must setup categories for your inventory. There are 20 categories with the 20th being a "SPECIAL" category. These categories should be broad to cover a variety of items under one category. You may further breakdown your inventory by assigning groups under each category. To access the category setup file, choose A/R, Invt. Setup Files under the Utilities menu. Then select Set-Up Category File and hit enter.

As was discussed, this program allows you to set up 20 categories to be used in connection with inventory. Each inventory item you enter is attached to a category. You should give some thought to the categories you will be using so they are meaningful to management. Categories are used for reporting purposes. For example, your company may sell paper products. Below is an example of how categories and groups should be setup. The numbered heading is the category and the list directly under it are the groups assigned to that category.

The General Ledger number is used for reporting purposes. When you add a category, you must add a corresponding general ledger number. This number then gets added automatically to your General Ledger table. (See General Ledger setup).

To save what is entered in here, hit enter through the rest of the categories to the end.  Top.

Setup Group Maintenance

The Inventory Group Maintenance program is used to enter your inventory groups. A group is different from a category in that it allows your inventory to be broken down by more specific classifications within a category. The following is an example. Say you have a category called Cups . You can then classify inventory items entered under the category Cups by different groups. Under category Cups, you could have groups called Cup Foam, Cup Paper, Cup Plastic, etc. Groups are unlike Categories in that they are endless. Under any category, you can have unlimited group classes. Sales reports are not broken down by groups as they are for categories. This is important to keep in mind. Please see setup Categories for an example of groups.

This program is fourth choice on the A/R Invt. Setup Files menu in Utilities. It is also accessible through the Inventory menu as the second choice on the Inventory main menu. It is also accessible from the Inventory Master Screen by pressing <F3> for the menu and then choosing <F10> Set Up Groups. The following is an example of this screen.

When you are entering new inventory items you can then choose a group from the list you have created through this program. This list can be viewed in the inventory master screen by pressing <F7> on the group field when entered a new item. You can add new groups at any time.  Top.

Setup FOB Point Table

From the Company Set-Up menu, select Set-Up FOB Point and enter.

Adding a FOB Point: Type in the FOB Point you want to add and press Enter.

Editing a FOB Point: Continually press PageDown or type the first few characters and <tab> which is <F2>, until you find the one you want to edit. Type the correction and press Enter to save it.

Deleting an FOB Point: Use the PageDown key or <tab> until you find the one you want, and press <F6>. The FOB will be deleted.

Press <ESC> to exit.  Top.

Setup Customer Terms

From the Company Setup menu, select Setup Customer Terms and enter.

The Terms table is used to enter what your company's payment terms are. The terms setup here will be used to assign a customer terms in the customer maintenance file.

Adding a term: Type in each term and press Enter to save. If the terms you are setting up are COD or Credit Card that you want to create an accounts receivable transaction for you must select a "due" day or greater than one. Terms with a "due" day of 0 or 1 will require the payment information be entered prior to invoicing such as with a cash sale.

Editing a term: Press PageDown until the term you want to edit comes on the screen. Then type in the correction and press Enter.

Deleting a term: Press PageDown until you find the term you want to delete. Press <F6> to delete the term. Note: Before deleting a term, be sure no customers are set up with this particular term. You should change their terms in Customer Maintenance first.

Press <ESC> to exit.  Top.

From the Company Setup menu, select Setup Salesman, then hit enter. The following is an example of this screen.

When you go into this screen, you will note that the 20 categories are listed as you entered them previously. You need to set up at least one salesman, even if you do not track sales by salesman. We suggest you use #01 for "In-House", followed by your other salespeople. Please keep in mind, if you will be using double digits for salesman, make sure to use a 0 in front of numbers 1-9. Once you have setup your salesman, you may then assign a commission percentage for sales made in any of the categories. If you need to setup a special commission for a specific customer, you can do it through the Customer Maintenance screen in Accounts Receivable. See the Accounts Receivable manual for details.

You may view a list of the customers assigned to an established salesman by pressing the <F5> key. This will list all customers for this salesman to the screen. This will not print in a printable report. There are other reports available in Accounts Receivable. See the Accounts Receivable manual for details.

If you should need to delete a salesman, you can do it from this screen. Bring up your salesman and press the <F6> key. This will delete the salesman. Please note, if the salesman you are trying to delete has customers still assigned to that number, you must reassign the customers prior to deleting the salesman.

This screen will display the sales information generated by salesman by category when an current salesman is displayed.

Press <ESC> to exit this screen.  Top.

Business type is a fifteen digit (alphanumeric or numeric) field which is not required to use the system. It is to be used for your purposes. For example, in Customer Maintenance, you will note there is a place to put in business type. You can bypass this field. It is a usful field for tracking customers. You may do work for doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. By entering a business type for specific types of customers, you may use Query to run reports that will sort the customers by type.

Simply type in the type you wish to use, and press Enter. The type is now available for use in Customer Maintenance.

Press <ESC> to exit.  Top.

From the Company Set-Up Menu, select Set-Up Tax Table, then Enter.

The Set-Up Tax Table Module is used for keeping track of state tax rates. The state and rate is attached to individual customers in Customer Maintenance or attached to Ship-To's. For customers who do not get charged tax, you will indicate that in the Customer Maintenance screen when you enter a non-taxable customer. There will be a question, "Is this customer taxable (Y/N) ". You would answer this question with a N for non-taxable customers.

Adding a Tax ID/Rate: Type in the two-digit state ID and press Enter. The cursor then jumps to the "rate." Type in, in decimals, the appropriate tax rate and press Enter to save.

Editing a Tax ID/Rate: Use the PageDown key until you find the one you want, or type in the first few letters and press <tab>. Type in the correction, and press Enter to save.

Deleting a Tax ID/Rate: Use the PageDown key until you find the one you want, or type in the first few letters and press <tab>. Then press <F6> to delete. Do not delete a tax id/rate if customers have this rate in their file.

Press <ESC> to exit.  Top.

The next programs on the Utilities main menu work are used when setting up General Ledger integration. G/L integration is not used by every customer. If you are unsure if your company is going to be integrated, please check with a manager. This program is depended upon the Chart of Accounts having been setup already. See the General Ledger manual for details.

The following is a sample of the G/L Integration Table screen. This screen is found off of the Utilities main menu under the G/L Setup Files option.

The above table lists all accounts affected when the system is integrated. If your accounts are not setup properly in this table, the journal transactions made during various functions of the system will be inaccurate. This will cause your General Ledger to be out of balance.

As previously stated, your Chart of Accounts must be entered prior to setting up this table. Type in the appropriate account number for each account and enter. The corresponding description for that account number will display. If the account number is non-existant, there will not be a description displayed in that field. The system will allow you to enter any valid account number in this table. Make sure you are entering the appropriate number in the appropriate field.

Enter all the way through the table to save your work.  Top.

Setup Bank Accounts

The next important step in setting up the system is Setting up Bank Accounts for Accounts Payable and Payroll. As with other features, this program will only be used by some customers. Not all customers will be using the Accounts Payable and Payroll modules. If you are unsure about this step, check with a manager. This program will allow you to setup which bank account from which you want to write checks. You may enter any bank from which you will working.

This screen is found off of the Utilities main menu under the G/L Setup Files option. It is also accessible from the Accounts Payable Maintenance option from main menu in Accounts Payable. Then select A/P Bank Accounts from this menu. The following is a sample of the Setup Bank Accounts screen.

Before you can do any check writing (manual or automatic), you need to set up the cash (bank) account(s) that you will use for check writing in the General Ledger system. This is so that when you are prompted for the A/P Bank Account number after marking checks for payment or entering manual checks, the system will only let you access actual bank accounts. In other words, you will not be able to write a check from your "Inventory" G/L Account.

To Add Bank Accounts:
Press <F9> to clear the screen. Move the cursor to the GL Acct Field. Use Page Up and Page down to find the General Ledger accounts you want to use for Accounts Payable check runs. Press enter to get to the next check #. Press <F10> to save your selection. These must be valid G/L accounts in order to add them here.

To Delete Bank Accounts:
Your cursor should be on the Number field. Use Page Up and Page Down to find the accounts you do not wish to use for Accounts Payable check runs. Press <F6> to delete.

There are no reports that will be printed. Any bank accounts added here will be accessible immediately.  Top.

From the Company Setup Menu, select Set-Up Ship Via and enter.

The Ship-Via module is used for entering your company's shipping methods. These are available to attach to individual orders in order entry. Some suggestions are: U.P.S., Federal Express, Our Truck, Pickup, etc.

Adding a Ship-Via - Type in the shipping means you wish to add and press Enter to save.

Editing a Ship-Via - Use the PageDown key until you find the one you want, or type in the first few letters and press <tab>. Then type your correction and press Enter to save.

Deleting a Ship-Via - Use the PageDown key until you find the one you want to delete, or type in the first few letters and press <tab>. Then press <F6> to delete. You should not delete any ship-via's until orders containing that ship-via are gone.

Press <ESC> to exit.  Top.

The following programs are Utility programs used in setting up the software. The following is a sample menu of the features found in utilities.

These programs are some of the last steps taken before starting to use the system. Each utility will be described and explained in detail below. The only program that will not be discussed is the UPS Handling Charges as this was discussed previously in this manual.  Top.

Setup Passwords

This program is used to setup passwords for each operator. Each operator has an id code and a password to access the system. When an operator signs into a program using their password, their activity is tracked by their operator code. For instance, when entering the Order Entry module, each operator must enter their password to access the program. Once in the program, any orders entered are assigned that operator’s code. Any activity done by that operator is recorded in the history of that order. That way the manager can go into an order at any time and find out who entered it, who made changes, who invoiced or voided. The system also records the date and time of each activity. This is a great tool to manage theft or fraud.

The following is a sample screen for Setup Passwords.

Each operator will have a code and a password. This includes salesman who will be using the system. The operator code is usually the person’s initials. This will make it easier to identify who processed a transaction. This code will print on the order/invoice. It is also recorded in the invoice record. Next enter a password unique to that operator. This password is how the system determines whose operator code should be assigned to what record.

The next selection is a password level. An operator can have one of four levels assigned to them. A level is assigned depending on how much information you want this person to access. Operators who are entering and invoicing orders only should have a level 2. Operators who are responsible to Cash Receipts only should be assigned a level 3. Salesman need to view their accounts but not enter information should be assigned a level 4.

If you have the point of sale software you need to determine if the operator should have manager privileges in regards to the Cash Register. If you do not have the point of sale software, skip this question.

Salesman who will be using the system must then have their salesman code entered. This is the code they were assigned when setup as a salesman in the system. This will limit their viewing to their customers only. If the operator is not a salesman, skip this question.

You may also limit viewing to specific customers only. You must enter the customer id number. If you are not restricting access, skip this question.

Another option is to allow the operator the ability to enter new customers from the Order Entry system. Answer "Y" or "N".

Operators who are assigned a level 2 can be given the ability to only process credit card transactions or both credit cards and receivable transactions. These operators can also be given the ability to override prices in Order Entry.  Top.

Enter PO Invoice Numbers

This program is used to enter purchase order invoices you may want to have in the system. The information will be available for lookup in the Purchase Order and Accounts Payable systems. This program is only to be used by customers just starting to use the system and who have information processed prior to using the BMS system that they want to track in the BMS system. All future information should be processed properly through the Purchase Order system and the Accounts Payable system. The following is a sample of this screen.

The first step in using this program is to have all of you vendors entered into the system. This may have been for you by converting files from an existing software database. If the files were not converted, then you must enter the information. This is done through the Accounts Payable system. See the Accounts Payable manual for details.

To enter an invoice, bring up your vendor. This is done by either entering the vendor id and pressing <tab> or typing in the vendor name in that field. Once the vendor is on screen,  Top.

This program is used to test the committed inventory numbers for accuracy. It is not necessary to run this program frequently. We recommend it be run occasionally, every month or so, to ensure your numbers are correct. A report will print or you can choose to save the file to a disk.

If you should find that your committed inventory figures are incorrect, you must run a program to fix them. First you must get to a DOS prompt. This will bring you to a C:\WINDOWS> prompt. From here type F: and enter. This should bring you to a F:\FLEXACCT\DATA> prompt. This is where you need to be. At this prompt, type DFRUN_FIXCOM. The underscore here indicates you are to leave a space. Do not type the underscore, just leave a space in that spot. Once this program has finished, type EXIT and enter. This will bring you back to a Windows desktop.  Top.

This program is used to test the on order inventory numbers for accuracy. It is not necessary to run this program frequently. We recommend it be run occasionally, every month or so, to ensure your numbers are correct. A report will print or you can choose to save the file to a disk.  Top.

Setup Initial A/R Balances

The following program is used to enter any Accounts Receivable balances you want to record in the system. These may be open or paid. If they are paid, you must enter the payments to clear the balance as outstanding. This process is called Cash Receipts and is described in detail in the Accounts Receivable manual.

The following is a sample of this screen.

The first step in using this program is to make sure all of your customers are entered in the system. This may have been done by converting the file from an existing software database. If the file was not converted, you must enter the information. This is done by using the Accounts Receivable system. This process is described in detail in the Accounts Receivable manual.

To begin entering A/R balances, you must bring up the customer. This is done by typing the customer name and pressing the <tab> key. By pressing the <tab> key, the customer id and name will display. If the customer does not exist, the next customer will display.

Once you have the customer on screen, you may then proceed with entering the invoice information. Enter the invoice number, transaction date (this is the date of the invoice and will be displayed in the invoice date field), reference/PO # (this could be an alpha description of the invoice if you are not using purchase order numbers), and the invoice amount.

Once you have entered past the invoice amount, the system will ask you if this transaction is okay. Answer yes if the information is correct and you want it to be posted to the customer’s account. If you have made a mistake, answer No and your cursor will go back to the invoice number field. If you need to clear the transaction completely, press <F9> at any point prior to saving (answering Yes and entering) and you may start again. Once you answer Yes and enter, the transaction will be posted.

If your next transaction is for the same customer, press <F7> and previous customer’s information will be displayed. This will save you time if you have many entries for one customer.

This information will be available immediately after saving.  Top.

This program is where the printers you will be using are setup in the system. This program should only be accessed by someone who knows how to use it. The printer setup information can be easily changed and this could halt all printing processes. You should not make changes here unless you are knowledgeable or have gotten instructions from Executive Computer Systems. This manual will not be going into detail in this section but will briefly explain each option.

The Printer Setup is the fifth option of the Utilities menu. Once selected, the following menu will appear.

Your printers will be setup by Executive Computer Systems upon installation of the software. There really should not be a reason for these programs to be accessed unless you need to add a printer. This would be done in the Order Entry Printer Setup option. This is where all of the printers are setup. The Cash Register & Pole Setup are for customers using the Point of Sale software. These things are also setup by ECS upon installation of the software. Dfxpress Printer Setup is where reports and other printing functions of the software are setup. Select Dfxpress Default Printer is where to change the default printer in Dfxpress.

The next section allows us to change the printer emulation in the program. This means that the codes in the program will emulate the selected printer while performing printing functions in the software. If the incorrect emulation is selected the printing will be off.  Top.

Dataflex Utilities

The Dataflex Utilities module is a powerful tool that can be used to pull valuable information out of the system. There may information you company wants to view in a certain way that is not available through the reports or programs already written for the software. This utility can access much of the information in the system and allow you to write a report or export a file in a comma delimited format into another application. Query is limited to the information in the system that is indexed. If you find you cannot access the information you want, please contact ECS. Our programming staff may then be able to write a custom report for you with the information you require.

Select Dataflex Utilities from the main menu in Utilities. The select Query a Database. The following are examples of these screens. As it is impossible to show all the possibilities available in this program, the following will demonstrate how to write a report to show of customer who purchased over a certain dollar amount from XYZ company. These are the customers who will receive Christmas cards from XYZ company.

This is the main screen in the Query program. The screen is displaying a file selection field. This is where you select the index file that contains the information you want. For our example, we want to select A/R Customer File. This is the file that will give ytd sales figures by customer to select by and it also contains the customer’s mailing information which is what we want to print.

Move your cursor to the A/R Customer File (by pressing arrow up or down) and press enter. This will highlight the selection. The cursor will now be on the OK button. Press enter to continue.

If you have previously saved queries, a screen will now appear. It will list all of the queries saved that were done under the selected file. If you do not want to use any of the saved queries, press escape. The following screen will then appear. If there are no saved queries this same screen will appear.

This is the screen where you will pick the fields you want to print on the report / mailing list, etc. The sample screen shows several fields that have already been selected. The following will describe how to select the different fields. Remember, you are selecting the fields you want to print. We are not choosing the selection criteria – that comes next.

Once in the above screen your cursor will be in the DBMS files section at the top left. In this section you choose the file from which you will pick the fields to be printed. As you move the up or down arrow to select a file, the fields displayed in the section just below will change as the file highlighted. For our purposes, we will us the "ARCUSTOM" file. This is the Account Receivable customer file and contains the information you will need for 90% of your queries.

Highlight the "ARCUSTOM" file and press enter. Your cursor will now be in the DBMS fields section. From here you will select the field you want to print in your query. This means these will be printed to the screen, in a file or in a printed report depending on the how you output the query. These choices will be described a little later.

To select a field, arrow up or down until the field you want is highlighted. Press enter to select it. It will then appear in the Print Field Definition section. Your cursor will remain in the field section allowing you to continue selecting fields. You should select the fields in the order you want them printed. In our example we will select CUST_NAME – customer name, CUST_ADDR1 – customer address field one, CUST_ADDR2 – customer address field two, CUST_CITY – customer’s city, STATE – state for that customer, ZIP – zip for that customer, and CONTACT – contact name listed in the customer maintenance screen. In the sample screen you can see we selected in this order because that is how we want them to print.

Once you have selected all of the fields you want to print, we then have to select the criteria by which we will choose the customers to print. From the Print Field Definition screen, press the ALT key and the "V" key at the same time. This will open the View menu at the top of the screen. From this menu, select the "Selections" option. The following is a sample of this screen.

Once in the above screen your cursor will be in the DBMS files section at the top left. In this section you choose the file from which you will pick the fields to be used as criteria. As you move the up or down arrow to select a file, the fields displayed in the section just below will change as the file highlighted. For our purposes, we will us the "ARCUSTOM" file. This is the Account Receivable customer file and contains the information you will need for 90% of your queries.

Highlight the "ARCUSTOM" file and press enter. Your cursor will now be in the DBMS fields section. From here you will select the field you want use as criteria for your report. To select a field, arrow up or down until the field you want is highlighted. Press enter to select the field. For our example we will select YTD PURCHASES. The following window will then appear.

Since we have selected YTD Purchases as our criteria we must then decide how we want to use it. You can choose to select customers who have purchased equal to, greater than, less than, not equal to, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, or string includes, a determined dollar amount. Select your operator and enter. Your cursor will then go to the bottom field with the brackets. In here you will type the dollar amount you wish to search by. If the information is accurate, press enter on "Ok".

The following is a sample of the screen will now appear.

Your cursor will now be back in the DBMS fields section. You can continue to select criteria as needed. For our purposes we have finished with section.

The next step is to select the output order for our report or file. This done from the view menu. Press the "ALT" key and the "V" key at the same time. From the view menu select OUTPUT ORDER. The following screen will then appear.

Here you select the output order you would like for the report. For our example we will select "CUST_NAME, Record #". To do this, arrow down to the order you want and press enter. The screen will not change – nothing will appear different but you are done.

The next step is to press "ALT" and "R" at the same time. This will bring up the run menu. On the run menu there are three choices. "Screen" will display your report on the screen. You should run all reports to the screen first to see if the information is accurate. Once you have determined the information is correct, you can print the report to the printer or to a file.

To print the report, select printer from the run menu. The following screen comes up.

Select the option you need and press enter. If you have selected printable report, a message telling you to make sure your printer is ready to go. Press enter again and your report will print.

Should you choose to save the query to a file you would select line delimited and comma delimited from this menu or choose file from the Run menu. These are the format choices you have to save your file. If you are planning to import this file into a software application, comma delimited is probably the format you want to save the file. Once you selected the format of choice, press enter. The following screen will pop up.

Here you will name your file so you can save it. If you are saving the file to your hard drive, you would type in the file name and press enter. The program will then process the query and save the information in the format you choose, under the file name you entered. If you are saving the file to a floppy disk, enter "a:\filename" and then enter. The program will then process your file and save the information to the disk.

Once you have completed your query, you may want to save it so that it can be run again. To save the query select the file menu by pressing Alt and F at the same time. From this menu, select the Save As option. The following screen will pop up.

Enter the name of the query. You are not limited to a certain number of characters so make the name descriptive enough to be recognized for it’s contents. This is the name you will see when you go back into query and want to access this particular query again. Once you have entered the description press enter.

You must now enter the format file name. This is the file name that will saved to the hard drive. This name can only be 8 characters long. You will not be searching by this name – it is linked to the query description and that is how you will be searching. Once you have entered a format file name, press enter. You can enter past the field to edit the current format unless you need to edit the format of the query. Then press enter on the <Ok> option. The program will save the query and take you back into the query program.

To exit query, press escape until you are back at the Utilities menu.  Top.

This program is where you would enter the heading you want to appear on the main menu. The heading should be your company name. You may type in here exactly how you want your company name to appear.  Top.