PC-AR MANUAL


PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

PC-AR is an accounts receivable and sales analysis program for
small and medium size businesses. The program runs on a IBM PC or
compatible computer with one disk drive and at least 128k memory.

PC-AR is a user supported program. Your are encouraged to
give copies to anyone who might use it. If you like the program and
find it useful, please contribute $35 to:

Jerry Medlin
310 S. Jefferson St.
Napa, Ca. 94559

Your contribution will entitle you to a copy of the latest
version of the program and a telephone number for limited telephone
assistance should you require it. You will also receive a program
which will allow you to customize some features of PC-AR. A complete
description of the customizing program is contained at the end of this
manual.

The system consist of two files.

PC-AR.COM - The compiled program written in Turbo Pascal.

PC-AR.DOC - This documentation in ASCII form.

The program makes liberal use of the PC's numeric key pad both
for numbers and commands. You can have the Num Lock on all the time.

When inputting information, the plus <+> key has the same
effect as the return or enter key. Numerical information is entered
"calculator style". The decimal point is placed automatically. The
minus <-> key enters a negative number. This makes using the numeric
key pad even easier.

To run the program, simply type "PC-AR". If you want to
specify a drive and path for your data just add the drive and path
description after the program name. i.e. type "PC-AR B:" to use the B
drive for data files.

A menu is then displayed for operator selection:

Enter or Change Sales Codes
Enter or Change Customers
Enter or Change Charges & Payments
Print Mailing Labels
Print Charges & Payments Listing
Print Accounts Receivable Ledger
Print Statements
Print Sales Summary
Print Customer Activity Report
Apply Charges & Payments
Print Customer Listing
Save Data and End








PC-AR is fast because it works with data in random access
memory, but the capacity is limited by available memory. Available
memory is shared by the data. With more customers on file, fewer
charges and payments can be entered and vice-versa. PC-AR allows a
maximum of 2000 customers and 1500 charges and payments per accounting
period with 512k of memory. With 128k the capacity is reduced to
about 100 customers and 100 charges and payments.

Each time the menu is displayed, the number of charges and
payments that can be added with the available memory (limited to a
maximum of 1500) is printed at the bottom of the screen. If this
number is less than 1500, then the number of customers that can be
added can be obtained by dividing the number by 6.

Since a power interruption will result in loosing all the data
currently entered into the program, you should occasionally save your
data back to the disk. This is done by selecting End Processing from
the menu. The current data will be saved to the disk then you will be
asked "Do you want to end ?". Just answer with an "N" and you may
resume processing.

THE PROCESSING CYCLE

Accounting is done on a monthly cycle. At the end of each
month all charges are added to the customer's balance and all payments
are deducted from the customer's balance and the new balances are used
as the starting balances for the next month.

Each time the program is run, all customer data is loaded into
memory. Also, any charges or payments entered since the last update
are loaded into memory. When all of the charges and payments for the
current month have been entered, you may begin printing reports.
Reports may be printed in any order and as often as desired. If you
discover an error in any of the reports you may correct the problem
and reprint the report. At any time you can stop processing by
choosing the End Processing selection from the menu.

The last step in processing is to apply the charges and
payments to customer balances. This is done by choosing the Apply
Charges & Payments selection on the menu. This selection does four
things:

1) Age the customer balances. All current due amounts become
30 day due, all 30 day balances become 60 day, etc.

2) Deduct the payments from the customers balance due starting
with 90 day and proceeding to current due.

3) Calculate the late charge and add it to the current amount
due.

4) Add the charges to the current balance.

You may then proceed with the next accounting period. (month)













ENTER OR CHANGE SALES CODES


In addition to being an accounts receivable program, PC-AR is
also a sales analysis program. Each charge or payment is posted to a
sales code. The Enter or Change Sales Descriptions selection allows
you to enter up to 80 of these sales codes and their corresponding
descriptions. The sales description is also printed on the various
reports including the statement.

Just enter a three character sales code (alphabetic or numeric
characters are allowed) and up to 21 characters for a description.
The directions are printed at the bottom of the screen. You may add
new sales descriptions and codes at any time, but don't change or
delete sales codes once charges or payments have been entered. Wait
until the charges and payments have been applied to customer accounts
and you are ready to start a new accounting period before deleting or
changing sales codes.

At least one of the sales codes and its corresponding
description should be for payments on account. Payments received from
customers should then be posted to that code as a negative amount
using the minus <-> key instead of the enter key.


ENTER OR CHANGE CUSTOMERS

Customer information is entered and changed using this
selection from the menu. The following information is entered
for each customer:

Customer name - Two lines of 31 characters each are available.

Customer Code - A ten character code that will be used to sort
customers and also to post charges and payments to the
customers account. In most cases you will want to enter the
customers last name, followed by as much of the first name as
will fit in the remaining characters. For instance, if the
customers name is Jerry Medlin, the customer code would be
MEDLINJERR. Notice that all capital letters are used. If you
enter lower case letters they will be changed to upper case
automatically. Also, notice that no spaces are included. The
program will prevent you from entering a previously used
customer code.

Street Address - Up to 31 characters for the street address.

City State & Zip - Up to 31 characters for the city, state and
zip code.

Telephone - Up to 12 characters for the telephone number and
assorted dashes.















Late Charge % - Enter the desired late charge for this
customer as a percentage. If you are on a monthly cycle and
you wish to charge an 18% annual rate for balances overdue you
would enter 1.5 (18 divided by 12 months.). If you don't want
to charge late fees then press return to enter a zero.

Auto Bill Amount - Dollar amounts entered here may be posted
to a customers account automatically each month.

Balances Due - You may enter the current balance, the 30 day
balance due, the 60 day balance due, and the 90 day balance
due. For new customers with no opening balances just press
return to enter zero.

Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the
previous field. Pressing the Escape key at the first name entry takes
you to the command mode. The command mode allows you to scroll up and
down through the customer names, delete customers, change customer
information and do a quick check on the balances due for all
customers. Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back
to the menu.

The acceptable commands at any point are printed at the bottom
of the screen.


ENTER OR CHANGE CHARGES AND PAYMENTS

This selection allows you to enter charges and payments for
the current period. Charge amounts are entered as positive numbers
using the plus <+> or enter key and payments are entered as negative
numbers using the minus <-> key (enter the number then press then
minus key).

Before any charges and payments can be posted you must have at
least one sales description entered so that you have a sales code to
post to. The following information is entered for each charge or
payment:

Customer Code - The 10 character code previously entered for
each customer is used to post a charge or payment. You need
enter only as much of the customer code necessary to
distinguish it from any other code. In other words, if only
one customer has a customer code beginning with MEDL then you
need only enter MEDL to post to this customer. The customers
name will be printed at the bottom of the screen so you can be
sure you are posting to the correct customer account. If all
you know is that the customers code begins with ME then just
enter ME and the program will print all of the customer codes
beginning with ME at the bottom of the screen.

Date - Enter the date of the charge or payment as in MODA
form. The date of June fourth would be entered 0604 with no
dash or slash.













Invoice number - Up to 5 characters for the invoice number.
Alphabetic characters are allowed. Pressing the plus <+> key
adds one to the previous invoice number and clears the invoice
total shown at the top of the screen. Pressing gives
you the same invoice number as the previous line and does not
change the invoice total.

Sales Code - Enter one of the sales codes. Sales codes and
their corresponding descriptions should be setup using the
Enter or Change Sales Descriptions selection of the menu. The
description will be printed at the bottom of the screen. If
you don't remember the sales code enter the number 999. The
program will then allow you to use the arrow keys to search
through the possible sales codes. When the desired sales code
appears just press return to enter it.

Amount - Enter the amount of the charge or payment. Payments
should be entered as a negative number. A negative number is
entered by using the minus (-) key instead of the Enter key
after the number is typed in.

Pressing the return key on any entry except the amount,
defaults to the previous value. This allows you to make multiple
entries for an invoice with the same customer, date and invoice
number. Pressing the plus <+> key for the invoice number increments
the previous number by one.

Two numbers are printed at the top right of the screen. The
bottom of the two numbers is the net total of all the entries entered
this accounting period. Use this number to check your input data.
The top number is the total for the current invoice. This total is
reset to zero each time you enter a new invoice number and should be
checked against the invoice total.

Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the
previous field. Pressing the Escape key at first entry position takes
you to the command mode. The command mode allows you to scroll up and
down through the entries, delete entries and change entries. From the
command mode you may press the Auto Bill key to automatically post
the amount entered for each customer as an auto bill amount. You will
be asked to enter a date and invoice number for the automatic postings.

Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back to
the menu. All the available commands are printed at the bottom of the
screen and may be chosen by a single keystroke.





















PRINTING REPORTS

The first time you choose a printed report from the menu you
will be asked to enter a report date. This date will be used on all
reports. If you want to change the report date you must end
processing and start over, otherwise the same report date is used on
all reports printed during a posting session.

On some reports before you start printing you will be asked to
enter a customer code. This is the starting customer for printing.
Press the return key to start at the first customer. You will then be
asked how many to print. Enter the number of customers you want,
starting at the selected customer, or press return to print from the
starting customer to the end of the list. This feature allows you to
print partial reports, and is handy when your printer eats the 598th
of 600 statements.

When printing more than 20 statements or mailing labels, you
will be asked if you want to sort the customers by zip code. If you
answer Y (yes) the statements or mailing labels will be printed in zip
code order. This allows you to take advantage of the cheaper bulk
mailing rates.

Next, you will be asked to choose if you want to print the
report to the printer

, to the screen or to a file . If you
choose to print to a file you will be asked for a file name. The
report will then be saved as an ASCII file. These files are not
readable by PC-AR, but can be viewed and changed with a text editor
and used by other programs that can read ASCII files. (Like the latest
version of 123). Since the report is printed to a file exactly as it
would be printed to a printer, if you use LPT2 for a file name, the
report would be printed to your second line printer.


PRINT MAILING LABELS

As long as you have all this customer information on your
computer, you might as well use it to print mailing labels. You can
print labels for all the customers or only one customer and you can
sort them by zip code if you wish. Labels are printed on standard
peel off labels with one inch spacing between labels. To align the
printer, use the selection process to print a single label.


PRINT CHARGES & PAYMENTS LISTING

To provide an adequate audit trail, this report should be
printed and retained before closing out the month. It will list all
the charges and payments entered for the accounting period and the
total of charges and payments.

















PRINT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE LEDGER

This report prints each customer's opening balance, all
charges and payments for that customer, any late charges applied and
the closing balance. It should be printed and retained. Since PC-AR
is a "balance forward" accounts receivable program, this report will
be your only source of information several months from now on how a
customers balance got that way.


PRINT STATEMENTS

Customer statements are printed on a common statement form.
The form may be ordered preprinted with your company name. The
following is a list of suppliers, their toll free order number and
their catalog number for the preprinted statement forms you will need:

NEW ENGLAND BUSINESS SERVICES (NEBS) 800-225-9550 Form 9060
GLOBAL COMPUTER SUPPLIES 800-645-6393 Form C2052
CHECKS TO GO 800-854-2750 Form 380-03
800-552-8817 In Calif.
FORMS SERVICE INC. 800-553-5125 Form 5060
312-671-2821 In Illinois


If you don't want to use forms preprinted with your name and
return address you may have the program print your name and address on
blank forms. To do this requires the program ARCONFIG which is
available to all registered users of PC-AR. The ARCONFIG program
allows you to enter your company name and address which will then be
printed on plain statement forms or on plain 8 1/2 by 11 paper.

To test statement alignment use the start print feature to print
a single statement then adjust the alignment accordingly.


PRINT SALES SUMMARY

This is a listing of all charges and payments by sales
category, followed by a one page listing of total sales by category.
If you choose, you can omit the detailed listing, but you should print
it at the end of the accounting period (month) for audit trail
purposes. The last amount printed is the total of all service charges
accrued during the current period. If you have a lot of customers and
invoices this may cause a noticeable pause while service charges are
calculated.


PRINT CUSTOMER ACTIVITY REPORT

The Customer Activity Report will summarize all the transactions
posted to a customers account for the past 12 months. It will look at
all the transaction files on your disk that start with a three
character month abbreviation. In other words, it will look at
JAN.INV, FEB.INV, MAR.INV etc. and print all the transactions made to
the selected customer code. The period currently being processed will
not be included unless you have completed the Apply Charges and
Payments process. (See next page).








APPLY CHARGES AND PAYMENTS

When you have printed all the reports you need and all is in
order you can complete the accounting period. You will be asked to
enter a three month abbreviation for the month just processed. For
instance, if you had just completed the month of February you would
enter FEB. The program would then save a file named FEB.INV to the
disk. This is a backup copy of the transactions with the three
character month abbreviation as the first part of the file name. It
is saved so that later you may review all the transactions posted to
an account for the past year using the Print Customer Activity Report
selection of the menu.

All charges and payments will then be applied to customer
balances. Any late charges due will be added also. The customers
balances will be updated to agree with the balances shown on the
statements and the Accounts Receivable Ledger.


PRINT CUSTOMER LISTING

This report is a printout of all customer information on file
including ageing information. The balances shown do not reflect any
charges or payments made since the last accounting period ended. Only
the Apply Charges & Payments selection actually changes customer
balances.


EXPORT CUSTOMER DATA

This selection will create a file on the logged drive and
subdirectory called PC-PR.PRN which can be read by programs like Lotus
123 and Reflex. Textual data in the customer file will be surrounded
by quotation marks. You can then read the data into Lotus 123 by
using the /File/Import/Numbers command. Be sure that no names or
addresses in your customer file contain quotation marks before trying
to export customer data.


SAVE DATA AND END

When processing is completed you must exit the program using this
selection. Do not end processing by just turning off the computer,
you will lose any data entered since the last save operation. If you
just want to save the current data to the disk without ending, you may
answer "N" to the question "Do you want to end processing?" and you
will be returned to the menu.


USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM

The configuration program (ARCONFIG.COM) is provided free to
all registered users. It allows you to change certain features of
PC-AR. The ARCONFIG.COM program and the main program (PC-AR.COM)
should both be on the same disk drive when you configure your copy of
PC-AR. Just run the program by typing ARCONFIG at the Dos prompt.
Use the up and down arrows to move the pointer and then press to
change an item. You will be allowed to change the following
information:








Display Colors - If you have a color adapter and monitor, you
can change the colors for screen borders, program prompts,
data, and background. Allowable colors are from 0 to 15
except for background color which can only be from 0 to 7.
The display will be instantly updated as you enter the new
colors.

Laser Printer? - You will also be able to change the way PC-AR
starts a new page. Usually, PC-AR starts a new page by
counting lines until the page total equals 66 lines. If you
enter a "Y" for the laser printer question, PC-AR will start a
new page by issuing a form feed command. This would work just
fine on most other printers too, but requires that you set the
top of form before you start printing.

Disk Drive and Path - Enter a drive and path designation for
PC-AR data. If you want the program to read data from the B
drive just enter B:.

Plain Paper Statement - If you change this to a "Y",
statements can be printed on plain 8 1/2 x 11 paper. A "N"
answer will print on pre printed 6 1/2 x 7 forms. The default
setting is "N".

Statement Heading - If your company name and address is not
pre printed on the statement forms, you may enter up to 5
lines for a statement heading.

Statement Footer Message - You can enter a message to be
printed at the bottom of the statement form. This is a good
place to enter your payment terms, or a short advertising
message.

When you have finished making your changes, press the escape
key to exit the program. You will then be asked if you want to save
the changes. If you answer with a Y, both the configuration program
and PC-GL will be changed until you run the configuration program
again.


VERSION 3.0 CONVERSION

If you are changing from version 2.xx to version 3.0 you will
need to convert your customer data. A program called CONVERT.COM is
available for that purpose and is free to all registered users. Just
run the program and follow the directions on the screen.


HELPFUL HINTS

The escape key is always used to go back to the previous
operation. From anywhere in the program if you continue to press the
escape key you will eventually return to the main menu.

When printing reports you may pause the printing by pressing
any key. To resume printing press any key again. To quit printing
press the escape key after pausing.











Each customer must have a unique customer code for posting.
If you insist on using numbers, the program won't object. You should
at least try the method suggested earlier in the manual. Use a
customer code made up of the customers last name plus as much of the
first name as the 10 character limit will allow. Jane Smith would
then have a code of SMITHJANE (Notice that there are no spaces). This
method allows rapid posting of invoices without looking up customer
numbers. The searching method allows you to quickly examine the codes
for all of the Smiths by just typing SMITH when asked for a code.

PC-AR is written in Turbo Pascal. The source code is
available for $95.

To print this manual:
Turn on your printer and set it to the top of the page.
Enter COPY PC-AR.DOC LPT1:







































page.
Enter COPY PC-AR.DOC LPT1: