The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM Version 6 Tender Lovin' Care for your Cars and Trucks INTRODUCTION An essential part of good vehicle management is maintenance records. This record system will help you keep track of your expenses and maintenance schedules. This booklet will tell you what version 6 of the program will do and how you set it up on your computer and use it. CONCEPT The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM (which we refer to as "TRUCK") is published in three forms. The DELUXE version includes all of the features of the program. The STANDARD version has all of the features of the deluxe version except that it does not process work orders. New in version 6, the NETWORK version includes all of the features of the DELUXE version AND provides all of the necessary features for multiple users to share in the use of the data files. It can be installed on a file server and used at many workstations at the same time. The program will handle any conflict between workstations. Database programs use more memory and computer power than many types of programs. You must have about 512K of base (low) memory available to run the TRUCK the program. Also you must provide for opening more files at the same time than DOS normally allows or many other programs need. The install program will offer to modify your computer setup for these additional file openings (see FILES=31 in the following). Although The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM is easy to learn to use, you do need to know how to operate your computer. If you are new to computers, please refer to the operating manual for your computer, your DOS manual and to the section of this User Manual on the subject of "DOS, THE DISK OPERATION SYSTEM AND YOUR COMPUTER". You will find the following files on your distribution diskette: The Shareware versions (Same as Standard) The installation programs: INSTALL.EXE INSTALL.CFG A compressed program file: PROGRAM.EXE that contains these files within the compressed file: TRUCKS.EXE The main program and overlays DRIVE.DBF The configuration file Page 2. A compressed data record file: FILES.EXE that contains these files within the compressed file: 17 database files with a .DBF extension 47 index files with a .NTX extension The files PROGRAM.EXE and FILES.EXE are self extracting, com- pressed files containing all of the files needed for TRUCK. The installation routine will expand these files (PROGRAM.EXE and FILES.EXE) to recover the other files. The program uses these 17 data files and 47 indices to quickly locate your records. HOW TO USE THE VEHICLE RECORD SYSTEM The program is menu driven and is built around dBASE-like routines that were compiled with the CLIPPER compiler. System requirements for a minimum * NON NETWORK * configuration are: An IBM type PC, XT, 286, 386, PS/2 or compatible with 512K free RAM. An operating system such as PC/MS DOS version 3.3 up or DR DOS version 5 up. A monochrome monitor and two floppy diskette drives that are larger than 720K drives. The program will not operate from a 360K diskette drive. When installed, it is over 600K bytes. (It can, however, be installed from 360K diskettes.) The program files: TRUCKS.EXE, with the HOUSKEEP, SHOPSTOK, PRINTED, SPECIAL, TOOLSET and other imbedded overlays (included in PROGRAM.EXE) along with the configuration file DRIVE.DBF The 17 data files with the .DBF extension and 47 index files with the .NTX extension (included in FILES.EXE). An EPSON compatible printer for the reports. A wide carriage printer (one that will accept 14 7/8" wide paper) is recommended but alternative reports are available for a regular 80 character, 8 1/2" wide printer. Settings for printing the reports in portrait mode on a Hewlett Packard LaserJet II compatible printer are also provided. For maximum storage, features and speed of operation, a recommended system will include: 640K of memory (RAM) A CGA or better type color monitor (CRT screen color displays are white letters on a blue background with entry items highlighted in yellow. Many warnings and information messages are in red or green.) A hard drive or other mass storage device such as a Syquest, Kodak or Bernoulli cartridge storage drive. Page 3. A suitable printer as noted above. NOTE: When you start your computer, the system date and time must be correctly set. The system date is used for many of the reports. System date can be set manually by use of the DATE and TIME commands from DOS or automatically by use of one of the many hardware clocks available for your computer. System requirements for a * NETWORK * configuration are: The NETWORK version of The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM. A network file server such as Novell NetWare or a working network program that will support multiple users. IBM type PC, XT, 286, 386, PS/2 or compatible workstations each with 512K free RAM and running an operating system such as PC/MS DOS version 3.3 up or DR DOS version 5 up and a monochrome monitor. For maximum features and speed of operation, a recommended workstation system will include 640K of memory (RAM) and a CGA or better type color monitor (CRT screen color displays are white letters on a blue background with entry items highlighted in yellow. Many warnings and information messages are in red or green.) Network workstations may choose to print reports locally on a workstation printer or may print them on a network printer. The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM network license does not limit the number of workstations that may share the use of vehicle files. THE NETWORK SERVER The program files: TRUCKS.EXE, with the HOUSKEEP, SHOPSTOK, PRINTED, SPECIAL, TOOLSET and other imbedded overlays (included in PROGRAM.EXE) and the configuration file DRIVE.DBF) and the 17 data files (.DBF) and 47 index files (.NTX) (included in FILES.EXE) will all be installed into a file server subdirectory. An EPSON compatible printer for the reports. A wide carriage printer (one that will accept 14 7/8" wide paper) is recommend- ed but alternative reports are available for a regular 80 charac- ter, 8 1/2" wide printer. Settings for printing the reports in portrait mode on a Hewlett Packard LaserJet II or compatible printer are also provided. Workstation printing on a network printer is done by network commands that route workstation printing to a network printer. On Novell NetWare, this is done with the CAPTURE command. Data records are stored on the file server storage device. NOTE: The system date and time must be correctly set since it is used for many of the reports. Page 4. CHAPTER ONE - SETTING UP YOUR PROGRAM The operating program and its overlay files will not fit on a 360K floppy diskette. The size of your record file is limited by the size of the storage device where the records will be kept. The size of your major data files is as follows: Vehicle description 432 bytes Fuel records 95 bytes Repair records 213 bytes Inventory records 156 bytes Tire descriptions 117 bytes Tire installations 67 bytes Work orders 685 bytes Parts used on work orders 56 bytes Vehicle parts list 82 bytes Vendor record 38 bytes Let me give you some idea of the storage room you will need. A typical set of records for 13 vehicles with 648 fuel records, 557 repair, tire and tire installation records and 78 inventory descriptions, has used about 1.2M of storage (including the index files). If you are limited to a floppy system and you have a good many vehicles, you may want to separate your vehicles into a number of divisions and keep your records on a separate diskette for each division. The program is copyrighted property but the TRUCK diskette is not COPY PROTECTED in any manner. It is sent to you on either a 3 1/2" 720K or a 5 1/4" 360K diskette. First, using the DOS command DISKCOPY, make a backup copy of the program diskette supplied to you. Put the original away in a safe place and set up your system from the backup. INSTALLING ON A DUAL FLOPPY DRIVE SYSTEM The program can be installed and operated from a floppy drive but the drive MUST be larger than a regular 720K drive to do the installation. You can also install the program on your hard drive and store your records on diskettes in a floppy drive. Using DOS commands, FORMAT new diskettes for your installation. If you are going to install the program on a floppy diskette, (a 1.4M 3 1/2", for example) format one diskette for the program and one for the records you will keep. Place a new diskette in drive B: and issue the command: "FORMAT B:" (This will be your RECORD diskette.) When the format is completed, remove the diskette and place another new diskette in drive B: and issue the command: "FORMAT B:/S" (This will be your PROGRAM diskette) Page 5. Although The program can be operated from a single high density floppy system, let's assume that you have two floppy drives, drive A: and B:. Place the backup copy of your TRUCK diskette ( either the 3 1/2" or the 5 1/4" diskette ) into drive A: and the newly formatted PROGRAM diskette in drive B: and, from the A>_ prompt, issue the command: "INSTALL" (Don't type the quotes or colons and always press) (the or key to execute a command) You will see a screen showing the drive you will install the program onto. Enter the drive letter you wish to use, drive "B" Next enter the directory name you want to use. The default is a directory named "B:\VEHICLES" but, on a two floppy system, if you would like, you can enter "B:\" to install the program in the root directory. Do not use more than 29 characters to describe the drive and directory. At the next screen, choose to: Install only the PROGRAM file You choose what is installed by moving your cursor with the up and down arrow keys to the selected position and pressing the key to place or remove an "X" at your selection. Then press the key to start the installation. The following files will be copied: TRUCKS.EXE and DRIVE.DBF Remove the diskette from drive B:. This will be your PROGRAM diskette. (The diskette that you use to start your computer must have a CONFIG.SYS file that contains these two statements: "FILES=31" and "BUFFERS=20") NOTE: If you have other things in your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files, (SUCH AS CLOCK routines, for example) you may want to add them to this diskette. If you do not understand this, seek the assistance of your computer dealer or someone familiar with your computer. Next, place the diskette you formatted for your RECORD files in drive B: and again run the INSTALL routine. This time, specify drive "B" and for the directory, specify "B:\VEHICLES" At the next screen, choose (by placing the "X"), to: Install only the DATA files (and press the key) Seventeen .DBF files and 47 .NTX indices will be copied to the drive B: diskette - into a VEHICLES subdirectory. This will be your RECORD diskette. Page 6. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR A SINGLE FLOPPY DISKETTE SYSTEM If you operate the program with only one floppy diskette and no hard disk, you MUST have a floppy drive that is larger than a 720K drive. A 3 1/2" 720K can not be used since there is not enough room for the program and the empty data and index files. A 1.2M can be used but a 1.44M is more practical. Use the INSTALL routine described above and select to install both the PROGRAM and FILES. You must add a CONFIG.SYS file with the FILES and BUFFERS statements to the diskette you use to start your computer. (See your DOS manual) When completed, type DIR and you should see the TRUCKS.EXE program file, the 17 .DBF and 47 .NTX files - all in a VEHICLES subdirectory. This will provide you with the maximum amount of storage room on the single diskette. With a 1.2M diskette, you will find only about 350K bytes left for storing your data. While this will work for a short time with a small group of vehicles, you should consider adding a 1.4M 3 1/2" second floppy drive - or even better, add a hard drive. To use the system, restart your computer so it will read the CONFIG.SYS file you added to the startup DOS diskette. At the A:>_ prompt, remove the DOS diskette and place the copy of the PROGRAM diskette in drive A:. Start the program by entering the commands "CD VEHICLES" and "TRUCKS". At the monitor setting enter "T" and set the path to your files as A:\VEHICLES (See the configurations settings discussed below.) SETTING UP THE PROGRAM ON A HARD DISK SYSTEM THIS IS THE RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION Both your program and records can be stored on a hard disk. Operation is MUCH faster and the size of stored records is limited only by the space available on your hard disk. Using DOS commands, at the normal A:>_ prompt, place your distribution backup diskette in drive A: and issue the command: "INSTALL" (Don't type the quotes or colons and always press the or key to execute a command) Enter the drive letter you wish to install TO, drive "C" for example - you will see an explanation that the program will be installed in a subdirectory named "C:\VEHICLES". Or, you can specify a different directory. Do not use more than 29 characters to describe the drive and directory. Press the key to start the installation. At the next screen, choose to: Install PROGRAM and DATA files You choose what is installed by moving your cursor with the up and down arrow keys to the selected position and pressing the key to place or remove an "X" at your selection. Page 7. With an "X" at Install PROGRAM and DATA files press the key The program TRUCKS.EXE, configuration file DRIVE.DBF and all of the .DBF data files and .NTX index files will be installed into the VEHICLES directory on drive C: INSTALLING INTO DIFFERENT DIRECTORIES If you want to install the program in one directory and the data files in a different directory, indicate the correct drive and directory for the program and when you place the "X", put it at the end of "Install only the PROGRAM file". The following files will be copied: TRUCKS.EXE and DRIVE.DBF After the program is installed, run INSTALL again and enter the directory for the DATA files and place an "X" at the end of "Install only the DATA files". Seventeen .DBF files and 47 .NTX indices will be copied to the other drive and subdirectory you indicated. NOTE: Your hard disk may already have a CONFIG.SYS file. If it does, the install routine will check it to see if it has FILES=31 and BUFFERS=20 (or more) and will modify it if it does not. You will be asked permission to modify the file before it is changed. Create a startup batch file in the root directory of your hard drive. The batch file should be named TLC.BAT If you install the program in C:\VEHICLES (the default) you will find a TLC.BAT file on the installation diskette that will start the program. You can just copy the TLC.BAT file to C:\ If you used another directory for the program, use TLC.BAT as a pattern and modify it to suit your installation. If you do not understand this, again, seek the assistance of your computer dealer or someone familiar with your computer. SETTING UP THE PROGRAM IN OTHER DIRECTORIES The program is, by default, installed in a VEHICLES subdirectory. It can be installed in a different subdirectory. The program can be installed in one directory and the files installed in a different one - even on a different hard drive. For example, you may want the program installed in a subdirectory named C:\FLEET and the files in a subdirectory named C:\FLEET\RECORDS. Just be sure the program subdirectory contains the files TRUCKS.EXE and DRIVE.DBF and that the subdirectory for the records includes all of the other .DBF and .NTX files (the ones extracted from compressed FILES.EXE). When you first run the program, be sure to set the PATH to those directories in the configuration section of TRUCK. (See the "T" monitor setting below) You may also create a start-up batch file, TLC.BAT so that it will change to the path you have set up for the location of the program files. Page 8. CHAPTER TWO - GETTING STARTED FIRST USE OF THE PROGRAM NOTE A single floppy system should have already been started with your normal DOS diskette (with the CONFIG.SYS file). After you get to the A:>_ prompt, remove your startup diskette and insert your single vehicle system diskette into drive A:. Start the program by entering the command "CD\VEHICLES" followed by "TRUCKS" to start the program. Dual diskette system users only, place your program diskette in drive A: and your record diskette in drive B:. Restart the computer (reboot so it can read the new CONFIG.SYS file. Hold down the key and the key while you press the key.) Your PC will read the CONFIG.SYS information. At the A:>_ prompt, start the program by typing "TRUCKS" and press the key. Hard disk users, at the C:>_ prompt, ( if a TLC.BAT file has been copied to C:\ ) just type TLC to start the program. The first time you run the program, you will automatically go into the configuration settings for TRUCK. Later, when you run TRUCK, you will see the monitor setting (Color or Monochrome) and go directly to the MAIN MENU. As the program begins, the screen shows that you have a monochrome monitor. Your files are expected to be in drive C: in a subdirectory named "VEHICLES". If the screen shows M for monochrome and you enter C for color, the program will restart and use the new setting. After that, each time you run TRUCK, it will be set to the type monitor you indicated. If you do not enter anything for the monitor setting, the program will wait five seconds and proceed without change to the main menu. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR MONITOR SETTING Normally you will set your record system for a color or a monochrome monitor and leave it at that setting. There is an invisible setting here that allows you to set or change some operating parameters for your system. You may enter the special configuration/set-up mode during the five second delay interval while the monitor setting is displayed. When the program is installed and is run for the first time, the monitor setting is set to "T" to cause the configuration screens to appear by default. Later, you may again type the letter "T" for the monitor setting to reenter these configuration settings. You will be presented a screen that offers some alternative settings for a monochrome monitor. The default setting is for BRIGHT WHITE entry display. You may choose BLINKING WHITE or BLACK LETTERS ON A WHITE BACKGROUND if you desire. These settings are only for a monochrome monitor - they have no effect on a color monitor. Page 9. The next screen shows the existing path to your PROGRAM file. The default setting is C:\VEHICLES. If you have used a different subdirectory, here is where you enter the full path to that location. For example, if you used drive F: and a directory named "FLEET", you would enter F:\FLEET On a network, you must enter the path to the program on the file server - for example F:\PUBLIC\VEHICLES If you do not wish to change it, just press . Now you see the existing path to your record files. The default path for your records is also C:\VEHICLES. If you used a different subdirectory for the records, you may enter a path such as F:\PUBLIC\FLEET\RECORDS Again, just press to leave it unchanged. The next screen allows you to set your system for English (miles, gallons, etc.) or for Metric units (liters, kilometers, etc.) What you set here determines the headings on your reports and entry screens throughout the program. The next screen is for setting the date format that will be used in your entry screens and reports. You may select from several formats. The default setting is American dates (MM/DD/YY). Press and the next screen shows the hourly labor rate for your repair shop. The rate can be changed by simply overtyping the rate shown. If you use this feature and repair work is entered that shows ONLY the number of hours with no labor cost, TRUCK will use this rate to calculate the total labor cost for that entry. Following this hourly rate selection, press and you will see the next screen of settings. This screen has settings for you to use to replace TLC SOFTWARE on the printed reports with your own company name and location. You are limited to the space provided for these headings. You should center your entry in the space provided for the reports to retain the proper format on the paper reports. Press to leave them unchanged. The screen that follows is a setting for the default state abbreviation to be used in your fuel entries. If you enter a state here and you do purchase fuel in various states, you create a risk of entering this state in the wrong record. If you only purchase fuel in one state, you may want the convenience of having that state always show up in your fuel entry screen by default. Enter the state abbreviation here and it will be the default state for your fuel entry. You will still be able to overtype the state in the fuel entry if you need to. Leave this field blank and you can enter the state in the fuel record as needed. The next screen contains information about printer setup codes. You may press the key for additional information about the printer codes. The help screen includes the setting for a Hewlett Packard LaserJet II for the 16.66 characters per inch LINE PRINT mode. Page 10. Press and you can enter settings for changing your printer to condensed mode; back to standard mode; into double wide and again; back to standard mode. The default settings are for an EPSON compatible printer. The default settings work with most printers. You should check your printer manual for the codes for your particular printer. You can enter a series of up to 10 decimal numbers for each of these settings. Leave the unused entry fields to the right of your settings set to zero. The double wide settings are used for printing stock room bin labels on standard 15/16 x 3 1/2", fan-fold mailing labels. You cannot print these on a LaserJet page printer so you may ignore these settings. At the bottom of the print code screen, answer the question about whether or not you have a WIDE-CARRIAGE printer. If you answer (N)o, the wide reports will be modified so that they will fit on an 8 1/2" wide printed page. Answer (N)o if you are using a LaserJet. The next screen is used to change the password you will use to gain access to the file utilities through TOOLSET. To change the password, you must enter the correct password here. When the program is shipped, the password is set to the word "PASSWORD". You can enter PASSWORD to gain access to the password record. You must enter it correctly two times. Enter any new password up to 8 characters long. You can use any combination of numbers and letters. REMEMBER THE PASSWORD YOU ENTER. IT MUST BE ENTERED EXACTLY TO USE TOOLSET. If you do not need the additional security protection of a special password, simply leave it set to the word PASSWORD and press to continue. The next screen is where you set your intervals for recurring maintenance operations. Many fleet operators use a check-off list of standard preventive maintenance operations and inspections. The tables you see are set up for doing four types of inspections, A, B, C or D. You enter the distance interval and the number of days in the interval for this work. Type A may be oil change, lube, etc. You also enter the interval for the type B inspection. This work includes all of the type A inspection plus some additional things. Type C includes both A and B. Type D is for an even longer period or at some future date. Type D includes all of the other inspections. What the actual work includes in these inspections is not a part of TRUCK...you must determine what will be done. TRUCK will keep track of when it is due. You have room to enter three different sets of intervals. Some vehicles may follow Group 1, others Group 2, etc. These selection numbers will be entered on your maintenance schedule for each vehicle. The selection number you enter on the maintenance schedule for each vehicle will determine which group of ABCD intervals will be used for the reports and schedules for that particular vehicle. Page 11. There are also entries for the number of days for the interval for three special inspection schedules - one for a DOT inspection, California's BIT inspection and a passenger BUS inspection. Now, press to see the main menu. THE MAIN MENU This is the "HOME" screen. Most of the work will be done from this screen. The other menu screens will return here on completion. To choose a selection from this or any of the menus, enter the first character or, using the up or down arrow keys, move the cursor to the selection and press . As the cursor is moved up or down, the menu selection is highlighted and a description of the function is displayed at the bottom of your screen. To first get your vehicle and equipment record system set up, follow these steps: 1. Enter the description information about each unit. 2. Use the TOOLSET routine to generate a maintenance schedule file that includes the unit numbers that you entered. Update the maintenance schedules for EACH of your vehicles or pieces of equipment. 3. Now you can begin to enter the repair and fuel records. 4. If you are going to use the inventory control functions, you must enter a description for each item in your parts room. Show descriptions, location, normal and reorder stocks, etc. More on that later. If you use the tire tracking routines, you must also enter a description for each and every tire you will track. From the main menu, First, select "H)ousekeeping" to EDIT AND MODIFY YOUR FILES You will see a new menu with selections for working with your files. MAKING DESCRIPTION ENTRIES FOR THE VEHICLES The first thing you must do is enter the information about your vehicles. Before you begin, there are several things you should know about your fleet. The program expects your vehicles to have a distinctive number of up to six characters. The number of vehicles you can include is limited by the amount of storage space on your system. The program will handle many units. With a slower, older model PC, a large number of vehicles may make the operation slower than you would like. With a fast 286, 386 or 486 machine, the program can handle many hundreds with ease. Faster is better but no more accurate. Page 12. RESERVED NUMBERS A vehicle or division "number" can include letters, numbers or dash (hyphen) in any combination except that the last character of a vehicle number must not be an "R". The character R is reserved for use to flag a unit as being a retired unit. The characters N and Q are used in several selections within the program. The number "9999999" is also used by the program for making some of the reports. A division number must not be "999" or "Q" for the same reasons. Do not use periods or spaces in the number. You can not use number R, N, Q or 9999999 nor can your numbers be more than six characters long. Even though there are seven spaces in the number field, do not use the seventh space. It is reserved for the R to indicate a retired unit. Numbers like 1, 101, 6593, 65-93, TR526, or BG934J are all valid unit numbers. Divisions can be AA, A1, 5BA, AAC, R2B, etc. The unit number is the key the program uses to keep track of and report your vehicle activity. Divisions are used to group your vehicles and reports into segments. You will also need a description, the license tag number, VIN number and other things. You can add to it later but it is simple if you have all of the information at hand now. At the HOUSEKEEPING menu, choose the selection to A)dd a unit. You will be presented a screen with blanks to be filled with the information for your vehicle. Here is the information that is expected to be entered: Unit No........ A number such as 1, 865 or 93865 Mfgr........... Letters; GMC=Gen Motors, FORD=Ford Current Odom.. Used in several printed reports. Division....... A 3 character designator. Anything other than "999" or "Q". If you only have a single location, enter AA or XX for this. Operator....... The driver's name. Be consistent, use SMITH, J for example. Last name, comma, space, first initial. Remember, you will be looking for these names later; keep it simple, don't add confusion with periods on some names and not on others, etc. Model year..... 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, for example Description.... A short description, for example 1993 SATURN 4DR Color.......... WHT, BLU, BLU/GRN, RED, etc. VIN ........... This is the Vehicle ID number. On recent vehicles, it is the 17 digit number at the lower edge of the windshield in front of the driver or on an ID plate. Type of Fuel... A single letter, G for gasoline, D for diesel, P for propane, etc. Tires, FR, RR.. Enter the tire size. If rear tires are the same as the front, just enter "SAME" at the RR position. License tag.... Enter the tag number. No dashes, spaces or commas in the number, just run it all together like "GRV999", for example. (Makes it easier to find) Page 13. New Date....... Is for when you acquired the vehicle. Dates are entered as six digits. If you use the default American dates, For July 4, 1993, you enter "070493". The program will handle the "/'s" and move to the next blank. Dealer......... Is the selling dealer's name. P.O.Number..... The purchase order number. Cost........... This is a handy place to keep this data Class.......... For trucks, this is 1,2,3,6,7,8 etc for the classes (A Chev. C7DO42 or C70 is a class 7, for example) For cars, you may want your own designation for the cars you use. Perhaps S for sales, E for executives, or whatever is useful to you. Eqpmt:......... List the accessories but keep it short. For example "V8,5SP,PS,PB,AC,CRU,TILT,PWIND,FM, CASS" should be pretty clear. Major components for heavy trucks and equipment can be listed on the following screen. At the last entry, press the key and you will see another screen for entering additional components. Any of the fields that are not needed may be left blank. You MUST enter a division and vehicle or unit number. Those entries are mandatory. You should enter a VIN, license tag and operator name. These are all used in the searches. The program can not work without a division and vehicle or unit number. After the last entry, press and you may choose to create a maintenance schedule for this vehicle now - or choose (N)o and you can do it later. If you are entering a number of descriptions for the initial setup of your records, you can wait and do all of the maintenance schedules at one time. If you are just adding a single unit, answer (Y)es and set up the schedule too. The schedule you create will show the unit number and division you just entered. You can also indicate which one of the three sets of maintenance intervals you will follow for this vehicle. These are the sets of intervals you entered in the configuration part of TRUCK. Press , then you can enter Q to quit or press again to add another description. Continue until you have added all of your vehicles. Don't be concerned if you do not have all of the information now. It can easily be added later by editing that description. After you have entered all of your vehicle descriptions, if you did not create the maintenance schedules, do it now. From the main menu, select X)tra file work to get to the TOOLSET routines. At the password screen, enter the password "PASSWORD". (You will not see the letters as you type this. Just enter it blind and press enter.) Then you will see the TOOLSET menu. At the TOOLSET menu, move your cursor down to the M)ake schedule selection; then (C)ontinue to generate the initial MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE files for the vehicle numbers just entered into the record. Page 14. The system is now ready for you to use in keeping the details for your fleet operation. TO END THE PROGRAM From the main menu, choose the Q)UIT selection. You will be asked if you are sure; enter "Y" or "Q" if you really want to quit...anything else will take you back to the main menu without having to restart the program. When you get back to the DOS prompt, type DIR B: and look at the directory entries on your records diskette. You should see 17 .DBF files and 47 .NTX indices. Hard drive users at the C:\ prompt, type: DIR d:\VEHICLES (or your directory if different) (where d: is the letter for the drive used) You should see 17 DBF files, 47 .NTX index files and the program file TRUCKS.EXE. The .DBF files are compatible with programs that will read dBASE III files. The index files (with an NTX extension) are not dBASE compatible. If you choose to use a dBASE type program with these files and want to use an index, you must generate a dBASE (NDX) index with the dBASE program. See Chapter 9, HINTS AND KINKS (FILE INFORMATION FOR OTHER DATABASE USERS). Page 15. CHAPTER THREE - USING THE TRUCK INFORMATION GETTING MAINTENANCE AND FUEL HISTORY ON THE CRT The S)how repair history selection will present a listing of repairs for a unit on the CRT screen. It requests a vehicle number. If you want a shorter report of just the more recent entries, you may also enter a date to begin the report. If you leave the date blank and just press , the report will begin at the start of your file and include all data for the unit number you enter. TRUCK will display the repairs from your record for that vehicle number. If there are more than will fit on the CRT screen, you will see about 15 entries and the scrolling of the entries will stop. Press any key to get the next screenfull -- or enter a "Q" to go back to the main menu. The C)RT selection is similar to the repair selection but shows the information about fuel entries for a vehicle. Just as with the repair display, you may specify a starting date for the display. LOCATE A VEHICLE DESCRIPTION The L)ocate selection will present you with a Locate menu. Here, you may select the vehicle number, license tag number, VIN number or operator's name. When doing a search, enter the search basis EXACTLY as it appears in the vehicle description record. TRUCK will quickly find the description from any of these selections. (If you do not know the number of the vehicle, you can list them on the screen or printer with the Operator listing selection on the Printed Report menu.) As the description is located and displayed on the CRT screen, if any of the scheduled maintenance items or permits renewals are due for this vehicle, you will see a flag in the upper corner of the screen. If anything is due, check the Schedule, Tag or Permit files. A)dd repairs The A)dd repairs selection on the main menu brings up a sub menu of repair choices. You may add repair information, create a work order to send to your repair shop, add repair information to a completed work order after the work is done, print another copy of an open (incompleted) work order or enter a repair cost to be distributed to a number of vehicles. (NOTE: The work order routines are not in the standard TRUCK program but are an extra cost option for those users who need to produce and process work orders. See the section on "HOW TO PRODUCE A WORK ORDER".) To add a repair, at the sub menu, choose A)dd a repair record. Page 16. To enter the information, just fill in the blanks. Press after an entry to move to the next field. An up arrow key will move to the previous fields if you need to make a correction. Control END (hold down the key while you press the key) will move the cursor to the last field of the current record. The key will take you to the end of the present entry screen. This is true throughout the program. Your first entry is for the repair code. HELP is available for the repair codes. For help, press the key. A selection list will appear on the screen. The list of codes is only suggested - you may use any codes you want - but do use something. If you do not enter any repair code, the default code "OTH" (for other) will be used. These codes can be extremely useful. If, for example, you need all of the transmission repairs (TR) from June 5, 1991 to September 3, 1993 for division "AA", you can get a printed report based on these codes. You can also report all repairs of a type for a single vehicle. Using other dBASE type programs, you can generate other special reports. Entering the codes as the work is recorded assures that such reports can be made from your files as needed. It does mean that you must enter each type of repair separately if you expect to report the repairs by type. The repair codes can be up to 3 characters. Some fleets use the first digits of the American Trucking Association (ATA) codes for this. Next, you add the division, unit number, date and odometer reading for this repair. The odometer entry can be up to 9,999,999. You don't need to enter a comma and do not enter tenths of miles or kilometers. The current odometer reading for a unit is updated from the repair entry. If you look at the description for a unit, you will find that the current odometer follows the most recent repair or fuel entry. Now, you add the cost of parts for the repair followed by the labor cost. TRUCK will add these entries and place the total in the field for the total cost. If costs are zero, just press the key. If you enter a figure in the labor hours field and leave the labor cost at zero, TRUCK will calculate the labor cost from the system hourly labor rate you have entered (in the confuguration part of TRUCKS). At the "Work done:" field, make the description of the work short and descriptive. When you display the repair history later on the screen or on a printed report, the short, direct descriptions will be easier to read but do enter what is useful to you. Here are a few suggestions for typical repairs: CHG OIL AND FILT CHASSIS LUBE OVERHAUL TRANSM REPL BRK PADS 4 P195/75R14 AMERIWAY XT TIRES REPR ALTERNATOR REPL FLOOR AT REAR Page 17. Do not run your repair note all together without spaces between words. The program uses the spaces to find a break point for a note with long lines. A note like REPL-PLUGS,WIRES,ROTOR,CONDENSOR,POINTS,BOOTS cannot be properly separated. This note should be entered like this REPL PLUGS, WIRES, ROTOR, CONDENSOR, POINTS, BOOTS and it will be properly displayed or printed. The fields Done by # and Work done by are for the repair shop or mechanic doing this work. You can enter the vendor number here without the name and TRUCK will find the name from your VENDOR file. If you enter "??", you can search through your vendor list to find the name and the number. ( See the section on Vendors ) W)ork orders Production and processing of work orders is an extra cost option for TRUCK. It is included in the Deluxe and in the Network versions. The following description of the use of the Work order and the Complete work order selections apply only if this feature is a part of your program. The features added to the standard version of Version 6 are routines to produce a printed WORK ORDER; process the work order after the work is COMPLETED; selectively PRINT A COPY of an incompleted or completed work order; and on demand, to REMOVE OLD WORK ORDERS from the data file. SETTING UP THE WORK ORDER NUMBERS When you create the first work order, you must enter the sequence number for that order. As more work orders are produced, that number will be incremented so that the orders are numbered in sequence. HOW TO PRODUCE A WORK ORDER At the main menu, select A)dd Repair. At the sub-menu with selections for A)dd a repair record, W)ork Order and for C)omplete a work order, etc., Select the second menu item for a W)ork order. You will be asked to enter the Unit Number for this work order. Enter the vehicle number and press . The program will get the vehicle information from your description file and show it at the top of the screen along with the Work Order Number. Enter the DATE and ODOMETER READING for the vehicle. If this is the first work order or if you want to change the work order sequence number, you may also type in the correct number. Work orders may be up to seven numbers long and may begin with a first character A through Z. Page 18. If you change the work order number to a new sequence of numbers, be sure that you do not create a conflict in the numbers. You must not have two orders with the same order number in the same set of records. Now, enter one, two or three complaints for work to be done. At the end of the complaint entries, a printed copy of the work order may be made or can be printed later. It is designed to be printed on a single page of regular 8 1/2" wide paper. That printed copy is ready to go to the repair shop. If you have more than three complaints for the same vehicle at the same time, you must make multiple work orders. The limit is three complaints on any one order. PRINTING A WORK ORDER The shop copy of a work order can be automatically printed when you enter the initial complaint information on the computer. You can also print a copy of a work order that has been entered earlier. It may be a completed one or may still be in progress. At the Add Repair sub-menu, use the selection to P)rint an open order. To print a completed work order, see the section that follows about the main menu selection to G)enerate special reports. WORK ORDER ENTRIES IN THE REPAIR SHOP The printed work order is similar to many commonly used printed work order forms. At each complaint, there is room to write the cause and the work done to correct the problem. There is also room on the left side to list parts used. Each part is to be keyed to a correction by number - that is complaint 1, 2 or 3 for this order. The person doing the work notes his/her name and identification number along with the number of hours for each correction. The work order is then returned for computer entry of the information. ENTERING THE COMPLETED WORK INTO THE COMPUTER To enter the information from the repair shop, from the main menu, choose the A)dd Repair selection. At the sub-menu, choose the C)omplete a Work Order selection. You will be asked to enter the Work Order Number. Enter the number from the printed order. If the number is 0000291, you can just enter 291 but if it something like A000291, you must enter the complete number - A000291 - then press . The first screen is for entering the parts used for this work order. Each part is keyed to the complaint by number (complaint 1, 2 or 3). The part number entered is your in-house part number used in your inventory record. If the part is not one of your stock parts, you can enter a description and cost for that non- stock part. It too is keyed to the complaint by number. Page 19. As in-stock parts are used, they are removed from your inventory and listed in your inventory issue audit trail. Then, on the screen, when all of the parts have been entered, you will see the vehicle description along with the first complaint you entered when the work order was created. You also have room to enter the cause and correction from the repair shop information. (Notice also that you may want to change the odometer if the shop reported it differently.) If you entered any parts for the first complaint on this work order, you will see the total cost of the parts you have listed for this complaint. If you enter the labor hours without the labor cost, the labor cost will be calculated from the standard labor rate you have entered in the configuration file (At the "T" selection described earlier) just as is done with a regular repair entry. If you enter both the time and labor cost, your figures will be accepted without the calculation. Also enter the repair code for this work. If you enter the mechanics name and 2 character identification into your VENDOR file, you can enter "??" for the number and select the name from that file -- just as with the supplier of fuel or repairs on other screens. You can also enter the name without regard for the listing in the Vendor file. When you complete the First Complaint screen, press and you will see the Second and, on completion of that complaint, then the Third. When all three have been completed, the program will enter a record in your repair file for each of the three items PROVIDED THERE WAS A CORRECTION NOTED. If no work was done, for example, on complaint number two, no repair entry is made for that complaint. Numbers 1 and 3, however, will be recorded if they include a notation for any correction work. DISTRIBUTE CHARGE TO MANY UNITS This selection will allow entry of a single expense but the cost will be divided among all units in a division - or all units in all divisions. This may be something such as an insurance premium for the group that you want to break down as an expense for each unit. First, you enter the division (the three character division identifier or 999 for all divisions). Then, you will see a screen that is very similar to a regular repair entry. There is no odometer entry since the odometer for each unit will be different. The odometer reading will be retrieved from the description file for each vehicle. The other items work just like the repair entry. Enter the labor, parts and cost for the full charge for this work. When the entries are complete, the cost you enter is divided among each of the units you have listed for the division(s) you entered. Page 20. The descrip- tion file is used for the list of units. The total cost will be divided by the number of units and that cost entered into a repair entry for each unit. When the cost is divided, it is rounded to two decimal places. Because of this rounding, there will sometimes be a variation of a few cents between the total cost of the work and the total cost of each of the entries made. For example, a cost of $300 divided by 35 vehicles will be $8.57 for each one. If you multiply $8.57 by 35 vehicles, you get $299.96 - a difference of $0.04 less. ( A repair of $295 would be posted as $8.43 for each of the 35 units. $8.43 multiplied by 35 units is $295.05 or $0.05 more. If this is a problem, you can use TOOLSET to spread the few cents to one or more of the vehicles. PERIODIC INSPECTION ENTRIES If the work order is for doing an A, B, C or D inspection, or a DOT inspection, you must also make the entry from the main menu for D)o Periodic Inspection. The periodic inspection routine will update your maintenance schedules for the inspection you enter. Since the labor and parts are entered from the work order entry, just make the D)o Periodic entry with the odometer reading, unit number and date but do not enter the labor or repair costs. If you are entering a periodic inspection that was not done on a work order, you would, of course, enter the cost details for the inspection. REMOVING OLD WORK ORDERS FROM THE FILE Old work orders take up a fair bit of storage space on your hard drive. They can be removed by using TOOLSET the main menu X)tra file work selection. D)O PERIODIC INSPECTION ENTRY With this selection, you can choose to enter an ABCD type inspection or one of the special DOT, BIT or BUS inspections. If you choose the ABCD inspections and have set the maintenance schedule up using the A,B,C,D intervals, this is where you enter the information. Just fill in the blanks. TRUCK will make an entry in your repair file showing the date, odometer, etc for the type inspection you show. It will also update the maintenance schedules for this vehicle. If you do a type A inspection, it will update the interval for your next type A inspection. It will use the intervals you have entered in the system for this vehicle. If you do a higher level inspection, it will update that schedule as well as the more frequent types. (If you do a type D inspection, TRUCK will update the schedule for A, B and C as well as the D interval) If you choose the other inspections, the result is the same except that TRUCK will show the repair code as INS (inspection) and will enter the proper inspection in the work done section. It will also update the schedule for this unit. Page 21. ADDING FUEL INFORMATION The F)uel data selection is for entering information about fuel added to a vehicle. Printed and screen reports may be produced that use these entries. One report will show each entry and calculate MPG or KPL for that fill up. At the end of the report, there will be a summary of fuel used, cost, average performance and total cost. Another report shows fuel purchased for each unit by state during a period you choose. On the fuel entry screen, there is a notation for Fuel Tank Topped Off. If fuel is added to a vehicle and it only partially fills the tanks, the fuel report can become distorted. The Topped Off notation is normally set to Yes. If this entry is not a fill-up, you can change this to No. Then, when a fuel report is made, the performance calculation for this fuel entry is not made - the fuel and cost is saved until the next following Top-off. The calculation is then made and will accurately show the performance for this vehicle. The cursor is normally set to bypass this "Topped off" notation but you can use the up arrow key to move up to change it. When entering fuel information, if you enter only two of the fuel items, that is quantity, cost per unit or total cost, TRUCK will calculate the third field. Of course you can enter all three and TRUCK will accept your calculations. NOTE THAT THE COST OF FUEL IS ENTERED IN CENTS, NOT DOLLARS. To enter a cost of $1.25, you enter 125.0 These figures can only be accurate if ALL of the fuel is entered for a vehicle. Accurate individual consecutive entries will accurately show the MPG or KPL between fill ups. Just as with the repair entries, each time you make a fuel entry the odometer field in the description record is updated. This updating of the current odometer is used in other reports. When you bring a description up on the CRT screen, you will see a near up-to-date reading for that vehicle. There are also spaces to enter any oil that is added at fuel time. Enter the number of quarts or liters and the cost for each. The oil cost does not show in the fuel total but is reported as oil added in the reports for the vehicle. T)ax data This entry is for Road Use or Fuel Tax records. Here, you can enter the distance traveled (loaded, unloaded or toll roads where needed) in each state. Usually, this data is taken from driver logs or other source of trip information. This road use information will be available in a printout that will list distance traveled by vehicle and by state during the period you specify. Page 22. R)evise your schedules - HELP IS AVAILABLE, PRESS Select a vehicle by number and review the schedule for that vehicle.This screen shows the odometer and date when maintenance items are due, not the interval between them. This screen may be viewed at any time. If you want to change any item, just overtype the odometer or date shown. Any of the schedule fields that are left blank or with a zero will be ignored when printing exception reports. For example, If you do oil changes as part of a Type A inspection, leave the oil change field at 0. If you do not use the Type A, B, C or D inspections, leave those entries at 0. Although both entries are not needed, you can, of course, use them. Exception reports (the report of maintenance due) will compare the entries in all of the schedule fields if they are listed at more than 0. These schedules may be updated manually. If you enter individual maintenance schedule items, updates should be made when the scheduled work is done. These updates are made manually. The record includes changes of oil, oil filter, transmission oil and filter, chassis lube and coolant replacement. These are the regular, on-going things that are needed - usually on a distance traveled basis. When you change oil on a  vehicle, simply add the desired oil change interval to the odometer at the time of the change. Date entries are available for brake and exhaust system inspections. These are particularly useful for vehicles used in such duty as police and taxi service. You can use any schedule that fits your need. If the brake and exhaust inspections are not to be used, leave the date field blank for that vehicle (move the cursor to the date field and use the delete key to remove the month entry. Then press enter to leave a blank date entry). If you use the Type A,B,C,D, the DOT, BUS or BIT inspections, these odometer and date fields are updated from the entry described above in DO PERIODIC INSPECTIONS. All schedules will be included in the printed report for this vehicle's maintenance work. You will notice in the middle of the schedule screen, a reference to "BY TYPE (USING INTERVALS 1, 2 OR 3)". This is where you enter which of the groups of intervals to follow for this vehicle when using the ABCD inspection schedules. To follow the first group, enter 1 - or leave it set to 0 if the intervals are to be ignored. (These are the intervals you enter in the configuration part of TRUCK when you type "T" at the program's beginning screen.) Just above the line about "USING INTERVALS..." is a line that includes the current odometer reading for the vehicle. USING THE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULES - HOW THEY WORK There are really two parts to the maintenance schedules. There is the part that includes Oil Change, Filter Change, Chassis Lube, etc. and there are the A,B,C,D inspections. The A,B,C,D inspections work more automatically than the others. Page 23. In this discussion, I will make reference to "vehicles". Read this to mean vehicles or units. They may be cars, trucks or other equipment. First, let's consider the Exception Report. You select this report from the Printed Report menu. You can see the report either on the CRT screen or you can print it on paper. The Exception Report will include all of the vehicles for which any one of the maintenance schedule items is due. If ANY item is due, the entire maintenance schedule for that vehicle is included in the Exception Report. If nothing is due, that vehicle is not shown in the report. To make the Exception Report work, you must have certain information entered into your records. That information must include these items: There must be a maintenance schedule record for each vehicle. The schedule must include information about WHEN each item is DUE TO BE DONE. If using the A,B,C,D inspections, you must have entered the inspection INTERVALS that will be followed for the vehicle and you must have entered the interval group number (1, 2 or 3) that will be used for this vehicle. The odometer reading for the vehicle must be up-to-date or must be updated prior to making the Exception Report. Your computer date must be correctly set to today's date. Let's take these one at a time. When you first start using the program, you enter a description for each vehicle. Then, from the TOOLSET menu, you select the routine to generate your initial maintenance schedules. This routine will write an entry into the maintenance schedule file for each of the vehicles in your description records. It may enter some default odometer readings into those files. If the schedule is for a brand new vehicle, this may be good. If it is an existing, used vehicle, you will need to go to the REVISE selection on the main menu to enter the dates and odometer readings when each of the scheduled items you will use is to be done. That gets us to the second thing. Any maintenance schedule item that is left at zero(0) or blank will be ignored in making the Exception Report. If you want to use the Oil Change, Filter Change series at the top of the Schedule screen, just leave the A,B,C,D entries at 0 and the dates blank. If you want to use just the A,B,C,D's, leave the Oil Change, Filter Change items at 0. Of course, you can use them all. The Exception report generator compares the odometer readings entered with the up-to-date odometer reading for the vehicle. It also compares the date entries with the date entered into your computer. (That is today's date.) In setting up your records, you must enter into each vehicle schedule, the odometer and date when each item you will use is Page 24. due. For the initial settings, you must do this manually so that the computer will know when to report them. If you use the Oil Change, Filter Change series, each time you do one of these maintenance operations, you must enter the odometer reading or date WHEN THE NEXT ONE WILL BE DUE. For example, if you do an oil change at 57,500 miles and you want to change oil at 5,000 mile intervals, use the Revise schedule selection and enter 62,500 (57,500 plus 5,000) at the Oil Change field. If you use the A,B,C,D schedules, you must prescribe what work is to be done for each of these. Typically, an "A" inspection could include an oil change, filter change, chassis lube. This is the most frequent item. A "B" inspection is expected to include everything that is done in the "A" plus some other things. Perhaps tire rotation, aim headlights, etc. The "C" includes the "B" which includes the "A" and so on. Additional things for the "C" inspection could include transmission service, wheel alignment, etc. The "D" inspection includes A,B, and C plus some other things. The "D" could be an annual or semi-annual inspection. When you do one of the A,B,C,D inspections, you make an entry from the main menu at the Do Periodic Inspection selection. When you do this, the program will write a repair entry into your file for this work and will update your maintenance schedule for the interval you have chosen for the particular inspection. If you do a "D" inspection, it will update the schedules for not just the "D" but also for C,B and A. If you do the annual DOT inspection, it will update the date the next one is due based on your chosen interval (probably 365 days). How do you choose these intervals? When you first start the program and you get to the screen where it asks for the drive that has your files and the type monitor you are using, at the monitor setting, you enter "T", as in truck. This will take you to several configuration items for the program. One of these is the maintenance intervals for the A,B,C,D inspection schedules. When you do that, you will see that there are three groups of A,B,C,D intervals - numbered 1, 2 and 3. You can enter three different sets of intervals (distances or days). Now, how do you get a vehicle to follow the desired set of A,B,C,D intervals? Back to the maintenance schedule for that vehicle. In the middle area of the screen, just before the A,B,C,D entries, there is a selection for the Type schedule to be used. You can enter a 0,1,2 or 3. If you enter 0, the intervals (the ones you listed as in the preceding paragraph) will be ignored. Enter a 1 to use the group numbered "1", etc. UPDATING THE ODOMETER FOR A VEHICLE As you use the fuel or repair record entry portion of the program, the odometer for a vehicle is updated each time you make an entry. Then, when you want to do the exception report, the reading will Page 25. be current as of the last fuel or repair entry. If you do not use the fuel or repair entries, at the beginning of the exception report routine, you will be asked if you want to update the odometer. If you choose to do it, you will be shown the odometer reading in the record for each vehicle and can enter a corrected reading or accept the reading shown. You can update a vehicle odometer at any time by using the Edit Description selection on the H)ousekeeping menu. SETTING THE DATE The date fields in the maintenance schedules are compared with the date in your computer. If you have an internal clock in your computer, as most computers do, or if your computer is a workstation in a network, the time and date are set each time the computer is started. If your time is not automatically set, you must set the time and date manually each time you start the computer. The Exception Report uses the date from the computer and all of the printed reports show the date of the printout. That printout date is the computer date. It's important that you set it. If you are not working in a network and do not have a clock that automatically sets this, the addition of a clock to your computer is much recommended. They are inexpensive and just worlds of convenience. The date and time setting for a network workstation is normally synchronized to the network file server. OTHER MENUS The selections for P)rint reports, H)ousekeeping, I)nventory, G)enerate special reports and X)tra file work each take you to other menus for creating several printed documents, doing housekeeping chores on your files, keeping parts room/warehouse INVENTORY records,making budget projections, special repair reports and for TOOLSET for making corrections, etc. with the files. These other menus are selected just like all menu items - press the first character of the selection or move the cursor to it and press . We will discuss each of these other menus later. ENDING THE PROGRAM Choose Q)UIT or press "Q" at the main menu to end TRUCK and return the computer to the normal DOS prompt. Before the program exits, you will be asked to confirm that you do, indeed, want to quit. Anything other than a "Y" or a "Q" will return to the main menu without having to restart TRUCK. If you do quit, to restart TRUCK, see GETTING STARTED. FREE MEMORY SELECTION If you use the up or down arrows to move the cursor to the position just above Q)uit, you will see a "sunburst". Some users have seen this and wondered what it is used for. Press Page 26. and you will see some information appear in the upper right portion of the menu screen. FREE: and a number indicates the amount of memory in kilobytes that is available in your computer at this particular moment. CALLS: shows how many calls have been made to various routines in the program. It is in the program for use if we have to work with you in case you have a problem. Otherwise, you will not need this facility. Just press the key to return to the menu. CHAPTER FOUR - THE PRINTED REPORTS Most reports can be properly printed on a printer that uses 8 1/2" wide paper. If you have a wide carriage printer, and have set your configuration for it (see the "T" monitor setting above) the wide reports will include more information. If you have set your configuration for a narrow printer, you will get a report that is condensed to fit on the 8 1/2" page. One report, the S)chedule review selection, will print in two parts - a left side and a right side. There is just too much information to put on a single 8 1/2" page - even in condensed print mode. At the main menu, choose the P)rinted reports selection. There are several useful printed reports that you may prepare from this alternate menu. Each report includes the date when the report is printed. The first selection provides a vehicle repair history report. You can choose a (R)egular or (S)ummary type report. You may choose to print this report or show the results for a single vehicle on the CRT screen. A printed Summary report is a listing by division of each unit for repairs between dates you specify. It shows the total repairs for a vehicle and totals the cost of repairs for all in the division being reported. If you enter "999" for the division, all of your units will be included in the report. The (R)egular report selection prints a detailed report for each vehicle. The report includes the description, repairs, a summary of costs and the maintenance schedule for that unit. You can choose to report a single vehicle or all in a division for dates you specify. Again, if you use "999" for the division, all vehicles will be reported. You can select to print a (F)ull report only if the full history for a vehicle is included in your records. (See "NEW RECORDS - OLD VEHICLES".). It will give you a printout of the entire repair history for the vehicle you select. You may also select a short report beginning at a specified (O)dometer or at a beginning and ending (D)ate. You can, for example, print a repair history for a vehicle for the second quarter of a year by entering the proper beginning and ending dates. F)uel report. Just as with the repair report, you may choose to print a single vehicle report or reports for many vehicles. If you do a single report, you can choose to print it on paper or simply show a summary report on the CRT screen. If you choose to do many vehicles, you can select (S)ummary or (R)egular fuel reports, just as for repairs - that is, printed or not, by dates, one vehicle or all by division. Page 27. C)ombined report is a report of the combined repair and the fuel expenses. It too can be printed or just on the screen and can be for a single unit or for a group. TRUCK will attempt to determine the beginning and ending odometer readings for this report using information from both of these files. Because of that, the distances reported may vary from that shown on a separate repair or fuel report. You may choose to do the report based on odometer readings from only the fuel or only the repair records or you may choose to use them both. If you have a wide carriage printer, the report will also show the oil added as the vehicle is fueled. A)mount by STATE prints a listing of fuel added to each vehicle, listed by state and date. This information can be used to make the fuel tax report for travel in each state. You can indicate the state you want to report or enter "99" for the state to report all states. The report details fuel purchased by state for each vehicle. You can select the beginning and ending dates for this report. If you report fuel and distance quarterly or monthly, these reports can be made just for the period you select. The T)ax report is similar to the Amount by State report except that it is a listing of distance traveled by each vehicle, listed by state for the period you select. Again, "99" will cause all states to be reported. This is the information you may need for reporting interstate commercial operations. P)ermit reports include the license tag along with fuel tax permits or decals and other permits that expire during the month you specify. If you specify a division and enter 9 for the month, the report will include all the vehicles in that division and will show if the tag or any permits expire in the month of September. You may also select a shorter report that shows only those vehicles for which a permit or tag is due that month. You may also specify "999" for the division and include all of your vehicles. This report is based on the information you enter in the Tag and the Permit files for your vehicles by going to the H)ousekeeping menu selection to E)dit and then choose T)ags or P)ermits. The O)perator listing selection prints a handy list of your vehicles and drivers. If you have several divisions and use the three character designator for the division, the report will be for vehicles in that division. If you use "999" for the division indicator, all of the vehicles in all divisions will be listed. If you have only one division and use AA for all of your units, the report will also include all of your vehicles that are in the file. You may choose to print the listing or show it on the CRT screen. There are three versions of the report, two wide ones and a condensed one. Only the condensed report will fit on the screen. The condensed report can also be printed. If you choose the wide Page 28. report for your printer there will be more information about a vehicle. If you choose the wide report AND have set up for a wide printer, you will get even more information on the printed report. M)ail list for bids produces a list of vehicles suitable for mailing to people interested in a sale of your used vehicles. Before you sell a vehicle, you must edit the description file for that vehicle to enter it's ending odometer. Do that BEFORE you produce the sale listing. You will be presented with several options. Generally, you just follow the screen prompts. The ready-to-mail report is printed on regular 8 1/2 x 11 or 8 1/2 x 14 paper at 10 characters per inch. You can generate a list of units to be included in the sale, print from an existing list or work directly from the keyboard. For a short list, the keyboard works very well but if you make a mistake and enter the wrong vehicle number, you have to start over. The best way is to generate a file list of the vehicles you want to sell and, when you have the list correct, let TRUCK produce the report from that file. The B)ill of Sale selection does just that - it produces a BILL OF SALE for one of the vehicles. Notice that all of the names, addresses, etc will be printed in upper case. Only the "date of the sale" is case sensitive. Type this in to match the text of the bill - July 15, 1993 - for example. Check the wording of the bill with your attorney. It has been used in some locations. You must determine whether it is adequate for your operation. It is included for whatever good it may be in your own circumstance. No assurance is made for the legality of the wording but we do feel that it includes the essential information. The S)chedule review selection will print a listing of the maintenance schedule for vehicles by division. This is a fairly wide report. If you are using an 8 1/2" printer, the report will be made in two sections - a left side and a right side. With a wide printer, the report is printed on wide paper with all of the information for each vehicle on a single line. It is a handy way for your fleet supervisor to review the schedules particularly when the vehicle odometer readings are at hand - say when monthly reports are made for personal use or whatever. Finally, the last selection prints an EXCEPTION REPORT for vehicles by district. It will list only those units that are due for the regularly scheduled work. Normally, TRUCK compares today's date with the due date in your schedules. You may want to see what will be due by some other date. The default date is set to today's date as indicated by your computer but you may type in any other date for the report date. For the exception report to work properly, you must have valid entries in the maintenance schedule and you must have up-to-date information in the file for each vehicle odometer reading. If you use TRUCK's repair or fuel entry functions, the odometer will be updated as the entries are recorded. Otherwise, you must update Page 29. the file with the vehicle's current odometer reading. ( Don't include a comma in the entry - just run it together - use [ 27000 not 27,000 ] ). Units that are not due are not included in the report. Items included in the maintenance schedule for a vehicle will not be used for this report if such item is left with a zero odometer or blank date entry in the schedule. Q)UIT returns to the Main Menu Page 30. CHAPTER FIVE - MAIN MENU HOUSEKEEPING SELECTION (WORKING WITH THE FILES) You get to this menu by selecting H)ousekeeping at the main menu. The operations that you select from this menu are rather sensitive. An inexperienced operator can cause damage to your files with these utilities. Be careful. Caution your operator to be sure of the operation before using these selections. The first two selections will rework the indices for your files. Some- times, an index can become corrupted. This can happen in a power failure or when you use dBASE to delete a record or PACK the files or from a malfunction of the computer or disk storage device. When you look for a description for a vehicle, say number 155, and you know it is in the file but it is not found, the probable cause is a bad index file. The I)ndex repair selection will rework all of the indices that are needed for the functions that locate the vehicle descriptions. The M)aint. index repair does the same thing for repair, fuel, schedule, etc. files. You can use these selections any time. There is little danger to the files and it only takes a short time. It depends on how many record entries you have. 500 will take about 25 seconds on a hard disk XT computer running at 8 MHz. Newer 386 or 486 computers will be much, much faster. The E)dit selection allows you to modify a description, tag or permit record. You also use this to add or change a license tag number for a new tag. This is where you can change the operator's name if the vehicle is reassigned. You can also correct errors in entries you have already made. The index files are automatically updated as changes are made. DO NOT use the edit selection if you want to renumber a vehicle or change it to a different division...use the R)enumber selection at the end of the Housekeeping menu...it will change ALL of the records, not just the description. When you choose the E)dit selection, you will see an additional menu. There you can choose to work with your files for Descriptions, Tags or Permits. You must enter the vehicle number to change the description or license tag record. Permit records can be edited by entering either the vehicle number or the permit number. The A)dd selection is the one you used to initially enter your vehicle descriptions. It is also used when you make a new addition to an existing fleet. It is NOT used when you get a REPLACEMENT for an existing vehicle. [Replacements are handled in the C)hange status and P)urge repairs selections.] V)endor names is the selection you use to add vendors to your file. You just fill in the blanks. If you need to know the vendor numbers already assigned, you can leave the name and city blank and enter "??" for the number and review the existing vendor Page 31. list. You have a choice to see them listed numerically or aphabetically. Vendors may also be your own mechanics. This is the record of names and identifying numbers that is used for various repair and fuel record entries and reports. If you want to print a list of your vendor file, use the V)endor data selection of the S)pecial report menu. The next selection, C)hange status is used for replacement vehicles. For this to work for you, there are several assumptions made about your fleet: 1. Your vehicles are numbered from 1 through 999999 2. A replacement vehicle will carry the same number as the vehicle it replaces but with an "R" added at the end of the number. For example, let's say you have a vehicle number 500; a replacement has been purchased for it. The new replacement will be number 500 and the old 500 is now to be retired and later will be sold. For now, it will be renumbered to 500R to indicate its new retired status. If you already have an older number 500R, the record for that older one will be deleted. In TRUCK, 500R is a completely different number from 500. Before you retire a vehicle, use the Edit selection and remove the operator's name from the description. This will avoid the conflict in the searches that will occur with a driver's name on more than one vehicle description. You want TRUCK to find the new vehicle, not the old one. Choosing the C)hange Status selection will present you with selections that will make the needed changes in the description file and bring up the screen for entry of the information for the new vehicle. Near the end of this routine, you will be asked if you are ready to Pack the file. If you are retiring several units at that time, you will save time if you wait until you are retiring the last one to do the Pack. Just choose to Return for some more. At the last one Pack the file to complete all of the removals. The P)urge repairs selection does a similar operation on repair and fuel records. It deletes any records for an old 500R; changes the now retired 500 records to 500R; and makes way for forthcoming entries for repairs to the newly purchased 500. Don't forget to revise the preventive maintenance schedules for the new vehicle. You want the schedules for the new one to be in your file. Just as when using the previous selection, you will be asked to choose whether you want to "(P)ack your file". Packing actually removes any deleted records from the file. There will be no harm if you pack the file after each retirement of a vehicle. You will save time, however, when you have a number of vehicles to retire at the same time if you select the (P)ack option after you process the last one in the series-packing the file for all of them at the same time. Page 32. The B)egin maintenance Sched. selection is used to add a vehicle to the maintenance schedule file. When you set up your original records, you should have used the TOOLSET M)ake schedule selection after you entered all of the descriptions of your vehicles. That selection used the vehicle numbers you entered to generate the file entries for the maintenance schedules. If you use that selection again, it will indeed generate a file with all of the vehicles included but the schedules will not show the schedule updates you have made. When you add an ADDITIONAL vehicle to the fleet, use this selection to add just that additional vehicle number to your existing file. The F)iles to Division selection will write a file to a diskette in drive B: (or any drive you specify) for your other locations. You used the Division entry in your description, fuel, maintenance schedule and repair files to designate your other locations; this routine will copy the records for a specified division to a drive B: file. That file can be used to set up The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM at that other separate, non networked location. (Remember, except for the NETWORK version, an additional user fee must be paid for that additional location where TRUCK is used.) To copy the file, you indicate what drive the file will be copied to and what file will be copied. You can select Descriptions, Repairs, Fuels or maintenance Schedules. The J)oin selection, working in conjunction with the previous selection, will handle the combining of your records from those other locations into your central record system. This is used where there is another location that keeps repair records for part of your fleet. If you want to include those records in your central file, this routine will do it. They send you a diskette of their repair records--say for division BB. When you use this Join routine, TRUCK will remove all of the division BB repair records; then copy the updated repairs from division BB into your central file. BE CAREFUL with this. A backup of your files before doing this operation will be excellent insurance. You will see a couple of warning screens just to be sure you really want to do this. At the second warning screen, enter the word "YES" to continue. Then you will indicate the drive letter and which file is being moved in. Be aware that the above Files to a division and the Join selections do not apply to a network installation. On a network, all workstations on a network have access to the central files if the network administrator has granted the proper "rights" to the user that is logged into the network. R)enumber a unit is used when you need to change the number assigned to a vehicle - or when you need to change the division for a vehicle without changing the number. It is important that you change all of the records for a unit. This routine will change the description and ALL OF THE MAINTENANCE RECORDS for the unit. You can, of course, change both the division and the number. Q)UIT returns you to the main TRUCK menu Page 33. CHAPTER SIX - INVENTORY CONTROL Choose I)nventory at the main menu and you will see the SHOPSTOK INVENTORY MENU. This feature of TRUCK will give you good control of your parts inventory. It will locate parts by your own in- house part number or by the manufacturer's part number. It will show where the part is by ROW and BIN number in the stockroom. It will give a complete description, price and list those items that are surplus or those that should be reordered. ABOUT THE STOCKROOM Material is located in the stockroom by ROW and BIN numbers. Your locations should be set up so that these locations make sense. When TRUCK shows that a part should be in ROW 6, BIN 15, you should be able to go to that location and pick the part. Rows may be from ROW 1 through Row 98. Bins from BIN 1 to BIN 99 in each of the rows. Do not use row or bin numbers outside these ranges. Do not mix letters with your bin numbers. USING THE INVENTORY CONTROL ROUTINES At the Main Menu, choose the I)nventory selection. This will take you to a new set of menus for inventory work. You will see the main menu of inventory or stockroom functions. Before you can move material into and out of your inventory, you have to put a description into the file for every item. Each item must show its location in the store room. To set up your inventory, see the section of this manual on "HOUSEKEEPING MENU in the INVENTORY section". You will enter the information about every individual part that is to be received into the inventory. The information about an item must be available to TRUCK before an item can be moved into or out of stock. (See adding N)EW PART at the Housekeeping menu) When material is added to your stock, the average cost of the item is calculated. TRUCK considers the number on hand and the present average cost along with the quantity being received and the cost of these newly received items in calculating the average cost of all of this item in stock. T)ransfer items is used to record the issue of material from your storeroom. More about it later. First, let's get the parts listed in your inventory. A)dd parts is the selection to use to move material into your inventory. When parts are delivered by a supplier, use this selection to enter the information about what, how many, who supplied it and what it cost. The item is pulled up on the screen by part number and shows the row and bin location in the stockroom. Be sure the parts are actually placed in the correct location so you can find them later. TRUCK will also update the description for an item received to show the name of the latest supplier and the latest cost of the item. Any existing supplier information will be moved to the Page 34. previous supplier location. With this information, you may review the description and see the pricing information for the last two deliveries of the item. S)how parts history will give you a listing of the issues of all part numbers. You can specify the beginning and ending dates for the report or list the full history. The information is shown on the CRT screen. N)umber of an item will locate a stockroom part by the in-house part number you enter. It will show all of the descriptive details of the part. Quantities, source, price, etc. will be shown as well as whether the part is approved for reorder. It will show the row and bin numbers where the part is located. M)fgr number is just like "N)umber of an item" except that you locate the part by the manufacturer's part number. D)escription will let you find a part by its description. If not found, you will see the nearest match and can search the previous or next records to find your part. R)ow display is used to display a listing of everything in every bin in a row you select. Selecting row 5 will display all bins in row 5. If you select 99 for the row number, the entire inventory will be displayed one screenful at a time. As each screenful is displayed, press for the next screen or press "Q" to return to the menu. B)in display is similar to "R)ow display" except that you specify both ROW and BIN. Only that bin's content is displayed on the screen. If there are many items in this one bin, there may be several screens in the listing. T)ransfer items. Now that you understand what the other selections on this menu are used for, look at this one. Here, you can move material out of your stock. Items will normally be moved out of stock for use on one of your vehicles. Parts may also be removed from stock to be returned to the supplier or sold rather than being used. Parts that are broken or lost may be removed and are to be identified as such. These screen entries show where the item went. You can not transfer material out of your stock if the in stock quantity for that item is zero. If this occurs, you must take action to correct the discrepancy. Either you have the wrong part, an incorrect part has already been transferred or a delivery of this part was not entered into the system when it was received. All stock reductions are added to an audit trail file that may be viewed or printed on command. TRUCK will reduce your stock quantity and adjust the value of the inventory of each item as it is removed. Items are removed at the average cost for that item. If an item is removed from inventory because it is broken or missing, the inventory investment is not reduced. TRUCK does, however, recalculate the average cost based Page 35. on the number of that item actually in stock. What this means is if you have three $5 items in stock, the inventory value is $15 and the average cost for each one is $5. If you use one of these items for a repair, that item is removed from your stock and the inventory investment value for those items is reduced by $5. If instead of using it, you lose it - say by breakage - you still have $15 invested but you only have two of the item now. Writing off that item does not reduce your investment but the average cost of the two remaining items is recalculated to $7.50 each. If you disagree with the calculated average cost, you can change it with the EDIT feature at the Inventory Housekeeping menu. P)rint reports, H)ousekeeping, F)ollow tire history and V)ehicle parts are selections for additional menus used in the inventory control part of TRUCK. P)rint reports include things from a full printed inventory report showing your total inventory investment to lists of items that should be reordered to keep the stock level up - or things you no longer use that should possibly be sold or discarded. To do the printed reports, choose P)rint reports from the Shopstok Inventory Menu. FROM THE SHOPSTOK PARTS REPORTS MENU: R)eorder report This report lists material by ROW and BIN location. Selecting "99" will include all rows. You can print this or review it on the screen. It shows all items that you have shown as "OK TO REORDER" where the quantity on hand is at or below the specified reorder level. The report shows the description, the normal stock level, the present quantity in stock and your prescribed reorder level. F)ull report This is a printed inventory report. There are several ways the report can be listed. You can choose to list the inventory by Row number, by In-House part number or by Manufacturer's number. The report will include all ROWS and all BINS. It shows the bin content, average cost, quantity and the value of this item. At the end of the report is a total of all rows listed. This is the total value of your inventory. This can be a long report. If, during the printing, you decide you want to stop printing and abandon the report, press the key. When the screen shows "INTERRUPTED!", you can enter "Q" to quit or just press to resume printing the report. I)ssue report This is a printed report just like the parts history report for the CRT screen on the Shopstok Main menu. (See "Show Parts History" above.) You can include the full history or you may Page 36. specify beginning and ending dates for the report. B)in list The bin list is a printed listing of the content of a selected ROW/BIN. L)abels This selection will print self adhesive labels for your parts bins. It will print on standard 15/16" X 3 1/2" fan-fold labels - the kind you use to print mailing labels for letters. Labels can only be properly printed on an Epson compatible, dot matrix printer that will handle the sprocket fed fan-fold labels. The row and bin numbers are printed in double wide characters for easier reading in the storeroom. A label will be printed for every ROW/BIN combination you have used. S)urplus The surplus list shows on the CRT screen or printer and includes those items in stock that you have marked "DO NOT REORDER". TRUCK considers those items to be those you no longer need to keep in stock. You may make the report for the bins in a single row - or enter "99" for the row and report your entire stock inventory. The list will show the ROW and BIN location, description, quantity and the last date this item was used. From the list, you may review the items to decide if the item(s) should be kept, sold or junked. N)on moving This printed or screen report will show material in your inventory that has not recently been issued. The default is to show items that have not been issued in the last 30 days. You can enter a different number of days - up to 999 days. You may also select a single row for the report or enter "99" for the row to report the entire inventory. The report will show the part data along with the quantity in stock and the last date each item was issued. Q)UIT printing returns you to the main INVENTORY menu. HOUSEKEEPING MENU on the INVENTORY screen H)ousekeeping presents you with the menu of selections for the housekeeping functions for the inventory records. These are the menu selections you may choose: E)dit a description You may select an inventory item by the in-house number. The information on that item is shown on the screen with the present Page 37. description, quantities, etc. Here, you may change any of the details shown except the Do Not Reorder (DNR) setting. The separate routine shown below handles that job. You may also change the average cost of an item if you do not agree with the amount calculated by TRUCK. Several items on the description screen are marked as critical entries. The In-House part number and the ROW/BIN numbers must be entered. And, the ROW/BIN numbers must be within the proper range. If you do not adhere to this, the inventory part of the program will not work. N)ew part Before you can receive a part into inventory, you must enter the information about that part. The information includes what it is and where it is stored. You must enter an in-house part number and row/bin location. You may also enter reorder level and normal stock quantity plus a manufacturer's number. If you leave the Mfgr. number blank, TRUCK will insert the house number in the manufacturer number field by default. After you have entered the description, you may choose to RECEIVE some of this part into your inventory now. If you choose to do that, you must enter the delivery date for the part, how many, the price and the suppliers name. If the supplier is listed in your Vendor file, you can enter the vendor number or you can enter "??" for the supplier number and you may then pick the vendor from the vendor file listing. I)ndex repair This is just like the reindexing for your repair and description records for your vehicles. If you have a part number that you know is in the inventory and cannot locate it with TRUCK, the index files may have become corrupted. This routine will rework those indices. Be sure you are using the right number, though. You may find it handy to keep a printed inventory list on hand in case you do not remember the number for a particular part. M)ark part DNR DNR means Do Not Reorder. The DNR marking is used by TRUCK to determine what parts are surplus and what parts should be reordered. Choose this selection and you can display the description of an item. In the top right portion of the screen you will see "OK TO REORDER" and a NO or OK. At the prompt for "is this correct ?", enter "Y" if it is or "N" to change it. If it is shown "OK" and you enter "N" for no it is not correct, TRUCK will change it to "NO". If it is "NO" and you enter "N", TRUCK will change it to "OK". Enter "Y" and TRUCK will leave it unchanged. P)urge description You will, at times, find material in stock that you no longer need. This routine will remove the description information for that material. Before you remove it, you must deplete any stock Page 38. of that item. As long as you have it in the warehouse, and in your TRUCK records, you must have a description showing where it is, etc. You will be prompted to be sure the item is out of stock. If you continue, TRUCK will again check to see that the stock is zero. If it is not, go to the Transfer items selection on your main Inventory menu and transfer the material out of your stock either by selling it, using it or junk it. Then, go back and remove the description. If the stock is zero, enter the word "REMOVE" to actually remove the entry. Choosing Q)UIT will return you to the Shopstok Inventory Menu. At the Shopstok Inventory Menu, you may choose Follow Tire History. F)ollow Tire history This selection will present another menu - this one for the tire records. To use the tire tracking records, each tire must have a unique serial number. Usually this is a company number that is branded onto the tire. There may also be a manufacturer's serial number. L)ocate tires will ask if you want to locate by company number or manufacturer's number. Either will show you the full description of the tire. You may also enter a vehicle number. Then you can view or print a report of all of the tires, by number, that are installed on that vehicle. A)dd tires is where you enter the description of a tire that is received into your fleet. Just fill in the blanks. I)nstall or Remove tires is for entering the information when a tire is installed onto or removed from a vehicle. You will show what position on the vehicle the tire is installed. With a press of the key, there is a help screen of suggested position numbers that will provide uniform data for the locations. You will use this same entry screen for installations or removals. Just complete the appropriate entries. Do not enter an installation and a removal on the same entry screen. E)nter recap work is for entering data when tires are recapped or repaired. As is done in the other tire records, this is entered by tire number and includes the recapper's name. S)how tire history will show where a tire number has been installed. It includes the total distance the tire has accumulated. R)ecap history displays the record of all repairs and recaps for a tire. There are also other tire menus - one for Printed reports and a Housekeeping menu. Page 39. P)rinted reports menu R)ecap/Repair history, I)nstallation, V)ehicle listing. Each of these printed reports is similar to these reports listed above for the CRT screen - except that you get a printed paper copy. L)ifetime cost is a printed report of the total cost of all repairs plus the initial cost of the tire. This will be the entire cost and distance traveled for this tire along with its cost per mile or kilometer. Tire H)ousekeeping calls a menu of file operation for your tire records. These are similar to other housekeeping selections. E)dit tire description lets you make changes and corrections to the descriptive data entered for a tire. You choose the tire by its number. R)evise tire installation Corrections to tire installation and removal records are made in TOOLSET - just as with corrections to fuel and repair records. C)hange a recap record Corrections to tire repair/recap records are made in TOOLSET - just as with corrections to fuel and repair records. I)ndex repair will rework the index files for your tire records. Q)UIT returns you to the tire tracking menu. Q)UIT at the tire tracking menu returns to the main Inventory menu V)ehicle parts This selection at the end of the inventory menu is for a lookup file of maintenance parts used on a vehicle. These are such things as filters, belts, tires, lubricants. It is a list of specifications for those parts that may be used for maintenance of the unit. You may view the parts on the CRT screen, add parts to the list or edit the parts already listed for a unit. S)how parts Parts are listed by vehicle number and are divided into groups by type of part. You may display all of the parts for a vehicle number or just those for that unit in a specific group. A)dd parts This is where you add maintenance part descriptions for a vehicle. You enter the vehicle number, parts group and other information about the maintenance part. A suggested list of parts groups is available by pressing the key. E)dit parts Here you can make changes to the parts listed for a vehicle. I)ndex repair Just as in other parts of the program, you may rework your index files for the vehicle parts list database. Q)UIT at the Inventory menu returns to the main menu Page 40. CHAPTER SEVEN - SPECIAL REPORTS From the main menu, you can choose to G)enerate special reports R)epair codes. From this selection, you can prepare reports of specified repair codes for one vehicle, or all in a division and between dates that you specify. You can, for example, enter TR for transmission work for division 999 to begin 01/01/92 and end 04/30/92. You will get a printed report of all transmission work for all divisions between those dates. If you enter a vehicle number you will get a report of all repairs for a specified code for just that vehicle between dates you enter. V)endor data will provide you a choice to make a printed list of your vendors or to make reports for repairs or fuel from a specified vendor for a period you enter. With this, for example, you can print a listing of all the fuel purchased from vendor number 23. As with the other vendor selections, the vendor list is available by entering "??" for the vendor number - then, you can pick the vendor from your list. If you have entered your own mechanics' names and numbers into your vendor file, this report can be the work done by the mechanic you specify. A)ging for budget. This is helpful for planning and budget work. With this, you can print a report showing the expected age and odometer reading for the vehicles in a division at a specified future date or the date when an odometer reading is expected. You enter the TARGET DATE (you want to figure the vehicle's age at that date). You can also enter a TARGET ODOMETER. The report will show each vehicle's anticipated odometer at the specified date plus its age in months when it will have accumulated the specified number of miles or kilometers. The calculations are based on the average distance traveled per month it has recorded, its date when new and the target date you enter. I)nspections There is a selection for DOT, BIT or BUS inspections. This report lists vehicles by division showing the due date for a Department Of Transportation, California BIT or passenger BUS inspection. The report is made for a SINGLE division you specify. It is based on information in your maintenance schedules. This gives you an easy way to review these schedules. F)orms for inspections will print an inspection check-off form that can be used to make the inspection. It will show the due date, vehicle number and identification for each vehicle by division that is due for the specified type of inspection within 30 days. The forms are only printed for a unit for which the inspection is due. If you want to FORCE a form ( a DOT form, for example) to be printed, modify the schedule for one of the vehicles so that the DOT inspection date shows that it is due now. Then, choose this F)orms for inspection selection. Don't forget to go back to the schedule and correctly reset the DOT date you changed. Page 41. W)ork orders. With this selection, you may find a work order number and print the details - or you may list the details of all work order numbers between dates you specify. This report shows the vehicle number and describes the work that was done. C)ompleted Work Orders. This selection works with the optional work order generation part of TRUCK. You may print a completed work order. This will show the work done, parts used, with the total costs listed. You may print a single work order (by work order number) or you may print many orders listed by beginning and ending dates or by beginning and ending work order numbers. You may also choose completed orders, uncompleted orders or all orders. S)ummary of Work Orders The summary can be printed or viewed on the screen. You can choose completed orders, uncompleted orders or all of the work orders. Then, you enter the beginning and ending dates. If you just press for the ending date, today's date will be used. The summary includes the vehicle number and whether the work order is completed or not. Enter Q)UIT at the special report menu and you are returned to the main menu. Page 42. CHAPTER EIGHT - TOOLSET X)tra file work TRUCK has provisions for making changes or corrections in vehicle descriptions and schedules. Those changes include new vehicle tag numbers, driver names, and so on. Records for several of the other files, however, are not changed within the basic program to protect the integrity of the information. If an entry in these files must be changed, or if you want to sort the files to put the entries in chronological order, the Fleet Supervisor should make the changes. It has not been left to the casual user to easily change these records. TOOLSET functions are password protected. You must enter the correct password to gain access to the special editing functions. See the "T" monitor selection earlier. When you choose this selection you will first see a screen requesting a PASSWORD. The password can be up to 8 characters long. As you enter the password, you will not see the entry on the screen. You must know what to enter and you must enter it "blind". To protect the security of the password, it is not displayed on the screen. Now, press enter and there's the TOOLSET menu. If you lose the password, contact TLC SOFTWARE for assistance in recovering the password. To use TOOLSET utilities, simply follow these steps: 1. Set the Path to the drive location for your files if different from the startup choice. Ordinarily, you will use the drive you started with. You can, however work on files stored on another drive. If you need to change it, just set that path into TOOLSET. Include the drive letter (A: through Z:) and the correct directory. 2. Next, choose the Filename you will use from a list on the screen. Move the cursor to the desired file and press . 3. The record number will be set to the number of the last record in the file. If you wish to select a different record, choose the R)ecord selection and enter the record number you want. Usually, the record with an error will be at or near the end of the file since it was probably a recent entry. If you do not know the record number you want but you think it is in about the middle of the file, look at the last record number. If it is 1500, enter 750 to go to the middle of the file and search for it using the N)ext or P)revious keys. Record numbers are included in the printed Repair and Fuel reports. These are the numbers you will want to find when editing these files. Page 43. Back at the menu you will see the selected drive, file name and record number displayed on the right of the screen. From the menu selections, here are the operations you may do on the files: E)dit. You may change the content of a record with this selection. Edit does not work with some files that can only be edited with the regular EDIT selection in other menus. With EDIT and other selections, you may move through the file either by going back to the R)ecord selection and choosing a new number or by pressing N for the next record or P for the previous record. This is the selection to use to correct an error in a repair or fuel entry. D)elete. With this selection, you may delete a record from most of the files. You may want to delete a duplicate record. It may be a description or a maintenance schedule for a vehicle you no longer have. Deleting rids your file of these unneeded records so that the file space may be recovered. When a record is DELETED, it can be UNDELETED if you have not PACKed the file with the REMOVE selection. After it has been PACKed, it is gone forever. BE SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU PACK YOUR FILE. You should be aware that when you REMOVE records, the program will remove all records in the file that are marked deleted. In doing that, the records that follow a deleted record are moved up to recover the space used by the deleted record. Because of this, the record numbers will change when you pack the file. The record numbers shown on an earlier printed repair or fuel report will no longer be the current valid record numbers. O)ld records This selection will provide for removal of old Work orders, old Road/Fuel tax records, old tire descriptions and old records in your stock room audit trail file. As some of the records in your files get older, they may no longer be needed in your TRUCK files. Rather than just erase those records, TOOLSET will, with this selection, write those older records to a diskette in drive B:. You specify the date for records to be removed. The diskette may then be stored away for whatever period you feel it may be needed. This routine will reclaim the file space used by these old records. You may delete work orders dated earlier than the date you specify or you may delete those before a specified work order number. Roadtax records (distance traveled) are deleted by date. Specify the date and all earlier roadtax records are deleted. In each case, you must put a formatted diskette into drive B: and a copy of the records being deleted will be copied to that diskette for storage. I)ndex is much like the index function on the housekeeping menus. Page 44. It does more though. These routines write completely new index files. A damaged index will be newly generated. (This is an INDEX ON rather than a REINDEX dBASE type command.) You may use this selection to correct an INTERNAL ERROR(19) (also see this error). In doing the indexing, if you get an error in trying to rewrite an index, you may need to erase the corrupted index before you can generate the new one. After you edit or sort your files you will usually need to reindex them. With an undamaged index file, whether you do it here or from the either of the house keeping menus, the result is the same. S)orting your records is not essential. TRUCK uses index files to keep the entries in order. There may be times, however, when you want to get the file into actual chronological order. This routine will sort some of the records on the DATE field. It writes a backup file in the process. The backup file will be named ???BACK.DBF, where ??? depends on the original filename. The backup for REPAIRS will be REPBACK.DBF; the audit trail file TRAIL.DBF will be TRLBACK.DBF, etc. If something goes wrong, you can use these backups to reestablish your records. For example, you can erase REPAIRS.DBF, rename REPBACK.DBF TO REPAIRS.DBF and be back where you started. Don't forget to REINDEX the file after you SORT it.. M)ake schedules. After you have entered the descriptions of all of your vehicles, use this selection. For every description record, TRUCK will write an entry into your maintenance schedule file. Do this only once when you initially set up a set of records. Later, you will enter the schedules for each vehicle (when oil change is due, etc). If you do this operation after that time, it will overwrite your file with a new one but all of the schedule data you have entered will be lost. If you want to add another schedule to an already existing file, use the H)ousekeeping menu and the B)egin maintenance sched. selection. That will append a new schedule entry to the end of your existing file without upsetting the entries you have already made. To end the TOOLSET session, select Q)UIT at the menu to return to the main menu prompt. CHAPTER NINE - HINTS AND KINKS PACKING YOUR FILES Several times in these instructions, we refer to "PACKING" your files. When records are deleted by any of several operations, the deleted records are not actually removed. They are marked to be deleted. Marked records can be reinstated. When you PACK a file, you complete the removal. After that, you can not recover those Page 45. records. Why pack them? It keeps your file smaller by eliminating unneeded old records. In operations such as entering replacement vehicles, you can save a bit of time when you are entering several vehicles at the same time. Just skip the packing routine until you get to the last vehicle you will enter. Packing after you enter that one will complete the removal for all records marked to be deleted. It doesn't matter when they were marked. CHANGE OPERATORS FOR A VEHICLE You may change the name of the assigned operator by using the Edit selection on the Housekeeping menu. If you want to keep a record of the names of past drivers, make a repair entry using the (OTH)er category. At the note area, show something like "VEHICLE TRANSFERRED FROM J JONES TO J SMITH" ENTER A CREDIT FOR A REPAIR Yes, you can enter a credit. If you have, for example, an insurance payment to offset a repair, you can enter the payment as a repair and enter the amount as a negative number. A $3000 loss payment would be entered by vehicle number and the amount entered as -3000. It will be included correctly in the report and totals for the reports for that vehicle will reflect the credit. Do not enter a negative mileage for an error in the mileage for a vehicle. This will lead to trouble. Instead, use TOOLSET to correct the entry or remove it and redo it. PROGRAM HUNG IN A LOOP Generally, you can stop an operation and return to the menu. Many printed reports provide for pressing the key to stop printing. You can get most PC's and compatibles out of a hang-up by pressing ALT-C. Hold down the key while you press the "C" key. The program will be interrupted. You can answer "N" to not try again and the files will be closed and you will return to the DOS prompt - no harm done. VEHICLES NOT LISTED IN SEQUENCE Vehicle "numbers" are handled as alphabetic characters. We did this to allow the use of letters and numbers in a unit identifier. When you list your vehicles in several of the reports, you will find them listed as though the numbers are characters. For example, if you have vehicles numbered from 1 through 1000, they will be listed in this order: 1, 10, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, etc. All of the ones will be listed, then the twos, and so on. This is necessary if we allow numbers to be used in combination with letters. If you want your numbers to fall in actual numerical sequence, add preceding zeros to the number. If you do that, the above number sequence for 0001 to 1000 will then be: 0001, 0002, 0003, 0004, 0005, 0006, 0007, 0008, 0009, 0010, 0011, etc. Page 46. ABORTING A PRINTED REPORT If you get into a printed report and decide it is too long and was not what you expected it to be, you can abort many of the printing operations by pressing the escape key. If nothing else works, in a non network installation, you can turn the printer OFF. You will get a Printer Not Ready message on the CRT screen. Enter "(Q)uit" to not retry. The program will close all of your files and return to the DOS prompt. No harm done - just restart TRUCK to continue. DOS ERROR MESSAGES - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? There are several DOS system errors that may show up as error messages on your screen. Usually you can see a help screen by pressing the key. Here are the most frequent ones that you need to know about: Proc NEWUNIT line 0, open error C:CREW.NTX (2) INTERPRETATION. In doing the Procedure named NEWUNIT, at line 0 (because line numbers were removed to make the program smaller) there was a fatal error in trying to open the index file named CREW.NTX on drive C:. EXPLANATION. The number (2) is a DOS error number. It means the file was not found. Either it is not on the drive you specified or is not in the subdirectory VEHICLES. Did you use the install routine supplied with TRUCK? If not, check the subdirectory. It must be the subdirectory named in the configuration part of the program. If you use the INSTALL default selections that are supplied with TRUCK, it will be named VEHICLES and will be on the drive you specified when you installed the program. Proc NEWUNIT line 0, open error C:\DESCRIP.DBF (3) INTERPRETATION. In doing the Procedure named NEWUNIT, at line 0 there was a fatal error in trying to open the database file named DESCRIP.DBF in the prescribed directory of drive C:. EXPLANATION. The number (3) is a DOS error number. It means the path to the file was not found. The correct subdirectory was not found on the drive you specified. Check the subdirectory for the correct name. It must be named correctly and must be on the drive specified in the configuration part of the program. Proc NEWUNIT line 0, open error C:OPERATOR.NTX (4) INTERPRETATION. In doing the Procedure named NEWUNIT, at line 0 there was a fatal error in trying to open the index file named OPERATOR.NTX on drive C:. EXPLANATION. The number (4) is a DOS error number. It means there was an attempt to open too many files at the same time. Most database programs open more files at one time than DOS allows unless you provide for more. Making more file space is done in the CONFIG.SYS file with the statement FILES=31. This error Page 47. message means either that the proper statements are not in the CONFIG.SYS file or the correct CONFIG.SYS file is not the one on the boot-up disk you started your computer with. The computer only reads the CONFIG.SYS file at boot-up time. Proc NUMBER line 0, open error (5) INTERPRETATION. In doing the Procedure NEWUNIT, at line 0 there was a fatal error in trying to open one or more of the files. EXPLANATION. The number (5) is a DOS error number. It means there was an attempt to open a file for which access is denied. This could be a network error although the network version of the program will handle a failure to open a file. This may also mean that the file in question has been marked "read only". This is a file attribute error. Whatever its cause, it can be corrected with the DOS command ATTRIB. (See your DOS manual.) Proc PERFORM line 0, printer not ready INTERPRETATION. In doing the Procedure PERFORM (that prints the fuel performance report) output to the printer failed. EXPLANATION. This one is more obvious. Either the printer is not turned on, is not connected, is out of paper or has had some kind of failure. Proc DESCRIP unidentified identifier in index NUMBER INTERPRETATION. The index or database contains a field name that does not match the names for the record. EXPLANATION. This sometimes means you have a corrupted index file. The solution is to use the X)tra selection (TOOLSET) to generate a new index file. The most likely problem, though, is that you are using files from an earlier version of TRUCK with a new version of the program. Before you can use the older files, you must run the UPDATE program to move the old data into the new data files. DATABASE REQUIRED. This error shows up when you try to start the program when it is set up for one drive and subdirectory and you have moved it to another drive or you have changed the configuration to show the wrong drive and subdirectory. INTERNAL ERROR (19) or DOS ERROR (0) This error means you have a corrupted index file. The file may have been damaged by a power failure, program interruption or some computer malfunction. To correct this, use TOOLSET. Open the database file you were using (depending on what you were doing at the time) and use the I)ndex selection on the TOOLSET menu. TOOLSET will generate a completely new set of index files for this database. Page 48. OUT OF MEMORY The TRUCK program will run with a little more than 400k of the base ram available in your computer. This means that you should have about 450k or more actually available to the program. Even if you run the DOS CHKDSK or MEM commands and your computer shows 550 to 610k available for programs, you may have some of it in use and may not have all of the amount shown available when you run TRUCK. Each software "driver", resident program, menu program, windows, even the routines that move things into high memory, all require some of the available base ram. Take a look at the things in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to see what is actually loaded in the standard RAM area. If you get an OUT OF MEMORY error, try first starting your computer with only a minimum setup. TRUCK should load OK at that point. Now add the things you eliminated one at a time. After adding each one, again try to run TRUCK. Doing this, you will find what is using too much memory for you to run while running TRUCK. If the other program is necessary to run all of the time, you may need to prepare a boot up diskette that omits the program that uses the memory and use that diskette to start your computer when you run TRUCK. IF YOU INSTALL TRUCK WITHOUT USING THE INSTALL ROUTINE Be sure the CONFIG.SYS file includes the "FILES" and "BUFFERS" statements noted in GETTING STARTED. You must have the database and index files in the correct drive and subdirectory. Be sure the records are in the proper place. Properly used, the install routine on the TRUCK diskette will put the files in the right places. The program files and the data files are supplied in a condensed form. They are in self expanding files (using PKWARE software ). You can expand either of these files with the command PROGRAM or FILES. The extracted and expanded TRUCK program file is over 600K. Do not be concerned with the size of it, it has several imbedded overlay files that are called into your computer as they are needed. The program will run with about 450k of available ram. If you install the system with DOS commands, just be sure to modify the CONFIG.SYS file. On a hard drive, everything except the TLC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files normally go into a subdirectory on the hard drive. That default subdirectory will be named "VEHICLES". TRUCK will look for that name. You can use any valid hard drive designator C through Z. You can also install TRUCK along with the file DRIVE.DBF on one hard drive, say drive C: and install the .DBF and .NTX files on another drive. For example, you could have the truck program TRUCKS.EXE along with DRIVE.DBF in a C:\TRANS subdirectory on drive C: and the record .DBF and .NTX files on a file server, drive F: in a subdirectory named \FILES\THIS. Be careful with this. The non-network versions of TRUCK do not have the file Page 49. locking facilities needed for multiple user access. If you want full network file sharing, inquire about the economical upgrade to the network version of the program. On a floppy system, all of the .DBF and .NTX files must be on the data files diskette. DRIVE.DBF always goes on the program diskette with TRUCKS.EXE If you want to install the data files on a separate drive, place the installation diskette in drive A: and run the INSTALL program. Select to install only the FILES. Only the DATA and INDEX files will be expanded on the destination drive, in a VEHICLES subdirectory. This can be handy if you set up different divisions (or customers) on separate high density diskettes. If you want to install the program and/or files in your own choice of directories, just be sure you enter the correct paths in the configuration part of the program (see the "T" monitor setting). Also, modify the file TLC.BAT so that it will move to your program subdirectory and execute the program with the command "TRUCKS". FILE INFORMATION FOR OTHER DATABASE USERS TRUCK is compiled with the Clipper compiler, Summer 87 version. The database files are compatible with dBASE III and other programs that will read dBASE files. The indices in The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM are not compatible with other xBASE programs. When using dBASE to work with .DBF fIles that use index files, do not open the TRUCK index. If your work requires an index you can create an index in dBASE. Be sure the name of any new index does not conflict with the TRUCK indices. NEED TO CORRECT A REPAIR ENTRY Provision for an operator to change a fuel, repair or tax entry after it is made is a function of TOOLSET. Toolset is selected from the main menu. You must enter the correct password to gain access to Toolset. This is designed to maintain the integrity of the information. If corrections need to be made in these records, someone with the password such as the fleet supervisor should make the changes. TRUCK files can also be changed using such database programs as dBASE III or IV, FOXBASE, WAMPUM, and others. USING OPERATING HOURS TRUCK can be used for maintenance records of equipment other than vehicles. Records for other machinery can be recorded. If you enter hours instead of odometer readings, the schedules and records will reflect hours, cost per hour, etc. The title of the printouts and displays will not be correct, but the information is valid if you understand what is recorded. USING METRIC MEASUREMENTS The use of metric entries is fully supported. In the setup routine for TRUCK, if you choose METRIC units, the screens and printed reports will show kilometers, liters, etc. If you are Page 50. upgrading to version 6 from earlier versions of TRUCK, the update program that is furnished with TRUCK when upgrading has a routine that will convert your older English measurement entries to Metric. This will be done for all of the records - descriptions, repairs, fuel, etc. USING OTHER DATE FORMATS The default date format is American following a MM/DD/YY pattern. You may change this to several other formats, one of which may better suit your location. The choice is made in the configuration part of the program. Once set, the selected date format will be reflected throughout the program in all of the screens and printed reports. INSTALLING TRUCK ON A NETWORK NOTES FOR THE NETWORK SUPERVISOR Registration for the network version of the program includes the user fee for an unlimited number of workstations on a single network. It is fully compatible with Novell NetWare 4 and should work with other networks that recognize file and record locking and the sharing of files and records. Limited only by the 29 characters for the PATH statement, the program and the files can be installed in any subdirectory. They need not be in the same directory. The file DRIVE.DBF must reside with the program TRUCKS.EXE and all of the other .DBF and .NTX files must be together. Suggested locations are F:\PUBLIC\VEHICLES for everything. On the diskette we shipped to you, the file PROGRAM.EXE is a PKZIP file containing DRIVE.DBF and TRUCKS.EXE. The file FILES.EXE contains all of the vehicle data files (.DBF) and the indices (.NTX). You must also grant READ, WRITE, CREATE, ERASE and FILE SCAN rights to the users who will login to use the TRUCK program. After you have created the subdirectories and installed the files, you should create a batch or menu program the user can use to start TRUCK. For example, if you have installed the program in DRIVE F: in directory PUBLIC\TLC and the files in PUBLIC\TLC\FILES a batch file in the user's root directory of drive C: could be something like this: F: ( move to drive F: ) CD\PUBLIC\TLC ( change to the program directory ) TRUCKS ( execute the program ) CD\ ( when quitting, change to the root dir. ) C: ( go back to drive C: ) CD\ ( be sure to quit in the root directory ) CLS ( and clear the screen. ) Page 51. HARDWARE USED ON THE WORKSTATIONS The recommended network installation is with workstations that use the same type of monitor and print to the same network printer. That is, the monitors should all be either monochrome or color (CGA, EGA or VGA). In such an installation, all of the workstations will share the same setup for the monitor and printer. Color is highly recommended but only for the enhanced highlighting, warnings and information displays. Functionally the program will have all of the features available in a monochrome setting - but it does look better in color. The database file, DRIVE.DBF, that is installed with the program, TRUCKS.EXE, contains a number of configuration things that are used with the program. Among those are settings for color or monochrome monitors. In a normal installation, the configuration file is installed on the file server and is used by all workstations as they start TRUCK. If all of the work stations use the same type of monitor, this will pose no problem for any of them. Once the monitor setting is made, all will use the same settings. If they are a mix of monochrome and color monitors, you will need to make some changes. For simplicity, you can set the monitor setting to monochrome and let all of the workstations use that setting. The color monitors will lose the color enhancements but all will work with a monochrome display. If you want to use color settings for some workstations and monochrome for some of the others, you can install the program in two different ways. 1. You can install the file DRIVE.DBF and TRUCKS.EXE in two different directories on the file server. Set the startup batch file to use the monochrome setting directory for the monochrome workstations and use the color setting directory for the color workstations. For example, the best way: F:\PUBLIC\TRUCK1 for the monochrome group F:\PUBLIC\TRUCK2 for the color group F:\PUBLIC\VEHICLES for the shared records 2. Or, you can install the file DRIVE.DBF and TRUCKS.EXE in a subdirectory on the workstation itself. For example: C:\VEHICLES for TRUCKS.EXE and DRIVE.DBF F:\PUBLIC\VEHICLES for the shared records If you do install TRUCKS.EXE and DRIVE.DBF in more than one location, be sure that any changes (schedule intervals, shop labor rate, etc.) are made to all of the installation locations. PRINTING ON THE NETWORK The program prints to the standard DOS device PRN as assigned to printer port LPT1. Page 52. Work stations can print to their local workstation printer at LPT1 or you can feed their printed output to a network printer. In Novell NetWare, the command is CAPTURE to reroute that workstation's output. A capture command for NetWare could be something like this: CAPTURE L=1 Q=2 NB NFF TI=5 If you delete the NB, a banner page will precede the printout. Leave off the NFF and a form feed will be automatic at the end. This may not be needed since the TRUCK printouts will eject a page at the end of a report. Typically, you will establish a printer object and a print queue and CAPTURE the output to the queue that feeds that printer. The capture statement must be run at each of the work stations after they login. You can set up your workstations so that some print to their local printer and others print to a network queue and printer. Just do not run the CAPTURE statement at a workstation and the printer output will be to the workstation printer port LPT1 and whatever local printer is connected to it. You must also be aware that workstations on a network are expected to be printing to the same kind of printer. The printer setup is copied into the vehicle record subdirectory as the program starts. If one station is set up to print to a LaserJet and the second station is setup to print to an EPSON dot matrix printer, the second printer settings will overwrite the first settings as the second station starts. REVISIONS TO THE TRUCK PROGRAM Revisions will surely be made from time to time to add new features and to correct any problems that are discovered. Registered users will be notified as major updates become available. We reserve the right to make changes (including additions or corrections) to the program or registration fees without notice and without obligation to notify or furnish the changes to previous registrants. TECHNICAL INFORMATION TRUCK does not need nor recognize expanded or extended memory. The large size (over 600K) is handled through the use of overlay files that share the same memory (RAM) and are swapped in and out of memory as needed. As TRUCK is sent to you, it is in compressed form. We used the program PKZIP from PKWARE, Inc. to compress the files and PKSFX to generate the self extracting files. These make the distribution files much smaller and simplify the installation for you. For those who are interested in the structure of TRUCK, here is a list of the database files along with their indices: Page 53. Database Index Purpose BIDLIST NONE Used for used vehicle sale list DESCRIP VIN Descriptions Indexed on Vehicle ID No. NUMBER Indexed on the company number LICENSE And on the license tag OPERATOR Or Operator's name CREW By Division and operator DRIVE NONE Stores information used by TRUCK FUELS FUELNO Fuel used indexed by CO.No. STATFUEL Indexed by state of purchase VFUEL Indexed by vendor INVENTO BIN Parts room indexed by bin number ROW And by row number RB1 By row/bin combination number HOUSENO By in-house part number MFGNO And manufacturer's part number ORDER ORDER Indexed by order number ORDERDTE Indexed by date PARTS PARTS Work order parts indexed by work order number and correction number. PERMITS PNUMBER Permits indexed by number PERMNO Indexed by vehicle number RECAP RECAP Index by Co. tire No. CAPDATE By recap date CAPPER By vendor REPAIRS REPAIRS Repairs indexed by CO.No. and date CODES Indexed by repair code CODENO Indexed by repair code and date CODEDIV Indexed by code, division and date VCODES Indexed by date and vendor WONUMB Indexed by work order and date WONUMB1 Indexed by date and W.O. # ROADTAX STXNO Road tax indexed by CO.No. and state TAXDATE Indexed by date (used to remove old) SCHEDULE SCHEDULE Maint. Scheds. indexed by CO.No. SCHEDIV By division and company number TAGS TNUMBER Tags indexed by tag number TIREDESC TIRECONO Tires indexed Co. serial No. TIREDATE And by date acquired TIREMFNO By Mfgr. tire number TIREBRAN By brand name ACTIVE By vehicle number Page 54. TIREINST INSTCONO Installation Co. tire No. TIRE_INS By vehicle no. TRAIL TRAIL Audit trail indexed by in-house No. TRAILDTE Indexed by issue date UNITPART PARTDESC Vehicle parts indexed by description PARTGRP By part group PARTNUM By vehicle and group VENDORS VNAME Indexed by vendor name VNUMB By vendor number BACKING UP YOUR FILES (Also see BACKUPS in the DOS section of this manual.) Back up copies of data records are good insurance. You will invest a considerable amount of time in generating these useful records. Accidents and equipment failures do happen. I cannot stress too strongly the need for frequent backups of these data files. If you operate with the data records on diskettes, I suggest that you operate with three copies. This is much safer than just two, the original and a backup. When you first get the data record diskette in service, make two backup copies of it. Label them TRUCK DATA RECORDS 1, 2 AND 3. Begin using diskette #1 with TRUCK and when you have entered records for a while, use the DOS diskcopy command and copy diskette 1 to diskette 2. Now use diskette 2 to continue entering data. Again, after a while, backup #2 to #3 and use #3 for entries. Later, backup #3 to #1 etc. If you have trouble with a diskette, you can go back to the previous copy and only lose the data entered since you made the backup. You will find the three copy procedure is MANY times safer that working with only two. If your data is stored on a hard drive you should seriously consider the use of a good backup program. PC-Tools Plus by Central Point Software is only one of several with a good hard drive backup program that seems to work with any system. Backing up hard drive files onto floppies involves copying the files in the VEHICLES subdirectory onto a floppy diskette. Only the .DBF files need be backed up since the .NTX indices can be reinstalled from the TRUCK DATA SYSTEM diskette. For larger records, you can copy each .DBF file to a separate floppy diskette. Be aware that you are limited to the size of file that will fit on a floppy--360K on a regular 5 1/4"; 1.4M on a high density 3 1/2" disk. Whether you make your backups on diskettes or on tape, the use of three copies is much safer than just two. You should consider keeping a recent copy of your backup at an off-site location just in case your local copy is damaged by a fire or storm. Page 55. If you lose the hard drive files, you can reinstall TRUCK, and copy those backups back into the VEHICLES subdirectory. Run TRUCK and REINDEX the files at the HOUSEKEEPING or TOOLSET menu. NEW RECORDS - OLD VEHICLES When you first use TRUCK to keep your fleet records, you will probably have vehicles in your fleet that are not new. When you start keeping records on these used vehicles, there are some things you must keep in mind about how the program works. When TRUCK generates a repair or a fuel report for a vehicle, it expects to have a beginning and ending odometer reading for the reporting period. Here's how it gets those odometer figures. If you are doing a FULL report, (that is, a report of all of the information in the file for that vehicle) a zero odometer is assumed. You can only do a full report if all of the information has been entered for that vehicle. If you started your TRUCK records when the vehicle was new, you would have a FULL history for that vehicle - starting with a zero odometer. When the report is made, TRUCK takes the last odometer entry and considers that the ending odometer for the report. The difference between the ending and beginning odometer reading (zero, in this instance) is the total distance traveled for the period being reported. That is the distance that is used for calculations for cost per mile/kilometer and miles per gallon/kilometers per liter. If you have a vehicle that has an odometer reading of, say, 50,000 when you start using TRUCK, you can't make a full report of fuel or repairs because you don't have the full history in your file. If you make an entry at 50,100 and call for a full report, TRUCK will calculate from zero to 50,100 - not from 50,000. A FULL report always starts from the beginning - a zero odometer reading. With a used vehicle, you MUST either enter all the past repair and/or fuel data (which can be a monumental job) or make a report limited by dates or from a beginning odometer. Since the odometer readings for a number of vehicles will widely vary, the report between two dates is far more practical. There still must be a starting point for the report. Let's say you are just setting up TRUCK records and it is mid June, 1993. You start you entries as repairs are made and fuel is added. Now, to get a report, call for a report by DATES you will enter for the beginning and ending of the report. But remember, TRUCK is going to look for a beginning odometer. If you call for your report to begin 06/01/93, TRUCK is going to look at the next previous record for that vehicle to get the starting odometer. If you do not have an entry BEFORE 06/01/93, TRUCK is going to pick up the wrong reading. You've got to start the report AFTER THE FIRST ENTRY FOR THAT VEHICLE. Here's the easiest way to do that. If you are starting in mid June, as in this example, make a repair and a fuel entry for each vehicle BEFORE that date, for example 05/31/93. You only need to Page 56. make one. That will be the source of the starting odometer reading for the reports. Then, always start your reports on or after 06/01/93 - an easy date to remember. Any date AFTER 06/01/93 will produce the expected result. For the REPAIR file, if you don't have the repair records, you can just make an entry for each vehicle showing the date and estimated odometer reading. In this example, use 05/31/93 for the date. The FUEL file is a bit more difficult. TRUCK will not let you enter a fuel record with no quantity, price and total -- you just can't have distance accumulated without fuel. Still, there is a way to get a beginning odometer into your records. Enter a fuel entry for each vehicle for 05/31/93 showing the odometer reading at the last PREVIOUS fuel fill-up. You can estimate what that reading is. Enter the fuel as 0.01 gallon/liter at a cost of $0.01 for a total of $0.01. OK, that gets the odometer into the record but what about the cost. That should not be in your calculations. Remember, if you make the report beginning on 06/01/93 or later, the cost of that May entry will not be included anyhow. If you want to eliminate that small cost, after you make the fuel entry, go into TOOLSET, select the FUELS file and the last record number. Choose the EDIT function and simply zero out the fuel entry except for the vehicle number, division, date and odometer. Now, when you make a fuel or repair report, choose the DATE report to begin on 06/01/93. It's easy to remember. You can enter an ending date or, if you just press enter for the ending date, the ending date will be TODAY. For later reports, you can use any starting date AFTER 06/01/93 and get the results you expect. ONE OTHER SMALL PROBLEM. There still may be times when you make a report and the report shows incomplete odometer readings and does not make the calculations. Even if you have the correct beginning odometer in your records, if there is no odometer entry for the last entry for the report, TRUCK will see the ending odometer as ZERO and will calculate a total distance of less than zero and will report the error. Always try to have an odometer reading but, if you can't, just be aware that it can cause this problem if it happens to fall at the very end of your report. CHAPTER TEN - USER SUPPORT We provide support for users of TRUCK by either mail, FAX or telephone, generally without additional charge to the user. We have tried to include all of the information you need to use the program in this manual. Before you call for support, please read the USER MANUAL. There is a table of contents in the front of the manual as well as an extensive index in the back. The answer to your problem is probably included in the manual. If, after searching the manual, you still need help, give us a call. Due to the time and expense involved, we insist that you understand the operation of your particular computer, monitor, printer, network, etc. We can not teach you about DOS. Page 57. If we are to maintain the low cost of TLC SOFTWARE, and you need help beyond getting started or for reporting a problem, there may be a moderate support charge for the time and any expenses (such as telephone calls, extra shipping charges,etc.). SENDING DISKETTES TO TLC SOFTWARE If you have a problem with your data, we may ask that you send us a copy of those files. The data files have a .DBF extension to the filename. Index files have an .NTX extension. If you send files, be sure to tell us how the backup copies were made. Backups made with the DOS "COPY" command can be easily read. We can also "RESTORE" if you use "BACKUP" from DOS version 3.3, 4 or 5 or from DR DOS 5 or 6. We can read standard DOS double density or high density diskettes in either the 3 1/2" or 5 1/4" format as well as QIC 40 format backup tapes. Include in the shipment a written description of the problem you are having and include a sample printed report if applicable. Do give as much detailed information as possible. Tell us what routine you were using, what steps you took and the EXACT text of any error message you may have received. Please send the diskette(s) by mail or UPS. Pack them to prevent damage in shipment. You may include a regular diskette mailer or corrugated paper board to help prevent bending of the diskette. DO NOT SEND YOUR ONLY BACKUP COPY. After our review, since shipping costs are greater than today's diskette cost, the diskettes will not be returned to you unless you make prior arrangements for their return. Specific "hands-on", personal support for your computer installation of TRUCK is available at extra cost. We use the communications program "Close-Up" for this. You will need a copy of the Close-Up program, a Hayes compatible modem and a telephone line connected to the modem. With this, we can operate your computer from our location to trouble shoot a problem you may have, look at your data files as well as upload any revisions to the program directly into your computer. This work is generally done at night. The cost will include your cost for a modem, the Close_Up program plus the telephone time charges and our consultation fee. Please contact us for the additional charges for this service. Page 58. CHAPTER ELEVEN - THE DISK OPERATING SYSTEM DOS - THE DISK OPERATING SYSTEM AND YOUR COMPUTER If you are experienced in using your computer this section will not be of much interest to you. If, however, you are new not just to The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM but to DOS and your computer, read this section. It will explain some of the terms and things you need to know about operating an IBM-PC compatible computer. THE HARDWARE There are several parts to your computer. Generally, you will have the main computer housing, the monitor, a keyboard and some kind of printer to print your reports. The keyboard is usually pretty clear. Although it is very much like a typewriter keyboard, you should be aware of some differences. There is one key that may be marked , or just a mark pointing down and left. This key is comparable to the carriage return on a typewriter. This is usually the key that causes computer commands to be done or executed. Anytime you are told to enter a DOS command, it should be followed with a press of this key to cause the computer to act on the command. There is also a and a key. Again, these are similar to a typewriter. However, the caps lock key will shift into all upper case letters just like a typewriter but you will still have to press the key for the shift combinations on the number and other keys. For example, you must press <4> to print a dollar symbol - regardless of the setting of . There will be a number pad on most keyboards. This is similar to the keys on an adding machine. These keys will usually have other uses. The <7> key, for example will also usually be the key. You use these keys in combination with the key labeled . This key will toggle back and forth between the kinds of function for the number pad keys. There is one combination of keys that you need to understand. There will be times when you need, for one reason or another, to cause your computer to initialize just like it did when you turned it on. This is called re-booting. (A phrase that comes from the reference to pulling oneself up by ones boot straps.) To do what is called a "warm boot" you use three of the keys on your keyboard - the Alternate, Control and the Delete key - all at the same time. With your left hand, press and hold down the key marked and the key marked . While you hold these keys down, with your right hand, press the key. Then release all three keys. The screen should immediately go blank and the computer will go through the major part of the boot up sequence. The warm boot routine will bypass some of the self testing and will be a little bit faster than a cold boot, described below. A warm boot does not always work but it usually does. If not, you may need to do a "cold boot". Some computers have a "Reset" Page 59. switch button for this - some will have to be turned off for about 5 seconds. Then, turn the switch back on and let the computer go through its normal startup routine. MONITOR - THE CRT DISPLAY There are several types of monitors. CRT stands for cathode ray tube. The acronym "CRT" is pronounced "SEE ARE TEE". The CRT display is very similar to your television picture tube. If it is in color, it uses the same colors your TV uses. This is called a color monitor. It may be a low definition type CGA (Color Graphics Adapter), an (Enhanced Graphics Adapter) or one of the newer high definition VGA (Video Graphics Array) or SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array) adapters. You may have a monochrome monitor. This is a one color monitor. That one color may be white, amber, green or anything (plus black) but they are all called monochrome or sometimes black and white monitors. Some computers may have an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). These are mostly found on portable or lap-top computers. Most are monochrome but some of the more expensive and newer models may have a color display. The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM will work with any of these display devices. The program is text based - it does not use any special drawing symbols that would require anything special to display the screens. THE COMPUTER HOUSING The case of the computer can be in many forms. There are desktop horizontal cases, tower cases that stand upright or cube shaped boxes. Functionally, these are all the same. Inside, there is the actual computer electronics. The main circuit board is called the "motherboard" because it is the main part of the computer that feeds "life" to other smaller boards. Those other smaller boards are plugged into sockets on the motherboard. These other boards add more functions to the computer. Usually there is one that feeds the signal to your monitor; another to control the storage drives; perhaps one that connects your computer to the telephone line (modem) for communications with other computer systems. By the way, modem is short for MOdulator / DEModulator. There will be one or more disk storage drives in the computer housing. At the very least, there will be one floppy diskette drive. This drive will have a slot available to you on the front of the computer. The slot is where you insert a diskette for the computer to read. Many times, there will be two floppy drives and an internal hard drive. The hard drive will not have a slot for inserting diskettes. It may even be mounted inside and completely out of sight. Floppy diskette drives come mostly in two sizes - for 5 1/4" and the newer 3 1/2" diskettes. Diskettes come in double density (DD) and high density (HD). Diskettes are similar to the magnetic tape Page 60. you use in an audio cassette player or in your VCR or camcorder - except that diskettes have a magnetic coating on both surfaces. They are double-sided. (There were some single density, single sided diskettes but they are rarely seen now.) The first floppy drive is known as DRIVE A: by the computer. If you have another floppy drive, it is known as DRIVE B:. If you only have one floppy drive, DOS will refer to it as either DRIVE A: or DRIVE B: as needed. The first hard drive is always known as DRIVE C: Notice that DOS refers to a drive by its identifying letter followed with a colon. It is possible to have drives identified all the way through drive Z:. The 5 1/4" diskette You can recognize a 5 1/4" diskette by the size of it. The somewhat flexible plastic cover is actually 5 1/4" square and about 1/16" thick. It has a hole in the center of the magnetic diskette that is about the diameter of a U.S. quarter. The hole goes all the way through. Usually, you will see a hub reinforcing ring glued around this hole on the DD diskettes but not on the HD. (I don't know why this is true but that's the way they make 'em.) There is a small square notch in one edge of the diskette housing. This is called the "write protect" notch. When the notch is covered with a small (usually black) tape sticker that comes with a package of diskettes, the disk is "write protected". You can only write on one of these diskettes when the notch is exposed. These diskettes are not interchangeable. You cannot read a HD diskette in a DD drive. A HD drive can read a DD diskette and can write to it but you cannot reliably format a DD diskette in a HD drive. (Read about formatting below.) The 3 1/2" diskette The 3 1/2" diskette is similar but is mounted in a more rigid plastic case that measures 3 1/2 X 3 11/16" and does not have a hole through the center. There is a metal hub visible on one side. The other side is without a center hole of any kind. The write protect feature on these diskettes is s small rectangular hole in one corner. There is a sliding "door" that can be moved with a thumb nail. When the door covers the opening, you can write on the diskette. When the door is open so that you can see through the hole, the diskette is write protected. The HD diskette has another similar hole (without a door) in an opposite corner of the diskette case. These diskettes are not interchangeable although a high density diskette drive can read and write both the HD and the DD diskettes. The hard drive The hard drive is used for storing lots of information. It is called a hard drive because, as opposed to the floppy drive, the storage disk inside the hard drive is a rigid disk - similar to a phonograph record or a compact disk for a music system. A hard drive usually will be referred to by its storage capacity. The term used is Megabytes (millions of bytes). Commonly, drives Page 61. may be 20M (20 Megabytes), 40M, on up to several hundred "M". Hard drives are used for storing both programs and data. What is a byte anyhow? Data is stored in memory and processed by the computer as bits of information. Think of the bits as single pieces of information that can be either on or off. A group of eight of these bits is called a byte. By using various on/off combinations of the bits in this byte, you can form a code that represents a number, letter or other things we use in the computer. There are 256 of these on or off combinations possible with 8 bits. When you store data on a hard drive or floppy diskette, we use the term K or Meg. This means thousand or million. One K is a thousand - actually, it is 1,024 but that is the way the bits and bytes are counted. One Megabyte is actually 1,024,000 bytes. That is why a 20 Meg hard drive stores more than 20,000,000 bytes. The computer case also includes a power supply to operate all of the cards and internal drives and will usually include a cooling fan. MEMORY FOR THE COMPUTER There are two general kinds of storage or memory in your computer. There are the disk drives which can store information. Inside the computer, there is hardware memory called ROM ( pronounced to sound like the name "Tom") or read only memory and there is RAM (Pronounced like a male sheep) or random access memory. This hardware memory is what the computer uses to load and operate the various programs you will use. Ram is found in the computer in the form of small sets of integrated circuit "chips". They are out of sight but necessary parts of your system. SOFTWARE We've talked about the hardware. The hardware will do nothing without some kind of instruction. The instruction is called software if it is loaded into the computer RAM from a diskette or it is called firmware if it is installed in the computer in a more or less permanent integrated circuit chip inside the computer case. The basic part of your computer software is called the Disk Operating System or simply DOS. (Pronounced "DOSS" - sounds like "FLOSS".) This software is actually a set of many programs that came with your computer. It handles the starting of the computer, talking to the disk and diskette drives, reading the keyboard, sending stuff to the screen. It also controls the loading and running of other programs such as The TRUCK DATA SYSTEM. One of the first things you should learn to do with the computer is to operate DOS. Not everything, but do learn the basics. Read the DOS manual, particularly the beginning part about handling diskettes, how to turn the computer on, how to format a diskette, etc. Page 62. FORMAT A DISKETTE When you buy diskettes, normally they are just like a blank audio cassette tape - there is nothing on it at all. Before your computer can use it, it must be formatted. Formatting is done by one of the DOS programs. It is usually named FORMAT.COM. When you format a diskette, your computer writes some information to the diskette to prepare it for storage of your data. It also does some testing of the diskette to see if there are any defects. The command to format a diskette in drive A: would be: FORMAT A: and remember to press The FORMAT program will tell you to put a diskette in drive A: and press enter when you are ready to start. At the end of the job, the screen will show how much room there is for storage and will report any errors in the formatting. Then, remove the diskette from the drive. When you open a new box of diskettes, you may want to go ahead and format all of them. They must be formatted before you can use them anyhow so it is a good idea to do it now and they will be ready to use when you need them. DISKETTE LABELS You should know about writing on the label on a diskette. Be very careful about writing particularly on a 5 1/4" diskette label. If you write with a ball point pen, you can actually imboss the diskette inside and render it useless. Write only with a felt marker - and use a light touch. BACKUPS We have mentioned the importance of making backups of your data files. How do you make a backup? First of all, a backup is just a copy of your file in some form that you can store away for safe- keeping. TRUCK does not have provisions for making your backups. That is a function of DOS or other DOS programs. When you make backup copies of your data files, you only need to copy the files with a .DBF extensions. These are your Data Base Files. This is where all of your vehicle records are stored. The other files such as the program, TRUCKS.EXE, and the index files with an .NTX extension need not be backed up (although they can be included if you have enough room and want to include them). If you ever need to use your backup files, these other files can simply be reinstalled from your program diskette. You will only need to recover the .DBF files from your backup. Read your DOS manual about the commands COPY, BACKUP, RESTORE and XCOPY. These programs are part of the basic operating system for your computer. This is what you use to make the backups of your files. If you use other backup programs such as Central Point's Backup or FASTBACK, consult the user manual for those programs. If you have installed a tape backup system for your computer, read the manual of instructions for your tape system to learn about making a backup.