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TIPS OF THE MONTH

#

MONTH

TIP

1

11/06

Pressing ALT C (Windows version) or F1 (UNIX/Linux version using Telnet) will bring up a simple calculator - add, subtract, multiply and divide. Once in the calculator you can view the screen you were working on by pressing the F2 key (any key will return you to the calculator). Pressing the F9 key will plug the last result into the input field you're working on. It also converts inches into feet & inches (100" = 8' 4").

2

12/06

Pressing ALT H (Windows version, UNIX/Linux version using Telnet) will bring up a help screen on the input you're at. The Help system has not been updated in years but if you use it and it doesn't have what you're looking for, let us know and we'll update it. Most questions received from clients are reviewed to see if the information is in the Help system. If it isn't we update it at that time.

 

A typical help screen will look like this:

 

HELP

ENTER to Exit Pg Up Pg Down I for Index

1.1.1.004 Entering Budgets

 

Next you can set up a budget amount for the account number. You have two choices: the same budget amount each month (like rent) or a variable amount depending on the month (like inventory or sales).

 

If you do not want to enter a budget, Press F10

 

All amounts that would normally be credits, should be entered as minus'.

 

If you answer Yes, you will be asked for 1 amount for all months.

 

If you answer No, you will be shown all months for the entire year with last year's actual amount spent shown in the last year column. Since this is the adding program it will always show a zero.

 

If, after entering a number you want to change one above the current line, you can use the up arrow to move up the screen. By pressing the "I" key, you'll get an index which you can skip to the area you're wondering about:

 

HELP INDEX Q to Quit, Index # to View PG UP PG DOWN

0.0.0.0.000 GETTING STARTED

0.0.0.0.001 Set Up Order

0.0.0.0.002 Integration Values Screen

0.0.0.0.003 Chart of Account Breakdown

0.0.0.0.004 Chart of Account Breakdown continued...

0.0.0.0.005 Company Values

0.0.0.0.006 Company Name Information

0.0.0.0.007 Company Federal ID #

0.0.0.0.008 Company Terms

0.0.0.0.009 Security Option

0.0.0.0.010 Audit Option

0.0.0.0.011 Company EDI COMM ID #

0.0.0.0.012 Set Up Departments

0.0.0.0.013 Required General Ledger Accounts

0.0.0.0.014 Required Accounts continued...

0.0.0.0.015 Check Account Validity

0.0.0.0.016 Enter File Data

1.000 GENERAL LEDGER OVERVIEW

1.001 Account Numbers - composition

1.002 File Structure 1.003 File Structure continued...

1.1.1.000 ADD GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNT OVERVIEW

3

01/07

Bank reconciliations can be performed using CustomWare© reducing the time to do one to minutes. What is required:

 

1. You must enter all cash disbursements.

2. You must enter all deposits to cash.

3. You must have the GL system activated and the "Cash Recepts" account and "AP Cash" (and payroll if used) accounts must be different from all other account numbers. (Sometimes customers set up one GL account and use it for everything - this method will not work.

 

The process will produce a duplicate of your statement from the bank to verify that the data entered is accurate. It then will produce an open item register for checks and deposits and show whether the account balances to your GL account. If it does not balance, it will tell you by how much you are off.

 

You can do multiple reconciliations for the same month (after making adjustments you can do another until you get it right!).

 

You can do reconciliations for multiple bank accounts.

4

02/07

Remote Backup

 

You should have a remote backup (offsite). Remote backups are also called disaster recovery backups. For more information on remote backups you may visit www.customware.com/backup.html. Whether it is to a paid service like CustomWare Designs or to your own server at home or other office you should regularly create and store remote backups. In most cases, your ISP provider allows you enough storage to keep a backup on their server.

 

Most backups, including transmission, takes less than ˝ hour, depending your internet connection speed. Most compressions take less than 10 minutes (for 150Mb of uncompressed data it takes about 4 minutes)

 

CustomWare© provides for automatic remote backups or manual remote backups. In the Disk Maintenance Center, option 5 - Remote Backup you can set it up and have peace of mind that a backup is being taken without your intervention.

 

How it works:

Remote backup first reboots the computer (Linux/UNIX systems) to ensure that all files are closed. Most of the time all the files are closed anyway - this happens every time you return to a menu but sometimes someone leaves a screen on some other function and some files may not be closed. To successfully backup a file it must be closed.

 

Then it compresses all CustomWare© and Pragma© files into a single zip file. After the compression, using FTP (Windows default ftp or Linux/UNIX default ftp) it logs onto a remote system and transfers the zip file to the remote server. It MUST be an FTP server.

 

For Linux/UNIX systems you should be logged in as root when you set up the remote backup. For Windows systems you should be logged in as Administrator.

 

1. Run

This is used for testing and manual remote backups. Select it to perform a remote backup.

 

2 Set Up

     1 Local Backup Directory J:\CWBACKUP This is where your compressed backup will be stored on your local computer. It is also where the backup program files are stored.

     2 Backup Schedule Day 6 Saturday

          What day of the week you want the backup to take place. There is an option for every day if you wish, but not multiple days.

     3 Backup Schedule Time 12:30 A.M.

          What time you want the backup to start.

     4 Backup Schedule Frequency 1 Every Week on Selected Day

          Options are:

               1 Every Week on Selected Day (default) In this case it would be every Saturday

               2 Last Selected Day of Month Only on the last Saturday of every month

               3 First Selected Day of Month Only on the first Saturday of every month

               4 Every Day This ties to the backup schedule Day (option 2) and will backup every day

     5 Remote IP Address

          This is the remote IP address of your backup server. Examples: 166.70.102.21 or ftp.xmission.com

     6 Remote Login

          Your login name on the remote ftp server. It should be exact as most logins are case sensitive.

     7 Remote Password

          Your password on the remote server. It also is probably case sensitive. 8 Remote Commands You may need to do certain commands, like changing to a different directory than the login default. These commands are ftp commands and should be recognized by the remote ftp program. Separate commands are separated by the caret (^). An example might be:

               cd ftp^cd backup

which would look like this after the ftp script file is created:

               cd ftp cd backup

You could also do it all on one line: cd ftp/backup

     9 ZIP Version 6 WZZIP

          CustomWare© uses PKZIP©, WinZip© Command Line (version 9 or later), the Linux default zip or UNIX "zip". How the programs work is different so you need to select which version is on your computer.

    10 Reboot Command

          You need a reboot command for Linux/UNIX systems. Defaults are tied to your Operating System option in Company Set Up. For Linux/UNIX this command would simply be: reboot. For Windows XP it would be "shutdown -r -f -t 01 -d up:125:1" A reboot is not necessary for single user systems.

    11 Schedule Task Command [command]

          This is used to automatically set up a run time for the backup. It places a job in Windows Task Scheduler or in the Linux/UNIX ATJOB list. The default can be used unless it is not what you'd like. You may enter any operating system command to schedule this task. In UNIX systems you may also use cron instead of atjob.

    12 New Files only?

          This option should most likely not be used because Pragma© files are all tied together. However, you can set the backup to only backup files that have been changed or added within a certain number of days. The default (F9 key) will put the appropriate command for the zip version you are using. You can then modify it. For example, the default is 31 days. You can use the default ( -td31 ) and then change it to 60 ( -td60 ). TAKE CARE to place a space after the last digit.

    13 Encryption Level 0 NO ENCRYPTION

          Encryption makes it so the backup cannot be opened without a password. Depending on your zip version you have several options. For WinZip 9, you have the "default" WinZip encryption (not recommended), 128 bit AES or 256 bit AES. AES encryption methods, when used correctly, cannot be broken.

    14 Encryption Password

          If you're using encryption, you need a password to use for the encryption. It can be anything and everything EXCEPT the double quote (") mark. It should be of sufficient length for a "proper" unbreakable encryption. The "proper" minimum for 128 bit AES encryption would be 32 characters, for 128 bit AES it would be 64 characters but it can be as long (or short) as you like.

    15 Preferred Password Length 0

          This is set automatically when you choose an encryption level but you can reset it to any number. When you enter an encryption password, CustomWare© will let you know when you have reached or exceeded this number of characters.

3 Create Script/Batch File

     This option creates the operating system files necessary to perform the remote backup. Usually, there is a program file, an exceptions list, a backup list and an ftp command file, depending on your operating system. This should be run only AFTER you've run all set up options. When this option is run it creates (for Windows XP):

          Creating the EXCEPT file...

          Create the Backup List (BULIST) file...

          Creating the BACKUP PROGRAM (rbu.bat)...

          Creating the auto FTP (ftppbu.txt) file...

4 Edit Script/Batch Files/Backup/Except

     You may edit the files created. In Windows it uses the MS-DOS EDIT command. In Linux/UNIX it uses vi. You may also edit them using a text editor (it MUST BE PLAIN TEXT) of your choosing.

5 Set Schedule For Automatic

This performs the operating system command to add the remote backup and reboot to your system's task scheduler. This currently does not work for Windows XP.

  LAST REMOTE BACKUP 2004 05 12 09 09 422

     The last time you ran the remote backup program. This does not update when the operating system performs the backup. This is only updated when you manually run the backup.

 

The files (on a Windows XP system) look like this (default settings):

rbu.bat

     IF EXIST J:\CWBACKUP\MYBU.ZIP DEL J:\CWBACKUP\MYBU.ZIP

     J:

     cd \CWBACKUP

     wzzip -u -ex -P -r -x@EXCEPT J:\CWBACKUP\MYBU @BULIST

     C:\WINDOWS\system32\ftp.exe -v -i -s:ftppbu.txt ftp.xmission.com

     I:

     cd \CWD

BULIST

     I:\CWD\*.*

EXCEPT

      (empty by default)

     You may add specific files or types of files. The convention would be like this (Linux and UNIX are case sensitive to file names so you may have to enter case different exceptions):

          *.EXE

          *.BAT

          *.COM

          *.prn

          *.ZIP

          *.zip

          *.csv

FTPPBU.TXT

     mylogin

     mypassword

     cd ftp

     cd backup

     binary

     put MYBU.ZIP

     quit

 

TAKE THAT BACKUP!!!

 

 

 

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