                           VIDEO EXPRESS
                          Manual--Part Two

  This is the second part of the manual.  This part gives you helpful 
hints, tells you the best way to handle common situations, and has a 
quick reference section to tell you the quickest way to view certain 
information.  It is recommended that all users of Video Express read 
this part of the manual.

Helpful Hints
  In order to get the most out of Video Express, this section will tell 
you how to best enter and manipulate your data. 

  *Abnormal Termination: Sometimes Video Express will be shut down 
without using "Exit", which is referred to as "Abnormal Termination".  
This may occur because of a power outage, because the cord got pulled 
out of the socket, or because someone turned the computer off without 
exiting Video Express.
  Should this ever happen, here is what you do:  Get back into Video 
Express and run the "Utilities: Reindex" option.  This will ensure that 
all the sorts work correctly.  Abnormal termination sometimes messes up 
the sorts.  Now check the invoices, the customers, and the rental and 
sales items to make sure the last items entered all got saved.  If some 
data did not get saved, you will have to re-enter that data.
  If Video Express was at the main menu at time of the termination, 
everything should be fine.  However, if it was not at the main menu, 
you may have lost some data.  This is because every time you go back to 
the main menu, your data is written to disk.
  After you have used the program for a few years, reindexing really 
starts to take a long time.  If abnormal termination occurs, and you 
really don't want the program to take forever to reindex, you may 
choose to take a chance and bypass the reindexing, but just keep a 
watchful eye on anything unusual.

  *Selecting ID Numbers for Customers:  The ID number length can be up 
to 7 characters.  This length was chosen so that phone numbers can be 
used for the ID number.  It is recommended that you use phone numbers 
as ID numbers because most customers do not memorize their ID numbers.  
You can enter in the customer's last name and press <F2> for each 
invoice, but it's a little more work.
  If you need to have two separate accounts for the same phone number 
or if a customer does not have a phone number, number these accounts in 
order, like 0001, 0002, etc.  You can find out the next unused number 
in the "Customers: View" option or in the "Utilities: Unused ID 
Numbers" option.

  *Changing a Customer's ID Number:  When you need to change a 
customer's ID number, do it from the "Add Invoices" option.  This will 
update all the customer's previous invoices to the new number.  
However, the reservations will not get updated.  If the customer has 
any items reserved, you will need to go into "View Reservations" and 
fix the ID number there as well.

  *Same Customer Entered Twice:  Sometimes the same customer has two 
different ID numbers entered in the database.
  First pick which ID number you wish to keep.  If one has an overdue 
balance, keep that one.  If both have overdue balances, keep them both 
and put notes in each account referring to the late fees on the other 
account.  In general, keep the account that has had the most activity.
  Pull up the duplicate account that you do not wish to keep.  Press 
<F6> and jot down every invoice that the customer has ever had.  Go 
into "View Invoices", press <Alt>+<H>, and scroll up until you find 
each invoice and change the Customer # to the new #.
  Now go into "Customers: View", press <F3>, and enter in the 
customer's last name.  This will list both accounts side by side, and 
you can transfer any information from the duplicate account to the 
right account.
  Now that the invoices and customer information have been updated, you 
can now delete the duplicate account by pressing <F7> on it.

  *Selecting ID Numbers and Groups for Rental Items:  When selecting ID 
numbers for your rental items, you may want to select ID numbers that 
will help you easily find the rental in the store.  For example, if you 
have your movies arranged in groups, like comedy, drama, action, 
etc..., start each type with the same letter.  For example, a number 
could be "C0001" for comedies, while a number could be "D0001" for 
dramas.  This way employees could know exactly where to put the item by 
its ID number, and when they are trying to find a rental, the computer 
can tell them exactly where it should be.
  You might think that this method would only allow 9999 comedies, 9999 
dramas, etc., but you can also use letters.  For example, when you get 
to number "C9999", you could use number "CA001" for the next comedy.
  If you number your movies this way, you probably wouldn't need the 
GROUP field much.  If your movies are already numbered in a different 
fashion and you don't want to change them, or if you don't want to 
change the ID numbers every time an item shifts around in the store, 
use the GROUP field to group your movies.  For example, you could enter 
"CO" for a comedy.   To print out all movies alphabetically within a 
group, use the "Utilities: Create Reports" option.  For the criteria, 
select CODE Starting With "C" or GROUP="CO".
  You can also use the GROUP field for subgroups.  For example, the 
GROUP for an old comedy could be "CO" while the group for a new comedy 
could be "CN".  To print out all comedies, select GROUP Starting With 
"C".  To print out new comedies, select GROUP="CN".
  Another good idea is to make all your ID numbers the same length.  To 
the computer, "100" comes before "20" because 1 is less than 2.  On the 
other hand, "020" comes before "100" because 0 is less than 1.  The 
computer sorts the ID numbers from left to right.

  *Selecting Descriptions for Rental Items:  Many rentals have a 
title/description that starts with "A", "AN", or "THE".  Since the 
rentals are sorted according to those first characters in the title, 
sometimes it is hard for the current computer user to determine how to 
look up a certain title.  Was the rental entered as "BAD NEWS BEARS" or 
"THE BAD NEWS BEARS"?  The recommended approach to this is to leave out 
these words to avoid confusion.  Some titles will look funny without 
it, but it is best to stay consistent.   Some movies have the exact 
same names but are really different movies.  For example, there are two 
different movies called "CAPE FEAR".  To make these movies distinct, it 
is a good idea to also include the year the movie was made.  For 
example, describe the movie as "CAPE FEAR (1991)". 
  If you have more than one copy of a rental, describe them the exact 
same way.  In the "Rental Status" option, Video Express can show you 
all the copies of a certain description that you have, and tell you if 
they are rented out or reserved.  If they all don't have the exact same 
description, Video Express can't show you all of them.  Also, the 
reservation system won't work correctly.

  *Selecting Price Codes:  In the "Settings: Rental Prices" option, you 
can pick the code letters that will go with each price.  To help you 
remember which price code that a rental should have, you should pick 
letters that resemble the items.  For example, if all of your Sega 
Genesis games have the same price, you might choose "S" as the price 
code.  If all of your new releases have the same price, you might 
choose "N" as the price code.  You can also use numbers as price codes.

  *Changing a Rental's ID Number:  You can change a rental's ID number 
at any time, except for when the item is still rented out.  Make sure 
the item is returned before you change the ID number. If you change an 
item's ID number before it is returned, Video Express won't be able to 
find the item on the invoice when it is returned.

  *Changing a Rental's Description:  You can change a rental's 
description at any time, except for when the description is reserved.  
If you change a description while it is reserved, Video Express won't 
be able to find it and delete it when the description is rented out.
  However, you can delete the reservation, and add a reservation with 
the new description.  If you have more than one reservation with that 
description, delete and add each one in order of order-number, so that 
the proper ordering will be maintained.

  *Evaluating Qty-Sold Information of Sales Items:  Video Express keeps 
track of how many you have sold of each item.  The "Complete Sales 
Inventory" report calculates for you how many you should have left.  By 
counting the items left in the store, you will be able to determine if 
you're selling the same quantity that is leaving the store.
  Since Video Express keeps a running total, you may want to change 
each sales item's "Qty. Sold" to zero and re-enter the "Qty. Bought" as 
the current quantity when you count inventory to better evaluate the 
next time period.

 *Deciding How Many Sales Items to Have in the Sales Database:  You may 
not be sure as to how many different sales items to enter into the 
database.  For example, if you sell three different kinds of potato 
chips for the same price, should you enter one item called "POTATO 
CHIPS", or should you enter three different items?
  If you have three different items in the database, you will be able 
to tell how each item is selling.
  On the other hand, if you have just one item in the database, it will 
be much easier to enter in the ID number because you don't have to make 
sure you're entering the right one.
  Based on which benefit is most important to you, you can determine 
how many different items to enter into the database.

  *Entering Sales Items in the Invoices:  Entering rental items in the 
invoices is easy because you will have the ID number written on each 
rental item.  You will probably not, however, have the ID number 
written on each sales item.   If you ever sell sales items that do not 
have the sales number written on them, it is best to print out the 
sales items and put the list by the computer for quick reference.  

  *Doing Price Specials:  Price specials are a big part of any video 
store.  This is why Video Express allows you three different ways to do 
price specials.  You can use <F5> to edit the unit price of an item, 
you can enter in a discount, or you can use <S> for a bulk-special.  
You can also use combinations of the three.
  In general, if the special has the rentals due at an earlier or later 
time period than normal, use the <S> method.  Use the discount method 
for specials like 10% off the total purchase, trade accounts, and gift 
certificates.  Use <F5> for specials like the first for $3, second for 
$2, etc. and for free rentals.
  The <S> method is the fastest.  The <F5> method details the price on 
each item.  The discount method doesn't tamper with the individual 
prices.
  The <S> method doesn't show an exact price on each item.  The reports 
with the <F5> method doesn't reflect the specials at all, and it is the 
slowest.  The discount method can overstate the income for the 
individual categories.
  Keep these factors in mind as you determine how to handle your price 
specials.

Common Situations
  This section describes some common situations and the best way to 
deal with them.  If you currently have a situation that you aren't sure 
how to deal with, it may not be exactly the same as any of the 
following situations, but the answer to your problem may lie in a 
similar situation.

  *SITUATION:  A customer comes in and asks you if you have a certain 
rental.
  Go into "Rental Status", enter in the first few characters of the 
description, and then press <F2>.  If you find the correct description, 
press <Enter> twice.  Now all rentals with that description will be 
displayed.  You will be told if each copy is rented out.
  If you have the rental but all copies are rented out, and the 
customer would like to reserve the rental for when it comes in, reserve 
the item in "Reservations" and you will be warned when the item is 
returned.

  *SITUATION:  A customer attempts to rent out some items, but the 
computer warns you that the customer has overdue charges to pay.  The 
customer denies turning in any items overdue.
  Press <F6>.  You will be at the last invoice for that customer.  You 
will be able to tell if items were turned in overdue if you see a date 
and time in the right end of the "Description" column.  This date and 
time is when the item was returned.  If the overdue rentals were not 
off of this invoice, keep pressing <Enter> to view previous invoices 
until you find the information you need.  You can also use the calendar 
<F10> to find out the day of the week that a date falls upon.

  *SITUATION:  You have just created and saved an invoice and now the 
customer wants to purchase more items or he/she decides not to purchase 
some items.
  Go into "View Invoices" and press <Enter>.  You will be at the last 
invoice, and this should be the invoice to edit.  Press <F4>.
  If the customer wants to add items, just pick up where you left off 
and start entering the items in.
  If the customer wants to subtract items, you will have to use <B> to 
go back and erase those items.  If other items are in the way, you will 
have to re-enter those items.

  *SITUATION:  You have just created and saved an invoice, but you 
entered the wrong amount for the discount or the cash tender.
  If it was the cash tender, you can use the calculator <F12> to find 
the correct change to give to the customer.
  If it was the discount, go into "View Invoices", press <Enter>, and 
you should be at the correct invoice.  Press <F4>, <Q>, and <Enter>.  
Now you can enter in the correct discount amount.

  *SITUATION:  You have started entering items in an invoice when the 
customer also wants to rent an item that has just been returned, but it 
hasn't been returned on the computer yet.
  Press <Q> and <Enter> and save the invoice by entering <D> for 
"Done".  Now return the item.  Go into "View Invoices", press <Enter>, 
and the invoice should appear on the screen.  Press <F4>, and you will 
be able to continue where you left off.

  *SITUATION:  A customer rents items out, but before leaving the 
store, he decides to switch a rental item.  You allow the switch.
  Go into "View Invoices" and press <Enter>.  You will now be at the 
last invoice, which should be the invoice that you need to edit.  Jot 
down the total amount that the customer paid.  This may change once you 
edit the invoice.  Press <F4>.
  If the last item on the invoice is the item to be switched, all you 
have to do is press <B> and <Enter> to erase the last item and enter in 
the new item.
  However, if it is not the last item, you will need to keep track of 
the code numbers of the items in the way because you will have to 
re-enter them.  Then press <B> and <Enter> until you have erased the 
item to be switched.  Enter in the new item and the items to re-enter.
  Note the difference between the new total and the old total.  The 
difference is what the customer has to pay you or what you have to pay 
the customer.  If you need to, use the calculator <F12>.

  *SITUATION:  A customer justly notifies you that you have overcharged 
him/her on a rental item.
  The rental probably has the wrong price code.  Save the invoice if 
you have not already done so.  Go into "Rentals: Edit", bring up the 
rental item, and fix the price code.  Now go into "View Invoices", 
press <Enter>, and the invoice should appear.  Press <F4>.  Press <B> 
and <Enter> until you have erased the rental item.  Now re-enter the 
rental item and the correct price should now appear.  Re-enter in other 
items if necessary, and you're done.

  *SITUATION:  You have just created an invoice, but the customer 
forgot his/her money and now wishes to cancel the invoice.
  If you haven't pressed <Q> yet, you can press <B> and <Enter> until 
all items have been erased.  Then press <Esc>.  If you have already 
pressed <Q>, you can still cancel the invoice without saving it by 
pressing <Esc> when asked, "Enter <P> to Print, <D> for Done, <Esc> to 
Cancel".
  If you already saved it (by entering <P> or <D>), you must go into 
"View Invoices", press <Enter>, and the last invoice will come up.  
Just press <F7>, <Y>, and <Enter> to void it.  All quantities will go 
to zero, and all rentals will be returned.

  *SITUATION:  You have just created an invoice containing a rental 
item.  You try to print the invoice, but the printer wasn't ready, and 
so the invoice didn't print.  You get the printer ready, return the 
item, and re-create the same invoice.  Now there are two invoices with 
the exact same information on them, and the income reports will 
overstate your actual income.
  First of all, never re-create the same invoice.  Should you ever need 
to edit or re-print an invoice, do it in "View Invoices".
  Go into "View Invoices", find the first of the two invoices, and 
press <F7> to void the invoice.

  *SITUATION:  You are viewing invoices when you notice an invoice that 
an employee created for practice; it was not a real invoice. 
  Void the invoice <F7>.  All rental items on the invoice will be 
returned.

  *SITUATION:  You have just created and saved an invoice when you 
realize that the invoice was saved under the wrong customer.
  Go into "View Invoices", press <Enter>, and the invoice should appear 
on the screen.  Press <F7> to void the invoice.  Now create another 
invoice using the correct customer this time.

  *SITUATION:  You are creating an invoice when the customer asks to 
keep the rentals for one day longer than they are due and agrees to pay 
the extra charges.
  First, press <F8> to make the due-date one day later.  If you have 
already entered items in, press <B> and <Enter> until all items have 
been erased.  Now enter the items in, but press <F5> before pressing 
<Enter> on each code number.  This will allow you to change the price 
on each rental.

  *SITUATION:  A customer with items rented out calls up and requests 
to keep the items for one extra day without being charged.  You 
grudgingly agree to allow the customer one more day.
  Make sure you get the customer's name or ID number before he/she 
hangs up.  Then go into "View Invoices", press <F3>, and enter in the 
customer's ID number (use <F2> if you only know the name).  The 
customer's last invoice will appear.  Press <F8> to change the due date 
to one day later.

  *SITUATION:  A customer with items rented out calls up and requests 
to keep the items for one extra day and is willing to pay the extra 
charges upon return.
  Since the customer is already willing to pay the extra charges, you 
really don't need to do anything.  The only problem is, when the 
customer shows up on the overdue listing, you might call the customer 
up and tell him/her that he/she has items overdue.  The customer may 
then get irate because he/she had already told you that he/she was 
going to be late.
  Make a note that the customer is planning on keeping the items for 
one more day, and so when it's time to call the people on the overdue 
list, it'll remind you that the customer doesn't need to be called. 

  *SITUATION:  You need to change the computer's time or date.
  Go into "Utilities: DOS Command", type in "TIME" or "DATE", and enter 
in the correct time (in 24-hour format) or date.

  *SITUATION:  A customer complains that the item that he/she had 
purchased was defective.  You agree to give the money back.
  Go into "Refund" and create a refund invoice.  If any refunded items 
are rentals, they will be returned.  A refund amount will be 
calculated.
  To find the customer who rented a defective item prior to this 
customer, go into "Rentals: View", type in the rental number, and press 
<End>.  LASTCUST should be the customer you gave the refund to.  
LASTCUST2 is probably the culprit.  This is the previous customer who 
rented the item out.  If LASTCUST2 was not the culprit, try LASTCUST3.
  If you still haven't found the culprit, you can use the "Utilities: 
Create Reports" option to find everyone who has rented out the item.

  *SITUATION:  A rental item has been returned but still shows up on 
the rented-out and overdue listings.  When you go to return the rental, 
it says "Rental Doesn't Need to Be Checked In".
  The item didn't get returned properly for some reason, most likely 
because Video Express wasn't exited properly.  Go into "Returns", enter 
the rental number, and when it asks "In Store", press <N> and <Enter>.  
Now return the rental again, and it will be properly returned.  The 
item must be returned on the invoice in order to be properly returned.
  If it still shows up on the rented-out listing, the rental's LASTINV 
field did not get updated, probably because Video Express wasn't exited 
properly.  Go into "Rentals: View", enter in the rental number, and 
press the right arrow key until you find LASTINV.  Enter in the invoice 
number that you see on the rented-out listing.  Follow the instructions 
from the previous paragraph again, and the item will be properly 
returned.

  *SITUATION:  You mistakenly return an item that has not been returned 
yet.
  If you are sitting at the "In Store" question, all you have to do is 
press <Esc>.  If you have already pressed <Enter> on this question, the 
item is officially returned.  Just make a note about which item you 
mistakenly returned.
  You also could go into "View Invoices", press <F4>, go back over the 
item, and re-check it out.  But be very careful.  Make sure the right 
prices are put back on the invoice.

  *SITUATION:  You mistakenly add a charge to a customer's overdue 
balance.
  If the item is still on the screen, just press <F3> to fix the 
balance.  If you have already passed this point and you have no idea 
who the customer was, go into "Rentals: View", enter in the rental 
number, press <End>, and LASTCUST is the ID number that you're looking 
for.

  *SITUATION:  A rental item is nowhere to be found, and it does not 
show up on the rented-out listing.
  There are several possibilities that may have caused this:  1) The 
item has been stolen or misplaced, 2) It was not rented out on the 
computer, 3) It was rented out on the computer as the wrong rental 
number, 4) It was rented out as the right rental number but 
accidentally got returned on the computer, or 5) The invoice did not 
get saved due to abnormal termination.
  If 3) is the case, the item that got mistakenly rented out on the 
computer will never get checked in.  Once you figure out which item 
this is, you'll know who has the rental.
  If 4) is the case, go into "Rentals: View", enter in the rental 
number, and press <End>.  The number in the LASTCUST column is the 
person who has the rental.
  If 5) is the case, go into "Rentals: View" and enter in the rental 
number.  If the INSTORE column is "F", press <End>, and the number in 
the LASTCUST column is the person who has the rental.  If the INSTORE 
column is "T", there is no way to find out who has the rental.  Note:  
This is just under the hope that the rental information got saved even 
though the invoice information did not get saved.

  *SITUATION:  A customer pays in advance for a reserved movie, and you 
want to put it on an invoice to make sure your cash equals the amount 
on the "Daily Report".
  Add a sales item to the database called "PRE-PAID RESERVATIONS" or 
something like that.  Enter in the sales number on the invoice and 
press <F5> so that you can edit the unit price to the amount of the 
item.  Make a note in the customer's information that the customer has 
credit.
  When the customer picks up the reservation, delete the credit note, 
and check out the item, but zero out the price so that the customer 
doesn't pay double for it.  If the customer never picks up the item, 
the credit will still be on his account for the next time he comes in.
  This may look as if the item was rented out for free, so if you 
prefer not to do it this way, you can just make a note that the item 
was paid for, and then throw the note away when the customer picks it 
up.  If he doesn't pick it up, then you can put a credit note on his 
account.

  *SITUATION:  You get a "Customer Not Found In Database" message in 
the reservation listing.
  You either deleted the customer or changed his/her ID number since 
the item was reserved for the customer.   If you know the correct 
number, just go into "View Reservations" and fix it.
  If you don't know the correct number, there is nothing you can do.  
Just hope that the customer calls back about the reservation before 
it's too late.

  *SITUATION:  You delete a record.  Later you try to delete a record 
with the same ID number.  Video Express shows you the first one that 
you deleted and asks if you would like to recover it.  You want to 
delete the other record.
  Any time you delete a record, Video Express allows you to recover it 
just in case you deleted it on accident.
  So, you can either go into the "View" option and delete it by 
pressing <F7> on the proper record, or you can reindex to permanently 
remove the first one and then delete the second one. 

Quick Reference
  This section tells you the quickest way to view certain information:

  *View customers in order of ID number--"Customers: View"

  *View customers in order of last name--"Customers: View", <F3>

  *View rentals in order of ID number--"Rentals: View"

  *View rentals in order of description--"Rentals: View", <F3>

  *View sales items in order of ID number--"Sales: View"

  *View sales items in order of description--"Sales: View", <F3>

  *View invoices in order of invoice number--"Transactions: View 
Invoices"

  *View invoices in order of customer number--"Transactions: View 
Invoices", <F3>

  *View all known zip codes--"Utilities: Zip Codes"

  *View all currently rented-out items--"Transactions: Rented Out"

  *View all currently overdue items--"Transactions: Overdue"

  *View all reservations in order of description--"View Reservations"

  *View all reservations in order of date--"List All Reservations" 

  *View current day's reservations in order of description--"Daily 
Reservation Calculation"

  *View current day's reservations in order of customer--"List Day's 
Reservations"

  *View all currently rented-out/overdue/reserved items for one 
customer--"Transactions: Customer Status"

  *View late fees racked up so far on items currently rented out by a 
customer--"Transactions: Customer Status"

  *View if an item is checked in--"Transactions: Rental Status"

  *View in-store/reserve status and times rented for all rentals having 
the same description--"Transactions: Rental Status"

  *View what caused a customer's overdue balance--"Transactions: Add 
Invoices", enter the customer's number, <F6>, look for return dates and 
times in the right end of the "Description" column which signifies 
items turned in overdue.

  *View rental prices--"Settings: Rental Prices"

  *View all rentals of a certain price code--"Rentals: Reports", "Price 
Code"

  *View the last three customers who rented out an item--"Rentals: 
View", enter the rental number, <End>