Printing on multiple (or other users’) dot matrix printers

    There are several steps that must be taken to make this work. 

• You must know the name of the computer that has the printer attached.

1. On that computer, click on Start – Control Panel – System.

2. Choose the Computer name tab.

3. Write down the “Full computer name” (not the computer description).  Do not write the period at the end.  If you see, “HOST.” Write “HOST”

• You must SHARE the printer on that computer.  You must know the SHARE NAME of the printer.

1. On that computer, click on Start – Control Panel – Printers and Faxes.

2. RIGHT click on the printer.  Choose “Sharing”.

3. Click to put a dot in “Share this printer”

4. Give it a Share name like “DavesOkidata”

5. Click “Apply”.  Click “OK”.

• While still in Control Panel – Printers and Faxes....

1. RIGHT click on the printer again.  Choose "Properties".

2. Choose the "Advanced" tab at the top.

3. Be sure there is a dot in "Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster".

4. Be sure there is a dot in "Start printing immediately".

• Assume you wish to print Tickets on the computer named  HOST  using the  DavesOkidata  printer.

1. Log into the DRM-Windows program.

2. Choose Utilities – Options – My Preferences.

3. You will see several entries for Dot Matrix Printer.

4. Choose “Dot Matrix Printer – Ticket”.

5. Using the format you see here, enter the name  \\HOST\DavesOkidata , in the Value field.

• The first time you print each day expect a long pause before the ticket prints.  After that it should not take very long.

You can now print a batch of Invoices

• You’ve always been able to print invoices as you post but you may prefer to wait until after you have posted your totals and then  print all invoices that were not paid off.

• Choose “Daily Invoice For Customers” from you list of reports.  The default settings will print any unpaid invoices you posted today.  You can make changes to any of those conditions or use Criteria to pick the ones you want.

Display a Map or Directions to the Site Address

    If the internet is available from your computer, you might find this new feature useful.

• Open the Customer Info pop-up screen.  You do this by clicking the “More…” button located in the top left section of each of your Daily Work screens.  You can also show this screen by clicking the “Info” button when you are working on a Delivery Route and have highlighted a customer.

• To show a map, either click the menu item labeled “Map (F1)” or use your <F1> key.  Your internet browser window will open up with a MapQuest map for the account’s Site Address.  If you want to print this map, first click on “Printer-Friendly” link displayed above the map and then click on the “Send To Printer” link.  You can also use the MapQuest features to zoom in or out, or click and drag to move around the map area. 

• To print directions:  Before using the Directions feature, you first have to set-up your preferred Starting Location.  You do this in the Utilities - Options screen.  Display the options for the “System” category and edit each of the four Map Starting Location settings.

• To show directions, either click the menu item labeled “Directions (F2) or use your <F2> key.  Your internet browser window will open up at the MapQuest directions page for the account’s Site Address. This page shows your preferred Starting Location along with the Site Address as the Ending Location.  You then need to click the “Get Directions” button displayed in the Ending Location section.  You can use the “Printer Friendly” link if you want to print the directions.

Printing Prepay Prices on Tickets is now easier

• You are used to using  (Utilities - Options - Printing)  “Print Prepay Price on Ticket” to control whether fixed prices are printed on tickets when you print a batch of tickets for a delivery route.  This option is now also used on a manual Meter Ticket.    If you ever override the Fixed or Capped Price then the message will not print.

You can now select a default Ticket Memo to use

• Previously your first ticket memo was picked automatically when you went to the Meter Ticket screen.  Now you can indicate which particular memo number you would like picked automatically.

• Go to the Utilities - Options screen and choose “Printing - Default Ticket Memo #”.  Enter a zero if you do not want any memo to be automatically selected.

The 2 lines of Delivery Instructions are now displayed on the Meter Ticket screen.

• You can edit this information if you like and your changes will print on the ticket.  If you do change the delivery instructions, a box will appear with a prompt of “Check to Save Delivery Info.”  If you check this box then the delivery instruction changes will be saved and become permanent after you print the ticket.

You can now set a different comment message for each of your Credit Posting Words

• Until now your standard message (something like “CK #” or “THANK YOU”) printed for all your different type of Credits.   To setup a more relevant message for each Credit Word, go to the Utilities - Posting Words screen and double-click on the line for each credit.  Use the Posting Comments fields to indicate the message you would like to show every time you post that particular credit transaction.

New report – Transaction Totals – Account Balances By Date

• This report will show a balance breakdown (Regular, Budget, Prepay, F/A) for each account meeting your criteria.  You pick the date to run it for and then indicate the balance criteria.  The default choice is to show accounts with a non-zero total balance.  You can also decide to print either the Billing or Site name on the report.

You may see a new message reminding you about “Floating Transactions” when you log out

• In Print-Post Totals you can choose “Floating Transactions” are what we call the transactions you removed from a Post Totals Batch.  They still show up an account’s history but are not on any of your totals reports.  There are many times when removing transactions is appropriate but sometimes you might forget that they are still floating.

Three New fields added to Custom Reports / Criteria.

1. RegAtLeast30

2. RegAtLeast60

3. RegAtLeast90

    These fields will make it much easier to use criteria based on aged balances.

• The Reg30 field you’re used to only shows the regular amount that is between 30 and 59 days past due.  Likewise the Reg60 field only shows the amount that is between 60 and 89 days past due. 

• Previously if you wanted to show account that were at least 30 days overdue you had to have a criteria rule for each of the three 30, 60 and 90 day fields.  (example Reg30 > 0 OR Reg60 > 0 OR Reg90 >0)

• Now you can use the new fields to say it like you mean it! Choose RegAtLeast30 to indicate a balance that is either 30, 60 or 90 days past due and so on.

Small Changes

1. You can now choose to move a partial balance instead of the entire balance from one category to another.

2. You can now see notes on the Customer Info pop-up screen.

3. The Degree Days used to build a Delivery Route now print on the Delivery List report.

4. The Account # now shows in the first column on the Delivery Route screen

5. You can now click the Info button to see more details about an account on the Delivery Route screen as well as the Available Stop screen.  Maps can be displayed here also.

6. The Meter Ticket screen clearly indicates whether the customer is Auto or Call for the fuel you pick.  If you pick a fuel that is not scheduled then “N/S” is displayed.

7. Your default Ticket Memo is selected when you add a new Delivery Route

8. In the Edit Route screen, you can click on the Next Delivery column heading to sort by next delivery date within each zone

9. You can now add new Statement or Ticket Memos directly from the Utilities/Options screen.

10. A message to indicate whether an account is setup for Automatic or Call delivery is displayed on the main customer screen in the upper left area near the account number.  Note that the setting for  the 1^st scheduled delivery is used for this message

11. An account’s Credit Rating is displayed on the main customer screen in the upper right area next to the Standard Discount

12. The way you like to lookup accounts (acct #, bill name, etc.) is remembered and automatically selected each time you log-in.   Whether you like to Show Inactive accounts is also remembered.

13. If you like to export Custom Reports to Microsoft Excel, you no longer have to set the export preference every time.  If you use Microsoft Excel and haven’t tried this feature of the program yet, please call us to learn more about it as we’re sure it’s something you’re going to like.

14. You can now choose to Print a Credit Memo as you save it just like printing invoices.