










                      Network Problem Tracker v1.2
                           Copyright (c) 1990
                       Dedicated Computer Systems
                            01/02/91 release


                           By:  Robert J. May














 











                              LICENSE

    Network Problem Tracker is not  Free Software. It is provided  under
    the Shareware Concept.  This LICENSE entitles  users to try  Network
    Problem Tracker for a  period not to exceed  30 days. At the  end of
    30 days the user is required  to either quit using this software  or
    register* this software by sending $45.00 to:

                            Robert J. May
                            P.O. Box 1178
                            Peoria, Az. 85380

    * Site licenses are available (see REGISTER.TXT)

    What  do  you  get  by  registering  Network  Problem  Tracker?  The
    software on  disk (latest  version), utility  to convert  data files
    to dBase  II/III, DIF,  and Basic  format (and  back), a utility for
    data file maintenance  (sorting, merging, reorganizing,  and backups
    in a compressed format), a  Laser printed manual and most  important
    a clear conscience.


                            LIMIT OF LIABILITY

    Network  Problem  Tracker  (NPT)  is  distributed as-is.  The author
    disclaims all  warranties, expressed  or implied.   The author  will
    assume no liability for damages  either from the direct use  of this
    product  or  as  a  consequence  of  the  use  of  this product. All
    responsibility  for  damages  or  for  the  possible  uses  of  this
    software rests with the user.



                        WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO

    This  document  and   the  program  files  are  copyrighted  by  the
    author.   The  copyright  owner  hereby  licenses  you  to  use  the
    software given these restrictions:

        -  this  software  may  be  used  by one individual (preferably
           a  LAN  administrator)  to   evaluate  whether  or  not   the
           software  meets  the  needs  of  the LAN administrator within
           a  time  frame  that  does  not  exceed  the  guide lines set
           above.

        -  the program  must be  supplied in  its original,  unmodified
           form, including this documentation.

        -  the  program  cannot  be  sold  for profit without a license
           from the author.

        -  the  program  may  not  be  included  or  bundled with other
           goods or  services. Exceptions  may be  granted upon  written
           request only.

        -  the program  cannot be  modified in  any form, this includes
           but  is  not  limited  to  de-compiling,  disassembling,   or
           reverse  engineering  of  the  program.  The  opening   title
           screen, help screens, and all other proprietary program output
           must never be altered, removed, bypassed or modified by any means.

        -  No  organization  is  permitted  to  charge  any  amount for
           distribution  of  copies  of  the  software or documentation,
           this excludes  any charges  SYSOPS charge  for membership  on
           their  BBS  or   to  include  copies   of  the  software   or
           documentation with sales of their own products.

    The software and documentation are:

                Copyright (C) 1990-1991 by
                   Robert J. May
                   P.O. Box 1178
                   Peoria, Az. 85380


                        Trade Marks

  IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines
  Corporation.
  Clarion Professional is a registered trademark of Clarion Software
  Corporation.
  IBM PC, IBM XT, IBM AT, and Personal Systems/2 are trademarks of
  International Business Machines Corporation.
  dBaseII, dBaseIII, and DbaseIII+ are registered trademarks of
  Ashton-Tate.
  Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation.
  MS DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
  PC DOS is a trademark of International Business Machines
  Corporation.



                             Introduction

   This  application  is  designed  to   keep  track  of  problems   and
solutions  associated  with  the  Administration  of  LANs. By using NPT
the LAN  administrator can  keep track  of what  problems have occurred,
frequency  of  problems,  what  clients  are  having what problems, what
stage the problem is in (if not solved) and solutions for problems.

   This program  requires an  IBM PC/XT/AT  or close  compatible running
MS/PC DOS  3.2 or  higher with 385K free memory. In  addition, a  color
graphics or monochrome adapter  plus  monitor  and  a  Hard  Disk  Drive
(a  FDD  with 1.2Mb or greater will also work) are needed for this
application to run properly.





The Network Problem Tracker (NPT) is DISTRIBUTED with the following files:


File     Ext   KBytes   Brief Description
        
CLIENTS  DAT      708   Clients Data File
CLIENTS  K01     1024   Clients Key File (1)
CLIENTS  K02     1024   Clients Key File (2)
PROB     HLP     6438   Network Problem Tracker Help File ***
PROBRPT  EXE   306312   Network Problem Tracker Report Module ***
PROBTRAK EXE   365432   Network Problem Tracker Program ***
TRACK    DAT      961   Network Problem Tracker Data File
TRACK    K01     1024   Network Problem Tracker Key File (1)
TRACK    K02     1024   Network Problem Tracker Key File (2)
TRACK    K03     1024   Network Problem Tracker Key File (3)
TRACK    MEM      262   Network Problem Tracker Memo File
TRCODE   DAT     1139   Tracker Code File
TRCODE   K01     1024   Tracker Code Key File (1)
TRCODE   K02     2048   Tracker Code Key File (2)
MANUAL   TXT    28450   Tracker Documentation
TRACKER  WP5    38960   Tracker Documentation in WordPerfect 5.1
REGISTER TXT     2160   User Registration Information
UPDATE   TXT      653   Latest Version Changes Information
README   TXT     2677   The First File You Should READ, Tells you What
                        is What
****All *.TXT and *.WP5 files will vary in size with each REVISION****

***  Files Required by the Network Problem Tracker (NPT), the *.EXE
     files will automatically create the *.DAT, *.K0*, and *.MEM.
     (NOTE: TRCODE.* files already have data in them)







                            Getting Started

If this program  is provided in  compressed (zipped) format  then make a
directory (suggest - TRACKER) and  unzip the program to that  directory.
Otherwise copy all the files to any directory you desire.

To start Network Problem Tracker (NPT):

      (1) Change directories to the one containing NPT
      (2) Type Probtrak
      (3) <ENTER>


                    Using this Application on a Network


   This application is Network Compatible and may be used on a  Network,
however there is no file locking built into this application and thus the
following is suggested for installation:

      - Create a data directory for each LAN Administrator (user).

      - Set  the PATH  for the  Network Problem  Tracker in  each user's
        path statement.

      - Delete all *.DAT, *.K0*, and *.MEM files in the directory that
        NPT is in.

      - Change the current drive  and directory to the user's  drive and
        directory and start PROBTRAK.EXE (please note that all the data,
        key and memo files will be created in the user's data directory).

      **TRCODE.DAT (and associated key files) already have data in  them
        associated  with  probable  trouble  codes  and descriptions you
        may use or delete this data at your discretion.
















                              OPENING SCREEN


       ͻ
                           UNREGISTERED Version                       
       Ķ
        Welcome                    ķ         
          Welcome                  Network                        
            Welcome                  Problem                    
              Welcome                    Tracker  v1.2          
                Welcome           ͹        
                  Welcome          Ľ         
       Ķ
        (c) Copyright 1990, 1991          Dedicated Computer Systems  
        All Rights Reserved               P.O. Box 1178               
                                          Peoria, Az. 85380-1178      
       ͹
                    Press Enter to Continue, Esc to Quit              
       ͼ

  This is the opening screen for the "UNREGISTERED" version of NPT, the
blinking UNREGISTERED Version is changed to REGISTERED for registered users.






                                 Main Menu

                         ͻ
                            Assignment Tracker   
                         Ķ
                                                 
                            Manage Assignments   
                                                 
                            Manage Client List   
                                                 
                               Manage Codes      
                                                 
                                  Reports        
                                                 
                              View Copyright     
                                                 
                                Quit to DOS      
                                                 
                         ͼ




Manage Assignments:
Brings up menu to allow managing All assignments or only those that are still
Open (not solved).

                          ͻ
                            Assignment Tracker   
                          Ķ
                                                 
                            Manage Assignments   
                                              ͻ
                                Client List        Show Assignments    
                                              Ķ
                                  Reports                              
                                                 Show Open Problems    
                              View Copyright                           
                                                 Show All Problems     
                                Quit to DOS                            
                                                 Return to Main Menu   
                          ͺ                         
                                               ͼ






  Open Problems:
Brings up a Table of Problems  that are Open (not solved) and  sorted by
DOC number. For a Problem to  be considered Open the Data Field  "FIXED"
must be entered as "NO" on the update form. To go to specific DOC number
just type the number and the selection will reposition itself to that DOC
number.

  All Problems:
Brings up a table of all problems sorted by start date. To go to a specific
start date number just type the start date and the selection will reposition
itself to that start date.

  Note: If  the  records  in  the  data  file  do  not  meet the filter
      requirements (as  may be  the case for Open  Problems) or the data
      file  is  empty   then  the  form   for  adding  a   record   will
      automatically appear.

  Choosing Records:
To add a new record Press the "Insert" key.
To sellect a record for modification use the "Arrow" keys.
to delete a record press the "Delete" key.

  A special copy function can be invoked by pressing ^C (Ctrl-C). This will
copy the record that the highlight bar is on and immediately go to record
change form This can come in handy if you know that a problem has occured
before.



ͻ
             Show Assignments By DOC#            
                                                 
                   Locate:                       
Ķ
 DOC   Date      Priority  LAN   TR Code   Fixed 
    1  12/31/90     1       1      400       YES 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 ͻ
                                                   Show Assignments    
                                                 Ķ
                                                                       
                                                 Show Open Problems    
                                                                       
                                                 Show All Problems     
                                                                       
                                                 Return to Main Menu   
                                                                       
                                                 ͼ
                                                 
       Ins to Add           Enter to Change      
       Del to Delete        F2 to Exit           
ͼ



  The form for entering, editing or changing data records is shown below.
Required fields are: Date and Priority.
  Priorities should be assigned with following in mind:

 1)Is there a work around for the client.
 2)How long can the client can wait for the problems to be resolved.
 3)Does the problem severily impact the clients ability to do work.

  Lookup Tables can be accessed by pressing F3 for the following fields:
Customer, TR Code, and Problem. This allows for some standardization when
assigning codes for different types of problems and when looking up a
clients name.

  An important field to remember is the "FIXED" field. This field tells
the program whether or not the problem was resolved (fixed) or reassigned
to another department (if reassigned to another department then you should
use "YES" for the fixed field). The table for "Show Open Problems" will
only show those problems (records) with the fixed field showing "No".

  The Minutes field is for the amount of time required to resolve the
individual problem.

  Special Notes:

 1)The message "Record will be Added" on the form has 2 other variations.

   -Record will be Changed
   -Record will be Deleted

 2)F1 will bring up a HELP screen for each field.
 3)If you have entered or changed data and try to exit the form (F2)
   without saving a screen will pop up to remind you that you will lose
   your changes.
 4)When data is deleted it is gone for good, so make sure that you really
   want to delete the record before proceeding.


ͻ
           Show Assignments By Date            
                                               
     ͻ
ĺ                    Record will be Added                     
 DateĶ
      Date    : 00/00/00   Priority:  0   LAN:  0  DOC No.:    0  
      Customer:                                                   
      TR Code :   0                                               
      Problem :                                                   ͻ
                                                                    
     ĶĶ
      Reassigned To:                OR      Fixed  :      YES NO   
                                            Date   :   /  /        
                                            Minutes:   0           
                                      
      Problems                                                     
      Solution                                                     
                                                                   
                                                                 ͼ
     ͼ
     Ins to Add           Enter to Change      
     Del to Delete        F2 to Exit           
ͼ


Client List:
Brings up a table of all clients in the database. To go to a specific Client
just type the last name and the selection will reposition itself to the
client.

  Choosing Records:
To add a new record Press the "Insert" key.
To sellect a record for modification use the "Arrow" keys.
to delete a record press the "Delete" key.


  A special copy function can be invoked by pressing ^C (Ctrl-C). This will
copy the record that the highlight bar is on and immediately go to record
change form This can come in handy if you know that a problem has occured
before.

                                               ͻ
                                                     Client Tracker       
                         ͺ  Locate :                 
                            Assignment TrackerĶ
                         ĺ    Last Name      Phone   
                                               May              2312     
                            Manage Assignments                           
                                                                         
                            Manage Client List                           
                                                                         
                               Manage Codes                              
                                                                         
                                  Reports                                
                                                                         
                              View Copyright                             
                                                                         
                                Quit to DOS                              
                                                                         
                         ͼ


  The form for entering, editing or changing data records is shown below.
There are no required fields.

                                            ͻ
                                                  Client Tracker       
                          ͺ  Locate :                 
                            Assignment TracĶ
                          ĺ    Last Name      Phone   
                                                                      
        ͻ 
                             Record will be Added                     
        Ķ 
          Client (Last/First)                /                       
          Location                                                   
          Station                    Phone :                         
          Supervisor                                                 
         Ŀ   
          Comment -->                                                
          Comment -->                                                
        Ķ 
                           Administrator :     YES NO                 
        ͼͼ

  Trouble / Code List:
Brings up a table of all Trouble Codes in the database. To go to a specific
trouble code just type the number (note how the numbers are arranged) and
the selection will reposition itself to the Trouble Code.

  Choosing Records:
To add a new record Press the "Insert" key.
To sellect a record for modification use the "Arrow" keys.
to delete a record press the "Delete" key.

  A special copy function can be invoked by pressing ^C (Ctrl-C). This will
copy the record that the highlight bar is on and immediately go to record
change form This can come in handy if you know that a problem has occured
before.





                   ͻ
                            Trouble / Code List          
                   Ķ
                    Locate:                              
                   Ķ
                    100   HARDWARE                       
                    101   HARDWARE - PC                  
                    102   HARDWARE - PRINTER (LOCAL)     
                    103   HARDWARE - PRINTER (LAN)       
                    104   HARDWARE - LAN CARD/DATA JACK  
                    105   HARDWARE - GATEWAY             
                    107   HARDWARE - PRINTER (HAP/LAP)   
                    200   SOFTWARE - LOCAL               
                    201   SOFTWARE - LAN                 
                    202   SOFTWARE - LAN (WP)            
                    203   SOFTWARE - LAN (123)           
                    204   SOFTWARE - LAN (QDOS)          
                    205   SOFTWARE - LAN (HEADROOM)      
                    206   SOFTWARE - LAN (MENU)          
                    207   SOFTWARE - LAN (FOXBASE)       
                   ͼ



  The form for entering, editing or changing data records is shown below.
There are no required fields.




                   ͻ
                            Trouble / Code List          
                   Ķ
                    Locate:                              
                   Ķ
                    100   HARDWARE                       
               ͻ
                           Record will be Changed            
               Ķ
                Trouble Code: 100                            
                Description : HARDWARE                       
               ͼ
                    200   SOFTWARE - LOCAL               
                    201   SOFTWARE - LAN                 
                    202   SOFTWARE - LAN (WP)            
                    203   SOFTWARE - LAN (123)           
                    204   SOFTWARE - LAN (QDOS)          
                    205   SOFTWARE - LAN (HEADROOM)      
                    206   SOFTWARE - LAN (MENU)          
                    207   SOFTWARE - LAN (FOXBASE)       
                   ͼ





Reports:
Brings up the report module. Reports available are:




                            ͻ
                                  Print Reports      
                            Ķ
                                                     
                                  Client List        
                                                     
                               Assignments by Date   
                                                     
                                Problems / Fixes     
                                                     
                                 Report TR Codes     
                                                     
                                   Time Totals       
                                                     
                               Return to Main Menu   
                                                     
                            ͼ



      1)Client List
      2)Assignments by Date   - From todays' date back 21 days
      3)Problems / Fixes      - From todays' date back 21 days
      4)Report TR Codes
      5)Time Totals           - From todays' date back 21 days

Each report gives the user the choice of printing to:

            Screen
            Printer (LPT1,2,3,4)
            File on Disk



View Copyright:
Probably the most seldom used Main Menu choice. It does exactly as it says.




                                 Tables

Tables are scrollable and are your window to adding, deleting, and editing
entries.

            To Edit an entry press F10 or Enter
            To Delete an entry press Del
            To copy an entry press Ctrl-C, the program will copy and
               immediately go to the edit screen.
            To start a new entry press Ins

Please note the special keys section further in this documentation.




                                 Forms

Forms are  used for  entering the  new and  editing the  old. There  are
forms associated with all tables including Lookup tables.




                             Lookup Tables

Lookup tables are there to make entry of canned entries easy and uniform
since they can be defined and agreed upon before use. Forms attached  to
tables  for  problems  have  Lookup  tables  associated  with  some data
fields. Customer, Tr  Code, and Problem  have Lookup tables  attached to
them. Lookup tables can be accessed using the F3 key.

   * Please note that the only required fields are "Date and Priority".




                             Special Keys


F1..............................Help Key (Throughout Program)
F2..............................Cancel, Exit Key (Throughout Program)
F3..............................Lookup Table Key (Forms)
F6..............................Expand Problem Description Memo Key (Forms)
F10.............................Save, Accept Key (Throughout Program)
Ctrl-C..........................Copy Table Record and Start Edit of
                                Record Key Combination (Tables)





  I  have  tried  to  make  the  program  interface  as user friendly as
possible. If you have any suggestions  please drop me a line and  I will
try to comply.