Atari 800 User manual

PERSONAL FINANCIAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM™
)Il
ATARI @
A Warner Comm unicat ions Compan y
Every effort has been made to ensure t hat this manu a l acc urately docu me nts this produ ct of th e ATARI Computer Division. However.
"bec ause of th eongoi ng impro ve ment and u pdate of t he co m pu ter softw are and hardware. AT ARI , INC. canno t guara n tee t he ac cura cy
of printed mate rial after the date of p ubli cation and cannot accept respons ibility for errors or omissions.
Repr od uc t ion is fo rbidd en wit ho ut t he speci f ic w ri tt en pe rmiss io n of ATA R!, INC.. Su nnyval e. CA94086. No t ight to repr od u ce this do cu-
men t, nor the subje ctm att er the reof , is g ranted u nless by w ri tt en agree me nt wit h. o r w r itte n permission fr o m the Co rpo ra tio n.
PRINTED IN U.S."' . MAN UAL AND PROGRAM CONTENTS e1981 ATARI, INC.

PREFACE
The ATA RI I!l Personal Financial Ma nagement SystemrM is tom orr ow 'sanswer fo r
bu dgeti ng you r persona l fi nances today . W ith this syste m you ca n kee p t rack of
all expe nses and i nco me . You ca n balance bank s tate me nts, ana lyze expen-
d itu res ove r a period of ti me, and forecast yo ur spendi ng hab its and needs up t o
30 mon ths in th efut ure.
As you read this manual, you w ill see how en
joyab le yo ur perso nal book keep ing
canbe. The p ro gr am s are exp
lai ned ste p by step, and diagrams are p rovide d for
addi t io nal cla rif ica tio n. ATA Rl's Person al Financia lManagem ent System can
help peop le, high sc hoo l age a nd up , to bud get successfu lly and to keep t rack of
thei r finances.
Aft er yo u have read this m anual and go ne t hro ug h t heentire pro gram afew
times, yo u wi ll beable to wo rk by referring to t he Q uick Ref erence Card
(Q·Car d™ )enc losed w it h t his m anu al. Sto re t he Q- Card near t he co mpute r wh ere
it w ill b e hand ywhen yo u use yo urperso nal f inance syste m.
Preface iii

CONTENTS
PREFACE iii
HOW TO USE THIS MANUA L1
1SETT ING U P 3
The System M enu 5
Ter min ology and Fun ction Keys 5
2 GETTING STARTED 9
Genera l D ata E nt ry In f orm at ion 9
Error s D uring In pu t 10
Budg et Plan ning Sheet 11
3CREA T E M O D U LE 15
FI RST Diskett e Preparati on 15
NEXT Di sk ett e Prepar at ion 16
BACKUP 17
'---' 4RE
CORD KEE PER 19
Record Keeper Functions20
ENTER Fo rmat
20
CHECK For mat
21
AU TO Deduct ion Fo rmat
23
WIT HD RAWA L, Savi ngs Forma t 24
CASH Sp ent Form at 26
DEPOSIT, Check F orm at 27
SA VIN GSDepo sit F orm at 28
C RE D IT Card For mat
30
INCOM E For mat
31
PR INT Format 33
EDIT For mat
34
Editing Check s, Cash, A ll, Cred it Cards, Inco me 35
E dit ing: AU TO mat ic Dedu ct ion s; W ITHD RAWA L,
Savings; DEPOSIT, Check ; and SAV INGS
Deposit 37
5 CHECKBOOK BALANCER 39
CHECK For mat 40
DEPO SIT For mat
40
AU TO m ati c Dedu ct ion s Format 41
SEE Form at 41
O THER Fo rm at 42
Ccoreou 11

6BU
DGET MANAG ER 43
ADD F orm at 43
MO D IFY Form at 45
PLAN F orm at 46
LIST Form at 48
ALL Format
48
S UMMARY F orm at 49
DETA IL Form at
51
COPY F orm at
51
7BU DGE T
ANA LYZE R 53
SINGLE Fo rmat
53
Sing le/ALL 54
Single /SUMMARY
55
Sing le/DETA IL 56
MUL TIP LE Fo rmat
57
PERCENT For mat
60
Per cen t/AL L 60
Per cent/ SUM M ARY 61
Per c ent /DET A IL 62
8
BUD GET FO RECAST ER 65
9E
XITING THE PER SONAL FINAN CIAL
M ANA G EM ENT PRO GRAM
69
10 HELP!71
ILLU STR A TI O N S
1 -1
Ins ertin g th e ATARI BASIC Ca rtr idge 3
1-2 Ins
erting aDisk ett e4
1-3 The System M enu 5
1-4 Re
cord Keep er M ain M enu 6
1-5 Locati on
of Functi on Keys 7
2-1 Re
cord Keeper M enu With Invalid Ent ry 11
3-1 Creat e M ai n M enu 15
3-2 System M enu 16
4
-1 Rec or d Keeper M ai n Menu
19
4-2 Transa
ctio n Typ es Me nu 20
4-3 CHECK Subm enu
21
4-4 B udg et Categories Forma t 22 ..-..
4-5 A UTO De d uc t ion Form at 24
4-6 SAV I NGS W ith dr aw al Forma t 25
"'--'
_I Co n
tents

4-7 CASH Spe nt Form at 26
4-8 DEPOS IT, Chec k Form
at 27
4-9
SAV INGS Deposit Form at 29
4-10 C
RE DIT Card Form at 30
4
-11 INCOME Format 32
4-12 Tra nsact ion Types Me nu 33
4-13 Editor Menu 35
4
-1 4EDITForm at 35
4
-1 5ED
IT For m at
37
5-1 Chec kbook Balancer Menu 39
5-2
State me nt Balan ce 42
6-1 Budg
et Man ager Menu 43
6-2 ADD Forma t 44
6-3 MODI FY Forma t 45
6-4 Modifying Category/Su
bcate gory Forma t 46
6-5 PLAN Form
at
47
6-6
LI ST Form at 48
6-7 LIST
/ALL Screens 48
6-8 Budg
et T ot a ls 49
6-9 SUMMARYForm at 49
6-10 Budg
et T ota ls fo r t he SUMMA RY Form at
50
7-1 Bud g
et Ana lyze r Menu 53
7-2 Single Form a t 54
7-3
Summa ry Screens fo r SINGLE/ALL 55
7-4 Budg
et Tot als 55
7-5 Single/SUMMA
RY Forma t 56
7-6 Single/DETAIL Form
at
57
7-7 Analysis by Bar Cha rt 59
7-8 Ana lysis by
Li sting Screen 59
7-9 Budg
et Ca tego ry Tot als Screen 59
7-10
PER CENT Form at 60
7-11 Ana lysis by P
ER C ENT / ALL
61
7-12 Analysis by
PER CENT/ SUMMARY
62
7-13 Ana lysis by P
ER CENT/D ET A IL 63
8-1 Forecast M
eth od Me nu 65
8-2 Data Selec t ion Scree n 66
8-3 Forecaster Disp la y Menu 67
8-4 M
ethod sofForeca st Pres ent at ions 68
Ccnrenrs \Iii

HOW TO USE
THIS MANUAL
The A lA RI'" Personal Finan ci al M anagement Sy stem ' Mis co m pose d o f six pr o-
gram m
odul es:
• Create
• Reco rd Keeper
• Che ckbook Bala nce r
• Bu dget M anage r
• Bu dget Ana lyze r
• Bu dget Forecaster
These m od u les are o n two System D isk ett es. System Di sk ett e I co ntai ns th e
Create, Rec or d Kee per, and Chec k boo kBala n cer m od u les. System D isk ett e II
co nta ins t he B udg et Ma nager, Budg et A nalyzer, andBudg et Foreca st ermodu les.
Each m odu le is d iscu ssed in t he mos t l ikelyor der o f use . Fo llo wing isa brief
expla nat io n o f what yo u can acco mp lish wit h the mod u les.
Note :When yo u begin enteri ng yo ur data , you wil l seeaw hite sq ua re o n t he
televi sio n screen th at mo ves each ti me yo u press a key . Thi s sq uare is call ed a
cursor and indicates t he poi nt at whi ch you areen ter ing data .
You will use th e Create modul eeac h time yo u prepare a new diskette to sto re the
data e ntere d i nto the computer. An additional use o f the Create mod ule wi ll be
to co py th e data fro m o ne d iske tt e to another.
The Recor d Keeper serves as t he p rima ry m odul ewhi ch yo u use to e nte r fi nanc ial
transa ctio ns i nto th e d at a ba s e' (basi c inform at io n), e dit i nfo rma t io n already in
t he da ta base, o r prin ti nfo rma t io n fro m t he da ta base . You cann ot e nt er bud get
i nfo r matio n suc h as bu dget goa ls o r bud get typ esthro ug h t he Rec ord Keeper
module(t he m ajor d i ff er ence f ro m th e Bud get M anager mod u le).
" No te: A d ata base is a syste m ize d fo rm of reco rd s in afile . Th e information yo u
e nte r i nto the co mp ut er is stor ed i n files o n t he d is kette . A ll t he fi les tog eth er, in
t his c ase, are yo ur perso nal fi nancial da ta base.
The Budg et Ma nager module is th e p rimar y means of ente ri ng yo u r bud get inf or-
mati on into you r d at a b ase and onto disk ett e. This m odu le d i ffe rs f rom the
Re cord Keeper in that you enter your budg et in fo rma tion (type of expenseand
goals) t hrough t he Budget Ma nager modul e, but not finan cial tra nsa ct ion s (suc h
as chec k w riting , cash expendi tures).
The Checkbook Balan cer modu le wil l help bal ance yo ur chec kbook onamo nt hl y
b asis. E nte ri ng t he ca nce led chec ks fro m yo ur ba nk sta tement and e nte ri ng all
other activi ty in your checkingaccount into thecomputer will give an easily
acce ssible, readable, and understa n dab le ac co u nti ng o f yo ur ban k ing ac tiv ity .
How to Use this Manual 1

2How co UR' rhis Manual
The Budget An aly zer mod uleanalyzes t he budget inf orm atio n yo uhave ente red
into the f iles and o nto di ske tt e. You can doan ana lys is at anytime to see how
well you are s tay ing w ithin your es tab lished budg et goals.
The Budg et Forecastermodu le wi ll fo rec ast yo ur budg et up t o30 m onth sahead
based on yo ur pr evi ou s i
nco me , expe nses, and spendi ng habit s as ente red i nto
the data base. The fo recasti ng is acco mplis hed in t hree ways :
• Through ave ragi ng your expe nses to date
• By showing t he t rend o f yo ur expe ndit ures
•Taki ng yo ur expenses on a seasonal basis and pro ject ing t hem in t he same
way
Each fo rec ast is p res ent ed to yo u via a bar chart o rlisting(co nve rt ing t he ba r
cha rt i nfo rma tio n int o text). The list ed versio n can be displayed on the te le visio n
screen o r list ed t hro ug h t he print er (i f yo u have atta ched a p rint er t o you r
AlARI '" 800™ Pers onal Computer System). Sim ila r t o t he Bud get Ana lyze r, you
pro bablywill not use th e Budget For ecast er unt i l yo u have been e nte ri ng infor-
mation into the dat a base for at least two months in ord er to receive a significant
fo recast.
We suggest yo u read t hro ugh th ee nt ire m anu al t o gai n a generalidea of how to
pe rfo rm the va rio us fun ct ions. Th e next step is to foll ow theinstruct io ns fo r
ge tti ng the data dis kettes ready. Thenuse t he wo rksheets o n pages 12and 13 of
th is m anu alto pl an yo ur bud ge t and the infor mation yo u wa nt toente r into the
da ta b ase. Afte r yo uhave d one thi s, yo u w ill be p repar ed t oe nte r yo ur f irs t set o f
cate gor ies into yo ur AlA RI Person a l Fin anc ial M ana gem en t Syste m .

1
SETTING UP
B efo re you can wo rk w it h th e Person al Financi al M anagement System, you need
to set up yo ur ATAR I 800 Person al Co m pute r System and t he A TA RI 810™ Di sk
Dri ve . Fo r co m p let e i nst ruc t io ns p lease ref erto t heATAR / I!! BOO 'M O perato r's
Ma nual,the A TAR/
I!! Disk Dr iveOperato r's M anu al and t he ope rato r's
m anu als suppl ied w ith t he
ot herperi ph er al eq u ipme nt yo uhave pur ch ased.
i
ncl ude d wit h yo ur A TAR I 8PO Person al Com puter System is an ATA RI BA SIC
Comp uter Language cart ridg e. Inorde r to use t he pe rso nal f inance pro gram , yo u
mus t insert this cartridge intothe left sl ot o f your co mputer conso le (see Figur e
1 -1 ).
II CARTRIDGE
Figure 1-1 Inserting the A TARI BAS/C Cart ri dge
You rPerson al Financial M an agem en tSyst em is designed tobe used w ith only
o ne disk dri ve. Ther ef or e, if yo uhave mo re th an o ne d isk d rive a tt achedto yo ur
personal computer syst em, o nly t urn o n t hedrive t hat you have set as D ri ve 1.
Inse rtingad iske tt e i nto a di sk d rive is a sim p le, but ve ry im po rta nt p ro ced ure . A n
imp ro perl y po sitio neddisket tecan c ause d am age to t he di ske tt e w hic h, in t u rn,
causes pro blem swith t he program s and dataon t he di skette.
1. Turn th e tel ev ision set and di skdrive on . (Do n ot t u rn t he computer o n at
this tim e.)
2. Wa it fo r the BUSY light (top red light) o n t he d isk d rive to go off .
Sewng Up 3

4elt/ ng Up
3. Remo ve System Di skett e I fr om its pr ot ect ive pap er sleeve .
• H old the di sk ett eO NLY by its bla ck , sea l ed en velope , and 00 NOT
try to re mov e th e di sk ett e fro m t his enve lope.
• 00 NOT tou ch any of th e expo sed surfac es o fthe disk ette , becau se
you may d est roy its read-w ri te capabilit ies.
• 00 NOT hold t he di sk ett e by pla cing yo ur fi ngers t hro ugh the center
hol e.
4. H old th e d isk ett e w ith th e lab eled side up , th e label tow ard yo u (see
Figure 1-2).
Figure 1-2 Inserti ng aDiskette
5. O pen th e doorto th edisk dr ive by pr essin g t he but ton bel ow t he d riv e
door . Sli de th e d isk ett e in gent ly bu t fir mly.
6. Clo se the d isk dr ive door .
Wh en yo uhave co mplet ed th e routine o f inserti ng System Diskette I i nt o th e di sk
drive , yo u are n ow ready to beginusin gthe Person al Finan ci al M anagem ent
System. To int rod uce yo u to th e keyw ord s, te rmi no lo gy, and fun ct ion s yo u w il l
use, l et' s bring up t he Syste m Me nu onto yo ur tel evi sion screen by fo llo wi ng t he
steps be low :
1. Tu rn t he co m pute r pow er swi tc h, w hich is o n t he right side of th e co m-
put er co nsol e, to 0 .
2. Th e A TARI log o w ill appear o n t he scree n first , fo llo wed b y the Syst em
M enu (seeFigure 1-3).
3. You are now ready to beg in yo ur prog ram. A ft er read ing th e exp la natio ns
o f ke y fu nc tio ns andterm ino logy, you wi ll f ind de ta ile d d ir e cti on s fo r
eachmod ul e un der the appro priate sect io n head ings.

Figure1-3 The System Me nu
THE SYSTEM MENU
The System M enu is yo ur start ing p oin t eac h tim eyo u w ant to wo rkwit h yo ur
Person al Financia l Ma nageme nt Syst em . Th e Syst em M enu is simi larto a
rest aur ant menu ; i.e., yo u indic ate yo ur selec t io n t o th e co mpu te r by t yp in g t he
k eywo rd (s hown in in versevideo) o n t he left side of thescree n. O n th e right side
o f t he screen is abrief desc ript io n o f wh at yo u ca n dowit h eac hm odul e. For
detail ed explanat io ns of the Create, Reco rd Keeper, Chec k book Balancer, Budget
M anager, Budg et A naly zer, and Budget Fo recaster modules, refer to t he i ndivid -
ual di sc ussionsof th ese fu nct io ns.
TERMINOLOGY AND FUNCTION KEYS
Keyword . The ke ywo rd repr esen ts t hefunc tion(s) yo u may wa nt to perf o rm in
eac hmenu o f yo ur Perso n al Fin anci al M anagem ent System . W hen m aki ng y ou r
se lect ion, it is not a lw ays necessary to typethe entire keyw o rd . Freq u ent ly, th e
firs t le tt er o fawo rd isenough, pr o vid ed no other selec t ion o n t hat menu begi ns
w it h t he same l e tt er. Wh en t his does occ ur, yo u need to type eno ug h o fthe
ke ywo rd selec t io n t o m ake it un iqu e. For in stance, in t he Reco rd Keep er M enu
(see Figure1-4), three o fthe se lec t ions are ENTER, ED IT,and EXIT . There for e, yo u
co uld n ot ty pe an " E" for you r select ion o r th e m essage pr omp t E IS INVALI D I
w ill appea r o n t he b otto m of the screen. In th is case, yo u mu sttyp e at leastthe
f irst tw o le tt ers o fyo ur selec t io n t o di f ferenti ate itf rom the ot hers.
Note :When you t yp e in a ke ywo rd ent ry, IT MUST BE IN CAPITAL LETTERS. If
yo uaccid e nta lly go in t o the lowercase mod e, simply hol d down the IllIID key
w hile depressingthe ''''4-i ' "'1;' key. T his w ill put yo uback into t he upp e rcase
mod e.
System Menu . The System M enu, as seen in Figure 1-3, is the f irst m enu t hat
appea rs o n th e scree n af te r yo u have boot ed (sta rte d u p) you r co mp ute r sy ste m .
From t he System Me nu yo u c an access any of t he modul es you need.
Wa rn ing: It is imperative that you exit from your p erson al f inance p rogram
throu ghthe System M enu (w hen yo u have f inis hed your wo rk forthe day). I f you
simp ly turn the co mp uter and d isk dri ve o ff from a nyw here in the program, you
wi ll lose ALL the in for mat ion entered on the Data Di skett edu ri ng the cu rrent wo rk
session.
Seuing Up S

-
Main Menu . As yo u brin g up aprog ram module. the Main Me nu appears on you r
screen. From this,you c hoo se the su bfu nct ion yo u wa nt to pe r fo rm . Figu re 1-4 is
an examp le of th e M ain Me nu from the Reco rd Keepe rm odul e.
•
•
6Setting Up
Figure 1-4 Reco rd Keeper Main Menu
System Di ske tt es. System Di sk ett es co nta i n th e pr ogr am s (so ft wa re) th at make up
yo ur Personal Fin anci al M anagem ent System . Syste m D isk ett e I co nta ins t he pr o-
gram s for the Crea te , Rec or d Keeper, and Che ckboo kBal ancer m odul es. Syste m
D is kett e II containsthe p ro gram s for t he Bud get M an ager, Budget Ana lyz er, and "---'
Budget Forecaster mod ules.
Note : If at any ti me yo u insert th ewro ng pro gram d iske tt e, a message wi ll pro m pt
you to INSERT THE OTH ER PRO GRA M DIS K ETTE .
Data Diske tt es. Data D isk ett es are th e di sk ett es on w hich you store th e inf orm a-
t io n ent er ed into the co m pute r. Th e disk ettes a vailabl e as Data D iskettes are t he
A TA RI 810 1M Blank D isk ett es (CX8100), or ATA RI 810/815 Bl ank D iskettes
(CX8202). A bla nk d iskett e is in clu ded wit h y our Person al Financia l Man agem ent
System fo r this pu rpos e.
You sho uld class ify th e Dat a Di sk ett es aseither CU RRENT (th e di sk ett e yo u are
cu rre nt ly put tin g inf ormati on o n) o r as a dat ed di sk ett e. An app r opri at e reference
f or th e d at ed d isk ett e w ould bethe d at es o f i nfo rma t io n cove red on th at
di sk ett e. You ca ndeve lop yo ur ow n syste m o f class if ica t io n as yo u inc rease yo ur
fi les. Any syste m co m fo rtab le fo r yo u is acceptab le, as lon g as yo u ente r cu rre nt
tr ansact ion s o n th e CUR RENT di sk ett e. If yo uhave a lot of m onthl ytra nsactio ns
however, yo umay wa nt to prepare a new D at a D isk ett e fo r eac hm ont h.
Caut ion : If yo u allow t he d iske tt e to run out of space in t he m iddl e of the m ont h,
itw ill ca use yo u agreat deal of i nco nve nie nce in all fu t ure operat io ns. The co m-
put er w i ll alert yo u w hen th e ava ila b le di sk sto rage space is near ca p acity . W hen
yo u are ready to begin a new m onth , yo u are urged to re turn to th e System M enu
and th en go tothe Crea te m odul e to pr epar e t he next D ata Di ske tt e. (See t he
ins tru cti on s unde r th eCreate m odu le sect io n of thi s m anu al. )

"'ifill-Vi Key. Thr oughou t this manual, you w ill see '!Iiill;!,i following aco rn-
mand or stateme nt. Thi s means you are to p ress the ijiiill 'Ui key (see Figure
1-5) af ter ente ring th at co mma nd o r a fte rtyp ing d at a in to th e syste m . By p ressin g
i;i'i1i;Ui you are te lli ng the com pute r to accep t and ente r onto the diskett e the
i nfo r matio n yo uhave typed.
In many situations you will find you only have to press the iiiiiii'U+ key to
ente r a respon se. Thi s is ca lle d a default , mea ning t he pro gram expects a par-
ticular response. Usually this occ urs wh en you are in a " yes" o r " no" situation.
The screen will pr ompt yo uby ind ic ating th e def aul t answer. For insta nce , if th e
de fa ul t isa"yes" and yo ur answe r toaqu esti on is " yes," th en a " Y" w ill
auto mat ically appear at the cursor locati on. A ll you do is press i;iiiii;'ii to
ente r yo ur answer. '" yei" II '/ I'.
ED:lD Key. Wh en yo u wa nt to re turn to t he M ain M enu of a m odu le, pr ess the
ED:lD key (see Figur e 1-5). In most circ umstances, the pro mpt message PRESS
START FOR MENU will ap pea r at t he bottom of the scree n.
I!limiIlI Key. Wh en you are in an E dit fo rmat. t he I!limiIlI key al lo ws yo uto
by pass certai n e nt ries w hen you do not need th e requ ested da ta , as d iscu ssed
later in t his ma nual.
mmJ Key. The key a llo ws you to searc h catego ries for th e re-
q u ired d ata inthe Budge t Ana lyze r and Budge t Forecas te r m odul es.
lifibS';!"'i' Key. The 4
ih'i1 F;!¥M' key (see Figure 1·5) should n
ot be
used . Wh en yo u pr ess th is key, any t hing on the scree n yo uhave not ente red (by
p ress ing ii'iiii ·itil wil l be lost. The systemreturn s to the beginning of the pro-
gram and red isplays t he SystemMenu.
N ote: If yo u sho u ld get a BOOT ERROR message on your screen at any tim e,
p lease refertothe HELP ! sect io n of th is manu al.
•••• • •• 8 •
• lIaaaallalla ••
•• IIIIBIIIIDII •• ".
118.8111111 ••• 0
Fi gur e1-5 Lo cat ion of Fu nctio n Keys
Seuing Up 7

-
GENE RAL DATA
ENTRY
INFORMATION
2
GETTING STARTED
The fo llowi ng l ist co n tai ns rules yo u should follo w wh en en ter ing d ata into yo ur
Person al Financ ial
Ma nage me nt Syste m . Wh en a s pecial sit uat io n occurs , itw ill
be i nd ica ted attheap prop riate ti me in t he manu al. The li st be low is relevant
t hro ug ho ut t he pe rso nal fin ance progra m, and yo u sho u ld rea d it th o roughly
befo re continuing.
1. Yo u ca n esta blishupto 128 catego ries and su bcatego ries. A syou set th ese
up, it isad visab le to revi ew t he li st o f nam es yo u already haveentered .
You may fi nd afile int o w hic h yo u ca n p lace your new da ta. Do not try to
nam e a cate gory All,as thi s term is reserved fo ruse by th esy ste m .
The key to establishing a logical, funct io na l data ba se, is to pl an yo ur
bud get. Kn ow wh at cate goriesyo u wi ll needbased o n yo ur cu rre nt living
requ ir ements. You can add new ca te gories as t hey are necessary , b ut yo ur
basics wi ll be esta blished .
No te: Yo u sho u lduse th e ADD f orm at of the B udg etMan ager m odul e to
establish yo ur budg et ca tegories and subc ategories in the data fil es. Thi s
w ill hel pyo u p la n yo ur budge t more effec tive ly .
W hen yo u establ ish acate go ry nam e, do not use any co m mas, o r t he p ro-
gram w ill give you an erro r message. This happens becau se a..c o m ma wi ll
a ut o mat i call y be inse rt ed bythe pr ogr am aft er the subc ategory name is
esta blished ( bo th catego ry and subc ate gory are di splayed to get her; i.e.
au to mo bile ,fuel).
2. W hen yo u ente r yourbudget ca tegories t hro ugh th e Record Kee per
module. it is important to remember you are entering the category names
and su bcategory nam es, and not the bud get i nfo rma t io n suc h as bud get
goals o r bu dget ty pes. Theref o re, in orde r to co m p le te th ei nfo r matio n in
the data fi les o n t he D at a D isk ett e, yo u mu st use t he M ODI FY fo r mat in
the Budget M anager mo dul eto en ter the b udg et typ e. I f yo u fa il to f oll ow
th is p ro ced ur e, yo ur b udget go als w ill b e reflect ed as 0 .00 (ze ro) w hen yo u
wa nt an analys is of yo u r expe nses and inco me. The bud get typ e o fT
(Transfer), I (I nco me), F (Fixed). or V (Va riab le) w i ll au to ma t ica lly be
assigned by the prog ram and may not refl ect atrue pi ctu reof yo ur
fi nances.
3. O ccasion a ll y, yo u will see the catego ry ofTRANSFER a utom ati ca lly
assigned toyour data entry. The purpo se of th e TRANSFE R cate go ry isto
prot e ct you from having ad oub le ent ry i n your data fi les. A subcat egory
s hould be assigned in a TRANSFER cat ego ry so you know w hat you
t ransferred.
Cell ing Started 9

ERRORS
DURING INPUT
10 Gelling Sfa rred
F or insta nce, if yo u use Cred it Card X fo r a pur ch ase. yo uw ill bee nte ring
it in th ecredit ca rd sect io n ofyour dat a fi les as a
cate gory. Then wh en
yo u wa nt to paythe b
ill , yo u wi ll beenter ing th echeck in th eCH ECK
En
tr y form at of th e Rec ord Kee per mo dule. The ca tego ry of TRA NSFER is
assigned when
yo u ente r t he check wr itt en to th e cre di t ca rd co mpa ny, so
t he expe nse is recor ded and ca lc u la ted o n ly o ne ti me . Wh en TRA N S FE R
is t he catego ry, Credi t Card Xsho uld be th e esta blished as the sub-
catego ry fo r you rreference.
4. Wh en yo uest abli sh a subc atego ry nam e, yo u canuse a co m ma if
necessary .
S. You ca nnot have more than a total of30 charac te rs, i ncl udi ng spaces , in
th e cat e gor y and subca te go ry names co m bi ned .
6. DO NOT m ix i nco me and expense budget t yp es u nder thesame category
nam e. By d oing so, you wil l getan inaccu rat e ana ly sis o f your i nco me and
expenses wh en you use th e Budget A na ly ze r m odul e. For exa mp le, if you
own prop erty w hi ch yo u rent , th ecategory might beca lle dPropert y, and
t hesu bca te go ry m ight be Rent (w hic h wo u ld beanin com e b udg et typ e),
and another subc ate gory mig ht be Repairs (an expense bu dget type).
Wh en you are ready fo r a b udg et ana lysis, and yo u requ est the ca te gory
o f Prop erty , t hese two su bc ate go ries w i ll co m bi ne for the analysis, but
will not give you a true income versus expe nses situation. Another
example wou ld be a category call ed Investment s and thesu bca te go r ies o f
Bought and Sold. The Bought is you r expense, and th e Sold is yo ur
incom e. The tw oco m bined in an anal ysi s wo uld n ot pr odu ce a tru epic-
t ure of t he ca tegory .
7. To enter a date, use th e 00/00/00 f orm at. However, if th ee nt ries have
si ngle digits in them, it is not necessary to type the l eadingzeros. For
instance, Janua ry 1 ,19 81 coul dbee ntere d as 1/1/81 .
8. To ent er a d oll ar figure th at has no cents i nvo lve d, it is n ot necessary to
t yp e th etra iling zeros . For instance, $10.00 can beentered as 10., $5.00 as
5.. and 50 on.
9. To typ e the f unct io n yo u wa nt to per for m, yo uneed o nly type the first let-
ter or first few letters of the word and then p ress pro vid ing th ose
first let ters are unique to the li st of funct io ns. For insta nce, if yo uhave a
c hoice of Edit o r Exit, ty p ing an " E" is not eno ug h fo r eit her one; yo u mu st
t yp e " ED" o r " EX" dep end in g o n w hat yo uwan t to do.
W hen yo u areente ri ng data and ma ke amistake (o t her th an a spe ll ing err or),
wh ich does n ot co nform to wh at the syste m expects, an e rror respon se w ill occ ur
aft er you p ress • . Ii,ii-Vi .The indication of such an error is alow tone w ith a
message displ ayed at th e b ottom of the screen (see Figure2-1). The mi stak e is
erased and yo u w ill see th e curso r back at th e input po s ition . You ca n dupli c at e
theerror shown in Figure 2·' by typing E ijii ii@i with your Record Keeper M enu
on t he sc reen (m ak e sure th e vo lum eon the televi sion setis turn ed u p so you wi ll
hear th e so und o f th e low to ne).
I
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