PRODUCTION CONTROL SCHEDULER (PC-SCHEDULER) SHAREWARE USER MANUAL Program and Manual written by: Robert L. Flowers Software Configuration P.O. Box 42172 Washington D.C. 20015 All rights reserved Copyr. 1987, 1988 INTRODUCTION What does PCS Do? PCS provides scheduling and calendaring functions for individuals or departments. PCS has a built-in language that can be used to generate a list of "to-do" activities which have recurring frequencies such as Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Quarterly. You develop a list of activities which are grouped together in a way most meaningful for you. Using the PCS scheduling language you can then assign a frequency to each activity or to a group of activities. If the AutoSchedule is specified then as you start each day PCS will automatically generate a list of activities and, if requested, print a hard copy that you can refer to all day. Can you specify Holidays? Up to 36 Holidays can be specified for each calendar year. PCS will re-schedule activities either on the previous or the following work day as indicated by you. Can you adjust the Work-week? The work-week can be adjusted from 1 to 7 days. The Work-week starts on Monday and ends on the Tuesday thru Sunday as specifies by you. Activities which fall on the week-end can be rescheduled the previous or following work day. Can you skip certain dates? For Daily or Weekly activities you can specify one or two dates to skip. For example, you may want to schedule it Daily "but not on" the First day of the month when another activity is scheduled. Can one activity "trigger" others? With the PCS scheduling language, there is an easy way of having one activity trigger other activities. You can schedule activities a variable number of days prior to or following other scheduled activities. What about Project planning? If the major event is a specific date and activities are scheduled using plus/minus days, then a "checklist" can be printed in chronological date order. These are easy and simple "what, when, and who" listings to be used for project planning or tickler files. SYSTEM FILES ON DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE PROGRAM FILES PCS was written in Pascal using the Overlay function. The following program files must all be present the same "logged" drive when the program is started. If any one of these files is missing you will get a run-time error F0, PC=nnn. To correct the problem put all three files on the same logged drive: PCS.COM command file PCS.000 overlay file PCS.001 overlay file PARAMETER FILE If this file is not present the first time PCS is run it will be created automatically. This file contains information you specified on the Global option screen as well as the last PCS file and Directory accessed. _PCSPARM.DTA contains your parameter specifications. HELP FILE The Data Entry Screen provides for a Help function. This file contains the text for the Help boxes. _PCSHELP.TXT contains the slate help screen text. DEFINITION FILES Holiday definitions and dates specified as Holiday are saved in this file on disk. Any time Holidays are added or specified these files will be created and updated automatically by PCS as needed. _PCSDEFH.DTA contains the Holiday code definitions. _PCSSPEC.DTA contains the dates specified as Holidays. DATA FILES The Files you build and save using PCS will be saved as with the DOS extension of ".PCS". The first eight characters are specified by you when the file is first saved. The distribution disk comes with a sample file to be used in getting started: EXAMPLE1.PCS contains scheduling examples. BACKUP OF FILES You should schedule an activity which will remind you to periodically back up the working PCS files. PCS does not make any backup copies. It is your responsibility to be sure you have backup copies. If files are lost you can then recover. Suggestions for backing up only the files which change. The only files which change as you run PCS are the files with the following file extensions: (1) DTA these are the parameter and holiday data files (2) PCS these are you PCS schedule files To copy only these files to a backup disk, you can specify *.DTA and *.PCS in the Copy statement. FIXED DISK If you have a fixed disk drive you may want a sub-directory for your PCS system. To create a PCS sub-directory: (1) Log on to drive C as follows: type C: (2) Create a sub-directory as follows: MKDIR \PCS (3) Change to the directory as follows: CHDIR \PCS (4) Insert PCS diskette in drive A: and type COPY A:*.* Note: The first time you invoke PCS from this directory you should go to the FILE command and change the active Directory. The distribution diskette comes with the Directory set to A:. Therfore, you may get the message "Drive not ready" until you change and save the C: directory. INSTALLATION There are no required Installation procedures for PCS, however, there are a few "global" parameters which may need changing. Printer If your printer has special features which require setup codes, see "setup control string". Colors The default colors can be changed on the "global" color screen. CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS MANUAL The keyboard keys are referred to by the name of the key in brackets. For example: [key] is used to indicate that you should tap the specified key named within the brackets. [Ctrl] [key] is used to indicate that you should press Ctrl and while it is pressed then tap the other key. [Return] is used to refer to the Carriage Return key. SECTION 1: GETTING STARTED Once you have made a working diskette for PCS or have moved PCS to the fixed disk then you are ready to start PCS and learn the basics. Log on to the disk you are going to use DOS prompt will appear: If you are using drive A: you should see: A> At the DOS prompt type in then name of the program: PCS (then press the [return] key) The following copyright screen should appear with a message at the bottom to press any key to continue. PCS will wait until you press the space bar (or any key) to continue. PCS +-------------------------------+ | PRODUCTION CONTROL SCHEDULER | |-------------------------------| | Copyright of | | | | SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION | | P.O. BOX 42172 | | WASHINGTON D.C. 20015 | | | | All rights reserved | | | +-------------------------------+ [press any key to continue] If you are not a registered owner of PCS you can order your copy from the address shown in the box. PCS has been copyrighted and unauthorized use is prohibited by law. See LICENSE.DOC file. AUTO SCHEDULE If you see the blinking "Auto Schedule" field this is a reminder that PCS will be retrieving the last file you were using and will run Today's schedule automatically. You can turn this feature ON and OFF using the Global Commands. You can invoke Autoschedule at startup by specifying PCS A. This feature is discussed further in Section 8. For now, press any key, usually the space bar and the MAIN MENU Screen will appear. The following pages explains how to use the menu. MENUS AND COMMANDS PCS Menus consist of two lines separated by the dividers. The top line identifies the currently active menu in the top left corner. On the Main Menu the system date appears in the top right corner. This is the date specified when you "booted" DOS. The third line is referred to as the PCS command line and contains various command words. MENU COMMANDS There are two levels of commands within PCS, Major Commands and Sub- Commands. The Major Commands are listed on the Main Menu and correspond to the major operations that PCS will perform. Sub-commands appear either across the command line or in a "pull down" box. Specifying "Quit" as a sub-command will return to the previous menu. The Quit command appears on all menus and command lines. MAIN MENU MM/DD/YY --------------------------------------- (F)ile Schedule Revise Global Quit <--+ =I===================================== I I I +-----> File (sub-menu) I ----------------------------------I----- Retrieve (I)ndex Save Print (Q)uit <---------+ ===========I============================ I I I +------> list current index and files ---+ (Press ANY key to continue) The first way to invoke a command is simply by entering the first letter of the Command word. Then, by pressing the first letter of the Sub- Command the desired operation would be performed, such as listing the current DOS index. After the desired operation is complete PCS will remain on the Sub-menu until "Quit" is specified. When "Quit" is specified, PCS will return to the MAIN MENU. It is convenient to stay on the sub-menu for operations such as Revise/Add in order to repeat the same commands. Quit appears on all command lines. COMMAND POINTER The second way to invoke a command is by using a "command pointer," i.e., the active command is "highlighted." By pressing the [Right Arrow] key you can move the command pointer to the desired command word. Pressing the [Return] key you will select the command as if you had typed the first letter of the word. By pressing [Left Arrow] and [Right Arrow] keys you can move back and forth across the command line. MAIN MENU MM/DD/YY -------------------------------------------------- Right Arrow] ---> XXXXXXXX Quit ================================================== When the [Left Arrow] key is pressed while the first command word is highlighted, the command pointer method is "de-activated". When the [Right Arrow] key is pressed while "Quit" is highlighted the command pointer will wrap around to the first command word. PULL DOWN MENU The "pull down box" menu is another way toinvoke PCS commands. The active sub-command will be highlighted in the box. MAIN MENU MM/DD/YY ----------------------+==========+---------------- [Right Arrow] --> I XXXXXXXX I Quit ======================I----------I================ I | I [Down Arrow] I V I I I I XXXXXXXX I [Return] I I +----------+ First, press the [Right Arrow] key on the numeric pad to activate command pointer method. Continue to tap the [Right Arrow] key if necessary until the desired command word is highlighted. Pessing the [Down Arrow] key while a Major Command word is highlighted. The Sub-commands will appear in a pull down box beneath the active Command word. As you tap the [Down Arrow] key the active sub-command word is highlighted. These are the same sub-command words that appear in the sub-menu method above except that they are "stacked" in the box rather than across the command line. Press the [Return] key at the desired sub-command and the Major Command/Sub-Command combination is invoked. PCS will return to the Main Menu after the desired operation is completed successfully. ACTIVITY POINTER Once a PCS file has been retrieved, all the activities are listed on the screen. The first activity in the file is highlighted in reverse video or in color if you have a color monitor. The arrows, PgUp and PgDn keys on the numeric pad can be used to move this "activity pointer" line. The purpose of this pointer is to allow you to move through the file and facilitate the Revise operation. See "Browse keys" below. To revise an activity simply position the cursor pointer to a valid activity line and press F2, or use the pull down Revise/Edit menu. The cursor pointer is active on every screen where the PCS file listing is displayed. CONFIRMATION When you have entered a request that should be "confirmed" a (Y/N) prompt will appear. PCS will not continue until you press the "Y" key for yes, the "N" key for no, or the ESC key to terminate the request. Any other keys will be ignored except the ESC key to ignore request. ERROR MESSAGES When you have entered a field incorrectly or PCS has determined there is an error, an error message appears on the bottom of the screen. These messages may be self-explanatory, but for further explanation see detail description at end of the manual. Press any key to continue. SECTION 2: LEARNING THE BASICS MAJOR COMMANDS From the MAIN MENU the PCS functions are requested in one of several ways described in Section 1. When a Major Command is requested, control is then transferred to that Command processor. Each Command processor has its own set of Sub-commands to invoke a specific operation. Refer to the following Sections for Sub-command descriptions. REVISE Command The REVISE commands are used to add, edit, delete, move and copy the activity records. The Data Entry Screen is used for entering data about each activity. Help screens are available by use of the Help key. The Help screen explains the entry in each field. FILE Command The FILE commands are used to create, print, retrieve, save and erase PCS files on the disk. Files can reside in the root directory or another DOS directory. SCHEDULE Command The SCHEDULE commands are used to invoke the PCS scheduler. The schedule can begin on any date in the past or future and can include or exclude all or a selected number of activities. The schedules and checklists can be printed offline for hard copy. CROSSREF Command It is useful to be able to sort all or part of the PCS Master File by Schedule Sequence Code, by Description, by Frequency Code, by Occurrence Code or by Reference Code. The sorted file can also be printed offline. HOLIDAY Command Holidays can be defined, specified and listed for a given year. The PCS scheduler will re-schedule any activities falling on those dates to the previous or following working day as specified. GLOBAL Command The GLOBAL commands are used to change the System Parameters. The Parameters specify such things as length of the Work Week, special control charcters for the Printer, and whether or not to pause between print pages. The AutoSchedule feature can be turned from the Global menu. If the default colors are not to your liking, you can change the colors from the Global menu. QUIT Command The Quit command on the Main Menu will require a confirmation before returning to DOS. If you specified Quit by mistake you can abort with a "no" response to the confirmation. If you have updated the current file while PCS was running, a confirmation is required to Save the file before exiting. If you do not wish to save your changes a "no" response will bypass the file save operation. PCS will remember the last file you were using and save its name in the Parameter file. If you turn the "AutoSchedule" feature on PCS will retrieve this file and run Today's schedule automatically the next time you start the program. HOW TO EXIT PCS First, you should learn how to exit PCS so that all the files are saved and closed properly. You must be on the Main Menu to exit to DOS. Main Menu -------------------------------------------------- File Schedule Revise Global Quit ================================================== Press the letter "q", or move the command pointer to Quit and press [Return]. PCS will prompt for a confirmation. Main Menu -------------------------------------------------- OK to quit (Y/N)? Y <--respond Yes ================================================== If you have specified Quit by mistake, respond "n" and PCS will continue, otherwise specify "y" and PCS will return to DOS. If you have modified a file that should be saved, then PCS will ask for a "confirmation" to save the file. You must respond to this also before PCS will exit. Answer the confirmations carefully. [ESC] The ESCAPE key is another way of specifying "Quit". Certain terminations require a confirmation (Y/N). FUNCTION KEYS The Function Key line appears at the bottom of the screen with the active Function Keys. These keys can be used as "short cuts" for invoking certain operations without passing through the intervening Menu/Command lines. [F2] F2-Revise Transfer control to the Revise commands. If the cursor pointer is pointing to a valid activity, PCS will retrieve the record and go directly to the Data Entry Screen. See the Revise section for further description. [F3] F3-Add PCS will prompt for a new Activity Code, verify that it is not already on file, and then transfer to the Data Entry Screen. Adding a new activity is described in the Revise Command Section. [F4] F4-Schedule Pressing F4 will invoke the Schedule Command and retrieve the activities scheduled for today (or the Schedule Begin Date if modified). PCS will blink "WAIT" on the screen while retrieving the scheduled activities. [F5] F5-GOTO This function key is the PCS search facility. In order to easily find the activity you want to change, Press F5 and PCS will prompt for a search string or an activity code. See SEARCH FACILITY description below. [F6] F6-Xref Invoke the CrossReference by Frequency code. PCS will blink "SORT" on the screen while sorting. If you have a color monitor the sorted column is highlighted. Once on the CrossReference screen you can sort on any other field. See the Section on CrossReference. [F8] F8-Holiday List the Holidays for current (or Schedule Begin Year). Holidays can be added, changed and deleted. See the Section on Holiday Commands. [F9] F9-Notes Display the Notes field. Normally, the Master File listing shows the schedule frequency fields and notes only appear when the Schedule is run. To display the notes while viewing the master file press the F9 Function Key. This function is a "toggle" key in that one state remains active until F9 is pressed again. [F10] F10-Hdrs List only the Group Header records. This is a quick way of seeing how the activities have been grouped. See GROUPING ACTIVITIES below. F10 is a "toggle" key so that when you press F10 again the detail activities will be displayed. SEARCH FACILITY Press F5 for the PCS search facility. PCS will prompt: Enter search string: __________ or Code: ___ Enter a search string for a list of activities with the search string. PCS will list up to a page of activities whose Description or Reference contains the search string. Simply position the cursor to the Activity line and press F2 to edit the fields. If you know the Activity code, [Tab] to the Code field and enter the Activity Code. PCS will then go directly to the Activity line and position the listing with this activity at the top of the screen. Hint: If the activity is a Header Record, all you need to enter in the Code field is the Letter code, PCS will add the "00". BROWSE KEYS The special keys found on the 10-key numeric pad are very useful for "browsing" the PCS file. The browse keys are very useful for paging forward, backward, and positioning the file to the top or bottom of the listing. The [NumLock] key must not be active. [PgDn] Pages forward one entire page. PCS will display (...More) in the lower right of screen if there are more pages to display. No paging is done if the File is already in the (...End) position. [Ctrl] [PgDn] Positions the listing with the next Group Header record as the first activity on the page. This is a convenient way of paging through the file group by group. [PgUp] Pages backward one entire page. If the first activity is at top of the screen then no paging takes place. [Ctrl] [PgUp] Positions the listing with the previous Group Header record as the first activity on the page. This is a convenient way of paging back one entire group. [DownArrow] Moves the cursor pointer down one activity. If the cursor pointer is at the bottom, the screen is scrolled up, the activity listed at the top of the current page is dropped and one new activity appears at the bottom of the screen. No positioning is done if listing is already at the (...End) position. [UpArrow] Moves the cursor pointer up one activity. If the cursor pointer is at the top, the screen is scrolled, the activity listed at the bottom of the screen drops off, and one new activity appears at the top of the listing. [Home] Positions the listing at the first activity in the file. If the listing is at the top already no positioning is done. [End] Positions the listing with the last activity at top of the screen. If the listing is at the bottom of the file already then no positioning is done. GROUPING ACTIVITIES Before you attempt to build your own file of activities you should first understand how the PCS file is structured. Each activity in the PCS file must have a unique identifer made up of a Letter and a two-digit numeric number, e.g., C15. This is the Activity Code. Group Header Record Activities are "grouped" together if their code begins with the same letter. A numeric code of "00" is used to refer to the entire group or series of activities. These are called "Group Headers" and they are very useful in segmenting the file and in triggering activities. As you build a PCS of activities you group the items together in much the same way you organize you normal day-to-day activities. This can be by type of of business activity, by frequency of the activity, by business function or any other way that is convenient and most appropriate for your situation, for example: Act Description A00 Accounting M00 Manufacturing P00 Purchasing Within each grouping you create detail activities: Act Description A00 Accounting A01 General Ledger A02 Annual Statement M00 Manufacturing M01 Inventory Report M02 Bill of Material P00 Purchasing P01 Overdue Orders P02 Vendor Report After grouping your activities in a manner most meaningful for your business, you can assign Frequencies to each activity or to entire groups of activities. PCS has a whole array of Frequency codes which should handle most of the common scheduling occurrences. PRIORITY SEQUENCE There is a separate "Sequence Code" which will determine the way in which activities are listed on the Schedule. The Sequence Code is specified on the Group Header Record and by changing this Sequence Code you can move entire groups of activities up or down, thereby "prioritizing" the Schedule. See Data Entry Fields section. The CrossReference command can be used to sort the file by sequence code to determine whether or not they are set properly. The default sequence is "50" is none is specified. ASSIGNING FREQUENCIES The Frequency Code specifies the recurring cycle that the activity falls on such as Daily, Weekly, Monthly, etc. For example: Act Description Frequency A00 Accounting A01 General Ledger Monthly A02 Annual Statement Annually M00 Manufacturing M01 Inventory Report Daily M02 Bill of Material Bi-Weekly P00 Purchasing P01 Overdue Orders Weekly P02 Vendor Report Quarterly OCCURRENCE CODE Once the frequency has been established, you must specify a specific "occurrence" for the activity such as Monday, Wednesday, 10th of the month, etc. Daily activities are done every work day and do not require an Occurrence Code, but for the other Frequencies, the combination of Frequency and Occurrence determine when it is to be scheduled. For example: Act Description Frequency Occurrence A00 Accounting A01 General Ledger Monthly 10th of the month A02 Annual Statement Annually February 15 M00 Manufacturing M01 Inventory Report Daily (every work day) M02 Bill of Material Bi-Weekly Every other Monday P00 Purchasing P01 Overdue Orders Weekly Friday P02 Vendor Report Quarterly First Work Day NOT-ON FREQUENCIES In many situations, such as the beginning or ending of a week or month you may not want an activity to be scheduled (such as a File Merge). Instead, you may want to schedule another activity (create New File) to be run in its place. For Weekly and Monthly Frequencies you can specify one or two "not-on" frequencies. Examples: Schedule Daily but "not-on" First Working Day of Month. Schedule Weekly on Monday but "not-on" First Monday of Month. GROUP SCHEDULING Suppose you have a group of activities which are always done together whenever scheduled. Rather than put the Frequency on each activity you can put the Frequency on the Group Header and then use the "H=" to refer back to the Frequency on the Group Header. For example, suppose the following activities are always done together: Act Description Frequency Occurrence A00 Accounting A01 Backup Ledger File Monthly Last Work Day A02 Post Memo Credits Monthly Last Work Day A03 Print Trial Balance Monthly Last Work Day A04 Prepare Income Stmt Monthly Last Work Day A05 Cash Flow Analysis Monthly Last Work Day Another way of specifying Frequencies for the entire group of activities would be to put the Frequency on the Group Header and the have the detail activities refer back to its Frequency. Thus, if a Frequency changes then you only have to change it in one place. For example: Act Description Frequency Occurrence A00 Accounting Monthly Last Work Day A01 Backup Ledger File H= A02 Post Memo Credits H= A03 Print Trial Balance H= A04 Prepare Income Stmt H= A05 Cash Flow Analysis H= Now whenever the Group Header A00 is scheduled then all the detail activities with "H=" as a Frequency will also be schedule. Not every activitiy in the sequence needs to refer back to the Header, only the ones which are "triggered" by the Header Frequency. SCHEDULING "PRIOR TO" OR "FOLLOWING" Many times an activity is to be scheduled so many days before or after another activity, e.g., two days before or two days after. This can be accomplished by use of the "H-" (before Header schedule) and the "H+" (after Header schedule). In the example above, suppose activity A02 is to be done one day before the Last Working Day and A05 is to be done three days after. This could be set up as follows: Act Description Frequency Occurrence A00 Accounting Monthly Last Work Day A01 Backup Ledger File H= A02 Post Memo Credits H- 001D A03 Print Trial Balance H= A04 Prepare Income Stmt H= A05 Cash Flow Analysis H+ 003D CHECKLIST The Checklist schedule function makes use of the "Header Reference" Frequency Codes. A Checklist can be generated for a Group of activities whose Group Header specifies a deadline date. The detail activities can be scheduled either before, on or after this deadline date using the H-, H= and the H+ Frequency Codes. Suppose you have a User meeting coming up and you have several activities that must be done before, during and after the meeting: Act Description Frequency Occurrence U00 User Meeting Annual Sept 30 U01 Mail invitations H- 060D U02 Prepare adgenda H- 035D U03 Xerox material H- 007D U04 Order lunch menu H- 001D U05 Minutes of meeting H= U05 Followup summary H+ 005D U10 Questionnaire H+ 014D When the Checklist is generated (using Schedule command) the Frequencies are converted to dates and a list is produced in date sequence. Checklists can be used over and over by just changing the date on the Group Header record. The Note field can be used as a status field and the Reference field can be used for Person assigned, etc. The Checklist report: Checklist Date: xx/xx/xx --------------------------------------------------------- Act Description Date Reference Note XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX MM/DD/YY XXXXXXXXXX .... etc. SECTION 3: FILE Commands The File Commands are used to save and retrieve your PCS Files. All user files have the same ".PCS" extension but the first eight characters can be and valid DOS filename. The free space on disk is shown on the bottom of the screen. Retrieve Clears the "active" PCS File and loads a previously Saved PCS file from the disk. A confirmation is required to clear the file is currently in use. Index Display a list of the PCS files on disk for the Current DOS directory. All PCS files have the PCS extension which does not have to be specified. The DOS extension is not shown. Directory The default Current Directory can be changed to any valid DOS directory. PCS displays the Current Directory on the command line and prompts for a new pathname or Directory. If one is entered this becomes the new Current Directory (path). Save Saves all the activity records in a PCS file on the disk. If the file already exists on that disk PCS will prompt for a confirmation to replace the file. Erase To erase a file from the disk. PCS will prompt you for the filename and a confirmation that you want to destroy the file. Once a file is erased PCS cannot recover the file. Be careful! Print Lists the File of Activities on the line printer. The Filename and System date are printed on the Report. NewFile Erase the current PCS listing from the screen and initialize all the file variables to the default values. A confirmation is required if there is a current File in memory. Be sure to Save any File that you do not want permanently erased from memory. There is no "un-erase" facility. Be careful. Quit [ESC] Exit the File Commands and return to PCS Menu. If the active File has not been saved, PCS will prompt for a (Y/N) Confirmation to Save the File. SECTION 4: SCHEDULE Commands This section describes the Commands you can use to affect the PCS Scheduler. Normally, PCS generates a schedule for one day at a time beginning on the System Date or another specified date. The entire file will be included in the schedule unless restricted by the Select command. The Forecast command can be used for forecasting the scheduled dates of one activity at a time. This is useful for the Odd/Even scheduling. Checklist provides for a listing in date sequence of activities scheduled using the 'plus' and 'minus' options. Run Invokes the Schedule function, beginning on Begin date. A list of the scheduled activities for that day is presented on the screen. The following sub- commands are active. Back Backup to previous schedule day and list the scheduled activities for that day. Next Go to the next calendar day and list the activities. Print Print the Scheduled activities on the printer for the number of Days specified. [F1] Display the Frequency fields and internal PCS variables for the scheduled date. The display of the frequencies and variables helps you get activities scheduled properly. Days This field is used in conjunction with the Print request. If Print is specified then PCS will print the scheduled activities for that number of calendar days. For example, to print the schedule for the week: 1. Set the Begin date to beginning of week. 2. Specify Days of 007. 3. Specify Print. Select Enter a range of Activity Codes to be selected for scheduling. The default is A00 through Z99. If a range is entered, for example, B00..C99, then only those activities will be selected. The selection range prints on the listings and is shown at bottom of Help window. Begin Enter a beginning date for the Schedule. If no Begin date is specified, PCS will default to the System Date, or 1/1/80 if no dates at all are specified. The System date is specified when you "boot" the system. AutoSchedule begins with System date. Forecast PCS will prompt you for an Activity Code. Using the frequency and occurrence of the Activity, PCS will forecast the dates on which the Activity will be scheduled. Note: To stop the forecasting procedure, press any key to stop it, then ESC key to terminate. Checklist PCS will prompt for an Activity Code. The activity must have an Annual frequency. This command will list the events that have been scheduled using the "H+" , "H-" and "H=" options. Note: Only Group Headers with an Annual date can be used for the Checklist function. Print Print the Checklist on the line printer. Quit(ESC) Return to the PCS Menu. SECTION 5: REVISE Commands The REVISE commands are used to make additions or changes to a PCS file of activities. The Data Entry Screen (see below) is used for entering data about the activity. Data Entry Screen ----------------------------------------------------- (Header Record) ===================================================== Sequence: Activity: Description: +---------+ Reference: I HELP I I WINDOW I Frequency: Odd/Even: I SCREEM I Occurrence: +---------+ But Not On: or: Start: Stop: Note: Press F1 Help or ESC to terminate ----------------------------------------------------- Add Add an activity to the PCS file. PCS prompts for the Activity code to be assigned. The Data Entry Screen is used to input various fields. Pressinq the ESC key while on the Data Entry Screen will terminate Add. Press [Return] while at the Note field to add record. Edit Change the fields for an Activity. The Data Entry Screen is displayed with current values of each field. After changes are made PCS positions the file listing at the edited activity. Pressing ESC terminates Edit. Delete PCS reads the Activity code at the pointer line and displays the Data Entry Screen and requests a confirmation of the Delete. After deleting the activity PCS positions returns to the file listing. Pressing ESC terminates the delete command. Repeat Copy an activity from one Code to another Code. PCS retrieves the "from" Activity Code from the pointer line and prompts for the "to" Activity Code. Enter the new Activity Code to be assigned and all the data fields are copied. PCS copies the activity. Move Move an Activity from one Code to another Code. PCS retrieves the "from" Activity Code from the pointer line and prompts for the "to" Activity Code. Enter the new Activity Code to be assigned and all the fields are moved. PCS positions the file listing at the new Code. Pressing the ESC key terminates the Move function. Quit [ESC] Return to the MAIN MENU or previous Menu screen. CURSOR CONTROL KEYS The following Cursor Control Keys are active while on the Data Entry Screen. The ESC key will terminate Data Entry with a confirmation and return to previous menu screen. [ESC] Terminate the maintenance function. Do not add, delete or change the activity data fields for the activity shown. A confirmation of "N" will continue the function otherwise PCS returns to the Command line. [UpArrow] Moves the cursor to the previous field on the screen up from the current line. The content in the field on the current line is saved. [DownArrow] Moves the cursor to the field on the next line of the screen. The content of the current field is saved. If cursor is at the last field on the screen the cursor is moved to the first field on the screen. [LeftArrow] Moves the cursor to the next character to the left in the field. If the cursor is on the first character no change is made. [RightArrow] Moves the cursor to the next character to the right in the field. PCS will "beep" if you attempt to go beyond the end of the field. [BackSpace] Backspace one character in the field. If the cursor is on the last character in the field it will blank out the character as it back spaces. If the cursor is in the middle of the field it will act as the left arrow key. [Tab] Tab the cursor to the next input field. If the cursor is on the last field on the screen the cursor will be positioned to the first field. [Home] Position the cursor to the beginning of the field. [End] Position the cursor to the end of the data field. [Ins] Pressing this key sets the insert mode on/off as indicated on the top line of the screen. If insert mode is on the characters entered are inserted and characters to the right of the cursor are shifted right. PCS will "beep" if you attempt to insert too many characters. [Del] Pressing this key will delete the character at the cursor and characters to the right of the cursor are shifted left one position. ERRORS There are many "relational" errors as well as just Data Entry errors when entering an activity. For example, if you enter a frequency code and then try to specify an invalid occurrence code, PCS will issue an error. By pressing any key you can correct the error and continue. Each error has a unique Error Number and can be looked up in Appendix for further explanation. Data Entry Fields After specifying Add, Delete, or Edit and an Activity Code, PCS displays the Data Entry Screen. If the Letter Sequence of activities has a Group Header record it is listed on the Command line for review. The fields on the screen and their interpretation are described below. Sequence: The Sequence code is a two digit numeric code which controls the sequence in which the activities are listed on the PCS schedule. It can be specified only on a Group Header record and applies to the entire group. The default Sequence value is "50". Activities with a Sequence less than 50 sort first, and activities with a Sequence higher than 50 sort last. The CrossReference Commands can be used to sort the File by Sequence for purposes of testing. Activity: This field is the Activity Code. The Code is made up of a Letter and two numerics. A Code with a Letter and the "00" number is a special "Group Header" record. The Group Header record is useful for group scheduling and giving an additional description to the entire series of activities. Desription: A short Description of the Activity. This can be upper/lower case as desired. On the Header record this is the Description of the entire Letter sequence of activities. The Header description will automatically be printed when any activity within the group is scheduled. (See the Cross-Reference discussion of Description). Reference: A separate field which may refer to a Job, Program, Procedure, Document, File, Folder, Section or any other source of data about the activity. Many activities can have the same Reference. This field is printed on Schedule. Frequency: A two-character field indicating the Frequency with which the Activity is to be scheduled. A help window will display the possible values from which to select. Frequency codes are also described below. Odd/Even: If the Frequency is every-other Week or Month the Odd/Even code is used to specify which odd or even week. PCS sets this code internally. Use of the code is by trial and error until it is scheduled beginning on the appropriate week. Occurrence: A four-character code to specify which "occurrence" of the frequency on which to schedule the activity. The Occurrence code depends on the Frequency code. Weekly frequencies specify a Day-of-Week code, Monthly has several Occurrence codes, etc. Some frequencies such as Daily do not have Occurrences. Press F1 for Help or see below. Not On: This is the same codes as the Occurrences. An entry here will specify which "occurrence" of a day or date this Activty will NOT be scheduled on. For example an Activity may be scheduled Daily, but not on the First Working Day. Frequency: DA; Not On: FWD. Start: Do not schedule the Activity before this date. Until the Scheduler reaches this date it will bypass scheduling this activity. Once this date is reached it will begin adding it to the schedule when the frequency hits. If the Start date is on the Group Header then it applies to the entire group of activities. This is one convenient way to "turn off" an entire group of activities until some future date. Stop: Do not schedule the Activity after this date. When the Scheduler goes beyond this date the activity will no longer be scheduled. If the Stop date is on the Group Header then it applies to the entire group of activities. Note: Attach a note to the activity which will print on the schedule. Hint: Function Key F9 will show Notes while viewing the Master File Listing on the screen. FUNCTION KEY [F2] The Revise facilities can be easily invoked by use of the [F2] Function Key. When you need to Edit an activity, position the cursor pointer to the activity line on the screen. Press [F2] and PCS will transfer directly to the Data Entry Screen. FREQUENCIES AND OCCURRENCES DA (Daily) Activities scheduled Daily will appear every "work day". There is no Occurrence code for Daily, however, two "not on" Occurrences can be specified in the Weekly or Monthly Occurrence format. WK (Weekly) Activities scheduled Weekly will be scheduled once a week on the day specified in the Occurrence field. Two "not on" Occurrences can be specified in the Monthly format. OCCURRENCE: MON = Monday, day 1 of the week. TUE = Tuesday, day 2 of the week. WED = Wednesday, day 3 of the week. THU = Thursday, day 4 of the week. FRI = Friday, day 5 of the week. SAT = Saturday, day 6 of the week. SUN = Sunday, day 7 of the week. BW (Bi-Weekly) These activities are scheduled every two weeks. A convenient "odd/even" code is provided for alternating the weeks. This code is controlled internally by PCS and the Forecast command can be used to establish its cycle. Two "not on" Occurrences can be specified in the Monthly format. ODD/EVEN CODE: O = every other week on Odd weeks E = every other week on Even weeks OCCURRENCE: Same as Weekly above. MO (Monthly) The activity is to be scheduled each calendar month. OCCURRENCE: nn = the nth calendar day of the month. nnP = nth day of the month or prior working day nnF = the nth day of the month or the following nnD = the nth working day of the month. LWD = the Last Working Day of the month FWD = the First Working Day of the month nYYY= the nth occurrence of day YYY, where YYY is one of the Day codes MON through SUN. LYYY= the last occurrence of day YYY, where YYY is one of the Day codes MON through SUN. BM (Bi-Monthly) These activities are scheduled every two months. An "odd/even" code is provided for alternating the Months. This code is controlled internally by PCS. Valid Occurrences are the same for Monthly. ODD/EVEN CODE Odd/Even = O for every other week on Odd months Odd/Even = E for every other week on Even months QT (Quarterly) and Q1,Q2,Q3 Activity is scheduled every three months on the Quarterly months. The QT and Q1 months are January, April, July and October. The Q1 months are February, May, August, November. The Q3 months are March, June, September and December. OCCURRENCES Same as Monthly Occurrences. AN (Annually) Activity is scheduled once a year on the specified Month and Day regardless if its a weekend or not. Annual frequencies may have to be reviewed once a year. OCCURRENCE in MM/DD format RQ (Requested) Use this Frequency for activities that are "on Request" or the specific date is not yet known. This Frequency is a convenient way of "turning off" the schedule for a given activity. Another way of de-activating an activity is by use of the Start/Stop date. H= (same as Header frequency) This frequency code is used to "refer back" to the Group Header record for the frequency. Whenever the Group Header is scheduled this activity is also scheduled. This is a way of having one activity "trigger" another activity. There are no Occurrence codes for this frequency. H- (prior Header) This frequecy indicates that the activity is to be scheduled so many days prior to the Group Header. Valid Occurrence codes for this frequency are: OCCURRENCE nnD = nth Day prior to Group Header H+ (following Header) This frequency indicates that the activity is to be scheduled following the date of the Group Header. nnD = nth Day following Group Header SECTION 6: CROSS-REFERENCE Commands The CrossReference Commands are used for sorting the file by the different data fields. After sorting the file you can browse using the standard Function Keys or the sorted file can be listed on the line printer. On color monitors the sorted fields are highlighted in yellow or white. Act-Select Specify a "range of activities" to be selected for the sort. To restrict the activities specify a "from" and "to" activity code. The default is "A00..Z99". Sequence Sort and display the current file listing in Scheduling Sequence. This is useful to browse the file in the sequence in which the activities will be listed on the schedule which helps in setting up the priority of the scheduled activities. Description Sort and display the current file listing in Description sequence. A blank line is skipped when the first word of the Description field changes. The first word of the description (including commas, etc.) should be a "key" word so that similar descriptions can be sorted together. Frequency Sort and display the current file listing in Frequency (primary) and Occurrence (secondary) sequence. A line is skipped when a change in frequency occurs. If "H=" is specified the activity will be sorted with its Header Record. Blank frequencies, On-Request and Header plus/minus are sorted last. Occurrence Sort and display the current file by the Occurrence of the frequency. Those activities with the same occurrence will sort together. Frequencies with no Occurrence are sorted last. Reference Sort and display the current file listing in Reference sequence. A line is skipped when the contents of the Reference field changes. Blank references are sorted last. Print Print the current file in the sequence it was last sorted. The name of the file and the field sorted on is printed in the heading of the report. The Activities command can be used to restrict the print to a range of activities. Quit(ESC) Return to the MAIN MENU. SECTION 7: HOLIDAY Commands It is convenient for you to be able to specify certain dates as a Holiday or non-working day and that any activities which fall on these days should be "re-scheduled" either the previous or next working day. You define the Holiday by assigning a unique three-character code, such as NEW for New Years Day, 4JL for Fourth of July, THK for Thanksgiving, etc. Up to 36 different Holidays can be defined. Once Holidays have been defined, you can specify what date they fall on and whether or not you want to re-schedule activities. Daily activities are not re-scheduled on Holidays. Define Define a new Holiday Code and its description. Up to 36 definitions can be made. The definitions are listed when Holiday Command is entered. The List command can be used to list the dates which have been specified for the Holidays. Pressing the ESC key terminates the Define function. Specify To specify a particular calendar date for a defined Holiday. The Holiday Code must have been defined before a date can be specified. Dates are specified year by year. PCS will prompt for the year involved, the Holiday Code, the month and day and a "re-schedule" code shown in the window. If you wish to "repeat" the Holiday for multiple years enter a Thru year and PCS will propogate the Holiday for you. The ESC key terminates this function. Eliminate To "un-specify" a Holiday. PCS prompts for the Year and the Holiday Code to be eliminated. If you wish to eliminate the Holiday for all years answer 'Y' to the confirmation message. List List the Holidays specified for a given Year. PCS will prompt you for the Year to be listed. The dates specified will appear next to each holiday and whether or not the activities are to be re-scheduled prior to or following the Holiday. Remove Remove a Holdiay definition. PCS will prompt you for a confirmation if you want to Remove the Holiday from all years. Quit(ESC) Return to the PCS Menu. Holidays are saved. RE-SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES A **Holiday** message will appear on the schedule when a date has been specified as a Holiday. On the previous or following work day any activities which have been re-scheduled because of the Holiday will have an '*' to the left of the Activity key field. SECTION 8: GLOBAL Commands These commands are referred to as Global because the values apply to all PCS functions. These values are saved in a Parameter file and retrieved each time PCS is entered. AutoSchedule Specify Yes(Y) or No(N) if you want PCS to automatically run a schedule for the current date when you start the program. PCS will retrieve the last file you used and run a schedule for the date specified as the system date. You can then page through the scheduled activities or print them offline. Workdays Enter a numeric code in the range of 1 to 7 for the number of working days in the week. Most often this is 5 for Monday thru Friday. The week starts on a Monday (day 1) and ends on Sunday (day 7). This parameter is shown in the schedule Help window and affects activities scheduled by use of "working day" occurrences. Color Change the default colors used by PCS. A "mockup" of the screen is provided. You can use the arrow keys to force the colors to change. After you are satisfied with the new color combination PCS will save the colors you specified in the Parameter file. PrinterSetup These commands are used to enter information about your printer. When a Print request has been specified, these parameters will help PCS determine how to format the listings. PageLength Enter the length of the form you are using. Most often this will be "66" for standard 8.5 X 11. Pause If you do not have continuous-feed paper in your printer this parameter will force a halt between pages. This is used for single sheet printing. ControlString This is the printer "setup control string" which will be sent directly to the printer each time "print" is specified. These special characters tell your printer (which varys from printer to printer) which features to use. ASCHII codes are specified as backslash '\' followed by a 3-digit numeric. For example, ASCII 27 21 combination would be specified as follows: "\027\021". Consult your printer's manual for a list of control codes. Quit(ESC) Return to the MAIN MENU screen. ERROR MESSAGES The following messages are PCS error messages. These messages appear at the bottom of the screen and a "beep" is heard. Press any key after the message to continue. E001 File Empty! - Copyright of Software Configuration' In order to Save or Run a schedule there has to be at least one activity. Either Retrieve an existing File or use the Revise command to build a new File. E002 Work days must be from 1 to 7 PCS assumes the work week is from one to seven days long. E003 invalid Month entry The month code must be a Gregorian Month: 01 to 12. E004 invalid Day entry The Day must be a valid Gregorian Day for the month: 01 to 31. E005 invalid Year entry The Year code must be a valid numeric in range 00 to 99. E006 Activity has no Frequency An attempt is being made to Forecast the schedule for an activity which has no Frequency code. Use Revise to enter a Frequency. E007 File Name not specified A File Name must be specified before retrieving or saving. E008 Help file not available The _PCSHELP.TXT file which came on the Installation diskette is not on the logged drive or cannot be found in logged directory. E009 Printer page length invalid The page length must be from 9 to 99 lines. E010 Schedule Days must be from 1 to 366 Only one year can be specified using the Days command. E100 too many scheduled activities! The maximum number of activities has been reached. You will need to split the activities into two separate files. E101 only Group Header allowed You are attempting to do a function which can only be done on a '00' Group Header Record. E102 only Annual freqency allowed Your are attempting to do a function which can only be done on an activity which has an Annual frequency. E103 Group Header not found The '00' record you have specified cannot be found. E200 invalid Activity code The Activity code specified can not be found in the current PCS File. Correct the activity code and continue. E201 invalid Odd/Even Code The odd/even code must specify an 'O' or an 'E'. E202 Group Header has no Frequency The "H=" frequency code is being specified for a detail activity but the Group Header Record ("00" record) has no frequency. Specify a Frequency for the Header record before using this code. E203 invalid Frequency Code The frequency code specified is not valid. Position the cursor at the Frequency field and press F1 for the Help Window display of valid Frequency Codes. Select a valid Frequency Code and continue. E204 invalid Occurrence Code The code specified in the Occurrence field is not valid for this Frequency. Position the cursor at the Occurrence field and Press F1 for the Help Window. Some frequencies have no Occurrence code. E205 invalid -Not On- Code The code specified in the 'Not on' field is not valid. Press F1 for the help screen of valid codes. Not On codes are allowed only on Daily and Weekly frequencies. E206 date less than Header start date The date specified as the Start date is before the Header Start date. E207 date greater than Header stop date The date specified as the Stop date is after the Header Stop date. E208 duplicate activity code Another activity has already been assigned this code. E209 cannot move Group Header Only detail reocrds can be moved. The new header record must be entered using the Add function. E210 File is full! The maximum number of PCS activities has been reached for one File. The maximum number of activities is 400. E211 _PCSPARM Re-initialized! Reset Global Options. PCS has found it necessary to re-initialize the Parameter file either because of a new release or the file has been erased. Respecify the Global specifications and PCS will create a new parameter file. E212 Foreground and Background same color! If the foreground (text) color and the background color are the same the field will be un-readable. PCS does not allow same colors. E213 Input color must be different than Screen Body. The Input color field is used also for the "cursor pointer" box. You must specify a different color combination for Input than that which is specified for the Screen Body or the cursor pointer will disappear. E301 Holdiay Limit has been reached No more Holidays can be defined. If any Holidays are no longer used then delete the name from the list to allow for more room. E302 Holiday Code not Defined The 3-character code must be defined before it can be specified. Use the Define Command and name the Holiday before specifying the date. E303 Invalid Re-schedule code Re-schedule code must be one of codes that appears in the box. E304 Maximum Specified has been reached No more Holidays can be specified. Go back to prior years and delete some holiday specifications and then re-specify current holidays. E305 Holiday not Specified Attempting to clear a Holiday that is not specified for this year. E402 Unexpected End of File This is a catastrophic error. The file has probably been lost. Attempt to list the file then Erase and re-do the entire file. E403 This is not a PCS file PCS only recognizes files in a specific format. Some other file with an extension of "PCS" has been created and you are attempting to access it or the PCS file has been corrupted. Re-create any corrupted files from a backup copy. E404 No PCS files in Directory The directory does not contain any files with the "PCS" extension. FILE ERRORS The following error messages are related to File I/O problems. The messages should be familiar DOS error messages. After you press Enter to clear the message PCS will pause and display the full name of the File in error on the bottom of the screen. F001 File does not exist F002 File not open for input F003 File not open for output F004 File not open F010 Error in Numeric format F020 Operation not allowed on logical device F021 Not allowed in direct mode F022 Assign to standard files not allowed F090 Record length mismatch F091 Seek beyond end of file F099 Unexpected end of file F150 Disk is full F151 Directory is full F152 File size overflow F153 Too many open files F155 File disappeared F186 Disk space not available F999 Unknown I/O error