PERSONAL TASK-PRO QUICK USERS' GUIDE INTRODUCTION TASK-PRO is a PC program that allows the user to track, prioritize, sort and report on tasks under way. TASK-PRO was specifically designed with the needs of middle management in mind. As such, more emphasis is placed on the organization, representation and status of tasks under way than on the interrelationships of tasks. TASK-PRO is general purpose in that it allows the user to track virtually any type of activity, from work-in-progress to telephone inquiries to trouble reports. PERSONAL TASK-PRO is a version of TASK-PRO which is configured to be ideal for individual home use. Please note that PERSONAL TASK-PRO does not run on a PC which is equipped with a LAN card. Under the TASK-PRO system the user maintains any number of tasks in a task folder. The user is allowed to record detailed information for each task, and is provided with the ability to also enter a free text memo giving a detailed description of those tasks which require such a description. Within the folder tasks may be sorted by priority, the name of the person assigned to the task, the deadline assigned to the task, the date the task was entered, or the systems affected by the task. A flashing red indication is provided for all tasks which have exceeded their deadlines. TASK-PRO incorporates a state-of-the-art keyboard and mouse interface which makes excellent use of color, sound, text windows and context- sensitive hypertext help at the touch of the F1 key or the click of the mouse button. Personal TASK-PRO is fully functional and loaded with features, but lacks some of the business-oriented features of PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO. The additional features provided with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO are: o The ability to organize tasks into multiple folders. o The ability to move tasks between task folders and PC's using IMPORT and EXPORT. o A 'Timeslip Interface' which allows the quick and easy entry of timecard information into the TASK- PRO database. o The ability to run on a PC equipped with a LAN card. The task folder produced with by PERSONAL TASK-PRO is totally compatable with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO. To order a users' guide for PERSONAL TASK-PRO, or to order PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO, simply select the ORDERING option from the TASK-PRO main menu, fill in the data entry form with the correct information and allow Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 1 TASK-PRO to print an order form to you (a system printer is required). After the order form is printed simply fill in (by hand or typewriter), the specifics of your order. 1.0 Required Equipment TASK-PRO runs on IBM PC's and 100% compatables with 256k of system memory and CGA, EGA or VGA graphics adaptors. TASK-PRO may work with other equipment configurations. TASK-PRO will utilize a mouse if one is connected to the system and the appropriate driver software is included. 2.0 INSTALLATION If you have downloaded TASK-PRO from an electronic bulletin board PTASK.ZIP contains PERSONAL TASK-PRO along with all associated help, documentation and sample database files. Otherwise, if you have ordered TASK-PRO the supplied diskette contains all of these files. Create a dedicated directory for TASK-PRO (we recommend 'C:\TASK') and copy (or unZIP) these files into that directory. You may then run PTASK, as described in this document, and practice with the sample data provided. When you are satisfied with your expertise you may delete every file except PTASK.EXE, TSK.HLP and this README file and begin using PERSONAL TASK-PRO for real. 3.0 RUNNING AND QUITTING TASK-PRO To run PERSONAL TASK-PRO simply enter 'PTASK -C' for a color system or 'TASK -M' for a monochrome system from the DOS prompt. The user will then be presented with the main menu screen of PERSONAL TASK-PRO. The user may optionally enter a second command line switch '-NOMOUSE', which disables the use of a mouse by TASK-PRO. To quit TASK-PRO and return to DOS simply select the Quit option from TASK-PRO main menu. 4.0 GETTING HELP SCREENS You can always get a help screen describing what you are doing by depressing the F1 key or be clicking the left mouse button on any help prompt appearing on the bottom line of the screen. This help text is completely context-sensitive, and allows you to jump to the help screens for related topics by highlighting the text associated with the topics within the help window (through use of the arrow keys of the numeric keypad) and depressing the ENTER key. You may also position the mouse cursor on any help keywords within the help window and clicking the left mouse button. You may exit the help system and return to TASK-PRO by depressing the ESC key or by clicking the right mouse button (which is always equivalent to depressing the ESC key). Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 2 5.0 THE MENU SYSTEM The TASK-PRO main menu is the bar menu that appears across the top of the screen at all times that TASK-PRO is running. You may move between the items of this menu with the left and right cursor control keys, and any associated pull-down menus will automatically appear. You may also move between main menu items by depressing the hot key for the item (highlighted in yellow) while holding down the ALT key (this is simply a shortcut for the experienced user) or by positoning the mouse cursor on the menu item and clicking the left mouse button. For main menu options that do not have an associated pull-down menu the option is activated by depressing the ENTER key once the option is highlighted. If such an option has been selected with the short- cut ALT-hotkey keystroke then the option is activated automatically. Once again the mouse cursor may be used to select main menu options (except from data entry and help windows, which must be exited first). For main menu options that have pull-down sub-menus, the sub-menu option is activated by highlighting the desired option with the up and down cursor control keys and depressing the ENTER key. Alternatively the option may be activated by hitting the highlighted hot key in the sub-menu (without depressing the ALT key). Help information about any sub-menu option may be obtained by high- lighting the option and depressing the F1 key. 6.0 DATA ENTRY WINDOWS Data entry windows allow the user to enter data into the TASK-PRO system. The up and down cursor control keys, as well as the TAB key, allow the user to move between data entry fields. The user may also click the left mouse button on any field to move to that field. The left and right cursor control keys allow the user to move within the field. The insert key toggles text entry between insert and overstrike mode. The delete key deletes characters under the cursor. The return key successfully ends the data entry into the form and the ESC key aborts the data entry process. Help for any field is available by depressing the F1 key while the cursor is positioned within the field or by clicking the left mouse button which the mouse cursor is positioned on the help prompt at the bottom of the window. 7.0 The BROWSE main menu option Selecting the BROWSE option from the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a formatted list of all opened tasks in the lower portion of the display. The user may use the up and down cursor control keys to highlight the various tasks or simply position the mouse cursor over the task and click on it. This window scrolls up and down as necessary to accommodate a large number of tasks. One important feature of the BROWSE window to be aware of is the ability to edit a memo for the highlighted task by depressing the F10 key. Keep Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 3 in mind that the F1 key or the mouse will provide you with detailed context- sensitive help at all times. You may use the mouse to click on any of the action items appearing along the lower portion of the display at any time, rather than utilize the command keystrokes described below. If you are using a mouse, you may highlight a record by positioning the mouse cursor on the record and clicking the left mouse button; clicking a second time will bring up the detail window for the task. Clicking the mouse with the cursor positioned in one of the first five screen columns for a task not only highlights the task, but toggles the tag for the task as well. This is an extremely handy method of tagging tasks. The command keystrokes available from within the browse window are: 'T' - Tag/Untag Highlighted Task INS (or '+') - Add a New Task DEL (or '-') - Delete the Highlighted Task CTL F5 - Begin Searching Database for String Match F5 - Continue Search Started with CTL F5 CTL K - Auxilliary Keystrokes CTL S - Re-Sort CTL T - * Tag all tasks CTL F - Change the task display format CTL P - * Produce A Report/Listing CTL U - Untag all tasks* CTL C - * Close all tagged tasks CTL Y - * Delete All Tagged Tasks Up Arrow - Highlight Next Task Line Down Arrow - Highlight Prev Task Line PgUp - Scroll Up One Page PgDn - Scroll Down One Page Home - Go to First Task In List End - Go to End of List F10 - Edit Memo for Highlighted Task Enter - View and Edit the Highlighted Task ESC - Return to Task-Pro Main Menu * - Only available with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO 8.0 The DEFAULTS main menu option Selecting the DEFAULTS option of the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a data entry window in which the user can pre-fill various fields that will usually be the same when a new task is being added. These fields will then be pre-filled with this data whenever a new task is added. Any entry into the DATE ENTERED field will be ignored when a new task is added, however, as the computer's system date is entered into this field each time a task is added. 9.0 The REPORTS main menu option The REPORTS option of the TASK-PRO main menu has a pull-down sub-menu with a list of the available reports. These reports are BRIEF #1, Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 4 BRIEF #2, ABBREVIATED and FULL PAGE. Selecting one of these options will cause the user to be subsequently prompted for a sorting order and a task selection criteria within additional pop-up menus, and then the report will be sent to the system printer. Depressing the ESC key during this process will cancel the report and return the user to the TASK-PRO main menu. Although the names of the BRIEF reports appearing in the menu are not extremely descriptive, depressing the F1 key will a report name highlighted within this menu will provide a good detailed description of the report. All brief reports, when sorted by the name of the person assigned to perform the task, will automatically insert page breaks whenever the name changes. This is a handy method of producing status reports for individual employees. The full page report contains all imformation on each task, including the contents of the memo. This report is actually a series of work orders. BRIEF REPORT #3 is designed such that employees may fill in the hours worked on a project each week, month ... and return them to management for updating of the TASK-PRO database through the timesheet interface. The output of BRIEF REPORT #3, when sorted by the name of the employee assigned to the task, can actually replace the timecards used by many organization. Be sure to read section 14, the TASK-PRO timeslip interface, to understand how employee timesheet data can easily be fed back into the registered version of TASK-PRO. This report is only available with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO. 10.0 The SETUP main menu option The SETUP option of the TASK-PRO main menu allows you to customize TASK-PRO to meet your needs and preferences. The options available on the associated pulldown menu are DISP MODE, SORTING and PRINTER. Selecting the DISP MODE option evokes a pop-up menu which allows you to select a default format for the individual task lines in the browse window. Selecting the SORTING options evokes a pop-up menu which allows you to select a default sorting format for the tasks within the browse menu. Selecting the PRINTER option evokes a pop-up menu which allows you to configure TASK-PRO for the set of control codes to send to your printer as reports are being printed. Selecting the PROPRINTER option will configure TASK-PRO to send font selection control sequences to the printer following IBM PROPRINTER conventions. Selecting the EPSON option will configure TASK-PRO to send font selection control sequences to the printer following EPSON conventions. Selecting the NULL option will cause TASK-PRO to use whatever fonts are currently set on the printer with no control sequences being passed. Selecting the CUSTOMIZE option will bring up a data entry window in which the user Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 5 can specify exactly the hexadecimal escape sequences to be used to select compressed and normal fonts. Depressing F1 from within this window will provide detailed information on this data entry with examples. Once you have set any TASK-PRO configuration, it will be in force until it is specifically changed, even if you quit TASK-PRO, return to DOS, and run TASK-PRO at some time in the future. 11.0 The ORDERING main menu option Selecting the ORDERING option from the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a data entry window that allows the user to enter data into a form to order PERSONAL TASK-PRO or PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO from Business Tech- nologies. After the data has been entered a filled-out order form is printed on the system printer. The F1 key provides context-sensitive help throughout this process. Please note that the order printed by this option still requires the hand filling of certain ordering info- rmation. Note that PERSONAL TASK-PRO and associated files may be freely copied and distributed in unmodified form. Ordering PERSONAL TASK-PRO simply provides the user with a bound users' guide. 12.0 The INFO main menu option Selecting the INFO option from the TASK-PRO main menu brings up a window containing some information about the TASK-PRO product and ordering information. 13.0 The QUIT main menu option Selecting the QUIT option from the PERSONAL TASK-PRO main menu exits TASK-PRO and returns the user to the DOS prompt. 14.0 The TASK-PRO Timeslip Interface This option is only available with PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO. The TASK-PRO Timeslip Interface allows for the quick and easy entry of updates to the HOURS WORKED field for any task without going into the user interface of TASK-PRO. This is achieved through a command prompt which understands the following commands: FOLDER ADD SUB SET HELP QUIT To bring up the timeslip interface simply enter 'TASKPRO -U' from the DOS prompt. The following dialog with the timeslip interface would add 5 hours to the hours worked field of task 7 in the folder SYSTEM Business Technologies PROFESSIONAL TASK-PRO Page 6 and set the hours worked field of task 3 in the file TESTS to a value of 50. ->FOLDER SYSTEM SYSTEM-> ADD 7 5 SYSTEM-> FOLDER TESTS TESTS-> SET 3 50 TESTS-> QUIT Note that the command prompt contains the name of the currently opened task folder.