Click on the DSManager shortcut on your desktop to start the program. When the opening dialog box appears, click on Evaluate. The first time you run the program, DSManager will lead you through the setup process. If all the information required is not available, you may leave the setup process and DSManager will start where you left off the next time you run the program. You only have to go through the setup process once.
The order of setup is as follows:
Please think carefully about the length of appointments. This is the minimum length of appointments that you require, but you will be able to make appointments for multiples of that period. For example, if you set 15 minutes as the standard length of appointments, you will also be able to make appointments for 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 60 minutes, etc. If you change the period after you have made appointments some of the appointment lengths may change.
The names of staff are those who require an appointments diary, usually instructors. Do not include ancillary staff such as receptionists.
If you do not intend to sell goods to clients, then indicate that there are no taxes on sales.
If you make a mistake during the setup process, you may correct it later by selecting the appropriate item from the Setup menu.
Before you can start making appointments, you have to add clients to the DSManager database. To add a client, click on the client icon on the toolbar, click on Add client from the Clients menu, or press the F5 key.
The only required field in the Add client dialog box is the last name. This enables you to quickly add a client to the database when you wish to make an appointment for someone who is not already a client. You can add the other details at a later stage (see section 3 – Modifying a client’s details).
If there is insufficient space in the Comments field, you may add supplementary notes by clicking on Notes.
If you allow clients to have accounts, you should specify the opening balance in the appropriate field and select whether the balance is credit (CR) or debit (DB).
You may override the client number which is prompted by the program (using combinations of letters and numbers) but duplicate numbers are not allowed.
To attach a photograph of a client click on the Photograph button.
If you know the date of the client's driving test, check the box and select the date and time.
You can edit the field names for Other info by selecting Other field names from the Setup menu.
3. Modifying a client’s details
To modify the details of a client, click on the first binoculars icon on the toolbar, click on Search from the Clients menu, or press the F6 key.
You will be asked to enter the client number, or enter the first few letters of the client’s last name or first name or the last 4 digits of the home phone number and select the client from the list.
The client’s details will be displayed. You can add or modify details and save the changes, delete the client, or continue without making any changes.
If the client has future appointments, you will not be allowed to delete the client.
Select Add service from the Services menu or click on the L icon from the toolbar, then enter the type of service, the service code or abbreviation, and the cost.
Typical services might include 1 hour practical lesson, 2 hour practical lesson, 1 hour theory lesson, driving test, etc.
You may enter a standard time for the service which will be used for calculating the length of appointments.
You may also choose whether taxes apply to the particular service.
The codes or abbreviations will be used only when you specify several services for an appointment and the service string is too long to fit in the appointments slot.
To modify the cost of a service, or to delete a service from the database, select Modify service from the Services menu or click on the second binoculars icon from the toolbar.
Select the required service from the droplist.
You will not be allowed to delete a service is it used in future appointments.
If you wish to change the prices of all services by a fixed percentage, select Change prices from the Services menu. Select whether prices should be increased or reduced and enter the percentage change.
To make a new appointment, display the appointments diary for the appropriate day by clicking on the Calendar icon on the toolbar, clicking on Diary from the Appointments menu, or pressing the F3 key.
You can choose whether to show the required services (lessons) or the clients' phone numbers on the diary.
Once the diary is displayed, you may move to the next day by clicking on the right arrow on the toolbar, clicking on Next day from the Appointments menu, or pressing the F4 key. Similarly you may move to the previous day by clicking on the left arrow, clicking on Previous day, or pressing F2. (Note that of you are displaying the weekly appointments diary for a staff member, these commands will show the next week or the previous week). You can also move a week ahead or a week back by clicking on the double arrows or pressing Ctrl+F4 or Ctrl+F2 respectively.
To make the appointment, click on the appropriate slot on the diary. You will be asked to select the client by entering the client number, or entering the first few characters of the client’s name and selecting from the list. If the client is not in the database, check New client and enter the client's details.
Next you will be asked to select the services which are required for the appointment. Up to six services may be selected. If the service is not in the database, you will have to add the service first (see section 4).
You must also select the length of the appointment. If you wish to add pre-appointment notes, click on the Add notes button.
You may also add appointment notes prior to making the appointment (as a reminder) by selecting Notes for next appointment from the Clients menu.
The new appointment will be displayed in light red on the diary.
If you wish to confirm the appointment, click on the appointment and select Confirm the appointment from the list. The confirmed appointment will be shown in purple.
When an appointment is finished, you should sign off the appointment.
Display the diary for the day of the appointment, then click on the appointment. Check “Sign off the appointment”. Enter the notes relevant to the appointment and click on Continue.
The check out screen will show the services attached to the appointment, and their cost. You may add or delete services as required.
If you also sell products to your clients, you will be offered the opportunity to do so at this stage. Click on Add merchandise then enter the stock number, or enter the first few characters of the stock description and select from the list. In the next dialog box, enter the quantity sold. You can also override the selling price if you wish.
You may also sell non inventory items by clicking on the Non inventory button. Enter the description of the item, the unit cost, the quantity and check the appropriate boxes to apply sales taxes.
To exit the Sell stock item dialog box without adding an item, click on OK without entering the stock number or selecting from the list.
When you have finished adding services and merchandise, the costs of the appointment will be summarized.
If the amount paid is different from the amount shown in the Amount paid now field, enter the actual amount paid. Any shortfall in payment will be added to the client’s account. You should also select the payment method (if the amount paid is not nil) and check the box if you wish to print a receipt. You can also offer a discount or redeem a gift certificate at this stage. If the value of the certificate is greater than the cost of the transaction, the balance will be credited to the client’s account.
If the client pays a tip, enter the amount in the Tips dialog box. (You can enable tips by selecting Tips from the Setup menu.) You may also check the box for Keep the change if the change calculator shows an amount of change. Select the member of staff receiving the tip and the method of payment. If more than one staff member has been involved in the appointment you will be prompted to enter the tip for each.
After clicking on Check out, the appointment will be displayed with a light blue background to show that it has been signed off.
You can choose to show the appointments diary in full mode or in condensed mode. To change the mode, Select Style of diary from the Appointments menu or click on the Toggle icon on the toolbar. (The latter will only be available when the diary is displayed.)
When you click on a current appointment in the diary (ie one with a light red or purple background), as well as signing off the appointment you have the following options:
You can also display a full week’s appointments for a specific staff member. Select View week from the Appointments menu, identify the staff member and choose the start date. This is a passive window; you cannot make new appointments or modify appointments from this screen. However you can click on a column to switch to the appropriate day in the daily appointments diary, in order to make a new appointment, sign off appointments, etc.
You can fit the appointments diary to the screen vertically by selecting Fit to screen from the View menu or pressing Ctrl + F. Repeating this command toggles “fit to screen” on and off. You can also switch off the command by displaying any report. While the command is in effect the Zoom command has no effect.
You can also resize the display for the diary and reports by selecting Resize from the View menu.
If you intend to sell items to your clients, you have to add stock to the DSManager database. Click on the stock icon on the toolbar, click on Add stock item from the Sales menu, or press the F9 key.
Stock items might include the highway code booklet, training DVDs, refreshments, etc.
You will be prompted to enter the description of the item, the quantity in stock, the reorder level, the cost price (optional), the selling price and the stock number. DSManager will suggest a stock number, but you may override this.
You can also choose whether sales taxes apply each stock item by checking the appropriate box(es).
The fields for supplier and category (which might include DVDs, booklets, etc) will not be populated initially. To populate them enter the supplier or category and click on the Add button.
To modify a stock item, click on the second binoculars icon on the toolbar, click on Modify stock item from the Sales menu, or press the F10 key. Enter the stock number, or enter the first few characters of the description and select from the list.
You may change the details of the stock item and save the changes, delete the stock item, or continue without making any changes.
Use this function to change the quantity when you replenish your stock.
If you wish to change the prices of a group of stock items by a fixed percentage, select Change prices from the Sales menu. Select whether the prices should be increased or reduced and enter the percentage change. Select the supplier and category if appropriate.
To sell stock to a walk-in customer who may not necessarily be a client, click on the shopping trolley icon on the toolbar, click on Sell stock from the Sales menu, or press the F11 key. You may also use this function to sell services without making an appointment.
Specify whether the customer is an existing client or a walk-in customer. If the customer is an existing client, you will be prompted to identify the client.
To add a stock item to the checkout list, click on the Add merchandise button. You will be prompted to enter the stock number or enter the first few characters of the stock description and select from the list. In the next dialog box, enter the quantity sold. You can also override the selling price if you wish.
You may also sell non inventory items by clicking on the Non inventory button. Enter the description of the item, the unit cost, the quantity and check the appropriate boxes to apply sales taxes.
To exit the Sell stock item dialog box without adding an item, click on OK without entering the stock number or selecting from the list.
To add a service, click on the Add service button. Select the service from the list, and select the member of staff who provided the service. Confirm the details of the service in the next dialog box.
To exit the Sell service dialog box without adding an item, click on OK without selecting a service.
After entering the items, you may offer a discount or redeem a gift certificate. You may also remove items from the check out list by selecting the appropriate item and clicking on Remove item. If you redeem a gift certificate whose value is greater than the cost of the sale, and the client is a registered client, the balance will be credited to the client’s account.
Select the payment method and check the Print receipt box if appropriate.
If the customer pays a tip, enter the amount in the Tips dialog box (if you have set up tips - see Setup menu -> Tips). You may also check the box for Keep the change if the change calculator shows an amount of change. Select the member of staff receiving the tip and the method of payment. If more than one staff member has been involved in the appointment you will be prompted to enter the tip for each.
To change the DSManager print options, select Print options from the Setup menu. You have the following options:
12.1 Always print receipts
Check this option to force DSManager to always print receipts.
12.2 Hide the print dialog box
Check this option if you do not want the Printer dialog box to be displayed.
DSManager will select the default printer (if one is specified).
12.3 Receipt printer to open cash drawer
Check this option if you are using a receipt printer (such as the Epson TM series) and you want the printer to send a signal to a cash drawer to kick open the drawer. After enabling this option, you will also be able to open the cash drawer by pressing the
F12 key (eg for a no-sale).
12.4 Print logo on receipts
Check this option if you wish your company logo to be printed on receipts.
12.5 Print borders on receipts
Check this option if you wish to print a border round receipts.
12.6 Print future appointments details on receipts
Check this option if you to print a list of future appointments for the client at the bottom of
the receipt.
12.7 Number of copies to print
This option allows you to choose the number of copies of receipts to be printed (one or two).
The default font for reports and for print functions is Arial. You can change the font by clicking on Font from the Setup menu and selecting the desired font. This may be useful if you are using a foreign character set such as Russian or Greek. You can also change the font and colour for the school name.
13.1 Accounts
13.1.1 Account payments received
Click on Account payments received from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the current date.
13.1.2 Cancelled transactions
Click on Cancelled transactions from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the current date.
13.1.3 Cash adjustments
Click on Cash adjustments from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date
and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the current date. The reports
shows miscellaneous cash outgoings and receipts.
13.1.4 Commissions
Click on Commissions from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date
and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the current date.
To set up percentage commissions, select Commissions from the Staff submenu of the Setup menu.
13.1.5 Receipts and revenue summary
Click on Receipts and revenue summary from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu. Enter
the start date and time and the end date and time for the report (dates are inclusive).
The dates default to the current date.
The receipts are actual monies received. The revenue is based on the value of services and sales supplied during the period of the report, whether payment has been made or not.
13.1.6 Refunds
Click on Refunds from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu to display a report on refunds given over a specified period. Enter the period of the report.
13.1.7 Revenue, by client
Click on Revenue, by client from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu to display a report on revenue received from individual clients for a specified period. Select the range of clients’ last names and the period for the report.
The revenues include the value of any gift certificates redeemed by the client.
13.1.8 Revenue, by staff member
Click on Revenue, by staff member from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu to display a report on revenue generated by individual members of staff for a specified period. Select the period for the report.
The revenues include the value of any gift certificates redeemed to the staff member.
13.1.9 Tips
Click on Tips from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date
and time and the end date and time for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the current date, and the times to the opening and closing times.
13.1.10 Transactions summary
Click on Transactions summary from the Accounts menu of the Reports menu. Enter the date for the report. The report shows the time, transaction number, client, employee, amount paid and method of payment.
13.1.11 X-Charge transactions
Click on X-Charge transactions from the Accounts menu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date
and end date for the report.
13.2 Appointments summary
To display a summary of appointments for a specified period, click on Appointments summary from the Reports menu.
You may choose to display appointments for all staff, or for an individual employee. You may also opt to show only unconfirmed appointments.
Enter the start and end dates for the report.
13.3 Charge cards
13.3.1 List all cards
Click on List all cards from the Charge cards submenu of the Reports menu to show
the current status of all charge cards.
13.3.2 Transactions (all cards)
Click on Transactions (all cards) from the Charge cards submenu of the Reports
menu to display the transaction history of all charge cards for a specified period.
Enter the start and end dates of the report.
13.3.2 Transactions (single cards)
Click on Transactions (single cards) from the Charge cards submenu of the Reports menu to display the transaction history of a particular charge card for a specified period. Identify the card. Enter the start and end dates of the report.
13.4 Clients
13.4.1 Account history
Click on Account history from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu to display a
particular client’s account history.
Enter the client number or enter the first few characters of the last name or first name or the last 4 digits of the home phone number and select from the list.
13.4.2 Appointments
Click on Appointments from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu to display a
particular client’s current appointments.
Enter the client number or enter the first few characters of the last name or first name or the last 4 digits of the home phone number and select from the list.
13.4.3 Balances
To display a reports on clients with an account balance exceeding a specified amount,
click on Balances from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the minimum balance and specify whether you wish to display debit balances or credit balances.
13.4.4 Birthdays
Click on Birthdays from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu. Select the month to display
a list of clients with birthdays in that month.
13.4.5 Buying service
To display a report on clients who have purchased a specified service since a given date,
click on Buying service from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Select the service from the drop list and enter the start date for the report. The report will be sorted in descending order based on the quantity purchased.
13.4.6 Buying stock
To display a report on clients who have purchased a specified stock item since a
given date, click on Buying stock from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Identify the stock item and enter the start date for the report. The report will be sorted in descending order based on the quantity purchased.
13.4.7 Comments
Click on Comments from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu. You may display a
list of all clients’ comments, or you may select a range of initials of clients’ last names.
You may also sort the clients according to the preferred member of staff.
13.4.8 Driving tests
Click on Driving tests from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu to display a list of clients
with tests on a specified date. Enter the date for the report.
13.4.9 History (sales)
Click on History (sales) from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Enter the client number or enter the first few characters of the last name or first name or the last 4 digits of the home phone number and select from the list.
Select the period of the report, and the details of the client’s stock purchases between those dates will be displayed.
13.4.10 History (services)
Click on History (services) from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Enter the client number or enter the first few characters of the last name or first name or the last 4 digits of the home phone number and select from the list.
Select the period of the report, and the details of the client’s appointments between those dates will be displayed.
13.4.11 Inactive clients
Click on Inactive clients from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Specify the service (or all services) and the period, and all the clients who have not had an appointment for the service during that period will be listed.
13.4.12 List all
Click on List all from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
You may display a list of all clients, or you may select a range of initials of clients’ last names. You may also sort the clients according to the preferred member of staff.
13.4.13 New clients
Click on New clients from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
The report shows new clients who did not have an appointment prior to a specified date. Enter the date.
13.4.14 No shows
There are two reports on no shows. Click on By client to display a list of no shows
by a particular client for a specified period. Identify the client, and enter the
start date and the end date for the report.
Click on Summary to display a summary of no shows for a specified period. Enter the start and end dates for the report.
13.4.15 Prepaid courses
This report shows the status of prepaid courses which are currently in effect.
13.4.16 Reminders
Please see section 24.
13.4.17 Spending
Click on Spending from the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Identify the client, and enter the start date and the end date for the report.
The report displays all the client’s transactions for the specified period, showing the cost and the amount paid at the time of the transaction for services and sales. It also shows the cost of any no-shows and any account payments.
13.5 Gift certificates
Reports on the status of gift certificates.
13.6 Hours worked by staff
Reports on the hours worked by all staff during a specified period. You may choose whether to include appointments which have not been signed off.
13.7 Sales
13.7.1 Detailed report
Click on Detailed report from the Sales submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start
date and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the
current date. You may generate a report for all sales, or for sales by a specified staff member. To print the report for each staff member in turn, check the box. In
this case the reports will be printed but not displayed.
The report shows actual revenue (without tax).
13.7.2 Gift certificates
Click on Gift certificates from the Sales submenu of the Reports menu.
Enter the start date and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive).
The dates default to the current date. You may generate a report for all gift
certificate sales, or for sales by a specified staff member.
13.7.3 List stock
Click on List stock from the Sales submenu of the Reports menu. You may display a
list of all stock, or you may select a range of initials of stock descriptions.
13.7.4 Reorders
Click on Reorders from the Sales submenu of the Reports menu. A list of stock
with quantities less than or equal to the reorder level will be displayed.
13.7.5 Stock consumed in school
Click on Stock consumed in school from the Sales submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the period of the report and select the staff member if appropriate.
13.7.6 Summary report
Click on Daily summary report from the Sales submenu of the Reports menu. Enter
the start date and the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). You may
generate a report for all sales, or for sales by a specified staff member. To
print the report for each staff member in turn, check the box. In this case the
reports will be printed but not displayed.
The report shows actual revenue (without tax).
13.8 Statistics
13.8.1 Hours worked, by staff member
Click on Hours worked, by staff member from the Statistics submenu of the Reports menu.
You will be prompted to enter the date from which you wish to show the statistics.
13.8.2 Revenue, by staff member
Click on Revenue, by staff member from the Statistics submenu of the Reports menu. You will be prompted to enter the date from which you wish to show the statistics.
13.9 Services
13.9.1 Detailed report
To display a detailed report on services sold for a specified period, select Detailed
report from the Services submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date and
the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the current date.
You may generate a report for all services, or for services sold by a specified staff member.
To print the report for each staff member in turn, check the box. In this case
the reports will be printed but not displayed.
The report shows actual revenue (without tax).
13.9.2 Group sessions
To display the details of a group session, click on Group sessions from the Services
submenu of the Reports menu. Select the session from the list. The report will show the clients
who have enrolled.
13.9.3 List services
To display a list of the services in the DSManager database, click on List services
from the Services submenu of the Reports menu.
13.9.4 Summary report
To display a summary of services sold during a specified period, select Summary
report from the Services submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date and
the end date for the report (dates are inclusive). The dates default to the c
urrent date. You may generate a report for all services, or for services by
a specified staff member. To print the report for each staff member in turn,
check the box. In this case the reports will be printed but not displayed.
The report shows actual revenue (without tax).
13.10 Staff appointments
Lists future appointments for a staff member.
13.11 Staff details
To display the details of staff members, select Staff details from the Reports menu.
13.12 Transaction details
To display the details of a specific transaction, select Transaction details from the Reports menu. Enter the number of the transaction to be displayed.
13.13 Vacations
13.13.1 Current school vacations
To display a list of all the current vacation periods for the school, click on Current
school vacations from the Vacations submenu of the reports menu. The report indicates whether the vacations are repeated annually.
13.13.2 Current staff vacations
To display a list of current staff vacations, click on Current staff vacations from the
Vacations submenu of the Reports menu.
13.13.3 Past vacations
To display a report on past vacations, click on Past vacations from the Vacations submenu of the Reports menu. Enter the start date and end date for the report and select the staff member if appropriate.
13.14 Worksheet
To display the daily worksheet for a member of staff, click on Worksheet from the Reports menu. Select the staff member and the date. You may also print or email a daily worksheet by selecting Print/email worksheet from the Appointments menu or clicking on the worksheet icon on the toolbar.
14. Receiving payments from clients
To receive payment from a client to offset the client’s debit account, click on the credit card icon on the toolbar, click on Receive payment from the Clients menu, or press the F7 key.
Enter the client number, or enter the first few characters of the client’s last name or first name or the last 4 digits of the home phone number and select from the list.
Enter the amount paid, the payment date, and the method of payment. If you wish to print a receipt, check the appropriate box.
DSManager allows you to keep a record of miscellaneous cash expenditure and receipts. To enter an outgoing payment select Outgoings from the Cash adjustments submenu of the Sales menu. To enter a payment received select Receipts from the Cash adjustments submenu of the Sales menu. The only required field is the amount paid.
For a report on cash adjustments, select Cash adjustments from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu.
16. POS hardware
16.1 Barcode readers
16.2 Receipt printers
If you find that your receipt printer is printing slowly you may be able to increase
the speed by selecting Receipt printer speed from the Setup menu and checking the box
to use the printer font.
16.3 Cash drawers
If you are using a cash drawer which connects to a serial port or the USB port,
select Serial/USB cash drawer from the Setup menu and select the port to which
the cash drawer is connected. Subsequently you can open the cash drawer by pressing
the F12 key. The cash drawer will also open each time you use the change calculator.
16.4 Pole displays
17. Discarding old data
After time your data files may become large enough to slow down the program noticeably.
You may discard old data by selecting Purge old data from the File menu. You will be asked
to select the year prior to which you wish data to be discarded.
18. Password protection
You can password protect the DSManager Setup commands. Select Set the password from
the Password submenu of the Setup menu. Enter the password, then re-enter it to confirm.
You should make a note of this password. Subsequently, each time you run the program you will be prompted to enter the Setup password. To run the program without access to the Setup commands, click on Cancel.
The Purge function from the File menu is also password protected.
You may choose to password protect other commands by selecting Password protection
from the Password submenu of the Setup menu. Check the commands which you wish to protect.
To change your Setup password, select Set the password from the Password submenu of
the Setup menu. Enter the password then re-enter it to confirm.
You can also set up the password by clicking on the key icon on the toolbar. After
you have set up the password you can click on the key to lock or unlock the Setup menu.
You can also set up passwords for your staff members by selecting Add staff password from the Password
submenu of the Setup menu. After you have done this, staff will have to enter their password to
create, edit or sign off appointments (if you have password protected these functions). You can edit a staff password by selecting
Edit staff password from the Password submenu.
19. Exporting email addresses
DSManager enables you to export clients’ email addresses. Click on Export email addresses from
the Clients menu or click on the email icon from the toolbar.
You may export all the client email addresses, or those for clients whose
last names begin with a specified range of letters.
The email addresses will be copied to your clipboard. You can them paste them into the CC field
or the BCC field of your email program.
20. Exporting mailing list
DSManager enables you to create a data source for Microsoft Word mail merge.
You may export all the client addresses, or those for clients whose last names begin
with a specified range of letters. You may choose to exclude clients with email addresses.
A file, mailmerge.dat, will be created in your My Documents folder.
To import the file into Microsoft Word, follow these instructions:
21. Printing/emailing daily worksheets
To print or email a daily worksheet for a staff member, select Print/email worksheet from
the Appointments menu, or click on the worksheet icon from the toolbar.
Select the staff member from the drop list and enter the required date.
You may also print the worksheets for all staff members in turn.
You may choose to include the client notes and the appointment notes on the worksheet
by checking the appropriate boxes.
You may also display the worksheet for a staff member by selecting Worksheet from the
Reports menu.
You may set up the option to automatically email worksheets when DSManager is started each day by selecting Configure email from the
Setup menu.
22. Networking DSManager
DSManager is network ready. If you wish to run DSManager on a network, follow the following steps:
23. Printing old receipts
You may wish to print an old receipts if, for example, your printer was out of ink
the first time you printed the receipt.
Select Print old receipt from the File menu, and enter the transaction number for the receipt.
(The program defaults to the last transaction number). You can find transaction numbers
by displaying detailed daily reports on sales and/or services.
24. Reminders
Reminders may be used to alert you to a periodic client related activity, such as a
repeat appointment.
To set up a reminder, select Add from the Reminders submenu of the Clients menu.
Identify the client, then specify the period of the reminder (in months), the
start date (which must be a date in the future) and enter a description of the reminder.
If you wish to create a single reminder that will not be repeated, select
zero months for the period of the reminder. The reminder will then be for
the starting date and will be deleted when this date has passed.
To delete a reminder, select Delete from the Reminders submenu of the Clients menu.
Identify the client, and the details of the reminder will be displayed.
Click on the Delete button to delete the reminder. If the client has more than
one reminder, each will be displayed in turn.
To edit a reminder, select Edit from the Reminders submenu of the Clients menu.
Identify the client, and the details of the reminder will be displayed.
You may edit the period of the reminder, the date of the next reminder,
and the description of the reminder. Click on the Save changes button to
save the changes, or Continue to continue without making any changes.
If the client has more than one reminder, each will be displayed in turn.
Each time the DSManager program is started, it checks to see if any reminders are due.
If they are, they will be displayed in turn and you will be asked if you wish to
print out the reminders for the day.
You may also print out reminders for a specified date by selecting Print for day from
the Reminders submenu of the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
You may display all the reminders in the database by selecting List all from the
Reminders submenu of the Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
Reminders are automatically updated by the monthly interval when their next date has passed.
25. Vacations and unavailability
25.1 School vacations
Enter the start date and the end date of the vacation (inclusive dates).
If the vacation is to be repeated annually (eg Christmas Day, Independence Day),
check the appropriate box.
Once you have added a vacation period, the appointments diary for
that period will not be visible.
You will not be able to enter vacations if there are appointments during the vacation period.
To remove a school vacation period, select Remove from the Vacations (school) submenu of the
Setup menu. Select the appropriate vacation period from the list.
25.2 Staff vacations
Select the staff member and enter the start date and time and the end date and time.
If the absence is for part of a day, the start date and the end date should be the same.
You will not be able to enter staff vacations if the staff member has appointments
during the vacation period.
To remove a staff vacation, select Remove from the Vacations (staff) submenu of the Setup menu.
Select the staff member, then select the vacation period from the list.
25.3 Staff unavailability
Select the member of staff from the list, select the day of the week and specify the times for the unavailability.
If the staff member already has appointments during these periods, the appointments will
remain intact.
You may temporarily suspend periods of staff unavailability by selecting Suspend staff unavailability
from the Appointments menu or pressing Ctrl+S. This will be useful if a member of staff wishes
to make an exception and make an appointment during the lunch hour, for instance.
You may also set up individual periods of unavailability (which do not repeat each day)
by clicking on an empty slot in the appointments diary and checking the box
“Mark as unavailable” instead of identifying a client. Select the length of
the period of unavailability. You can remove any of these one-off periods by
clicking on the slot, then clicking on Yes.
26. Cancelling an old transaction
To cancel an old transaction, for example when a client changes his or her mind about
a purchase, click on Cancel old transaction from the File menu.
You will be prompted to enter the appropriate transaction number. DSManager will
supply the number of the last transaction, but you may override this for older transactions.
If the transaction involves signing off an appointment, the appointment will be reassigned
as not signed off, and will show in pink the next time you display the appointments diary.
You can also cancel the signing off of an appointment by selecting Cancel sign off from the
Appointments menu and cancel a sale by selecting Cancel sale from the Sales menu.
27. Exporting reports
Most of the reports generated by DSManager can be exported as csv (comma separated
variables) files, so that they can be read by another application such as Microsoft Excel.
To set up this option, select Export reports from the Setup menu, and check the box.
Each time a report is displayed a csv file, report.csv, will be created in your
My Documents folder.
28. Printing gift certificates
To print gift certificates, select Print gift certificate from the Sales menu.
Select the clipart which you would like to be printed on the front of the gift certificate.
Enter the value of the certificate and the certificate number (or the start number if you
wish to print more than one certificate). You will be prompted with the start number, but
you may override this number.
Enter the number of certificates you wish to print. If you enter more than 1,
the certificates will have sequential numbers starting with the start number.
The Code 39 barcode corresponding to the certificate number will be printed on the back
of the certificate.
Certificates should be printed on letter sized paper or card.
If you have not installed the DSManager clipart, you will not be able to print certificates.
By default, gift certificates are valid indefinitely. You can choose to make them valid
for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months from the date of purchase by selecting Gift certificates from the
Setup menu.
29. Company logo
DSManager allows you to print your logo on receipts. The logo must be a 24 bit BMP file.
You should name the file logo.bmp and save it in your DSManager folder to replace the
existing file. The image should be no more than 200 pixels in height.
To set up DSManager to print the logo, select Print options from the Setup menu, and check
the appropriate box.
30. Backing up data
DSManager allows you to back up your data files for security in the event that you lose
data (for example due to hard disk failure).
To back up you data, select Back up data files from the Setup menu. You will be prompted to
select the folder for the backup files. It is recommended that you back up your data to a
USB flash drive.
DO NOT back up the files if you think there may be a problem with them, as you might overwrite the good files.
You will also be prompted to back up your data each time you close DSManager.
To restore your data files, reinstall DSManager if necessary, then copy the data files
from the backup medium to the folder C:\DSManager. Alternatively run the program Restore.exe which
you will find in your DSManager folder and select the folder containing the backup files.
31. Commissions
To set up the rates of commission for staff members, select Commissions from the Staff
submenu of the Setup menu.
Select the member of staff and enter the percentage commission rates for services,
sales of merchandise and sales of gift certificates.
If the staff member has to earn a certain threshold each month before commissions are
paid, you should enter the amount at the prompt. This will only be available if the
commissions on services, sales and gift certificates are the same.
When a client has paid by credit card, and the bank takes a commission on the payment,
you may wish to take this into account when staff commissions and tips are calculated.
To do so, select Credit card commission from the Setup menu. Enter the percentage commission
on credit cards, and the percentage commission on debit cards (which defaults to the former).
You may choose to apply the commissions to the following reports from the Accounts submenu of the Reports menu:
DSManager allows you to accept deposits for appointments. To set up deposits click on Deposits
from the Setup menu.
You can set up two types of deposit, a fixed deposit and a deposit which is a percentage of the
appointment cost. If you set up both you can choose which you wish to use when you make the
appointment. For each type of deposit you must enter the minimum appointment cost for which the
deposit applies. You can leave this blank for the percentage deposit but for the fixed deposit it
must be at least the amount of the deposit.
When you cancel an appointment, if you cancel it as a no show the deposit will be forfeited. Otherwise
you will have the opportunity to refund the deposit.
33. SMS text messaging
DSManager allows you to send text messages to clients. To use this feature you must
set up an account with CDyne (www.cdyne.com) and they will provide you with a licence key.
Select SMS text messaging from the Setup menu and enter the licence key. Enter your country code if required. For example if you were in the
UK you would enter the country code 44 and check the box to remove the leading zero from phone numbers.
SMS text messaging can be used to:
34. Wait listing appointments
There may be occasions when you wish to wait list an appointment for a client,
for example if there are no available appointment slots for the required member of staff.
Select the staff member if appropriate.
Click on the Add button to add a wait listed appointment.
Identify the client. Select the services that are required and select the length
of the appointment.
You may choose to wait list the appointment for “as soon as possible”, or you may specify
a preferred date and time.
To remove a wait listed appointment, highlight the appointment and click on the Remove button.
After you have wait listed an appointment you can convert it to an actual appointment
by clicking on an empty appointment slot on the diary then clicking on the Transfer
from wait list button.
35. Charge cards
Charge cards are credit cards which are issued by your school, for use solely in your
school and maintained wholly by your school.
To set up a Charge card for a client, select Set up a charge card from the Charge cards menu.
Identify the client.
Enter the charge card number. If you intend to use a scanner to identify charge cards,
please do not enter any spaces or hyphens (dashes) in the card number.
Enter the initial balance of the card. If the card is an existing card which a client
has already paid for, check the box so that the balance will not appear as a receipt.
Enter the credit limit for the card. If there is no credit limit, leave this field blank.
If the client must maintain a credit balance at all times, enter 0.00.
If the client is paying the balance, select the payment method, and check the box
if you wish to print a receipt.
After you have set up the first charge card, when you sell services or merchandise
“charge card” will appear in the list of payment methods. If you select this option
you will be prompted to identify the card by entering the card number, or entering
the last 4 digits of the card number and selecting the card from the list.
To cancel a charge card, select Cancel a charge card from the Charge cards menu.
Identify the card. If the card has a credit balance you will be prompted
to refund the amount. If the card has a debit balance you will be asked to
confirm that you wish to write off this amount.
To accept a payment for a charge card, select Accept payment from the Charge cards menu.
Identify the card. Enter the amount to be paid and select the payment method.
If you wish to print a receipt, check the box.
36. Discounts
You may specify whether discounts apply to services, merchandise sales, or both.
To do so, select Discounts from the Setup menu.
The selection will not affect your overall revenue, but if you specify that discounts
are applied to both sales of services and merchandise they will be spread evenly
against both and will affect your reports on receipts for services and sales.
The default is that discounts apply to both sales and services.
37. Stock consumed in the school
You can cater for stock which is consumed in the school (as opposed to
stock which is sold to clients) by selecting Consume stock from the Sales menu.
Click on the Add stock button to add an item. Identify the stock and enter
the quantity consumed. Select the staff member who consumed the stock if appropriate.
To remove an item from the list, highlight it and click on the Remove button.
38. Tracking which employee made, modified and signed off an appointment
DSManager allows you to track which employee made, modified and signed off an appointment.
To enable this function, select Password protection from the Password submenu of the
Setup menu, and check the boxes for Prevent making appointments, Prevent modifying
appointments and Prevent signing off appointments.
Next, select Staff passwords from the Password submenu of the Setup menu.
Select each staff member in turn, enter a password for each, then click on OK.
When an employee logs on to the program without entering the Setup password, he or she
will be asked to enter his or her password before making, modifying or signing off
an appointment. The employee’s name will be logged against the appointment.
The next time you display the weekly diary, you will be able to right click
on an appointment and display the history of who made, modified and signed off the appointment.
39. Giving refunds
To give a refund to a client, select Give Refund from the Clients menu. If you have set up
employee passwords and you have not logged on using the Setup password, the
employee will be prompted to enter her password to use this function.
You will be asked whether you want to give a refund to a registered client.
If you enter Yes, you will be prompted to identify the client.
Enter the refund for merchandise sales and the refund for services as appropriate.
Select the payment method. You may also enter a brief comment.
Refunds will affect the report on receipts but not the revenue reports.
40. Second currency
DSManager allows you to set up a second currency so that the totals in receipts
are shown in the second currency as well as the main currency.
To set up a second currency select Second currency from the Country settings submenu
of the Setup menu. If you also wish to print the exchange rate on receipts check the box.
41. Finding the next free appointment slot
To find the next free appointment slot select Search for free slot from the
Appointments menu. Select the required length of the appointment and the
staff member if appropriate. Enter the date on which you would like the search to
start, which defaults to the current date.
42. Managing bookings for equipment
As well as providing an appointments diary for staff bookings,
DSManager also provides a layer for equipment bookings. Equipment might
include computers for example.
First you need to set up the equipment by selecting Add equipment from the Equipment
submenu of the Setup menu.
For each item of equipment enter a description and a code or number (which will be used
in the condensed booking chart). Both the description and the code must be unique.
After you have added equipment you can display the equipment diary by selecting Diary
from the Appointments menu, clicking on the calendar icon on the toolbar or pressing F3.
Select the date for the diary and choose the Equipment diary from the Select diary drop list.
You can manage appointments in the equipment diary is the same way you would with
the staff diaries. However when an appointment is signed off from the equipment
diary the services which were selected when the appointment was made will not be
allocated to any particular staff member and will counted as general sale.
You can remove equipment from the diary and replace equipment by selecting the
appropriate item from the Equipment submenu of the Setup menu.
43. Changing staff details
43.1 Adding a staff member 43.2 Removing a staff member 43.3 Replacing or changing the details of a staff member You may also view or change the staff details by clicking on the name of the staff on the
diary. The Save button is password protected.
43.4 Rearranging staff in the appointments diary DSManager allows you to send phone notifications (text to voice messages) to clients with appointments. To use this feature you must
set up an account with CDyne www.cdyne.com and they will provide you with a licence key.
Select Phone notification from the Setup menu and enter the licence key. Enter your country code if required. For example if you were in the
UK you would enter the country code 44 and check the box to remove the leading zero from phone numbers.
The WebLink module allows your clients to make bookings online from your Web site.
You should link the existing pages of your Web site to the page which is uploaded by DSManager
using the WebLink. The name of the page is dsm_0.php.
To set up the WebLink, select WebLink from the Setup menu. The required fields are:
You may also change the appearance of the php generated Web pages by clicking on the Options
button. Here you can change the font, the text colour, the page background colour and the
table background colour. If these options are not flexible enough and you are familiar with
HTML and PHP you can edit the php files which are uploaded by DSManager. These are dsm_0.php,
dsm_1.php, dsm_2.php, dsm_3.php and dsm_4.php.
To enable the ftp transfer, check the Enable connection box. Your WebLink files will be uploaded
to reflect the free slots in your appointments diary for the next 28 days.
To refresh your Web site and keep it up to date you should click on Upload WebLink files from
the File menu, click on the two computers icon on the toolbar or press Ctrl+U. As well as uploading
the up to date files, any bookings made online will be downloaded and added to your appointments
diary.
You may also set up the option to upload files automatically every 15, 30 or 60 minutes.
You will also be notified of online appointments by email.
To make an online appointment the clients must first identify themselves by
entering their client number and the last 4 digits of their home phone number.
There is also an option to view your appointments diary over the Internet. To set up this
option check the box to Publish the appointments diary on the Web site. The diary can then
be accessed through the file diary.php which will be in the same directory on the server as
the other PHP files. You should paste the URL of this file into your browser to view the diary.
If you have created a setup password for DSManager you will need this password or a staff password to access
the diary.
You may wish to set up group sessions where you have a class of clients. Click on the appropriate
slot on the appointments diary and instead of selecting the client, check the box to Mark as group session.
Select the length of the session, enter the cost (which can be left blank if there is no cost) and
enter a brief description of the session. Group sessions will be shown in orange in the diary.
After you have set up a group session you can enrol clients by clicking on the shopping cart on the toolbar.
Select registered client and identify the client. Click on the Group session button to enrol the client.
For a report on group sessions select group sessions from the Services submenu of the Reports menu.
You may email reminders to clients with impending appointments by selecting Email clients with
appointments from the Clients menu.
Enter the date for the appointments.
You may edit the email message but do not remove the fields name, date and time as these will
be replaced with the appropriate data.
You may set up the option to automatically email clients with appointments when DSManager is started each day by selecting Configure email from the
Setup menu.
DSManager allows you to offer your clients prepaid courses such as 30 one hour lessons for
$300.
You must set up the services offered in the prepaid courses (Services menu, Add service), in this example
"one hour lesson".
Then select Prepaid courses from the Setup menu and add your prepaid courses.
After you have set up prepaid courses you can sell them to clients by clicking on the shopping
cart on the toolbar and identifying the client. After a client has purchasd a prepaid course he or
she will not be charged for the service until they have used up their allocation.
To see the status of clients with prepaid courses in effect, click on prepaid courses from the
Clients submenu of the Reports menu.
DSManager has the option to calculate change to the nearest 5 cents. To set up this option select Calculation of change
from the Country settings submenu of the Setup menu.
Click on Remove inactive clients from the Setup menu. Select the period that the clients have not had appointments in order to be removed.
If you do not want to remove clients with account balances, check the box.
You may use a barcode reader to enter client numbers (eg if the clients have membership
cards with barcodes) or to enter stock numbers (eg from UPC codes). We recommend keyboard
wedge scanners, as they require no additional software.
DSManager recognizes if a receipt printer (3 inch paper width) is connected,
and prints receipts appropriately. Your receipt printer must have a Windows
driver installed.
If you are using a cash drawer which connects to your receipt printer,
select Print options from the Setup menu, and check the appropriate box. The cash
drawer will open each time a receipt is printed. You will also be able to open the
cash drawer by pressing the F12 key.
If you are using a pole display, specify the type of display by selecting Pole display
from the Setup menu. If you are using a display with a parallel connection, indicate
whether the display uses passthrough (ie is connected via a printer). If it is a display
with a serial connection, select the COM port. Choose whether the display emulates Logic
Controls or Epson.
Note that the Name is the full name of the client (eg Mrs Susan Smith) and the
Recipient is the title plus the last name (eg Mrs Smith).
Please note that if you change the DSManager setup on any of your computers you must restart DSManager on the other computers for the changes to take effect.
To add a period when the school is closed for vacation, select Add from the Vacations
(school) submenu of the Setup menu.
To add a period when a staff member will be absent, select Add from the Vacations
(staff) submenu of the Setup menu.
You may have members of staff who do not work the full school hours, for example part
time staff who work only in the mornings. You may block the unavailable periods by
selecting Unavailability from the Staff submenu of the Setup menu.
To add a staff member who will appear in the appointments diary click on Add staff from the staff
submenu of the appointments menu. The only required field is the name.
Click on Remove staff from the Staff submenu of the Setup menu. Select the staff member you would
like to remove and confirm the removal. You will not be able to remove a member of staff who has
future appointments. After you have removed the member of staff their revenue will still be included
in the reports for all staff members but you will not be able to obtain a report on revenue for the
individual staff member who has been removed.
Click on Replace staff or edit details from the Staff submenu of the Setup menu. Select the member of
staff and change the details as required.
Click on Rearrange in diary from the Staff submenu of the Setup menu. Select the two members to swap their positions
in the diary. This operation might take some time - please be patient.
Email: info@grensoft.com