Addendum to Update 6.20

Addendum to Version 6.20
(The following changes were implemented since version 6.00)

We are proud to announce many new dynamic features in The Ultimate with this release. Please take the time to carefully read through this addendum to learn how to implement many of them.

Email field added to Customer File and Customer Dbase Export
A field for the Customer’s Email Address has been added to the “Identification” tab of Customer Maintenance and is also a field exported in the DBase export option. This new field is 30 characters in length.

State added to Customer City Codes
The Customer’s State has been added to the “Customer City Codes” screen in System Setup. To utilize this feature, fill in the state that the listed city resides in to further quicken the entry of new customers.

Accounting Periods can now be Eliminated
Most of our customers have not used the “Accounting Periods” feature of the software and are “bugged” when the reminder message comes up on the POS screen each month, or year. We now give you the ability to eliminate this feature by entering a “0” (zero) in the “Accounting Period” field. You can still, if desired, zero out the period rental and income totals manually using the “Period Processing” utility under the “File Maintenance” menu system. If this feature is turned off, then the period totals will advance the same as the Year to date and Total to date totals.

ESC key now available for customer memos and messages
A field has been added to the “Invoicing Alerts” field in System Setup which allows you to set the system to ONLY hide the customer messages (when they pop up during invoicing) by pressing the ESC key, instead of the clerk just “blowing” through it by pressing the ENTER key. This is a good way to increase the likelihood that they have seen and read the messages. If this feature is activated, remember to inform the clerks so they don’t get stuck on a popup screen during the invoicing process. This feature is activated on the “Invoice Alerts” setup screen by answering “Y” to the question “Force Use of ESC Key on Alerts?”

Security added for Data Restore, File Creation, Purging files (Organizing) & Account Forgive
Questions have been added to secure such features as Data Restore, File Creation and Account Forgive to give you more control of the system and it’s file integrity. These questions have been added to the “Security Levels” setup screen.

More Options in Rental Out Listing
As part of the “Rental Out and Late Report” and “Rental Out System we have added the ability to only print Rentals that are XX days late or YOUNGER, instead of just XX days late or OLDER. This allows the report to be shorter and more precise without always printing out the “eternally late” rentals. Added ranges were 7, 30 & 60 days or earlier. They appear when the option “Print Some Late Rentals” is selected.

Customer Birthday field added to Reporting System as a range
The system now allows reports to be printed of Customer Main Users who have Birthdays between two date ranges REGARDLESS of the year born. In the past, having the Year be part of the range meant that reports based of Birthday could not be printed. This selection has been added to the “Primary and Secondary Sort Fields” and the “Range Fields” when printing a custom report.

New Customer Quick Entry Fields
More of the Customer file’s fields have been added to the “Quick Customer Utilities” menu displayed by pressing ALT-4 at the same time from the middle of an invoice. Select “F5 – Customer Quick Editing” to easily edit some of the often changed Customer information.

Purging of Customer Title History by date
The system will now allow you to purge the Customer Extended History file in a similar fashion that the Invoice History had been purged. (File Organize) As a reminder, the Customer Extended History field simply answers the question “Has the customer rented this Title before?” It is displayed on the screen in various places of the software in alphabetical order on the screen, 30 titles at a time.

Use this feature wisely as you may not want to run this utility because the intended outcome will be different if older rentals are purged. It will no longer report ALL titles seen, but titles seen AFTER a certain date. This utility can be run under the Organize button of the “Customer History & Accounts” line on the File Reindexing screen. Use this feature with caution, as it cannot be reversed.

Customer Title History now displays date rented
The screens discussed in the feature above now display the “Date Rented” information. This will allow you to tell the Month and Year when the movie was rented. Due to screen space availability, the Day of the month is not displayed. It can also be a useful feature to track down titles of old invoices which may have been purged from the system. (Invoice History)

NOTE: Titles without a date next to them means that the movie was rented more than 3 years ago when you were running a software version which did not collect this information. Blank dates will ALWAYS be purged when running the “Purging Utility” above, since the system assumes it was BEFORE the starting date entered.

Sales History Purging by date
Due to customer demand, we have also allowed the Sales Total file to be purged by date in the Reorganizing screen. This can be useful if the store’s ownership changed and the old owner does not want certain information kept in the computer. In the past, this file could never be purged and only totally erased using File Creation. This utility can be run under the Organize button of the “Daily Sales Totals” line on the File Reindexing screen. Use this feature with caution, as it cannot be reversed.

Added a few “Mass File Deletion and editing” Utilities
A selection has now been added to the “File Maintenance” menu system which now allows mass deletion and editing of the Customer and Rental files. Select “File Utilities” in the File Maintenance menu screen. A menu is displayed showing all the options. A LOT more will be added in the next update. The system will sometimes ask for date ranges, and other criteria before processing.

NOTE: Make sure your system is properly backed up prior to running any of these utilities as they CANNOT be reversed. A security level of “9” is required to run these utilities. We suggest that only the owner or manager have access to change this important information. Anytime a utility is actually run, the software will automatically reindex affected file prior to exiting the utilities. Again, use extreme caution when running these utilities.

Important reminder!
It is now time to discard any diskettes PRIOR to 6.20. This includes the Rentrak interface for all Rentrak Customers, as the existing interface is now part of Diskette three. (Note: The Rentrak interface does NOT have to be updated at this time, since it is the exact version as the one you are currently running.

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