Date   : Mon, 06 Aug 1984 12:25:57 EDT (Monday)
From   : Robert Bloom DRSTE-TOI 3775 <rbloom@Apg-1.ARPA>
Subject: dBase II .cmd Program Beta-Testors Wanted

Long message for dBase II People:

I need up to four dBase II knowledgeable persons to be willing to Beta-test a 
dBase II program I've written.  The program will be released to the PD 
community after test.  (This will be the first time I've released a major 
effort to the world - I'd like to know if there are any bad bugs before the 
unsuspecting world gets it.)

The program is called "PMS" for "Project Management System" and is used to 
manage the milestones, financial info, and other data of interest on a 
project basis.  Additional information and parameters are attached below.

Testers should have a good knowledge of dBase II command files as some (and up 
to a great deal of) customization is to be expected.  (Nobody's milestones 
will be identical to mine and the "data of interest" will vary based on the 
type projects tracked.)  A hard disk is recommended as a complete PMS system 
with all options activated, the documentation, and several project files may 
take a mega-byte or more.  For instance, a file list on my HD (4k block size - 
18Meg HD divided into 13 "Logical" drives of 1 and 2M bytes) shows the PMS 
related files as:

     Drive:B  User:1  Files:35     Space used:360k  (572k Free)
          (16 PMS Project dBases)
     Drive:D  User:1  Files:104     Space used:952k  (940k Free)
          (dBase II and all of the *.CMD and *.DOC files of PMS)
     Drive:E  User:1  Files:33     Space used:440k  (516k Free)
          (15 PMS Project dBases)
     Drive:G  User:1  Files:29     Space used:256k  (488k Free)
          (13 PMS Project dBases)
     Drive:J  User:1  Files:5     Space used:20k  (360k Free)
          (1 PMS Project dBase)

     Don't let these figures scare you completely off - the 66 .CMD files 
alone take "only" ~325k and the whole thing is highly modulized so that it may 
be trimed down for particular applications.  One does not needs the multiple 
disks as shown above - a megabyte should hold a nice size working system.)

     After I sort out the replies (if any) to this message, we'll work out a 
method to transfer the files to the testors machines.  (I've a NorthStar so 
there is a definite media problem.)

                          PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
                                    (PMS)

                    Copyright (c) 1984 by Robert W. Bloom
                             All Rights Reserved
PMS is a set of dBase II "command files" that serve to manage milestone 
schedules, financial actions, and administration data on a project by project 
basis.  The full-blown system includes facilities for:  (limits are program 
limits - disk size limitations will probably be the driving factor.)

     * Up to 800 milestones per project, each with an original date, actual 
date, up to 10 revisions, and each date may have an optional cross-reference 
number to a comment.

     * routines for easy revision and completion of milestones, each with the 
capability of adding comments as part of the revision/completion.

     * up to 99 comment records per project with up to 150 characters per 
comment.

     * unlimited number of projects, however, only 30 may be displayed in the 
project selection menu.  (There is a way to call projects not in the menu.)

     * All the information for one project is held in one file (and one .ndx)

     * completely menu driven - the user need not know anything of the 
underlying dBase II structure, programming language, or commands.  (Knowledge 
of these is necessary to modify the system however.)

     * Two levels of prompting - "expert and novice".

     * A unlimited number of Points-of-contacts may be held for each project, 
each containing name, agency, address, attention line, and phone number.

     * Adminstrative type data is held for each project - names, numbers, 
responsible persons and agencies.

     * Financial actions - requested, received and distributed funding, are 
held for each project.

     * A financial plan, i.e. how much is planned to go for what, is held for 
each project.

     * 10 different reports in three major areas (administration, milestones, 
and financial) are available.  Reports may be "stacked", in which multiple 
reports on multiple projects may be all output continuously without additional 
user input.

     * reports may to output to printer, terminal or file.

     * (rudimentary) facilities for retrieving information from a project 
historical file.

     * highly modular, easily modified.  The total coding size is >300k, but 
may be reduced by eliminating modules.

     * facilities for viewing a correctly any record in the data base without 
resort to any of the dBase II editing commands.

Documentation files include:

      READ-ME.PMS - facilities of PMS, where to look for more help, and short 
                          instructions on how to install
          PMS.DOC - user documentation
          PMS.INS - detailed installation instructions
          PMS.HLP - help for customization, program notes
          PMS.STR - table of the structure of the project files
          PMS.RPT - Sample reports

*dBase II is a trademark of Ashton-Tate