The Measuring Service Accounting System (MESA)

 

Version 2.4

 

 

 

 

Making the paper work tasks of the product measurer simpler,

with full work tracking and year to date  income reports.
 Saving you time and money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written, Designed and Owned by

Space Coast Computers, Inc

Copyright 1999-2004

 


Introduction

 

    The Measuring Service Accounting System program supports the task of measuring homes and offices for Carpet, Vinyl, Tile and other flooring products.  It provides an electronic archive of all jobs and the associated drawings so work can be review and even old locations review for new work.  In storing all the information about each measuring job, which the system refers to as a PO, the program generates invoices; Emails work totals to a District manager and provides income reports by week, month and year.  The program provides the missing piece between all the job information and needed business accounting.

 


 

Table Of Contents

 

Introduction. 2

Table Of Contents. 3

1.0 Features of The Measuring Service Accounting System (MESA), Version 2.4.35. 6

1.1 Future options. 6

2.0 Description. 7

3.0 Product Versions. 8

3.1 Stand-alone Version. 8

3.2 District or Regional Manager Station. 8

3.3 Remote Version. 9

3.4 Demo Version. 9

3.5 Product Upgrades. 9

3.6 Software Support 9

4.0 Menus. 10

4.1 Opening Menu. 11

4.2 Other Information Menu. 12

4.3 Product Information Menu. 13

4.4 The Financial Menu. 14

4.5 The Import Menu. 15

4.6 The Purchase Order or PO Screen. 16

4.7 Expense Entry Form.. 18

5.0 Program Setup. 19

5.1 Company Information Form.. 19

5.2 Measurer Information. 21

5.3 Setup Store Information. 22

5.4 Insurance Company Setup. 23

5.5 Transaction Codes to Description. 24

5.6 Product Form Setup for stores. 25

5.7 Assigning Standard Widths to Products. 26

5.8 Business Product List 27

5.9 Business Expense Category List 28

6.0 Reports and Invoices. 29

6.1 Income Reports. 29

6.2 Invoice Generation Form.. 30

7.0 Work Scheduling. 31

7.1 Scheduling Control Form.. 31

7.2 Schedule Work Control Form.. 32

7.3 Close Routing Sheet 33

7.4 Routing Work Sheet 34

8.0 Store Internet Web Site Download. 35

8.1 View of Current Jobs to Download. 35

8.2 View Old Downloaded Jobs. 36

9.0 Remote Measures updates. 37

9.1 Email Import List 37

9.2 Email Import History. 38

10. Job Work Sheets. 39

10.1 Insurance Estimating Work Sheet 39

10.2 Measuring Work Sheet. 40

11.0 Reports. 41

11.1 Monthly Balance Sheet 41

11.2 Annual Income Report with Monthly Totals. 42

11.3 Business Expense Reports. 43

11.4 Charge Backs. 44

11.4.1 Entry and Status Form.. 44

11.4.2 Charge Back Payment List 45

Appendix A.. 46

Technical Data Flow Diagrams. 46

Store Web Site Data Flow.. 46

WEB Store Interface ( I/F ) 47

 


 

1.0 Features of The Measuring Service Accounting System (MESA), Version 2.4.42

 

·       Prints routing work sheets with customer information sorted by location or time

·       Prints customer work sheets for drawings and calculations

·       Prints extra works sheets needed for Home Depot jobs

·       Stores Purchase Orders or Work Orders from store

·       Provides an index of all customers

·       Generates Income Reports by Day, Week, Month and Year

·       Generates Profit and Loss Statement

·       Generates Income report for year by Store

·       Has Expense Ledger to track business expenses and report by Month and Year Totals.

·       Can search on all fields of a Purchase order: customer name, address, PO Number, date, phone numbers, etc.

·       Stores drawings with each job for later retrieval for new work at same site or to send via Email or FTP to store.

·       Manages multiple measures under one business, separates reports of their work and totals for business.

·       Sends work rollup reports for Home Depot jobs to district manager.

·       Generate work sheets by product (Carpet, wood, vinyl, tile, etc.…) customized by store needs.

·       Can send all job information and drawings to store when work is completed.

·       Supports FTP of drawings and any customer signed sheets to regional web site with the push of a button.

·       Can use Email to send drawings and customer job information to local or regional manager.

·       Works with any scanner or fax software that supports the tif image format.

·       Has Option to put local Map page and quadrant numbers or do an Internet look up to show the location on a Map.

 

 

1.1 Future options

 

·       Interface with drawing program to eliminate manual house drawings and calculations of areas.

·       Support distributing PO information to client measurers electronically

·       Multiple drawings per PO, to track rework and customer changes.

·       Track alternate Income in business total Profit and Loss Statement

 

 


2.0 Description

 

Before flooring materials can be purchased, it is necessary for measurements to be made.  These measurements of an room, show the size, form and area, this is used to determine the amount of materials needed.   Trained professionals, known generally as “measurers”, make these measurements.   MESA automates the processes of accounting, scheduling, reporting and billing for these measurers to improve efficiency and to save time and money.  It In the case of Home Depot, it tracks all work involved in receiving a the store’s work orders (or purchase orders), logging the planned work, generating routing sheets, work sheets, and the special forms required for Home Depot including the special Home Depot forms for the Allstate Insurance Company.  The system supports multiple stores and keeps a list of all customers and the requested work.  This provides an on-line history, which can be used to recall the customer information for use for additional work, or for an estimate by a different store.  The program also supports a WEB site interface where stores can post work, which can be downloaded directly into the program.

The program saves time in business accounting, by keeping a record by store, all estimating work orders or Purchase Orders with customer information for end of week, month or year reports.  All information such as:  work orders, customer addresses and contact information, the list of products, standard widths are stored in tables for referencing and for entering a new work orders.  This saves time when entering a new work order by providing pull down pick lists for automatically filling out common fields.  The program organizes the work by creating a routing sheet that can be organized by time or  by common locations.  It saves time and money by reducing the number of faxes that are sent and received and it avoids the problems of reading faxes that have been sent more that once.  It helps at income tax time by providing reports of work done for the year and, for the master version, it provides reports showing work done by each measurer including the commissions received.

It generates business reports of work done by week, month or year and a special report of work done in certain areas that are defined by their zip code.  It supports an EMAIL and fax interface to send invoices to stores for work done.  The main work sheet generated by the program is used to log work done at a customer site.  It can be customized with different check items for each product to meet each stores needs.

            To eliminate faxes and mistakes that are made by transcribing faxed information into the program, there is a web support option that allows stores to enter estimating jobs online.  Once entered, the information can be transferred directly into MESA.  This eliminates the store typing and faxing the order then you having to retype the information into the program.  It also provides a feed back report to the store managers on-line, so they can see which jobs have been posted and which jobs the measurer has picked up.


3.0 Product Versions

 

There are three versions of the program, the Stand-alone, the Enterprise, and the Remote.

All products function the same and are centered on the Work/Purchase Order.   The Stand-alone is for an individual independent measurer, the District version is for someone that measurers and also has other measurers working for them.   Supporting the Master version is the Remote version for the measurers that work for the District manager.

 

An optional feature is the web interface. The web interface allows stores to post work using a web form during the day, then that night the jobs can be downloaded into the program.  The program has a entry screen, the PO screen, for normal posting of Work/Purchase orders.

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3.1 Stand-alone Version

 

This is the basic version.  It allows a measurer to track their work orders for measuring jobs.  It provides all business reports, generates the job routing schedules, and work sheets.  The system tracks work from each store that issues a purchase order.  It allows the store the option to use, or not use, a purchase order number.   The customer information is stored with the work order.  This allows online retrievals for return work, providing search options on any field such as: name, address, date, phone number, etc.  The user in this version can update all reference tables; products, standard widths, options for work sheets and, business information tables.

The stand-alone version can produce all reports

 

3.2 Enterprise Version

 

The Enterprise Version supports a District Manager and has all the features of the Stand-alone version.  In addition, it has the ability to export purchase orders to a web transfer buffer for downloading by a specific remote measurer, using the Remote Station version.  It can also import from the transfer buffer Pos posted by the Remote Station or from the store web input screen.

The District Manager Station configures all control files.  The control files are the tables like the list of Stores, the options on the reports, the business slogan.  It tracks work done by all measurers and provides reports totals of all work done, work done for measure at District Station, and by each remote measurer.

The District Manager Station can have other District Managers working and reporting to them.


3.3 Remote Version

 

This version works in support of a District Manager Enterprise Version.  This version can enter new Work/Purchase orders directly into the program, or from work posted by a store for that remote measurer, or from Pos transferred up to the web from the District Manager Station.  After working the PO the remote station can transfer via the web link the updated PO information back to the District Manager Station.

The Remote Station cannot change the program control files.  They are updated from the District Manager Station and sent via the web interface to the remote stations.  It can change its business information properties and run reports on the work done by the remote measurer.

 

3.4 Demo Version

 

A Free 60 day Demonstration release for each product version can be provided.   Just fill out our demonstration request form, download the software and we will send you a 60-day license key.  If the product meets your needs, you can purchase a license and convert your demonstration copy into a production release and continue with the information already entered.  

 

3.5 Product Upgrades.

 

The Remote Version can be upgraded to Stand-alone keeping the remote measurer information as the Stand-alone measurer.  The Stand-alone version can be upgraded into a District Version, keeping the Stand-alone information as the District business and the prior work done as one of the measurers managed by the District Station.

 

3.6 Software Support

 

            For the first year after purchase, the program is upgraded to latest release in the version series, such as 2.x, free.  Maintenance contracts are available.  Version upgrades will be sold at great discount to valid customers.

 


4.0 Menus

 

The Measuring Service Accounting System is a menu driven software application designed to make scheduling, measuring jobs, job tracking and, business accounting as simple as possible.   The program has three main menu screens and thirteen support screens.  The Main Menu (Figure 1, below) lists the key input form.  The Purchase Order screen is shown in Figure 6. 

The Other Information Menu is shown in Figure 2.  The last general menu is the Product Information Menu, shown in Figure 3.  It shows the Product List and associated standard material sizes for each product.   The key Company Information Form is shown in Figure 8.  The Company Information Form has the name, address and other information used for reports and display in the program. 

The Business Reports shown in Figure 17 are used for business accounting.  Figure 18 shows the form to view the activity report to send to Home Depot or to generate a generic Invoice to other companies.  Work Schedule is shown in Figures 21 and 22.  They are used to schedule measuring jobs, reschedule if needed, and then close the job.