Minimum of a Pentium Computer, with a minimum of 64Mb RAM and a 500Mb Hard Drive. Operating systems supported are MS DOS Version 5 or above, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT

and many more...

Multiple parameter settings allow enormous flexibility in program set-up.

A Full BACS Module is available for Space Manager allowing for payments and refunds by Direct Debit, via the Bankers Automated Clearing Service.

A multi-user version of Space Manager is also available which allows for multi-user access and increased program security. Additional program based security features are only available if installed on a Novell Network, versions 3.1x, 3.2, 4.1x and 5

Space manager is a space management package, which handles the administration and accounting facilities essential to the management of subdivided properties. It applies particularly to Self-Storage, Business Centres, Leisure Complexes, Exhibitions and any other tenanted property.

The package is designed to be as user-friendly as possible whilst maintaining a very high degree of flexibility in its set-up to allow for the widest range of applications.

Due to the program's ease of use and the availability of telephone support, a full user manual is not available.

The program is basically divided into two areas, Space Management and Accounting.

The management section deals with space by calling each rentable area a unit (this may be changed), and these are allocated a rate and may be grouped together by size or any arbitrary category. during the running of the facility, these units are flagged to indicate their status, which may be rented, vacant or reserved. A further flag may be set to indicate that a unit is unavailable, for company use, internal or damaged. Reports are available giving the overall status of the facility and to aid the operator in dealing with new and current business.

In addition to the management of space, the system will also allow for the user to set-up up to 240 additional sale items, 240 insurance types and 240 additional hireable items, all of which may be incorporated into a contract. The system will also deal with up to 240 different rates of VAT or local Tax.

The accounting section allows for full balance sheet accounting to be maintained for the entire facility. The system deals with all the transactions that occur, including contracts, invoicing, refunds, credit notes, deposits, etc. such that no part of the site accounting needs to be done manually. The system will also allow for payments to be made by either cash, cheque, Credit card or standing order, and there is an additional module, which can will allow for payments by direct debits. The system allows for a full range of accounting reports to be produced for one of four periods, and these include Aged Debtors Reports, Sales Analysis, Revenue Breakdowns, and user-definable Nominal Ledger Analysis.

The system allows for accounting periods, which are totally independent of the rental period.

These two sections are joined together by the customer database, about which the whole program revolves. The customer database contains basic information about the customer. Such information includes addresses, telephone numbers and bank details, and it can also include up to 64K of freeform notes about each customer. There are up to 5 user definable marketing questions, which can be used to obtain marketing analysis for the whole site, select mail shots to print and even allow greater flexibility in producing basic user-definable reports.

Each customer can rent any number of units, and a contract is generated for each. Additional hire items and insurance can be added to the contracts either at generation or later through the contract editing option. A record of such modifications are kept through the exception report system, which can be printed out to ensure that head office or the site manager is kept informed of any oddities.

The program includes a full enquiry system, where the user gets an instant display of all aspects of the customers history, including a full audit trail and access to full lists and details relating to the customer record, comments, units, contracts, payments, credits etc.

A BACS module is also available which allows for payments by direct debit. Once the module is activated, the system can be made to automatically generate BACS transactions, process them and send them via a communications program to the Bankers Automated Clearing Service for debiting to customers accounts. The module will them deal with the reconciliation of these transactions and will allow for representation if necessary. The module can also be set to automatically generate a receipt or refund on reconciliation, to remove the possibility of double entries.

The minimum basic hardware requirements are a Pentium Computer with a minimum of 64Mb RAM and a 500Mb Hard Disk. However a Pentium based computer is recommended to ensure the program runs at a satisfactory speed. Space Manager will run under MS DOS version 5.0 or above, Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT.

There are 8 parameter screens and over 400 parameters of various types. These must be set up to decide the basic system functioning (e.g., accounting period, rental period, invoice number length and prefix etc.). The parameters settings also decide how much flexibility the user is allowed (i.e. whether he/she can change prices, decide discounts, allocate cash etc.) and can vary operation from total user control to very limited control, where a large number of functions are done automatically.

These are where the different types of insurance, hire items, sale items and rental items are set up. Codes are also required for deposits, payment types and VAT, and it is at this point that vatable items are given a VAT rate.

These are usually a means of grouping units by size, and are allocated to each unit, for the purposes of analysis, reporting and price updating. Each Size Code record contains a ledger code.

All the sites units are entered onto the system, each having a name and a size code, which provides the default rate, description and size for the unit, any of which maybe changed.

Space Manager will allow print output to be directed to any available printer ports, by document type. Allowing for, say, invoices to print to LPT1, contracts to LPT2 and reports to COM1 etc. The direction for print output is determined within the Printer Configuration.

Document printing functions by the substitution of Special Print Markers on a template for each document type. The templates are standard text files with a FRM extension, which may be edited using a standard text editor or an editor with in the program.

These templates allow for enormous flexibility in the layout of documentation and very easy modification should any one require changing. Basic templates are set up at installation.